2015 Seattle Seahawks Schedule: A Tale Of Two Schedules

Fans of the NFC Champion Seattle Seahawks, were hoping to see improvements to last year’s schedule. Maybe a solid Monday night game at home with another Sunday or Thursday matchup thrown in. How about a bye closer to December than September?

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ESPN has a great Monday game, week 4, in Seattle against Golden Tate and the Detroit Lions. Not just a home game on Monday night for Seattle, but one of the greatest receivers in history (Calvin Johnson, Jr) against the greatest secondary (LOB). This game will draw big ratings for ESPN and be an early big win for the Seahawks.

NBC will have the Seahawks three times this year on Sunday night, but just once in Seattle (week 10 against Arizona). Thursday night will see Seattle one time this year in San Francisco. That’s five prime-time games with just two being shown in Seattle.

Next on our checklist is the hope of a later bye. Last year the Seahawks had a bye in week 4, which is the week New England gets their bye this year. This year Seattle gets a week 9 bye, finishing five of their final eight games at home.

FIRST HALF 2015 SCHEDULE

Seattle’s week 9 bye will come at a great time for a few reasons, one of which being level of competition over the first eight games. Green Bay, Detroit, Cincinnati, Carolina and Dallas all made the playoffs last year. Seattle faces these five teams in its first eight. The remaining three teams are division rivals in St. Louis and San Francisco with a Chicago team thrown in. Not easy.

Some other quick 1st half facts:

Looking at travel, Seattle will be logging over 8,000 miles in the first half. Weeks 1, 2, 5, 7 and 8 are spent in suitcases.

Get ready LOB! Nick Foles, Aaron Rodgers, Jay Cutler (maybe), Matthew Stafford, Andy Dalton, Cam Newton, Colin Kaepernick (finally a break), and a rejuvenated Tony Romo in the first half.

Get ready Seahawks offense! Detroit, San Francisco, Carolina and Green Bay all finished in the top half in total defense in 2014. Top rated defense, of course, was Seattle.

For Marshawn Lynch, he will go against three teams who finished 2014 in the top 10 rushing defense (Dal, SF with Detroit, who finished first).

Safe to say, the Seahawks will be ready for their bye to tackle the 2nd half of 2015.

SECOND HALF 2015 SCHEDULE

When factoring in records from 2014, the Seattle Seahawks have the fourth toughest schedule in 2015. Clearly the team’s first half is the worst of it. The second half will see Seattle spending more time at home and in division, cutting back on miles. Still, this is the NFL and the NFC West is tough.

Some quick 2nd half facts:

After Seattle’s week 9 bye they play three straight at home (AZ, SF, Pitt). An entire month at home to start the second half.

The last time Pittsburgh played a game in Seattle was 2003 (Seattle won 23-16).

Although the Seahawks will play four division games in the second half, only one is on the road (Arizona). Seattle’s record in Arizona since 2010 is 3-1.

Arizona, Pittsburgh and Baltimore are the only 2014 playoff teams Seattle will play in the second half.

December 6, Seattle travels to Minnesota to face the Vikings. This game will showcase the top two running backs in the NFL over the last four seasons. It will also be a matchup of the top defense in 2014 against Peterson. Lynch will be facing the 25th ranked rushing defense from 2014. Advantage: Seattle.

OVERALL

The NFL has done some good things in setting up Seattle’s schedule. It is clearly top heavy, giving the Hawks a nice path to end the year. If Seattle can find a way to enter the second half with a 6-2 or 5-3 record, the playoffs may go through CenturyLink once again.

Three straight NFC Titles is a real possibility.

Go Hawks!

Next: Twitter reacts to the 2015 Seahawks' schedule

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