They keep hyping their defensive improvement. I just rewatched the Seattle Atlanta playoff game. Couple things I forgot in there, but here is the sequence to start the game. Well pretty much the first half.
Hawks go down and score quickly on the first drive.
Falcons go down and score on their first drive 7-7
Hawks 3rd down Russell misses a wide open Baldwin in the endzone. Kick a FG 10-7.
Falcons punt 10-7.
Hester big return called back from the 10 or so for a dumb hold. Hawks backed up on their goalline. guard drops into pass pro and steps on Russell's foot for a safety. 10-9
Falcons kick a FG on a short field after the free kick. 12-10
Hawks on 3rd and short (3-4) yards throw an out route under the sticks by a yard and a half, DB made a nice tackle. Hawks punt pin Atlanta at the 2.
Atlanta goes 98 yards at the end of the half and scores 19-10 (and game over)
4 real possesions in the first half for Seattle, the 5th was with little time left in the half. 1 TD - Nice drive
1FG - forced to kick a FG because of Russell missing a wide open receiver in the endzone.
Safety because of a boneheaded play/lack of luck whatever
And a punt because you don't run your route to at least to the stick.
Basically Seattle stopped themselves with lack of execution (Baldwin in the EZ), Safety, because of a stupid and unnecessary hold negating a big return, followed by a guard stepping on the QB's shoe in pass pro (bad luck).
Where does Atlanta's great defense come in on any of this? Seattle's own self destruction basically ended that game by the end of the first half.
What are the odds NE kills themselves on 3 of the first 4 drives of the game?
