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Week 2 - Sunday 18th September 2005 |
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Remember the Seahawks of the last couple of years? Couldn't catch, couldn't rush the passer, couldn't stop the run but most certainly could blow games in the 4th quarter. On Sunday the Seahawks gave us a glimpse of what the future could hold because we did catch, we did rush the passer, we did stop the run and although we did bend we didn't break. On top of that we did it against a team that made it to the NFC Championship game last season. Despite it being the home opener for me it was a 'road' game as I hit the track for the meet up at Phil's house. Mmm, how do you go about finding a group of Seahawks fans in deepest Cheshire? By seeing the Seahawks flag flying from the front of the house of course!!! There were 6 of us in total and watching a Hawks game in the company of other Hawks fans certainly made for a new and enjoyable experience. Whatever it was the first quarter went by in a flash with neither team able to sustain a drive but it would have been a different story had the officials not blown a call when Jamie Sharper forced a fumble from Brian Finneran. It was recovered by Marcus Trufant and would have given us the ball on the Falcons 10 yard line had the official not incorrectly ruled Finneran down by contact. The call wasn't even close but Mora, as he had done the week before, hurriedly got off another play before any possible challenge. If the Seahawks were ahead on points in the first they came close to delivering a knock out blow in the second as they dominated the game in almost frightening style. First Hasselbeck jabbed away 75 yards to find Joe Jurevicius in the end zone for the second week running for 7-0. If Vick had any thoughts of fighting back they were extinguished by Lofa Tatupu running untouched up the middle for his first NFL sack and a quick 3 and out. This time starting from 68 yards out it took the Seahawks all of 6 plays to set up Shaun Alexander on a beautiful 14 yard draw play. At the meet we did a good impression of the Falcons D looking for the pass whilst Shaun waltzed in unopposed. 14-0 With less than 4 minutes remaining and the Falcons with the ball we thought it couldn't get any better but it did as another 3 and out including 2 downs where they failed to get the ball the 1 yard they need for a first down. This time from the 20 and a field goal would have been nice but no, another 6 plays and Hass launched a bomb at Jeremy Stevens from 35 yards. Hass said later that he was trying to over throw it to make sure there was no chance of an interception and it certainly looked to have too much on it but a diving sprawling Stevens hauled it in, wrapped it up and hung on as he tumbled into the end zone. Unbelievable 21-0 to the Seahawks at the half. I'd really like to know what goes on half time in the Seahawks locker room because I've seen too many games where we seem just plain unprepared for the 3rd quarter. It was at it's worst against the Jets last year when Hasselbeck was so late emerging that Trent Dilfer had to run the first play of the half. Almost faultless in the 2nd quarter, on the first possession of the 3rd Hass threw 3 incomplete passes. Seriously what gives? If the Falcons detected a momentum swing they took advantage as with good field position Vick got going and put 7 on the board with a pass to Finneran. On 3rd down on the next possession Hass did his Vick impersonation by scrambling for 8 yards but crucially just short of the first down marker and the Falcons tag on a field goal for 21-10. Now this we have seen before and the tension was mounting in the room as the 3rd quarter became almost devoid of Seahawks completion and first downs but critically we had re-established something of a stranglehold on Vick again. At the start of the 4th Hass was back on script with a nice, long, time consuming drive and a first down inside the Falcons 20. Or it would have been had not the referee thrown an extremely harsh penalty on Mack Strong for tripping. From there we went backwards and I mean literally as a first down inside the 20 turned into 3rd and 28 on the Falcons 42 thanks to another 2 penalties. Worse was to follow as Engram caught a pass in field goal range but fumbled the ball to the Falcons. I'm not saying I was nervous but I was out back having a cigarette when Vick ran for 32 yards on the next down. Same old Seahawks and pretty soon it's 21-18 as TJ Duckett slams in from 1 yard and the 2 point conversion is successful. To the surprise of no-one the Seahawks went 3 and out with 2:39 remaining. Vick had tweaked his hamstring on his previous run and might have been more limited but this was NOT the Same old Seahawks. Crash, Warrick Dunn stopped at the line for no gain. Bang, a 2 yard completion as DD Lewis drills his man to the ground. Wallop, Vick slips under pressure and is sacked for a loss and leaves the game. What a picture, as Andre Dyson bats away the pass from Schaub for 4 and out. It was a picture as a round of handshakes and back slapping was concluded with some celebratory photos which I hope will soon appear on the site. Sure there were negatives about the Falcons comeback but they are without question a good team and the bottom line is at the death we stood up and beat them. From that I'll take only the positives and look forward to the future with a renewed optimism. HawksHead
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