LAST WEEK STRAIGHT UP: 9-4
LAST WEEK vs. SPREAD: 8-5
SEASON STRAIGHT UP: 86-47-1
SEASON vs. SPREAD: 65-69
Very quietly, since Week 3, I've compiled a prognosticatory record of 51-21-1 (.705). After a three-season hiatus, it didn't take me as long as I thought it would to get my football clairvoyance back.
This week's other good news? My replica Seahawks Super Bowl ring finally arrived after a ridiculous two and a half month delay.
I did say replica, remember; mine was only $57, the "diamonds" probably aren't even cubic zirconium, and the eye of the 'hawk is more of a blue plastic dot than an emerald. But you know what? I am perfectly okay with that. As retired San Francisco 49er quarterback and current ESPN NFL analyst Steve Young exclaimed after he finally won his ring in Super Bowl XXIX, "Nobody can ever take this away from us! EVER!"
It's not just a souvenir, it's a keepsake from perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime experience. At least, that's the prudent way to look at it. Especially given the inconsistent, underachieving season the Champs are having, and the rapidly transient nature of success in today's NFL.
Last week's contest at Century Link against the woeful Oakland Raiders was the latest example. Now I understand, as a preface, that this is precisely the sort of game that can provide no reassurance for fans of a defending Super Bowl champion trying to get last year's mojo back. If you blow out your tomato can of an opponent, that's what you're supposed to do; if you barely eke out a win, it's little better than if you lost. And if you do lose....
....forget about it.
In essence, last Sunday the Champs played half a game, winning the first half 24-3 and losing the second half handily 21-6. It was an almost mirror reversal of their near-identical matchup (and near disaster) with the godawful Tampa Buccaneers a year ago, that day losing the first half 21-0 and winning the second (plus overtime) 27-3.
Seattle's offense was, again, uneven, with (good news) an overall 149 yard rushing attack but (bad news) Marshawn Lynch only accounting for 62 yards of it. He scored a couple of first half touchdowns, but still spent almost every carry getting stuffed. At least on this day some of the blame could be attributed to the decimation by injuries of an already-mediocre offensive line that was missing left tackle Russell Okung, tight end Zach Miller (again), Pro Bowl center Max Unger (again) AND his backup.
Unfortunately, it also contributed to one of quarterback Russell Wilson's worst days as a pro: 17 for 35, 179 yards, no touchdowns, and a big, fat 63 QB rating. The Raiders did a good job of containing his outside runs as well, limiting him to just 35 rushing yards.
This is where the Legion of Boom (the entire defense) helped pick up the slack, forcing three first half Raider turnovers on consecutive possessions, including a Bruce Irvin pick-six and All-Pro Cornerback Richard Sherman's first pick of the season. That was the strength of what propelled the Seahawks to that three-touchdown halftime lead.
Teeth-gnashingly, they needed every bit of it in the second half, where for the second time in three weeks, the special teams fell apart, giving up a blocked punt for a Raider touchdown and a long punt return, after a very uncharacteristically short John Ryan punt, to the Seattle thirty, from which rookie quarterback Derrick Carr tossed one of his two touchdown passes.
Yeah, the Champs had more first downs (21-17), a hundred more total yards (all via the rushing game), eleven minutes more time-of-possession, won the turnover battle 3-0. Which means if special teams do their damn job, this game is a 30-10 stomping instead of a 30-24 nail-biter.
But isn't a win a win? Last Sunday, yes, it was. But after today's game at the Clink against the mercurial New York Giants, here is the Champ's home stretch:
at Kansas City (5-3, #6)
ARIZONA (7-1, #8)
at San Francisco (4-4, #16)
at Philadelphia (6-2, #7)
SAN FRANCISCO (4-4, #16)
at Arizona (7-1, #8)
ST. LOUIS (3-5, #25)
The Cardinals are looking more and more like we did last year, a team that many keep expecting to cool off (like, for example, the San Diego Chargers have) but never does. At this point, the best the Champs can probably do is grab a wild card spot, but that's if they fix the problems they keep assuring us week after week will be remedied. The inconsistent play that has already taken the luster off the once-glorious prospect of the first Super Bowl repeat in over a decade will never survive that murderers' row of a closing schedule.
[Straight up picks indicated by asterisk (*); picks against the spread in parentheses (x).]
Atlanta* (-1)
Tampa
Chicago
Green Bay* (-7.5)
Dallas* (-5.5)
Jacksonville
Denver* (-11.5)
Oakland
Kansas City* (-2)
Buffalo
Miami* (+2.5)
Detroit
N.Y. Giants (+9)
Seattle*
Pittsburgh* (-4.5)
N.Y. Jets
St. Louis
Arizona* (-7)
San Francisco
New Orleans* (-4.5)
Tennessee
Baltimore* (-9.5)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Carolina
Philadelphia* (-6)
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