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Search results for: NFL, Hasselbeck, Marshawn Lynch, Matt Forte, Jonny Knox, Seattle Seahawks, Chicago Bears, Soldier Field, Matt Fortes, Matt Hasslebecks AFC Divisional Playoffs: New York Jets vs. New England Patriots
Laying the sceneThis game is a matchup of two of the biggest surprise teams of this postseason. Seattle became the first ever 7-9 team to ever make the playoffs, and it was considered a major upset when they beat the heavily favored New Orleans Saints at Qwest Field last week. This week they head onto the road to face the Chicago Bears, whose offense improved quite a bit after a terrible first half of the season. The Bears' defense, which has struggled a lot since their Super Bowl appearance, made an impressive turnaround this year, sparked by the arrival of free-agent defensive end Julius Peppers. Their defense won games for them this year, and led them to the NFC North title, surprising the majority of pundits who expected the divisional crown to go to Green Bay or Minnesota. This week, one of these two teams will continue to defy expectations and reach the NFC championship game. What Seattle has to do to winFor Seattle, coaching is going to play a major role here. The Seahawks beat the Bears at Soldier Field earlier, and coach Pete Carroll has to make sure that it doesn't go to his young team's head. This is a completely different team from the one the Seahawks beat. On the Bears' defense, Lance Briggs will be back, and he was injured during these teams' first meeting this season. Briggs' presence changes the Bears' style on defense. On offense, Bears quarterback Jay Cutler was playing in his first game back from a major concussion, and will be much more dangerous this time around. One thing the Seahawks do very well is their use of formations with stacked receivers, meaning one receiver standing directly behind another wide receiver or two. Normally these formations are used to throw a screen to the receiver who is farthest back from the line of scrimmage, and the Seahawks execute this well. Another thing they can and should do from this type of formation is letting quarterback Matt Hasselbeck pump-fake as if he's throwing to the farthest-back receiver, and then throw it to one of the receivers in front instead. Because a stacked-receiver formation is used so frequently for screens, and because the Seahawks execute screens from this formation so well, the defense will creep up and play against the screen, which will allow one of the receivers in front to get open further downfield. The Seahawks picked up an important first-down with a play like this last week, and should use it more frequently this week.
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Laying the sceneThis game is a matchup of two of the biggest surprise teams of this postseason. Seattle became the first ever 7-9 team to ever make the playoffs, and it was considered a major upset when they beat the heavily favored New Orleans Saints at Qwest Field last week. This week they head onto the road to face the Chicago Bears, whose offense improved quite a bit after a terrible first half of the season. The Bears' defense, which has struggled a lot since their Super Bowl appearance, made an impressive turnaround this year, sparked by the arrival of free-agent defensive end Julius Peppers. Their defense won games for them this year, and led them to the NFC North title, surprising the majority of pundits who expected the divisional crown to go to Green Bay or Minnesota. This week, one of these two teams will continue to defy expectations and reach the NFC championship game.
