|
|||||
|
Week 3 - Sunday 24th September 2006 |
|||||
|
Scorelines don't always tell the complete story of a game but the only mystery of the above score was how on earth the New York Giants reached 30, so dominant were the Seahawks through 3 quarters.
Games of 6 interceptions make me nervous and on the first play of the game the Giants recorded the first and most dubious of the lot. Corey Webster didn't so much intercept the ball as to wrestle it from Darrell Jackson as he landed on the Giants 34 in a play that really shouldn't have counted.
We didn't have to wait long for the next as Ken Hamlin drifted in front of Plaxico Burress with an interception that he returned to the Giants 15. Although it would have been nice to see The Hammer take it all the way, a quick 13 yards to DJack and Shaun crashing it right up the middle from the 2 saw the Seahawks take a breathless 7-0 lead inside 3 minutes.
Much had been made in the build up of the 'complaint' by an unknown team into noise levels at Qwest Field prompting the NFL to send additional observers to the game. There were no prizes for guessing that it was the Giants who complained, a fact confirmed during commentary, but how dumb can you be? I suspect it was nothing more than mischief making but team executives don't think like fans and the result was even more noise than last year if that were possible. 'Quiet - Eli's trying to think' said one banner.
Although there wasn't the sea of yellow that we saw last season there were 2 false start penalties on the Giants next drive and a punt from the endzone that only made it to midfield.
Now we saw what could be the Seahawks of the future with 4 wide outs and quality wide outs at that in Jackson, Engram, Branch and Burleson. With Shaun Alexander keeping the Giants honest against the run the Giants secondary had no answer. Hasselbeck marched all the way to the 12 before finding Nate Burleson flying backwards into the end zone for 14-0.
It was a good start but like the NFC Championship game against the Panthers it got even better as Ken Hamlin (pictured above) this time beat Amani Toomer to the ball. Moments later and Hasselbeck was finding Jackson wide open at the back of the end zone for another TD, 21-0 and we were still in the first quarter.
The game then settled but after a couple of punts Eli Manning found a new target and hit Michael Boulware in the numbers for a 3rd interception. With 5 minutes remaining in the half Matt found 3rd string TE Will Heller to make it 28-0. Heller took some stick off his team mates who later insisted that he couldn't even catch the ball but he looked almost Stevens like as he made the grab. He celebrated soccer style by cupping a hand to his ear for the quiet, shy and retiring fans in the Hawks Nest.
On their next series the Giants eliminated the interceptions but just for fun threw in a fumble which Marcus Trufant forced and LeRoy Hill recovered. To general disbelief in the chat room the Seahawks drove quickly up the field before Hass found a rolling Engram at the 2 yard line and roll he did untouched into the endzone for the 5th score.
That the Giants and Jay Feeley scored a field goal with the last play of the half hardly seemed to matter. 35-3 at the half to a team who were supposed to be genuine NFC contenders.
Mike Holmgren is on record as saying in the past that he's not going to run up a score on anyone so it was no surprise that the Seahawks tempo dropped. After forcing a quick 3 and out of the Giants the Seahawks put together a 10 minute 70 yard drive that was a delight to watch. Darrell Jackson finished it off with a 12 yard reception which he beautifully kept in bounds. 42-3 and game over.
There was no doubt that the Seahawks relaxed and allowed the Giants their best drive of the game as they were in decent position at the end of the 3rd quarter. In the chat room Chapter President Matt Cheesman announced that he was going to enjoy the rest of the game and promptly logged off. 5 minutes later and the Giants had scored 21 points! If that's the President enjoying himself I wouldn't like to see him have a miserable time.
The first was a good finish to the drive they had put together. The second came as a result of a careless Hass pass that was tipped then intercepted and quickly turned into 7 points. If the second was careless the third was madness as Matt flung a terrible pass into the flat that no one other than RW McQuarters had a chance on and he duly returned it all the way to make it 42-24.
Those of a nervous disposition began to look away as the Seahawks chipped some time off the clock and Plackemeier pegged them back on their own 6 with a nice punt. The truth was that there just wasn't enough time left on the clock to affect the result but try they did with Manning getting some big completions and another TD with 2:46 remaining. The 2 point conversion failed as did a twice taken onside kick and it was all over at 42-30.
I'm really not too concerned about the comeback other than the fact that Kelly Jennings looked out of position on a couple of the TDs. Jennings looked good in the tackle earlier but may have more work to do in coverage class. I don't think Hass throws either of the late interceptions had the game been closer and I'd much sooner he got that horrible one to McQuarters out of his system when it didn't matter rather than to lose the game. If anything it might even help them going to Chicago with their balloon deflated a little
Last season these reports tended to be all about Shaun Alexander, Shaun Alexander and Shaun Alexander but I do think the Seahawks are going to play it differently this year. For one thing Shaun is playing hurt and you could say that staying in against a tough Giants run defense has more merit than trotting in TD's against the Houston Texans. The loss of Hutch has an effect but so to does the loss of blocking TE Rian Hannam and Joe Jurevicius who opened up many a play down field for Shaun. I still think he'll have a great season but it would be wrong to expect MVP records this time around.
I suspect the joy for the Seahawks fans in 2006 is going to come from a large dose of the JEBB. Jackson Engram Burleson Branch.
HawksHead (25/9/06)
|
|||||
