Right when the St. Louis Rams began a last-ditch drive into the Seattle Seahawks' territory in the final minutes of Sunday's action, the possibility of another tragic 4th-quarter collapse loomed dangerously close.
Apparently, Rams backup quarterback Gus Frerrote had other ideas.
He bobbled a 4th-and-goal snap at the Seattle 1-yard line, which gave Seahawks defensive end Daryl Tapp just enough time to swoop around half of the Rams' depleted offensive line like a heat-seeking missile and charg into Frerotte as if he was Slobodan Milosevic's house.
It ended up being the final play in an almost unbearably-intense few minutes in an admittedly ugly Seahawks' victory, but as they say - in this league, a win is a win.
Let's look at this for a second. The Rams went on a 2-game win streak before meeting an untimely end at the hands of Matt Hasselbeck and co., and after losing their previous eight games, the city of St. Louis finally had something in professional football to cheer about again. Hell, espn.com even went so far in pre-game analysis to say that if the Rams won this game, "they would have a clear shot at clinching the NFC West."
A St. Louis sports columnist even pondered this possibility. It was then that I realized something in Steven Jackson's hair was probably being used in a mass hypnosis ritual by the city of New Orleans in the same voodoo spell that was the only explanation for the first half of the Saints' 2007 season.
When I read such inexplicable praise for the Rams, it was a kind of out-of-body experience. Did the Seahawks suddenly plunge to a level of unfiltered Suck in the eyes of the nation over the course of one simple week? A week when they pulled a hard-fought comeback victory against the Bears? A week when Patrick Kerney played like he was chasing a lumbering beast of a quarterback with 10 times the skills of Rex Grossman? (Whose only similarity to a "beast" of any kind ends with the name "Rex.")
The Seahawks are better than that. They play the game, get it done, and look increasingly formidable as the weeks progress. Figuring out a weird offensive strategy throughout the first 8 games of this season was of course the major plight tugging at the edges of Mike Holmgren's moustache, but - amazingly enough - once Shaun Alexander suffered 18 more injuries in five minutes of playing, something suddenly clicked when he was taken out of the equation.
The offense looks fierce with Mo Morris starting at tailback, Leonard Weaver becoming Mack Strong Incarnate, Hasselbeck throwing long bombs that could sail halfway to Japan. The Seahawk defense looks even more ferocious, with a trio of linebackers leading the charge that would probably survive a week without weapons in a forest full of man-eating grizzly bears.
As safety Deion Grant said to a reporter recently, "it's just a matter of all the pieces coming together."
The victory against the Rams should hopefully silence the silly surge of hope in St. Louis that their Rams even had a snowball's chance in Hell of stealing the division away from the Seahawks - with or without the use of voodoo from Steven Jackson's dreadlocks that make him resemble Arnold Schwartzenegger's title nemesis from "Predator."
This Sunday in Philly is looking to be the Seahawks most daunting game to date, with the exception of the Steelers game we won't talk about. The unlikely Eagles gave the undefeated Patriots a run for their money on national television, IN NEW ENGLAND, this Sunday, and even though the jury is still out on whether they can outplay themselves to death for two consecutive weeks, it's going to be a battle on both sides of the field.
I'm calling it "Bird Wars Part 1" - with following games against the Cardinals and Ravens assuming the titles of Part 2 and 3. (Does the NFL think of these things for columnists to use when they figure out teams' schedules every year?!)
And let's hope for another McBadd sighting during the game. More meat for Kerney & co. to feast on is always a fun thing to watch.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
nice job dingle
thank you my good man
Yes, they gave the Pats a run for their money but the thing is, they lost. And, as you say, a win is a win.
If it comes down to the Seahawks vs. the Pats, it won't be pretty but a win will still be a win. :-)
My dearest Gonzo, I will link you on my site.
As I told you earlier, this is a great article. <3
Post a Comment