What a difference a week makes.

Coming off two gut-wrenching and disappointing games vs. St Louis and Tampa, we really needed this.

1.) I re-watched the Tampa game so I could write up my weekly "cheat sheet" and the game really wasn't as atrocious as it may have felt. Flukey plays and bad calls led to some quick scores for Tampa. It was obvious that after the tight game against the Rams, we were focused on the fundamentals, and weren't ready for the pace that a few quick scores from Tampa in the second quarter had set. The second half was dominant in favor of the Seahawks

2.) The St. Louis game no longer looks so bad after seeing them dominate the Colts. Not only did they have some long passing plays to score, their defense throttled Andrew Luck and the Colts offense. They scored three offensive touchdowns. Our defense kept them out of the end zone. Sam Bradford simply isn't a franchise guy, as Kellen Clemens stepping it really hasn't changed the team. If anything it's made them better by forcing their talented D to step up while discovering Zack Stacy as a possible solution in the run game, and it took Clemens to finally utilize Tavon Austin. I'm not sure what Sam Bradford's future holds but the words "pay cut or be cut" comes to mind.

3.) Seattle did exactly what they needed to do to erase the concerns the last two games had given us. A 9-1 record goes a long ways in doing this, so just the win would have been enough - but we didn't just win, we dominated. Atlanta could do nothing (without ref help) and the oline gave the offense enough time to show us a glimpse of how they could look when firing on all cylinders - oh and we were missing 3/5 on our O-line and still are waiting to unleash the Percy.

In my weekly cheat sheet I predicted this would be a close game ala the Chicago game last season and would be a similar turning point and I'm standing by at least part of that. Obviously it wasn't a close game but it was a turning point for the offense. I expect them to look much more dynamic from here on out.

The rest of the NFC contenders should be feeling very uncomfortable today.

It's amazing what you can accomplish just playing fundamentally sound football and not shooting yourselves in the foot repeatedly.

We're down our top two WRs, played with only two starting O-linemen, but a lack of mistakes allowed us to execute very well overall and we smoked a mediocre team on the road, which is what elite teams do.

RolandDeschain":nnb3f2uk said:

It's amazing what you can accomplish just playing fundamentally sound football and not shooting yourselves in the foot repeatedly.

We're down our top two WRs, played with only two starting O-linemen, but a lack of mistakes allowed us to execute very well overall and we smoked a mediocre team on the road, which is what elite teams do.

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Right, this was the first game in a long time we didn't spot the other team with some cheap points. The offense did a great job of taking care of the ball.

Motivation and Focus.

IMO these are the two things that are necessary for the Hawks to play like we saw yesterday. We have so much talent on this team, that the only way we falter is to not get up for games and lose focus (Rams, Bucs). BUT........when properly motivated by rivalry (49'ers) or revenge (Falcons)........we destroy teams.

My hope is now that we're in the 2nd half of the season and the players can see the prize in clear view, motivation and focus will no longer be issues.

This game looked so much more like the Seahawks we know. This looked more like earlier in the season when we were far more dominant. Of course a win is a win, these just feel a crap load better.