This Sunday, the worst team in the football will run out the tunnel at Qwest Field.
No, that pathetic team is not your (5-6) Seattle Seahawks. Actually, contrary to popular belief, the Seahawks are still a "decent" football team. But, it is all relative. With that said, Seattle looks fierce compared to the play of the house cat-esque, Carolina Panthers.
This is the kind of matchup Seattle desperately needs to jump start their still viable playoff berth. Two straight blowout losses have set back the Seahawks enough that the emerging St. Louis Rams took over first place in the NFC West. Both teams technically have the same win/loss record, but the Rams beat the Hawks earlier this season which currently gives them the edge in the division.
Here's a snapshot of Carolina's 1 win, 10 loss season so far: they rank last in the NFL in points scored per game(12.7), most yards allowed p/g(259), and are lowest in passing yards p/g(157).
To add insult to utter injury, they start a rookie at quarterback and play in the toughest division in the league. Surely, the Seahawks would suffer similar results in the win column if they played in the NFC South with New Orleans, Atlanta and Tampa Bay. All of those teams have at least seven wins, compared to the NFC West in which no team has even six wins.
Seattle's Matt Hasselbeck has slung the football like a mad man lately, throwing close to 1000 yards in the last three games. Stud wideout, Mike Williams, is still gimpy with a bad left foot and is a game-time decision Sunday. Fellow reciever, Ben Obomanu, has filled in nicely for Williams. Obomanu had career day last week gaining 159 yards and a touchdown.
Hasselbeck has been forced to put the Hawks on his back and carry them because his running game is terrible. Marshawn Lynch is a bust so far with Seattle and Justin Forsett is average at best a majority of the time. Consistent offensive line play will boost the run game but who knows if consistency is something Seattle can ever expect.
The Seahawks defense is primed to feast on the inept Panther offense. Expect Seattle's ball-hawk secondary to pick Jimmy Clausen and shut down the Carolina offense early and often.
Needless to say, but the Seahawks absolutely must win this game at home. I don't even want to know what the faithful 12th Man would do, should Seattle find a way to blow this gimme of a game.
Sidenote: The Seahawks are retiring the incomparable, left tackle Walter Jones, before halftime of Sunday's game. Jones' career was truly unbelievable. He earned nine straight trips to Honolulu for the Pro Bowl and was named to the All-Pro team four times.
According to team statistics, Jones was called for holding just nine times in 5,703 pass attempts in his career and allowed only 23 sacks.
No comments:
Post a Comment