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Breaking down the Seahawks


E-Dog Night

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There have been a few posts which seem to indicate that the Redskins can go ahead and pencil in a W for next weeks game right now. While winning is certainly possible (the Redskins were favored when last I checked), I am a bit surprised to see the amount of overconfidence that is currently pervasive on this board.

The conventional wisdom seems to be that the 'Skins have found their deep passing game. And while there have already been more deep passes in two games than all of last year, I wouldn't say that the Redskins are now a great long ball team. Another month of downfield success, and I'll be convinced, but until then let's assume that we aren't last year's Colts just yet.

Back to the topic: many folks don't sem to realize that Seattle is playing some of the best football in the league right now. There are several items that paint a picture of the Seahawks as a real threat.

Consider:

Opponents are completing only 24.3% of their 3rd downs against Seattle (best percentage in the NFL).

They are ranked 8th overall in defense and 2nd in offense, averaging almost 400 yards a game.

In case you think their stats are inflated because they have played the Cardinals (who, on a side note, have dropped at light speed from chic playoff pick to NFL doormat), Seattle put up 325 yards against Jacksonville (ranked 2nd in defense) and 428 yards against Atlanta (ranked 15th).

Hasselbeck has a 91.8 passer rating, 3 spots better than Brunell.

Shawn Alexander is averaging a whopping 5.6 yards a carry, best among starting RBs (I'm not counting Larry Johnson's insane 8.4 YPC). Alexander, as you may recall, was one measly yard away from being the NFL’s leading rusher last year, and would have been if Holmgren didn’t take him out at the end of game 16.

Darrel Jackson is 6th in the NFL in receiving yards, and Bobby Ingram is 21st.

Of course it’s still early, so these stats don’t tell the whole story. And last year, Seattle looked great getting out to a 3-0 start, then went 3-6 over their next 9 games before finishing 3-1 to somehow win their division at 9-7. So they could have another midseason thud again.

But Seattle appears to be a very solid team to me. Very beatable? Yes. But they are at least above average in every facet of the game. The key to beating them seems to be limiting Alexander and getting an early lead. The Seahawks have a tendency to abandon their best offensive weapon too early if they get behind. If that happens then we have the right where we want them.

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Seattle is definitely tough but historically I don't beleive they are a strong team on the road and they are very inconsistent. If we can hold Alexander in check (i.e. 80 yards) then we have a very good chance at beating them....

Ideally we come out throwing downfield and running the ball with Portis this game...I think he can have a big day against that run defense...

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I think the Seahawks are very solid, and it will be a good test for the Skins. The season does not ride on this one game, but I think the Skins have issues to overcome, and it'd be nice to see progress. I do agree playing at FedEx gives the Skins a slight advantage, but that does mean the Skins need to score early to keep the crowd into the game. Can that happen? We'll find out. GO SKINS! :)

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Seattle is definitely tough but historically I don't beleive they are a strong team on the road and they are very inconsistent. If we can hold Alexander in check (i.e. 80 yards) then we have a very good chance at beating them....

Ideally we come out throwing downfield and running the ball with Portis this game...I think he can have a big day against that run defense...

Seattle definitely struggles on the road, more so than other teams for some reason. And they are giving up 108 yards per game on the ground (18th overall) which bodes well. My hope is that they will play their safeties deep to keep from getting burned by Moss, which will open things up for Portis.

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Aren't they statistically the worst team on the road in the NFL? That will work in our favor.

Their offense does not scare me. I feel like our defense will keep us in every game this season. We do need to be productive offensively though. And I think the key to that is forcing the secondary to respect Santana. If that happens, Portis will have some room to run. We need to be balanced offensively to win games this season.

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The Hawks strength plays right into our own. Teams that rely on their running games will not find easy success against the Washington Redskins. If we have any weakness at all it's in the passing game where we struggle to get any pressure on the opposing QB. Thus the seagulls are going to have a problem because their 4 touchdown back from this past Sunday is going to be effectively taken out of the game.

The question is can our offense put up 20 points. If they do, we win. If they don't, then our defense is going to have to save again.

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The thing about stats is they can just about show you anything you want to see.

Week in and week out you can never tell which team will show up for any particular opponent.

Seahawks stats look great on paper, but so did Bill Parcells stat of 77-0.

Its anything goes as we all know.

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This is going to be a REAL TOUGH GAME if we let Hassleback sit back and have time. He is cabable enough to beat us with out S. Alexander I think. So first and foremost we stop Alexander, then at best, we get some kind of pressure on Hassle - if we don't he will PICK US APART.

My prediction as far as offense goes, is going to be dissapointment. I see us going back into an offensive shell, and taking a few uninspired shots downfield. I think our defensive will hold a top tier offense in check for awhile, but eventually going to get worn down by the constant 3 and outs on offensive. I see 21-10 game we lose.

This is what happened all of last year, our D is going to hold Alexander until the 4th when they can't give no more, and the C-gulls will get a few token scores and final score will not be indicative of how well our D played! Doom and Gloom I know. . .

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The Hawks Defense is not very good. We seem to do fairly well offensively against bad Defenses. Hasselbeck is prone to make mistakes. If thats the case, I dont think it will be close. Our Defense on the other hand is very good, and like most, I believe we will be in just about every game this year, as was the case last year. Portis will find room to run on these guys.....

This week we go to 3-0

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Matt Hasselbeck and Shaun Alexander and Darrell Jackson have NEVER beaten the Redskins. EVER.

Marty beat them in 2001 as part of the 0-5 to 5-5 winning streak.

Steve Spurrier travelled to Seattle and defeated them there in 2002.

In 2003 Spurrier hosted the Seahawks and we defeated again, making Seattle one of our only 5 wins that year.

It's 2005 and I like our matchups-- history will repeat itself again, albeit in another close game.

Alexander has never played a run-defense like this---as Alexander goes, so go the Seahawks---24-13 Skins.

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the game is all about matchups, and I feel very comfortable with how we match up against them.

Seattle's game has been to simply outscore their opponents. Their D is NOTHING to be scared of. Their O is capable.

However, I have yet to see ANY O that the 'Skins have faced have their way against us. I expect more of the same against Seattle. I doubt they put up 10 points.

I would much rather play an offensive-oriented team than a defensive one. This game, at home, should be a no brainer.

Any word on the spread? If it's not Skins by at least 6 I will be surprised.

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Stopping Shaun Alexander=Stopping the Seattle Seahawks.......

Um, that's almost right. Our offense is far too well balanced to just play up on Alexander; Hasselbeck will pick you apart, going to his many, many other weapons. I'll tell you the key -- if we don't have the lead, Holmie invariably panics and give up on the run.

If we make ourselves one dimensional like that, your excellent defense will be able to blitz Hass to kingdom come. He gets rattled and falls apart, game over Seattle.

So, will your O be able to do that against us? Frankly, what little I've seen of it (a couple quarters of the Dallas game) it was less than awe inspiring. Our defense isn't spectacular, but is fairly solid -- and still improving, imo. I don't think your O is going to be able to get the lead you need on it's own, I think your defense will need to get some turnovers and shorten the field for them.

If it doesn't, I think the hawks will win a slugfest.

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People seem to think if we stop Shaun Alexander the seahawks have nothing to bring on offense. We really can't forget about the passing game. It isn't the best in the league, but Hasselback is #8 in passing yardarge and Darrell Jackson is #6 in receiving yardage. Also, I think limiting Shaun Alexander to 80 yards is easier said than done, even with a great defense. I think we have the capability of winning this game, but it's not going to be easy.

This will also be the first Redskins game I've ever been to. So, if we won it would be great.

Keys:

Score a td Early

Portis 100+

play good all around defense

an interesting statistic.

Record when Portis gets 100+ yds:6-0

Record when Portis plays and gets <100yds: 1-10

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If it doesn't, I think the hawks will win a slugfest.

thinking that the hawks are capable of winning a slugfest against even a HS team, much less the Redskins, is laughable.

The seagulls are in for a rude awakening. This ain't the NFC west. We wear pads and helmets in the East, not tutus.

The seagulls are going to get punched in the mouth early and often, and they are going to fold like the west coast finesse team that they are.

.....

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thinking that the hawks are capable of winning a slugfest against even a HS team, much less the Redskins, is laughable.

The seagulls are in for a rude awakening. This ain't the NFC west. We wear pads and helmets in the East, not tutus.

The seagulls are going to get punched in the mouth early and often, and they are going to fold like the west coast finesse team that they are.

.....

Ouch, that's kind of harsh!

I do love it, though. :silly:

:cheers:

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