Week 5 Seahawks @ Colts, Preview and Prediction

When the Seahawks and the Colts step on the field 10AM Sunday morning at Lucas Oil Stadium, both teams will be ailing from injuries to key players. While Seattle will be without 2 offensive linemen and possibly Center Max Unger and TE Zach Miller who are game-time decisions, The Colts also have an injured guard and will be without their leading rusher in Bradshaw and fullback Havili. While Seattles Injuries are more vast, I believe the Colts are more significant to the outcome of this game. Let's take a look at both sides of the ball.

Offense: In my mind what this game is going to come down to is who can establish and stick with the run game. With Bradshaw out, the Colts will be relying heavily on newly aquired Trent Richardson to carry the load. Trent has gotten off to a slow start, in his first 2 weeks as a Colt, but he is a very talented young RB with potential for a big game. I just don't think he's going to have that big game this week. Last week against the league worst Jaguars he had 20 carries for only 60 yards. If the Colts aren't able to run the ball then there is no way in my mind they win this game. In regards to the Seahawks offense, what I would love to see would be a fast start. I'd like to see Russell use his legs earlier in this game, and I'd like to see M

arshawn get the ball atleast 25 times this games. I believe Seattle is more equip to establish the run early, and that having to respect Russell's threat to run will open up some plays later in the game when we need big throws. Everyone's biggest concern is the offensive line, and if both Unger and Miller are not able to go on Sunday, then the run game becomes even more significant to me. I hope we come into this game with a better game plan on offense than we had last week. This will be another grind-it-out sort of game on offense until we can get healthy upfront.

Defense: Are we ever worried about these guys? I mean really...what a luxury it is to have a defense that you can rely on. I know that giving up over 300 yards passing for the first time in 11 games last week really pissed our secondary off. I think they are taking last week as a loss in their mind, and that they will be fired up for this game. I don't see us having a quarter like we did last week in the 2nd quarter vs. Houston where we gave up 20 points. Our defense is only getting stronger, the return of Bruce Irvin starting for the first time at LB will be something to watch out for. He will probably be a bit rusty, coming off his 4 game suspension, but he was actively training in West Virginia during his time off and from what Pete Carroll says he is in better shape that he was when he left. Remember he was nursing a hamstring thru much of training camp.Irvin will be hungry to get his first real action of the year in, and I think he could have an impact. Our defense isn't facing it's toughest task, but they are playing a very fundamentally sound team with a great QB that is smart and accurate. We will need to keep Luck from killing up with short yardage throws over the middle, but if the game comes down to Luck throwing the ball then I like our chances. I get excited when I see a team start to rely on the pass because our secondary is like a pack of hungry wolves just salivating for extra chances to pick off the ball. Don't sleep on the Colt's defense either, while they are not as complete a unit as the Seahawks they have the league leader and AFC Defensive Player of the Month in Mathis, who has 7.5 sacks thru 4 weeks. Also their LB Freeman has 3 sacks this season. They will be the ones exposing the weaknesses in our offensive line. The Colts have a few injuries on defense as well, that may present match up problems for them against our slot receivers. Overall, our defense is better, more complete, and angrier coming into this game. They have the edge in every aspect of this match up.

People who don't like the Seahawks like to ask the question " Who have you beat?" That's how I feel about the Colts. They have one win of merit and that was against a San Francisco team that had their insides gutted and handed to them the week before in Seattle. They lost at home to the Dolphins, who were also exposed last week.  I honestly don't think this game is going to be as competitive as people are making it out to be. I think the Colts are over rated, and that is without injuries to key players on both sides of the ball. Still Seattle will probably struggle to score points. I see this game being close in the first half with Seattle pulling away after half time.

My Prediction: Seahawks 24 Colts 13

GO 'HAWKS!!!

WEEK 5 PICKS

THUR, OCT 3

Buffalo at Cleveland

SUN, OCT 6

New Orleans at Chicago

New England at Cincinnati

Detroit at Green Bay

Kansas City at Tennessee

Seattle at Indianapolis

Jacksonville at St. Louis

Baltimore at Miami

Philadelphia at NY Giants

Carolina at Arizona

Denver at Dallas

Houston at San Francisco

San Diego at Oakland

MON, OCT 7

NY Jets at Atlanta

** Projected winners in PINK

Seahawks 23 Houston 20: Game Review

Now with this being my first real game review of the year, I feel the need to remind you that I don't fact check any of my stats. The things I write about are simply what I recall from the game and what I draw from that amazing catalog of facts I keep in my mind. So please if you are going to correct me when I say Marshawn had 98 yards rushing, when it was really 102..just save it! :) You get the point! Now, Let's break down this historic victory.

This game was really a tale of two halves. Or a tale of one quarter and then 3 quarters and overtime. The Texans played the best quarter of ball on Sunday. in the second quarter they put up all 20 of their points and had our defense on its heels. Pete Carroll's favorite mantra is " Finish Strong" and that is exactly what Seattle did last Sunday.

Offense: With 3 O-line starters out, both tackles Okung, Giacomini and the center Unger, to call the offensive line makeshift would be generous. I thought we would be able to combat this early by designed plays that got Wilson out of the pocket. That didn't happen. JJ. Watt and Brian Cushing were suffocating and relentless from both sides of the field. Our offense wasn't able to develop any sort of rhythm throughout the entire game, with Wilson being sacked 5 times, and 2 turnovers, it was a long hard day on offense. There were some amazing plays however, Marshawn went absolutely BEAST MODE from our own 1 yard line, out to the 45. He broke about 6 tackles and stayed in bounds for an amazing run. Momentum on drives were killed by sacks, and poor execution. You could start to see Seattle piecing it together the second half. We looked like we were driving then Russell slid to protect himself and was a yard short of the frist down, then we couldn't convert. Eventually however they got it together. It seemed like our offense got stronger and the Texans defense got weaker. The Texans looked tired and when I saw the look on JJ.Watts face, the same look Brian Urlacher had last year late in the game vs. the Bears, I knew we were coming back. Russell started scrambling, making a tired defense look slow and silly. At one point he literally had them running in circles. Russell is special. He never stops believing in himself, or this team and he took over on that drive. It was special to watch. Doug Baldwin had some amazing catches. He is 13-15 on targets this year, and he always seems to make the clutch 3rd down catch. Alot of people are saying he is the new Bobby Engram, and I know Engram personally and that is quite the compliment. I think if Baldwin gets more targets he has potential to be better than Bobby. Remember the one season Engram had over 1000 yards receiving and like 90+ catches, that was his best year, and I see Baldwin averaging that should he get the opportunity. Long story short, the offense gets a pass from me this game, because of the woes on the line, and because we won, this teams seems to have a knack for coming up with the big plays when we need them.

Defense: The box score looks a lot worse than our defense did on Sunday. 3oo+ yards in the first half, when we're averaging like 242 per game. Yea......something was off. Still the Texans scored all their points in the 2nd quarter, and our defense pitched a shutout for 3 full quarters + overtime. We came out a little flat, I saw missed tackles, and I was getting really frustrated with our zone defense. We have the personnel to play man coverage with any team, and it seemed like all their big completion were coming against our zone. There were a few fantastic plays by the Texans, that easily could have been incompletions or tackles for a loss, but the ball didn't really bounce our way until later in the game. Its been shown that Schaub can't throw when he is out of the pocket, and is under pressure. They key to the second half turn around was the pressure we were able to put on Schaub. Clemons had a big sack, Avril did too. Im really pleasantly surprised with how well McDonald and McDaniels are playing up the middle. There was a scary moment when Michael Bennett went down with a back injury and was put on a stretcher and taken off the field. Seeing his dad calling out for him from the stands was heart wrenching. Luckily his injury was a low back pull and he will be back at practice this week. With the return of Bruce Irvin this week , fresh off his 4 game suspension for violating the leagues banned substance policy, our pass rush will be at full strength for the first time all season against the Colt. Of course the biggest play of the game came with just under 3 mintues left in regulation when Schaub on a play fake rolled to his right and had a defender in his face and for the 3rd week in a row threw a pick 6. This time to Richard Sherman, who took a risk and jumped the route and ran it back 54 yards with only one shoe. I hate when I hear people say we got lucky on that play, or that Schaub gave us that win. Those people completely ignore the fact that Sherman studied the Texans offense all week. That he knew in 3rd and shorts, after run plays they like to play fake and throw to the flat.  They discount that in practice this week he practiced that exact defensive play, and that on his first attempt he missed the int, on his second attempt he made the interception but fell down, so that when it came time in the real game he was ready to not only intercept the ball but stay on his feet, one shoe and all and take it to the house. The separation isn't in the luck , the separation is in the preparation, and that is why Seattle came out on top.

Special Teams: Often overlooked in the grand scheme of things, but ask any real Seahawk fan about their team and you will get raves about our special teams. Ryan is always clutch,  Houska's 45 yard FG in OT won the game, and Golden Tate had a gutsy punt return out of the end zone in overtime that lead to the game winning FG. Steve Maragos is a beast on special teams coverage. Let's give them their due...they played well the entire game.

Conclusions: The Seahawks were able to win this game out of sheer will, grit, belief, and perseverance. It was a hard fought battle, and we are better for it. This one right here was a character win, and a historical win because for the first time in franchise history the Seattle Seahawks are 4-0. I tried to put that into perspective for myself and what really makes me appreciate this is not that I've never seen it in my lifetime, but that my father who has been a Seahawks fan from the year of their inception in 1975, has never seen a Seahawks team go 4-0. This one for you daddy.  GO 'HAWKS!

The Actual Play of The Game: Sherman's Pick 6 to tie the game.
The Almost Play Of The Game: Jermaine Kerse TD catch that got called back for pushing off.

#WhatsNext  Seattle Seahawks @ Indianapolis Colts @ 10AM PST