It Should Have Been Us

[RussB]

I think falcons still would have beat them at home. And even if they won i have a hard time believing that makeshift o line and offense in general would win a Sb anyway. The defense also seems to be getting more suspect over the past 2 years.

Its time for some changes.

 

[Hawks46]

Folks have it a bit wrong.

If we beat AZ, we're the 2 seed and Atlanta is the 3 seed. So it's not like you just flip the game and have the Falcons play here.

So the questions are: does Atlanta beat the Cowboys, and do we beat the Packers ?

Honestly, I don't think we beat the Packers. They play us a lot closer, and Wilson just doesn't play well against them, home or away. With all our injuries, I think GB hangs 24-30 points on us, and we don't reciprocate.

Say we do face Atlanta at home this weekend. We'll get them here, with the weather which was cold and windy. Wilson typically doesn't play really well in the cold windy conditions in the playoffs either. I just don't think it was our year this year, with all the injuries and a really young OL that needs to grow.

Now, if our OL can grow next year to league average, Wilson gets his feet back under him (he had a poor year IMO), and we can reload the secondary (looking at the draft this will be easy to do) we're right back in it. This division is still ours for the taking.

 

[randomation]

Russell wasn't playing lights out like Mat is. If he was we'd still be playing...

He doesn't have a line like Matt does give him a few seconds in the pocket without unblocked defenders streaming through the gap and it might be a bit different.

 

[Rat]

Folks have it a bit wrong.

If we beat AZ, we're the 2 seed and Atlanta is the 3 seed. So it's not like you just flip the game and have the Falcons play here.

So the questions are: does Atlanta beat the Cowboys, and do we beat the Packers ?

Dallas is still the #1 seed in that scenario. Atlanta wouldn't have played them before us. Atlanta would have had Detroit in the wild card round, then would have come to Seattle had they won.

 

[Year of The Hawk]

Russell wasn't playing lights out like Mat is. If he was we'd still be playing...

He doesn't have a line like Matt does give him a few seconds in the pocket without unblocked defenders streaming through the gap and it might be a bit different.

This was the difference for them the whole season. With a decent front line they could beat anyone. Look at the time the QB's had yesterday. Russ would have had a field day. Longer drives more scoring more ball control defense better rested ect.

 

[Hawk-Lock]

All I'm saying is that we missed out on one of the easiest roads to the SB. The would have/could have thing is lame, but just think....if we somehow beat Arizona at home, we go into the playoffs on a 3-game win streak. And whether you think we beat the Falcons or not, Vegas would have had us favored at home against Atlanta or GB.

 

[Seafan]

The Earl Thomas injury was too much. Really good offenses took advantage. Without Earl and RW playing lights out the Hawks weren't good enough. But there is always next season.

 

[Hollandhawk]

I still think without that 88 yard holding "penalty" the game would have been totally different.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

The Earl Thomas injury was too much. Really good offenses took advantage. Without Earl and RW playing lights out the Hawks weren't good enough. But there is always next season.

Earl certainly was a big loss, but this team has many more issues going forward if it wants to get back to the SB.

- depth
- O-line
- RB
- DB
- scheme and philosophy

IMO the last thing I mentioned being the most important. If both Atlanta and NE showed us anything, and teams like Pittsburgh and Seattle showed us the opposite................... is that you can't keep trotting out the same tired coverages, playcalling and schemes and expect to stop elite offenses.

Shanahan, Quinn, McDaniels and Belichick showed that you better have diverse dynamic schemes and ways to attack teams on both sides of the ball.

 

[classicaaron]

if my aunt had balls she'd be my uncle.

face it we were not very good this year. probably would have lost to Green Bay, they were on fire until this week. Maybe Atlanta should just get more credit for being good and making them look bad. Just like they made us look bad. We lost way too many regular season games we should have won to be considered a super bowl team. and even IF we make the super bowl do you really like our chances against the patriots. Id rather get knocked out in the divisional round then lose yet again to Brady.

 

[Hawk-Lock]

People are underestimating home field advantage. I guarantee you we would have been favored over GB or ATL in the playoffs. Whether that means we would have won, I don't know. But it's not like it's a sure thing we would have lost. Home faves always have a chance.

And people are acting like ATL and GB are great powerhouse teams. They aren't the Pats. They are good teams, but both have flaws. Guarantee you ATL looks a lot different outside in cold weather. GB had plenty of problems, only a matter of time until they ran out of luck.

The thread title is wrong, it should read "Could Have Been Us." I don't care how bad our Oline was or how exposed our secondary was, I will take my chances at the CLink over any team in the NFL.

 

[Largent80]

Early in the season, there are always a bunch of people here saying, these early games don't matter, we just need to finish well.

Heads UP. WRONG !!!!!!!!!!!!!

We squeeked by Miami, RW hurt. Go to LA for their opener, first one in eons, RW hurt.

Go to SF, squeek another out, RW hurt yet again.

People are saying were in the easy part of the schedule. The rest are saying, were facing the best or one of the best D:L's in the league EVERY week.

Every stinking game in a 16 game schedule is a must win. Get it through your mush assed brains.

 

[Seafan]

The Earl Thomas injury was too much. Really good offenses took advantage. Without Earl and RW playing lights out the Hawks weren't good enough. But there is always next season.

Earl certainly was a big loss, but this team has many more issues going forward if it wants to get back to the SB.

- depth
- O-line
- RB
- DB
- scheme and philosophy

IMO the last thing I mentioned being the most important. If both Atlanta and NE showed us anything, and teams like Pittsburgh and Seattle showed us the opposite................... is that you can't keep trotting out the same tired coverages, playcalling and schemes and expect to stop elite offenses.

Shanahan, Quinn, McDaniels and Belichick showed that you better have diverse dynamic schemes and ways to attack teams on both sides of the ball.

The Hawks went from playing the best defense in the league to being the 2nd worst defense of all the playoff teams. Without Earl the team wasn't able to keep up with QBs like Ryan and Rogers. Home field and a healthy Earl could have taken this team to the SB. The Hawks have over come injuries many times over the past few seasons. Players like RW and Earl are basically irreplaceable. There is no shame in that.

I'll admit the Hawks don't have the best coaches in the league but with the healthy talent on the team the past several seasons it has often been good enough.

 

[Spin Doctor]

Nothing about this team says to me that "it should have been us". Our offense was dysfunctional, having a few games without scoring a touchdown. Our line was inexperienced and did not look as if they understood the scheme. Russell Wilson was injured, but he also looked as if he regressed a bit. Some of his decision making was unusually bad, that could be chalked up to line play, and overall scheme we were running WITH a bad line.

Our defense was hot, and cold, sometimes very cold. We were above average, nothing more nothing less. We dropped some games to some truly atrocious teams, and overall there was not a sense of unity, or cohesion in the locker room or what we were trying to do as a team this season.

It was not our season, and quite frankly i saw it coming from a long ways away.

 

[LeftHandSmoke]

Not sure about the thread title, there are other good teams out there and several had the ball bounce their way farcbetter than the Seahawks did this year, especially injury-wise from almost the get-go.

But to the posters suggesting the leadership lost their 'Hunger'? That is so profoundly ridiculous as to warrant a virtual ass-kick. This team, against long odds this season, put up an effort 'vicious' enough to go 10-5-1, and then destroy the Lions in the playoffs before putting up a better game on the road than GB did against the likely SB winning Falcons. The magic, the sacrifices, the hits, of this season were abundant. 'Hunger ' is mostly why they got that deep.

 

[LeftHandSmoke]

--
@bcondotta
7 Pro Bowlers for Seattle ties the 1984, 2005, 2014 and 2015 teams for the most in team history.
--

 

[Reaneypark]

If lots of things.

We can go crazy asking "what if?"

 

[irocdave]

People are underestimating home field advantage. I guarantee you we would have been favored over GB or ATL in the playoffs. Whether that means we would have won, I don't know. But it's not like it's a sure thing we would have lost. Home faves always have a chance.

And people are acting like ATL and GB are great powerhouse teams. They aren't the Pats. They are good teams, but both have flaws. Guarantee you ATL looks a lot different outside in cold weather. GB had plenty of problems, only a matter of time until they ran out of luck.

The thread title is wrong, it should read "Could Have Been Us." I don't care how bad our Oline was or how exposed our secondary was, I will take my chances at the CLink over any team in the NFL.

Some people have their head in the sand and don't see what other, long time Seahawk fans see. There is NFW this team would have beat the Falcons at home without ET or TL. NONE. You tell me, is RW a great cold weather QB? Absolutely not, the record proves it, even when he is healthy. This years team was as dysfunctional as any team that made the playoffs. HFA has been largely a myth when it counts the past couple of years. I cannot fathom how fans can continue to anchor HFA as the end all be all with the performance of the past two years with this team. Seriously, GB or the Falcons would have administered a beat down to this years Hawk team at home. I for one am glad it didn't happen at home as most fans that attend would have turned on the team and displayed their displeasure at a totally inferior offense. Every RW sack would have been a cascade of boo's. Apparently you were not around when this franchise was a bottom feeder for a couple of decades, fans here know football and know when things aren't up to standards. The O line production this year was abysmal, including RW's. Yes he was injured, yes the O line was one of the worst to ever be fielded by an NFL, yes none of our RB's were healthy. All of those are reasons the hawks would have been crushed. They are all excuses in the NFL.

 

[ZagHawk]

We beat both Superbowl teams this year.

That's what hurts the most.

We have the capability on a good week, but just weren't consistent.

If I'm not mistaken so did the Colts in 2013. Consistency is key, and like you said..Hawks were NOT consistent. So that being said...given how they were playing, heck maybe they would have found themselves in the NFCCG and then lost that game.

 

[West TX Hawk]

We were the 4th or 5th best team in the NFC. No more, no less. Atl, GB, Dal and maybe even NY would've beaten us on the road, at the Clink or at a soccer stadium in South Africa.

Keep making excuses though folks like Niner fans of yesteryear. And be completely oblivious to the many issues facing this team. The Patriots lost Gronk for the season and their qb the 1st 4 games. I loathe that team but did they make excuses? No. They adjusted, adapted, grew and got hot at the right time. We lost 3 out of our last 6 regular season games-we were in a downward spiral.

Accepting reality can be the 1st step to finding new solutions.