Love the analysis Ken. Makes one feel a bit more confident in the team. However, I just can't shake the feeling that those 4 turnovers against the Rams represent a flaw that isn't really being addressed and isn't really represented by the stats. If the Hawks can't correct whatever caused them, it seems possible that another team might be able to replicate it.
Luckily the Teams will settle this on the field. Paper match-ups are fun, and I enjoyed reading through this, but ultimately who's better on any given day will prevail. Bad day, and you're out. Good day and you keep going. It ain't easy to get to the Super Bowl. A lot of things need to fall your way. But I like how Mike Macdonald handles the team. Control the controllables, and hope the results are there at the end.
This is a tight team that will play their hearts out for each other, and for the coaches. Perhaps that's our biggest advantage going into the last 4 games and the playoffs.
But which George Foreman? There are like 5 of them.
I wouldn't write-off Rivers either, but the degree of difficulty of what he's about to attempt is very, very high. Winning any NFL game at 44 years of age is amazing. Doing it without any offseason, and without playing any football at all during the season, and without playing with any of these players before? And doing it against the Seahawks? It's a lot to ask. Not impossible, but a high, high degree of difficulty.
I will add one other distinction that applies to the Seahawks/Rams argument in determining who wins the division and a potential playoff meeting between them. Not necessarily who’s better in a vacuum. I watched the Rams lose to the Panthers. Twice, actually. One thing that never seems to gets mentioned when discussing this outlier poor performance by Stafford, (he played poorly against the Hawks as well) is the weather conditions. There was constant rain and gusty winds all game.
The Rams play in a covered stadium, Stafford, when with Detroit played in a covered stadium. He practices in LA which rarely provides the opportunity to practice in poor weather conditions. I live in Seattle, and for what seems like forever now it’s been raining and windy. The current storm system is supposed to break after today, but another group of systems hit again this Sunday and run through the following Saturday. There is a good chance of poor weather conditions for Thursday’s game against the Rams.
Two storm systems are converging on Stafford and the Rams. The Seahawks defense in which Stafford played his worst game of the year in a covered stadium, and the Seattle weather, similar to the conditions in Carolina, in which Stafford played his worst game of the year. The Perfect Storm is about to change the narrative of who is the best team in the NFL.
BTW, It’ll be raining this Sunday and the Colts play in a covered stadium…
Broncos have all the hallmarks of a team that disappoints their fans by getting absolutely creamed in the playoffs before reaching the Super Bowl despite a great record in the regular season.
How fun would it be to have the most unexpected Super Bowl rematch of all time, though? Seahawks vs. Broncos 2025
that's true! that would also be a fun, probably equally-unexpected rematch. That one would have higher stakes in terms of how the fans feel--a Seahawks victory would feel way sweeter than beating the Broncos again, but a defeat would feel that much more bitter
Wow, lots of analysis here, almost too much. Two things I think add to overall team performance are the coaching style and the team peer approval effect. Seahawks have these things going for them. This coaching group gets the credit for high performance of our players. The team looks like they also raise the performance level by cheering on the each other’s achievements, judging by what I see during the game. Some of these intangibles are hard to identify, but the Hawks have them. The challenge will be keeping this group, both coaches and players together going forward.
It’s ironic that the Rams beat the Seahawks with special teams. They kicked the greatest punt ever punted. Two inches longer and it’s a touchback. The Seahawks then faced a nearly impossible FG attempt.
Sometimes results are totally unaware of the stats.
It's there with "Statistics mean nothing to the individual". What might be 1000-1 odds for 999 people, is 1-1 odds for someone. Same with sports, and it's why sports are awesome. For as much as a team can be so heavily dominant or favored, in that one moment anything can happen. It's beautiful chaos which reminds us all we don't live in a simulation.
This year especially, if you opened the box score without knowing who won, you'd probably guess wrong if the box score was all the info you had. They're have been a bunch of games where I've looked at the box score and asked myself 'how in the hell did you manage to lose this game?'.
So what do you make of MacDonald's recent stement that Bradford was graded out by the staff as the best OL in the Atlanta game.? To me, he still looks heavy-footed, and prone to lunging and resultant bad balance, but...
I agree with the assessment. Zabel is athletic enough to recover from mistakes. Bradford is strong enough that if he doesn’t make a mistake, he’s dominant.
What changed recently? Bradford is making fewer mistakes.
There was a recent play where the opposing defender had a free shot at Darnold, right up the middle. Olu blocked the wrong guy. Either Olu made an error, or Kubiak’s blocking rules allowed the RG to read one cue and the center to read a different one.
BTW, that famous photo of Sam looking at AB? He had just been pounded to the ground, there was no flag, and Sam was looking at the ref. But AB was in the foreground of that image. Long ago I came up with this quote: “Propaganda is told through a zoom lens.” This is yet another example. (“Portland on fire” fits too.)
Love the analysis Ken. Makes one feel a bit more confident in the team. However, I just can't shake the feeling that those 4 turnovers against the Rams represent a flaw that isn't really being addressed and isn't really represented by the stats. If the Hawks can't correct whatever caused them, it seems possible that another team might be able to replicate it.
Luckily the Teams will settle this on the field. Paper match-ups are fun, and I enjoyed reading through this, but ultimately who's better on any given day will prevail. Bad day, and you're out. Good day and you keep going. It ain't easy to get to the Super Bowl. A lot of things need to fall your way. But I like how Mike Macdonald handles the team. Control the controllables, and hope the results are there at the end.
This is a tight team that will play their hearts out for each other, and for the coaches. Perhaps that's our biggest advantage going into the last 4 games and the playoffs.
Thinking about yesterday and Phillip Rivers. Hmm. George Foreman won the heavyweight championship at 45.
I wouldn’t write off older athletes so quickly. It is obvious Rivers wasn’t sitting on the couch all this time.
But which George Foreman? There are like 5 of them.
I wouldn't write-off Rivers either, but the degree of difficulty of what he's about to attempt is very, very high. Winning any NFL game at 44 years of age is amazing. Doing it without any offseason, and without playing any football at all during the season, and without playing with any of these players before? And doing it against the Seahawks? It's a lot to ask. Not impossible, but a high, high degree of difficulty.
Which George Foreman? Gotta be the grill salesman right?
Indeed.
I will add one other distinction that applies to the Seahawks/Rams argument in determining who wins the division and a potential playoff meeting between them. Not necessarily who’s better in a vacuum. I watched the Rams lose to the Panthers. Twice, actually. One thing that never seems to gets mentioned when discussing this outlier poor performance by Stafford, (he played poorly against the Hawks as well) is the weather conditions. There was constant rain and gusty winds all game.
The Rams play in a covered stadium, Stafford, when with Detroit played in a covered stadium. He practices in LA which rarely provides the opportunity to practice in poor weather conditions. I live in Seattle, and for what seems like forever now it’s been raining and windy. The current storm system is supposed to break after today, but another group of systems hit again this Sunday and run through the following Saturday. There is a good chance of poor weather conditions for Thursday’s game against the Rams.
Two storm systems are converging on Stafford and the Rams. The Seahawks defense in which Stafford played his worst game of the year in a covered stadium, and the Seattle weather, similar to the conditions in Carolina, in which Stafford played his worst game of the year. The Perfect Storm is about to change the narrative of who is the best team in the NFL.
BTW, It’ll be raining this Sunday and the Colts play in a covered stadium…
Broncos have all the hallmarks of a team that disappoints their fans by getting absolutely creamed in the playoffs before reaching the Super Bowl despite a great record in the regular season.
How fun would it be to have the most unexpected Super Bowl rematch of all time, though? Seahawks vs. Broncos 2025
What about Seahawks vs Patriots?
that's true! that would also be a fun, probably equally-unexpected rematch. That one would have higher stakes in terms of how the fans feel--a Seahawks victory would feel way sweeter than beating the Broncos again, but a defeat would feel that much more bitter
Wow, lots of analysis here, almost too much. Two things I think add to overall team performance are the coaching style and the team peer approval effect. Seahawks have these things going for them. This coaching group gets the credit for high performance of our players. The team looks like they also raise the performance level by cheering on the each other’s achievements, judging by what I see during the game. Some of these intangibles are hard to identify, but the Hawks have them. The challenge will be keeping this group, both coaches and players together going forward.
It’s ironic that the Rams beat the Seahawks with special teams. They kicked the greatest punt ever punted. Two inches longer and it’s a touchback. The Seahawks then faced a nearly impossible FG attempt.
Sometimes results are totally unaware of the stats.
"Sometimes results are totally unaware of the stats."
Brilliant. I'm totally stealing this, bro.
It's there with "Statistics mean nothing to the individual". What might be 1000-1 odds for 999 people, is 1-1 odds for someone. Same with sports, and it's why sports are awesome. For as much as a team can be so heavily dominant or favored, in that one moment anything can happen. It's beautiful chaos which reminds us all we don't live in a simulation.
This year especially, if you opened the box score without knowing who won, you'd probably guess wrong if the box score was all the info you had. They're have been a bunch of games where I've looked at the box score and asked myself 'how in the hell did you manage to lose this game?'.
So what do you make of MacDonald's recent stement that Bradford was graded out by the staff as the best OL in the Atlanta game.? To me, he still looks heavy-footed, and prone to lunging and resultant bad balance, but...
I agree with the assessment. Zabel is athletic enough to recover from mistakes. Bradford is strong enough that if he doesn’t make a mistake, he’s dominant.
What changed recently? Bradford is making fewer mistakes.
There was a recent play where the opposing defender had a free shot at Darnold, right up the middle. Olu blocked the wrong guy. Either Olu made an error, or Kubiak’s blocking rules allowed the RG to read one cue and the center to read a different one.
BTW, that famous photo of Sam looking at AB? He had just been pounded to the ground, there was no flag, and Sam was looking at the ref. But AB was in the foreground of that image. Long ago I came up with this quote: “Propaganda is told through a zoom lens.” This is yet another example. (“Portland on fire” fits too.)
Begaw because Begaw.