Postmortem: Sea v SF: Divisional Round

[auroraave]

Is it so wrong I was hoping for 'em to score 48? Is that greedy? Okay, fine. I'm greedy - but it's all because FTN!

Wow, that all just happened. Angry Doug Baldwin raised the flag, then Rasheed set the tone right out of the gate and Seattle never really looked back. SF dug deep in the second quarter, and Purdy made some fantastic throws, but it felt like, unless they broke a big play, it was only prolonging the inevitable.

That was an absolute thrashing - and few things are finer than Chardonnay Nation tears. I do like a hanful of their players but that fan base is just insufferable. Over on Niner Nation it's all about "fire Shanahan now!" These people are fucking clueless morons. My God. A fan base so vocal and yet so utterly clueless.

I though The Darnold looked great. Outside of a couple of sacks, one brutal one, another one I am glad he took rather than make a play we'd regret. His throw to JSN in the corner was just spectacular - I could not believe that was a compeletion. He looked cool and calm all night - and even though there were a few misses - the ball was never in danger. Whew!

K9 ate well. 116 and three TD's - what a breakout game - and what a time to have it. That outside zone was hitting hard - that oline was handling business. You could see the fight leaving SF in the third quarter - they were being asked to do too much, they knew it wasn't happening - and yeah, injuries are a big part of it. Sucks for them. Let's hope Cross and Charbs are good to go for the NFCCG.

Yeah, that's right, we're off to the NFCCG! Feels good to say that. WHile I never had any sense of dread leading up to, or during this game, you nalso never know what can happen on any given Sunday, er, Saturday. Once we hit 24-6 I didn't see any path back for SF - not against this defense.

What's crazy is the stats are not as one-sided as the score was. Offensively we only had 280 yards - but it felt like 380.

Defense did what they do - but it was frustrating watching McCaffrey drigt inbto the flat for a wide open catch and run through the first half - baffling why thier biggest offensive weapon wasn't being covered, but they eventually figured that out and held him in check. Almost feel bad for him being asked to run into that brick wall all night. Dude was taking a pounding.

At the beginning of the season I was expecting this team to be an "11ish" win team - hit the playoffs, with my eye on next year for potential domination. What they have done this year has wildy exceeded my expectations - not just the wins - but the domination, the energy, the togetherness. This team is an absolute war machine RIGHT NOW. Man, we are on the verge of winning the conference and making a SB run. Can't stop smiling at how great this franchise has been. Out of the Carroll years into this new iteration. Just... wow.

SUcks to be a Bills fan today - watching them absolutely shit the bed in a game they refused to take the win.

Now we watch and wait to see who we play next weekend. Who do we want? Any predictions for today's game?

I see the Lambs taking care of business and heading North next weekend for another epic showdown. Wild to think all the playoffs are NFCW teams battling each other.

If we can take out the Lambs - and that's a tall order - I am not scared of anyone in the AFC.

Go hawks...

[trharder]

At the beginning of the season I was expecting this team to be an "11ish" win team - hit the playoffs, with my eye on next year for potential domination. What they have done this year has wildy exceeded my expectations - not just the wins - but the domination, the energy, the togetherness. This team is an absolute war machine RIGHT NOW. Man, we are on the verge of winning the conference and making a SB run. Can't stop smiling at how great this franchise has been. Out of the Carroll years into this new iteration. Just... wow.
Go hawks...

No realistic fan can confidently predict their mid-range team is going to evolve into *the* juggernaut for the upcoming season. I dislike "predictions" per se, but 11-12 wins is about where I expected as well. It should be noted that 11 was way higher than the mainstream narrative. How anybody could think the Seahawks would go backward from 2024's record is beyond me. It should also be noted that the number of regular-season wins is not necessarily indicative of where a team is at when the playoffs arrive.

I saw signs that the defense was much improved in 2024 and knew if they took one full step forward in 2025, they would be top 5, if not 1st. This is why I have whined about my frustration with the offense, because I felt that being where we are now was attainable. Literally attainable this year.

Cutting the soap-box short, congratulations to those who acused Pete of fucking up this team over the last 10 years. You were right. Shame on me for being skeptical on JS getting a new contract before this team actually hit...

[auroraave]

At the beginning of the season I was expecting this team to be an "11ish" win team - hit the playoffs, with my eye on next year for potential domination. What they have done this year has wildy exceeded my expectations - not just the wins - but the domination, the energy, the togetherness. This team is an absolute war machine RIGHT NOW. Man, we are on the verge of winning the conference and making a SB run. Can't stop smiling at how great this franchise has been. Out of the Carroll years into this new iteration. Just... wow.
Go hawks...

No realistic fan can confidently predict their mid-range team is going to evolve into *the* juggernaut for the upcoming season. I dislike "predictions" per se, but 11-12 wins is about where I expected as well. It should be noted that 11 was way higher than the mainstream narrative. How anybody could think the Seahawks would go backward from 2024's record is beyond me. It should also be noted that the number of regular-season wins is not necessarily indicative of where a team is at when the playoffs arrive.

I saw signs that the defense was much improved in 2024 and knew if they took one full step forward in 2025, they would be top 5, if not 1st. This is why I have whined about my frustration with the offense, because I felt that being where we are now was attainable. Literally attainable this year.

Cutting the soap-box short, congratulations to those who acused Pete of fucking up this team over the last 10 years. You were right. Shame on me for being skeptical on JS getting a new contract before this team actually hit...

The "media" is lazy and dumb. Each team is like an iceberg of information - the media only skim the surface for narratives floating around the internet so they can get their job done quicker - accuracy is not the intention. The fans see what's under the surface and know better. This was a ten win team - who objectively improved in the off season - that defense was coming on hard at the end of last season - swapping Darnold out for Geno - I think objectively at the time was an even swap out. Darnold has now out performed him, but to see all that, and pick SEattle last, or to regress - you can only come to that conclusion if you are doing NO real research. As the media - it is literally your job to know this stuff - but that's not what the media does anymore and we all know it. It's hot takes and regurgitating worn out narratives with zero analysis - slaves to 'likes' and 'print it NOW!"

I've always been a huge JS supporter - virtually all of his moves have made sense to me - even if they didn't pan out. I recognize that they all don't - there is a risk factor - and that should NOT mean you never take any chances to avoid that risk - you take calculated risks - some pan out and some don't. I still think the Harvin trade was great - a talent like that on an already stacked team? Oh hell yeah. It didn't pan out (until the Super Bowl) and JS went out and did it again with Rasheed and the dividends have been immediate and huge. I can't wait until he is fully involved in the pass game. Even when we were spinning our wheels - I felt like JS was the strongest cog in the front office - not Pete.

[Nwadventure]

How legit is the injury to White Wine ?

[trharder]

How legit is the injury to White Wine ?

I could have sworn I saw Charb on the warm-up bike after the injury on the sidelines. Like he came back out
of the locker room.

[D-train]

This is so God Damn awesome. 11 year vet Pro Bowler getting tips from a Rookie O Lineman from North Dakota and then he credits him during the press conference. Now that is what you call a TEAM.

[DavidGee24]

Anyone else notice how giddy Tom Brady was? He was really effusive all game for the Hawks last night, the organization, the 12s and even Richard Sherman.

[douche]

After all those 'close' games under Carroll's tenure, it's cool to see a team keep their foot on the accelerator. Seriously, PC would have found a way to win this game by a field goal, or lose it altogether.

And yes, I did notice Brady's giddiness.

[D-train]

Nice sequence by the Bears. Dropped pass, run it up the middle on third and 5 and then throw a pic on 4th down instead of kick the FG. And another idiot DB catches a pass on 4th down costing his team yards. Don't they do what baseball players do before a play and think about what they are going do if the ball comes to them. Ok this is 4th down just bat the ball down instead of catch it. Morons.

[D-train]

Bears once again run up the middle on 3rd and medium. Fucking idiots.