It's because I don't see the Broncos losing while scoring less than 28. They may win 24-7 by playing conservative.

I think in both playoff games that is what the Broncos did. It took some last minute heroics for those games to look as close as they did.

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Historically great describes the Seahawks Defense better than the Broncos offense.

How many points will the Seahawks hold the Broncos to? Let's see who is closer to right.

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I'd say 21-24 or somewhere in that range. I wouldn't be shocked if they were held to like 14 though. I'd be really surprised if they scored 35. I hope you're right and I'm not in this one circumstance though. Fuck Seattle.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Hard to say. I think Id go with Vegas prediction of 24

So what does that make the Broncos defense? Which against better offenses in better conditions for those offenses has been better than the Seahawks defense in the playoffs.

So you guys are giving me grief for a prediction that is 4-7 points more than you?

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

How so? I'm curious as to your argument supporting that statement. I'm guessing you're going to say they are doing it in an offense-friendly era better than any other team, but even then they are cheating on and off the field more than any other team is, that we know of.

Is Seattle's defense even definitively better than San Francisco's?

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Well I said I wouldn't be surprised if they scored 14-28 points. You said "They just aren't holding the Broncos under 28". You don't see the difference there?

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

You're Scoreheading

I wouldnt be surprised at all by a 17-14 game

Not really. It's a prediction. I predict that won't happen.

It doesn't really change the prediction if I make the obvious statement that "I may be wrong too". It's a prediction. I don't have a time machine.

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I would be. Sorry if I'm not allowed to think that the game will be higher scoring.

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I completely dismiss the cheating aspect. I believe all teams cheat as much as possible.


And yes, being as dominant as they were in this era is what makes them great.


Here's a pretty good article comparing them to the greats of the past (85 Bears, 91 Eagles, 00 Ravens) and they stack up pretty well, even while not allowed to breath on receivers after 5 yds
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1934237-just-how-good-is-the-seahawks-defense

OH, I could've been clearer, but I was talking about the Saints offense vs Seahawks defense. Saints win on the road in spite of Drew Brees being a perfectly pedestrian QB away from Home Sweet Dome:

When you say "The Seahawks arent holding the Broncos under 28" that's disrespecting the Seahawks and a pretty definitive statement.

Words matter, Rick

But see that isn't true. I know you've watched Seattle's defense. It's just a better version of the 2010 Packers. They hold, grab, and interfere on virtually every play. They certainly aren't letting WR's just go after 5 yards. They hang onto them the whole way.

As far as cheating goes, if every team is cheating as much as Seattle then Seattle is significantly worse at not getting caught then every other team in the league.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Disrespecting? The Broncos averaged 38 points a game this year. That's 10 higher than the second best team. In my opinion, they controlled both playoff games even though they "only" scored 24 and 26 points in those games.

I guess it's not disrespectful to think the Broncos may score only 14 though even though they scored 20+ in every single game this year and only had one loss this year where they scored under 31 points.

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Seattle's defense won't even be the best defense on the field on Sunday. 5.0 yds per carry does not a great defense make, and that's what the Seahawks defense has been giving up in the playoffs on average. Seahawks defense has coughed up 135 yards per game rushing to 65 yards a game for the Broncos defense. They've been equal on pass defense--except the Broncos defense faced Phil Rivers and Tom Brady in good conditions for passing while Seattle had Kaepernick and an away from home Drew Brees in awful conditions for passing.

I disagree with that. I think they hold as much as they can, but its not close to the whole play.

But I was talking about the fact that the other great D's I mentioned had much more leeway.




Not really. They had 3 suspensions this year. So did the Jags and Redskins. And many teams had 2

Right, so they are averaging 11 pts less per game in the playoffs. But yeah, theyre choosing not to score.




I believe the Patriots of a few years back were better. They scored 14.

If thats disrespect, ok.

Im gonna stop giving Rick shit now because this conversation is reminding me how much I dislike Seattle. Fuck Seattle. I hope Denver puts 56 on the board against them and Sherman is crying with a towel over his head by the middle of the 4th quarter.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

You're crazy.

Saints were held scoreless thru three quarters and needed a last second TD to get to 15 pts even with the Great Drew Brees.

And the Niners managed 17 and neither game was in bad conditions.


The Broncos have been better on D during the playoffs but they are not in Seattle's zip code.

They had multi-score leads for almost the whole game. If they are up 17-0 at the end of the third quarter they probably won't try and go for 31. If it's close, the Broncos aren't going to do that. The story of both playoff games for the Broncos is how they completely dominated the first three quarters of both. The only reason they were in any danger of losing the game against San Diego was that San Diego pulled off some pretty miraculous heroics to make it close after being down 17 points with 6 minutes to go.
It's as disrespectful as thinking that the Seahawks will only hold the Broncos to 10 points under their season average.

Just remember that Seattle also has an insane home field advantage. This is a neutral field where the weather will probably be 42 degrees at kickoff with meaningless winds.

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

The better weather favors the Seahawks (defense)


The Broncos defense has been the story of their playoff run. Their offense has been average

Huh? I don't think so. Wind, or rain, or extreme cold would hurt the Broncos pretty bad.
The Broncos offensive production is easily explained by the fact that neither team really presented a legitimate chance at losing the game. It got closer late in the game but the Broncos controlled the whole game throughout.

It's not like the Broncos forgot how to play offense.

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Bad weather favors offense. Offense knows where their going. Defense does not.

Extreme cold? Manning won the SuperBowl in the rain with the Colts.


Or they faced decent defenses. I guess we'll see what happens.

Playing in Seattle's loud stadium itself is an adverse condition for an offense, false starts and whatnot.

Super Bowl crowds are not know for their volume.

And in the Saints game the wind made kicking FG's and throwing the ball very difficult for 2 out of the 4 quarters for each team. Saints FG kicker missed 2 into-the-wind FG's and Brees had issues when he had to throw into the wind. And Brees, as noted above, is a league average quarterback away from the Superdome to begin with.

That wasn't an average offense against NE. That was an all-time great QB controlling every aspect of a victory over his more celebrated rival.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

This is the exact opposite of the knock on Manning.

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

yeah, keep making excuses for the 15 pts put up by the high powered Saints