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Broncos @ Seahawks

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By NOEY KUPCHAN

STATS Writer

 

(AP) -- Just over seven months after the Seattle Seahawks annihilated the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII, the teams are set to go at it again Sunday.

 

The unbeaten Broncos are looking forward to Wes Welker's return ahead of this much-anticipated showdown against Seattle, which is back home looking for answers after a surprising Week 2 loss.

 

Russell Wilson threw for 206 yards and two touchdowns while the Richard Sherman-led defense shut down the Broncos in a 43-8 rout at MetLife Stadium on Feb. 2, the most lopsided Super Bowl victory in over 20 years.

 

This marks just the sixth time Super Bowl participants will face each other the following season.

 

"We've moved passed it, it happened, but we want to make our stamp on the league," Broncos safety David Bruton said. "As of right now it's just another game. We can't change the outcome of last season."

 

While the Broncos got a bit of revenge by winning the preseason opener for both teams last month, Seattle is expecting their best shot Sunday.

 

"I'm sure this is a really important game to them again. As it is to us," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. "I think there was something going on in the preseason. I think it was a big deal for them. I don't blame them one bit."

 

The Seahawks opened 2014 with an impressive 36-16 rout of Green Bay before falling 30-21 at San Diego last Sunday. Wilson threw for 202 yards and two scores, but Philip Rivers' passer rating of 124.2 was the highest against Seattle since Week 8 in 2010.

 

"They're quiet. They're quiet and serious," said Carroll, whose team's nine-point defeat was its largest since November 2011. "We don't take these easily. There are very high expectations that we live with here and everybody knows that. The main thing is everybody took to heart the changes and adjustments and the things that we can fix."

 

The Broncos (2-0) are coming off a closer-than-expected 24-17 win over Kansas City last Sunday. Peyton Manning was 21 of 26 for 242 yards and three TDs, giving him six and no interceptions.

 

The Chiefs had a chance to tie things up or take the lead but couldn't convert from the Broncos' 2 in the final minute.

 

"Hey, we're 2-0 going on the road trying to be 3-0 and that's the best place you can be: undefeated," cornerback Chris Harris said. "And we have lofty goals and all the fans have lofty goals for us. They expect us to kill everybody every week. You all (reporters) probably do, too. But it's the NFL. Teams are coming to play us like it's the Super Bowl every week."

 

The Broncos faced a similar scare in Week 1 but held on to beat Indianapolis 31-24. They're averaging 343.0 yards of total offense after racking up 457.3 per game last year.

 

Getting Welker back should help. The five-time Pro Bowler was reinstated and practiced Wednesday for the first time since Sept. 1 after the NFL agreed to a new performance-enhancing drug policy, cutting his four-game suspension for offseason amphetamine use in half.

 

Welker had 73 catches for 778 yards and a career-high 10 touchdowns in 13 regular-season games last year.

 

While the Broncos' results haven't been very convincing, they know they have a chance to make a big statement in Seattle.

 

"There's not a lot of 58-0 games in this league," coach John Fox said. "It's all a concern but when you look at the first quarter of our season, every team is a 10-win team. One's the defending Super Bowl champs and we trot to their place this week.

 

"I don't think anybody's playing their best football of the year after Week 2. And I'd say it's a fair assessment that we aren't, either. That's something that you try to do is improve every day and every week. So, hopefully we're playing our best football well into the playoffs."

 

Newcomer Emmanuel Sanders stepped up in Welker's absence, catching 14 passes for 185 yards. Tight end Julius Thomas has 143 yards and four touchdowns.

 

Manning leads the NFL with a 126.5 passer rating while Wilson isn't far behind at 114.7. Wilson has thrown 34 touchdowns and seven interceptions in going 18-1 as a starter at home, including playoffs.

 

The Seahawks have held teams to an average of 13.3 points during those games, allowing more than 20 twice. Denver hasn't visited Seattle since a 31-9 victory Nov. 17, 2002.

 

Source: Hosted.Stats.com

Edited by BLUE

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Never pick against the Seahawks at home. Montee Ball would need to be god (and actually get carries) for us to stand a chance.

 

:Seahawks: 34

:Broncos: 24

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How is this not a primetime game?

 

Anyways taking the :Seahawks: at home.

 

Seattle doesn't get prime time games because the games are almost always blowout wins. Which makes for bad TV. This was admitted as much this year when we were shut out of hosting any prime time games in 2014 save the obligatory home game to start the year as SB champs.

 

I'm guessing we won't get any next year either unless we duplicate the run in 2013.

 

We do however have 4 remaining prime time games. All on the road.

 

As for the game. I'm picking the Hawks. The pass rush has diminished from 2013. But at home, every lineman gets an extra step due to the home field effect. We just need to be loud enough to limit the ability of Manning to make changes at the line. Manning doesn't play as well when he isn't comfortable. Twelves need to raise it up a notch.

 

I'm just glad this game is early. Win or lose, it will hopefully provide some much needed closure about SB48. Not that the team needs it as they have pretty clearly turned the page. More from an annoying subset of Hawks fans that seem to still bathe in last year's glory. I'm sure this isn't an unfamiliar phenomenon for other teams who have enjoyed title runs. But it sure is new to us. I'm tired of hearing twelves talking about last year.

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Closure? I think we we got all the closure we needed last year. I don't really care who wins or loses this game, just hopes overall it's better quality.

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Pretty silly this wasn't the thursday, sunday night, or monday game, considering this is clearly the game of the week and the lol games they put in in primetime this week.

 

Will be a much better game than the superbowl, but we're easily the worst second-half team in the league. Even if we monkey-stomp them the first two quarters, they'll comeback in the second half when we switch to Foxball mode. Happened like I said it would the first two weeks, and Seattle is a much better team than either the Colts or Chiefs. Glad we have Von, Harris Jr, and Rahim healthy for this go-round at least. DROY Bradley Roby has a great game, but it's not enough.

 

:Seahawks: - 30

:Broncos: - 24

Edited by theMileHighGuy

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I almost feel foolish but I'm going to pick the Broncos to win this one again. The Broncos defense is better this time around and it's Peyton in the regular season. The refs were also very lenient in the superbowl and I don't expect them to be this time around.

 

:Broncos: 28

 

:Seahawks: 27

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Pretty silly this wasn't the thursday, sunday night, or monday game, considering this is clearly the game of the week and the lol games they put in in primetime this week.

 

Will be a much better game than the superbowl, but we're easily the worst second-half team in the league. Even if we monkey-stomp them the first two quarters, they'll comeback in the second half when we switch to Foxball mode. Happened like I said it would the first two weeks, and Seattle is a much better team than either the Colts or Chiefs. Glad we have Von, Harris Jr, and Rahim healthy for this go-round at least. DROY Bradley Roby has a great game, but it's not enough.

 

:Seahawks: - 30

:Broncos: - 24

 

Yeah but the "game of the week" is the closer matchup these days, not a game where the announcers are sounding like fools trying to find stuff to talk about when there's an entire half of garbage time like TBvsATL. With the way we handled the Saints and Packers recently at home, and of course the way we trashed Denver in the SB, giving Seattle more primetime home games is like beating a dead horse. Thus we ended up getting the two 49er games towards the end of November as our main primetime games. I would have figured Lions Packers to be an epic game, but at least almost everyone gets that one on their fox channel as the morning game this week.

 

This time around the matchup has a much different taste, in my book. The Denver Broncos gain Demarcus Ware and Von Miller, two top 10 linebacker presences. Not only do we need to come up pounding the rock more often (and better) than last week, we need to attempt to have an actual pocket on passing plays for a few seconds. In San Diego we had way far too many of those try to get cute Wilson scramble and then try to force a big one, and our lack of bread and butter hurt us. We could definitely see more early 3 & outs if we come out passing 20 times in the first half and running two or three. We have a little bit of reclaiming of our identity and being less of a Bevel-passing play clinic. Marshawn should be repeatedly be given the ball on downs 1 & 2 even if he is stuffed. The utter grind of the beast mode smash right up the gut drains the energy right out of the heart of the front 7 which would have helped us tremendously last week. We need to do this in order to open up the passing lanes, not the other way around like last week. Don't even give Ware or Miller the opportunity to force Wilson to throw it away early on in this one.

 

A better offensive game plan alone should help the defense. I don't know how we accomplish this, but the pass rush must be better. I'll assume it was the climate and the lack of the deafening buzz of the twelves in the clink. I also expect Bobby Wagner have a huge game against Monte Ball and shut him down. We're talking 40 total yards and a fumble. This part of the game of the Broncos will be exposed more than any, imo.

 

:Broncos: 12 :Seahawks: 31

 

Likely Inactives: Christine Michael, Bruce Irvin

 

 

 

As Earl Thomas said on Wednesday, in regards to the loss in San Diego:

"The thing you can't tell when you are out there is who is getting out of their gaps and what is going on and it feels like everything is out of whack and it kind of feels like your rhythm is off," he said. "But that taught me a valuable lesson to fight those negative thoughts in your head. When you play football and you are in the arena, I think the biggest competitor is yourself because your are battling your thoughts and this and that. But you overcome those and I think I definitely got my championship spirit back after that loss. My crave, my hunger and my desire to be unstoppable is back. I didn't think I lost it, but after that game I was like ‘dang, something just hit me' and I've just been focused ever since and it feels so good just to be feeling like this."

It feels so good just to be feeling like this. God, Earl is the best.

"That game was so weird," he continued. "It was different. It just felt funny out there, even in my body language when I watch myself on film. I have no regrets from the game. But one thing I can say is just my technique and my posture wasn't aggressive. And I just think that's part of my mindset that I need to turn on."

I think you're going to see an intense, high energy defense this week, and a group that is focused heavily on tackling like they've proved they can tackle. There is a chance that the Chargers woke a sleeping giant, a team that's been praised pretty much unanimously since winning the Super Bowl, and that the chip is back. Let's hope that manifests on the field on Sunday.

Edited by BC

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Cody Latimer is a healthy scratch for Sunday's Week 3 game at Seattle.

Latimer played zero snaps in Week 1 and was a healthy scratch in Week 2. Now that Wes Welker is off suspension, he's even further off the radar and can be dropped in all re-draft formats.
The rest of the Broncos inactives: Tony Carter, Lerentee McCray, Danny Trevathan, Michael Schofield and Mitch Unrein.

 

 

 

 

Christine Michael is inactive for Sunday's Week 3 game against the Broncos.

This is essentially a healthy scratch, as Micahel (hamstring) was listed as probable. he remains behind Robert Turbin.
The rest of the Seahawks inactives: LB Bruce Irvin, CB Tharold Simon, T Andrew McDonald, T Garry Gilliam, WR Kevin Norwood and DE Greg Scruggs.

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Russell Wilson's biggest problem this year has been retreating against edge pressure, rather than climbing the pocket. I don't know if stepping up makes it hard for him to see the field, but that Ward sack a minute ago was his fault.

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Muuuch better play calling this week. I appreciate the dedication to Lynch with the 29 touches. This helped everything else unfold, the Percy dumps, the Kearse reverse pass to Wilson, etc. I knew Emmanuel would have a big game (called above) and had went monster. Overall still a pretty lousy job by Denver offensively. Ball looking shook with Wagner out there, and Kam still looking like one of Peyton's favorite receivers. Peyton still a very shaky game over and underthrowing Demaryius, and the word of the announcers was that Demaryius has not been himself, whatever that infers. I must say they made it really interesting despite not playing mistake-free football like San Diego was able to do. People will call fraud on the LOB but in reality Denver's athletes Demaryius and Emmanuel can only be contained so much.

 

11 different Seahawks caught passes today. Much praise to Wilson for not panicking after his first INT since the NFC Championship and of course the safety. He of course went into game-managing mode after it went to 17-3, but ran a bread and butter offense in OT right down the heart of the much improved Denver D, picking up just enough for first downs each time. Then in the 4th quarter, he bended a little but he didn't break.

 

As for the defense, it's faced Rodgers Rivers and Manning now, and while people would call it being exposed, I would say its more along the lines like Wilson today, bending but not breaking. It's getting the job done.

 

Now we have a bye and then Kirk Cousins, Tony Romo, and whoever the Rams QB is. People should realize these defensive stats for us will improve after facing the three headed bull of tough quarterbacks we just faced.

 

Also, can we bring MoneyLynch back next year?

 

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18Tcax.AuSt.5.jpeg

Edited by BC

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Russell Wilson's biggest problem this year has been retreating against edge pressure, rather than climbing the pocket. I don't know if stepping up makes it hard for him to see the field, but that Ward sack a minute ago was his fault.

 

Not sure if it's a problem. Certainly when I look at the all 22, I see him bailing out to run prematurely. But I'm not convinced that this is not be design. Because on the move, Wilson is uniquely deadly and accurate.

 

I'm kind of coming to grips with the idea that Wilson and really Carroll in particular sees Wilson's ability to get wide and make positive plays running or throwing as being preferable to the typical step up into the pocket thing. Although I've seen him step up and shift with success. I think the positives really outweigh the occasional negatives when it comes to evading edge pressure.

 

One thing I've not seen us do very much has been to work the intermediate seams. These first 3 games has been a lot of lateral short stuff and crossing routes. The TD to Lockette this game is a perfect example of what I'd like to see Wilson start attempting. Because teams are really having success defending our passing attack as it's not really a huge YAC kind of personnel.

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Not sure if it's a problem. Certainly when I look at the all 22, I see him bailing out to run prematurely. But I'm not convinced that this is not be design. Because on the move, Wilson is uniquely deadly and accurate.

 

I'm kind of coming to grips with the idea that Wilson and really Carroll in particular sees Wilson's ability to get wide and make positive plays running or throwing as being preferable to the typical step up into the pocket thing. Although I've seen him step up and shift with success. I think the positives really outweigh the occasional negatives when it comes to evading edge pressure.

 

One thing I've not seen us do very much has been to work the intermediate seams. These first 3 games has been a lot of lateral short stuff and crossing routes. The TD to Lockette this game is a perfect example of what I'd like to see Wilson start attempting. Because teams are really having success defending our passing attack as it's not really a huge YAC kind of personnel.

If it's by design, it's a terrible design. Because I've seen him do that maybe 6 times over the last two weeks and it hasn't gone well at any point.

 

But I don't buy that it's on purpose.

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I am happy we got the win but it just baffles me why we went into prevent defense on Peytons game tying drive when what we were doing all game was working.

Edited by Sacks98

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Yea, maybe some day coaches will figure out prevent defense is terrible.

 

Then again, probably not.

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Fun game to watch near the end, was flipping back and forth between this and Niners-Cards. I wanted to see Manning get one more shot to tie or win the game, but unfortunately the Broncos D didn't hold like they did near the end of the 4th.

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Sucks to lose, but a bit of a moral victory I guess. At least we showed we can hang with the top NFC teams and not get embarrassed :sigh: . Couldn't be happier with how the defense played up until that last drive in OT. I think both teams defenses were gassed by the end. Hate that we didn't get a shot to score, but thems the rules.

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9kcH01r.gif

 

WarySandyIndigobunting.gif

Edited by BC
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