Week Four: Better and Worse.

I’m not going to write much about the Seahawks today. And I’m not going to talk about the 49ers because they were a hot mess. We all know that. And how many times can I regurgitate what they need to do to be dominate? We saw same old, same old yesterday. The Seahawks are marching down the field scoring touchdowns and field goals (Wilson threw another red zone INT, but whatever, the passing game was still working), it seems like the Seahawks will blow this game open… You look at how they’re playing in the first half and you think, “Hey this could easily be a 27-0, 27-3 victory. Look how fresh they look. And we finally connected on the long bomb with Lockett. This feels like the football team we all know they should be.”

And then…….

Mysteriously, inexplicably–they just stop doing it. The opposing defense doesn’t shut them down. An injury on the offense doesn’t change their game plan. The refs don’t go crazy with the laundry and start shutting down drives. Turnovers aren’t really a huge issue, just a moderate one. For some reason, the Seahawks just decide, “Hey, 17 points is enough. Let’s give up on the passing game and start grinding out first downs with the run.” And what’s sad and frustrating about it is that these wounds–these losses and these collapses–are entirely self-inflicted. Instead of going into overdrive and just utterly slaughtering teams, the Hawks just pack it up. They just don’t seem to think they can lose.

I just don’t know what to think or feel about this team. In my 33 years, I’ve only rooted for one squad that won the Super Bowl. So for the other 27 years (cause who remembers those other years), I’ve loved the NFL, and in that time, I’ve never felt like I feel now. I’ve suffered bad losses and bad seasons but I always felt like those teams were committed to winning, committed to excellence. It was a shame that they were missing core pieces, or that a division rival (like the Pats in the East or the Rams in the West [when they used to own the Seahawks in the early Mike Holmgren era]) was just too well-rounded and too loaded to be beaten. But you still root for your guys, you know they wanted to win, you see them putting themselves on the line, and you see a coaching staff that is really trying to find out what works and try to duplicate it.

You love the game. You love your team. And so you’re there for it

At this point, I feel lost about this team. And I feel like Wilson, Lynch, Graham, Wagner, Sherman, Thomas—they must all feel the same way. How much fun can it be for them to three and out the second half of games? Or to drop back in blitzing situations? (I know it’s certainly no fun to watch it). These guys have pride as human beings and they’re being treated like they’re on probation for something…. Why? What is happening internally on this team that they’re stuck in this place? What could these guys be saying behind closed doors that justifies they way the plays are being called and the team’s philosophy? Why are they so afraid of change?

Guys, this is a good team. Maybe they’re not the best team in the league or not even top 5 but this is not what the 2015 Seahawks should look like. This is not the type of football guys of this caliber turn in in the primes of their careers–just doesn’t happen. Really, wins and losses are kind of an arbitrary thing. We all remember a team that didn’t have much success in the win column but something about the way they played inspired you anyway. You look at it and thought, “This is incredible. They’re under-manned, out-gunned and totally overwhelmed, but I still love the way these guys are laying out.”

At this point, I just want to feel that again. Fuck the Super Bowl, fuck it all… I just want to see these guys play 4 quarters of the best football they can play. That’s all that matters to me right now.