Seahawks Dispatched By Falcons - Quick Reactions

The Seahawks lost to the Falcons 30-28 today but I found myself having real, legitimate fun for the first time this season. Why? Because the Seahawks looked like a real, legitimate NFL American Rules Football Team this week. As the week goes on, we'll talk more in depth about the statistics and nuts and bolts of this loss, but right now I'm going to talk about my emotions. I want to tell you how I'm feeling.

-- Tarvaris Jackson: I'm feeling more confident in TJ. He went out there and played a good game. He passed for 319 yards, 3 TDs and 2 Interceptions. Did you think that the Atlanta offensive passing attack looked good? Well, TJack threw for more yards, more touchdowns, at a better completion percentage, and a higher rating than Matt Ryan. More importantly, he spread the ball around and took some shots downfield. He really should have only had one interception and I can live with that considering he's now willing to thread the needle a little more. The second interception came when Zach Miller coughed up the ball in the endzone so I'm not putting that on TJack one bit.

Regardless, this was Jackson's best game this season by a long shot, and probably the best game of his career. If that's not progress, I don't know what is. Obviously, the question remains as to whether he can continue to play at this level, but right now I'm happy with how he played.

-- I thought Marshawn Lynch had a good game. He ran hard, kept his legs churning, and the run game looked to gain a little traction. It obviously helped that the Seahawks were able to move the ball through the air.

-- I really like Leon Washington. He was huge late in the game with a big kickoff return of 36 yards and a big punt return of 33 yards. 

-- Doug Baldwin is the truth. How the hell did that guy go undrafted?

-- My first impression after watching this game was that the run defense didn't look as good as they have in the first three games. When you look at the stats though, they held Atlanta to 3.4 yards per carry (4.0 in the first half) and limited Michael Turner to 70 yards on 2.7 yards per carry. Of course, he had the two rushing touchdowns ... so a little good, a little bad. I'm still confident in our run defense despite this. 

-- I thought Earl Thomas did some really good things but also had some questionable angles on tackles and pursuits that really hurt the Seahawks. I guess this is part of the deal with Thomas - he's a big play guy but he hasn't gotten to the point yet where he's not giving up some big plays too. That's not to say that I don't love the guy, but there's room for improvement. 

-- I'm fine with the decision to try the 61-yard kick. As Scott put it, "I realize the odds of a 61-yd field goal aren't good. But neither is trying to convert 4th&8 then kicking a 52 yarder." Whatever - Pete went for the win and it didn't work out, and that's a tough spot either way.

All in all my impression of this game was that it was a fun loss. I loved how this team fought back. I have a lot of hope for the potential of this team. The L hurts but the positives are definitely there. I'm pretty much in agreement with Pete Carroll when he said, in the post-game presser:  "Last week we got the win but we gained more and proved more today."

I'll take another look at the game and have more for you tomorrow and this week. What did you guys think??