Twitter
    Sportspress Northwest
    • Football
    • Baseball
    • NCAA
    • Hockey
    • Soccer
    • Basketball
    Twitter
    Sportspress Northwest
    Twitter
    Home » Thiel: NFL books payback for Hawks’ easy 2020
    Football

    Thiel: NFL books payback for Hawks’ easy 2020

    Art ThielBy Art ThielMay 13, 202128 Comments4 Mins Read
    Facebook Twitter Reddit LinkedIn Email
    Share
    Facebook Twitter Reddit LinkedIn Email
    The 2021 Seahawks schedule, home games in blue.

    Feel free, Seahawks fans, to pine for the gilded football days days of your youth. In 2020.

    As you may have noticed during the pandemic, time has lost shape and form.

    If you can see through the mists to the past fall, you may recollect that the Seahawks started the season 5-0. It was the wildest time, the offense making #LetRussCook into a national phenomenon, while the defense staggered about as if blindfolded in a room void of sound and doors.

    Various theories were offeredabout how these things happened. But almost none of them included a vital aspect: The schedule.

    Granted, it’s hard to know about schedule strength when all teams are in mid-brawl. But since the season concluded, it’s possible to see more clearly. Since the NFL produced its 2021 schedule Wednesday, it seems a good time to tell the truth about a year ago:

    Seattle’s early schedule was rich in sunshine, lollipops and rainbows.

    None of the first five opponents ended up making the playoffs.

    That’s like starting play on the 667-yard 16th hole at Firestone on the green in two.

    • Atlanta: W, 38-25. Finish: 4-12
    • New England: W, 35-30. Finish: 7-9
    • Dallas: W, 38-31. Finish: 6-10
    • Miami: W, 31-23. Finish: 10-6
    • Minnesota: W, 27-26. Finish: 7-9

    In hindsight, the road win at Miami was a seasonal apex, even if the Dolphins didn’t make the postseason. But the larger fact was that the front end of the schedule helped generate something of a false positive. So did the grand good fortune of playing all the NFC East teams, one of the worst groupings since Spinal Tap played Celebrity Jeopardy!

    The foregoing helps set-up the single-word summary of the 2021 Seattle schedule: Payback.

    The schedulers seemed to have understood the Seahawks needed some gristle after all that whipped cream.

    Coaches love to say the schedule doesn’t matter that much, and players always offer the crutch bromide of any given Sunday. These remarks are piffle. Every year the NFL tries to legislate parity, and every year, random currents and tides churn a sport contested only 16 — or now, 17 — times a season.

    As former Seahawks coach Chuck Knox said, “It’s not always who you play, it’s when you play ’em.”

    Despite all the good works in the Seahawks’ 12-4 record, including 3-3 in the NFC West, they drew their worst matchup in the playoffs, the Los Angeles Rams, and were thrashed.

    This season, the bad stuff comes early — four of the first six games are on the road against what appear in May to be stout outfits.

    The season opener is at Indianapolis Sept. 12, then Sept. 26 at Minnesota, Oct. 3 at San Francisco and Oct. 17 at Pittsburgh. Toss in two home games against 2020 playoff teams, the Titans and the Rams, and the season’s first third is a barbed-wire toothbrush.

    Particularly odious is the draw of the Steelers game, which the Seahawks were assigned as the 17th foe in the new season-lengthening plan adopted in March after collective bargaining. (All NFC teams will be on the road for the extra game in 2021; in 2022, the AFC goes on the road.)

    Yes, QB Ben Roethlisberger, the only relic remaining in the NFL from the Seahawks’ first Super Bowl appearance, is doddering and may need Gorilla Glue to stay together for four quarters. But the Steelers did make the playoffs, and remember, the Seahawks’ most recent loss was to a team led by Jared Goff, who completed nine passes and was deemed bad enough to be exiled to Detroit.

    So the Seahawks are hosed by the schedule-maker. They were due.

    Without question, the highlight is another game with the Packers, yhis one in Green Bay Nov. 14. These guys always seem to play compelling games, in large part because Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgers, among QBs who have played more than four seasons, have the only ratings in NFL history above 100.

    They also have generated more off-season controversy than any QBs who weren’t traded or didn’t hire every female masseuse in Texas.

    That’s why I’m calling this matchup the Joe Walsh Bowl.

    It’s named for the Eagles’ rocker whose hit song, “Life’s Been Good to Me,” contained a memorable lyric that captured the tormented lives of these two, despite each having been a Super Bowl champion, consistently successful in nearly every endeavor on the field and in life, while amassing fortunes that compare to small European principalities:

    “I can’t complain but sometimes I still do.”

    They are 4-4 against each other, including playoffs, and have never won on the other’s home field. They may never come this way again.

    Share. Facebook Twitter Reddit LinkedIn Email

    Related Posts

    A few musings about sports journalism as the unwinding begins

    February 18, 2022

    Carroll’s staff makeover seeks to get Wilson back in the game

    February 16, 2022

    Arizona loss unmasks truths about Hopkins, UW hoops

    February 15, 2022

    28 Comments

    1. Alan Harrison on May 13, 2021 7:23 am

      And yet the Athletic called the schedule the easiest in the league by the metric of average anticipated wins per team. Go figure.

      • art thiel on May 14, 2021 5:38 pm

        The Seahawks’ schedule does lighten up, just not in the first month.

    2. Tim Hatley on May 13, 2021 8:16 am

      What’s your beef with the Sounders? They played an epic match last night against a team right behind them at the top of the table. Our goalkeeper gets injured in stoppage time,, we are out of subs, a local boy comes in to clear the net – we gain three points. But hey, the Seahawk schedule came out. Wow:)

      • coug73 on May 13, 2021 9:23 am

        Yes, a compelling game. The last 20 minutes high drama.

        • art thiel on May 14, 2021 5:37 pm

          The goalie sub w/Roldan was something I hadn’t seen before.

      • Husky73 on May 13, 2021 11:59 am

        The NFL dominates in December….and May. That’s just how it is.

        • art thiel on May 14, 2021 5:36 pm

          I think you can add 10 other months.

      • art thiel on May 14, 2021 5:35 pm

        No beef, Tim. I enjoy the Sounders, and I know what most readers enjoy most of the time. Wish I could be in two places at once. Maybe I should hire you.

    3. DJ on May 13, 2021 8:29 am

      Hey Art – loving the Joe Walsh pull – Nailed it! (I remember selling that album in old DJ’s Sound City). A lot of wisdom in that old rocker’s noggin.

      I never felt comfortable with last season, the team really just hanging in there, and not a certifiable 12-4 by any normal standard. Good time for an awakening, and the moves on defense gave the group a good test run to show they can gel, even with a significant turnover in cornerback. I think the D has a chance to be in the upper echelon if they can stay healthy.

      You are so right to show an appreciation for the Hawks-GB rivalry – while Rodgers has become a bit of a villain from his treatment of Wilson (which may have only been that once after the NFC championship in 2014/15), there is always a firm respect for the reigning MVP, and the challenges those two teams/QBs give each other. I would say that will be a loss for all if GB loses number 12. GB can’t possibly be the same. Sad. Who knows – maybe Rodgers has an eye on becoming the new Alex Trebeck (he did well), or he goes to Denver, stays healthy, and we meet him in the SB in a year or two.

      • art thiel on May 14, 2021 5:32 pm

        Might have been among the weakest 12-4 teams in recent NFL history, A little like the Steelers’ 11-0 start.

        GB-SEA with these two QBs has been a delight. I hope people appreciate it.

    4. Howard Hart on May 13, 2021 10:14 am

      The Eagles, Don Henley and Joe Walsh in the tops of my favorites.

      I was not surprised that the Hawks tanked in the playoffs. There was a bit too much in winning ugly.

      • 1coolguy on May 13, 2021 1:04 pm

        Granted the Hawks were not going far in the playoffs, BUT to lose to those two QB’s, one with a broken thumb, was a complete embarrassment. Maybe the low point in Hawks history, and they have had a lot of low points.

        • Husky73 on May 13, 2021 4:02 pm

          The low point…..November 4, 1979. Rams 24 Seahawks 0. Seahawks -30 yards passing and +23 yards rushing for a net total yards of -7.

          • 1coolguy on May 13, 2021 8:57 pm

            You’re right. That game has been enshrined into the NFL’ s Hall of Shame.

          • art thiel on May 14, 2021 5:49 pm

            I agree. Prompted Jack Patera’s famed eight-second press conference.

      • Husky73 on May 13, 2021 3:58 pm

        “I had a rough night, and I hate the f****** Eagles, man!” (The Big Lebowski)

        • tor5 on May 13, 2021 4:20 pm

          …and I wouldn’t hold out much hope for the Creedence.

      • art thiel on May 14, 2021 5:47 pm

        True. I also wonder what would have happened if Adams was healthy enough to play pass coverage.

    5. WestCoastBias79 on May 13, 2021 10:43 am

      I think this can be filed with CFB preseason rankings as SWAG (scientific wild a$$ guess). At the beginning of last season, those first five games looked pretty tough with the only cupcake being Miami. Turned out it was the exact opposite. As someone else mentioned, the Athletic has their schedule being the easiest, which is hard to fathom by simply being in the NFC West, so I guess this comment could be summed up with a big shrug emoji.

      • art thiel on May 14, 2021 5:45 pm

        All preseason schedule speculation is cotton candy. But we’ve all eaten cotton candy at least once. You’ve had your fill, right?

    6. Husky73 on May 13, 2021 11:53 am

      “Sunshine, lollipops and rainbows, everything that I feel when we’re together…”
      (Leslie Gore)

      • Kevin Lynch on May 13, 2021 2:29 pm

        Agree! Excellent summation, Art, with nice musical references – like Seals and Crofts (“we may never pass this way again”). But the Leslie Gore reference is apropos to a great degree in the sports world. She sang one of the most famous feminist lines in music history and, ironically, it also stands as the ultimate line for professional sports players: “You don’t own me”. You don’t own me. You go, girl. R.I.P.

        • art thiel on May 14, 2021 5:42 pm

          I didn’t think anyone would get Seals & Croft. Well done.

      • art thiel on May 14, 2021 5:40 pm

        You’re too easy with rock lyrics.

    7. LarryLurex70 on May 13, 2021 12:57 pm

      Since we’re quoting philosopher Joe Walsh, let’s not forget he’s gifted popular music with one of the greatest album titles of all time: The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get.

      Never understood what it means, but, it’s still far less-nonsensical after all these years than whatever Rodgers and Wilson have been griping about from their respective catbird seats this off-season.

      • art thiel on May 14, 2021 5:27 pm

        Forgot that album title. Thrilled to know I wasn’t alone in not knowing what it meant. But it sounded cool.

    8. Williec on May 14, 2021 1:15 pm

      “Barbed wire toothbrush,” ugh!! The pain is instant and immense.

      • art thiel on May 14, 2021 5:39 pm

        Good. I hope for visceral response.

    • Follow @Art_Thiel on Twitter
    Use our affiliate link on Amazon

    Subscribe to Our Weekly Roundup

    Get the top stories sent to your inbox every Thursday.

    Art Thiel on KNKX 88.5FM

    Kirsten Kendrick's Q. & A. with Thiel can be heard every Friday during Morning Edition at 5:45am and 7:45am and again that same day on All Things Considered at 4:44pm. It also airs Saturday at 9:35am.

    Listen now!
    Latest Posts

    A few musings about sports journalism as the unwinding begins

    February 18, 2022

    Carroll’s staff makeover seeks to get Wilson back in the game

    February 16, 2022

    Arizona loss unmasks truths about Hopkins, UW hoops

    February 15, 2022

    Rams win a survivors contest called the Super Bowl

    February 14, 2022
    Twitter
    • Football
    • Baseball
    • NCAA
    • Hockey
    • Soccer
    • Basketball
    © 2023 Sportspress Northwest

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.