game 12: Panthers at Seahawks

[Danny Darko]

VS.


Game 12- The last several games and injuries to key players have been hard to bear for the Seahawks. (sorry). The toothless Panthers come in to town just in time to give the 'hawks a morale boost... or possible send them reeling into the abyss.

Injury update:

Seahawks-

Cole (DT) still out. Williams(WR) iffy with an weird foot sprain. Pitts is out with ankle sprain(G)

Panthers
LB James Anderson (concussion)
CB Captain Munnerlyn (shoulder)
G Geoff Schwartz (back)
T Travelle Wharton (toe)

Things to Watch:

1-Clausen factor- This is multi faceted because part of me will root for us to completely hammer him and sack him all day long while another part of me hopes he looks good enough for the Panthers to pass on a QB at the top of the draft, thus letting all other non-Luck QB's slide a bit down the line possibly to Seattle.

2-Running game... can we generate any? Pathetic so far and untrusted in short situations, we'll have to make some ground yardage to win the division.

3-Which Hass shows up and do the non BMW Receivers give him any more support than they did last week?

4-Stewart vs our D-Line. I don't care how bad the Panthers have been any running back vs our D-Line is concerning right now without Cole and Bryant.


Predictions-

24-14 Seattle
possibly all of our points coming from turnovers and special teams plays giving us short fields to work on.

[TTown]

Sucks about Williams still being questionable, especially after that wave of butterfingers descended on Qwest last weekend.

Love me some J-Stew, but he's been having a tough year. 98 yards on 12 carries last week, though, against Cleveland, could be looking to finish strong... hope the Hawks are up to it. Or, maybe both my worlds could be appeased and J-Stew could run for a cool 150, but Seattle still wins.

[Bulltalk]

I thought the Hawks surely put in their low for the year already; but if they lose THIS game, I will just as surely have to readjust my thinking.

[Sweezo]

Agreed. The prospect of beating the Panthers isn't that exciting, but the idea of losing them is terrifying. A loss would say more about this team than a win would.

[Sweezo]

So of course the team looks completely awful.

[TTown]

Would have bet my house we weren't going to score after Leon ran that KO all the way out to the 4 yard line. 96 yard drive, who knew?

[TTown]

Wow, this turned quickly. Tatupu with a pick six! Hawks lead 17-14!

[TTown]

Leon Washington 84 yard punt return + 2 yard Lynch run = touchdown Seahawks, 24-14.

[TTown]

2nd half > 1st half.

[Bulltalk]

Well we won. Yippee!

@ San Francisco
VS Atlanta
@ Tampa Bay
VS Rams

Yikes! Can we win ONE of the next three games? Whew! I'm not sure. I'm thinking that we have to win one of the next three games, and then beat the Rams at home the final game of the season to finish 8-8 and win the division (we'll have the tie-breaker with them, I believe). What a crawl to the finish line this season is going to be. Oh boy.

What's the highest we can draft if we make the playoffs and not win the Super Bowl? I suppose we could pathetically win the division at 7-9 (Good Lord!). I guess that would be the best possible scenario in making the playoffs (perhaps a bad way to look at it). The downside is that two teams in our division (San Fran and Arizona) could well be looking for QB's in the draft.

I don't know. Maybe going 6-10 with San Fran and the Rams ahead of us in the draft order is best. This is the way the Hawks have got me thinking now.

[Sweezo]

Honestly...what the hell happened? I was watching the game when it was 14 - 0 Panthers right before the half, and then I think we ended up living to do some shopping right when Hass threw a pick. Then I got to listen a bit here and there on the radio and...we were unstoppable? No idea.

[Danny Darko]

evidently Pete called them. Said they weren't hitting and didn't look like men. Several players related the turnaround to the half time speech.

[TTown]

HUGE upcoming game with the Niners. We really did a number on them in the opener, and I'm sure they remember.

They lost Frank Gore for the season, and neither Westbrook nor Dixon was the least bit effective yesterday in Green Bay. Troy Smith is barely above 50% on his completion, and has turned the ball over 6 times in 5 games. Outside of Vernon Davis and Smith's scrambling ability, this offense is not in the least imposing. Our defense seems to be hit or miss, and going through some injuries themselves, but this is a game where they should -- and need to -- be able to control.

Win this game and the finale at home against the Lambs, and I think we're in the postseason. By all rights ATL is going to put the hurt on, and Tampa @ Tampa doesn't look like a win. But St. Louis has a tough final month, too, so even with a 2-2 finish we should take the West.

[Sweezo]

Troy Smith is barely above 50% on his completion, and has turned the ball over 6 times in 5 games.

Troy Smith was benched today in favor of Alex Smith, perhaps because Singletary is envious of all this free time Josh McDaniels' now has...

I'm not the slightest bit concerned about a Gore-less team helmed by Alex Smith.

[Bulltalk]

Troy Smith is barely above 50% on his completion, and has turned the ball over 6 times in 5 games.

I'm not the slightest bit concerned about a Gore-less team helmed by Alex Smith.

I agree, But, then again, we're the Seahawks and on the road.

When you break the schedule down, if we beat the 49ers, and the Rams lose to the Saints this week (a strong probability), then we're at least a lock to play the Rams for the division title the last game of the season at home. If that's not incentive to win this game, I don't know what is.