The "Butterfly Effect"...

[BlueThunder]

There is something I've never brought up before but has bugged the hell out of me for decades. Everybody's gonna have to put on their "science" hats for this, as it involves infinate possible timelines from a single point in time. I know many of you here will already know what I'm talking about so just bear with me.

I'm going to use our loss to the Falcons as an example eventually, and that will work as an explanation of the myriad examples not only in football, but in our day to day lives as well. The decisions we all make in life creates new timelines that are either slightly or radically different than what would have happened had we made a different decision at that one point. Say for example, some night you were driving home from work, and were deciding whether or not to stop at the bar to knock back a few. You finally decided to just go home. Had you made the decision to stop by the bar instead, you could have met your future wife, or if not, you got in your car drunk, drove home and hit a kid and spent the next 20 years behind bars. But even if you had just stopped by the bar, not met anyone new, and just drove home uneventfully, the rest of your life would have still been different, maybe dramatically different from that point on than if you had just gone home without the stop at the bar. This is where Football comes in.

In listening to all the talk of our loss to the Falcons, I keep hearing "If we would have just kicked that field goal instead of going for it on 4th and 1, we would have won". BS. We may have won, but if we had successfully kicked a 3 there, the rest of the game would have been completely different. The play calling would have changed, and one difference breeds new timelines, and the complete complextion of the game would have been altered. We may not have had the big comeback, or perhaps we would have taken over the game at that point. Nobody will ever know. I'm just a little tired of people that think if we had just done one little thing different in the 1st quarter, it would have made the difference of win or loss. It may have, and it may not have. Just had to get that off my chest. Carry on.

GO HAWKS! (that's my new thing now) GOD I love that kid!

 

[Scottemojo]

We had the lead with less than a minute left. that is all we need to know.

 

[slargent4ever]

Mind blown.

 

[Twisted]

I might agree with the first half and maybe slightly the second half, but your theory should always lend to doing the right thing now so you condition yourself to do whats right in the future..

how much has Americas family integrity been compromised due to men meeting their wives in bars? divorce rate?

integrity is huge

I have to wonder what they were trying to tell a top 4 defense by going for it on 4th down and letting the clock run out and not just taking the points?

a strong defense relies on you to take every point you can when they get you the ball back, that philosophy doesn't lend well to playing like the game is on the line every play in the game and you have to get into the end zone NOW!!!

not when you have a defense that has came back so many times, take the points, sheesh, Denver is out because they missed a FG, would they loved to have the chance for the chip shot? you take the 3, you see the clock is winding down and take the 3, thats called "clock management"

so many mental errors but far more for the Falcons that the Seahawks..


.

 

[bellyfat]

Everyone thinks they're smart - after the fact. I used to play the what if game all the time but like you said there are various scenarios that could've played out that we will never know. Just like Russell says, I am just looking forward to the next opportunity.

 

[Twisted]

Wilson is young and by no way perfect, he is a young warrior, seasoned Warriors don't simply look for their next opportunities, they create them...

 

[Seattle_Stunna_MD]

Forward ever, backward never.

Consider your mind blown!

 

[BlueThunder]

I might agree with the first half and maybe slightly the second half, but your theory should always lend to doing the right thing now so you condition yourself to do whats right in the future..

how much has Americas family integrity been compromised due to men meeting their wives in bars? divorce rate?

integrity is huge

I have to wonder what they were trying to tell a top 4 defense by going for it on 4th down and letting the clock run out and not just taking the points?

a strong defense relies on you to take every point you can when they get you the ball back, that philosophy doesn't lend well to playing like the game is on the line every play in the game and you have to get into the end zone NOW!!!

not when you have a defense that has came back so many times, take the points, sheesh, Denver is out because they missed a FG, would they loved to have the chance for the chip shot? you take the 3, you see the clock is winding down and take the 3, thats called "clock management"

so many mental errors but far more for the Falcons that the Seahawks..


.

Wow. Way to miss the point. WHOOSH!

 

[TDOTSEAHAWK]

One could also argue that if we score the field goal - the Falcons don't immediately score that TD on the big Roddy White catch on the ensuing drive. Additionally, if we scored then before half - theoretically the game could have been 13-6 or even 13-10 going into the half.

I actually thought that we should have kicked the field goal there not because the points were utterly important at the time but we need to slow that first half down. We were hemorrhaging really bad and I just felt if we could slow the game down we would bounce back dramatically. That happened too late though it did happen.

Anything could have happened - the bottom line though is if we had three more points - we would have won.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

I hear a LOT of ppl on the radio blaming PC for this one. Well, he doesn't play defense, he didn't give up 31 points, and he certainly wasn't out there giving up 2 easy plays to get them in position to get the winning field goal. Our lack of pass rush has haunted us all season long. This team WILL address it, and we'll start winning these close games on a more consistent basis.

 

[kidhawk]

Not that this needed repeating in yet ANOTHER thread, but the "butterfly effect" is all around us all the time. I mean if Russell Wilson had farted in the 2nd quarter we MAY have never scored. It's a good thing he held it in.

What people are trying to discuss is what they wanted to see happen at the time and how it could have easily affected the outcome of the game. Not many people are guaranteeing a victory, because there is no way to know what would have happened with any what if scenario.

Why people need to call out other people for discussing the parts of the game they don't like as if they have no right to talk about it is ludicrous. Many people are saying if we don't do the soft zone, we win that game easily....we don't know that if we go press coverage they don't get 2 Pass interference calls and kick the ball, or maybe a guy gets free for a TD. There is no scenario where we KNOW the outcome except the one that happened in this reality, but to act as if discussing the other options is somehow "BS" is honestly the only BS here

 

[Twisted]

how is that? by saying we wont ever know what would have happened hypothetically?

heres what we do know... they turned the ball over on downs and let the clock expire while missing 6 points..

my point is you don't plan or play anything with the what might HAVE happened if I did that..

you plan by way of what will happen if I don't do something..

its already proven that if certain events out of our control did not unfold the universe would not exist so many things are already out of our control..

your better off figuring out what you should be doing and do them in order to acquire a desired result, if part your game plan is to meet drunk women in bars then by all means you should stop in the bar and stop entertaining what ifs, if your desire is to score points then you should kick the 3 every time unless the 3 is fruitless..

an argument within an argument?

 

[volshawk]

Ah, I guess the legalization of marijuana kicked in.

 

[BlueThunder]

The one and ONLY thing I was trying to Illustrate is that alot of people are trying to say that the 3 points from that non-field goal could simply be tacked onto the final score. I'm saying that's ridiculous. Everything would have been different at that point. Just the difference of us kicking off to them rather than them taking over on downs would have been huge timeline differece. Open the brains just a little, m'kay?

 

[Reaneypark]

If - means nothing. You just have to learn from the mistakes and move on.

 

[sutz]

Coulda, shoulda, woulda......ultimately, this game was lost last October, when we blew a couple of games we should have won, thus letting SF win the division and making us travel in the playoffs.

The real lesson for the team is to win during the regular season and get that home playoff game.

The thing about that call, he wasn't "disrespecting" the defense, he was counting on it. He figured if we turned it over on downs inside their 15 yard line, we'd get the freaking ball back with some decent field position. We do have "the best defense in the league" right?

 

[BlueThunder]

if part your game plan is to meet drunk women in bars then by all means you should stop in the bar and stop entertaining what ifs

This is kinda where I stopped listening... when you used a simple illustration... to... uh... Oh, never mind.

 

[Twisted]

I think its safe to say that what were all talking about here is "a gamble"

isn't every play based off a gamble?

so how do you decide what play to use?

if you keep getting pai gow hands and lose every single time wouldn't if be safe to say if you stop playing that hand you will stop losing?

just like trying to shove Marshawn up the middle when they were waiting almost every single time, thats called pressing your luck

as far the field goals go its all a matter of percentages, how many times those have actually been converted and how many times a team has lost while taking 6 points down 20-0 in the first HALF!!!

some people are trying to make this harder than it really is..

the the draw play for instance, its just like draw poker and much better than straight poker in that it gives you an opportunity to discard one look for another, its not a guarantee your new cards will improve your hand, it just gives you that opportunity..

I have always thought that in order to be good at any sport where critical thinking is required as in a game of chance you have to be a good gambler, no ones saying the coaches aren't good coaches, they're just saying they made some bad gambles...

if you ask me the biggest mistake they made the entire game was to NOT kick the FG with 3 seconds left on the clock, the percentages were greater for making that kick than they were for making the hail mary, especially when you already spent your only hail mary allotted in football, that hail mary was your 7 card natural straight flush, some people play their entire lives and never see a single one..

you went out and got a kicker, went through all the motions but decided not to use him, someones trying to tell you something

 

[Twisted]

if part your game plan is to meet drunk women in bars then by all means you should stop in the bar and stop entertaining what ifs

This is kinda where I stopped listening... when you used a simple illustration... to... uh... Oh, never mind.

I'm only elaborating on what you already illustrated, I know why guys stop by bars on their way home from work...

 

[Twisted]

Coulda, shoulda, woulda......ultimately, this game was lost last October, when we blew a couple of games we should have won, thus letting SF win the division and making us travel in the playoffs.

The real lesson for the team is to win during the regular season and get that home playoff game.

The thing about that call, he wasn't "disrespecting" the defense, he was counting on it. He figured if we turned it over on downs inside their 15 yard line, we'd get the freaking ball back with some decent field position. We do have "the best defense in the league" right?

you honestly think he "figured" on turning the ball over as apposed to taking the points?

the issue is very clear now, don't let pete make those types of calls, EVER

you take the points and let your defense go to work in the second half like they always do, its not complicated, obviously it was only a mistake in hindsight, only in hindsight, at the time it was a huge mistake, you always take the points, why do you thing there are FAR more FG attempts than there are 4th down conversions?

this game isn't that difficult why are people trying to make it so? if you lose you lose but don't lose by leaving points on the field, simply suiting up is a gamble..

99.9 percent of the time coaches are going to kick in both of those 3 point situations, especially with a team like the Seahawks.. Hawks are great but the falcons have been stuffing it up the middle all day long?

if you are going to take a low percentage play and gamble with it why not increase your odds by doing something they are NOT expecting?

it was a bad decision and a bad play, obviously, because it didn't work!

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