These aren’t your father’s Seahawks, yet
SEATTLE – In a decade of following the Seahawks, I’ve heard the “we’re a different team this season” refrain from players and coaches roughly a blue billion times.
On Sunday, the Seahawks tried something different. Instead of talking about how different they are, they showed it.
They won a football game they probably had no business winning. They beat a respectable, well-coached opponent that they might see again in the playoffs. They won a physical, low-scoring, steel-cage grudge match. That’s Dallas’ style, not Seattle’s.
And after their magical comeback in the closing minutes resulted in a 13-10 victory at Qwest Field, well, the Seahawks had earned the right to describe just how different they really are.
“When you play a game like today against a really good team, even though it’s early in the season, there are some good ramifications,” head coach Mike Holmgren said. “It is a measuring stick as to where we are.”
Let’s get out the ruler. At 5-2, Seattle is one of only two NFC teams with five wins. Tampa Bay (5-1) is without its starting quarterback. Atlanta (4-2), which Seattle defeated in the second game of the season, can get to five wins with a victory over the Jets tonight. Philadelphia is still probably the class of the NFC, but it, too, has an ailing quarterback in Donovan McNabb.
The Seahawks already erased one hex by defeating NFC West rival St. Louis on the road. After this week’s bye, Seattle enters a three-game stretch against Arizona (2-4), St. Louis (3-4) and San Francisco (1-5). The Hawks figure to be decisive favorites in all three games.
“It just feels good to be talked about,” offensive tackle Walter Jones said. “I know Dallas is feeling bad, but it’s great to go home tonight and watch highlights and know we’re on the winning side.”
Too often Seattle has been on the other side of these types of games. In search of perspective in the Seahawks’ locker room, veteran center Robbie Tobeck is usually a good place to start.
“I don’t know if maybe we had the character or maturity,” said Tobeck, when asked if Seattle would have won this game a year ago. “But this is this year and I really believe in the team we have.
“The last few years we’ve been in these games and we haven’t been on the right side of it. It’s just a great feeling to finally get one. I think back this year to (a 20-17 overtime loss to) Washington, and we felt like we should have won that, but we didn’t make the plays. I’m just glad we got over that hump today.”
The Cowboys were one more hump in Seattle’s distraction-filled week. Safety Ken Hamlin suffered a fractured skull and blood clot in an altercation early Monday morning, hours after Seattle dismantled Houston 42-10.
Hamlin remains in the hospital, but he’s said to be improving.
“He left a little video message for us (Saturday night), telling us to do what we do: ‘We’re the Seahawks, we’re winners,’ ” running back Shaun Alexander said. “It’s going to be exciting to go by the hospital and give him another game ball, and tell him that we’re doing what we do.”
It’s not what the Seahawks used to do. They used to build expectations only to fall short. They used to talk a lot and fail to back it up. They used to find ways to lose instead of snagging victory from certain defeat. They were 3-0 last year, only to lose in the first round of the playoffs. They were 5-1 in 2003, only to lose in the first round of the playoffs. They were 8-2 in 1999, only to lose in the first round of the playoffs.
A certain amount of caution is always advisable regarding the Seahawks, but this team seems to have the right intangibles.
“Never underestimate the importance of winning,” said receiver Joe Jurevicius, who is emerging as one of Seattle’s biggest additions in years. “It snowballs.”
It rained emotion in the locker room.
“Some guys were in tears, some guys were screaming, some jumping around, a lot of hugs, a lot of high-fives,” said Tobeck, a former Washington State Cougar. “It’s winning a big one, and this was a big game. They’re a team that is one of the best in the league. To win it the way we did, it’s a real emotional deal.”
“It was totally nuts, crazy in here,” offered cornerback Marcus Trufant, another ex-Coug. “Lately in the close games we’ve fallen short. Everyone feels good about that one.”
Apparently even reserved owner Paul Allen joined in.
“You should have seen our locker room,” quarterback Matt Hasselbeck said. “There were a lot of grown men acting like kids.”
“It’s been a while since we’ve had the ball bounce our way,” said fullback Mack Strong, the team’s elder statesman with 13 years of service. “Where we’ve been down most of the game and we were able to make plays at the end. It feels good to know what that feels like.”
A different feeling, to be sure, but one the Seahawks might want to get used to.