It's either the o or the d that wins never both

[SoulfishHawk]

This feel more like a TEAM than many previous seasons imo.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

This feel more like a TEAM than many previous seasons imo.

Definitely the most drama free season in recent memory.

No Marshawn refusing to get on the bus
No Percy punched and stuffed Golden in a garbage can
No Doug had to be separated from <insert player> in practice
No Richard screaming at his teammates, coaches and threatening reporters
No Mike B on video running out of casinos

It's quiet. It's almost too quiet.

 

[knownone]

This is one of those truisms that doesn't make any sense from a logical perspective. Every team wins based on the contributions from both their offense and their defense.

 

[sutz]

This is one of those truisms that doesn't make any sense from a logical perspective. Every team wins based on the contributions from both their offense and their defense.

...and special teams.

 

[chris98251]

Embrace the Ugly, every time.

Dropped TD by DK, bad throw to miss another TD. Plus a TD in flat out garbage time. This game wasn't close, regardless of the score.

You say that with a win, but now if Philly is clicking and we lose it's because of everything you through up there. We make things closer then they have to be and the law of averages will catch up to us in some games.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

Fair enough, but it hasn't caught up. So, I'm enjoying the ride, even if the heart may not be able to take much more. I just don't buy in to the winning has to look a certain way crap. You either win or you don't, no style points in the NFL. Everyone has their own way of looking at it, but I just choose to not spend my time worrying about what COULD happen bad. You could say that about any game or any team. This may not be a Super Bowl team, but they are still pretty damn good, and a lot better than I expected. That's a good thing.
That all being said, I was plenty angry they left points on the board, nothing is more annoying. But as long as they get the W at the end, it's all gravy.

 

[themunn]

We've played one of the toughest schedules of any team so far, so it's no surprise that one side of the ball has struggled always - particularly early season where our defense was still finding its way - missing Reed, Ansah coming off injury, Clowney learning the system, Tedric Thompson and Jamar Taylor with starting roles etc.

I would also counter that in 2013 we probably only put together 4 complete performances all year - the games against Jacksonville, Minnesota, New Orleans and then the Superbowl.

We had some onesided wins yes, but the defense put the offense in the position to win games and they still struggled (e.g. 23-0 against the Giants, or the demolition of the 49ers, where it wasn't until the 4th Q that we started to pull ahead).

In any case, I'm hopeful that the defense has turned a corner now like in 2014, where we conceded just 3 TDs and 39 points across our final 6 games, an absurd 6.5 PPG, after conceded 215 points (21.5PPG) in the first 10 games of the season.
Even if we do double that I'd be confident in our ability to win out - the encouraging signs are there having gone from conceding 25.6 PPG in our first 9 contests to allowing just 2 defensive TDs in the last 2, one of which was in garbage garbage time.
I'm fairly confident in our ability to shut down the offense of every team remaining on the schedule too.

 

[Mad Dog]

Eagles game felt like we were a couple of drops away from that being an absolute blowout. but the main point remains, we haven't really played a great game across the board. Anytime you bring up Pete both sides go nuts but some of this is on him. I think if the defense is playing great he throttles the offense a little bit which is his nature. It's a weakness though and we've been lucky that it hasn't cost us in multiple games. But on the other hand he has a team that may not be as talented as other top teams in the league at 9-2 with a realistic chance to win it all. Pete is a fantastic coach but I'm not sure I've ever seen any other coach that is so hard to figure out. I'll take 9-2 though.

I think you are totally off base. Throttling the offence is not a weakness. It’s all about the ball. And the clock. If his ideas were a weakness, then he’d lose lots of games. But he’s has this style since he came here and has had 8 consecutive winning seasons. Neither Knox or Holmgren can claim that.

Pete ball may not be as exciting as this generation of fantasy addicts would like to see but it is effective and hardly “weak”. The fact that SF and Baltimore are playing a similar brand of football is telling.

I don’t think 8 winning seasons is lucky. Sure wins are close but so are losses. Always having a chance at the end buys you a lot of wins in the long run.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

No doubt, in the Salary Cap Era, it's pretty damn tough to stay good as long as they have. Shoot, 8 straight winning seasons is impressive, regardless how it looks. They win a hell of a lot more than most teams not from New England so......

 

[sutz]

No doubt, in the Salary Cap Era, it's pretty damn tough to stay good as long as they have. Shoot, 8 straight winning seasons is impressive, regardless how it looks. They win a hell of a lot more than most teams not from New England so......

And in a lot tougher division, too. Every team in the NFC West has been to the Super Bowl since 2005.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

Imagine this team's record in the AFC all these years...……
Way back in the AFC West days, the Hawks had some really rough year. THIS Pete Carroll Era? They would have dominated.

 

[TwistedHusky]

For a while, our defense was terrible, porous - if not completely awful.

A game with 5 turnovers forced, is much better.

Nice to know if the offense is struggling, we are not out of it now. And we did rack up more than 100 yds rushing against a top 5 rush defense.

Either way, we can thank our lucky stars that as fans we are not enduring what fans from places like Detroit or Tampa Bay are. Detroit just wants a playoff win or two. Tampa just wants something to hope for. Washington would like to not be fleeced to watch a terrible team that seems to deliver more disappointment than TDs.

Regardless of how the year pans out, we have to consider this one a success.

 

[chris98251]

Imagine this team's record in the AFC all these years...……
Way back in the AFC West days, the Hawks had some really rough year. THIS Pete Carroll Era? They would have dominated.

We moved over just about the time the AFC West began to diminish from legendary status as far as teams and the players. We would have dominated for sure given the mess all the teams have been in from the Death of Al Davis and now the move, to the Moves of the Chargers and the feud with San Diego, Denvers search for the next Elway, although they would have been a challenge with Manning, maybe, kinda, sorta, possibly, no, never mind, and the Chiefs equally looking for relevance but probably the most consistent and that is due to Reid and as of recently would have been the hardest head to head match up year in and out even with Alex Smith and that's it for like over 20 years.

But on the other hand, we have done pretty damn good painting the NFC West Blue and Green since we arrived also, once we slapped the Martz led Rams off the top it's been pretty consistent with a year here and or there not being on top.

 

[jammerhawk]

Prediction:

This upcoming game against the Vikings will see both the O and the D win their contests, and the ST will not make their regular large number of unforced errors.

 

[BirdsCommaAngry]

The team wins or the team loses.

Why don't we have team coordinators instead of offensive and defensive coordinators then, bruh.

 

[UK_Seahawk]

To clarify my op wasnt a criticism more a personal observation that some agree with while others dont, no probs, this is why for the most part I like this board.

I do agree that I felt that the Eagles game never felt in doubt but I'm not sure I feel completely confident that we will win every game, maybe I'm a pessimist but i dont feel like we could do what the Ravens did against the Rams ie a complete domination on both sides of the ball. Until I see that I remain a little unconvinced about how good the seahawks are.

Maybe this is the blessing and curse of Pete ball. Dont get me wrong I think we are miles ahead of where we should be considering personnel and off field events but I want to see us take someone to the woodshed.

 

[sutz]

I posted above that it is a "team game" and that these types of opinions are kind of moot.

However, let me say that I don't dispute the premise that the Hawks have been living on one side of the ball or the other this season, and most of our games have gone that way. But the fact is that both of our losses could be hung on our own mistakes (fumbles and ST foibles) as much as on which "side" of the team didn't step up. Fact is, I think most teams fare this way as they go through a season, because week to week, they face teams that have various strengths on the two sides of the ball. Given the salary cap and coaching philosophies out there, you face offensive and defensive "power houses" that are weak on the other side.

That's just football. Now, down the stretch and into the playoffs, we'll probably see more and more balanced teams, which I suspect will result in more balanced results from our guys. We know that we have good capability on both sides of the ball, though injuries have made some dents. We may not be #1 in stats in any given category, but we can play with anybody, and pretty much anywhere, as our road records shows.

Pete plays Pete ball, which means if they get a lead, he doesn't take undue chances just to inflate scores or stats. Fans like to say "He's not going for the win!" when in fact he is. That conservative style of ball results in the greatest number of wins, and if you do open it up when it isn't needed you risk the chance of giving the other team hope and momentum. A lot of folks use the old step on their throats mentality to mean score more points, when really the best way to destroy an opponent's morale is to get lots of first downs when you have the lead and let them watch the clock run down when they can't do anything about it.

 

[John63]

The reality is we will rarely have a true complete game. PCs style will mean if the offense scores a lot, have few punts it is because we are having to out score the opponent which means s the defense is not doing it. If the defense is getting it done we will not be hitting on offense because we dont need to. Need I remind everyone this is the coach that cause Lynch to utter those famous words and I am paraphrasing " is it okay of we keep scoring". While you can argue it has led to a lot of wins, you can argue it also is why we had some unneeded losses, it gives us a very small margin of Victoria. Another arguement can be made we won alot of these games despite PCs style not because of it. I am sure very few would argue that were it not for the magician at QB we have we would not be winning at the clip we have been at all.