Seahawks @ Panthers

[Vin+ 3,121]

 

The Seattle Seahawks are eager to build on last season's success, but some immediate concerns still surround a team filled with high expectations.

 

A good start seems to be imperative for the Carolina Panthers' attempt to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2008.

 

The Seahawks look to win their first road opener since 2006 on Sunday against a Panthers team hoping to carry over its late-season success to 2013.

 

After going 11-5 and winning a road playoff game in 2012, Seattle can't wait to get this season underway.

 

"We're ready to go," said coach Pete Carroll, whose team rallied from a 20-point first-half deficit before Matt Bryant's field goal with eight seconds left dealt it a 30-28 divisional playoff loss at Atlanta. "It's great that the regular season is here.

 

"We wanted to put together a good offseason and a solid preseason, and I thought we did."

 

The Seahawks have the talent to again seriously contend in the NFC behind running back Marshawn Lynch, versatile quarterback Russell Wilson and a secondary that paced the NFL's top scoring defense (15.3 points per game) in 2012.

 

Lynch rushed for a career-high 1,590 yards and had 11 touchdowns, while Wilson beat out free-agent signee Matt Flynn for the starting job as a rookie, then threw for 3,118 yards and 26 touchdowns while also running for 489 yards.

 

The Seahawks also appeared to take a giant step forward when they traded for versatile receiver Percy Harvin to help add balance after their 536 rushing attempts accounted for an NFL-high 55.0 percent of their offensive plays. Harvin, though, was placed on the reserve physically unable to perform list with a hip injury that will keep him out until Week 7 at the earliest.

 

"It's going to take a good month before we will be able to figure out if he is even going to have a chance to come roaring back out of it,'' Carroll said.

 

The secondary of Richard Sherman, Brandon Browner, Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor is perhaps the most talented in the league after helping Seattle's defense rank sixth against the pass (203.1 yards per game) in 2012.

 

"We have an elite group of DBs back there,'' Sherman said.

 

The Seahawks, however, have concerns in front of that group, which will now be coordinated by Dan Quinn after Gus Bradley left to become Jacksonville's head coach.

 

Prospective starting defensive tackles Brandon Mebane and Tony McDaniel were slowed by injuries during training camp, key free-agent acquisition Cliff Avril is dealing with a hamstring issue and pass-rushing linebacker Bruce Irvin is suspended the first four weeks for using banned substances.

 

It's also uncertain when defensive Chris Clemons will return from a knee injury suffered in last season's 24-14 wild-card victory at Washington.

 

For those healthy on either side of the ball, Carroll hopes for better self-discipline after Seattle was flagged 42 times for 419 yards during a 4-0 preseason. The Seahawks' 110 penalties were the sixth-most in the NFL last season, 13 of which came in a Week 1 loss at Arizona - their sixth straight defeat in a road opener.

 

"I love the attitude about it in a sense, but we have to get smarter and we can't do anything but continue to emphasize the heck out of it," Carroll said.

 

Seattle was flagged seven times for 65 yards but pulled out a 16-12 win at Carolina on Oct. 7. Wilson had one of his two interceptions returned for a touchdown, but he connected with Golden Tate on a 13-yard pass play for the game's only offensive touchdown.

 

The Seahawks held Carolina to a season-low 190 total yards, 156 of which came on two possessions. The Panthers averaged 3.8 yards on their other nine.

 

That defeat contributed to Carolina's second straight 2-8 start. Nine of the Panthers' 13 wins the last two seasons came after Thanksgiving, including four straight to end 2012.

 

That's apparently been enough to secure third-year coach Ron Rivera's job at least for this season.

 

"We can't put ourselves in that hole and think a late six-game push is going to put us over the top when you start the season 2-8,'' tight end Greg Olsen said. "We need those late-season pushes, but that is to put you into the playoffs not to just salvage a season.

 

"We need to make those games in November and December real and the only way to do that is to put ourselves in playoff contention early.''

 

Star quarterback Cam Newton has combined for 62 touchdowns and thrown for 7,920 yards in his first two NFL seasons, but is 13-19 as a starter. He was 12 of 29 for a career-low 141 yards and sacked four times against the Seahawks.

 

New offensive coordinator Mike Shula wants the Panthers to return to a "more traditional" rushing offense, but Jonathan Stewart will miss at least six weeks with an ankle injury and DeAngelo Williams has carried the ball at least 20 times in a game just twice in two seasons.

 

Veteran receiver Steve Smith is coming off his seventh 1,000-yard season but had only four touchdowns in 2012.

 

Defensive rookie of the year Luke Kuechly led the league with 164 tackles, while ends Charles Johnson and Greg Hardy combined for 23 1/2 sacks as the Panthers' defense ranked 10th in the NFL (331.1 ypg) in 2012.

 

Copyright 2013 by STATS LLC.

 

[NFL-Lady 1]

SEAHAWKS got this game for sure...

[housemd 338]

This won't be an easy game for Seahawks. I expect them to win this game but they'll have a hard time in NC.

 

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[Bay 2,003]

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[KempBolt 498]

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Home field advantage (or lack thereof) a bigger deal for Seattle than any other team in the league.

[Attyla the Hawk 197]

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Home field advantage (or lack thereof) a bigger deal for Seattle than any other team in the league.

 

Certainly the HFA if it's in Seattle is just huge. I don't think there is a team in the league that Seattle shouldn't beat if they come up here. When Seattle has a winning record for the year, they are 34-1 at home since Seahawks stadium opened.

 

Seattle is improving on the road. And I think that's directly attributable to their change from a finesse/WCO team into a team that has embraced an identity as one of the most physical teams in the league. Seattle struggled mightily on the road and in particular seemed to just completely fall apart unless everything was going their way. This squad is built to travel well. And it seems that they've really turned that corner now. Although I expect outside fans to still regard them as a weak road team because of reputation. It will take a year or so for the organization to put up the body of work to dispel that myth, as they've already done that during the last half of 2012 starting oddly enough, with the Carolina win.

 

Still, I'm cautiously optimistic for this week. Carolina is a quality team. And they match up well against our offensive strength. Cam can pass for yardage well, but this will undoubtedly be the finest secondary he will face all year. Seattle will want to make them one dimensional and Carolina's poor OL is going to allow them to shut down the run with little effort. Carolina's excellent defensive front will need to play to their potential in order to return that favor. That might be a tall request from their rookie DTs playing in their first game. Even if they do rise up to the occasion and are able to answer our ability to shut down the run game, Carolina's secondary is nowhere near the quality or depth of Seattle's. We have starter quality going 5 deep at corner.

 

This will be a good test for both teams. Carolina can match and even exceed our intensity. Seattle is going to have to weather the storm. They showed last year, that they are getting very good at that. The unknown will be how does the team manage the weight of expectation. It's the new challenge for this team in the path to become great.

 

Seattle has shown they can be good to even very good. They need to take the next step. Winning tough matchups on the road under less than ideal circumstances is a quality that separates the good from the great. It's what separates the 49ers from Seattle currently. If we want to truly be in the 49ers league then we have the opportunity to earn it this Sunday.

 

If Carolina wins, it'll be because they hold us under 13 points. I don't expect Carolina to score 20, even if they get a special teams score. This is a defense that should be considerably better than last year and they were a top 5 unit at that. They are just beginning to reach their prime years as the core of the defense is in thier 2nd through 4th seasons.

 

I think these two teams are closely matched. But the manner in which this team seems to surmount every next challenge to being great in a week to week fashion leaves me with the impression that they want to put the league on notice. I think the score will not be indicative of how close these teams truly are.

 

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[Thanatos 2,847]

Seattle is coming on a cross-country road trip and will be playing at 10 in the morning their time. They are historically not that great on the road. The Panthers are being dismissed this season by a lot of people.

 

If Seattle gets a run-game going, they win. If they don't, and I don't expect them to do so if Star and the D-line keeps playing like they have been, the Panthers have a very good shot. The offense needs to step it up from what we saw in the preseason. Ted Ginn will probably need to set us up with some decent field position on special teams a few times.

 

Regardless, the words of Sharpe on this game are just laughable: "On paper, this game shouldn't even be played."

 

Like hell. Carolina is going to win this.

 

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Edited September 7, 2013 by Thanatos19

[Dutch 874]

This could be the upset of the week. The Panthers could surprise everyone and one or just get beat really bad. But even with that said, I'm taking the Seahawks.

 

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[DonovanMcnabb for H.O.F 2,241]

23-20 Seattle. I've been high on the Panthers all offseason, but I don't see them winning this game.

[Jayrus 51]

Seattle is coming on a cross-country road trip and will be playing at 10 in the morning their time. They are historically not that great on the road. The Panthers are being dismissed this season by a lot of people.

 

If Seattle gets a run-game going, they win. If they don't, and I don't expect them to do so if Star and the D-line keeps playing like they have been, the Panthers have a very good shot. The offense needs to step it up from what we saw in the preseason. Ted Ginn will probably need to set us up with some decent field position on special teams a few times.

 

Regardless, the words of Sharpe on this game are just laughable: "On paper, this game shouldn't even be played."

 

Like hell. Carolina is going to win this.

 

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Good to see you're still sticking by your prediction Thanatos. As well you should. History says 10 AM road games are our kryptonite and the damn NFL scheduling department seems to like to make sure at least half our road games every year are these. Carolina is a better team than many are giving them credit for, and I expect a closely contested matchup.

 

As Attyla said, we have a reputation as a bad road team, and we will continue to be considered so until we prove otherwise. Taking the Bears in OT and blowing out the Bills on the road gave us hope, but we have much work to do to shake that image of "Lol Hawks suck on the road!", and winning this game will be the first strong step to undoing that image. We won this game last year (barely) with Wilson still wearing training wheels. Now the training wheels are off and both teams have come a long way since that game.

 

This game will not be a blowout of any kind. This will be a tight game that I expect us to win by no more than 10 points. That is, if as I and my brothers of the 12th man hope, we have shaken our road curse at long last. If we have not than I expect Thanatos will be almost dead on and we lose by less than a score. I saw it many times last year. wilson would put us in the lead late and our vaunted defense would somehow succumb to to the road curse and give up a score at the very end of the game. It wouldn't shock me in the least to see that happen again. then again Carolina had their share of problems last year as well. We'll see if they've fixed their underachievign ways.

 

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[housemd 338]

 

 

The Panthers have ruled out RB Kenjon Barner (ankle) for Week 1.

 

Barner has been shut down since spraining his ankle in the preseason finale. Mike Tolbert (probable, hamstring) fully participated in practice Friday and will handle backup duties behind DeAngelo Williams.

[Vin+ 3,121]

 

Panthers declared WR Domenik Hixon (hamstring), G Amini Silatolu (hamstring), SS Mike Mitchell (calf), RB Kenjon Barner (foot), CB James Dockery, C Brian Folkerts, and DE Wes Horton inactive for Week 1 versus Seattle.

Ted Ginn and Armanti Edwards will be Carolina's Nos. 3 and 4 receivers. Chris Scott and Travelle Wharton will rotate at left guard. Quintin Mikell will get the start in place of Mitchell just six days after signing.

 

 

 

Seahawks RCB Brandon Browner (hamstring) and RE Cliff Avril (hamstring) are inactive for Sunday's Week 1 opener against the Panthers.

Browner was questionable, while Avril was listed as doubtful. Look for Walter Thurmond and Jeremy Lane to fill in at corner opposite Richard Sherman.

O'Brien Schofield will start in Avril's place.

Also inactive for the Seahawks are LB John Lotulelei, DE Chris Clemons, T Michael Bowie, T Alvin Bailey, and DT Jordan Hill.

[Thanatos 2,847]

 

 

LB John Lotulelei

 

Wait what? Does Star have a brother on the Seahawks?

[Thanatos 2,847]

I think we severely underestimated both team's defenses lol.

 

12-7. Panthers had some crucial mistakes at key points and that's pretty much what happened in this game.

 

Newton played well, didn't force anything, just played solid. Hawks defense is too good to take chances on stuff.

D-Will fumbling changed the entire thing, would have been first and goal at the 6, possibly score and make it 13-12 or 15-12, and give the ball back to Wilson with 4 minutes needing a FG drive. Yet another one-score game that we lost with the lead going into the 4th.

 

I loved the defense.

 

I want Jonathan Stewart back. End of story.

[Jayrus 51]

 

LB John Lotulelei

 

Wait what? Does Star have a brother on the Seahawks?

 

 

You'd think so but according to NFL.com there's actually no relation between the two.

[Attyla the Hawk 197]

I think we severely underestimated both team's defenses lol.

 

 

 

..... Yet another one-score game that we lost with the lead going into the 4th.

 

I loved the defense.

 

 

 

Tight game no question. Russell has a real knack for succeeding late when the game is tightest. Definitely envious of that D line. What a unit.

[Thanatos 2,847]

Helps that the Panthers have a real knack for giving away games in the 4th.

 

2-13 since Rivera came into town in games that are decided by 7 points or less.

[True Blue 16]

 

 

LB John Lotulelei

 

Wait what? Does Star have a brother on the Seahawks?

 

 

You'd think so but according to NFL.com there's actually no relation between the two.

 

 

I heard on 710, forget which show, that they're cousins.

[KempBolt 498]

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Home field advantage (or lack thereof) a bigger deal for Seattle than any other team in the league.

 

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Tough loss for Carolina. Their defense hung in there all day and it really looked like it was going to pay off until that fumble. That front seven looked active and disruptive.

[Sacks98 28]

As ugly as a game that was for us on offense we held Newton to 7 points without starting pass rushers Avril,Clemons,Irvin not to mention Browner being out.

Edited September 9, 2013 by Sacks98

[Thanatos 2,847]

Its not like you need Browner against Carolina. We don't have a second WR. As long as Sherman is in to deal with Smitty, and I think Smitty did pretty well against him, its not like the other guy is going to explode.