Playoff Predictions

As I sit here on this fantastic Sunday of football, I decided to write my two cents on the last three games of the NFL season. So there are currently four teams left in the playoffs. For the NFC, we have the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears and for the AFC, we have the New York Jets and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Here are the break downs for each team based on how they rank in the entire league.

Chicago Bears:

Offense:

Points per Game: 20.9 (Ranked 21^st)

Yards per Game: 289.4 (Ranked 30^th)

                Passing YPG: 188.4 (Ranked 28^th)

                Rushing YPG: 101.0 (Ranked 22^nd)

Third down Conversion: 32.8% (Ranked 27^th)

Overall Grade: D

Defense:

Points Allowed per Game: 17.9 (Ranked 4^th)

Yards Allowed per Game: 314.3 (Ranked 9^th)

Interceptions: 21 (Ranked 5^th)

Forced Fumbles: 23 (Ranked 2^nd)

Sacks: 34.0 (Ranked 17^th)  

Overall: B+

Green Bay Packers:

Offense:

Points per Game: 24.3 (Ranked 10^th)

Yards per Game: 358.1 (Ranked 9^th)

                Passing YPG: 257.8 (Ranked 5^th)

                Rushing YPG: 100.4 (Ranked 24^th)

Third down Conversion: 41.5% (Ranked 8^th)

Overall Grade: B

Defense:

Points Allowed per Game: 15.0 (Ranked 2^nd)

Yards Allowed per Game: 309.1 (Ranked 5^th)

Interceptions: 24 (Ranked 2^nd)

Forced Fumbles: 14 (Ranked 11^th)

Sacks: 47 (Ranked 2^nd)

Overall: A-

New York Jets:

Offense:

Points per Game: 22.9 (Ranked 14^th)

Yards per Game: 351.0 (11^th)

                Passing YPG: 202.6 (Ranked 22^nd)

                Rushing YPG: 148.4 (Ranked 4^th)

Third down Conversion: 39.6% (Ranked 15^th)

Overall Grade: B-

Defense:

Points Allowed per Game: 19.0 (Ranked 6^th)

Yards Allowed per Game: 291.5 (Ranked 3^rd)

Interceptions: 12 (Ranked 25^th)

Forced Fumbles: 17 (Ranked 6^th)

Sacks: 40.0 (Ranked 8^th)

Overall: B+

Pittsburgh Steelers:

Offense:

Points per Game: 23.4 (Ranked 12^th)

Yards per Game: 345.3 (Ranked 14^th)

                Passing YPG: 225.1 (Ranked 14^th)

                Rushing YPG: 120.3 (Ranked 11^th)

Third down Conversion: 43.1% (Ranked 6^th)

Overall Grade: B-

Defense:

Points Allowed per Game: 14.5 (Ranked 1^st)

Yards Allowed per Game: 276.8 (Ranked 2^nd)

Interceptions: 21 (Ranked 6^th)

Forced Fumbles: 20 (Ranked 4^th)

Sacks: 48.0 (Ranked 1^st)

Overall: A+

For the NFC matchup, I have the Packers winning over the Bears. The Bears have a very good defense, but they have no offensive threats. The Packers just have too many weapons and too many playmakers on both sides of the ball. The Packers have also lost their first string running back and tight end early in the season, but of late, they have been on a roll. I just have a hard time figuring out any way the Bears could win.

For the AFC matchup, I have the Steelers beating out the New York Jets. The Jets just do not have the same shut down defense that they did last year. And while the Jets rushing game looks strong, the Steelers defense is just too good. There is no way the inexperience of Mark Sanchez will outplay Ben Roethlisberger. For whatever reason, Ben always seems to man up in the playoffs and figure out a way to secure a victory. Love them or hate them, the Steelers are just one of those teams that always know how to win important games.

For the Super Bowl, I have the Green Bay Packers playing the Pittsburgh Steelers in Dallas. This is the big one, the do-or-die game where anything can happen. And this year I have the Packers beating out the Steelers 34-21. I realize that that score is very inflated and will probably be closer to 17-14, but everybody likes to see big plays and a high scoring game. (And besides, where is the fun of making a drinking game out of a low score?) The defense of both teams will play sub-par and this will be an epic battle between two of the best quarterbacks in the league. This year though, Aaron Rodgers wins his first “major game” and moves out of being a top quarterback and into the conversation of elite quarterbacks. It will be a good old dog fight and it will make for one hell of a game.

What this blog is all about

So this post should have been my first one on my blog. It actually would have been, except the excitement of the Seahawks in the playoffs forced my mind to think about more fun blog entries. Let me start out by saying that I have always wanted to create my own blog, I just never knew what to write about, nor have enough motivation to actually START the damn thing. So here it is, my attempt at a blog. This website will mostly be focusing on sports in Washington (I know…kind of a depressing topic). Since we are currently in a slow time of year for sports in the Northwest (after losing the Sonics a few years ago), I will also be expanding the topics to larger sport topics that are currently happen. But for the most part, I will be focusing my thoughts on the Mariners and Seahawks, and will also write a few articles about other well known sports teams (Storm, Sounders, Huskies, and Cougars). If anybody would like me to write about a certain topic, please feel free to send me an email. Also please note, I am a big sports guy, but by no means do I claim to be an expert in a lot of fields. I am just a college student voicing my opinion.

Enjoy

It Couldn't Last Forever

That’s right; the Seattle Seahawks were eliminated by the Chicago Bears on Sunday by a score of 35-24. The Seahawks were the underdog and they just got outplayed on the field. There was hope, but they couldn’t cheat the odds again this week.

On my last blog I mentioned two “X Factors” that could play a large part of the outcome of the game. The first was special teams. Leon Washington had five kick returns for a total of 143 yards. That number would be amazing except in order for a team to receive a kick return, the opposing team would have to have scored….and that Chicago did. Golden Tate also had one punt return for 11 yards, nothing impressive. For Chicago, Danieal Manning had one kick return for 18 yards while Devin Hester had one kick return for six yards. Devin Hester also had two punt returns for 30 yards. Looking over the numbers, Seattle did win the special teams battle.

The other “X Factor” I talked about was which Seattle Seahawks team would show up and play. The Seahawks are notorious for playing horrible on the road. For whatever reason, when there is no crowd cheering them on, the Seahawks have a hard time to get motivated. Blown coverage’s and not picking up your man put the Seahawks in an early hole that they could never dig themselves out of. The Seahawks had no answers for the Bears in the first half, giving up 21 unanswered points. But I will give them some credit; Seattle did out play Chicago in the second half of the game by outscoring them 24-14. It was just too little too late, but at least the Seahawks did not quit. They fought until the very end, scoring three touchdowns in the fourth quarter alone.

The main reason we lost the game was that the Chicago Bear’s defense was just too good. They have one of the better defenses in the league, and on this day, they played like it. Seattle rushed the ball 12 times for a total of a whooping 34 yards. That is an average of 2.8 yards per rush. That is absolutely horrible. Since we could not run the ball, or since Chicago’s run defense was just amazing, we had to pass the ball. Matt Hasselbeck threw for 258 yards and three touchdowns. He also had no interceptions. That is some very respectable numbers. A lot of fans put all the blame on their teams QB when the team is playing poorly, but Hasselbeck deserves his credit. He is the leader of this team and he manned up for both playoff games. The only problem was that Hasselbeck attempted 46 passes. Our offense was just too lopsided. A team wants to be close to 50-50 on their run/pass plays, but when Chicago is stopping our run game and we attempted almost four times as many passes and rushes, bad things happen.

Unfortunately, the Seahawks defense was not as affective. The Bears rushed the ball 45 times for a total of 176 yards. That is an average of 3.9 yards per carry. That is a great number. Jay Cutler threw the ball for 274 yards and two touchdowns. He only attempted 28 passes. Now I know in my last paragraph I said a team wants the pass/rush plays be about the same number, but when a team jumps out to an early lead, it is much safer to rush the ball then throw it…especially when you are averaging four yards a carry.

So that was the game. It is kind of hard to point out too many positives when the Seahawks just got outplayed so badly. I know the score does not seem as bad of a loss, but when a team starts the fourth quarter down 28-3, it’s just a bad game. They did keep fighting and managed to score 21 points in the final quarter, but it just was not enough. But that is something to point out, for every loss this season, the Seahawks would loss by over two touchdowns. This game they only lost by 11 points. It’s nothing much, but at least they ended that horrible statistic that many sport reporters would point out in their mocking ways.

All in all, the Seahawks won two very huge games, one to beat the Rams to win the NFC West during the regular season, and one win against the defending Super Bowl champs, the New Orleans Saints. Let’s just hope they can keep this positive momentum and start out strong next season.

Another Seahawks upset

Why the Seattle Seahawks could pull off another victory.

This Sunday, the 15^th, the Seattle Seahawks will play the Chicago Bears in Chicago. Many people are writing off the Seahawks and saying that last week’s victory over the New Orleans Saints was luck. Well here is my bold prediction; the Seattle Seahawks will pull off another upset win. 

 When comparing these two teams, the simplest way is to compare the statistics. Here is a rough breakdown of the numbers for both sides of the ball. On defense, the Chicago Bears allow their opposing team to score 17.9 points per game and give up 314.3 total offensive yards. The Seahawks give up 25.4 points per game to their opponent and 368.6 yards per game. We can clearly see that the Bears have the advantage on defense. When looking at offense, the Bears score 20.9 points per game and have 289.4 total offensive yards. The Seahawks score 19.4 points per game and average 297.8 yards per game. Now looking at these numbers, we can see that they are almost identical, or that both team’s offenses cancel each other’s out. I actually believe the Seahawks have the better offense, even though the numbers do not show that. I will explain why in the next paragraph. There are two big “X factors” that will help decide who will win this game; one of those is the special teams. Sure Chicago has Devin Hester, who is just a fast son of a bitch and can always run one back for a touchdown, but the rest of their special teams are average. I think the Seahawks are slightly better overall, put you just never know until the game. 

I would now like to compare the team’s offensive players. Chicago lacks any offensive threats. They don’t have a true running back. Sure Matt Forte creates good fantasy football numbers and creates match up problems for the other team’s defense, but he is not a true running back that will try to run people over. Then for Chicago’s receivers; they have a bunch of no names. Not to insult any of them, but all their receivers can do is run really really fast. Jay Cutler is an alright quarterback, he is just pressured way too much resulting in quick, bad throws to avoid getting hit. He got sacked 52 times this year for a total loss of 352 yards, as well at 10 fumbles. If the Seahawks rush the ball and put pressure on Jay Cutler, we will be in a good position to win. The Seahawks have two good running backs, Marshawn Lynch who goes into beast mode, and Justin Forsett, who is a tiny quick guy that seems to always get good yards per carry. I would not say these two running backs are the best in football by any stretch, but I do think that combination of Lynch and Forsett is better that Matt Forte. For receivers, Seattle has a bunch of average players there. Their best receiving weapon is Mike Williams. Last time the Seahawks played the Bears, Chicago had no answer for stopping Williams. He caught 10 passes for 123 yards. But that is Mike Williams, he is inconsistent. He could go for 150 yards just as easily as he could go for 35 yards. As for Matt Hasselbeck, who knows, he could throw four interceptions just as easily as throwing four touchdowns. (As you can tell, the Seahawks biggest problem is consistency, they are too hard to predict.) Luckily for Seattle fans, as bad as our offensive line has been all year, it is still a lot better than Chicago’s blockers. If Seattle’s offensive is running on full cylinders, we could easily outscore Chicago. 

Another good piece of promising news, Seattle has already played the Bears in Chicago and won. That will give our players confidence knowing that they already beat the NFC North Division winners once before. And that’s another thing; I personally do not think Chicago is that good of a team. Sure their record is 11-5, but their only impressive victory is against Green Bay, Philadelphia, and the NY Jets. (And when I say an impressive victory, I mean teams that made the playoffs.) They have won seven of their 11 victories by seven points or less. As a playoff team, that is not an impressive number. Sure they won a lot of games, but just barely won. One turnover could make or break a victory. 

So there it is, a few reasons why I think the Seattle Seahawks will win tomorrow. I will not take any credit away from Chicago, they are a good team and very easily could destroy us, but I am feeling another upset. If I were a betting man, I would EASILY bet that the Seahawks could beat the Bears before they could beat the Saints…let’s just hope I am right. So like I said earlier, there are two major “X factors” for a win tomorrow. The first is special teams. I think Seattle has a better offensive while Chicago has a better defense, but it could easily come down to special teams. The second “X Factor” is which Seattle team shows up to play. The Seahawks are a different team on the road. For whatever reason, we get hid once in the face, then get scared and back down, instead of fighting back. We currently have momentum on our side with a two game win streak (Chicago lost their last game), so hopefully Pete Carroll can get his guys pumped up enough to pull out the victory. One thing is for sure, it’s going to be cold and it’s going to be a dog fight. I am excited.

Final score: Seattle Seahawks 24, Chicago Bears 21.

Another fun fact, if the Seahawks pulls the upset and beats Chicago AND if Green Bay beats Atlanta, the Seattle Seahawks would be hosting the NFC Championship game. That would be awesome. For every hater who laughed at Seattle for not being worthy of a playoff spot, they could then go suck it.

GO HAWKS

Time to eat my words

So as you are all well aware, the Seattle Seahawks pulled off the upset and beat the defending Super Bowl champs, the New Orleans Saints. In my first blog, I wrote about why the Seahawks should have thrown the last game of the season, to avoid the playoffs, and get a much better draft pick. One of my reasons was because I believed that the Saints would just destroy the Seahawks....and then I was wrong. And holy crap, what a game. I don't know where that Seahawks team has been all year, but it was nice to finally see them.

Here are a couple notable fun facts for the game. The Saints have one of the better pass defenses in the league, and have only allowed 13 passing touchdowns all year. The Seahawks had four passing touchdowns in that game. A large part of that success was Matt Hasselbeck. He was on his game. A lot of Seahawks fans have grown to hate him over the past few losing seasons, but he just shut them up. He was fantastic. There was several passes that where so perfectly thrown, that no defenders could have stopped him. Another interested fact, yesterdays playoff game was the first time we had a 100 yard running back all season.  Marshawn Lynch ran for 131 yards and a touchdown. He had a 67 yard run in the last few minutes of the game to help secure the victory. And man, that was one of the best runs I have ever seem. He broke 8 tackles from seven different guys, stiff armed someone so bad that the defender flew five yards the opposite direction, and then scored. Man it was just an amazing game.

With this victory, people will stop mocking the Seahawks for not deserving to be in the playoffs. The NFC Division Champs just earned respect throughout the league. This win was something the city of Seattle needed. Congradulations to the entire team, as well as Pete Carroll.

Why the Seahawks should have thrown the last game of the season

So this is the first installment of my sports blog. I will mostly be focusing on local teams in Seattle, but at times will expand the topic to larger issues in sports. 

This first blog will be several reasons why the Seahawks should have purposely lost the last game of the season against the St. Louis Rams. Before I get into this, I would like to say that I am a huge Seahawks fan and am proud of the way they are turning the team around. But getting back towards my reason, the Seattle Seahawks are in a rebuilding stage...meaning they need new talent. If the Seahawks finished the season with a record of 6-10, they would be drafting around the 10-12 spot in the upcoming NFL draft. The draft order is determined by that teams record. But when a team reaches the playoffs, they are automatically send to the bottom third draft. To illustrate this point, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are drafting with the 20th selection with a record of 10-6, and the very best draft pick the Seahawks could get is the 21st pick, with a record of 7-9. And there is a very large difference of talented players coming out of college when you are drafting from the 11th spot, compared to the 21st spot. The Seahawks have a lot of holes on their team, and now they just missed out on drafting an elite quarterback, a shut down corner, or a dominating defensive linesmen. Now there will still be amazing talent where the Seahawks draft in the first round, just nothing of what they had potential to have gotten.

The second reason is that the in the first round of the playoffs, the Seahawks are playing the New Orleans Saints, the defending Super Bowl Champs. It is true that we are playing at home in Quest Field, and we do have some of the loudest fans out there, and there is always an easy way for an upset game in the NFL. But lets be realistic, we are playing the Saints. Their best weapon is their passing game, oh and what is the Seahawks biggest weakness? ....Our pass defense. I have a bad feeling that they will just light us up.I dont know what would be worse, not making the playoffs, or making the playoffs with a losing record, then getting destroyed in the first round at home. It just sounds like such an easy way for the entire NFL fan base to laugh at our team.

For my last reason, the NFC West will still be just as bad next year. Even if every team improves their roster, they will still bad. The Seahawks will have the same odds of winning next year as they did this year....except with better and younger talent.

Well there is my little rant. I have several other big reasons on why they should have lost the game, but I didnt want to make this first post too long. So I will leave it at those three reasons.

....and in case you were wondering, I will still be rooting for the Seahawks to pull the upset as much as the next fan tomorrow afternoon.