Seahawks virtually assured of #1 Seed Now ...

[BlueThunder]

Ok, I get it now. I was having a problem figuring out how the Saints could possibly win the #1. But now I see it all revolves around the 9ers and if they were to take the NFC West title from us. Ok, gotcha. Wouldn't put any money on that scenario though... Well, maybe a little, just in case! :mrgreen:

 

[MidwestHawker]

Negatives? Pete's Always Compete mantra would be hollow. He has said so, last year when our final game vs the Rams had no meaning.

The game against the Rams last year was played with the division still on the line. If SF had lost to Arizona we'd have won the division. That was almost never going to happen, but the game wasn't meaningless.

The "always compete" thing does get in Pete's way at times and forces him into this silly idealistic mindset that doesn't leave room for reality. I'd rather rest starters week 17 if we clinch next week, but I agree that Pete probably won't do that.

 

[SoHo9erFan]

My point then for what it's worth is that the Saints game wasn't meaningless to us, but one more win by Seattle would render it so. Had San Fran lost, Seattle would have clinched the enchilda today. Oh well.

In fact Seattle's position depends extremely little on the rest of the league now. If Seattle wins or ties *OR* San Fran loses or ties, Seattle clinches HFA. The only way Seattle doesn't clinch HFA is for Seattle to lose out AND San Fran to win out. I think that combination is rather unlikely.

very unlikely. the only discussion that is worth having at this point is who you guys will face after the WC round.

At this point, it looks like the 49ers will have the #5 seed (assuming they win out, which I guess isn't actually guaranteed). That means either Carolina or the Saints will most likely have the #6 seed.

Which means the Hawks will get either Carolina or the Saints at home

 

[SoHo9erFan]

My point then for what it's worth is that the Saints game wasn't meaningless to us, but one more win by Seattle would render it so. Had San Fran lost, Seattle would have clinched the enchilda today. Oh well.

In fact Seattle's position depends extremely little on the rest of the league now. If Seattle wins or ties *OR* San Fran loses or ties, Seattle clinches HFA. The only way Seattle doesn't clinch HFA is for Seattle to lose out AND San Fran to win out. I think that combination is rather unlikely.

very unlikely. the only discussion that is worth having at this point is who you guys will face after the WC round.

At this point, it looks like the 49ers will have the #5 seed (assuming they win out, which I guess isn't actually guaranteed). That means either Carolina or the Saints will most likely have the #6 seed.

Which means the Hawks will get either Carolina or the Saints at home

I love how everyone is just discounting the NFC North winner or NFC East winner. Home games can make a hell of a difference. Look at the Saints - shite on the road. SF could also suffer an upset on the road at Philly or Detroit or Chicago or wherever.

At the end of the day, it doesn't matter who comes out of the WC round to play in Seattle, they have no shot at beating us whatsoever. I don't care if it's San Fran, New Orleans, Carolina, Philidelphia, Detroit, Chicago, Arizona - they have no shot. None. Let me repeat that:

They. Have. No. Shot.

lol. can't discount nfc north or east, but we can discount every team in the league.

anyways, yeah, the 49ers might lost in WC round, but that won't have a bearing on the Hawks. its all about whoever comes out of the east, north, and the two south teams

 

[Ad Hawk]

Negatives? Pete's Always Compete mantra would be hollow. He has said so, last year when our final game vs the Rams had no meaning.

The game against the Rams last year was played with the division still on the line. If SF had lost to Arizona we'd have won the division. That was almost never going to happen, but the game wasn't meaningless.

The "always compete" thing does get in Pete's way at times and forces him into this silly idealistic mindset that doesn't leave room for reality. I'd rather rest starters week 17 if we clinch next week, but I agree that Pete probably won't do that.

Always compete can be played at a higher level than that of the individual player. It can apply to how the team might compete by being conservative with the starting rotation in meaningless games. He's competing for a bigger prize, just like we don't always go for it on 4th down. Punting has its place, even as part of the competition.

 

[Blitzer88]

These last 2 games are gonna be very tough based on the last few showings from the Rams and Cards. Hawks have got to bring their A game!

 

[Polaris]

My point then for what it's worth is that the Saints game wasn't meaningless to us, but one more win by Seattle would render it so. Had San Fran lost, Seattle would have clinched the enchilda today. Oh well.

In fact Seattle's position depends extremely little on the rest of the league now. If Seattle wins or ties *OR* San Fran loses or ties, Seattle clinches HFA. The only way Seattle doesn't clinch HFA is for Seattle to lose out AND San Fran to win out. I think that combination is rather unlikely.

very unlikely. the only discussion that is worth having at this point is who you guys will face after the WC round.

At this point, it looks like the 49ers will have the #5 seed (assuming they win out, which I guess isn't actually guaranteed). That means either Carolina or the Saints will most likely have the #6 seed.

Which means the Hawks will get either Carolina or the Saints at home

Actually San Fran would have to win out to be virtually assured the #5 seed since they lose tiebreaks to both Carolina and New Orleans. Fortunately for San Fran, they play each other next week and one of them will lose.

 

[MidwestHawker]

Always compete can be played at a higher level than that of the individual player. It can apply to how the team might compete by being conservative with the starting rotation in meaningless games. He's competing for a bigger prize, just like we don't always go for it on 4th down. Punting has its place, even as part of the competition.

That's true; punting in fact has more of a place in Pete's heart than it possibly should. Punting on those two 4th and 1 situations early when we were in NYG territory was mathematically criminal and quite honestly Pete should never hear the end of it when he does that crap. Unfortunately he seems to be an enemy of math.

 

[Ad Hawk]

Always compete can be played at a higher level than that of the individual player. It can apply to how the team might compete by being conservative with the starting rotation in meaningless games. He's competing for a bigger prize, just like we don't always go for it on 4th down. Punting has its place, even as part of the competition.

That's true; punting in fact has more of a place in Pete's heart than it possibly should. Punting on those two 4th and 1 situations early when we were in NYG territory was mathematically criminal and quite honestly Pete should never hear the end of it when he does that crap. Unfortunately he seems to be an enemy of math.

He also knew our D would stifle their ability to move the ball; I think punting shows the respect he has for the front 7 and LOB as a group. He's playing a very conservative game, and winning doing so. I hope he can turn the corner in the playoffs when teams force us into shootouts.

 

[pocketprotector]

I don't know how many of you have connected the dots ... but by virtue of the Saints losing today ... they have officially been eliminated from the #1 Seed. The very best they can get to is 12-4 ... and of course Seattle holds the tiebreaker, which means Seattle would win the #1 Seed if for some reason they lose the final 2 home games.

The same thing is true with Carolina -- Seattle also owns the tiebreaker there as well.

The ONLY NFC team that could possibly pose a threat to the #1 Seed ... is San Francisco. Next Seahawks win OR San Francisco Loss and the #1 Seed and HFA throughout the playoffs is Seattle's. Simple as that. Just FYI for those who haven't realized that yet. :mrgreen:

The Saints loss really didn't affect the picture much for Seattle, by virtue of the fact that San Francisco will not lose again in the regular season.

 

[Hawkscanner]

Alright, I went ahead and edited the very first post to spell out where things stand as far as the #1 Seed is concerned.

 

[keith da hawk]

technically that's not true. if saints won out and the hawks lose their next two, the saints would have the one seed.

This is incorrect. We own the tie-breaker. If we lost 2 and they won 2, we would be tied at 12-4 with us owning the head to head tie-breaker. Do your research.

Actually if the Saints win out, San Francisco wins out, and we lost our last two then all three teams would finish 12-4.
Here's how the Seeding would work in that scenario:

1. New Orleans (HFA, NFC South Champs, Head-to-Head Tie Breaker over 49ers)
2. San Francisco (Better Division Record than Seahawks, NFC West Champs)
5. Seattle (can't be above a 5 seed without winning your division)

So yes, while we would have the tie breaker over New Orleans it would not be applicable in this case since San Francisco would win the division.

 

[kearly]

here's a weird thought. the Hawks could really mess with the 49ers playoff shot if they lost to the Cards next week. since the seahawks have virtually sealed the #1 seed, what if PC and the Hawks purposefully lose to the Cards by sitting all the starters...

electing to sit the starters week 16 and playing them week 17 also prevents the rustiness factor that plagues teams with 1st round bye

Kind of obvious that you are being a wishful thinker with a clumsily hidden agenda, but to answer this statement on face value:

#1: Pete doesn't rest starters. It's not in his code. You can say it's dumb and I would understand that perspective, but know that to Pete sometimes it's about losing the battle and winning the war. What he's doing is working, so he's not going to compromise his values until he absolutely has to.

#2: I'm sure you'd love a situation where all it takes is a Rams win for SF to steal the division and #1 seed. The Rams have played Seattle tough as hell the last 3 meetings. The Cardinals will probably get beat soundly, but I'd give the Rams maybe a 25% chance to win that last game, compared to maybe a 5% chance for Arizona. Locking up the #1 in week 16 is a pretty big deal, IMO. If the Seahawks lose to Arizona it gives the 49ers very real hope.

 

[Hawkscanner]

technically that's not true. if saints won out and the hawks lose their next two, the saints would have the one seed.

This is incorrect. We own the tie-breaker. If we lost 2 and they won 2, we would be tied at 12-4 with us owning the head to head tie-breaker. Do your research.

Actually if the Saints win out, San Francisco wins out, and we lost our last two then all three teams would finish 12-4.
Here's how the Seeding would work in that scenario:

1. New Orleans (HFA, NFC South Champs, Head-to-Head Tie Breaker over 49ers)
2. San Francisco (Better Division Record than Seahawks, NFC West Champs)
5. Seattle (can't be above a 5 seed without winning your division)

So yes, while we would have the tie breaker over New Orleans it would not be applicable in this case since San Francisco would win the division.

You're right there Keith. Don't know what I was thinking (I guess simply the result of being in a hurry late last night). That's exactly right and I've corrected my original post to note that.

 

[tafkar]

At the end of the day, it doesn't matter who comes out of the WC round to play in Seattle, they have no shot at beating us whatsoever. I don't care if it's San Fran, New Orleans, Carolina, Philidelphia, Detroit, Chicago, Arizona - they have no shot. None. Let me repeat that:

They. Have. No. Shot.

You are forgetting one of the basic truisms of life... SHOT HAPPENS

 

[Hawks46]

here's a weird thought. the Hawks could really mess with the 49ers playoff shot if they lost to the Cards next week. since the seahawks have virtually sealed the #1 seed, what if PC and the Hawks purposefully lose to the Cards by sitting all the starters...

electing to sit the starters week 16 and playing them week 17 also prevents the rustiness factor that plagues teams with 1st round bye

Pete doesn't rest starters.

yeah, again, i don't see any negatives to resting them week 16. you guys would still have a game week 17 to get back into the flow and what not

We'll rest our starters for the last half of the last game, unless we are killing the Rams that badly. I'm willing to bet Bowie at least wants some revenge in that Rams game.

 

[jlwaters1]

I don't know how many of you have connected the dots ... but by virtue of the Saints losing today ... they have officially been eliminated from the #1 Seed. The very best they can get to is 12-4 ... and of course Seattle holds the tiebreaker, which means Seattle would win the #1 Seed if for some reason they lose the final 2 home games.

The same thing is true with Carolina -- Seattle also owns the tiebreaker there as well.

The ONLY NFC team that could possibly pose a threat to the #1 Seed ... is San Francisco. Next Seahawks win OR San Francisco Loss and the #1 Seed and HFA throughout the playoffs is Seattle's. Simple as that. Just FYI for those who haven't realized that yet. :mrgreen:

The saints game today means absolutely nothing. As soon as we won today we only needed one more win to clinch hfa. After the saints loss that won't change. We still need one more win to clinch both our division and hfa

technically that's not true. if saints won out and the hawks lose their next two, the saints would have the one seed.

but the likelihood of that scenario playing out was slim to none

Nope, that's not true at all. Seattle could lose the next 2 games and there's ZERO chance the Saints get the #1, because Seattle has the tiebreaker with a head to head win. The Saints are irrelevant at this point.

 

[SalishHawkFan]

For the Cardinals to make it, they have to win out their last two games and have NO lose both or have SF lose both. First off, SF will not lose to Atl. at home, with the playoffs on the line. So the only realistic way for AZ to get in is NO loses next week at Carolina (which I expect they probably will) and then NO loses the week after to TB, in NO, with the playoffs on the line. Probably not going to happen.

Since NO plays Caro at 10 AM, if the Saints win, then at some point during our game, the Niners will have put Atl. away, at which point the Cards will no longer have anything but pride to play for.

In either event, the Cards are no longer breathing down SF's neck. SF just needs to beat Atl. to be in.

 

[BlueTalons]

All this scenario talk has me thinking of the end of "War Games"...no matter how you play things out, the same end result happens: Seahawks on top.

GO HAWKS!!!

 

[Polaris]

For the Cardinals to make it, they have to win out their last two games and have NO lose both or have SF lose both. First off, SF will not lose to Atl. at home, with the playoffs on the line. So the only realistic way for AZ to get in is NO loses next week at Carolina (which I expect they probably will) and then NO loses the week after to TB, in NO, with the playoffs on the line. Probably not going to happen.

Since NO plays Caro at 10 AM, if the Saints win, then at some point during our game, the Niners will have put Atl. away, at which point the Cards will no longer have anything but pride to play for.

In either event, the Cards are no longer breathing down SF's neck. SF just needs to beat Atl. to be in.

Small correction here. The last thing the Cards want is for NO to lose next week because that would mean that Carolina has won. About the only realistic shot that the Cards have is to win a tiebreaker with Carolina,and a Carolina win puts Carolina mathematically out of reach of the Cards. The Cards lost to NO which means they lose the tiebreaker.

Because of this tiebreak, I don't see any way that Arizona is eliminated before we play them next week. However, if (when) we beat Arizona, Arizona will be eliminated if Carolina also won earlier that day (which I think will happen). Thus I fully expect Arizona to be playing for their playoff lives since once Carolina wins, the only shot they've got is to hope that they win out and San Fran loses out.....which isn't going to happen.