Washington Redskins @ Seattle Seahawks (Playoff Time!)

[Bulltalk]

Saturday 1:30pm PST.

Let's analyse!

I'm stoked for this one. Win this one, and it's on to Green Bay to lay it all on the line. I have to admit, the Redskins are one of the teams that I've hardly seen play this year.

[b_roy7]

I'd rather take on any other team in the NFC playoffs other than Washington right now, they're on a streak and they're still going on powered by the loss of Sean Taylor. Clinton Portis has been great, and that one old QB that hasn't played in who knows how many years is playing to compete with anyone. Their defense is great, and their recieving core is solid. The Seahawks have to play their best football to get a chance to win IMO.

[Bulltalk]

I'd rather take on any other team in the NFC playoffs other than Washington right now, they're on a streak and they're still going on powered by the loss of Sean Taylor. Clinton Portis has been great, and that one old QB that hasn't played in who knows how many years is playing to compete with anyone. Their defense is great, and their recieving core is solid. The Seahawks have to play their best football to get a chance to win IMO.

Yeah, but we're at home, and we almost never lose at home.

We'll see.

[b_roy7]

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Yeah, but we're at home, and we almost never lose at home.

We'll see.

There is that, only 1 loss(Saints) at home this season. Our 12th man is the best.

[TheUrbanZealot]

I don't really trust this game to be honest with you. This has "trap game" written all over it.

I hope Holmgren doesn't go into ultra-conservative mode and play to NOT lose rather than play to win. I have a feeling he is going to jack up something at some point...

I just don't feel good about this. I feel better about them playing Green Bay @ Green Bay than I do playing Washington @ Qwest, believe it or not...

[Sweezo]

I'm not quite as worried as some of you are. The 'Skins offense has been very good, but I just can't think that they can keep up the production they've had since Collins took over.

[likwitdesi]

I'm not quite as worried as some of you are. The 'Skins offense has been very good, but I just can't think that they can keep up the production they've had since Collins took over.

Skins fan here and I'm wondering why. The problem with the Skins up until Week 14 was that the running game was not very good. Part of it was the makeshift OL had not yet gelled and the other part was that Portis was just not running with explosion. Fast forward four weeks later and we now have a good running attack that has been very effect especially on the perimeter.

Collins is the master of the Al Saunders offense, which depends on timing and smarts, which Collins has plenty of. Santana Moss has finally started to get it going the past 4 weeks and Cooley is a Pro Bowler for a reason. I'd also watch out for Portis getting receptions out of the backfield. He has had a career year receiving-wise and a lot of it has come in the past four weeks. Seattle uses an aggressive blitz scheme and I expect Collins to throw a few swing passes over to CP.

Let me address what I am scared of in regard to your defense. Collins does not show great pocket presence and has fumbled easily. Kearney will get at least one sack on Heyer, a real find who is still a UDFA. Bernard should get some interior penetration as well against Fabini and Kendall, who are both very average. I can say that I am scared of Peterson and Hill coming off blitzes even though we have CP (the best blocking RB in the NFL) blocking.

For your offense, I feel that Seattle will not be able to run the ball, but I am afraid of your multiple receiving threats. Heck, even Obomanu seems like a good player. None of the Seattle WRs are stars (Hackett may become one) but they are all dangerous. It's going to take a real good effort to stop those receivers of yours. I am confident in Springs and Smoot, but I am leery of Torrence and the little-used Macklin, who will definitely be activated for this matchup.

[Sweezo]

I guess there's nothing on that Skins offense that really terrifies me. Collins is an efficient QB but he's not the type that I see lighting up the the secondary. Our back four as pretty good at coverage...they're not hard hitters, but they'll stop the deep ball. And our LB is pretty speedy, so I'm not terribly worried about who gets matched up on Cooley.

I'm confident the 'Hawks will have enough 'Skins games to watch on tape to and formulate a good battle plan defensively. I just hope the 'Hawks stay aggressively defensively and don't get lulled to sleep out there.

I see the 'Skins offense as competent but not over-powering. While they may win the game, they're not the type of offense that really scares me going into the game.

[Ex-hippie]

Poke around the Internet and nobody seems to be giving the Seahawks a chance. Everybody is picking a Redskins victory as the "upset special."

The good news is that the Vegas spread has held steady at -3.5 this week. What this means is that despite the popular choice of Washington against the spread, the "smart money" (read: not from the "retail" consumers of predictions off public Internet sites) is going for Seattle.

Anyway, you can safely ignore all of the predictions based on Washington's "momentum," which is pure hokum. I expect a good game between two solid teams, and it has nothing to do with what happened over the last four weeks. Kind of like how Seattle didn't ride the wave of its own five-game winning streak into Carolina in week 15.

[Troy McClure]

I'm excited. It's been a while since I've been exicted about watching this team(week 2). Hopefully they can prove a lot of people wrong.

[likwitdesi]

By the way Seahawks fans, if you take out your victories over the Niners and Rams, you rank as the 2nd worst defense in the NFC (and 3rd worst overall). For the Skins, if you take out the outlier of the Pats game, they rank as the 2nd best defense in the NFC.

[Sweezo]

Poke around the Internet and nobody seems to be giving the Seahawks a chance. Everybody is picking a Redskins victory as the "upset special."

...aaaand everyone picked the Niners to take the division.

By the way Seahawks fans, if you take out your victories over the Niners and Rams, you rank as the 2nd worst defense in the NFC (and 3rd worst overall). For the Skins, if you take out the outlier of the Pats game, they rank as the 2nd best defense in the NFC.

By what standard? Yards given up? The 'Hawks have always had a bend but not break philosophy under Holmgren, and this year has been no different. They may give up yards, but they come up with big plays to stop drives.

I also don't think you can pick and choose what games you count and don't count for stats. The ATL game threw everything out of whack for the 'Hawks because of the points given up, but it was clear to anyone watching that Haskell wasn't doing anything to challenge the Falcons and the team was just going through the motions since they had absolutely nothing to play for.

[Ex-hippie]

For the Skins, if you take out the outlier of the Pats game, they rank as the 2nd best defense in the NFC.

What you call an "outlier" I call a "good old fashioned ass-whupping that was enormous even by the Patriots' lofty standards," but whatever. Semantics.

[Troy McClure]

By the way Seahawks fans, if you take out your victories over the Niners and Rams, you rank as the 2nd worst defense in the NFC (and 3rd worst overall). For the Skins, if you take out the outlier of the Pats game, they rank as the 2nd best defense in the NFC.

Wow. The arguements as to why the Hawks sucked were way better two years ago.

[jsonic007]

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Wow. The arguements as to why the Hawks sucked were way better two years ago.

Hey, Skip Bayless said nothing about them so far...

[myELFboy]

I hope the 'Hawks kick major ass merely because everyone (meaning east coast media, media in general) either {a} want the 'Skins to win because of the Sean Taylor homicide, or {b} because the 'Skins are on a "hot streak" and can beat Seattle with a new-old QB on the road.

It just irks me a lot that the 'Hawks---although shaky throughout the year---are pushed aside like a nuisance. They are the third seed, they won the NFC west...yes, the NFC west sucks this year, but they won it nonetheless. They are at home, which bodes extremely well for a win. If the 'Hawks were AT Washington, then yes, I'd say we're likely cooked, but at HOME, they would have to really shoot themselves in the foot to lose.

Anyway, go 'Hawks, kick some ass. Screw the sentimental bull****, and show the east coast media what you can do.

[Sweezo]

In the NBC pre game show, Bettis picked us because of our defense and the effect of the 12th man at home. Taylor and Tiki picked the Redskins as they have emotion and more motivation. Huh.

John McGrath wrote a rather ballsy column IMO over at the News Tribune, opining at what point public mourning turns into simple exploitation. And honestly, I'm tired of seeing the stars align against us so that every time this team has a chance a t success some stupid angle, like this or getting Bettis a Super Bowl ring in his hometown, crops up and the 'Hawks end up being marginalized. I want this team to win and get the respect they deserve. I'm sorry, but here's hoping the NFL feel good story of the year goes away today...

[Troy McClure]

Wow, my heart just dropped.

but then weaver comes back with the td

[Sweezo]

What a time for Weaver to have the best run of his pro career! Our running game looks good...all three backs are running with a purpose. Holmgren has a tendency to call that fullback draw too much but there wasn't a better call he could have made right there.

And the defense is winning the battle at the line of scrimmage right now. The 'Skins line is giving up penetration. Kerney may not have a tackle all game, but they're paying so much attention to help out their RT that other players will have the opportunity to make plays.

Go 'Hawks!

[Sweezo]

Oh, Kerney is a beast! Go ahead and challenge it, Gibbs.