Good God! That's way too much info on that link to be reading tonight. I guess if I have trouble sleeping I could attempt to brush up on DVOA.

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Go Hawks!

It sure feels way different. At the beginning of the season I was 100% convinced that nobody could run on us when Red was in there, period. After the 49's game, it seems like something was exposed. There are flashes of that still but it is not consistent. It seemed the first few games that people tried to run a few times and then just gave up. Then, the only time they would get yardage was on obvious passing downs. I think/hope that PC and Gus know what the long-term solution is for that and what needs to be done in the off season to correct it. Is Mebane's health an issue? He was giving us 2-3 Wow! moments a game early in the season and is hardly noticed these days. It's certainly not doom and gloom or anything but it is an area of concern going forward.

This thread is...much ado about something not as big as it may first seem. Roland pointed it out, we have given up the second fewest points on the season, by exactly ONE.

We are not giving up long touchdown runs. The points per game we give up remain pretty much unchanged since the opening several weeks.

We do have a weakness in the linebackers run gaps and pass coverage, just like we have a weakness at nickel. Combine that with Red's less effective play while he is hurt, and it looks bad on the ol' run yardage chart. But we are not getting gashed by bad run teams, and we are not, and this is most important, getting scores thrown on us by pass teams. Miami is the outlier, and granted, it looked bad, but the D has been better since.

Yes, San Fran ran on us. to the tune of 14 points.
Yes, Adrian Peterson ran on us. to the tune of 20 points. Losing KJ early on hurt, but look at what he did to the Rams this weekend. Dude is good. having an MVP season if you ask me.
Yes CJ Spiller ran on us. 17 points.
Yes, Chicago ran on us on that shitty field. And scored 17.

Miami is the one game where we played bad D all around against a bad team, and I kinda think it was good for this team. They have been galvanized ever since. And with the offense putting pressure on other teams, only the most committed coaching staffs will stick with the run. The Niners are that, but history suggests that if they don't combine that run with an effective pass attack, it will not result in tons of points.

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SEAHAWKS.NET. We All We Got, We All We Need

I don't see how that contradicts DVOA in any way. Seattle is ranked 16th in run defense, and I remember them being ranked in the top 3 midway through the season. For them to have dropped so much their week 7-14 run defense DVOA should be near the bottom of the league, just as your stats indicate.

I don't know about this we're gonna get gashed thing...The niner rushing game has not looked the same to me this year with the injuries they have sustained. One thing is for sure and that is the Seahawks will be prepared for what's coming this time.

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“There’s no reason, with Mr. Allen and the fan base here and the stadium, that this can’t be a stable, long-term winning organization.” - John Schneider

I think teams have figured out how to attack that front seven and expose our young linebackers and our below average veteran(Hill). Its all part of the constant chess match that is the NFL. Teams probed around and found a couple plays that worked, like belly plays out of the shotgun and trap plays. Our young linebackers got exposed a little, and I feel now they are starting to adjust.

Depth up front was an issue in the middle part of the year, but I think they are developing a more solid rotation to keep guys fresh.

What we are seeing schematically lately in the running game is the adjustment to the leagues adjustment to the Hawks scheme. Then, there will be adjustments off the adjustment to the adjustment and so on and so on. That's what makes football beautiful.

Also, I mentioned this when the offense was struggling early, we played some great defenses early in the year, and we've played some great running teams towards the second half of the year, including the team that's waltzing in Sunday night. Even the Patriots are deceptively good at running the football. This will lead to the stats skewing one way or the other.

I do agree about the seeming lack of an attitude up front. I think we saw them get it back a little against the Cardinals, and dammit I hope they bring it full force against the Niners.