Seahawks look scary

New England Pride said:

Oh god the mighty hawks what are we gonna do. They beat Ryan Lindley and Sean Hill. I'm shaking. Seriously u chicken littles are driving me nuts. We have a healthy Rob Gronkowski get that through your heads. Healthy Gronkey Kong=trump card. Demon sanders said it the other day, there is no answer the question "How do you cover Gronkowski."

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Sigh. All we're saying is that Seattle matches up very well with the Patriots. Gronk is elite but the Hawks have 2 of the best safeties in the game and an elite LB in Wagner. They have the personnel to stop Gronk.

KontradictioN said:

EDIT: And at least Sicilian (who I respect as a member here) debated me on it. The rest just clicked the dislike button, blew the sand out of their hoo-ha's, and left.

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Bah, I saw this after my rant above, which in hindsight might have been a bit hot and heavy. I respect you as a poster as well, I'm probably just edgy due to holiday stress. I stand by my opinion, and I won't scurry away by editing it, but I apologize if any of it came across personal. It was not intended.

KontradictioN said:

Not really. They're just people that are really, REALLY underrating the match-up aspect of football. This Patriots team, as it's currently constructed, does not match-up well with Seattle at all. PARTICULARLY on offense.

EDIT: And at least Sicilian (who I respect as a member here) debated me on it. The rest just clicked the dislike button, blew the sand out of their hoo-ha's, and left.

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I think the only team that match up extremely well against the Seahawks are the Cowboys; that very good OL does wonder.

Tom meets Kaepernick said:

It's not. But to think that Seattle couldn't POSSIBLY execute well enough to lock down the Patriots isn't inconceivable. Also, when I think of lock down, it means 16 or less points. Seattle is more than capable of doing that.

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And I 100% agree with you on that. I think a lot of the back and forth in this thread has come down to wording and semantics. I agree that Seattle (more than any other team) has the ability to do what you're describing. I just disagree that it's a guarantee, especially in a Super Bowl environment.

SyN65 said:

They have the personnel to stop Gronk.

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LMAO!!!!! The personnel to stop Gronk good one. Did they sign the crown of Tj wards helmet?

JMC00 said:

Says the troll

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Troll? Who acted like a ****y when the Patriots weren't playing well against the Dolphins? Homers like you need to look in the mirror and realize they're just as bad as chicken littles.

Sicilian said:

And I 100% agree with you on that. I think a lot of the back and forth in this thread has come down to wording and semantics. I agree that Seattle (more than any other team) has the ability to do what you're describing. I just disagree that it's a guarantee, especially in a Super Bowl environment.

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And I also disagree that with the notion that the Seattle is guaranteed to just automatically shut down the Patriots. At the end of the day, it just comes down to who executes better.

They have the personnel to stop Gronk.

New England Pride said:

LMAO!!!!!

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Jets figured it out...just saying 6 for 31 and a TD that's about as successful against Gronk anyone has been. Granted it wasn't all gronk but I have no doubt Seattle has the personnel to do the same particularly if our O Line plays like it did yesterday.

obgod3 said:

Jets figured it out...just saying 6 for 31 and a TD that's about as successful against Gronk anyone has been. Granted it wasn't all gronk but I have no doubt Seattle has the personnel to do the same particularly if our O Line plays like it did yesterday.

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New England has been so conservative with Gronk over the last handful of games. They clearly value his health more than they value getting him a million touchdowns. The Jets did nothing to stop Gronk, NE just being cautious and I think its smart. They had him blocking a ton in the jets and Miami game. They've come too far this season to risk him getting injured for a game against the Jets. Wait until the playoffs when there is no holding back and the baby bull is charging down the seams plucking balls out of the air for 20+ yard receptions. No team in the NFL can stop that and it will be proven.

Seattle is the best team in the NFL. They have got it all together in every category. No team in the NFL will beat them. As for the Pats they will have to have a perfect day on the field

New England Pride said:

New England has been so conservative with Gronk over the last handful of games. They clearly value his health more than they value getting him a million touchdowns. The Jets did nothing to stop Gronk, NE just being cautious and I think its smart. They've come too far this season to risk him getting injured for a game against the Jets. Wait until the playoffs when there is no holding back and the baby bull is charging down the seams plucking balls out of the air for 20+ yard receptions. No team in the NFL can stop that and it will be proven.

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lmao, you don't know much about football do you?

Did you know yesterday was the first game ALL YEAR that Gronk played every snap on offense?

But you're right though, they intentionally shyed away from Gronk (and almost lost the game in the process) because BB values the health of Gronk in the playoffs. Because as we all know, BB likes to rest his guys. /sarcasm

SyN65 said:

lmao, you don't know much about football do you?

Did you know yesterday was the first game ALL YEAR that Gronk played every snap on offense?

But you're right though, they intentionally shyed away from Gronk (and almost lost the game in the process) because BB values the health of Gronk in the playoffs. Because as we all know, BB likes to rest his guys. /sarcasm

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Wow you're gonna jump right to the "you dont know football" line. Yes your a football genius because you saw the Mike Reiss article highlighting that he played every snap. Who said anything about resting guys? They've been conservative with Gronk all season long, not sure how you could deny that. They were using him as a fullback the whole first half in Miami and when the lead got cut to 1, they threw there **** on the table and started running him down the seams. That's in there back pocket and its theyre trump card. Tons of people on this board have noticed the lack of seam routes by Gronk this year. Maybe you're too busy letting Reis's track total snaps to notice that though.

I would agree with mayoclinic that the opposing QBs for Seattle have not been world beaters. The third string QB for Zona was actually finding open receivers (and missing them). Repeated 3 and outs break defenses, and that was the name of the game yesterday. For those who may be inclined to crown them as unstoppable juggernauts, read the wins in context. That's no different than crowning the Cowboys for thrashing the Colts yesterday in Dallas, failing to note the Dolts should have lost to the Browns with as bad as they played.

Teams saw success early with short passes against their linebackers, and the Pats tend to do that well. Deep routes are negated by corners and safeties who can cover, so I believe that weakness of the Pats is less of a problem with Seattle. Quick, short passes and runs. They are beatable, but probably the toughest out of the playoff group. I don't disagree with Kontra in his assessment.

If it does end up as Seahawks-Patriots in the end, the only way I give the Patriots any chance is if they play up tempo to limit Seattle's pass rush, and get the ball out quickly to players like Shane Vereen (I often see RBs open against Seattle but QBs have yet to exploit that). If Brady is forced to hold the ball for 3+ seconds I have little confidence the OL will hold up. The Pats would also need to rediscover a ground game - in Seattle's losses they have been exploited on the ground.

Are they world beaters? No. But they would be the best team the Pats would have faced. You can't even compare the 2012 matchup between these two teams

Brewskies said:

Seattle is the best team in the NFL. They have got it all together in every category. No team in the NFL will beat them

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We should just give up then...season over...oh well always next year!

God it's like were a 8-8 team this year around here even after a win...

Our offense is just gonna have to do what it needs to do and get some points on the board.

What I'm concerned about is this defense. Are we gonna see the defense we saw in San Diego? Or the defense in much of the Green Bay game and in some spurts of the Jets game?

If we had a tough time catching Aaron Rodgers running outside, we will have a hell of a time trying to catch Wilson.

The Seahawks look like a team that is playing very well at the right time of the year. I still believe they can be had if you shutdown Marshawn Lynch and contain Wilson's scrambling ability.

Remember, the greatest show on turf couldn't be beaten either.

Not calling that Seattle-AZ game a fluke, and I think Seattle is a team to beat right now, but don't get carried away on that one.

AZ is playing them tough and Wilson escapes on a 55-yard scamper.

Next position, Wilson hits WIlson for an 80-yard TD.

3rd Quarter, Wilson hits a 49-yard pass to Baldwin.

And in the 4th quarter, a 39-yader to Wilson again, and later, a 79=yard Lynch beast run.

There's 302 yard in 5 plays.

Arizona hung tough, but when they were behind in the second half, they started taking chances - it was a one-score game (14-6) into the 4th quarter when freak plays broke the back of the Cardinals. The defense tried to do too much, and well, sometimes things just don't work out.

Seattle's defense is elite - best in the league, I think - but their offense is just okay.

Pats should go no-huddle all game long against that team, if they see them. Play fast, fast, fast.

50-yard-line said:

Pats should go no-huddle all game long against that team, if they see them. Play fast, fast, fast.

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That'll have an effect on the offense as well. It's taxing for both sides.

SyN65 said:

Sigh. All we're saying is that Seattle matches up very well with the Patriots. Gronk is elite but the Hawks have 2 of the best safeties in the game and an elite LB in Wagner. They have the personnel to stop Gronk.

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That's not all that's being said. There's been a lot of talk (albeit completely but unfortunately not totally irregularly premature) about how NE can't score on them, how they can't stop Wilson, etc. No one knows anything. They played in Seattle in 2012. Both teams are better now than they were then. Both teams have great rosters top to bottom. Both teams have 3-4 games to win from now to get to an potential rematch. One game at a time. The same approach that has provided unprecedented success to the team we revere around these parts. Why are we hand-wringing over this? If it happens, awesome, should be a great game. If not, well, whatever.

Absolutely they're the team to beat, they're the defending champs, they're playing well in all the ways one would/could expect them to be playing well. The win streak they're on features 2 games against a Niners team that picked the wrong QB and is in freefall, 2 games against the Cardinals playing QBs that shouldn't be on NFL rosters, and the Eagles featuring Mark Sanchez. All you're saying is that Seattle is a tough matchup for NE personnel-wise. Got it. All we're saying is, slow your roll.