Seahawks 38, Giants 17

(Shh! The Seahawks are coming for y'all. Don't tell anyone, Boss.) 

It's far too easy for media bobbleheads to fall back on team "identity" as a lazy explanation for NFL success (or failure). Usually, it's a great example of confirmation bias. A team strings a few wins together? They've "found their identity." Drop a few games? Now you've "lost your identity." Typically it's super-predictable but nonetheless maddening. However, I think there might be something to this when it comes to the 2014 Seattle Seahawks.

In hindsight, it's pretty clear that Darren Bevell fell for Percy Harvin after the Super Bowl like JGL fell for Zooey in 500 Days of Summer. Why wouldn't he have? Harvin was a devastating weapon against Denver in XLVIII, and what OC wouldn't want to torture the opposition with a talent of his caliber? The Hawks were so confident in Harvin as an offensive centerpiece they let Golden Tate bolt for Detroit in free agency, and sure enough Percy made the Packers cry "Mercy" in the season opener. The former Viking accumulated 160 tantalizing all-purpose yards, and it looked like he'd be an invaluable part of a Seattle offensive assault that would be one of the NFL's best. To borrow a bit from The Simpsons, everything was coming up roses for the Seahawks, but those roses contained ready-to-sting bees.

The general public had no idea how much of a locker room malcontent Harvin had become, and he began to protest not getting the ball enough by refusing to enter games in the 4th quarter. PCJS reached the limits of their patience after the Dallas loss, and JETtisoned (See what I did there?) Harvin to New York. The Twelve Army was also frustrated by how much the offense became skewed towards Harvin. I'm not the only one who was on the verge of losing their shit if they saw one more failed bubble screen to Percy during that Cowboys game, and the demand of Seahawks fans everywhere was clear: GIVE MARSHAWN THE FUCKING BALL!

I'm not going to pretend that I have any insight into the the mindgrapes of Darren Bevell, but he seems to have finally corrected course. Has the increased emphasis on running the ball come because of our lack of downfield threats on the outside? Because Russell Wilson's passing accuracy has dipped to disturbingly Mirerian levels? I can't say, but I do know watching our offense physically dominate the enemy yesterday was the most satisfying thing I've seen since opening night against Green Bay. For the first time since that zesty grating of Cheeseheads, these Hawks felt like their 2012-2013 ancestors. The common thread (at least on offense)? BEAST MODE.

22 touches. 163 yards. FOUR touchdowns. Lynch once again showed that he's one of the best backs in the game (and despite a slow start he's 5th in the NFL in rushing yards), and his intensity cannot be matched by anyone else on the field. Through nine games, he's CLEARLY the team MVP. While both Robert Turbin and Christine Michael showed encouraging flashes yesterday, it's hard to imagine the conventional wisdom of Lynch's 2015 departure from Seattle coming to pass. I'm increasingly optimistic that the front office will find some way to allow Lynch to finish his career as a Seahawk. It's fashionable to view running backs as "fungible" assets. To paraphrase Rambo: First Blood Part II, Marshawn, you're not fungible.

I'm having a hard time understanding what's up with Russell Wilson lately. Yay! He rushed for 107 yards and a TD! Boo! He put up a putrid 53.7 passer rating. Yay! He escaped from pressure and found Jermaine Kearse for a 60-yard gain to set up the tying field goal! Boo! He threw two of the worst interceptions you'll see this season. The good news is that until he finds his accuracy again he can still gain yards on the ground and keep plays alive with his ability to improvise under pressure. Another crazy number from yesterday's game? Wilson is 15th in the NFL in rushing (and is on pace to rush for 889 total yards this season), but only 24th in passing. He's like Michael Vick from 10 years ago, but without all that dog murdering!

In total Seattle buried NYG with 350 yards rushing, which was evidence of progress for the Seahawks' injury ravaged offensive line. The defense also continued taking small steps back to their dominating ways of 2012/13, holding the Giants to 54 yards rushing, forcing two turnovers (highlighted by Earl Thomas III's  game-flipping pick late in the 3rd quarter), and notching two sacks. After allowing almost 200 yards passing to Eli Manning in the first half, he was held to just over 80 yards in the 2nd half (in which New York was held scoreless and never seriously threatened to score).

Every win since week 1 has come with caveats, with an asterisk of some sort. You beat Denver, but you blew that big lead. You beat DC, but barely. You beat Carolina, but it was shaky. You beat Oakland, but doesn't everyone? Finally, the Hawks simply WHOOPED someone, and they seem to have "found their identity" as a brutally physical team on both sides of the ball. Now, they enter the toughest 7-game stretch any NFL team will face this season. All but one team the Seahawks will face is a playoff contender, and they will play both Arizona and Santa Clara twice within a calendar month. The good news? Arizona will be at least somewhat hobbled by the loss of Carson Palmer.

The Seahawks look like they're on the verge of playing Championship football once again. This week's game at Arrowhead will tell us if Seattle is back on a Super Bowl trajectory, or if they'll have to scrape and gouge and claw just to reach the playoffs again. 24 years after one of the most surprising and inspiring wins in team history, I believe the sprint to XLIX starts in Kansas City this Sunday.

What Do You Think, Sirs?

DKSB on the SeaHawkers Podcast Again

Big thanks to Adam Emmert and Brandan Schulze for having me on the SeaHawkers Podcast again. It was a blast! Here's my segment. Can't wait to do this again... Go Hawks!

Seahawks 30, Raiders 24

Yesterday's Seahawks' victory was the NFL equivalent of eating at Taco Bell. You're full afterwards, but then you feel like hot garbage for a while. Seattle is 5-3, and holding the last NFC playoff spot at the moment. While that's undoubtedly good news, the 12 Army is nauseous with unease this morning. Why is this?

-The injuries keep piling up. The Hawks are so waylaid with bumps and bruises that they only suited up 45 players yesterday. Just look at this list of causalities:

CB Jeremy Lane
CB Byron Maxwell
LB Malcolm Smith
LB Bobby Wagner
T Russell Okung
TE Zach Miller
DT Jordan Hill
S Kam Chancellor
C Max Unger

...and during the game, James Carpenter, Doug Baldwin and Gregg Scruggs suffered injuries of various levels of severity. Seattle was fortunate to be relatively injury-free last season, but what's happening in 2014 goes far beyond a simple regression to the mean. This season is starting to feel like a horror movie in which the Hawks are getting picked off one by one, and I'm left wondering who will be the next key contributor to go down.

-Play-calling. Darren Bevell baffled Seahawks fans from Anchorage to Adelaide by continuing to call bubble screens instead of feeding the ball to Marshawn Lynch (more on him later). Yes, Lynch had 26 touches for 146 yards and 2 TDs, but at key points of the game Bevell called pass plays when keeping the ball on the ground would have eaten up the clock and protected his franchise QB (who was exposed behind an '87 Scab Game-level offensive line).

-The Willlsons. Russell Wilson turned in an uncharacteristically awful performance, missing open targets over and over throughout the game. Luke Willson enraged Twelves with four drops and a crucial flub on Oakland's late-game onside kick that could have punctuated a 2004-esque collapse if not for Jermaine Kearse bailing him out.

-Special Teams. Seattle allowed another special teams TD, on a 3rd-quarter blocked punt that allowed Oakland to climb back into the game. I have a troubling feeling that special teams might be what ultimately fells the 2014 Hawks. I hope I'm wrong, but these mistakes should have been corrected by now.

Thankfully, we're not doomed. How about some good news?

-BEAST MODE. On a day when the rest of the Seattle offense was in a complete shambles, Marshawn Lynch was at his most Beastly. He scored in the 1st quarter dragging half of Oakland's defense into the end zone with him. He saved a second-half drive with a long catch and run on a screen pass, and his numbers would have been even more impressive if penalties hadn't nullified a handful of his big gains. Yes, I know TONS of evidences points to this being Lynch's last year in Seattle, but today proved that PCJS need to do whatever it takes (within reason) to have Marshawn end his career with the Seahawks.

-Encouraging signs from the defense. Bruce Irvin scored on a spectacular tip, pick, and return, and Richard Sherman snagged his first interception of the season. The Raiders were held to 37 yards rushing by a defensive unit missing most of its starters, and if not Seattle's special teams miscues Oakland would have been held to far less than 24 points.

-We'll start getting injured guys back. Jeremy Lane and Byron Maxwell will probably bolster the secondary next week, and by the time we face off with Arizona at Seahawks Stadium in three weeks we should have an active roster that more closely resembles what we put on the field back in week 1.

-History shows there's no reason to panic. The 1988 49ers and 2010 Packers are just two examples of teams that started 5-3 and went on to win the Super Bowl. There are many paths to a championship, and we need to stop assuming that Seattle's ONLY path is via the #1 seed and home field advantage.

-Santa Clara lost! Ha. Fuck those guys.

Next week Eli Manning and the Giants roll into town, and it's another game the Seahawks SHOULD win. They'll have to vastly improve on yesterday's performance even to beat a mediocre squad like NYG. If they do, they'll be well on their way to setting up an epic 6-week DEATH MATCH for the NFC West crown at the end of the season. If not? We'll be left with a belly-full of gorditas, sadness, and rage.

What Do You Think, Sirs?

Seahawks 13, Panthers 9

I've been going through a serious bout of mid-to-late 90s nostalgia lately, triggered by the glorious news of the Sleater-Kinney reunion (Unfamiliar with their body of work? Start with The Woods). I remember getting into them when I was a DJ at KUGS-FM (Fun fact: Carrie Brownstein went to Western for a quarter the year before I arrived in Bellingham. Fun fact #2: Carrie and bandmate Corin Tucker are my age, more or less. Fun fact #3: Carrie wrote an XLVIII preview for Vanity Fair. Final fun fact: I met Carrie and Corin at a S-K show in Columbus back in 2003).

As a sheltered radioactive mall rat from the Tri-Cities, I probably never would have gotten into them if I wasn't exposed to them at KUGS. I was so into them that I even used their songs as "bumpers" on my weekly political talk show, so there was a good chance at some point I went right from "Dig Me Out" into trying to convince Whatcom County to vote Yes on R48. There I'd sit, in my Joey Galloway jersey, desperately attempting to cajole my listeners to vote in favor of a new stadium for my talented but grossly underachieving Seahawks.

Throughout the Dennis Erickson era, Seattle boasted a roster littered with Pro Bowl talent, only to deliver a procession of 8-8 campaigns. One of their specialties was the "season-killing/heartbreaking 10 am road loss." In '96, it was a last-second loss in Detroit on a Todd Peterson missed field goal. In '97 it was an OT loss to an inferior New Orleans squad. In '98? It was Vinny Testaverde's Phantom Touchdown. I broke my roommate's laundry hamper when I hulked the fuck out after that one.

While I'm ecstatic to see Carrie, Corin and Janet reuniting to rock our lame asses like it's 1998, I haven't been as psyched to see our contemporary Seahawks paying homage to their "Forgotten Years" ancestors. Marshawn Lynch paid tribute to James McKnight by dropping a sure touchdown pass that then got snagged for an interception. A fumbled snap was Russell Wilson's tip of the cap to John Friesz. A flurry of dropped interceptions and unrecovered fumbles was a bad cover version of those Erickson Ds who consistently finished in the NFL's bottom third despite their raw talent. The 4th quarter double-whammy of Michael Bennett's failure to sack Cam Newton for a safety, followed by an improbable 3rd-and-long deep ball completion against double coverage was so '90s Hawks it should have come with a copy of Ricky Watters' rap album.

The Hawks trailed 9-6, in the thick of yet another Charlotte Bloodpisser. Despite outplaying the Panthers, they were on the verge of falling to 3-4, which would not only deal a devastating blow to their playoff hopes, but also pour jet fuel on the embers of discontent afflicting the team (Russell Wilson's not black enough! Marshawn's on his way out the door! Etc...). Seattle was 80 yards away from the winning touchdown with less than 4 minutes left. The men who helped steal a season-salvaging win were unknown to the gaggle of ESPN bobbleheads and assorted haters eager to bury the Seahawks. Cooper Helfet for 11 yards. Kevin Norwood for 10 more. Paul Richardson snags one to get Seattle to the edge of field goal range. Finally, The two-headed beast of WILLLSON! collaborated on the decisive score. Of course Russell Wilson and Marshawn Lynch were (as usual) integral to yet another late comeback win, but the contributions of so many guys filling in because of injuries and/or trades should fill the heart of every Twelve with hope.

The recently much-maligned defense was far from mistake-free, but that unit also saw newcomers make a splashy impact. Kevin Pierre-Louis hopped off the bench and recorded a handful of key tackles. Marcus Burley and Tharold Simon acquitted themselves well in the secondary, with Burley snaring a diving interception on a panicked Newton heave. As a unit, they kept the Panthers out of the end zone all day and seemed to improve throughout the game, cresting with Bruce Irvin's pair of drive-snuffing sacks on Carolina's final possession. Special Teams even largely bounced back from last week's debacle, with Steven Hauschka DRILLING a 58-yard field goal set up by a long Richardson kickoff return (Percy who?).

The WolfGreys escaped Charlotte victorious, but you'd barely know it if you listened to/watched ESPN. Their disappointment that the Hawks messed up their "SEATTLE IN TURMOIL" narrative was palpable this morning. The unpleasant truth for those rooting for the Emerald Empire to crumble? Seattle has two home games upcoming against the hopeless Raiders and merely pathetic Giants, and they will be 6-3 going into a mid-November Arrowhead showdown against the Chiefs. By then, players like Bryon Maxwell, Jeremy Lane and Zach Miller (among others) will be back on the field, but their understudies will be battle-tested. Look out, NFL.

Sleater-Kinney's comeback will peak with the release of their new album next January. I believe that our Seahawks will be peaking around that time, too.

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BONUS: Here's a kick-ass Sleater-Kinney performance on Letterman for y'all..

Rams 28, Seahawks 26

I thought we were done with this. I really did. I thought we were done with sleepwalking through the first halves of 10 am road games. I thought we were over inexplicable lapses in discipline. I thought our leader getting thoroughly out-coached was receding in the rearview mirror. I thought that Seattle getting brazenly robbed by the officials was a thing of the past. Holy shit, was I wrong.

If we hadn't won the Super Bowl eight months ago, yesterday would go down as one of the most painful, embarrassing defeats in Seahawks history. Back-to-back losses to Dallas and St. Louis have born the horrible marks of 2004: Defensive breakdowns, heartbreaking late collapses, and the officiating crew blatantly putting their thumbs on the scale in favor of our foes. No, we didn't lose SOLELY because of the referees, but to ignore their impact upon the outcome would be spectacularly myopic. Ticky-tack calls against us, coupled with multiple no-calls against St. Louis, would be bad enough, but the failure to even REVIEW a clear fumble recovery by Seattle in the dying moments of the game was a travesty of Leavyian proportions.

Of course, it never should have gotten to that point. Seattle statistically dominated the game, but ended up in a desperate position in the final seconds because of the worst special teams performance I've witnessed in 30+ years of Twelving. The Hawks gave up a big kickoff return that set up St. Louis' first TD, and were BADLY fooled twice: Once on an elaborate punt return ruse for another Rams score, and late in the game on a fake punt that all but sealed the win for STL. In both cases, Seattle broke down in ways that should embarrass a high school team, let alone the defending Super Bowl Champions. The only good news here? At least theoretically, these problems are correctable. Hell, last week special teams kept us competitive despite being outplayed by Dallas.

The bigger worries are on defense. Barely eight months after the most dominant defensive performance of all time, the Legion of Boom's explosive yield has plunged from "Thermonuclear" to "Cap gun." The sacks and takeaways that tilted the field in our favor last season have all but vanished. The dominant pass rush that terrorized Peyton Manning in XLVIII couldn't spook Austin Fucking Davis yesterday, and ultimately our depleted linebacker corps and secondary couldn't make a play to give our offense the opportunity to steal a win (Oh, wait! They did. But the special teams allowed a fake-punt conversion and the officials fucked us out of a clear fumble recovery). As key players like Bobby Wagner and Jeremy Lane return from injury the defense should improve, but if there's an easy solution to our pass rushing woes, it's not immediately obvious to me.

We're 3-3 and in 3rd place, laughably below preseason expectations. So why am I feeling relatively optimistic today? Here's a few reasons:

-Russell Carrington Wilson. Our franchise QB damn near won this game single-handedly, only to be betrayed by breakdowns by other units (shades of Detroit, Miami and Atlanta in 2012, huh?). Yesterday Wilson was the first QB to EVER pass for 300 yards and run for 100 in an NFL game. His 52-yard run on 3rd-and-long to set up a 4th-quarter TD will be forever known as the "Fuck it!" run. This team would benefit from the WolfBadger making similarly bold decisions from now on. For all of the other short-term issues we are having right now, we are set at quarterback, and VERY few teams can say that.

-Angry Doug Baldwin. Is anyone going to directly benefit from tossing Percy Harvin overboard more than Doug Baldwin? 89 snagged 7 catches for 123 yards and a TD, and his (non-teammate-punching) passion is something this this team desperately needs right now. Sidebar: I'm still stunned by the Harvin trade. Stunned at how badly PCJS miscalculated. Stunned at how much drama was going on behind the scenes last season. Stunned by how much of a selfish, volatile prick Harvin turned out to be. I respect PCJS for admitting their mistake and moving on, but this whole affair is a ugly stain on their reputations.

-They fought. They didn't surrender when they fell behind 21-3, and they kept scratching and clawing until they final play. They are still talented, and they still care about each other and about winning. Not every fan base is fortunate to have a team like that. In addition, they KNOW they can succeed at the highest level. A MONTH AGO they beat the now-looking-unstoppable-again Broncos. This is not an enfeebled team, just a dazed, staggering contender.

-The schedule. A road trip to Charlotte will be difficult, but in 2012 and 2013 the Hawks got it done away from home against the Panthers. After that come two home games (against the non-exactly impressive Raiders and Giants) and a trip to Kansas City. That's all prologue to a critical 5-day stretch where we face Arizona at home and travel to Santa Clara on Thanksgiving Night. FIVE of Seattle's last six games are in the NFC West. If the Hawks are still in striking distance going into that home game against the Cardinals, they should be healthier and adjusted to Life After Percy. They will also still have a great chance to win the division... But it has to start with a win in Charlotte on Sunday.

Yesterday echoed 2004, but this season's results don't have to be the same. RW3 has gone into Charlotte twice and escaped victorious. Why can't he complete the trilogy this Sunday?

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