Week 12: Review | Judgements
I'm sorry, but I don't care if Seattle wins the NFC West. The Seahawks are going nowhere, and when they wonder where it all went wrong I have a suggestion: Blame it on St. Louis.
The proof is there every time the Seahawks suit up, which they shouldn't have Sunday when Buffalo drilled them 38-9 in the worst loss in coach Mike Holmgren's six years there. The Seahawks simply haven't been the same since blowing a 27-10 lead to St. Louis in the last 5½ minutes of their Oct. 10 meeting.
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| Matt Hasselbeck can't bear to watch as Seattle's season slips away.(AP) |
This, folks, is a team stuck in the sand, which makes Seattle just one of the crowd in the NFC West. Check the scoreboard, and you'll see they lead a division that lost another two to the AFC East on Sunday, running the NFC West's record against New England, the Jets, Miami and Buffalo to a dismal 2-10 -- with the only two wins against the lowly Dolphins.
Of course, Miami's only two victories were against St. Louis and San Francisco, too.
But we're getting off the subject here. Once, Seattle was a trendy pick for the Super Bowl, and, yes, I was one of the first on the bandwagon. But now the Seahawks are in disarray, and the defense that was their ally in the first three games has suddenly and inexplicably gone south.
Blame it on the Rams.
Seattle hasn't been right since that Oct. 10 loss, and these last three games prove it. The club hemorrhages yards and can't stop crucial third downs, with opponents a combined 20-for-43 the past three weeks -- and, remember, that includes a Miami team that couldn't find the end zone with a Sherpa.
And the first three weeks? Ah, that's when Seattle was in playoff shape. Opponents were a combined 9-for-42 on third downs, with nobody producing more than 281 yards. All I know is the Seahawks opened the year with three straight wins. Then they were on the verge of putting away St. Louis, and, poooof, just like that, the season disappeared.
Seattle is 3-5 the past two months, beating Carolina, San Francisco and Miami -- opponents who lost three times as many as they won. That's not how you get to the playoffs, but even if the Seahawks do -- and it's possible, considering the mess that's the NFC West -- it doesn't matter.
St. Louis ruined their season.
