Soaked, saturated Seahawks game balls to …

By Os Davis  |   Sunday, December 02, 2007  |  Comments( 0 )

Seattle Seahawks
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A subdued crowd, saddened and stunned into submission through one disappointing 2007, watched the back-to-back NFC West champion Seattle Seahawks solidify a prospective third straight with a 28-24 win over the hometown team, the Philadelphia Eagles, on Sunday.

Those who had braved inclement weather - freezing rain fell in Philly at one point - were eerily silent, utterly dropping out enough to allow echoes of the PA announcer's voice clearly heard underneath the commentary to great effect on TV, something like:

"And Feeley connects with Curtis for about 3 yards, downed at the 41 ..."

"Don't forget folks, olks, olks, next week, eek, is Eagle Bobbin Head Doll Day, day, day ..."

Maybe taking the home-field factor out of the mix was the deciding issue in a sloppy win for Seattle; maybe the cold rain and dreary weather reminded the Seahawks of their homeland, a place where they're an insane 21-4 (including playoffs) since opening day 2005. (Wait a minute; Qwest Field has FieldTurf ...)

No matter; with the win, Seattle held its two-game lead over the Arizona Cardinals. A victory next week in hosting Arizona would essentially clinch the Seahawks the West and, given the cruisin' schedule the 'Hawks are looking at thereafter (at Carolina, vs. Baltimore, at Atlanta), these guys should be going into the playoffs as the No. 3 seed in the NFC.

A good, necessary win for Seattle. Game balls go to ...

Defense. Eagles, meet Lofa Tatupu. Playing absolutely out of his mind (or rather in A.J. Feeley's), Tatupu contributed a highlight reel in the first quarter alone, twice setting up the Seattle offense on the Philly half of the field. Somehow completely invisible to Feeley, Tatupu seemed to be playing some sort of modified quarterback spy; on both first-quarter interceptions, he faked as though he was playing a zone, but he was always tracking Feeley. The resulting move: One or two steps to the receiver and then straight to the ball when Feeley released.

With a third picked off to ice the game, Tatupu quadrupled his 2007 total in the stat category. Combine this with a season-high 11 solo tackles - he's now on pace for 110 total tackles and surely a Pro Bowl bid - and Tatupu was one dominant force at middle linebacker. Many Eagles will be having nightmares about this guy. Game ball.

Offense. Well, it wasn't pretty on this side of the ball. Conditions made driving difficult and if not for fortunate field position provided by the 'D' constantly tormenting a helpless Philadelphia offense, the Seahawks would have put far fewer points on the board. The frustrating field, as evidenced by the un-Matt Hasselbeckesque 19-of-34, 187-yard performance, made the Seattle offense dependent on the big play.

So a soaked pigskin for Maurice Morris, who came from out of nowhere in the third quarter to take a pitch out and run it 45 yards into the end zone as easily as though playing touch football against overweight uncles on Thanksgiving; the surprise touchdown ended up as Seattle's longest gain from scrimmage and silenced the saturated observers nearly for good.

But Morris has to share it with offensive linemen Walter Jones and Rob Sims, who absolutely tore open an SUV-sized hole on the left side. Check out the officially licensed NFL.com replay for some great blocking.

Toss one to Shaun Alexander, too, who put his wounded self through the grind for the team for 65 hard-earned yards and a TD that gave him as many career scores as Barry Sanders. Good for the Madden '07 cover boy. Game ball.

Now on a four-game winning streak and a 5-1 run in which the sole black mark was an overtime loss at Cleveland, the Seahawks are heating up at just the right time. You wouldn't want to be the Cardinals next week; further on, this team could do some damage in the playoffs ... upset at Dallas, anyone ...?

Through blue skies and gray, RealFootball365.com delivers the insight year-round.
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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's ...
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