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Seattle Seahawks' Nate Burleson has the 10th most receptions in the NFL after 8 games.

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"So, we're going on the road to play a football game. We're gonna win.

"I don't care what you say. People can print it in the paper, they can send it to the teams we're playing. But they know just like we know, we're going to win the game."

-Nate Burleson

With apologies to TJH, that's Seattle's best WR talking, and it's hard to see the downside of Nasty Nate putting himself out there like this. Conventional wisdom in cases such as this usually consists of shaking heads and clucking tongues, worried about giving the opposition "bulletin board" material. Burleson even prefaced his remarks by saying that he didn't want to create the mythical "BBM," but he just plowed ahead anyway. I say huzzah! What is the worst that can happen here?

The Seahawks were all quiet as mimes before the last dust-up with the Cards, and that ended up a 27-3 Ed Norton-on-Jared-Leto-in-Fight-Club beatdown. If Burleson's remarks geek up Arizona and they lay another pounding on the Hawks? Meh. That's what 95% of the football-attentive public expects anyway. We'll be sad, but I'm guessing most of you reading this expect to turn your attention to the 2010 draft next Monday. 

But what if this gets even just Nate himself to raise his game? What if he takes a punt all the way back for six? Or goes 7 for 120 with 2 TDs? Or gets off to a hot start and opens things up for Housh, Branch, and Carlson? Even if it's just taking attention off TJH and putting it on himself, that would be a net positive as far as I'm concerned. 

If the Seahawks actually win after Burleson's guarantee, this game will be the stuff of franchise legend. When #81 gave the Blue Man Group a spark, which grew into a 2nd-half playoff push (which we've seen before in 1979, 1990 and 1995) and maybe even another NFC West title. 

So Matt Hasselbeck? Brag about how you're gonna torch their secondary for 300+ yards. Marcus Trufant? Tell Larry Fitzgerald that he looks like Zoidberg when he dangles his gloves from his facemask. Aaron Curry? Tell Beanie Wells that he's gonna be made the game's prison punk rookie this Sunday.... and so on. 

Couldn't hurt. 

More over at my home blog, Dave Krieg's Strike Beard