SEAHAWKS SEEK INDY 5TH AGAINST LUCK, COLTS

Andrew Luck and Russell Wilson Appear to Be the New Guard and Heir Apparent to QB Royalty

Wilson vs. Luck: Could This Be…

Maestro vs. Maestro Into the Future?

The Seattle Seahawks are coming into their fifth game with all the confidence you can imagine for a team that just barely won its fourth game of the season, in overtime, against the Texans on the road and in their stadium.  Though, the Seahawks didn't play their best football in this game, winning with the kind of grit that Pete Carroll's team exuded in the second half can be a springboard to parlay that momentum into the remainder of the season. This gutsy ball-hawking Seattle football team continues to find a way to win, even in the darkest of hours, when they are not playing anywhere close to the full potential that this roster is surely capable of.  After a Sunday like that, struggling in every facet of the game for three straight quarters-- and with a severely depleted offensive line, the Seahawks are still undefeated…

One important thing that can't be overstated right now is this; Not one team in the NFL wants to get into an alley fight with Pete Carroll's football team this season or in the postseason.  They might say something different to the press, because they're football players and they've been programmed since peewee football to fear nothing.  Seattle is the most balanced football team in the NFL and they are the most tough and physical roster perhaps in decades. Russell Wilson's offense and Earl Thomas's defense can score at any time, in a variety of  ways on both sides of the ball and from anywhere on the field. Seattle's defense has made an art form of taking the ball away from offense, especially when their opponent is threatening to score inside the 'Hawks red zone.  They can turn defense into offense from any of the 11 players on the field at any given time.  In the NFL, they call it the red zone, the area deep in the opponent’s side of field inside the 20 yard line. 

The Seahawks might have the best defensive mechanism in the NFL.  You don’t dare get in the red zone and worse, you don’t dare score on the Legion of Boom or you will pay dearly.  This is exactly what happened in Houston last Sunday.  The Seahawks played what was likely their worst game in their last 12 contests.  Seattle trailed the Texans 20-3 at halftime, but that’s the last time they would see the end zone or the goalposts.  The Seahawks defense clamped down on Matt Schaub, Andre Johnson, Arian Foster, Owen Daniel, Ben Tate and rookie sensation, DeAndre Hopkins keeping them out of the end zone for the entire second half.  In addition to the LOB shutting down the Houston Texans passing offense, the front seven defensive players for Seattle began to wear down Gary Kubiak’s offensive line and it began to be very difficult for Schaub to get off a pass without getting pummeled before and after he threw the football.  It was as if Seattle’s defense woke up at halftime. 

Because the Seahawks live and train on the West Coast, this was a 10 o’clock start for them.  The way that they began the game makes perfect sense…  Seattle started playing "Seahawks Football" when there internal clocks realized it was now 1:00 PM after halftime.  It was only then, that Clinton McDonald, Chris Clemons, Cliff Avril, Brandon Mebane and safety Kam Chancellor began their assault on the Texans quarterback, so badly that you could swear Schaub was on the sidelines using the telephone to call for a restraining order on the Seahawks defensive front seven.  Schaub was clearly rattled by the barrage of hits that he began to take in the third and fourth quarters.  Cliff Avril came off the left side and hit Schaub so hard his helmet flew off and he laid on his back in disbelief. Could he have realized that a sleeping dog had just awoken; a snarling, drooling and vicious attack dog?  It’s as if, Pete Carroll released his defense from the chains around their necks, allowing them to attack in the manner in which they were trained; attack those who enter their territory.  

KJ Wright took a blow to the shoulder, re-aggravating an old injury from his college playing days.  After being examined by the sideline trainers, Wright insisted that they tape him up and release him again to attack anyone carrying a football. "This was an important fight for the Seahawks and I wasn't about to miss a minute of this one." Wright said just after the game concluded. Kam Chancellor began to blitz from the safety position, flanking ball-carriers on the right, the left and straight up the gut causing the Texans' offensive lineman to appear surprised and confused on nearly every second half play.  Bobby Wagner, a pigskin "seeking missile", disrupted blocking schemes, shedding blockers right and left, until he found the football.  Earl Thomas, the best free safety in the game, patrolled the deep secondary like hammerhead shark, searching for anything spilling blood and carrying a football.  The Seahawks are definitely creating a reputation as a team that has a pattern of not showing up until the second half. Up until Sunday morning,  that pattern of play has been adequate, but the Seahawks didn't train and prepare to become adequate. This style of play must improve if they want to be ready for some of the tough contests they will face throughout the rest of the regular season and into the postseason playoffs. The Seahawks must retake the NFC West championship and secure home-field advantage through the playoffs.. The fans of Seattle deserve this and this football team is far too talented and prepared to do anything less. For the leaders of this football team and the Seahawk fans throughout the world, believe that it is Providence, it is destiny and anything less is simply unacceptable. Failure is not an option…

So, what did we learn about the Seattle Seahawks last Sunday at Houston?

I think one of the most poignant things we learned was that Russell Wilson has an innovative, instinctual and unquenchable drive to keep doing whatever is necessary to win close games, especially when the team isn’t clicking on all cylinders, sometimes none.  One bit of info that's not a secret to fans of football is that; the Houston Texans defensive front-seven is extremely talented and stocked with dominant, physical and grizzly aggressive type players in their pursuit of opposing quarterbacks and ball-carriers behind the line of scrimmage.  Whitney Mercilus, Brian Cushing and are noted defensive standouts, but it’s, DE JJ Watt, who currently holds the prestigious honor as the “National Football League’s Defensive Most Valuable Player.  He is a true monster, a man among men, a beast of NFL defenses, collecting 20.5 sacks in 2012, and I’m sure that he and the Incredible Hulk have many things in common, skin color notwithstanding; Although they both turn into “someone or something” you wouldn’t want to meet on a football field or anywhere when they get angry, and make no mistake -- JJ was very angry throughout the second half of Sunday’s game and definitely with the press as they needled him with questions about the Texans loss at his Reliant Stadium locker stall.  He was restrained enough to avoid a slew of curse words, that he visibly struggled to hold back, as he explained the intense disappointment he felt losing to the Seahawks in the Texans own stadium.  

His countenance of the Texans failures could accurately have been described as fearsome, even frightening, by the time he put an abrupt end to the locker side interview.  A bloody, swollen gash on the bridge of his nose, which had required six stitches to close, didn’t help any.

“I’m (angry),” he said, his lower lip trembling slightly.  “This sucks.  Nobody likes to lose.  Especially like this.  In your own building.  This isn’t fun, man.  I was sick of it after one loss.  I can’t … That’s all I’ve got to say.

Asked how he sustained the gruesome cut, Watt continued with a glare straight ahead, wearing a Texans knit stocking cap;

“I hit people for a living,” he said.

Likely, an unintentional, funny line.  But nobody in the press corps dared to even smirk.

So, how did Watt actually sustain the laceration and contusion to his nose?  On a sideline hit, after Russell Wilson was seemingly trapped in the pocket, he scrambled out of a certain Texan melee and ran down the left sideline, ultimately throwing the ball out of bounds to avoid a sack.  As Watt was quickly bearing down on him, Wilson took a hard, but legal hit.  JJ Watt may have taken the worst of the collision, however.  Wilson somehow managed to avoid a clean hit and rolled out of his fall, into a standing position.  Standing over his attacker at 5’10” 200 lbs., while Watt, a hulking 6’5” 289 lbs. of muscle and bone, rose from the white grass sideline with what looked like a broken nose and a laceration spilling blood down each side of his nose and dripping from his lips and chin.  The replay was broadcast repeatedly all over the television networks, showing JJ Watt putting a lick on Wilson…  But the aftermath may have exposed a different story.  Wilson didn’t get a scratch, while the “Man-ster”(Watt) from Houston bled the red stuff all over his face, jersey and several white towels on the sidelines.

Another thing I think we learned about the Seahawks after Sunday’s game in Houston is that the “Legion of Boom” is as lethal as advertised.  It’s true that, the feared LOB and the rest of the Seahawks defense gave up more yardage in the first half to the Texans offense than they did any of their previous opponents in the entire game.  It’s also true that quarterback Matt Schaub seemed to have his way with the Seahawks secondary, (31/49 355 yds., 2 TDs) throwing strikes to wide receiver Andre Johnson (9 rec. 110 yds.) and to tight end Owen Daniels seemingly without any trouble whatsoever, allowing the Texans an eight minute advantage in time of possession (39:53 to 31: 48).  It really seemed like the Seahawks defense was confused in the first half.  As they came out in the second half, it didn’t seem like any real adjustments were made by the Seahawks to improve on those horrendous numbers.  Andre Johnson continued catching passes and Matt Schaub continued to enjoy several seconds each passing play to go through his "check down sequences" and picking apart the best defensive secondary in football.  Seattle's front seven failed to put any real pressure on Schaub threw three quarters of football.  But it’s the timely wisdom by Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas, Kam Chancellor and Brandon Browner that makes the Seahawks D so bloody dangerous down the stretch.  Finally, Pete Carroll's "Skeleton Crew O line" began to wear down the Texans' sack masters; Watt, Mercilus and Smith.  Meanwhile defensive lineman; Brandon Mebane, Red Bryant, Cliff Avril, Clinton McDonald, Tony McDaniel and Chris Clemons (freshly back from ACL rehab assignment), began to seriously beat up the Texans offensive line, putting tremendous pressure on Schaub.  What was most important and what began to slant the momentum in the Seahawks favor was definitely the pressure of the defense on the Texans passing game.  The Seahawks did give 20 points to the Texans in the first half, but after the break, Schaub and his offense never scored another point.  The defense kept the game score close and manageable for Russell Wilson and the rest of the Hawks' offense.  Statistics don’t always tell the true story of every game.  In this case, statistics only told half the story and it is true that the Texans dominated the first half, in statistics and on the most important statistic.  Statistics only really have two applicable uses in pro-football, I think.  One; to make assumptions about individual performances and what will likely work and what won’t work as you develop a game plan against your next opponent, and two; for those who enjoy playing fantasy football.  In every other situation, you can throw out every statistical category except for one…  The scoreboard.

This week, the Seahawks face one of the better AFC football teams,the Indianapolis Colts.  Andrew Luck has been the epitome of what you would expect from a first overall selection, at quarterback, in the NFL draft.   Luck,  just like Seattle's Russell Wilson, is  in his second year and will constantly be under a microscope for signs of a sophomore slump. Last season featured five high profile rookie quarterbacks, starting for their respective teams and all full of high expectations. Luck was selected 1st overall, Robert Griffin III was 2nd,  Ryan Tannehill was 8th, Brandon Weeden went 22nd and Russell Wilson was selected in the third round,  75th overall.  Each of these  young gunslingers had outstanding debut seasons in the toughest football league  in the world.   Some better than others, Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III and Russell Wilson all had outstanding rookie seasons with all of them leading their team into the playoffs.  Wilson was the only rookie quarterback to collect a victory in postseason, as the Seahawks defeated, RGIII and the Washington Redskins, in the NFC wild-card game in Washington DC.  Seattle would go on to  play the first seeded  NFC playoff team,  the Atlanta Falcons, at the Georgia Dome,  but faltered in the final seconds of regulation, losing by a field goal after trailing by 20 points at halftime and taking a one point lead with just 31 seconds to go.

But now it's 2013, and two of the brightest and best young quarterbacks will face each other at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis The expectations for Andrew Luck are enormous, the first selection in a draft of great college quarterbacks, not to mention the replacement for the future Hall of Famer, Peyton Manning, who brought a Super Bowl championship  to Indianapolis and Colt fans  everywhere.  on the other hand, there is Russell Wilson, the 75th pick in the third round  of the same draft class  Luck entered the NFL. No one had high expectations for Russell Wilson, except for Russell Wilson and everyone who truly knew him.. He is Seattle's first true franchise quarterback who has lifted the hopes  of an entire  nation of Seahawks fans from his 5'10" relatively diminutive NFL frame.  Wilson carries the weight of the city of people who haven't seen a major professional sports championship since the 1979 Supersonics won the NBA World Championship so long ago. The Seahawks fresh off a miracle win at Houston's Reliant Stadium, catapulting them with the confidence of an extremely important road victory against a legitimate Super Bowl contender. The Colts, on the heels  of a dominant victory over the hapless and winless Jacksonville Jaguars,  full of momentum and  a much improved and underrated defensive unit.

This should be a very exciting and competitive game full of a variety of subtexts and interesting side notes.

Note: After the record-breaking noise fest earlier this season in CenturyLink Field, when the Seahawks throttled the San Francisco 49ers, in front of 68,000 screaming Seahawks fans, when the 12th man roared for the Seahawks at 136.6 decibels, Colts backup and former Seahawks quarterback, Matt Hasselbeck, has been coaching the Indianapolis fans on the art of creating disruptive crowd noise for their home game at Lucas Oil Stadium. Lucas is a covered stadium and regardless of how loud the fans are in Indianapolis comparatively to Seattle, it will still be a noisy and disruptive environment for second year quarterback, Wilson.  Should be an interesting contest and challenging task for the Seattle Seahawks to contend with.  The Seahawks are the better team on paper, and with a much deeper roster.  However, this game is a road game against a quality opponent, and it will not be an easy game to come away with a 5-0 record best for Seattle.

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