I got dibs on the first Seahawks bar in Tanzania, called it!
Gotta keep on risin. At least that's what the Lizard King, Jim Morrison said. And I'll take my chances and take Jim for his word. Not only was the man one of the greatest creators in the history of music, with more talent in his pinky finger than most of mainstream music as a collective today, but the man was a visionary and a genius. A living legend and an icon. He was also pretty bad ass. Just like the 2012 Seattle Seahawks and their head coach Pete Carroll.
After the road bump in Arizona it would have been easy for this team to get down on themselves. After all, they had just been beaten at their own game and were physically beaten down as well. That just had to sting the ego a little bit, you know it did. It stung my ego a whole lot and I'm just a fan, I can imagine the players felt it far worse than any of us did. However, as we've come accustomed to under Pete Carroll, the team bounced back with a resounding win against the Cowboys and all that momentum that appeared to disappear like Jimmy Hoffa after the loss in Glendale magically reappeared again like Michael Saunders' talent.
That's why Pete Carroll preaches keeping an even keel and approaching each game individually and preparing for it equally as thoroughly. There are going to be road bumps during this season, that's almost certain, the schedule is that ruthless. What's going to be important is the players demeanor and ability to fight through pain, struggles, and fatigue. Luckily, that's what this team has been built to do. They've been trained to dish out the pain in all 3 areas of the game. They've been built to "win a street fight", which means that even when you don't have your A game, you can still find a way to scratch out a win. And they've been built to tire the opposition and wear them out to ultimately seal a victory, just like they did against Dallas.
What a difference a week makes when you think that just a short week ago a large portion of Seahawks fans were ready to jump off their local bridge (sorry, my Washington State bridge knowledge isn't where it should be, I know) without so much as leaving a note behind for their families. Things were that depressing. It would have been easy for Russell Wilson to implode, for J.R. Sweezy to contemplate switching back to defensive tackle, for Gus Bradley and Darrell Bevell to hand in their resignations, for Frank Omiyale to pay off DeMarcus Ware so that he'd only get 3 sacks instead of however many he wanted, and for the receivers to take a knee after every catch they made, but they didn't. No, instead they did the exact opposite. The team played with the sense of fearlessness which is becoming a trademark of this team under the JS/PC watch. Resiliency? Check! They played with a commitment to themselves, each other, and the fans that was clearly visible for all to see. They played Seattle Seahawks football.
Time Now to Rise to the Top
The Seahawks are at a very interesting crossroads heading into Week 3. They're facing the Packers, at home, on Monday Night in a game which the Packers will surely be the favorites. This ignores the fact that the Seahawks have the best Monday Night Football Winning Percentage in the NFL and it also ignores the fact that the Seahawks have won five in a row on Monday Night. Pretty much just like the Cowboys game this past Sunday, nobody's really expecting much from the Seahawks here. I say, good! We all know that the 'Hawks have performed far better as the underdog rather than the favorite in the past. However, life as the perpetual underdog might not exist for too much longer if things go as expected. So you should probably enjoy this underdog thing while it lasts.
Before the opener I was ranting and raving to anybody who would listen about the 'Hawks taking the next step and it starting in Arizona. I was near positive in the weeks leading up to the game that the Seahawks would finally become a team that you can expect to win the "gimme" games with authority and that they'd be a perennial contender. I clearly jumped the gun and Arizona wasn't nearly as mediocre as we thought. Will they take that step now? Or will this be a frustrating season filled with inconsistency and silver linings and coulda, shoulda, woulda's and hope for next season? We saw that with the 2010 San Francisco 49ers. Projected by everyone to win the NFC West, only to get thumped by the Seahawks in Week 1 and ultimately miss the playoffs. Not that I would compare any team to one coached by Mike Singletary. Even John Schneider has consistently maintained that this is a "4 year plan." None of us will truly know what he means by that. However, I'm gettin that feeling back guys. I'm gettin that feelin that if the Seahawks win this game on Monday night their sails will set higher than ever before and they'll be a force to be reckoned with for a LONG time.
"We made it a physical day for them, and they weren't prepared. We lasted longer than them, and I feel like we were in better shape. So that's the kind of mentality we've got to keep playing with, and if we do, it's going to be hard for us to get beat.'' - Earl Thomas
I think this quote from Earl Thomas is what gives me the most faith in the Seahawks keeping their momentum from last week. You see the trust and the cohesion. You see the unity. It was evident after the Cardinals loss. There was a ton of blame to go around but no one stopped for a second and pointed any fingers. Instead they got on with it. These guys are starting to see that if they execute the coaching staff's gameplan to as close to perfect as possible that they will dominate teams. They can snatch the will to keep fighting from the opposition's souls like a demon in a horror movie. The Seahawks can be the boogeyman of the NFL and I love it! These guys want to be Morrison, they want to be Hendrix. They want to be living legends and what's better is they are willing to fight and work hard to get there. Besides, who wants to take the easy road anyway? This is Seattle Seahawks football damnit! Nothin's easy! Earn everything!
Five to one, baby
One in five
No one here gets out alive, now
You get yours, baby
I'll get mine
Gonna make it, baby
If we try
The old get old
And the young get stronger
May take a week
And it may take longer
They got the guns
But we got the numbers
Gonna win, yeah
We're takin' over
Come on!
Yeah!
Thank you Mr. Mojo Risin', for writing a song in 1968 ("Five to One", in case you didn't know) about the state of the 2012 Seattle Seahawks. You made today a whole lot easier for me. Five to One surely refers to the odds your bookie would likely give you on the Packers for this game and how the young, strong Seahawks will make sure that no one gets out of CenturyLink Field alive. I think the 12th man is the "baby" that Morrison keeps referring to, which is nice. Then I think that Morrison takes a poke at me asking whether or not this will be the week that the Seahawks rise to the top, it may take a week or it may take longer, thanks for the insight Jim. They've got the guns (Championship?) but we got the numbers (67,000 thousand screaming fans!) Wait, what's that Jim?! "Gonna win, yeah.. We're takin' over.. Come on!" Yeah! I'm down with that! There ya have it folks. Fuhgeddaboudit, Jim Morrison pickin the 'Hawks to win from beyond the grave. It's that Mojo Risin'.
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