I've had my weekly midnight Pilates session and I feel all centered and crap. Here are my thoughts on Saturday night's divine miracle.
- We can talk about luck 'til clovers develop fifth leaves, but the Seahawks' defense was astounding.
I say this in a certain context. Our cornerback situation in the middle of last week wasn't just cause for concern, it was perceived as a major Achilles' heel. No, take that back: Achilles' heels are more subtle. It could have been a deal breaker.
It was difficult to imagine ad-hoc starters Kelly Jennings and Jordan Babineaux making game-altering plays against Dallas. (Well, maybe Babineaux.) Let alone both. But that's what happened.
You know what Babineaux did. He stopped Tony Romo at the end of the game, when Romo attempted to turn his botched field goal hold into a scrambling touchdown. Romo had more than enough room to do so. Babineaux grabbed Romo by what seemed to be the hair of his shin, and brought the play to a close. Not quite what the Rams' Mike Jones did to the Titans' Kevin Dyson in that Super Bowl, but every bit as meaningful.
Jennings took the field -- as the rest of the Seahawks' defense begrudgingly did -- after the offense got stopped on a fourth down, two yards short of a TD. On the first play out of the gate, Romo tossed to Terry Glenn, who was met by a keenly anticipating Jennings. The rookie forced a fumble, which went into the Dallas end zone in what was the craziest-looking play in Seahawks history. It was fifty yards and one marching band short of the Cal-Stanford miracle.
The crowd was initially disappointed that the recovered fumble resulted in a safety and not a defensive touchdown. Understandable. I also understand that the final margin of victory was less than two points. That's what you get for a safety.
I'd say Jordan and Kelly made some serious lemonade tonight. More serious than that Mike's stuff, and probably more fizzy. Think back on it in a couple days. You'll be very happy.
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Mea culpa, Jerramy Stevens.
The 12th Man has never been as unkind to one of its own as they've been to Stevens. Could you blame them? In a season where the Seahawks' fortunes seemed best typified by his drops that would have been big gains, Stevens' mistakes have been our most convenient talking point.
If the Seahawks had not won on a mistake you never see in the NFL, had in fact won the game on something other than serendipity, we would all be thinking about the amazing redemption of Jerramy Stevens. Sure, he was wide open on that pattern for the second touchdown, but not so much on the first. He made other catches that didn't go for scores, but were important in keeping the game going.
I shouldn't be all that surprised that Stevens and Bobby Engram were our clutch receivers last night. It was the kind of improbable victory that's won by the X factors -- the ones that are so X that opposing teams demote them to Z factors in strategy sessions.
- Matt made some curious throwing decisions tonight. A couple of those passes where you can tell by mid-arc that they're going to be intercepted.
Just mentioning that so you can record them in the minutes.
- I hope it's okay with you all that I feel a little bad for Tony Romo. I like the dude. It's his first year. There'll be others.
But around these parts, Nick Lachey is our favorite Jessica Simpson ex.
(Of course, some sources insist Romo and Simpson have never even met.)
(Oh, crap, did I just link you to the New York Post? Sorry about that.)
This was no gimme. A lot of luck was involved. Okay, a gigantic amount of luck the likes of which have never been seen in Seattle was involved. But the Seahawks managed to make that kind of luck possible.
The first 58 minutes of this game mattered, too. You laughed, you cried, you cheered, and you cried again. And you eventually got your Rocky ending. (I mean, your Rocky II ending.)
We could flame out in Chicago or New Orleans next week, and I'll still be thankful to the Seahawks for what we saw Saturday night.
Maybe you think it's more that "Dallas lost the game." Well, that's fine. That doesn't mean nobody won.
And for all 60 minutes, the Seahawks were very obviously, very passionately, trying to win.