Just A Random But Scary Thought

[Pandion Haliaetus]

If the Seahawks had beaten the Falcons in the 2012 Play-Offs but would have lost a hard fought battle in the NFC CG at Candlestick (which would have been very probable without Clemons)...

I think the 49ers would have been better prepared to face a tough, gritty, physical team (even if that persona was on its last legs) like the Ravens more so than after playing soft, finesse teams like the Packers and Falcons. ( In a way much like the Falcons made it a difficult game against the 49ers probably from playing the Seahawks the week before. In a sense)

So had the Seahawks actually beat ATL but didnt have enough to finish the 49ers (albiet 42-13), would the Superbowl played out different, would the 49ers be Superbowl 47 Champions, would thier fans finally have got to put thier elitist consending BS on the other hand?

Who knows but I do know it would have been a horrible nightmare because of those 49er fans. Its funny too because Niner nation on social networks are already fed up with Seahawks fans relishing thier first, when we know they would have been 6 times worst in trashtalk and 10 times more annoying to every other fanbase.

But not to make it more about the 49ers, Im so thankful that the Seahawks did finally finish what the Division couldnt in 4 other chances since 2001 and thats win a Superbowl.

On a side note, Im also thankful that the NFC West transformed it self from NFLs Worst to NFLs Best, nobody in the league wants to play the iron cladded West division.

( mods move if you feel the need)

 

[Skansi82]

Had that happened like you outlined, that would have sucked. Although coming off a huge comeback win in Atlanta I think we would have given them a game in the NFC Championship......even at Candlestick. Seattle's offense was finally hitting it's stride and they had just beat the Niners down 42-13 a few weeks before that. 17-14 Hawks in the NFC Championship, and I think we would have worked the Ravens in the SB. Talk about scary........we could be going for a Threepeat this year!!!

 

[Sarlacc83]

I don't think so. The Ravens were massive underdogs by DVOA. They just had one of those games like the Giants where they weren't losing to a superior team. The Ravens of 2012 weren't even close to the hard core hitters of 2000.

 

[kearly]

I think Seattle would be back to back champs right now if not for Clemons going down on that Fed Ex turf.

Would Seattle have beaten SF without Clemons? Maybe. Give Kaep five seconds to throw and he won't do as much with it as a lot of other QBs would.

 

[General Manager]

I think we lose to SF in that scenario. Glad things evolved as they did I wouldn't change anything we won our first SB last season and did it against Denver and Payton Manning . No one can ever take that away from us.

 

[evergreen]

The thing about 2012 is we were the hot team. Daniel Snyder sucks! Thank God that idiot isn't our owner, he's like a Ken Berring but worse. And even without Clemmons and Houscha we were so frikin' close to beating Atlanta. Just thinking about some of the reasons we lost that game:
1) 4th and goal I, 2) 4th and Goal II, 3) Lynch Fumble, 4) Getting burned for that long bomb, 5) Not holding their receivers in the last few seconds, 6) Calling the timeout to ice the kicker, ) ADB not picking up some more sideline yards before going out of bounds- i think you kick the 60 FG let your kicker become legendary.
Just one mistake less and we win. If we'd won we'd beat the Niners, probably. We just annihilated them a few weeks before. So we'd have a good psychological thing going on.

 

[Hawks46]

Honestly, we win that Atlanta game if we just were able to get that FG at halftime. Just one freakin play and we go to SF for the NFCCG.

I honestly think we beat the Niners in that game. We were the hottest team in the NFL at that time of the year. Our defense was better this year, but our offense was better in 2012. We just got done beating down SF, we came back from being down to Wash, and then if we come back being down 20 to Atlanta.....there's no way our team is losing that.

SF could jump on us early, and we would shrug if off (if they could even get up on us...). I had doubts we would beat SF at the end of the year, I had doubts about the NFCCG, I have no doubts about 2012, we were just playing that well. If we go to the SB, we beat the Ravens.

I just wonder if we are able to make the same offseason moves if we win the SB that year. If not, we wouldn't win this year....we squeaked into the playoffs as the 1st seed, our offense was playing pretty poorly at the end of the year, and we barely beat the Niners in our house. There is a slim margin of error for last year and we'd need to do everything the same to get to the SB. Losing a couple of players or not picking up some could've been the difference

 

[gowazzu02]

dont forget in 12' we just beat the tar out of SF on SNF announcing our presence with authority. I think we had their number that year..... with or without Clem. Not like Kap can read a progression with extra time anyway.

 

[hawkfan68]

I don't think so. Baltimore was winning that superbowl no matter what. Ray Lewis' final game. If Seattle played in the NFCCG against the 49ers. The 49ers would have been worse shape going into the SB physically ( if SF would have won) since Seattle is more physical than the Falcons. It's a game of matchups and the Ravens matched up better to the 49ers. Thus the Ravens won.

 

[Anonymous]

I think our buddy PH really has some quality time on burn off...

I liked the way things went, because I think we earned this past year a lot more than we would have earned it a season before.

Seemed like we needed a lot of luck in 2012 to get where we did, vs 2013, where we clearly displayed skill all the way through.

 

[drdiags]

My question regarding the "what if" scenario in 2012 is whether Miller is playing the next week after suffering that foot issue early in the Atlanta game. He played magnificently that Atlanta game but I am thinking adrenaline and pain meds got him through that. With him and Clemons missing, I am a tad less optimistic for the re-match. Until the recent NFCCG, it had been tight in the Bay area and CLink advantage when the two met.

I would have loved the opportunity but I suspect it would not be as clear cut a win as some are stating. The Miller injury would sort of be like the Carlson one in Chicago. Also, our replacement kicker coming out of retirement would have been another area of concern. Too bad we never got the chance.

Ryan had one of the most uncanny stats for last minute comebacks leading into that game. He didn't fail to deliver in it either.

 

[Seahawkfan80]

What yall have said is valid and well said. I appreciate it all. One more thing too....even tho we did not go to the big dance that year, #3 did go as a passenger and visitor. He wanted to understand what he was missing so he would feel right about it when it came up in the future months/years. THat I think is what made Our championship year happen. He felt what it was like on the dance floor without the girl. (the girl being a football all his own). When he went back, He brought the girl and danced the night away. After all, the week before was the Prom....the week of the Owl was graduation. All the tests were taken, All the grades given out and they passed all the classes. All that was needed was the walk down the aisle and take the trophy home.






Go Hawks

 

[BirdsCommaAngry]

Completing the comeback against ATL could have made us into a doubtless, unstoppable, SB championship-bound team notching the first of 27 consecutive titles. It could have also made us overconfident and just a tad too complacent in our preparation to top SF, and the resulting loss plays out like an example of Murphy's Law in an absolute blow-out. Maybe that embarrassing performance has future FA signings like Avril and Bennet looking for a squad that appears more like a contender. In the end, what can we possibly know? The OP is talking about what's essentially game theory and we're sadly lacking the thoughts of a real game theorist.

 

[ZagHawk]

I think had we beat ATL that year, with the amount of momentum we had, we would have won the SB, maybe not as easily as this year, but we would have won.

BUT

I also think we would not have bothered getting Percy, Bennett and Avril over the offseason, and something tells me we would not have won it this year because of it.

So bottomline, I see it like whenever you think back to your past relationships. Things could have turned out differently BUT if you're happy with where you are at now, you gotta see it as GOOD failures that got you to where you are today.

Hell right after that loss, Pete came back in the locker room and said something like "this is why we need HFA" or something to that extent.

 

[ZagHawk]

Could you imagine if Percy went to San Fran and did not get injured in 2013.

 

[drdiags]

For me, from a Seattle Seahawks point of view is that the defense's failure to hold ATL for those last 30 odd seconds is that it robbed Russell Wilson of a legacy setting game. Had the team won, that game goes down as one of the finest comeback games in the history of the NFL for a 1st year QB, in his first run in the playoffs.

I suffer severely from the SOS syndrome. Wilson had a chance for a storybook ending in his first professional game against the Cards, only to be let down by the WR corp. He had a chance to create a legendary game, on the road against the top-rated seed in the NFC playoffs, only to have it taken from his grasp.

I am truly shocked that some ill-formed event didn't rear its ugly head to steal our precious at Met Life. It didn't happen, so no matter what, fate has played out in such a way that all our nightmares ended up in an inception-like black hole.

That is the good thought that one can take from the random, but scary thought.

 

[Seahawk Sailor]

You and me both, Doc. You and me both.