If you and a bunch of your buddies were playing basketball, some court, somewhere, and a bunch of former D1 washouts challenged you to a game, well, if your buddies are like my buddies, you'd probably get schooled. But let's say, from a puff of smoke, a 25 year old Shaquille O'Neal appeared and joined your team. All a sudden, you'd win by a hundred points. And it wouldn't seem like O'Neal was doing everything. Everyone would step up. Guys would drain open looks and layups would rain down like water in a monsoon.
But, of course, O'Neal would be doing everything. He would be the only reason you won at all.
Mike Williams is not ridiculously better than every other player on the field like Shaq, but when I tell you that Williams had 87 yards, 11 receptions and a touchdown, and Matt Hasselbeck completed a total of 19 passes for 189 yards and a touchdown, it understates just how completely Williams bore this passing offense on his back. It makes it seem like he was maybe half of the Seahawks passing offense, or a crucial contributor late and with Seattle protecting a very fragile feeling lead, and not like Williams was totally and painfully indispensable, but that's exactly what he was. I can not even imagine what this offense would look like without Williams creating a perfect target for Matt over and over again, and I don't want to.
I do want to know what this offense can accomplish post-Matt, because it excites me. It excites me and frustrates me because it's teased and withdrawn. I'm not saying Hasselbeck is a Maitresse like figure paying strangers to piss on my face and hammering nails through my cock, but there is, to be crude about it, a feeling of mounting blue balls developing about this entire season. Not to project doom and gloom, but there really is no promise that Williams signs with Seattle, that Williams continues playing at this level, that this amazing talent that Seattle bumbled into through the force of Pete Carroll's charisma and connections and power to inspire, will be amazing forever.
And not to project doom and gloom, but I don't feel particularly thrilled about this win. What a pisser.
Arizona looked awful. Max Hall looked like an undrafted free agent rookie starting his second game ever on the road, at Qwest.
Derek Anderson didn't look awful.
This run defense looked a mess without Brandon Mebane. Arizona was successful on 12 of its 20 rush attempts. Before today's game, Beanie Wells had averaged a 41.8% success rate and Tim Hightower a 35.3% success rate, and the highest average for any single rusher was 52.1%. Seattle basically went from a top three run defense to a bottom five run defense.
A lot of people might think, why bitch so much after a win? That's the burden of increased expectations. Win on the road, win at home to pull to 4-2 and alone atop the NFC West, and I want something more than a backdoor contender succeeding on the back of bad opponents, special teams and a handful of irreplaceable players. I'm greedy. I'm hungry. I see a great team forming within the Seahawks and I see a barely mediocre team taking the field each week.
And here's the thing, this frustration, this sense of underachievement, these bad wins and blowout losses are sweeter than sugar cane.
Seattle tore through the Cardinals rush defense while Russell Okung was on the field. Marshawn Lynch and Justin Forsett are fearsome bastards, and the way the two work together, Lynch beasting through backfield tackles and Force finding space and exploiting it, looks, though may not yet be, looks like a dominant tandem of backs.
BMFMW is the most talented wide receiver in Seahawks history. He's an absolute game changer with few peers. Guys like Deon Butler, John Carlson, Ben Obomanu, and whoever else Seattle throws on the pile, will one day very soon rain receptions on helpless defenses, because with Shaq on the court, who the hell guards Penny Hardaway?
This run defense is smothering when they can occupy that extra blocker, when they can take the innate matchup of four defensive linemen against five offensive linemen, and level the playing field. ME! BANE! Need I say more?
This secondary is talented and mostly young and how the hell about Walter Thurmond?! Not only is he already competent in cover, but if covering football for a few years has taught me anything, it's that Thurmond is fully recovered, maybe medically, but Thurmond isn't at full capability. He's a rookie that's holding his own with hidden potential.
I'm not going to exalt Leo ends Raheem Brock and Chris Clemons, though I love you both, but the Leo concept, of which I was very skeptical, and Seattle's commitment to smart and unpredictable blitzing, has transformed this pass defense. Nah, take that back. Has transformed the potential of this pass defense. Right now, Seattle's constructing a pretty slick pass rush out of spare parts, but Pete Carroll will soon have his horses. John Schneider will make sure of that.
Yes, from the decay of a terrible team, barely visible through the shell of a mediocre team still holding on, is an elite team that's building--
maybe.
Seattle needs a quarterback, and that's never a sure thing. Seattle needs to hold on to the special players it has developed and stumbled into, and that's never a sure thing. The Seahawks need some pieces to turn this promising but equally frustrating team into one that can be great, and that's never a sure thing. There's so many ways it can go wrong, and maybe fear is another fitting adjective, but afraid, hopeful, frustrated, jumping out my skin with anticipation -- it's a God Damn Good Time to be a Seahawks Fan.
Game Ball
Williams
Olindo Mare, the ageless one.
And five more times, Mike Williams.