Filed under: Seahawks, NFC West

There's an old saying that goes 'if you put enough monkeys in a room with enough typewriters, sooner or later one of them will type the works of Shakespeare.'

Five months ago, AOL Sports combed the internet and gathered and eclectic group of monkeys from the best NFL Team blogs on the web and created the NFL Fanhouse. I was honored to be chosen as one of three simians dedicated to the Seahawks, and I tried to provide my own unique blend of insight, humor and sarcasm in the articles and observations I posted throughout this season.

We were all told at the beginning that this was a one-season work in progress, as nobody involved, from the AOL suits to the newly deputized primates, had a clue what would become of this venture. With the NFL season winding to a close this Sunday, most of us were recently notified to pack up our tire-swings and typewriters, as AOL has decided to take the NFL Fanhouse in the direction of their other sports superblogs, with a few dedicated bloggers covering the entire sport, rather than on a team-by-team basis.

So before I left, I wanted to thank my loyal readers and fans, all both of them, and to honestly say I've enjoyed my season as an official Seahawks blogger on a major corporate site. Making a little money for each post didn't suck either! I'm also grateful for the getting to know the other bloggers from our rival sites, and hope that we can continue the pre- and post-game smack-offs from our home blogs next season.

Anyone who just can't get through the day without reading what albaNY Hawker has to say about the Seahawks can catch me flinging my poo over at the 12 Seahawks Street blog or the SeahawkBlue fan forum.

To Jamie and those who will be continuing the NFL Fanhouse, I say thank you and be sure to maintain your edge! I'd hate to see this site morph into just another East-coast biased, corporate media site regurgitating the same tired sports news as ESPN, FoxSports and even NFL.com.

GOOD LUCK!

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Filed under: Seahawks, NFC West, Super Bowl

HISTORY: the only thing worse that seeing Big "22.7 rated" Ben hoisting the Lombardi would be Rex "0.00 rated" Grossman holding it.

CURSES: four words: Super Bowl Loser's Curse, which should eliminate a potential Conference rival from the 2007 playoffs.

WHITE NOISE: because Seahawks fans have already tuned out the media love-fest with the Colts, so the incessant off-season media hype of a Colts repeat will be easier to ignore.

PRIDE: the Bears would otherwise be the first #1 seed from the NFC to win the SB, something the Seahawks failed to do last season.

HUMOR: Tony Dungy and Peyton Manning make better commercials.

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Filed under: Seahawks, NFC West, Super Bowl

1. LOYALTY: Seahawks fans are loyal, so if your team can't be in the Super Bowl, you at least root for your Conference representative.

2. HEALING: it softens the blow to know the Seahawks were eliminated by the eventual World Champions.

3. PLANNING: the Bears are on the 2007 schedule and recent SB winners have had bad seasons the following year.

4. ATTRITION: SB winners usually have their coaching staff poached by other teams, again weakening a potential Conference rival.

5. SEX: because Alex Flanagan is covering them during SB week for the NFL and she's much better looking than Kara Henderson!

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Filed under: Seahawks, NFC West

I've been a Seahawks fan since they came into the league in 1976, but I've been a professional football fan my entire life. I used to always look forward to the Super Bowl each year, and actually enjoyed all the hype leading up to it. That all changed last year.

As a fan of the 1976-2004 Seahawks, you could always enjoy the Super Bowl. I mean it usually occurred a good month after the last meaningful Seahawk game, and since your team was usually mathematically eliminated from the playoffs sometime before Christmas, it didn't really matter who was playing in the Super Bowl, you could psyched about the game.

Then came the 2005 Seahawks, and my expectations have been irreparably changed forever.

The 2005 Seahawks not only brought the first Super Bowl birth to Seattle, but also brought the realization of three decades of hope and optimism to millions of Seahawks fans around the globe.

Last year I watched every minute of NFL coverage between the final gun of the NFC Championship game and the opening kick-off of Super Bowl XL in Detroit. And what I couldn't watch, I TiVo-ed. Now it's hard to get excited about the big game when my team is not participating in it.

I'm not sure how Cowboy, Niner and Raiders fans have dealt with these feelings all these years.

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Filed under: Seahawks, NFC West

The rotund figure in the picture is none other than child-star Emmanuel Lewis of the hit TV Series Webster.

So what does he have to do with the Seahawks? Nothing really.

But the Tennessee Titans are currently interviewing two Seahawks Executives as candidates for their open GM position, Vice President of Football Operations Mike Reinfeldt, and another Seahawk Vice President named Ruston Webster.

Are you with me now?

Reinfeldt might seem to have the inside edge on the position, as he's got a favorable track record with the Seahawks, and was an All-Pro Safety for the Houston Oilers, which is what the Titans were known as prior to the owner moving them to Tennessee.

Webster, a protege of current Seahawk President and GM Tim Ruskell, signed on with the Seahawks last off-season after leaving the Bucs, but nobody is quite sure what he does.

Reinfeldt on the other had is credited with hammering out the 11th hour contracts prior to the start of free agency, that locked up Matt Hasselbeck and Walter Jones to long term deals, and slapping the franchise tag on Shaun Alexander, assuring that his MVP season would come while wearing Seahawk blue. And for an encore, he was instrumental in working out a very cap-friendly long term deal with Alexander at the end of the 2005 season, most likely assuring that Shaun's retirement party will be hosted at Qwest field as well.

What this means is that the very thing that probably makes Reinfeldt a much more attractive prospect to the Titans is the very thing that makes most Seahawks fans pray that they'll select Webster instead.

And we're not above invoking the image of a 1970's 1980s TV icon to help improve our chances that our prayers will be heard.

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Filed under: Seahawks, NFC West

A major news item in the lead up to the Super Bowl is the judge allowing Tank Johnson to travel with the Bears and play in the Super Bowl, even though he's facing serious weapons charges.

A minor news item reported on KFFL is that new commissioner Roger Goodell is moving ahead with plans to install radios in the helmets of offensive linemen to combat the effects of crowd noise. The piece below is from the KFFL.com Hotwire:

NFL | Offensive players to have radio receivers in helmets?
Sun, 21 Jan 2007 08:59:04 -0800

Mark Gillispie, of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, reports the National Football League is developing plans to put radio receivers in the helmets of all offensive players, which would enable them to hear the quarterback's signals and line calls. The system is scheduled for testing during the 2008 NFL season.

As a fan of the Seahawks, who boast arguably the loudest home crowd in the league, I am opposed to this new technological wrinkle, as should all fans. This is basically discouraging the fans from coming to the games, because other than a handful of wealthy supporters in the good seats, it's much better to view a game on TV than from the nose bleeds in most stadiums. One of biggest reasons to go to a game, especially for Seahawks fans, is knowing you can have a small but direct impact on the proceedings if you just yell loud enough and long enough for the home team.

Starting in 2008, this will be 'much sound and fury signifying nothing.'

Now onto a more important topic and the higher exposure headline. The league also spends a ton of time and money protecting its image, as evidences by the expanded drug testing policy and stringent uniform restriction. But while they're focusing on keeping the players 'clean and neat' they're missing an area that's potentially more devastating to the image and the on-going success of the league - which is players getting involved in weapons related incidents.

If the league wanted to seriously stop all this nonsense, it could do it easily by writing in standard clauses that nullify players contracts if they are involved in a weapons related incident. They already do this kind of thing for motorcycle riding, bungee-jumping, hang-gliding and other dangerous activities, to protect the player's health and the team's investment in them.

Why not do the same thing regarding guns?

And before I incur the wrath of the NRA or the Civil Liberties Union, I acknowledge that it's every American's right to bear arms, as it is to ride motorcycles and hang-glide, but it's just not a privilege you can enjoy if you want to pull down millions of dollars for playing a kid's game.

And in case David Stern is lurking, consider yourself carbon-copied on this memo. Your league has a much bigger problem with gun charges and the perception of your players as gangstas and thugs. You've got the most control of any of the four commissioners, so you could blaze this trail with just a snap of your fingers.

Make it happen before another football player is gunned down after a high speed chase, or another innocent chauffeur is blasted to oblivion in the mansion of some careless hoopster showing off his shotgun.

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Filed under: Seahawks, NFC West

Last year the NFC representatives to the Super Bowl were the 13-3 Seahawks, who were constantly qualified as playing in the "weakest division in football" and having a cake schedule. As a matter of fact, most fans would still consider the NFC W as the weakest division in the NFL.

This year the NFC Representative is the 13-3 Bears, and I have yet to hear a peep from nary a media talking head about their division or schedule.

But taking a closer look at things, you may find something interesting.

The four NFC divisional winners were the Bears (North), Saints (South), Eagles (East) and Seahawks (West). However, if you look at the combined win total of the other three teams within each division, you'll see that the NFC North also-rans racked up 17 wins between them, the NFC South runners-up 19, NFC East wannabes 22, and the NFC West step-children 20. So while the Bears conference leading record of 13-3 looks impressive, it was built at the hands of the 3-13 Lions, 6-10 Vikings and lucky-to-be-8-and-8 Packers.

In fact, the West could even be touted as the second strongest division in the NFC, behind the East, even though they were the seeded 3rd and 4the within the conference. Both divisions put up similar W-L records, and the East managed to snag the two wild card playoff spots.

There's no doubt that the Bears beat the Seahawks twice this season, fair and square, so I'm not complaining about them getting to the Super Bowl. What I am complaining about is the media writing off the success of small market teams to schedule or divisional weaknesses, but when a large market team enjoys the same success, there's nothing mentioned about the JV-teams they pummeled along the way.

You can't fault any club for beating the teams they're supposed to, and taking advantage of weakened competition. They can only play the teams on the NFL puts on their schedule. And unless the NFL wants true parity, where every club finishes 8-8 and the playoff seeding is decided by coin-flips, every year you're going to have a handful of double-digit winners, which means that there will be just as many double-digit losers.

I'd just like to see small market clubs get the same recognition and accolades, instead of constantly having to to justify and defend their own accomplishments.

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Filed under: Seahawks, NFC West

There's a Yogi-like saying in the NFL that goes 'if you're not improving, you're getting worse', and while it seems to be an overly obvious statement, it's actually quite profound.

Thanks to impatient owners, the salary cap, and free agency, the one constant in the NFL is change, and it's already started to affect the Seahawks, with three new coaches added to Holmgren's staff, and two key front office executives interviewing with other franchises.

The Seahawks have a championship caliber nucleus of offensive players with Matt Hasselbeck, Shaun Alexander and Walter Jones, and a stable of talented and interchangeable receivers. Watching these guys being hobbled by injury this year though begs the question, how many more years of dominance do they have left?

The Seahawks have a championship caliber coach in Mike Holmgren, but it's unclear how many more years he'll be patrolling the sidelines, and his questionable play-calling and clock management at times has fans wondering if the game has passed him by.

There are several key players on the Seahawks roster that will either be restricted or unrestricted free agents this year, including D.J. Hackett, Jerramy Stevens, Josh Brown, Bobby Engram, Ken Hamlin, Sean Locklear and Jordan Babineaux.

There are sever key players who wound up on IR this year, that may or may not make it back to the active roster, including Marcus Tubbs, Kelly Herndon, J.P. Darche, Josh Scobey, Craig Terrell, and Joe Tafoya.

There is bound to be a few impact free agents or talented draft picks brought in to challenge for starting positions, such as cornerback, safety, full back, offensive guard and defensive tackle.

The biggest question for the off season will be are the changes for better or for worse?

With the competition in the NFC West improving, the brutal 2007 travel schedule that include five trips into the Eastern time zone, and the league looking to install helmet-radios for all O-lineman to thwart the effects of the 12th Man, this version of the Seahawks may only have two or three years left to make it to another Super Bowl, before there are wholesale changes on the roster in within the coaching staff.

I just hope the players and coaches realize this, and don't flit away another golden opportunity for home field in the playoffs. As we saw in Chicago, it makes a very big difference.

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Filed under: Seahawks, AFC South, NFC West

Losing a two coaches who would have probably been fired anyway is no big thing, but the latest news on Mike Sando's blog should be cause for concern.

The Seahawks have given permission to the Titans to interview Seattle executives Mike Reinfeldt and Ruston Webster for a GM job. That's great news for Mike, Ruston and the Titans, but not for Seahawks fans.

Ruston, a long-time Ruskell associate, just joined the Seahawks organization at the beginning of the 2006 season, so it's not clear how much he's done for the franchise and what exactly the impact of losing him would be.

Mike Renfeldt, however, is a salary cap genius who pulled off the highly improbable feat of being wooed back to the Seahawks, after leaving during the Bob Whitless era, and locking up Matt Hasselbeck and Walter Jones to long term deals, and Franchising (note: NOT Transitioning) Shaun Alexander in his first week back on the job. These three players then lead Seattle to the first Super Bowl appearance in franchise history.

With several Seahawks starters at or near the end of their contracts, and the need to re-tool through free agency at key positions, not having a guy like Renfeldt around could be a significant loss.

Of course, this is a Titan organization that liked their chances with Kerry Collins over Steve McNair and Vince Young, so let's hope they apply the same level of talent evaluation prowess when selecting their new GM!

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Filed under: Seahawks, NFC West

The one silver lining to losing the Super Bowl last year is that the Seahawks organization avoided the usual pillaging of the coaching staff that happens to most championship teams.

This allowed the Seahawks to enter the 2006 season with not only their roster of players pretty much in tact, but also with consistency on the coaching staff as well. Such is not the case as the page turns to the 2007 season.

The Seahawks have confirmed that defensive backs coach Teryl Austin has left to join Ken Whisenhunt's staff in Arizona, and much maligned Special Teams coach Bob Casullo has departed Seattle to coach the tight ends for the Buccaneers.

Over the past several seasons, the two biggest knocks on the Seahawks were their propensity for giving up huge pass plays and mediocre Special Team play, so this may wind up being addition by subtraction.

Austin may have become expendable when the Seahawks added former Ram Larry Marmie to their staff last season. Casullo, who seemed to be living on borrowed time for the past two years, even took the time to drop a parting shot at the media on Mike Sando's blog at The Tacoma News Tribune web site.

The contracts of both coaches expired this season, and the Seahawk organization didn't seem too eager to resign them, so they both may have jumped at the first opportunity rather than wait around to be fired.

No word yet on possible replacements, but it can't hurt to bring some new blood onto the coaching staff and hopefully breath some new life into the team and organization.

We'll see what impact these moves have next season, as both the Cardinals and Bucs are on the 2007 schedule.

*** EDIT: 1/19/2007 2:23am ***
Under the heading of 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em', this article on the DallasNews blog says Cowboys Special Teams Coach Bruce DeHaven is in Seattle interviewing for the same position with the Seahawks. My thanks to 2*2*2 from the SeahawkBlue forum who tipped me off to this news.

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Filed under: Seahawks, NFC West

At this point in the season, unless you're a fan of one of the Final Four teams left in the playoffs, all you can do is turn your focus to next year. And looking at the schedule of opponents for next season, it seems very likely that the Seahawks may have a better record on the Road than at Home.

Of course, it is very difficult to predict these things a full 8 months prior to the start of the season, as we still need to get through the April draft, off season acquisitions and losses, and see what types of injuries may occur during training camps and pre-season, but based on the 2006 season standings, the teams they'll be hosting appear a lot stronger than the ones they'll be visiting.

The non-divisional teams the Seahawks will be welcoming to Qwest field include the Buccaneers, Bears, Ravens, Bengals and Saints. Seeing as the Bears and Saints are still alive in the playoffs, and one of them will be representing the NFC in the Super Bowl, even with the help of the 12th man, they'll be a tough out next year.

The Seahawks just beat the Buccaneers, and the Bengals seem to be going in the wrong direction, so my crystal ball says that these should be standard Qwest field wins. However, with the vaunted defense and improving offense of the Ravens, we may go 5-3 at home again next year, assuming we can leverage home field advantage against our divisional rivals.

The travel itinerary for the 2007 Seahawks include five trips to the Eastern time zone, but other than that, there's not much to be afraid of with the 2007 slate of eight away games.

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Filed under: Seahawks, NFC West, NFL Playoffs

This is the first command performance with a non-NFC West opponent, as we did a regular season version of the Bear's Five Questions post in Week 4. This week's enemy blogger is Ryan Wilson of the Bear Fanhouse, who has provided the answer to the following five questions. Be sure to read all the way to the end, as for the Playoff Edition, we've ask our guest "enemy" to provide a final score prediction, and you might be surprised with his response.

Now, on to the questions...

1. Lovie Smith could have started Brian Griese in the season finale, under the guise of resting Rex Grossman, and nobody would have thought twice about it. Instead, he chose to publicly humiliate his starting QB by pulling him in the second half, leading many to speculate just how long a leash Grossman will have on Sunday. What do you make of this obvious head-game between the coach and the player?

Going into the Green Bay game Grossman knew he would only play a quarter or two. At least that's what he said last week right before telling everybody that he really didn't prepare for the Packers. That said, pulling Grossman at halftime wouldn't have been anymore humiliating than leaving him in to set some kind of single-game interception record. And given his uneven play all year, Grossman will be on a short leash, although it would've been a lot shorter if Griese didn't give such an uninspiring second-half performance.

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Filed under: Seahawks, NFC West, NFL Playoffs

Thanks to our friends over at the SeahawkBlue fan forum, we bring you the latest NFL Public Service Announcement based on the upcoming matchup between the Seahawks and Bears...

(click image to view PSA)

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Filed under: Seahawks, NFC West, NFL Playoffs

I'm going to do something that nary a Steeler fan would do after the Super Bowl, which is admit right here in print that the Seattle Seahawks had no business winning that playoff game last week.

This may not be a ground-breaking revelation for anyone, but it's the right thing to do. Even with the mini-miracle strip for an apparent touchdown resulting in a safety, after the Seahawks looked perplexed on their botched 2-point conversion, the Seahawks let the Cowboys drive into chip-shot field goal range, and by all rights, should be watching this week's games at home on Q13.

But they're not - and now they get to be the NFL version of the accidental tourists, playing the rest of their games on the road, like some other "charmed" team from last season.

Could this be delicious karmic juxtapositioning?

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Filed under: Seahawks, NFC West

On the eve of their home Wild Card round playoff game, the Seahawks have bid farewell to 9 year veteran tight end Itula Mili, placing him on waivers to make room on the active roster for practice squad wide receiver Ben Obomanu.

Just two seasons ago, it appeared that Mili was a lock for all important tight end postion in Mike Holmgren's version of the west coast offense, and now after battles with injuries and an intestinal condition, he finds himself home on the couch, watching the playoffs along with the rest of us.

In 2003, Mili had a career year with 46 receptions for 492 yards, 28 first downs, 4 TDs and a 10.7 yard per catch average. Even with losing his starting job to Jerramy Stevens in 2004, he still managed 23 catches in limited action over 15 games, racking up 240 yards and 14 first downs.

But after missing the entire 2005 campaign due to an intestinal blockage, and not seeing much action this season, he became an expendable commodity, much like the luggage and other useless cargo that is jetisoned as the plane tries to make the trans-atlantic journey on one sputtering engine.

Ben Obomanu has no official stats as an NFL Player, but did turn some heads during the preseason, and will be a welcome addition to a wide receiving corp that may be without Darrell Jackson and D.J. Hackett come gametime. Whether he has any Jedi Mind Tricks up his sleeve remains to be seen, but the Seahawks are in despirate need of The Force.

Help us Obowan...Help us Obowan!

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Filed under: Seahawks, NFC West

Thanks to the Holidays and a much needed off-line break, I haven't been around much lately, but with the playoffs quickly approaching, things should be getting back to normal.

But before it's too late to post a a Holiday-related season retrospective, I wanted to pay tribute to the 2006 Seattle Seahawks. Sure, they weren't as dominant or sexy as last year's model, but as any married man will tell you, your wife never looks as good as she did on your wedding day, but that doesn't mean you love her any less!

At the start of the season, if anyone told us the Seahawks would lose Hasselbeck, Alexander, Tobeck, Locklear, Stevens, Engram, Jackson, Tubbs, Bernard, Darche, Terrill, Tafoya Scobey, and a few others for an extended period of time, yet still win the division, we'd probably think they were crazy. If they told us we'd get swept by the 49ers, split with the Cardinals we'd have them committed.

But that's exactly what this year's Seahawks overcame to accomplish their first major goal of the season, win the division and start the run to the Superbowl at home.

And while doing so, we learned a few things about this team that we may not have known back in September.

* Seneca Wallace is a bonafide backup quarterback and an asset to this team
* Josh Brown is so "money" he can eat dollar bills and crap change
* Losing Steve Hutchinson hurt a lot, and the void at left guard has yet to be filled
* This team can win ugly without Matt, and without Shaun, but it's much prettier when they're both healthy and playing
* The defense is built for speed, not endurance
* Nate Burleson is a catalyst on Special Teams
* DJ Hackett is a keeper
* Michael Boulware went from Disneyland commercials to the dog house
* The Madden and Chunky Soup curses may have claimed their victims, but Ding, Dong...the Superbowl Runner-up Curse is Dead!

So before this team begins odds-defying march to return to the Superbowl, just as there's bound to be a stray piece of tinsel or pine needle still in the house somewhere, I bring you this Holiday Tribute to the 2006 Seattle Seahawks.

Enjoy!

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Filed under: Seahawks, NFC West

All Hail the NFC West Champs!

If a tie is like kissing your sister, having your fate determined by a game between San Francisco and Arizona must be like kissing your ugly sister. But, thanks to the Cardinals victory over the 49ers, the Seahawks win their third NFC West Crown by default, proving definitively that in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is surely king!

So, the Seahawks got an early present gift-wrapped by Kurt Warner of all people, but they lacked the power to really rip it open and enjoy it. Seattle not only should have beaten the Chargers on this day, but they should have wiped up the soggy Qwest field turf with them. Two potential scoring drives ended in Matt Hasselbeck tipped passes for interceptions, and a special teams return for a touchdown was nullified by a mindless penalty. And not even Santa Claus knows how with under 2 minutes to play, and only needing to stop 3rd and long, how Seattle lets a receiver get behind the safety and is WIDE open in the end zone for a game winning TD?

This game could have been the catalyst that the Seahawks needed to spark a magical playoff run. Beating the Chargers, who were fighting for a first round bye, would have provided a viable answer to "who have the Seahawks beat?" instead of having to mutter the names of the walking dead: the Lions, the Raiders and the Rams.

But this game was a microcosm of the Seahawks 2006 season, or what I like to call, Back to the Future, 2004 edition. Shaun Alexander rushes for over 100 yards. The defense and offense play well enough to build a fourth quarter lead. But somehow something bad happens and the Seahawks wind up on the wrong end of the final score.

Having now lost their third game at Qwest, I'm not sure that getting a home playoff game in the Wild Card Round will make any difference for the Seahawks, again forcing traumatic stress syndrome flashbacks to 2004. And I wouldn't be surprised if they have trouble selling playoff tickets again, like two seasons ago, since riding a three game losing streak into the post-season, with the potential of going 0-for-December next week at the Bucs, doesn't bode well for ticket marketing schemes.

After the game, I sat numb and foggy as I watched the annual rerun of "A Christmas Story" and realized that last year, we as Seahawks fans got our Daisy Red Rider BB Gun with Pump Action. And I imagine that no matter what was under the tree the next Christmas, that kid never got the same thrill as he did when he opened up that BB gun. And I truly empathized with him.

Today the Seahawks rewarded their fans with a pair of pink bunny rabbit slipper pajamas, complete with hood and ears.

I think I'll go put my own eye out now, or just stick my tongue to a frozen flag pole.

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Filed under: Seahawks, NFC West

This game isn't shaping up to be the exhibition-roster version of a late season match-up between two teams coasting into the playoffs that I hoped it would be. Well, it is for one team anyway, but even though the Chargers have wrapped up the AFC West, they're still in a battle with the Ravens and Colts for the coveted home field advantage, a prize the Seahawks frittered away over the past two weeks, so I expect to see starters playing all the way to the end, assuming the Seahawks can keep the game competitive into the fourth quarter.

Since I haven't exactly been a ray of sunshine around here lately, perhaps hearing from another voice will shake things up a little. This week's enemy is Robert Zepeda of the Chargers FanHouse, whose answers to the Five Questions are below:

1. Be honest, when the NFL schedules first came out in April and you saw a road trip to Seattle in Week 15, how concerned were you about playing the Seahawks at that time?

Actually not concerned at all. In my season record prediction, I had chalked up the Seahawks as a win. The Chargers beat the Seahawks in the preseason and from what I saw, I felt the Chargers were a better team overall - we had a great balance of defense and offense and Rivers ability to play without turning over the ball was the only concern of mine. As long as we could run the ball against a team, I always like our chances to win, and we ran the ball against Seattle very well.

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Filed under: Seahawks, NFC West

The Seahawks couldn't have asked for a better setup. All they needed was to win one game with four to play, and they'd wrap up their third consecutive division crown. And the next two games were at Arizona and home for the Niners.

Piece of cake, right?

Well, they played both games like a piece of something, but it wasn't quite cake.

And now, to manage their own destiny, without having to wish for a 49er loss, the Seahawks need to beat either the streaking Chargers at Qwest field, or win their closer at Tampa Bay.

I was feeling pretty confident about the Tampa Bay game, until they took the NFC leading Bears to overtime and very nearly won the game. At Soldier Filed! Yes, those same Bears that dismantled the Seahawks 37-6 in Week 4, also at Soldier Field, with both Hasselbeck and Alexander in the line-up.

The Bears had an opportunity to lock up home field advantage throughout the playoffs, and while they played very sloppy against an inferior opponent, they still managed to eek out the victory. The Seahawks have the sloppy play part down pat, it's the willing themselves to victory where they keep coming up short.

So the Seahawks hope of making another run at the Lombardi trophy, or at the very least dispelling the Super Bowl Runner Up curse, is to catch the Chargers in a classic trap game, or to take care of business in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs embracing their role as the NFL version of Ebeneezer Scrooge.

Weren't we supposed to be resting our starters by this point in the schedule?

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Filed under: Seahawks, NFC West

Not only have the Seahawks lost a second home game at Qwest field, but they just got swept by the Niners. Run to the windows boys and girls, and watch the pigs fly!

I'd like to blame the refs for this loss, but that would be too cliche for a Seahawk fan, even though the 49ers were clutching and grabbing like a over-eager teenager in the backseat on prom night, and that pass interference non-call in the 4th quarter was aggregious.

No, this loss falls squarely on the suddenly heartless and fundamentally disastrous Seattle Seahawks. The offense squandered several scoring opportunities in the first half, and like tired I Love Lucy reruns, the second half defensive letdown was all too familiar, and no longer the least bit funny.

Last year, 3rd and one was as automatic as Paris Hilton embarrassing the family name, but this year it's a joke. Either it's Matt audibling to unnecessary and unsuccessful pass plays, or Mack Strong getting stuffed short like Viagra-less Rush Limbaugh with $20 crack ho!

But there's hope. Not much for the Seahawks, but a lot for those who believe in such nonsense as Super Bowl curses. This loss to the Niners sets the Seahawks up for one of the epic collapses that will keep these air-headed pundits chattering to no end.

Should the Seahawks lose to the Chargers and Bucs, which is all too likely with the way they're playing, and the Niners win out, we'll not only lose the NFC West crown to the WORST TEAM in the division last season, but we'll probably miss the playoffs all together.

Not that it will matter much anyway. Anyone fan of a team who loses to the Seahawks in the playoffs ought to feel as embarrassed and sick about their team, as I do about mine tonight.

Sadly, our rain reign as Kings of NFC Worst may be over.

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