April 19, 2009

Ranking the Squads #4: 2007

As usual, you can find the previous installments of the Ranking the Squads project here...

4. 2007
Record: 10-6
Postseason: NFC West Champs, lost in Divisional Round
Offensive Rank: 9th out of 32 teams
Defensive Rank: 6th out of 32
Turnover Ratio Rank: 5th out of 32
Team MVP: Matt Hasselbeck
High Point: Seahawks 35, Redskins 14
Low Point: Packers 42, Seahawks 20

The '07s couldn't run the ball worth a damn, which was brutally evident when Shaun Alexander failed to convert a key 4th-and-1 in OT at Cleveland. After that loss, Holmgren put the team's fate squarely on the arm of Matt Hasselbeck. Beck responded with the best performance of his career, and the Hawks went much farther than a team utterly incapable of running the ball should ever should.

The defense was one of the league's best before comprehensively collapsing in the snow globe of Lambeau Field... Patrick Kerney and Marcus Trufant had career years, and both terrorized the Redskins in a Wild Card Playoff win far more dramatic than the 35-14 final score indicated. As I wrote at the time:

It’s getting to be an cliche, isn’t it? Seahawks get overlooked, disrespected, and dismissed. Seahawks host playoff game; opponents dismiss the impact of the 12th Man. The Qwest Field crowd is louder than a Boeing Dreamliner, a bunch of crazy shit happens, and in dramatic fashion the Seahawks emerge victorious (and the losers later admit the crowd noise was a factor).

Where are you guys all at? All of you who were sure that Sean Taylor’s ghost would smother the Seahawks with burgundy ectoplasm? All of you who put sooooooo much emphasis on the Seattle defense allowing 44 points in a meaningless game? All of you who thought “momentum” was so important? All of you who thought DC would have an emotional edge, as if Seattle had nothing to play for (hmmm.. maybe for themselves, for the fans, etc)?

I’m not hearing a peep from any of you.. I wonder why. If we lived in a just world, so-called “experts” who spout lazy psuedo-analysis like I heard all week would be banished from the journalistic profession. However, they still have jobs and are getting ready to completely dismiss the Seattle Seahawks yet again. Fucking Come-swabs. Jesus.


Yeah, I was at that Redskins playoff game... and yes, it was AWESOME.

The '07s are one of only THREE squads in team history to win 10+ regular season games and at least one playoff game (the others were '84 and '05). For that, I figuratively tip my bonnet their way.

5 comments:

Aaron Weinberg said...

I was also at that game, one of the best experiences I've had at Qwest, which included Redskins fans getting arrested right next to us after Trufant made the game sealing pick. (they were trying to fight our whole section)

JRuss said...

That was a fabulous game. We were obscenely LOUD. Piped in noise....we don't need no stinkin' piped in noise!!

I'll never forget coming back from the game and watching the replay on TV. Collinswart couldn't stand that the Hawks won. When the momentum shifted during the game for a bit, he sounded like a Redskin fan, willing them to come back and win it. Toolage.

Mark said...

Cool, mang. I remember watching that playoff game against Washington in a bar in Snohomish, believe it or not. (I was there for a friend's birthday party.)

Just out of curiosity, was the #4 ranking a typo? What happened to #5?

Ramona P. said...

I don't know why #5 disappeared.. It's back up in all its glory... Just scroll down.

Anonymous said...

I remain convinced that if we had beaten the Pack we would've followed it up with a win vs. the Giants (at HOME) and would've advanced to the Superbowl. Unfortunately, we probably would've gotten trounced by the Pats, though....

Foozer