2023-24 NFL/Seahawks Season Thread

[South Pender]

Well, it looks as if Jerry Jones is giving Mike McCarthy another year to get the Cowboys to the promised land. And, as for Dan Quinn, he remains in the running for the Seahawks' HC job. Quinn has long been mentioned as Pete Carroll's likely successor, although it's hard to know whether the Cowboys' dreadful defensive performance against the Packers will change that. Another candidate worth following for the Seahawks' job is Mike Vrabel, recently fired by the Titans. There has also been some excitement around the possibility of Jim Harbaugh, although I'd be surprised if John Schneider would want to partner with Harbaugh. In any case, I think we may see some progress with the 'Hawks HC search by next week, and maybe even a hiring. This can't drag out for too long, as the new HC will need to get right to work hiring his coordinators and other coaches.

As for the divisional round playoffs, three of the four games look likely to be one-sided affairs, although I guess you never know as we saw with the Packers' demolition of the 'Boys, In any case, it's hard to imagine another monumental upset with the Niners and Ravens losing at home to decidedly inferior teams on Saturday. And I'd have to go with the Lions at home vs the Bucs. The only divisional game that would seem to shape up as an interesting one is the Chiefs at the Bills on Sunday. Both teams have played more poorly than expected this season and have shown some real weaknesses. It's pretty hard to see the Chiefs losing with Patrick Mahomes at the controls, but the Bills at home are 2 1/2-point favorites. That one should be an interesting game.

[South Pender]

Well, one of the two divisional games went the way most had expected. The Ravens did indeed crush the Texans. However, the 49ers-Packers game was a big surprise. The Niners won as expected, but they sure didn't look that good doing it. Maybe it's just that the Packers are that good--way ahead of where everyone expected them to be. They're the youngest team in the NFL, but their rookies and 2nd-year guys are very good, and Jordan Love looks every bit the fitting successor to Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre. Packers' fans should be very enthusiastic about their team's future.

I thought the 49ers really looked off yesterday, and truth be told, they're lucky to have come out with a win. Brock Purdy was average at best completing only 59% of his passes, and although Christian McCaffrey was his usual stellar self, rushing for 98 yards and a 5.8 yds. per carry average, they didn't really look that unstoppable. And on defense they certainly weren't the suffocating unit that we have expected. Losing Deebo Samuel on offense was one factor, I guess, and his availability for the conference championship game and Super Bowl are up in the air at this point. Between yesterday's game and the dismal loss against the Ravens, the 49ers seem to have regressed toward the end of the season. At this point, it's hard to see them winning the big game, particularly if it is against the Ravens.

Two more to go today--Bucs at Lions and Chiefs at Bills.

I ran across this piece about Pete Carroll's contributions and influence as Seahawks coach. It sums up what most others have written about the phenomenal contributions Pete has made to Seahawks football and the game more generally:

https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/21/sport/pe ... index.html

[Robbie]

Close wins in the other conference semi-finals.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers gave the Detroit Lions a scare by tying the game three times and was deadlocked at 17-17 heading into the fourth quarter before the Lions got two TD's to take a larger lead to prevent a comeback by Tampe Bay for a 31-23 win.

And a relatively high scoring back and fourth game between the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs and the Bills were in a position to tie the game but missed a crucial field goal so the Chiefs hung on to win on the road 27-24.

AFC Championship: Kansas City Chiefs vs. Baltimore Ravens
NFC Championship: Detroit Lions vs. San Francisco 49ers

[South Pender]

The NFC divisional game went as predicted, although I thought that the Bucs showed up and played hard. Looks as if they have their successor to Tom Brady in Baker Mayfield. The Lions are a pretty good team and will, I think, give the 49ers all they can handle in the conference championship game next Sunday. So in the NFC, it will be the 1st and 3rd seeds playing for the right to go to the Super Bowl.

The AFC divisional game played out as expected—a close contest. In the end Patrick Mahomes’ magic, along with a strong defensive performance, was the difference, as it has been over the past four years, with the Chiefs knocking the Bills out in either the AFC divisional or conference championship games in three of the past four years. You really have to feel sorry for the long-suffering Bills’ fans; they’ve come so close and lost so often. This really goes back to the 1991-1994 seasons when under Marv Levy they went to four consecutive Super Bowls and lost all of them, none perhaps more disheartening than the “wide right” game in SB 25, when Scott Norwood missed a 47-yd. field goal with 8 seconds remaining and which left them 20-19 losers to Bill Parcells’ New York Giants. So again, we have the 1st and 3rd seeds in the AFC playing in the conference championship game next Sunday.

Odds in next Sunday's conference championship games:
AFC - Chiefs at Ravens, 12:00 noon: Ravens 3.5-point favorites.
NFC - Lions at 49ers, 3:30 p.m.: 49ers 7-point favorites.

Chiefs-Ravens should be a doozy....

[Robbie]

AFC Championship:
Kansas City Chiefs defence played superb in limiting the Baltimore Ravens' offence to just 7 points for most of the game and forced a pair crucial turnovers just when Baltimore was threatening to score. And Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offence were much more successful in getting several first downs and extending drives in their eventual 17-10 upset win and a repeat to the Super Bowl. And the Ravens shot themselves in the foot several times with their many undisciplined penalties including the taunting penalty which costed them 15 yards and had that not occurred, they likely could have scored. Had Baltimore won, it would have been a rematch of Super Bowl XLVII.

NFC Championship:
A huge and excellent comeback by the San Francisco 49ers after trailing 24-7 at halftime to ensure that there won't be a second upset in the semi-finals with 24 unanswered points in the second half in the eventual 34-31 win.

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Super Bowl LVIII:
San Francisco 49ers vs. Kansas City Chiefs
February 11, 2024 in Las Vegas, kickoff at 3:30 PM

This year's Super Bowl winner will definitely not be a first time for any time as both teams have won several in the past. And this will be a rematch of Super Bowl LIV with Kansas City winning 31-20 highlighted by the Chiefs scoring three touchdowns in the fourth quarter. I'm sure several players on either roster from four years ago are still with the same team and remember that game like it was yesterday although one huge difference is that 49ers starting QB Jimmy Garoppolo has been replaced by Brock Purdy.

[South Pender]

Just some thoughts on yesterday’s NFL conference championship games. In the AFC game, the Ravens’ mistakes were the big story. They played an undisciplined game and wound up with eight penalties for 95 yards, with five 15-yard penalties (as opposed to the Chiefs' 3 penalties for 30 yards), including the really boneheaded taunting penalty on Zay Flowers when he was spinning the ball over Chiefs’ cornerback L'Jarius Sneed after a big catch. This must have infuriated Ravens’ coach John Harbaugh. It’s hard to understand how some of these guys (it’s mainly wide receivers and defensive backs) can be so dumb as to cost their teams this way. Whether you agree with the taunting penalties or not, they are clearly set out in the rules, and Flowers’ arrogance and stupidity were costly. However, there was sweet justice a few plays later when Sneed popped the ball loose from Flowers as he was crossing the goal line, and it resulted in no points for the Ravens and a touchback.

Lamar Jackson continued his mediocre post-season play. He is now 2-4 in the playoffs. Even though he has been touted as the most likely NFL MVP this season, he was far from his regular-season form yesterday. He did make some eye-popping scrambles and runs, but his passing in general was pretty poor, going 20-37 (54%) with one interception. The Ravens just didn’t look like the team that had put the wood to the 49ers a few weeks ago. Although I’m certainly not a Ravens fan, in some ways I was hoping they’d win if for no other reason than sparing us having to see the camera crew panning over to Taylor Swift and her entourage every five minutes.

In the NFC game, in the first half the Lions looked to be on the way to their first Super Bowl, running up a 24-7 halftime lead, but they fell apart in the second half. Brock Purdy’s scrambling and second-half runs were a surprise. He’s not considered a very athletic and mobile QB, but he came through big-time for the 49ers. Christian McCaffrey played his usual strong game, and Deebo Samuel illustrated his importance to the 49ers’ offense with 8 catches for 89 yards. He and Brandon Aiyuk are two quality wide receivers, and with the superb George Kittle at tight end, provide the 49ers with as good a receiving group as just about anyone in the NFL.

Aside from Purdy’s unexpected runs, the other surprise was Lions’ coach Dan Campbell’s 4th-down gambles. He went for it on 4th down twice in the second half—both of which failed and both within reasonable FG range. On the second one late in the game, they had 4th and three from the 49ers’ 30, which would have meant a 48-yard FG to tie the game. He probably gambled because the Lions’ FG kicker, Michael Badgley, is not that good, but Campbell will be taking a lot of heat from disappointed Lions’ fans for his decisions. I think the probabilities for converting on that last 4th-down attempt were about 50-50, and Campbell likely thought that Badgley would miss the 48-yarder.

It was a heart-breaking loss for Lions’ fans, but they can point to a very successful season, and they have a lot of reason to be optimistic for next season. They seem to have found their core of players now, and Campbell is a good coach.

As for the 49ers, it’s hard to know how good they are. At some points in the season, they looked like the undisputed class of the NFL, but later in the season, they looked very beatable. So it sets up an interesting Super Bowl in two weeks. The latest odds show the 49ers as slim 1.5-point favourites, but this number could change over the next few days. By game time, it will likely be close to "pick-em."

By the way, anyone up for a trip to the Super Bowl in Las Vegas? Apparently, tickets are still available and going for an average ticket price of only $10,700 USD a ticket. So for a mere $28,668 Cdn, you and your significant other can attend the game. Of course, there are the added expenses of the trip to Vegas and your hotel.

[South Pender]

With the Ravens and Lions now out of the Super Bowl, two coordinators of note are now available to be considered for the Seahawks' head coaching position--Mike Macdonald the Ravens' DC and Ben Johnson, the Lions' OC. Both have had very strong seasons with their teams and it's a good bet that at least one of them will be hired shortly as a head coach at one of the remaining HC openings--Seahawks and Washington Commanders. Ben Johnson to the Commanders seems likely, although the Seahawks are reportedly interviewing him today, and I think the 'Hawks will be very interested in Macdonald and are said to be planning to interview him tomorrow.

I think that Dan Quinn probably remains the favorite for the Seahawks' position, but Macdonald wouldn't surprise me. I'm betting that they'll go again for a defensive guy. Of course, with all this talk of available coaches and the Seahawks' need, it remains to be seen whether any of these guys will want to sign on with the Seahawks. We tend to forget this little item when discussing HC hirings! It now looks likely that we'll hear about the new Seahawks' head coach some time this week, maybe within a couple of days.

[South Pender]

Looks as if Mike Macdonald will be the Seahawks' next head coach. He'll be the youngest head coach in the NFL at 36, and is something of a defensive wunderkind. I think this will make many 'Hawks' fans happy.

https://theathletic.com/5241462/2024/01 ... ead-coach/

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootba ... g-official

The feeling in Seattle seems to have been that the Seahawks had become stale and predictable under the previous coaching regime and unable to deal with the innovative offenses of younger HCs like Kyle Shanahan with the 49ers and Sean McVay with the Rams--the two most important rivals of the Seahawks since the 'Hawks play both twice each season in the NFC-West. I think that a failure to adapt and to move away from older concepts cost Pete Carroll his job. Pete built a great culture in Seattle, and that will be hard to replace, but, after a disappointing 2023 season, most thought that a bright young mind was what the team needed. This decision was evidently reached by Seahawks Chair Jody Allen, and GM John Schneider must have agreed.

Macdonald will need to appoint two good coordinators as soon as possible. Losing DC Clint Hurtt (who has signed on with the Eagles as D-line coach) is a great step forward for the Seahawks, all on its own, as many of the Seahawks' defensive failures this past season were much more related to coaching and scheme than to player quality. Presumably Macdonald will bring in someone who will reflect his defensive philosophy which proved so effective with the Ravens--perhaps one of the defensive assistants who worked under him in Baltimore.

And they'll need to land an effective OC. The past two seasons' OC, Shane Waldron (who has just joined the Bears as OC) failed to get the most out of some really outstanding offensive skill players like receivers DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and RBs Kenneth Walker, and Zach Charbonnet. A bright young innovative mind would be a welcome addition at OC if one can be found.

So interesting days ahead for the Seahawks. The team's player needs are pretty well-known at this point--most notably on defense--and acquisitions via free agency, trades, and the draft will go some way to determining the 'Hawks success in 2024.

[Robbie]

Looks as if Mike Macdonald will be the Seahawks' next head coach. He'll be the youngest head coach in the NFL at 36, and is something of a defensive wunderkind. I think this will make many 'Hawks' fans happy.

Mike Macdonald is exactly half the age of the coach he replaced the 72-year old Pete Carroll was the oldest in the NFL.

This season, the Baltimore Ravens at the lowest PA at 280 so let's see if he can re-create a new Legion of Boom in Seattle.

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In case you're wondering why the NFL uses roman numerals to depect the Super Bowl, it's because the NFL season extends to the following calendar year and it will cause confusion.

The Roman numerals were adopted to clarify any confusion that may occur because the NFL Championship Game—the Super Bowl—is played in the year following a chronologically recorded season

That's very understandable and the terms can cause a lot of confusion. When did the Seattle Seahawks last win the Super Bowl? If you say it was Super Bowl 2013 or Super Bowl 2014, then that's very confusing as at least three teams can be applicable. The 2013 NFL regular season started on September 5, 2013 but the Super Bowl itself was played on February 2, 2014. And it was the Baltimore Ravens who won the Super Bowl on February 3, 2013 while it was the New England Patriots won it in the 2014 NFL season.

And what's also confusing and different about the NFL is that unlike the NHL and NBA in which a season is depicted by the two calendar years, i.e. the NHL and NBA are currently in the 2023-24 season, the NFL will still say it's the 2023 season even though it's officially 2024 and will not used the hyphenated term of the 2023-24 season.

That's certainly not the case in the CFL as its Grey Cup is always referred to by either the calendar year or regular numbers. I guess because the CFL season does not extend each calendar year, so there's no confusion.

[South Pender]

Here's an interesting read for the week leading up to Super Bowl LVIII. It is Peter King's Football Morning in America (FMIA) column for this week. King has published his FMIA column every Monday of the NFL season. It's a fairly long column each week, but, for those following the NFL, it has been required reading. King has probably the most in-depth knowledge of all the happenings in the NFL of any sports journalist and has been covering the league for many years. There’s always a lot of informative stuff in his columns.

I was particularly interested with what he wrote about 49ers’ head coach Kyle Shanahan and QB Brock Purdy in this week's FMIA. As we all know, Purdy was “Mr. Irrelevant” in the 2022 NFL draft—the last player (262nd) selected--although Shanahan and the 49ers had him ranked as Round 4 quality. His play in the past two seasons has been more like that of a 1st round pick—really a neat story.

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootba ... -king-fmia

[Robbie]

What I'd say has been worse as opposed to better in the NFL in recent years is the Pro Bowl. Starting 2023, it is now a non-contact flag football game.

I do miss the old AFC vs. NFC games in which the players actually took it seriously.

[South Pender]

What I'd say has been worse as opposed to better in the NFL in recent years is the Pro Bowl. Starting 2023, it is now a non-contact flag football game.

I do miss the old AFC vs. NFC games in which the players actually took it seriously.

They went away from the previous AFC vs NFC game format because fans lost interest and TV ratings were terrible. The players in the previous format didn't really take it that seriously as well, as they were playing half-heartedly and largely to avoid injuries. I didn't watch this year's Pro Bowl activities as they looked kind of boring to me. It will be interesting to see whether TV viewership picked up. I think we have to keep in mind that just about everything the NFL does is about dollars!

[South Pender]

Well, here's the answer to the query I raised in the preceding post--whether TV viewership picked up with the new Pro Bowl format. It didn't. In fact, it dropped by 8.5% over last year's Pro Bowl viewership, which is a pretty significant downturn.

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootba ... ersus-2023

[South Pender]

Here is the full story on the NFL 2023 Season Awards from last night's presentation:

https://www.sportingnews.com/ca/nfl/new ... 04320885b9

Seahawks' fans had hoped that Devon Witherspoon would win Defensive Rookie of the Year award, but he polled 4th in the voting. Still, even being on the ballot should be seen as evidence of his talent and great performance with the 'Hawks this season.

Lamar Jackson's winning of the MVP award was no surprise. Of the 50 judges, 49 picked him as No. 1, so almost unanimous. It's his second MVP award. In 2019 he won the award unanimously.

[Robbie]

Rather defensive Super Bowl LVIII with the 49ers controlling most of the game in the first half and limiting Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs to just 3 points but if it wasn't for their own mistakes, the could have gotten more than just 10-3 lead at halftime. Serious mistakes on both sides but more costly on the 49ers side led to the Chiefs taking the lead and just as costly, the 49ers defence no longer could control Patrick Mahomes which led to a game time FG to send the game into OT (blocked extra point on the 49ers second TD proved very costly as well). And in OT, a FG lead by the 49ers didn't help the team to win as again Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs marched down for a Super Bowl game winning TD which included a fourth down play.