Postmortem: Sea v Indy - Instant Classic Edition

[auroraave]

Um, ok, wow. That just happened. One of the worst games I have seen this year, and it turns into a damn instant classic.

I'm not gonna lie - I fucking hated this game. The insane bumbling of the offense - we've seen this movie too many times this season. No rhythm, no clear vision, sticking Sam in the pocket instead og moving him around, Walker off tackle for one fucking yard, starting every drive inside our ten, it felt like.

God it was painful.

I really started to believe this game was rigged for the Colts to win. There seemed to be no explaination for what I was watching. The penalties, the dropped passes, the Colts miraculously converting that late third down. Seattle driving down for the go-ahead field goal - somehow, instead of bleeding clock, we throw consecutive incompletions giving Rivers 30 extra seconds. Nothing made any sense in this game. Nothing. Our offense can't possibly be this bad, right? Three quarters of bumbling, then a couple big plays. It was maddening, it was ugly, and at the end, the defense finished it off.

It was a glorious win.

Two people are most responsible for this win: Myers and Macdonald - his time management was just next level - calling those time outs. My God. Pete Carroll would leave in defeat with three left and try to sell 'em on ebay. Myers has just been so so clutch - but to have the presense of mind to conserve time - my God that is next level thinking. This team is 11-3 because of Macdonald. Under Carroll this team loses this game and is maybe 7-7 at best. God I hate to think of tis team under Carroll.

This offense continues to sputter and appear directionless. It is just bizarre. How many games have looked like this? There is too much talent to be playing this bad, no, to be looking this bad. Remember that moment Seattle did the unthinkable and went uptempo and Sam was ripping off completions? Apparently Kubiak wasn't likeing that success - it literally fueled my conspiracy theory the game was rigged - why STOP doing the only thing that is working? SOMEONE EXPLAIN THIS TO ME PLEASE!

The defense played well but didn't dominate like I expected. They mostly shut down the Colts but gave up too many plays that kept them in the game.

Shout out to the Colts and Rivers. Colts executed their game plan well: just don't fuck up and they didn't. Rivers was serviceable but his arm is toast. It's too bad, I've always liked him, a classic gunslinger.

A shit show game won by a brilliant coach and clutch kicker, despite everyone else apparently trying to lose the game. Absolutely bizarre game with a fantastic finish. I guess I'll take it.

If we are this bad against the Colts, I do not like our chances on Thursday. As much as this team's ceiling seems high, consistantly inconsistant and uttely baffling bumbling on offense leaves me with a bad feeling about this team come playoff time. I would not favor Seattle over either the Lambs or SF right now.

Let's see what Thursday brings.

Go hawks.

EDIT: It should be noted that The Darnold played a pretty decent game - especially in the clutch - despite being under constant duress. He could have been better, missed a couple throws, had others dropped, but he was a net positive today - Seattle's running game did him no favors and it's probably time to move on from K9 - he is fucking useless. Dude does not deserve a second contract.

[HawkandMariner88]

Run & playaction. Quick passes, quick, quick, quick. With LA its simple. Ball control & T.O.P. The longer you keep Stafford off the field the better.

[auroraave]

Run & playaction. Quick passes, quick, quick, quick. With LA its simple. Ball control & T.O.P. The longer you keep Stafford off the field the better.

Agreed. I am wondering if seattle has been intentionally conservative because they are planning on opening it up vs LA - showing more from the playbook. What we are seeing now is not going to unseat the Lambs - probably not even the 9ers. As mentioned before - the uptempo was working - and we promptly abandoned it for no apparent reason, probably for a dreaded K9 off tackle run for one yard. I think Darnold would have a lot of success in a sustained fast-paced offense.

[trharder]

If we are this bad against the Colts, I do not like our chances on Thursday. As much as this team's ceiling seems high, consistantly inconsistant and uttely baffling bumbling on offense leaves me with a bad feeling about this team come playoff time. I would not favor Seattle over either the Lambs or SF right now.

I wish I had something to argue with, but I don't.
It's hard to figure just what the deal is. I think some of it is teams figuring out what we do best and plan to take
that away. Are they sometimes being conservative on purpose? Probably, but other times it appears they just can't
get past that O-line that is suspect - still. It felt like the JSN connection has been off, but he had 113 yards, so
perhaps I was just spoiled and being unrealistic. I do hope Kubiak does a few of the things that we've been bringing
up - like go up tempo when the offense is struggling and get Sam moving more.

We were one shitty Darnold pick or fumble away from losing this one, so good for him for not turning it over.
I guess...

[Sibelius Hindemith]

O line is awful. End of story.

[maoling]

Great post and write-up. I even pinged DT halfway through the game to see if he thought the fix was in. Worst officiated game I've seen this year, just a a joke on at least half a dozen critical calls. And yeah, PC would have swallowed the whole enchilada on running that clock. Still surprised we won. Hard to think Darnold can get us to the Promised Land from the pocket with the way the Oline got smoked today.

Hope we have a real game plan for the feckin' Rams.

[auroraave]

Great post and write-up. I even pinged DT halfway through the game to see if he thought the fix was in. Worst officiated game I've seen this year, just a a joke on at least half a dozen critical calls. And yeah, PC would have swallowed the whole enchilada on running that clock. Still surprised we won. Hard to think Darnold can get us to the Promised Land from the pocket with the way the Oline got smoked today.

Hope we have a real game plan for the feckin' Rams.

What's crazy is all the Indy bets paid off - didn't even need Seattle to lose - Indy covered. Incredibly bizarre game. First time I truly thought the game was being fixed. We all knew the Super Bowl was rigged. I thought Seattle was in on it - the dropped passes, the incompletions late in the 4th guaranteeing Rivers have plenty of time - suspect officiating - literally every single thing advantaged the Colts. It was beyond bizarre. I canlt even celebrate this one, we look so bad and the Lambs look so dialed in - this offense ain't field goaling thier way past the Lambs. Not gonna happen. I've given up on this offense and I am not even blaming Darnold at this point. The play calling is utterly mind boggling and K9 needs a new home. Absolute waste of a roster spot.
I have zero faith they are getting by the Lambs or the 9ers - sadly I am at peace with it. Take the 7th seed because this is not sustainable for any kind of success. You HAVE to have a functioning offense. why doi we have all this talent and look like absolute shit for 3/4 of the game, and Indy has two RB's and king tut at QB and and they look competent - like they all understand the assignment.

[Michael K.]

O line is awful. End of story.

I look for.them to continue to improve upfront this off season, and wouldn't be shocked if they try to upgrade at QB. Schneider has to realize now that the weakness the O Line has wasn't fixed by a few coaches and a different scheme.

They had to feel WR was the bigger weakness, and that's why they addressed that at the deadline. But we have to be honest with ourselves, IMI. If you told me back in August we'd win 11 games this year? I'd have been thrilled. Sure wouldn't have thought that was ever gonna happen in mid December!

[57reasons]

O line is awful. End of story.

I look for.them to continue to improve upfront this off season, and wouldn't be shocked if they try to upgrade at QB. Schneider has to realize now that the weakness the O Line has wasn't fixed by a few coaches and a different scheme.

They had to feel WR was the bigger weakness, and that's why they addressed that at the deadline. But we have to be honest with ourselves, IMI. If you told me back in August we'd win 11 games this year? I'd have been thrilled. Sure wouldn't have thought that was ever gonna happen in mid December!

Upgrade at QB? who's that gonna be? interior OL, sure, maybe even Right Tackle. but good luck finding better than Darnold with pick #20 or later.
Or maybe you like this FA class:
https://www.profootballnetwork.com/2026 ... s-mariota/

[HawkandMariner88]

O line is awful. End of story.

I look for.them to continue to improve upfront this off season, and wouldn't be shocked if they try to upgrade at QB. Schneider has to realize now that the weakness the O Line has wasn't fixed by a few coaches and a different scheme.

They had to feel WR was the bigger weakness, and that's why they addressed that at the deadline. But we have to be honest with ourselves, IMI. If you told me back in August we'd win 11 games this year? I'd have been thrilled. Sure wouldn't have thought that was ever gonna happen in mid December!

Upgrade at QB? who's that gonna be? interior OL, sure, maybe even Right Tackle. but good luck finding better than Darnold with pick #20 or later.
Or maybe you like this FA class:
https://www.profootballnetwork.com/2026 ... s-mariota/

Time to scour the college ranks for some better Guard play. Worry about RB later.