The Lockout Contingency

Let's imagine that ultimately an injunction is not imposed to stop the lockout (either no injunction is issued by Judge Nelson or her injunction is thrown out on appeal). The lockout drags into the summer, and is finally, sadly resolved when the vast majority of players can no longer afford to miss any more game checks. It is early-to-mid September when the lockout ends- What would a season look like then?

According to multiple reports, the NFL has (wisely) prepared for this contingency. Even if the first four weeks of the season are wiped out, we can still have a 14-game schedule with each team playing 7 home and 7 road games. Additionally, the full divisional schedules would remain intact. Week 1 would be rescheduled to the week of January 8th, 2012, week 3 games would be moved to each team's bye week (so long bye weeks), and weeks 2 and 4 would be deleted from the revised schedule. Here's what that would look like for the Seahawks:

10/9 @Giants
10/16 Cardinals (week 3 game moved to what was SEA/AZ bye)
10/23 @Browns
10/30 Bengals
11/6 @Cowboys
11/13 Ravens
11/20 @Rams
11/27 Redskins
12/1 Eagles
12/12 Rams
12/18 @Bears
12/24 49ers
1/1 @Cardinals
1/8 @49ers (week 1 game moved to new "week 14")

1/15 Wild Card Round
1/22 Divisional Round
1/29 Conference Championships
2/5 or 2/12 Super Bowl XLVI

A couple of weird things about this revised schedule: 4 of the last 5 games would be in the division, and 3 of the last 4 would be on the road. In an 11-week midseason stretch, the Seahawks would play all 7 of their home games. Upside? Say goodbye to two of the toughest games on our schedule: At Pittsburgh and Atlanta at Qwest.

Obviously, I hope it doesn't come to this, and I don't think it will (an injunction will ultimately get the NFL year going, probably by early June, and in time for the full season to get played). But if it does, it could be a crazy, fun, wild sprint to Indianapolis- Particularly if we bring back Hasselbeck and he has a renaissance, why couldn't we shock the world in a confused, muddled, mixed-up NFL season?

I guess my point is- Don't be one of those douchers talking about "boycotting" the season if games are missed. First of all, a season will get played, even if it's 14 or 12 or whatever number of games... and if the season is played, something magical might happen for our Seahawks. Go ask a Redskins fan if they give any amount of a fuck that two of their rings were won in "tainted" seasons marred by work stoppages. Um, no. Nobody gives a fuck...

So stay strong, Seahawks fans- No matter how ugly this gets, we'll have a season. I don't know about you, but I don't plan on missing a single snap.