by: Michael Steffes
Here are just some thoughts that popped into my head when I read how people are reacting to today's game and the season so far.
- The secondary seems to be the favorite whipping boy right now, but the secondary is very much connected to the pass rush. In fact, the whole defense scheme is essentially predicated on pressure. The Seahawks' pass rush has been nonexistent on the road for a year and a half. At some point we need to do something different.
- Even if the Seahawks played their best game today, I don't think they would have beaten the Giants team that took the field. That is a hell of a football team with an offensive line that not only rivals the one we had in '05, but also was motivated by their previous performances against Seattle. So 1-3 is not the problem, that should have been expected (we were 9 point underdogs by game time). What is a problem is the fact that the team put up very little fight, something they are becoming famous for in this time zone. Again, something needs to change. It has been like this for too long.
- In a time when the head coach of most successful teams acts much like a CEO, managing all phases of the game, our coach generally seems to have little interest in meddling with either the defense or the special teams. This seems to have led to problems in both areas that have reoccurred over a long stretch of time, with only brief respites of progress.
- Blaming Tim Ruskell is a cop-out. Granted, any time an organization struggles, the GM is partly to blame. However, the players he has signed and the defense he created played very well last year. It made sense to keep the unit together. To take last year's results and predict a defensive collapse this year would have involved some interesting logic. Hopefully, they'll get it turned around. If they don't, well then we'll know that last year was the anomaly. If you look with honest eyes, this team has actually fixed its major problems from last year (offensive line and running game) and even improved the kicking game, too. This team has what it needs to compete, it is just not happening right now.
- This sucks. 1-3 sucks. Listening to everyone point fingers and assess blame sucks. I understand where it comes from, but it still sucks. Being a fan (short for fanatic) is like any other important relationship in life. It is like being married, having a family, or dealing with your best friend: there are good times and there are rough patches, but in the end going through the hard times make the good times that much sweeter.
- Things don't always work out the way we want them to, but that doesn't mean they don't work out at all. Sometimes all we need to have is faith that they will. Somehow, eventually, things will work out for the Seahawks. They make more good decisions than bad ones. Look at the teams that are poorly managed like Oakland, Cincinnati, San Fran, Detroit, etc. They can't get out of their own way. To assume after just one rough quarter of a season that has followed half a decade of success that this team is incompetently managed would make fans of the above teams laugh at you, and they would be right to do so. We have it good, even if it doesn't seem like it right now.
- Things will be better next Sunday. The Hawks will beat Green Bay. I believe this in my heart, despite how broken it is over today's result.
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