Is anyone NOT surprised by the Hawks performance.

[Hawkscanner]

I think people have a tendency to overreact when looking at games on the road. Sure the 49ers and Broncos looked impressive with what they did this week ... but most good teams can look good when they play at home. The fact is that it's hard to win on the road in the NFL, so any win is a good win -- bottom line.

That's a pretty decent Panthers team (that's up and coming IMO) that the Hawks beat in their house. With the addition of Star Lotulelei, that defensive front 7 is going to be one of the very best D-Lines in all the NFL. Hardy and Johnson are a scary combo for anyone, so I'm not surprised at all that the Offensive Line didn't have its best game.

Plus, you've got to consider further that this is a Panthers team that won 5 of its final 6 games last year including 3 road games and the Falcons in fairly convincing fashion. The Seahawks and Oakland were the only 2 teams who held Cam Newton under 200 yds passing and they just did it again today -- both times in their house. For the Hawks to do what they did today (given the number of players that they have out) is an impressive feat indeed. This Seahawks team is pretty darned good now and will only get better, as reinforcements will be arriving soon. ESPN analyst and former Bears WR Tom Waddell believes that the Hawks are serious Super Bowl contenders ... and given the overall talent up and down this roster and comparing them with other teams in the NFC, it's hard to argue with that.

Just FYI, here are a few road games from last year's Super Bowl Champions -- just to give us some perspective ...

Baltimore Ravens ...
Week 5 vs. Chiefs (at Kansas City) ... Won 9-6
Week 11 vs. Pittsburgh (at Pittsburgh) ... Won 13-10
Week 12 vs. San Diego (at San Diego) ... Won 16-13 OT

Relax all.

 

[davidonmi]

what I came in expecting was a win, and we won. Pretty much followed my script exactly

 

[HawkWow]

We left 7 points on the field with a first and goal fumble, 19-7 would have filtered a lot of the negativity IMO.

Or at least 3.

I put a portion of that blame on Pete. I felt we should have called a TO immediately after the RW pass to Baldwin. I believe we had two left with :50 left in the half, 1st and 10, ball on the 12. Why NOT use a TO?

Instead, things got chicken crazy, resulting in both sack and fumble. We were fortunate to escape with the win (which is much better than the alternative). ; )

 

[MORGULON]

The main thing I noticed was that the team looked a little flat. Maybe having a leader like Michael Robinson would of helped.

 

[olyfan63]

Carolina made us *look* flat. They are a good team. They could easily go 10-6 or even better this year.

 

[loafoftatupu]

This game was pretty much what I expected. Week 1, on the road against a stout defense. Unfortunately for Carolina, their coverage on the outside isn't that good. If it was really needed, the Hawks could have got more.

By the 4th quarter, the YPC went up and passes were completed. This was like an actual pre season game for Lynch, who will be getting more on the ground in week 2.

The pass rush wasn't really that bad and outside of the last Panther drive, the run support on defense was pretty good.

The Hawks could have easily given the Panthers another chance, deep in their own territory with over 5 minutes left and they spent that clock up with first downs, moving into Panther territory. They finished on the road. The win was as good as they come on the road.

25/33 for 320? Yeah, I would say RW is picking up where he left off. I didn't expect those numbers. Some points left on the field, but hey.. I am plenty happy with a week 1 road win.