A Day Of Rest And Jekyll & Hyde Football
Took a break today. Unfortunately what I choose to do instead of napping all afternoon was watching my NFL team, the Seattle Seahawks, pull their usual second half el foldo but somehow manage, undeservedly, to hang on for a 21-18 nail-biter of a victory.
This isn't a sports blog, so I won't go into exacting, Hugh Millenesque detail. Suffice it to say that (1) the Seahawks are infamous for running up big leads and then blowing them in maximally agonizing fashion; (2) they did so yesterday against the Atlanta Falcons, racing to a 21-0 lead at halftime; and, after spotting the visitors ten points, were driving early in the fourth quarter towards the exclamation point touchdown when the wheels, naturally, came completely off.
The play was second and four at the Falcons' 17-yard line. QB Matt Hasselbeck completes a short pass to the twelve - first down, right?
Nope. Tripping penalty. Ten yards backwards. Now it's second and fourteen at the Falcon 27.
So the 'hawks try another play. But no - holding penalty. Another ten yards backwards. Now it's second and twenty-four at the Falcon 37. Now they're not only unlikely to score the exclamation point, but they're out of field goal range as well.
They don't even get the next play attempt off when the yellow hankies fly again. False start. Five more yards backwards. Now it's second and twenty-nine from the Falcon 42. At this rate Hasselbeck will be taking snaps in the middle of the fountain at Seattle Center after the next commercial break.
One more try - and success! The 'hawks actually get the play off without a flag! And Hasselbeck completes a slant pass to receiver Bobby Engram, who makes it back down inside the 25-yard line....when, as old Seahawk hands fully expected, he got stripped of the ball and fumbled, which was picked up by Falcon defenders and run back to near mid-field.
It goes without saying that Atlanta QB Michael Vick broke a thirty-yard run on the second play, and the Falcons scored soon thereafter, and also tacked on the two-point conversion. Now it was just a matter of Seattle going three and out (if they were lucky) and then Vick delivering the coup de grace.
Well, the first part come off like clockwork, but the second pulled up lame. More specifically, Vick pulled up lame with an at least tweaked left hamstring after that thirty yard run, which proved to be the Seahawks' saving grace. With possession of the ball deep in their own territory, the Falcons faced a make-or-break third down. Vick went back to pass and a huge running lane opened up in front of him. However, he was unable to push off that left leg and went down for a sack instead. Pulled out of the game for his backup, the fourth down long pass attempt was underthrown, and the home team escaped with the win.
Coach Mike Holmgren said what all coaches say in that situation: in effect, "We'll take wins any way we can get them." And I suppose that's true. But I personally was a little disappointed that the 'hawks didn't lose, because they so much deserved to. If not for that one drive that had up to that point been wildly successful, fans could have attributed the Seahawks' trademark second-half ineptitude to the elite Falcons' defense as to their own team's suddenly punchless offense. The former did hold Donovan McNabb, Michael Westbrook, Terrell Owens & Co. to ten points last Monday. Maybe they were just flat in the first half today and then "woke up" at halftime. But that offensive sequence (a double entendre if ever there was one) detailed above makes such a rationalization impossible.
Seattle won not on a strong first half, but on a fluke break. And while even such fluke breaks are a very rare commodity for this franchise, it figures that when they finally get one, it comes not in a playoff game or any other must-win situation, but in the second week of the season.
If NFL games were thirty minutes long, the Seahawks would be the New England Patriots.
Wait, no they wouldn't - that way they'd only play well for a quarter at a time.
"Seize the day"? I'd be happy if they would just stop seizing up.
This isn't a sports blog, so I won't go into exacting, Hugh Millenesque detail. Suffice it to say that (1) the Seahawks are infamous for running up big leads and then blowing them in maximally agonizing fashion; (2) they did so yesterday against the Atlanta Falcons, racing to a 21-0 lead at halftime; and, after spotting the visitors ten points, were driving early in the fourth quarter towards the exclamation point touchdown when the wheels, naturally, came completely off.
The play was second and four at the Falcons' 17-yard line. QB Matt Hasselbeck completes a short pass to the twelve - first down, right?
Nope. Tripping penalty. Ten yards backwards. Now it's second and fourteen at the Falcon 27.
So the 'hawks try another play. But no - holding penalty. Another ten yards backwards. Now it's second and twenty-four at the Falcon 37. Now they're not only unlikely to score the exclamation point, but they're out of field goal range as well.
They don't even get the next play attempt off when the yellow hankies fly again. False start. Five more yards backwards. Now it's second and twenty-nine from the Falcon 42. At this rate Hasselbeck will be taking snaps in the middle of the fountain at Seattle Center after the next commercial break.
One more try - and success! The 'hawks actually get the play off without a flag! And Hasselbeck completes a slant pass to receiver Bobby Engram, who makes it back down inside the 25-yard line....when, as old Seahawk hands fully expected, he got stripped of the ball and fumbled, which was picked up by Falcon defenders and run back to near mid-field.
It goes without saying that Atlanta QB Michael Vick broke a thirty-yard run on the second play, and the Falcons scored soon thereafter, and also tacked on the two-point conversion. Now it was just a matter of Seattle going three and out (if they were lucky) and then Vick delivering the coup de grace.
Well, the first part come off like clockwork, but the second pulled up lame. More specifically, Vick pulled up lame with an at least tweaked left hamstring after that thirty yard run, which proved to be the Seahawks' saving grace. With possession of the ball deep in their own territory, the Falcons faced a make-or-break third down. Vick went back to pass and a huge running lane opened up in front of him. However, he was unable to push off that left leg and went down for a sack instead. Pulled out of the game for his backup, the fourth down long pass attempt was underthrown, and the home team escaped with the win.
Coach Mike Holmgren said what all coaches say in that situation: in effect, "We'll take wins any way we can get them." And I suppose that's true. But I personally was a little disappointed that the 'hawks didn't lose, because they so much deserved to. If not for that one drive that had up to that point been wildly successful, fans could have attributed the Seahawks' trademark second-half ineptitude to the elite Falcons' defense as to their own team's suddenly punchless offense. The former did hold Donovan McNabb, Michael Westbrook, Terrell Owens & Co. to ten points last Monday. Maybe they were just flat in the first half today and then "woke up" at halftime. But that offensive sequence (a double entendre if ever there was one) detailed above makes such a rationalization impossible.
Seattle won not on a strong first half, but on a fluke break. And while even such fluke breaks are a very rare commodity for this franchise, it figures that when they finally get one, it comes not in a playoff game or any other must-win situation, but in the second week of the season.
If NFL games were thirty minutes long, the Seahawks would be the New England Patriots.
Wait, no they wouldn't - that way they'd only play well for a quarter at a time.
"Seize the day"? I'd be happy if they would just stop seizing up.
posted by JASmius at 11:59 PM
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