Blanchette: Seahawks a dynasty that never developed

SEATTLE – Back in the era of good feelings after Super Bowl XLVIII, much oxygen and bandwidth were expended on the concept of dynasty and how it applied to the newly crowned champions of football, the Seattle Seahawks.

Time, hubris and the inexorable grind of competition have pretty much buried that notion. Also, shopping for offensive lineman along the North Monroe antique/thrift corridor has not helped.

This isn’t to say the Seahawks can’t still be a hoot.

Just not in the playoffs.

And making the playoffs is sort of a prerequisite for being in the dynasty business.

Yes, that’s a premature pronouncement. Seven long weeks remain in the NFL season, and the wild-carding could still take a zig or a zag, if you’re feeling optimistic. But the 2015 Seahawks are what they’ve shown us to be – which today is 4-5 in the standings –and we’ve yet to find a market square where such a record can be bartered for high hopes.

“It’s shrinking for us,” admitted safety Earl Thomas. “We understand that.”

Still, mileage may vary.

“Is it the end of the world?” said Russell Wilson. “No. We have five losses, and there are years you’re 11-5 and find a way.”

But if the quarterback is predicating his rosy view on running the table…

What’s undeniable at this point is that the torch has passed in the NFC West to the Arizona Cardinals now that they seem to be able to keep their quarterback in one piece. All Carson Palmer did Sunday night was throw for 363 yards and three touchdowns in a 39-32 victory that put them three games up on the Seahawks in the standings.

Was it Holly Holm leveling Ronda Rousey with a foot to the throat?

No, the Seahawks had more fight in them than that.

As mentioned, they still entertain. They spotted the Cardinals a 19-point lead in an embarrassment of a first half and stormed back in typical Seahawks fashion to take the lead with 13 minutes to play.

But the roar from 69,005 at CenturyLink Field was something less than seismic, betraying both a knowledge of the season’s baffling theme and what their own eyes had witnessed this night.

“It was our game to win,” said coach Pete Carroll.

Except that not winning the games that were theirs to win has become the defining quality of these Seahawks, however much they want to squawk and preen to the contrary.

Regardless of the two big Arizona turnovers they forced to change the game’s momentum, the fact remains that the once-proud Seattle defense surrendered 39 points (for the first time since 2010) and blew another fourth-quarter lead. And when the statement stop was needed, a 48-yard touchdown run was conceded instead.

Naturally, there was more.

In a showdown game of import –and with a bye week to prepare – the Seahawks unraveled in the most undisciplined, ragtag fashion possible. Fourteen flags, 131 yards.

“We couldn’t play that game the way we wanted to play it,” Carroll alibied.

No kidding. Marshawn Lynch carried the ball just eight times, and his Beast understudy, Thomas Rawls, just twice. First-and-20 was the default down and distance, thanks to that cut-rate offensive line that can’t get out of its own way, much less protect or clear a path. The offense put together two drives of note – an up-tempo breakthrough near the end of the first half, and another quickie in the third quarter that amounted to two long passes to Doug Baldwin.

But this wasn’t all on the line.

Though he again spent a good deal of his time scrambling for his life, the $87 million quarterback was mostly frightful – 14 of 32, a terrible pick when he threw to the wrong receiver and maybe the game-deciding mistake, intentional grounding after checking to a go-route with the Hawks at midfield and down three.

Also, the big-ticket tight end – Jimmy Graham –continues to have cheap-seats impact.

Yet even in the dynasty talk days, Seattle’s offense could be considered, uh, challenged.

“That’s the nature of playing for the Seattle Seahawks,” Thomas said. “The pressure is going to be on the defense every time we play. We understand that we have to hold up.”

Except now the base defense is vulnerable – the fumbles forced by K.J. Wright and Cliff Avril were the result of blitzes, Seattle’s only effective way of getting to Palmer. And for the first time in memory, Seattle’s corners were simply dominated – 15 catches by the redoubtable Larry Fitzgerald alone. Richard Sherman? Two pass interference calls, and a humbling beat by Michael Floyd for a touchdown.

Carroll kept wanting to revisit the first half when “we made a mess of things,” he said.

Yet the truth is, they did it at the end, too, as they have all season. And he’s been unable to fix it.

Maybe because there’s simply too much to fix.