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I've been torturing myself all season and I'm sick of it!
Don't get me wrong I'm a positive thinking type of guy and I believed we could beat the Rams, believed we could win after the bye, believed we could start winning games in the 4th quarter, believed we could start beating teams with winning records, so why do I torture myself?
Call it 20 years of hurt or something but despite my belief in the Seahawks ability to succeed in a given situation the nagging doubts brought on by years of under achievement and snatching defeat from the jaws of victory remained.
Take this years game on the road at the Rams. Week 5 and both teams were 2-2 but I really believed the Hawks would win. So why was I so depressed and anxious as kick off time approached? Surely I should have been happy, confident and ready to enjoy the next 3 hours?
That's what being a Hawks fan does to you. With no particular success to hang our hats on we hang them on the defeats and disasters that have befallen us over the years. We'd seen it all before. Same old Seahawks we used to say but I now say I Believe!
Have a look at the NFL standings. In case it escaped your attention the Seahawks are 12-2 and are on a 10 game winning streak. Sure we won't get any respect for winning the NFC West as it currently stands but we don't get any respect period so what does that matter?
Beat the Cowboys and Giants in tight games and everyone pointed to where they went wrong and lucky we were. Hell, when we beat the Eagles 42-0 on the road it was all how badly the Eagles had played not how well we had played. Yet the reverse never applies, when we lost to the Redskins in week 4 in overtime all the credit went to the Redskins but all 4 games had common threads.
Trailing the Redskins 17-10 in the 4th quarter Hasselbeck put together a 91 yard drive to tie the game. Trailing the Cowboys 10-3 with 2 minutes to play Hasselbeck put together a 81 yard drive to tie the game. Leading the Giants by 1 in the 4th quarter Hasselbeck put together a drive of 80 yards to stretch the lead to 8.
Against the Eagles we have to go to the other side of the clock. Going into the game we had so many things supposedly against us it was untrue. Hilariously one East Coast media hack thought the Seahawks would struggle on a cold and snowy Monday night in Philly because we were a dome team! Whatever else is said about that game, first of all remember the opening drive. 65 yards, 16 plays and 7 points. After the game another East Coast hack asked Lofa Tatupu about being 'gifted' all those points. Not rising to the bait Lofa replied: 'I thought it was 0-0 when we started the game'. Nice one Lofa!
So whatever else happens this season I'm not going to torture myself through our play off bye week with thoughts of how we've blown it in the past or how we haven't won a play off game in 21 years.
Things have changed. We have the number 1 offense and rank in the top 10 in just about any offensive category that you care to mention on the NFL rankings. If that isn't reliable enough for you then on Troy Aikman's adjusted rankings the Seahawks chose this week to finally go above the Colts to the number 1 spot on there as well.
On Defense we lead the NFL in sacks and have not allowed an individual rusher to go over 100 yards in normal game time all season. The secondary is beaten up and can concede yards but always seem to be able to come up with a stop when it is needed hence the 12-2 record. The NFL ranks us 16th but Aikman has us 8th recognising that teams may put up the yards but don't necessarily score points at the end of them.
As of now my doubting days are over. I'm going into the play offs looking forward not back and remembering the thrilling wins rather than the desperate defeats.
These are the 2005 Seahawks and I BELIEVE!
Andrew Robinson 22nd December 2005
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