Don't know why, but sometime in the last two weeks I lost my confidence. I wanted Field Gulls to fulfill the goal of the ancient Hebrew street journalist, not being a bastion for elitism, but including people, spreading the word. I realized I was avoiding my own site. I realized I didn't like my own site. Why do I blather about this? Because I realized something else today.
The Seattle Seahawks are a damn good football team. That's the perfect, rational description of their talent, skill and depth. Seattle is a Super Bowl contender. They took the worst part of their offense, built it back from the ground up, substituted the worst football player in the NFL with a good, complete and underappreciated running back in Julius Jones, resigned vital parts of their defense and had a hell of a draft. Somehow losing two games caused the miasma of ESPN-like reactionary thinking, panic and outright stupidity to crawl into this team, onto this site and into my brain.
But this win was ejaculatory. The frustration, doubts and stupidity are out of my brain. And if I have to purify this site with flames, I will to get back a place I can talk Hawks with intelligent fans.
A few stupid, slippery plays aside - and Seattle's good for a few whenever Brian Russell makes an appearance - Seattle dominated every snap of this contest. Last week the front seven destroyed. This week the secondary smothered. Finally, the turnovers are showing up. Would've been another if Deon Grant weren't a heady, unselfish player that understood field position was worth more than the pick. This is an elite defense. This year, with a running game to sew up big leads, it will avalanche on opponents like it couldn't in 2007.
This offense is good enough. The kind of above average offense great defenses rarely get. The running game has shown. The passing game is coming together. The line play is solid. And, most importantly, there's no substituting an accurate, aware, steadfast quarterback that keeps you in every game and makes recycled talent look capable.
I'm getting drunk tonight. It's my vacation, and I'm taking a night of my own and be stupid and rowdy.
Game Ball: Julius Jones, who really did make most of his yards on his own and can't be blamed for Hasselbeck's plunging short passes.