Posted by Maynerd on January 23, 2006, at 17:24:01
In reply to Re: Seahawks earn ticket to Detroit » Maynerd, posted by wildcard11 on January 23, 2006, at 3:06:11
Carolina played like what they were; a team with a severely crippled running game which allowed the Seattle defense to keep at least two guys on Smith all game. Once Seattle got into the Carolina offenses head what started as a leak turned into a mudslide. I think that we got to see one of the 'intangibles' that the sports media likes to talk about, psychologically the Panthers were beat by the time the third quarter was over. Perhaps they listened to a media that believed that the Seahawks defense was a weak and therefore didn't think they could come up with a plan to stop their offense, I don't know. I believe that your Panthers will be a force to be reckoned with next season without a doubt as most of the core will be returning.
I laugh because the media IS still disrespecting Seattle AND the NFC in general; a foolish thing to do. I respect the heck out of Pittsburg and personally think it will be a battle, but I think the media is once again overlooking the little points that made this Seahawks team the number one NFC team almost the whole season. Our offensive line has been together for a few years and work extremely well together, MVP is the reward. We have no real superstars on our team other than the MVP, Hasselback, and jones, but they don't need any. Tim Ruskell has built a team, emphasis on TEAM. They respect each other, work well together, and trust each other. Defensive players aren't leaving their assigned places to try and make ESPN's highlight reel, which takes away many of those reverses teams try on less disciplined teams. On offense there are multiple threats that must be respected, none that warrant double coverage, but none should be ignored. Having such a gifted running back like Alexander doesn't hurt either...
Personally I think Carolina has/had most of these things, except for the multiple offensive threats which was their downfall. Proehl and Carter and good receivers, but Jake was so used to either handing off or throwing to Smith that when those two were negated he started to panic.
poster:Maynerd
thread:601890
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20060115/msgs/602166.html