I normally put way more stock in the matchups than the other stuff, but this games feels different. Kind of like the first St Louis game felt all wrong, and Miami felt all wrong coming off the bye.

Except opposite.

I just heard Pete on 710. he was Kite high. loose. giddy. This is an opportunity, and he is going to put Irvin in a position to succeed. Screw the early start east coast thing, it doesn't matter. Pete is hyped.
The big balls Pete is going to Atlanta.

Atlanta is tight.
The coaching staff in Atlanta has tried three different approaches to the first playoff game now. They are searching after coming up snakeyes twice in a row. They don't fear the Seahawks, but they really do fear having another post season failure.
They are feeling pressure. "We have to stop the run" were some of the words the head coach used. They spent last week trying to work on some fundamentals they feel were weak, things like better tackling. There are no padded practices now, so how they do that is beyond me. They want to work on attack angles, which is directly tied to not letting Wilson extend plays.

Mike Smith begged fans to show up on time and be in their seats for warmups. The players are begging fans to make noise in their interviews. Promises of eyes on Wilson at all times. Saying how physical Seattle plays, so we have to make sure we play physical. We have seen enough teams try to manufacture physicality to know it isn't that easy.

I know, there is nothing to hang your hat on in any of those things. Nothing real or tangible. But after getting all angsty this week over some stuff, I am just convinced that Seattle will be the much looser team on Sunday. And I think "Lets do what we do" beats "Don't eff it up" every time.

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

I agree. That has been noticeable this week. The dichotomy between the feel-good, playin' with house money Hawks versus a tight, nervous Falcons team that has a lot to lose. Like you, I'm not sure if we can hang our hat on it or not, but I sure am glad the positions aren't reversed.

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"WE ALL WE GOT! WE ALL WE NEED!"

Well I am nervous as hell so I appreciate well-reasoned optimistic posts like this. We are in such need of a forceful and energized start to this game.

It cracks me up that this game has not sold out yet.

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"Some people here have been groomed to accept mediocrity and lame ducks, I'm on board with the vibrato!" -SouthSoundHawk

Yes, it has.

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When you play not to lose, you find a way not to win. I think Seattle came out with the impossible self-expectations last week, and somehow, miraculously, got the victory anyway. Once they shook off the nerves, they played the way we expect them to do. If they can keep it going, they'll put Atlanta in a whole that will start the whole team doubting their resolve which they won't shake off(IMO.).

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My single greatest contribution to the board: "42-13" (formerly 24-14)

Good call, Sphinx.

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

It's downright embarassing that it took this long to sell out - but indicative of a nervous fan base. You can sense the "what if?" undercurrent in the Falcons fan base imagining blowing this one. Do you keep Mike Smith if they lose?? Why keep a head coach that can't win a playoff game?

Honestly, they have NO EXCUSE to lose this game. NONE. At home, best record in the league, top-flight offense, rested after a bye, exra time to prepare for the Seahawks...and yet I sense the pressure is stacking up on their shoulders.

They are going to play a good game - I have no doubt. They will be fired up - and I think it's going to start a little rough for us. But I think they don't have any notion of how patient and poised our young team is in any situation. We haven't lost a game since right after Thanksgiving, and we are confident in any scenario,

Our mental toughness cannot be overstated.

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@SeahawkGreg

YEAH, WE HAVE A DUDE NAMED CHRISTINE...DEAL WITH IT!

I'm nervous as hell about this game too, but I gotta agree with the sentiment of this post. It's hard to continue to think we're going to come up just a bit short in light of everything I'm seeing.

Bill Wixey from Q-13 Fox is in Atlanta, prepping for the 'Hawks game, and he had a special this morning on the news where he went around looking for Falcons fans, trying to convince folks to root for the 'Hawks. He said it was absolutely eerie, the lack of anything Falcons related in Atlanta. Said he saw a whopping three people dressed in Falcons gear the first two days he was there, and two of them were Falcons employees showing up for work at the stadium. There is zero interest right now in Atlanta. None. Zip. Nada. And that does not bode well for the team's psyche, especially in the face of a "must-win" game.

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I blog, I tweet. When I'm not writing or goofing around on Seahawks.NET.

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What! is your quest?




What is thecapitalofAssyria?

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My single greatest contribution to the board: "42-13" (formerly 24-14)

News was still reporting this morning there were plenty of tickets still available for purchase. And looking at StubHub, there are still 3,592 as of right now. 86 of them available in the "Lower Prime" sections on the Falcons side, the lowest level between the 40's.

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I blog, I tweet. When I'm not writing or goofing around on Seahawks.NET.

Last night Ticketmaster had plenty of tickets.

Just checked and they still do.

You, FTW, are INCORRECT.

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"Some people here have been groomed to accept mediocrity and lame ducks, I'm on board with the vibrato!" -SouthSoundHawk

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

All the talk of tickets for sale are through Stubhub, NFL Ticket Exchange, or other individual sellers/ticket brokers. These are secondary markets. The availability of tickets on secondary markets has absolutely no bearing on whether or not the game is sold out. That being said, yes, the Falcons have the most available tickets on secondary markets.

If we used the metric you are implying, no game would be sold out for any team at any point, because there are always available tickets to any game on secondary markets.

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Ticketmaster is NOT a secondary market.

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"Some people here have been groomed to accept mediocrity and lame ducks, I'm on board with the vibrato!" -SouthSoundHawk

Agree with this 100% Scottemojo. Excellent post. I woke up feeling this same way today and I think the psyche of both teams is going to play a huge part in the outcome of this game.

I think Pete Carroll pulls out all the stops in this one.

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Talkin Seahawks All Day, All Night @ my blog Seafense! http://seafense.blogspot.com/

the tickets will be sold out by Sunday...its hard to buy tickets when you have no job :-( but as a whole the fan base id call it...nervously confident, as fans we have seen what the Falcons are capable of this year and know that if they play that type of game its gonna be good game for the Falcons..

on the other side of that is the game's we have seen in the past 5 years where they do nothing but destroy a fans trust in the team...call people pathetic fans or whatever you want, the true point is we havent had good succes in the playoffs since i think it was 02'ish? and in a town so used to the Falcons failing (look at the history of the Falcons...alot of losing went on) i think its going to take alot more than a few winning seasons to rebuild all that has been lost

Of course. But try telling me that's sold out when I'm scouring the bowels of the Internet for Seahawks tickets during the regular season. They're out there, but good tickets are a hell of a lot harder to find for far less important Seahawks game than they are for the Falcons in the divisional round of the playoffs. I can still find 200+ prime, low, midfield tickets available - from just one site - for that game, something that's a damned impossibility for pretty much any Seahawks game almost as soon as it's scheduled.

At the very least, those tickets here are bought and scalped. There, I'd bet scalpers aren't buying them because they don't want to be left holding them when nobody bites.

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I blog, I tweet. When I'm not writing or goofing around on Seahawks.NET.

They run the NFL Ticket Exchange, so yes they do have a secondary market. As for it being sold out, everything that I have read says they are sold out. I haven't checked, but in years past, I have bought tickets from Ticketmaster that were directly off of the NFL Ticket Exchange, but went through the main Ticketmaster site. I am not sure if that is what you are referring to as I haven't attempted to purchase tickets to this game, but there are multiple people saying:

http://blogs.ajc.com/atlanta-falcons-bl ... -out-game/


Secondly, if the game WASN'T sold out, we would be hearing talk of it possibly being blacked out and the team most likely receiving a deadline extension for the black out rules. Seeing how it is Friday, and that is not the story flying around, I highly doubt the game isn't sold out. Regardless, all the media hype about the game being sold out, are referring to the 9,000+- tickets available on Stub Hub, not once actually referred to this game being blacked out or anything along those lines.

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Seats are still available on Ticketmaster in singles, pairs, and trios.

NOT a secondary market.

Decidedly NOT a sellout.

So There.

Let's Go To The Game!!!!

(the NFL does not blackout playoff games)
((I don't actually know this-but it sounds more authoritative when I pretend)

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"Some people here have been groomed to accept mediocrity and lame ducks, I'm on board with the vibrato!" -SouthSoundHawk

The NFL didn't black out the Redskins game, and they didn't sell out.

/Never forget the 86%

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My single greatest contribution to the board: "42-13" (formerly 24-14)