Bluesbro":732daijy said:
All the pressure is on Seattle. Favorite all year, in the Seahawks yard with the 12th man. If the 49ers lose, well, they were underdogs anyway. But if the Hawks lose ... they will have lost when they had every advantage (home field throughout, the bye). There is something to say about the 'nothing to lose' scenario.
"Nothing to lose" is theme of
The Mighty Ducks. Jim Harbaugh is not Emilio Estevez, and Patrick Willis is not a plump pre-pubescent goalie. Granted, I haven't seen a photo of him lately, but that would come as some surprise to me.
There seems to be a transitional disconnect between Seattle being a provisional Vegas Favorite and your personal definition of "pressure." Seattle has the home-field advantage, yes, but if San Francisco truly thinks of themselves as an Elite team, then the burden of consistently performing at that level comes with that territory. We're talking, of course, about a team that was only one game back from their third straight NFC West title. A team that is now in its third straight NFC Championship Game. A team that is 41-13-1 through the last three full seasons. A talented team helmed by a proven coach.
A team that attempted to remind the city of Seattle - via a malfunctioning billboard - of their five Super Bowl titles won a generation ago.
Add to that the fact that the 49ers have fallen short of their own expectations (
i.e. a Super Bowl Victory) in their previous two attempts. Pressure comes with all these factors, regardless of what a tournament seeding says.
Honestly: in the NFL playoffs, everyone feels pressure. I doubt Sean Payton was of the conceit that "Oh well! We gave it our best shot! We had nothing to lose, fellas!" when the game was over. I can tell you right now that
Gordon Bombay Jim Harbaugh sure as hell won't float that nonsense in the locker room after the game, should they lose.