Category Archives: Schedule

Pre-draft look at 2016 opponents

April 3, 2016 cc 2 Comments

2016 opponents In the NFL, April is draft month. But it also has become schedule month.

Word is the NFL will release the schedule April 19-21, a week before the April 28-30 draft.

We already know their opponents, of course. Based on 2015 results, the Seahawks have the fifth-toughest schedule next season. There’s nothing new about that, though: Their 2015 schedule ranked fourth and their 2014 slate was sixth.

But those preseason rankings don’t reflect changes teams have made since the last season ended.

As we transition from free agency month into draft month, let’s see how Seattle’s opponents have changed since last season.

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Schedule

Seahawks will face Packers again next year

January 4, 2016 cc Leave a comment

Seahawks at Packers helmets The Minnesota-Green Bay game on Sunday night did more than settle Seattle’s playoff destination: It determined which NFC North team the Seahawks will face in 2016.

The Seahawks will play a second-place schedule next season, which means they will once again face the Green Bay Packers, who finished second to the Vikings in the North.

The Packers and Philadelphia Eagles were the only unknowns entering Week 17. The Hawks already were set to face the NFC South, AFC East and, of course, NFC West.

The Seahawks and Packers will face off for the fifth time in five years (assuming the teams don’t meet in the NFC title game again this season — a safe assumption considering how pathetic the Packers have become). Like this year, that game will be in Green Bay.

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Schedule, Super Bowl XL, Week 12: Pittsburgh

Here’s why Big Ben has never played in Seattle

November 26, 2015 cc Leave a comment

Big Ben Steelers A lot is being made of the fact that Seattle is the only place Ben Roethlisberger has not played in his 12-year career, but the fact is he and the Steelers were supposed to come in 2011. And then the NFL changed the scheduling rules.

Starting in 2010, teams from the East no longer had to make two trips to the West in a season. The Steelers were slated to go to San Francisco and Seattle in 2011, but the NFL swapped Seattle out for Arizona, and the Seahawks ended up going to Pittsburgh.

The Seahawks have played in Pittsburgh twice since the infamous Super Bowl XL, getting shut out both times — Mike Holmgren’s Super Bowl remnants lost 21-0 in Mike Tomlin’s first year leading the Steelers in 2007, and Pete Carroll’s rebuilding club lost 24-0 in 2011.

This meeting comes on the 10-year anniversary of the Super Bowl XL season, and the Steelers had a reunion of that team a few weeks ago. Four players — Roethlisberger, tight end Heath Miller, linebacker James Harrison and long snapper Greg Warren — remain on the Steelers from that Super Bowl team.

Roethlisberger joked to Seattle media, “That’s how you know you’re old — when they’re doing reunions and you’re still playing.”

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Schedule, State of the team, Week 9: Bye

Second half starts and ends with Arizona

November 5, 2015 cc Leave a comment

Way back in April, we said a 4-4 start would be the worst case for the defending NFC champions. Well, unfortunately, here the Seahawks are.

Pete Carroll understatedly called their record “nothing to be shouting about.” Hell, it’s barely anything to whisper about.

“But,” he pointed out, in his oddball way of speaking, “it did put us in a position where we have a second half to really go forward. We have all of the matchups in the games that we need to play in the division to settle issues and go for it and take it as far as we can.”

He has to hope that is farther than the last time the Hawks started 4-4. In 2012, they rallied to finish 11-5 and had to hit the road for the playoffs, where they beat Washington and lost agonizingly in Atlanta (kinda like they have lost some of their games this season).

It’s just how Carroll’s slow-starting team typically does it. Since Russell Wilson became quarterback, the Seahawks have gotten better as the season has progressed. They are 20-12 (.625) in the first half and 20-4 (.833) in the second.

Last year, they rallied from 3-3 to finish 12-4, and Carroll thinks they are in a similar spot this year.

“I don’t think it feels much different than it did last year,” he said. “I think it’s very similar. It’s unfortunate that it takes us a while, but I think this is an opportunity to observe what it’s like to be where we’ve been and to come back.

“If we’re able to put the second half together like we plan on, then we’ll be really proud of that.”

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Schedule, State of the team, Week 6: Carolina

Odds look bad, but Hawks can still win NFC West

October 19, 2015 cc 1 Comment

“This league drives you to 8-8.” — Seahawks general manager John Schneider.

John Schneider has said it more than once: The NFL is built for parity and staying on top is a tough task.

Well, at a stunning 2-4, the Seahawks have a long way to go just to get to .500, and their playoff chances, based on history, do not look good. Since 1990, just 14 of 168 teams to start 2-4 have reached the playoffs (per NFL Stats). That’s an 8.3% chance.

But, the Seahawks are a team that has been made for rallies, and Pete Carroll and the players are optimistic they will figure out how to close out opponents and get it going. Plus, the NFC West is still very much within reach.

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Schedule

This schedule is much better than 2014

April 22, 2015 cc Leave a comment

So, apparently if you lose a Super Bowl in agonizing fashion, you get a much friendlier schedule the next year.

For a team with the fourth-toughest schedule in the league (based on 2014 records), the Seahawks pulled as amenable a schedule as they could have requested Tuesday when the NFL released the full slate.

With a team-record five prime-time games, three straight contests at home in November, a perfectly placed midseason bye, no bad-weather games and a friendly final two months, the Seahawks have a much better setup than they faced in 2014. (Plus, they get Al Michaels calling games three times and we have to suffer through Jon Gruden just once.)

Last year, the Seahawks were among the first set of byes in Week 4 and finished with five rugged division games in the final six weeks — and they still claimed the top seed in the NFC for the second straight year.

Despite a tough early schedule, they are in good position to win the NFC for a third straight year.

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Schedule

Schedule coming April 23: Prime-time opener?

April 13, 2015 cc Leave a comment

Marshawn Lynch runs against the Packers in the NFC title game (Seahawks.com) — Will Marshawn Lynch and the Seahawks open at Green Bay on Sunday night?

The NFL schedule will be released next week, with April 23 the expected date — which leads to the question: Will the Seahawks open in prime time?

Because they blew the Super Bowl and lost the right to open at home on Thursday for the second straight year, Sunday night seems like a distinct possibility.

It’s not automatic that the Super Bowl loser gets the Sunday night slot to start the season (e.g., Denver did last year, but the 49ers did not in 2013). But Seattle at Green Bay — a rematch of the stunning NFC title game — would be a heckuva way to cap the first Sunday slate on Sept. 13. It would be the second straight year the Hawks and Packers opened the season against each other — but this time it would be in Green Bay.

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Schedule

How many games can Hawks win with No. 4 toughest schedule?

February 15, 2015 cc 1 Comment

The Seahawks have the fourth-toughest schedule in the NFL in 2015, based on 2014 results. But it’s not as if a tough schedule is anything new for them. They had the No. 10 slate in 2013 and the No. 6 schedule last year — and we all know they should be 2-0 in the Super Bowl.

But they aren’t, so we are left to look forward to the 2015 season and wonder whether the Hawks can become the first team in the salary-cap era to play in the Super Bowl in three straight seasons.

Here’s an early look at that No. 4 schedule:

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Schedule, Week 14: At Philadelphia

Hawks don’t have to beat Eagles — unless they want a first-round bye

December 4, 2014 cc Leave a comment

The Seahawks’ game this week in Philadelphia is full of great storylines — former Pac-12 coaching stars Pete Carroll vs. Chip Kelly, Carroll vs. his USC quarterback Mark Sanchez, the Seahawks’ No. 1 defense vs. the Eagles’ No. 4 offense.

And then there are the playoff implications.

The Hawks don’t need to win this game to make the playoffs. That can be accomplished by sweeping their divisional rivals in the final three weeks. But, if the Hawks want a shot at a first-round bye, they basically have to win this game.

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Schedule, Week 12: Arizona

Hawks’ playoff scenarios

November 23, 2014 cc Leave a comment

Unlike last season, when the Seahawks were 9-1 at this point and pretty much assured of a playoff spot, they are fighting for their playoff lives as they enter a brutal six-week stretch to finish the season.

Some think the Hawks are in must-win mode the rest of the way, starting vs. Arizona, but the fact is they need just five wins in the final six games to make the playoffs. And they could make it with a 4-2 finish if other teams scuffle toward the end.

The Seahawks have a steep upward climb to catch Arizona for the NFC West title, trailing by three games and facing the toughest remaining slate in the NFL: Arizona (9-1), at San Francisco (6-4), at Philadelphia (7-3), vs. San Fran, at Arizona, vs. St. Louis (4-6).

Just to make the playoffs, the Hawks almost certainly will have to sweep either Arizona and/or San Francisco, plus win the finale at home vs. the Rams. Basically, they need to go at least 4-1 in their division games and perhaps win in Philly.

Continue reading Hawks’ playoff scenarios →