Admit it, Monday Night Football is over and you’re still watching Seahawks highlights aren’t you? I know I am.
One reason is that you may be pinching yourself because you can’t believe the late 24-23 Seattle comeback over New England actually happened. Another reason is that you might be waiting for the graphic that shows Tom Brady’s name being added to the growing list of star quarterbacks the Seahawks have defeated this year.
If such a list exists, I’m guessing it’s in Richard Sherman’s locker, because he has been feeling really good after this win. Just check his Twitter timeline.
Part of the reason is that he was responding to Brady talking trash on Sunday, telling Sherman and Earl Thomas to find him after a Patriots win. Sherman responded by being a big part of the Seahawks dominant performance in the second half, especially considering he was just the second guy to pick Brady off this year. Then Earl Thomas got him for his third.
After the game, the second-year cornerback tracked Brady down on the field and then posted a picture of the encounter on Twitter with the caption of “U MAD BRO?” It’s pretty clear from the photo that Brady isn’t happy. Epic. Six games in this Seahawks defense knows they’re good and are starting to show some swagger.
Personally, I can’t stop watching that 46-yard, game-winning touchdown pass to Sidney Rice. I have my DVR already set to record the replay of the game on NFL Network Tuesday night. If you’re overseas, you can tune in to AFN Sports and DTS Sports at 0630 PST/1330 GMT to catch the replay.
Despite the effort of the defense to hold the Patriots top-ranked offense to only one touchdown of their six opportunities in the red zone, Russell Wilson is the story this week. Down by 13 with less than eight minutes to play, Wilson led Seattle on two touchdown drives, including that final pass to Rice.
When it seemed as if Seattle couldn’t come through at all in the clutch last season, the Seahawks have a quarterback that doesn’t blink in the face of adversity. Of three of the team’s four wins, Wilson has come from behind to help lead the team to victory.
In an article by ESPN following the game, it noted that in the last five years there have only been a handful of quarterbacks to lead their team to two wins in the final two minutes of the game over the course of one season. Other quarterbacks on that list include Matthew Stafford, Drew Brees, Kyle Orton and Carson Palmer.
Even in defeat, Wilson and the Seahawks have been close. Wilson threw an interception on a play where his tight end fell down in the final minutes against the Rams, and his receivers couldn’t come down with the ball on three tries to the end zone in the opener against the Cardinals.
That isn’t to say this team should be 6-0 right now. I suppose they could be, but they could also be 1-5 if one starts to play the “what if” game. I’m just ecstatic that Seattle is 4-2 with the schedule they’ve faced this year. Thinking back to the beginning of the year, I seem to remember a number of the local sports reporters having the Seahawks pegged for a 9-7 season at best.
Not to say that it couldn’t still go that way, because I don’t want to get carried away with so much season left. I’ll just say that most predictions had them around a 2-6 start. If I remember right most were expecting wins against the Rams and Cardinals.
Sure the Hawks were faced with some tough competition at home, but looking back I wonder how our own local reporters could generally have the team going winless at home in the first half?
Seattle still has two tough road games to get to the halfway point of their season, but they’ve already surpassed many expectations up to this point. With Wilson throwing for nearly 300 yards this weekend, it looks like the team is only going to continue to improve.
Just because the Patriots put up big yardage through the air, that doesn’t make me feel any worse about our defense. There’s no way any other team in the league is going to throw for nearly 60 passing attempts.
The big victory for the defense was limiting the amount of damage by the Patriots offense and keeping it close enough for Wilson to give them an opportunity for the win. That’s exactly what they did.
As if the Seahawks win, and the way they won, isn’t enough to make a person feel great going into the week; the rest of the NFC West went 0-3. Now Seattle is in a 3-way share of the lead and can take the top spot with a win on Thursday night in San Francisco.
The 49ers are coming off their worst loss of the year, 26-3 against the Giants in San Francisco, and it would be a perfect time to hand Jim Harbaugh and the 49ers their first back-to-back losses since he’s taken over as coach.
After a win like we saw on Sunday, I’m just glad we don’t have to wait a whole week to watch the Hawks play again. Bring on Thursday Night Football, and bring on the San Francisco 49ers!