I was always taught, like
most of you were, that it’s better to give than to receive. Our Seahawks,
however, have taken the meaning to a whole new level. We give up yards and points
like it’s Christmas time 17 weeks a year. We give up big play after big
play like we’re trying to instill even more confidence into our opponents
than they already have. We give our opponents even more golden opportunities
to score by turning the ball over time and time again. We’re real sweet
that way. Santa’s gonna bring our Seahawks lots of toys and goodies for
all of our giving throughout the season.
Why don’t we play
the Grinch these last 2 weeks of the season? Why don’t we just say ‘bah
humbug’ to all of the giving away of yards and points and turnovers and
do something for ourselves like provide the success starved fans a playoff berth
and a division title?
If our Seahawks want to
do something nice this Christmas, then how about playing like we’re capable
of playing these last 2 weeks and play with some heart and determination like
it matters as much to them as it does to us. Give us that division title and
give the great fans of Seattle a home playoff game. Give us the best effort
that they can possibly muster each and every play. Give us something to believe
in.
It’s hard to describe
my emotions as I numbly watched our Seahawks this past Sunday. My God, our defense
was awful. What, did we feel like the Jets punter had been previously overworked
or something? Did he need his rest? He never saw the field as the Jets scored
on 6 of 8 possessions, missed a field goal on one of the others and ran out
the first half clock on another one. We never came close to stopping the mighty
Jets offense. Never.
The Jets ran all over us.
They bullied us and pushed us around. And the worst part was that we didn’t
seem to really care that we were being embarrassed in front of a major television
audience. I never saw the desire. Just once I would have loved to have seen
one of our guys stand up either at the huddle or on the sidelines and say ‘enough
is enough’. But it didn’t happen. We sleepwalked our way to another
defeat.
A glaring example of a
lack of effort occurred when Shaun Alexander barely touched a blitzing end,
who drilled Hasselbeck for a sack while we were still within shouting distance
of the Jets. Shaun didn’t even try to stop the guy. Just barely leaned
a shoulder towards him, barely grazing him while the guy damned near killed
our quarterback. That’s not a lack of talent guys, it’s a lack of
effort. Either that or Alexander’s a big wuss and didn’t want the
contact. I’m choosing to believe it’s the former and not the latter.
You would think that at
some point a little pride might overtake our guys and they would step up and
stop the madness but on several occasions, this season it simply hasn’t
happened.
So now what? We’ve
got 2 games left at home. All we need to make the playoffs is one stinking win.
All we need for the division title and a home playoff game is either 2 wins
or a win and a Rams loss. Can we do it? Oh yeah, we have the talent, despite
the injuries to win these last 2 games. We should have revenge on our minds
as the Cardinals come to town and the Falcons will no longer have anything left
to play for on the last Sunday of the season as they are locked into the number
2 seed, so winning both of our remaining games is doable. But will we do it?
That’s the big question.
I’m going on record
as saying that our Seahawks will be the NFC West champs. While our record indicates
that it’s not that big a deal, in my opinion, a division title is a division
title and I’d love to have that. I’m also going to predict that
we’ll win a home playoff game this year as well. Call me crazy or a homer
or even tipsy from the holiday festivities but I still believe that this Seahawks
team has a positive surprise up its sleeve for us. These Seahawks are going
to leave all of us starving fans a nice little present under our trees. It’s
going to be a division title and a playoff win. Something we’ve all waited
far too long to unwrap.
It’s a great time
to be a Seahawks fan, always has been, always will be.
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!
Micky James writes weekly for Seahawks.NET. You can reach
him at teamjames4@yahoo.com.