Seahawks 36, Cardinals 18

A lot of people didn't think that this was going to happen. A lot of people thought the Seahawks would just shrug and accept a lost season, like they did last year under Jim Mora's leadership. When Arizona jumped out to an early 7-0 nothing lead, you could FEEL the murmurs of "Same Old Seahawks" from Blaine to Walla Walla.

But memories are short. The same thing happened in Chicago last month, with the Seahawks falling behind early in a game no one really gave them a fighting chance to win. What happened in that game? My memory isn't what it used to be, but I think we won (against a team that is 6-3 and atop their division). Today the Seahawks played with fury, and won in a building where they were previously 0-4.

Yes, the Seahawks should have won this one by about 35-40 points. Yes, the Cardinals are a ragged collection of talentless turds and reprobates. There's plenty of stuff for Coach Carroll to correct in practice this week, but he's already succeeded in changing the mindset of a team that accepted losing far too easily over the last two seasons. Mora was wrong. This team didn't need "dirtbags." They needed leadership that developed mental toughness, and the creation of an attitude that doesn't accept any less than full effort. They also needed a lot of way better players, and Carroll/Schneider are in the process of remaking Seattle's roster. The fact that the Seahawks are all alone in 1st place in the middle of an all-out roster demolition/rebuilding is nothing short of amazing.

Seattle has just a 1-game lead in the NFC West, but they have a couple of big advantages over their divisional competitors: The Hawks are 3-1 in NFC West play, and have already notched two road wins (while the developing Rams haven't yet won a single road game). Eight wins, if they are the right ones, will get Seattle its 7th division title in franchise history.

The big stories today were Matt Hasselbeck, Mike Williams and Aaron Curry. Despite breaking a bone is his left wrist, Beck had his best game since 2007, passing for 333 yards, 1 TD and ZERO interceptions. If he keeps this up over the final 7 games, we may have to seriously consider bringing ReeBeck back in 2011. BMW had a ridiculous 145 yards on 11 catches (including one of the best catches we've seen in the NFL this season), and continued his march not just toward NFL Comeback Player of the Year honors, but towards a fairly big contract in the offseason (which better be an extension with the Seahawks).

Aaron Curry undoubtedly had the best day of his career, and the entire Seahawks defense played with a wounded, angry pride after getting road-hauled for the past two weeks. It was a fun afternoon of football, and there will be a few more of these over the next 7+ weeks.

The Seahawks won their 5th game today. They won 5 games ALL of last season. That's progress, Holmes.. and we're going to see a lot more progress over the next couple of months.

If you'll excuse me, I have to chug some NyQuil and crawl into bed (stupid stomach flu)... Have at it in the comments, yo!