Week 10 - Sunday 12th November 2006

Bill Shankly once said that there were two great teams in Liverpool: Liverpool and Liverpool Reserves. Care to guess what the 2 great teams in the NFC West are?

The Seahawks were missing so many quality starters that the inactive list looked like an NFC All Star team and it gave the Rams the perfect opportunity to level things up in the West but it was a chance they could not take advantage of after another wet and wild night at Qwest Field.

Seneca Wallace and Maurice Morris took the game to the Rams from the start and looked unstoppable as they drove the ball all the way to the Rams 1 in no time at all. Two penalties didn't help, forcing the Seahawks to a 3rd and 6 but the next play was one of the ones that makes your jaw drop as it flashes up on NFL Game Center.

On a QB draw play the Rams timed a blitz that left Seneca exposed and unable to get rid of it quickly enough. A fumble is bad enough but to have it returned 89 yards is another.

Credit to Seneca that he showed no signs of being rattled as he just drove back down the field again, this time even faster, and levelled the scores at 7-7 with a pass to Darrell Jackson. It was Jackson's 7th TD of the season and no receiver in the NFL has more than that.

The Seahawks D eventually made it onto the field and was looking stronger than it had for quite a while especially when up against Bulger, Holt and Jackson. They allowed the Rams to drive but, much like the 2005 vintage Seahawks, they bent but didn't break holding the Rams to a 40 yard Wilkins field goal.

In to the second quarter and the Seahawks backed up on their 6 yard line following a punt and a penalty. 94 yards, no Alexander, new Center, pouring rain, 60% of last years famed O line not on the field and a quarterback making his 3rd NFL start. 8 plays later Seneca was throwing a pass that Jerramy Stevens could not drop and it was 14-10. The drive included 2 big 3rd down conversions and a 31 yard Seneca scramble down the sideline that he almost broke for a TD on his own.

It was all looking rather good but the Rams fought back and Wilkins bagged another kick for 14-13 at the half. It was a 1 point lead that was tough on the Hawks who deserved to have been winning by more.

With the first possession of the second half the Rams drove and were stalled again with a 4th and 5 on the Seahawks 31. It was within kicking range but the Rams went for it and lofted a pass wide right which Ken Hamlin caught for the interception and cost the Seahawks 23 yards in the process. If he had batted it away the Seahawks would have taken over on downs but asking a back not to catch a lofted pass would be against their nature.

It did have an effect as well as the Seahawks couldn't move the ball which gave the Rams a short field but again they couldn't move it into the danger area and Wilkins gave the Rams the lead again.

Speaking of Liverpool FC as I did at the start, they were once famous for signing very promising young players who were starters elsewhere and then not playing them in the first team whilst their education continued in the reserves. When the Pope visited the UK in 1982 he went to various football stadiums around the country but not to Anfield. Asked why that was Shankly's successor Bob Paisley quipped that "He didn't want to spend 2 years in the reserves". Chris Spencer has waited 18 months before making his first start at Center but it looked like his time in the reserves had been well spent as he performed extremely well.

Back to the game and despite the form of Spencer the Seahawks were struggling to move the ball but so were the Rams so it was especially galling when Seneca fumbled again allowing the Rams to advance it to the Seahawks 33.

Then came a potential game winner courtesy of Rams coach Scott Linehan. Challenging an incompletion call on the field as Wilkins knocked over another field goal he got his wish but it give him a 4th and long 1. The fact that he didn't dial up Steven Jackson's number spoke volumes for how well the Seahawks had stopped him but the pass play had even less chance and it was a real break.

The 4th quarter saw 4 consecutive 3 and outs and punts but oh what joy on the 4th. Nate Burleson took the ball on his own 10 and made a couple of people miss. A nice block gave him some running room but he had no space down the sideline. Facing the punter he faked to run inside then cut back leaving Turk trailing (pictured above) and took it all the way to the house. Speaking of house, there was formerly one person awake in mine but now we had four! 21-16 Seahawks.

The Rams hadn't scored a TD all day but deep into the 4th quarter you sort of knew what was coming. Sure enough there was the drive and there was the previously shackled Steven Jackson taking it 14 yards with a collection of Seahawks trailing in his wake.

There was a joke when Gerrard Houllier was Liverpool manager which I won't go into in full but the punch line was that he had two tits up front. Step forward Steven Jackson for getting a little too leary when he scored, despite having his helmet removed, and  Richie Incognito who first gave up a 15 yard penalty for a personal foul on the TD and then committed a hold that negated a 2 point conversion which failed on the retry. 21-22 Rams

The penalty gave Scobey some running room on the return and right on cue he took it to the Rams 49 for 33 yards. Could Seneca get us within range in the 2 minutes remaining? With the help of Mo Morris breaking runs of 5 and 10 yards you bet he could. Receptions by Hackett and Jackson edged it closer still leaving Brown with a 38 yarder. We all know for sure he has the distance but there have been some mechanics problems this season so it was still a worry but dead straight it sailed for the winning score and Brown's 3rd late game winner of the season.

That Seneca Wallace can come out of the game with a 114.6 passer rating compared to Bulger's 68.2 spoke volumes about how well he played and the 124 yards of Mo Morris compared to the 93 of Jackson told a similar tale.

I'm sure that not many people would rate the Seahawks backups as better than the Rams starters but on Sunday at least they were owned and that is a way to go guys!

To listen to the highlights of the Seahawks Radio network coverage of the game click here: audio highlights

HawksHead (13/11/06)

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