Seahawks look scary

neilg said:

Gimmicky offense? They put up 596 yards on the Cards who have one of the top defenses in the league.

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Except yardage allowed wise Cardinals are not a top defense.

Watching our WR's go against that secondary will be laughable

JMC00 said:

Who leads the league in scoring?

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Pats are very good at complementary football, probably best in the league. Defense/Special teams makes a play and the offense gets on the field and scores. Offense has been trash for several weeks now. Defense/Special teams are the only reason why they still have a chance at the #1 seed.

Do you feel confident the Pats could drive 80+ yards on Seattle? I don't. We've seen this time and time again against teams like the Jets/Ravens. Get to Brady and he starts to get skittish in the pocket, enter dink and dunk mode up and down the field. We already know Pats can't pass the ball deep.

The Lombardi is worth so much because it's so hard to win it. Not only do you have to beat a couple of really good teams to do so but luck can play a role in any one and done playoff game.

I remember having two thoughts after last year's SB: the one that I was sooooo glad that Peyton hadn't won his second ring, the other that there was no way last season's Pats would have beaten Seattle that day.

I'm just taking this year's playoffs one game at a time. Truth to tell? The team that showed up in the Meadowlands yesterday wouldn't have done very well against any of the NFC teams mentioned elsewhere in this thread, particularly the Seahawks. They let Geno look like an NFL QB in the first half before they put him in his place later in the game. They couldn't protect Brady, who was so hurried that he underthrew a lot of passes to open guys, and the running game, well, sucked. I'm glad Vince Wilfork has a big pinky finger, because that's what probably won the game for us.

But, Belichick is a genius at fixing stuff like that. So, as I said above, I'm taking it one game at a time.

SyN65 said:

Pats are very good at complementary football, probably best in the league. Defense/Special teams makes a play and the offense gets on the field and scores. Offense has been trash for several weeks now. Defense/Special teams are the only reason why they still have a chance at the #1 seed.

Do you feel confident the Pats could drive 80+ yards on Seattle? I don't. We've seen this time and time again against teams like the Jets/Ravens. Get to Brady and he starts to get skittish in the pocket, enter dink and dunk mode up and down the field. We already know Pats can't pass the ball deep.

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Yes I am completely confident that the Pats could drive down the field 80+ yards multiple times. I'm especially confident seeing is how 3rd stinger Ryan Lindley drove it 50 yards 4 times last night on the Seahawks.

Throwing deep is vastly overrated. In fact "dink and dunk" is how you beat Seattle. Pretty sure Brady had close to 400 yards against them in Seattle.

I don't think any team should scare the Pats. As for Seattle specifically, they look like the best in the NFC right now, but they'll have to get through a few very good teams to even get the chance to play the Pats or some other AFC team in the SB.

The real scary thing about the NFC is that the 7-9 Falcons, or even better the 6-9-1 Carolina Panthers, could knock the 10-6 Eagles out of the playoffs. I don't think I've ever pulled as hard for two NFC teams to win than I am for the Panthers and Eagles. Then I could sit back and enjoy the NFC playoffs even more.

KontradictioN said:

They would totally lock our offense, even at full health, down. Meanwhile, they have a mobile quarterback who is accurate on offense and we all know what our defensive game plan is against those guys. They're the team in the NFC that I really don't want to see.

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I respect Seattle's defense as much as anyone, but saying they would totally lock us down without even a question is laughably premature.

JMC00 said:

Yes I am completely confident that the Pats could drive down the field 80+ yards multiple times. I'm especially confident seeing is how 3rd stinger Ryan Lindley drove it 50 yards 4 times last night on the Seahawks.

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It's very hard to evaluate how good the Seahawks' defense really is given the following:

Week 17: Shaun Hill
Week 16: Ryan Lindley, 6 points
Week 15: Colin Kaepernick in free fall, 7 points
Week 14: Mark Sanchez, 14 points
Week 13: Colin Kaepernick in free fall, 3 points
Week 12: Drew Stanton, 3 points

Impressive run averaging less than 7 PPG, but not a decent QB among them.

Seattle would need only 10 points against this team, and it would be a wrap .. Folks, we have seen this film so many times .. tight man to man coverage, heavy pressure destroys the Pats .. Great example .. Ravens, Giants, and to a certain extent the Jets .. Same formula ..

1960Pats said:

The real scary thing about the NFC is that the 7-9 Falcons, or even better the 6-9-1 Carolina Panthers, could knock the 10-6 Eagles out of the playoffs. I don't think I've ever pulled as hard for two NFC teams to win than I am for the Panthers and Eagles. Then I could sit back and enjoy the NFC playoffs even more.

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Eagles were eliminated after they lost and Dallas won. Atlanta and Carolina have nothing to do with Eagles being out of the playoffs.

JMC00 said:

Yes I am completely confident that the Pats could drive down the field 80+ yards multiple times. I'm especially confident seeing is how 3rd stinger Ryan Lindley drove it 50 yards 4 times last night on the Seahawks.

Throwing deep is vastly overrated. In fact "dink and dunk" is how you beat Seattle. Pretty sure Brady had close to 400 yards against them in Seattle.

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I hope you're right, but I don't see it. Hawks have shown they can stop elite QBs. They shut down GB and embarrassed Denver in the SB last year. Not a very good argument IMO. They'll have to beat GB to get to the SB anyways. According the post #28 in this thread they've average less than 7 PPG. That's INSANE, I don't care who is starting @ QB for the opposing team.

They're not scared of anyone after what they've done last year, ESPECIALLY Brady and the Pats. I'm sure Sherman and that secondary would love to face the Pats in the SB.

SunsOutGunsOut said:

Seattle would need only 10 points against this team, and it would be a wrap .. Folks, we have seen this film so many times .. tight man to man coverage, heavy pressure destroys the Pats .. Great example .. Ravens, Giants, and to a certain extent the Jets .. Same formula ..

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Yep, we've seen this so many times. I think the Pats could score more than 10 pts against Seattle but they have the perfect team to beat the Pats. Their offense is no gimmick either. Wilson is everything Vick was supposed to be.

SunsOutGunsOut said:

Seattle would need only 10 points against this team, and it would be a wrap .. Folks, we have seen this film so many times .. tight man to man coverage, heavy pressure destroys the Pats .. Great example .. Ravens, Giants, and to a certain extent the Jets .. Same formula ..

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You are completely clueless if you think Seahawks would only need 10 points.

I love that the Pats will probably be underdogs if they make it to the SB, against either Seattle or GB. Works for me. They probably have less of a chance of beating either of those mighty teams than they did the Rams in 2001.

SyN65 said:

They shut down GB and embarrassed Denver in the SB last year. Not a very good argument IMO.

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And this argument is laughable. GB is average offensively on the road and Manning outside of 1 year has always crapped his pants at some point in the playoffs.

SyN65 said:

Probably gonna get killed for this but is the Pats offense really elite? They have a bunch of average RB's, a average to below average o-line, and 3 receiving targets. Amendola is a non-factor when Edelman is playing. Edelman is OK but nothing amazing. Lafell is a good receiver but hardly a #1 WR or an elite target. Pats have no depth @ WR behind Lafell/Edelman.

Sherman could easily erase Lafell, their safeites (2 of the best in the league) could limit Gronk, and I'm sure they could stop Edelman.

Besides, they stopped GB and Broncos (last year). We know they can stop an elite offense.

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Never said the Pats were elite, but certainly better than the offenses they have faced since week 7.

JMC00 said:

And this argument is laughable. GB is average offensively on the road and Manning outside of 1 year has always crapped his pants at some point in the playoffs.

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Probably gonna get killed for this too but Brady hasn't exactly been incredible in the play offs either. Those are 2 good QBs and 2 good offenses. Seattle ain't scared of nobody. Last 2 SB's the Pats played they scored 14 and 17. Not exactly elite. Yeah the second one they had a hobbled Gronk but Seattle has the personnel to limit Gronk offensively. 2 best safeties in the league.

For the record, I'm not saying Pats can't beat the Hawks. Of course anything could happen. I'm just saying the Hawks are much MUCH better than what you think they are. Pats would have to execute a perfect game plan. What Seattle is doing in an age where you can barely play defense anymore is amazing.

SunsOutGunsOut said:

Seattle would need only 10 points against this team, and it would be a wrap .. Folks, we have seen this film so many times .. tight man to man coverage, heavy pressure destroys the Pats .. Great example .. Ravens, Giants, and to a certain extent the Jets .. Same formula ..

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When was the last time the Pats scored less than 10 points in a game? I'll save you time. It was last year on October 6th vs. the Bengals in a driving rain storm and no Gronk. Right now the Pats lead the league in scoring.

Rob0729 said:

When was the last time the Pats scored less than 10 points in a game? I'll save you time. It was last year on October 6th vs. the Bengals in a driving rain storm and no Gronk. Right now the Pats lead the league in scoring.

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Past history doesn't count for much, but the Pats have never scored under 10 points in a playoff game under Brady and Belichick.

FWIW we almost beat seattle in seattle a few years ago. However, that was before russell wilson was russell wilson. Unfortunately that was wilson's coming out party.