50yrpatsfan":270m0tve said:
Listen, I don't think we're actually disagreeing about much here. I do think your defense isn't quite as good as it was a year ago, and with some of your DLine/pass rush out, that's not a controversial statement.
Not controversial, certainly debatable. The stats don't bear out a big drop in run defense, in fact quite the opposite (NE numbers thrown in just because)
Per ESPN
This year, Hawks 3rd in run defense. Last year 7th
This year Hawks 1st in pass defense. Last year 1st.
NE this year 9th against the run, 17th in passing defense.
By DVOA
This year Hawks 2nd in run defense. Last year 7th
This year Hawks 3rd in pass defense. Last year 1st
Overall defensive DVOA 1st both years
NE this year 14th against the run and 12th in pass defense, 11th overall.
So unless there was an overwhelming, league wide drop in offensive quality and production, it is hard to argue that the Hawks defense is worse this year than last, against the run, against the pass, or overall.
Since this is a thread on the secondaries, I will point out that a lot of the reason for this is that Seattle's secondary has improved on their run defense this year. The run defense was a big question going into the season due to personnel changes on the line. Those concerns proved to be unfounded when our starters and backups stepped up in a big way. Injuries have now depleted the line and do seem to have decreased the overall quality of our d-line play against the run, but the secondary picked up the slack and then some.
50yrpatsfan":270m0tve said:
The biggest things I saw vs Green Bay were the time that Rodgers had, the number of times receivers were free, and Lacy running over people. You didn't see those things as much last year.
Um, yes you actually did, in fact, see QBs with a lot of time and open receivers as much last year. (At least you would have if you had watched our games.) What you didn't see (last year or this year) was QBs and receivers able to do much with that time and openness. We give up pretty significant completion percentages and did so last year (61% this year 59% last year), but that didn't translate into yards, points, or wins (2970 yds (6.3 YPA) 2014 vs 2752 yds (5.8 YPA) 2013).
I get the sense that you probably watched the Superb Owl and that is your metric. That was one game. One amazing, fabulous, everything came together at just the right time game. To compare this year's D to last year's D, you have to look at the entire season. In that light, they are pretty close with the overall edge going to this year's D if you buy the stats.
As for Lacy running all over us? Please
Lacy vs Hawks in NFCCG 21 rushes for 73 yards (3.48 YPC). Longest 13 yards.
Lacy vs Pats 21 rushes for 98 yards (4.67 YPC). Longest 24 yards.
Lacy on the season 246 rushes for 1,139 yards (4.63 YPC) Longest 44 yards.
50yrpatsfan":270m0tve said:
Yes, they held in the rz, but on the other hand Rodgers was hurt and you were at home.
Rodgers looked pretty good on his 12 yard scamper and never looked troubled moving around in the pocket. He had a nagging injury, but clearly nothing significant enough to put him off of his game. We played at home last year too. What's the point?
50yrpatsfan":270m0tve said:
Hawks were extremely lucky to win, on a couple of ultra-rare special teams plays.
Absolutely agree that we were lucky last week. It is amazing how the best teams seem to routinely be more lucky than the other teams. As a NE fan, you should know a lot about this.
50yrpatsfan":270m0tve said:
The NE defense gives up a lot of yards and can look pretty porous at times, so far from perfect. But they're not playing as good an offense as Seattle's D has to face either. NE was #1 in the league in point differential for the year.
In that regard our defenses are similar. See the record setting game that Manning had in last year's Superb Owl for example.
As for offensive quality... Well, we just shut down the #1 offense in the league last week. Yes, it was an ugly win because of some offensive miscues on our part (miscues that won't happen in AZ BTW), but the defense shut down GB.
You have yet to play a running game as good as us this year. You have definitely played some teams with better passing games than us.
We have played 3 of the 4 teams who have a better passing game than you and went 3 and 1 in those games. Your rushing attack is pretty average and we have faced much better rushing teams.
Overall our offensive DVOA is one spot higher than yours. So, in fact, your defense will be facing off against an offense that is just as good. We just do it in a different way.
50yrpatsfan":270m0tve said:
I do admire Wilson, he's very dangerous and a challenge to contain. But he looked very human last Sunday against a D that's similar to NE's.
All QBs look human at times. Brady as well. The great ones overcome and pull wins seemingly out of nowhere. Brady has done it. Wilson has done it. Luck... well maybe sometime. Wilson looked absolutely amazing in the last 4 minutes of the game. He overcame and found a way to win. The Pats won't have the luxury of all the early game miscues (largely weather related) that GB enjoyed.
50yrpatsfan":270m0tve said:
There's a lot of interesting aspects to this game. I also think the fan bases and media of each team don't know too much about the other, which adds to the intrigue.
On this we can agree. Can't wait. It is going to be a great game. (although I do think that we know a bit more about the Pats than your side knows about us. We've been force fed the Pats for years and you have only had to be force fed us for the last 12 months.)
- bsd RPA