Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
Does every team enjoy a little home cooking? Of course. When you are the Seattle Seahawks, you get to enjoy the loudest fans in the NFL and opposing teams have to resort to hand signals if they want to keep their snap count in sync.
This is often a point of contention in sports. How much does going on the road hurt a team? There are plenty of statistics that show teams do better at home, but why? Is it the crowd? Do players do better when they sleep in their own homes? Less travel to the stadium?
Regardless, some of the analysis can be a little overhyped. A team is not necessarily going to forget how to play football just because there is a different logo at the 50-yard line. Russell Wilson will be prepared for every game and Marshawn Lynch is going to run hard. Richard Sherman is going to do his best to stifle the best receiver on the opposing squad.
The Seahawks have enjoyed two of their three games at home this season. They also won a close game on the road in the opener against the Carolina Panthers. Now they must face the Houston Texans and the Indianapolis Colts in back-to-back road games, and we will see how much the ‘Hawks miss the faithful fans at CenturyLink Field.
Last season, Seattle was 3-5 on the road, which isn’t particularly good for a playoff team. However, when you look at the road losses, Seattle lost those five games by a combined total of 24 points. The margins were four, six, seven, four and three. In other words, every one of those games were winnable.
Obviously you can make the counterargument that if they were so winnable, the Seahawks should have come home with more victories. That is a fair argument because the Seahawks didn’t get it done on the road in 2012. That said, Seattle won their last two road games of the year and then won on the road in the playoffs. Translation? They won on the road when it counted.
Unless the Seahawks get blown out (unlikely) in one or both of the next two games, critics will probably not proclaim that the wheels are coming off. Even a good team is supposed to lose a couple of games on the road. Still, the Seahawks have the talent to win both of these contests, even if they will be in hostile environments.
Road record in 2013? So far, Seattle is 1-0 away from home. Don’t be shocked if two weeks from now they are 3-0.
Todd Pheifer covers the Seattle Seahawks for Rant Sports. Follow him on Twitter @tpheifer, “Like” him on Facebook and add him to your network on Google+.
