Pale Musings

Well, the Dallas game was certainly one of those wild finishes that you simply cannot predict.  I certainly did not think that there would be a safety and a missed chip-shot field goal in the closing minutes giving the Hawks an opportunity to move into the next round.

Now come Da Bears.  Looking back at their previous meeting this season I can safely saw that this game will not be the same.  Many things have changed for both teams.  Seattle has some starting offence that was missing, but some defenders are out.  Chicago’s offense has not been playing as well as it was back then.  It is a hard thing to predict at this time, but there is a lot to think about.  I will post more thoughts as teh week progresses.

Tomorrow at 5PM PST the Seattle Seahawks play host to the Dallas Cowboys in one of the two NFC wildcard playoff games.  I’ve posted other thoughts about the upcoming contest and now I think I am ready for my final analysis.

I would normally think that the Hawks would take care of the Cowboys easily, possibly running away with the win.  Then it is time to consider injuries.  With both starting corner backs out among others, that gives me pause.  The Cowboys can be explosive at times.  When Tony Romo is on, he’s hot, and with receivers like Terrell Owens and Terry Glen it is a dangerous situation.  Will the replacement CB’s be able to handle it?

Tony is young, his first year starting, and over the last few games he has looked like it.  He does not have playoff experience and the increase in intensity may hurt him.  It may help as well, getting the adrenaline flowing.  My guess is that he’ll make some mistakes.  The key for Seattle will be capitalizing on them when they happen.

I still feel the Hawks will pull it off, but it will be a much more difficult game than it should be.  The pressure will be on the Offense to score points.  Most of the Offense has playoff experiences which should help out.  Coming off of a win last week should also give them confidence.  The key for the defense, do not give up the big plays!

Final score?  Seattle 33, Dallas 27.  Since this is the first time I’ve predicted a score, we’ll see how well I do.  I will probably be on my IRC channel on EFnet at #seahawks if you want to stop in during the game.  If you don’t have an IRC client I encourge you to use the EFnet webchat.  Just choose a nick, chose Other from the channel list and type in #seahawks.

Go Seahawks!

It should be no surprise that the Hawks are scoring less per game this year than last.  Mike Sando has figured the numbers and presented them in Seahawks Insider – ’05 Hawks favored by 7 1/2.  He notes that that the Hawks are 7-2 when they score at least 20 points.  Looking further into that we can see that the Cowboys are averaging 26 points per game this year and in 2 of their last 3 they’ve scored 31, so the Hawk’s job this week is going to be tough.

The other item of interest is that the analysts on ESPN that I’ve heard so far favor Seattle at home.  I guess it is my pessimistic side coming out, but when everyone picks them to win it worries me.  I still think they’ll do it, but my confidence is a little lower than it was yesterday.

On Saturday the Hawks will be facing the Cowboys.  That means Terrell Owens, one of the top receives (and mouths) in the game today.  Guarding T.O. with your normal starters can create headaches for any defensive staff.  Throw in some key corner back injuries and your headaches have turned into a migraine!

Mike Sando has noted on the Seahawks Insider some of the potential names that may be guarding Owens on Saturday.  I don’t know about you, but I think these guys are in for a heck of an introduction to the NFL.  I hope they have stellar debuts despite the intestinal butterflies.

Ok, I have refrained from writing about the Hawks all year.  Well, now we are in to the playoffs and it is time to get some concerns and ideas out there.

It has been a very torturous year for Seahawks fans.  In my opinion the team has simply not played up to its potential on both sides of the ball.  Defense has been Achilles Heel however, especially the “big play.”  In almost every game there were several big plays (plays over 20 yards) that seemed avoidable.

All of that aside, the Hawks have made it.  Some will say they “backed in” to the playoffs via San Fransisco losing one of their last 2 games.  While technically true, they were guaranteed a playoff spot in week 16, they did win their last game which would have sealed it even if SF had managed to win out, so that is a positive.

Now we look forward to the playoffs and start worrying anew.  Injuries have plagued the Seahawks this season, and true to form, we have several going into the wildcard game.   They have made some roster moves in an attempt to increase depth in some key areas.  We will see.

I will say that the offense has looked better the final 2 weeks of the season, a top goal for coach Mike Holmgren.  While a good offense can help to make up a mediocre defense, it probably cannot fully support a bad one.  I am not saying that the Hawks’ defense is bad, but statistics have the D ranked middle to lower half in most categories.

Well, there is nothing like over-analysing a situation.  Having done that I think that the Hawks, my team since I was old enough to understand football, will triumph over the Cowboys this week.  I do not think it will be easy, but I have faith that the 12th man will do their best to make it hard on Tony Romo and “America’s Team,” if they can still be called that with T.O. on the roster. 

Good Luck Seattle, let’s get to the next round!

The Seahawks provided a dominating performance on Sunday to beat the Panthers34-14.  I cannot begin to describe how I’m feeling.

As you may have read in an earlier post, being a long-time Seahawks fan acclimates one to the idea that something will go wrong, something will happen to spoil it.

Not this time.  The offense looked as good as they’ve looked all season.  The defence was outstanding as they were the previous weekend, maybe better since they managed to hold Steve Smith to 33 receiving yards, something most teams have had trouble doing all year long.

Now comes the two wee wait, the countdown to their Showdown in Motown against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Superbowl XL.  The road to forty has been a great run and to be crowned NFC champions is an incredible testament to the entire team and staff.  Now it’s time to win the whole thing, baby!

The NFL’s conference championship games will be played this weekend. Of course I will be most anxiously watching the Seattle Seahawks taking on the Carolina Panthers.  I have to admit that I am a bit nervous.  As I stated in my earlier post, being a long-time Seahawk fan tends to set one up for disappointment.

Listening to the NFL pundits, I have to give a slight advantage to the Hawks who have repeatedly been tagged as the league’s most balanced team.  The X factor in this game from all of the analysis that I have heard is the Panther’s receiver Steve Smith.  He has been the biggest clutch receiver in the league and my are shocked that he did not receive even 1 vote for MVP this year.  Smith ran all over the field last week against the Bears coming up with 12 catches and proved to be the winning ingredient for Carolina.  The Hawks job will be to limit his effectiveness this week.

Notice that I say limit, not stop.  Most analysts agree that he can’t be stopped.  That worries me.

On the other hand, Shaun Alexander will be playing.  Apparently he’s recovered nicely from the concussion he suffered last Saturday against the Redskins.  If he has a good game, I think the Hawks can pull it off.

We’ll know by Monday! 

Not a lot of interest for me to touch upon today in the tech world so I will digress into my realy passion, football.

I have been a fan of the Seattle Seahawks for as long as I can remember having a rudimentary understanding of football.  If you are not a football fan, let me tell you that it has not always been a rewarding team to follow.  Years of disappointment has led most long-time Seahawk fans to a mentality that expects failure.

Finally, this year is different!  The Hawks are going to the NFC Championship game against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, which is very exciting!  Unfortunately, for the long-time Hawk fan, it is also somewhat nerver wracking.

We (all fans refer to their team as though they’re a part of it) had a great year.  The record for the regular season was 13-3, that’s 13 wins to 3 losses.  Outstanding!  We’ve won our first playoff game (against the Washington Redskins) in over 20 years and we are going to the NFC Championship game for the first time in our history!

One of, if not our biggest, gem on the team is Shaun Alexander.  He won the league rushing title this year, which means he ran on the ground for more yards than anyone else in the NFL.  In addition to that he scored 28 touchdowns, more than any other running back in the history of the NFL.  Quite an accomplishment!  Add to that, he’s going to the Pro Bowl and was named the leagues Most Valuable Player.

Midway through the first quarter of the Redskin game, he was hurt.  They took him out of the game with a concussion.  Long-time Hawk fans held their collective breath for more than a quarter as we watched our team struggle without our biggest star.

Then the boys got it on track, the offence started getting yards, the other running backs (Mo Morris and Mack Strong) began breaking runs.  Matt Hasselbeck started to look like we’ve come to expect throughout the year, running the offence with efficiency.  As a nation (Seahawk Nation) we released our breath.  I believe that it created a wind storm somewhere in Elbonia.

Now the game is behind us and we look forward to the Panthers on Sunday.   Alexander will likely play, he sounds like he’s doing good and recovering well.  We all wish him and the whole team the best of luck and cross our fingers that we don’t have to hold our breath until we turn blue again this week.