Random thoughts on the Chargers game

[kearly]

Philip Rivers had the game of his life. So did Antonio Gates. That by itself might not have been enough, but the 112 degree humid heat and home blues made this loss feel like a formality for most of the final 3 quarters.

This game reminded me an awful lot of Miami in 2012. Extreme heat, extremely porous pass D, a boneheaded 'hit' on the QB that turned a FG into an eventual TD. A QB completing almost every 3rd and long he saw (including all three of his TDs... arrrrrrrgh).

Mostly, I want to congratulate Rivers on a great game, even if it was unbelievably unsustainable, including an avalanche of fumbles of which Seattle miraculously recovered none. It's honestly that stat that bothers me more than the missed tackles and 3rd and long conversions.

Seattle's competitive games streak is over, but:

A: The Hawks already set the record last week, and it will probably stand a long time. and...

B: Nobody outside of Seattle really cares that much about it. It got less mention than say, Felix Hernandez's amazing yet completely arbitrary run of games with 7 innings pitched and two runs or fewer previously this Summer. Any time a streak requires reading subclauses, you can't be too bummed when it eventually snaps.

Even if the way that it snapped was utterly ridiculous.

Broken tackles were a problem again, but Pete has a way of fixing these things and it did appear to be much less of an issue in the second half. And of course, there's little doubt the heat just destroyed Seattle's defensive game plan in every way.

So there's not much reason to point a finger except to say "this is why it's really hard to win them all." Three years from now, someone will predict 19-0 in a preseason prediction thread and Volsunghawk or DavidSeven will pop in to say "Chargers 2014." Future true story.

But even on a day that was kind of a disaster, I am just thankful that the Earl Thomas scare was just that, and that the worries spawned from Lynch's absence proved to be ill-founded.

Ultimately, non-Seahawks fans were treated to a hell of a game. The Chargers fans must have really enjoyed this one, and I really have to take my hat off to the Chargers DC for how he handled that last drive.

It's tough for us, but hopefully this game can be a character builder for a defense that faced the most adversity they've seen in years.

I know it didn't look like it at times, especially on the last drive... but Wilson is a freaking stud. So is Lynch.

Harvin had a tough game, Miller had a brutal game, but these things happen.

As far as this loss, I'm already over it. When Seattle does lose it is pretty much to one of two teams, every single time:

A.) The San Francisco 49ers in their stadium

B.) A huge underdog.

We should be used to it by now. Seattle loves playing in close games against middling teams, and even the best QBs in history only win about 60% of tight games, regardless of the opponent. You play in close games a lot, you will lose some.

Seattle is 8-1 after a loss in the Russell Wilson era (or 9-1 if you want to be silly and include the Panthers opener last year). Denver might think they have a chance after seeing Seattle go down to a damn near perfect offensive performance, but I feel pretty good about being 2-1 a week from now.

 

[hawksfansinceday1]

"This game reminded me an awful lot of Miami in 2012"

Good call.

 

[IndyHawk]

I hate we lost but if we had to,it was going to be on the road outside the NFC..This will add more fuel to the fire against the Donkeys when they visit the home of the 12's..

 

[HawksSoc]

So just to be clear, Earl is fine??

 

[kearly]

He had cramps. He returned to the field later in the game.

 

[DavidSeven]

Very well reasoned post. Sometimes conditions do matter, and you do have to tip your cap to Rivers. I've always respected his game.

 

[Keyhawk]

Yes, it seemed like the 2012 Miami game, but without the sprinklers.

 

[hawksfansinceday1]

Yes, it seemed like the 2012 Miami game, but without the sprinklers.

Wow, forgot about the sprinklers. Good call man.

 

[Lxx]

The Seahawks have just to split 4-4 on the road to win the West. Im not panicking.
12-4 should win be good enough. The Saints starting 0-2 makes it unlikely that the playoffs go through New Orleans

 

[MontanaHawk05]

The game reminded me of the Detroit game in 2012. Seattle didn't play horribly, it's just that Matt Stafford and Titus Young decided at random to have a hell of a game (and haven't pulled it off since) and a couple of mistakes on offense held us back from matching them.

There's fundamentally very little to worry about here, other than the fact that our nickel linebackers are getting burnt in coverage a lot so far this season.

 

[gargantual]

I had visions of another "Fail Mary" cry-fest for the next 2 years if we had only won by a touchdown. At least we don't have that (a giant stretch to find a silver lining, but... y'know!). Rivers played his tail off, no doubt about it. The few headlines I've seen are along the lines of "Chargers cause upset", so at least we're still getting respected out there, at least from most quarters.

Another thing I thought during the game was I'd rather lose this non-conference game than lose Earl.

Heck, we want the boys to stay hungry. Pete should be able to spin gold out of a loss.

 

[Sarlacc83]

I wonder if the missed call on Harvin hurt more than helped. One would have nice to keep the offense on the field and the defense off it.

 

[Scottemojo]

The Chargers OC called a hell of a game, but going to Gates when it really mattered got really predictable. Still couldn't stop it.
It's weird when a quick strike offense is a bad thing.

 

[razgriz737]

The game reminded me of the Detroit game in 2012.

Was gonna say the same thing.

 

[lobohawk]

The Chargers ... and Rivers did this to Denver last year. Made the Bronco's offense sit all game and then played timely defense in the few situations they had to.

The difference between this game and the Chargers-Cardinals game was that the Cards would bring more pressure to the pocket up the middle and the Chargers looked rusty (first game and all that).

 

[hawkfan68]

The biggest stat...the Seahawks had the ball for a little more than 17 minutes. That's a long time for defense to be on the field. The defense didn't show up. They couldn't stop the Charger passing attack. Credit to the Chargers for putting together a good scheme on a short week. They deserved to win and they did.

 

[Trenchbroom]

Tough loss, everything broke right for the Chargers. Still worried about our pass protection (Russell was under siege all game...again...and it's really getting old). But overall I'm not sweating this loss.

 

[Tech Worlds]

I am very disappointed in the way we played considering we had 10 days off and the chargers had just played on Monday. We should have been the fresher team but we simply wernt.

 

[dusktreader]

Heck, we want the boys to stay hungry.

Truth! I'm almost glad that we didn't pull it out on that last drive, because I think our guys need the motivation from an L at the end of a poorly executed game. You can bet your boots that the whole Defense is going to be ravenously hungry to prove themselves next wee at home against the Broncos.

 

[WilsonMVP]

The Seahawks have just to split 4-4 on the road to win the West. Im not panicking.
12-4 should win be good enough. The Saints starting 0-2 makes it unlikely that the playoffs go through New Orleans

Ya..I think the only HFA we would actually have to worry about in the Playoffs is in NO....@SF, @GB @Philly, @ ATL...doesnt scare me at all

I was more upset at how they lost. The offense plays great and the D play could potentially be the worst in the entire league this week even though we are supposedly supposed to be the best D in the league.

After going outside and kind of cooling down about the loss it really isnt that big of a deal. I figured we would probably lose at least one between the Packers, Chargers, Broncos and Cowboys in the first 5 games. Thats 3 of the top 5 QBs right there....Rodgers, Rivers and Manning...and even though Romo chokes, statistically for his career he is a top 5 ALL TIME QB in QB rating

If you look at the schedule the most important thing for us is to win our division games followed by any NFC opponent. If we are going to lose, losing to an AFC team is the best possible scenario.