Week Two: The Inconvenient Truth

To cut right to the chase, here's a list of people who will NOT be receiving this award this week: Chris Spencer, Walter Jones, Matt Hasselbeck, Sean Locklear, Marcus Trufant, Lofa Tatupu, Leroy Hill, Josh Wilson, Brandon Mebane and any other Seahawk player who was already hurt or came out of that game nicked up.

Oh yea, an one other guy from yesterday's game who'll NEVER get any recognition from Seahawks Fans: Bill "my penalty flag is black and yellow" Leavy. Even though it was a fairly called contest yesterday, when I saw that "over-officious jerk" as the game official I knew Seattle would be in for a long day.

But before you think this is going to be another whiny Seahawks fan rant blaming the loss on injuries and officials, here's a list of those who SHOULD be getting an Alba Dark Angel Award this week, other than the fact they play for the wrong team: Mike Singletary, his O and D coordinators, Frank Gore, Vernon Davis, Shaun Hill, the entire 49er O-Line, Manny Lawson, Nate Clements, Dre Bly and the entire 49er defense.(except for Patrick Willis - sure it was a clean hit, but you can't put our starting QB out of a game and have me like you!)

The Seahawks got their asses kicked, plain and simple, and no spoonful of sugar will help this medicine go down. As a matter of fact, I was really concerned about how handily they dispatched the opponent last weekend, and feared that our young defense might think that the would pitch a shut-out EVERY week without breaking a sweat. Well, this is the NFL rookies, and we only get to play the Rams twice!

Yes, there *was* some good in Sundays games, and no, I'm not looking at you Mr. Babineaux and Mr. Grant, so you can just go on tending to those burn wounds.

Had Seneca Wallace come in and scored more than a gimme TD from inside the five, he would have probably won this Dark Angel Award, but alas, he's no Tom Brady or even Matt Cassell, so our backup QB was not riding in on his white stallion to save the day.

Giving up another career day to Frank Gore notwithstanding, I need to mention "Good" Will Herring and David "Heater" Hawthorne, two other backups who were thrown into starting roles, and found themselves equal to the task. Also worth mentioning was the play of Brandon Frye, who came in for an injured Locklear, who was already filling in for an injured Walter Jones. Honestly, I had no idea who Frye was, and when I saw #77 on the o-line, I thought Pork Chop had mysteriously reappeared.

Justin Forsett is the first-runner up for the award this week. When nothing else seemed to be clicking for the Seahawks, it seemed like it was the diminutive Forsett running through tackles, catching screens, fielding punts and carrying defenders for an extra yard or two. After watching highly compensated veterans Julius Jones and Edge James do their Shaun Alexander impressions, it was refreshing to see effort, determination and heart from the littlest guy in the backfield, both in terms of stature and paycheck.

So, if not Forsett, who draws A.D.A. Iron this week? A valid question, but one that any long-time Seahawks fan could answer if they stop and think about it for awhile. There was one other factor that was extremely significant in yesterday's game, and will seem to be a major contributor to the outcome of each game the rest of the way through the season.

This week's Alba's Dark Angel Award to ADVERSITY.

Mike Tyson once said "everyone has a plan, until you hit them in the mouth", and the 49ers landed jabs and combinations all game long, including two hay-makers from Frank Gore, which turned out to be the difference in the game. Seahawk optomists (of which I'm one) like to point out that if it weren't for those two big runs by Gore, the game was pretty even. However, that's like saying if it weren't for the two big hairy balls hanging out of her G-string, that tranny you picked up in the Castro district last night was one hot chick!

Seahawks fans have watched this team be faced with adversity over the years, and not always respond to the challenge. Most fans can even rattle off the laundry list of misfortune, the ref interfering with the D-Jack reception, the time clock snafu in Baltimore, Shaun's broken foot, Lofa's claw, and leaning on these excuses is what gets Seahawks fans branded as whiners. Hell, even will all the calls, Superbowl XL was a winnable game, had the Seahawks players and coaching staff kept their heads and had risen to the challenge, yet I'm one of the most vocal about "not getting over it".

It's time for this organization, including its fans, to stop relying on convenient excuses and bad karma as a justification for losing, and just go out and take care of business. The 49ers certainly were not concerned with the recent history of losing to the Seahawks. The Cardinals went out and laid a thumping on the Jaguars, even in the dreaded Eastern Time zone, after coming up short at home against the 49ers. And even the hapless Rams put up more of a fight this week after being embarrased at Qwest last Sunday.

If we want to salvage this season, we have to start by doing to the Bears what the Bears just did to the Steelers, which is forget about a dismal offensive performance, or injuries to the Pro Bowl middle linebacker, and go out and beat the team that is lining up on the other side of the ball, even if they are the defending Super Bowl champs.

So this week's Dark Angel Award goes to Adversity, and I'm hoping that the Seahawks organization also recognizes and embraces our old friend Adversity, and uses it as a motivating factor the rest of the season, instead of a crutch.


[Comments taken in the SeahawkBlue Forum]

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