As you may or may not know I am a huge Seattle Seahawks fan. I have been a fan since I first started watching football back in 1980 or so when I was about 7 years old. I am a season ticket holder since 2000, I have about 12 jerseys, 10 shirts, many different flags, blankets, and other Seahawks items. I drive about 280 miles each way to go to the games in Seattle and cheer my head off until I am horse, my ears are ringing, and my head is throbbing with a headache. So, yeah, I am a huge Seahawks fan.
I attended the game this past Sunday against the Bears and when I got home from the game I watched the game that I had recorded so I could get two different perspectives. So after seeing the game live and seeing the broadcast of the game let me give you my thoughs:
Injuries are killing the Seahawks. Last year the Seahawks were one of the most injured teams and it is starting off much the same this year. In this game they were missing 8 starters including Pro-Bowl level players like Matt Hasselbeck, Walter Jones, Lofa Tatupu, Marcus Trufant, and Leroy Hill. Every team deals with injuries throughout the year but (and I am saying this without doing any research into the rosters of all the other teams) I don’t think any other team has started out in such bad shape healthwise than the Seahawks. With the Seahawks missing 2 starting linebackers, 2 starting corners, 2 starting O-linemen, and their starting QB it is gonna be tough for them to win. They need to get healthy very quickly or it could be another long season.
Seneca Wallace is a very good backup QB but still isn’t ready to be a top notch starter. Seneca Wallace brings a lot of talent and athleticism to the field. He was able to avoid some heavy pressure from the Bears and move around the pocket and make a lot of plays. But there were at least two times where he could have run for a first down fairly easily but he passed into tight coverage and luckily avoided some interceptions. He needs to make better decisions when he rolls out and has room to run. He doesn’t need to be an option QB and run 20 times a game but I do think he needs to run 5 or 6 times on planned bootlegs and also when he breaks containment.
Seneca needs to work on his touch passes. There were about 4 plays where he had some receivers open downfield but he overthrew his receivers. When Seneca can zip the ball into some comeback routes, crossing routes, and the like he is very solid but he needs to work on his touch on fade routes, corner routes, and stuff like that.
The Bears were bringing a ton of pressure. All game long the Chicago Bears were blitzing and pressuring Seneca Wallace. All things considered I think Wallace handled the pressure very well and was able to step up in the pocket or roll out and avoid sacks but if the Seahawks were to call more screen passes or smoke passes I think they could have slowed the pass rush a bit and given Seneca more time to get the ball downfield.
Learn to throw the ball away!!! The only really bad decision Seneca Wallace made was when he was backed up in his own endzone, rolled out, and tried to make a miracle sidearm pass to John Carlson which was a terrible throw and was picked off by Lance Briggs. He should have just launched the ball out of bounds. The Bears were able to quickly turn that turnover into points.
Indisputable evidence my butt! There was a critical call before halftime. Matt Forte caught a pass and headed toward the goal line and was tackled from behind. As he was being tackled David Hawthorne knocked the ball loose and recovered. It was called a fumble on the field and the play was reviewed. As I watched the replay it was very tough to tell if he was down or if he did actually fumble but the call on the field was fumble so the ref would need to see some clear evidence to overturn the call. Personally I didn’t see any evidence to overturn the call. There was no clear view that showed exactly when his leg was down and exactly when the ball came out. This call shouldn’t have been overturned. If it was called down by contact on the field there was no way to overturn it the other way either. So rather than taking at least a 13-0 lead into the locker room the Seahawks were only up 13-7.
OK, enough about the game. There are plenty of places to read other recaps. I have more thoughts but it just makes me angry to type them. So lets talk about the gameday experience.
Qwest Field is AWESOME! I haven’t been to too many other NFL stadiums but Qwest Field rocks! There is little doubt in my mind it is the loudest stadium in the league. The crowd at Qwest doesn’t stop. All game the 12th Man brought it hard and there is no other crowd that affects the game as much as the Seattle crowd.
What is “proper” fan behavior? I’m not sure there is any way to make a fan code of conduct that can be enforced and will be accepted by everyone. But just based on common human decency there should be some guidelines.
For opposing fans: You can come into our stadium but it will not be a pleasant day for you. You should feel a bit uncomfortable but never physically threatened. If you do come into our stadium you can cheer quietly for your team but if you turn around and start egging on the crowd be prepared for anything. The amount of abuse you receive should totally be determined by you. If you antagonize the home town fans that is your problem. You will be yelled at and cursed at but you should never be physically assaulted or have stuff thrown at you unless you bring it on yourself.
Home town fans: Yell and scream for your team as much as you want. Cheer loud and proud all game. You have every right to heckle any opposing fan or team but at least keep it reasonable. You can tell a guy his team sucks but try not to get too personal (unless it is really funny). Of course there will be plenty of profanity yelled at the game but at least try to be creative once in a while. There is no reason to physically assault an opposing fan or throw stuff at them. Also take it easy on the kids. For the most part they don’t know any better and are only rooting for the opposing team because they have been brainwashed by their parents. Of course there will be jackass opposing fans there but for the most part they will realize that your team is better than theirs and you can have a good time trash talking back and forth and get a congratulatory high five from them when your team kills theirs on the field. Gameday should be fun. Don’t end up in jail because of it.
There are too many styles of jerseys out there. Back in the day when you went to a game you generally saw two styles of jerseys: Home and away. Now with all the throwbacks, alternate jerseys, and fashion jerseys there are usually at least a half dozen different styles for each team. At this game I saw at least 12 different styles of jerseys in the stands. Of course the most popular is the standard home jersey for the Seahawks but then you had away jerseys, the lime green alternates, throwbacks, the black Shadow jersey which looks too much like a Raiders jersey for my taste, 3 different styles of pink jerseys, 2 other styles of the green alternate, plus about 6 different Bears jerseys. That is just way too many.
I don’t really have a problem with alternate jerseys but the ones that make me mad are the fashion jerseys that really have nothing to do with the team’s normal colors. In my opinion the preferred jersey should be the standard home jersey followed by the away jersey and then the alternate jersey. Beyond that it just gets ridiculous.
Now about those lime green Seahawks alternate jerseys: When I first saw some of these a couple years ago I thought they were pretty ugly but different enough to be decent. When rumors started to fly this year about them actually wearing them on the field I thought there was no way it would happen. But it did. At first sight I thought they were terrible but they started to grow on me. I still think they are pretty bad but not as bad as I originally thought. The biggest problem I had with them was the blue sleeves. I think with some design changes they could be decent in the future.
Overall it was a good game. I have been to louder games, funner games, better performances by the team, etc. but they are all a blast to go to. If you ever get a chance to see your home team play go do it. It is an experience you won’t forget. I will probably be at 3-4 more games this year and I am looking forward to all of them.
