Chris Holmes Online

It’s Hype Week for Super Bowl XL and as far as the national media is concerned this game is already over and done; Pittsburgh has won and we should just start looking forward to the NFL Draft. Every “expert” who has a say has already annointed the Steelers as the Super Bowl winners (even those HBO guys, who decided to delay their picks until Wednesday, are going to pick Pittsburgh – you can read it between the lines pretty easy).

Of all the media people who have picked the Steelers though, the one that I find the most insulting is Paul Zimmerman. I’ve been disappointed with Zimmerman all year because he just flat-out hates the Seahawks. Ok, maybe hate is the wrong word – he’d probably bristle his old feathers at that – but the truth is he really doesn’t like the Seahawks. He thinks their soft; phoneys and imposters. And he’s been thinking that since before the season started.

One thing that really bugs me is that Zimmerman is a self-proclaimed appreciator of linemen: those guys in the trenches who often determine the outcome of the game by how dominating they are over their opponents. The Seahawks sport the best offensive line in the NFL, as well as a defensive front four that has proven to be very good at getting pressure on opposing quarterbacks without having to resort to blitzes and extra defenders (lead the NFL in sacks), and yet Zimmerman has somehow managed to ignore these two facts all year long.

The worst part though, is that in this week’s Sport Illustrated, Zimmerman is the guy who pens the prediction column. He starts off by blasting the teams for playing the No Respect Card, and then he goes on to do exactly what he’s done all season: disrespect and ignore Seattle. He picks the Steelers of course, for what he calls “No good reason.” Of course, the real reason is because he just flat-out doesn’t like the Seahawks.

It started as early as July with Zimmerman. He wrote a piece for SI.com where he yacks about the Vegas Betting Lines, and then proceeds to pick the Seahawks to win less than 9 games:

“Taking the under on Seattle to win 8 1/2 and getting +105 in my favor,” I said off the top of my head. I really don’t know why. I just have a feeling their run is over.

He continues dismissing the Seahawks a few weeks later with his pre-season picks:

2. SEAHAWKS (9-7)

And out of the playoffs, see? That’ll teach you to fold, when I picked you to go to the Super Bowl, as I did last year. I like the components of this team, except their wideouts drop the ball and their defense takes the pipe as the stakes get higher. In other words, this has the makings of a choke team. Now tell me exactly what I sound like? You’re right, like a guy who’s just failed to cash a big bet and is bitter. Well, I mean, they were my Super Bowl team, for God’s sake.

And after Week 1, Zimmerman’s already trying to kick the Seahawks with his Power Rankings:

If I weren’t so tired Sunday night, when I did my handicapping column, I would have made Atlanta my upset special No. 5 against the ‘Hawks, playing in Seattle. I have a feeling a lot of honest investors will be cursing this Hawkeye bunch by season’s end.

Later on, when the ‘Hawks were nursing a 2-2 start, Zimmerman decides to take a shot at Mike Holmgren, one of the classiest coaches in the NFL and a guy who honestly, truly believes in the human spirit and giving people multiple chances to straighten themselves out:

Mike Holmgren describes Bobby Engram as “the heart and soul of my team.” So tell me, please, why he sat on the bench for three years behind a Good Time Charley such as Koren Robinson?

Of course, Zimmerman isn’t done. After the guys as ESPN decided to give the mostly unknown Seahawks some national attention, Dr. Z wastes no time whipping out his bazooka and blasting them:

This is the best team in the NFL, according to the ESPN geniuses, astutely analyzing the Hawks’ win over Houston. Something like that makes me want them to lose. But in the magazine, I picked them to beat Dallas. Guess which way I’m rooting?

At the halfway point of the season Dr. Z attempted to look back and figure out how he’d gotten it wrong in the NFC West. All he could muster was this pathetic explanation:

Now we get to the bad part. I had the Rams winning at 9-7, with the Seahawks posting the same mark but losing out via playoff formula. I’m trying to think back on what there was about St. Louis that I liked better than the Seahawks. Maybe it was the memory of how the ‘Hawks lost to St. Louis three times last season, including the wild-card game, in which they blew a seven-point lead in the fourth quarter.

See, this is where I get steamed. Zimmerman is supposed to be doing this for a living. He’s supposed to be paying attention; in the know, getting the real dirt, figuring out what’s going on. And he was clueless. He didn’t even know that this was a team with (count ‘em) 8 new starters on defense. They hired Tim Ruskell as the new general manager who subsequently cleaned house of players that helped cause those collapses. This was a different team, but old Dr. Z didn’t have a clue. He was basing his entire 2005 Seahawks prediction on what happened in 2004.

Then we get to his mailbag, where he gets to cherry-pick letters from Seahawks fans who don’t believe, just so he can keep his down-on-Seattle vibe turned up to 10:

Chris of Washington D.C. agrees with my doubts about the Seahawks. And he’s a Hawks fan. Too many criticisms to name, but if the hard core fans are revolting … no, I didn’t mean that; they’re not revolting at all, they’re nice people … if the hard core fans are in revolt, is anything safe?

Even in victory Zimmerman finds ways to doubt and disrespect the Seahawks, as he does after Seattle beats the Giants at home:

The Giants were the tougher team. The Giants should have beaten them. But this was a huge win for the ‘Hawks because it keeps the home fires burning, and it’s not easy for the visiting team to mount an offense in that House of Sound called Qwest Stadium.

Nevermind that the officials gave the Giants two free touchdowns (for a total of 14 points) on plays that should have been reversed on replay, or seen correctly the first time. No, the Giants were the tougher team. Whatever. I can be pretty damn tough too when the zebras are spotting me free points as well. Tougher? Who missed three field goals to win it? Oh yeah – the tougher team…

As if that wasn’t enough (maybe Zimmerman is a Giants fan?) he spends his next article blasting the crowd noise, largely because of the way the Giants lost to Seattle at Quest field:

One writer took the vulgar and highly unpopular position of supporting the NFL in this situation. Competition, he wrote, should be decided by the participants on the field, not by some half-drunk idiot in the stands. Was it I who wrote that? Of course it was, but you knew that already. Oh boy, did I ever get pilloried. Fire that moron was one of the milder suggestions.

Fire? Nah. Would rather beat you over the head with a Seahawks Super Bowl win, and hopefully in 6 more days we’ll be able to do just that.

Back to the Zimmerman Files though. A week later the ‘Hawks vaulted to his #2 spot, the highest perch all season. But even in making that leap Dr. Z takes a moment to belittle Shaun Alexander’s touchdown prowess:

Shaun Alexander’s two TD runs, of one and two yards, got him up to 92 touchdowns over a five-year period, one more than the former record holder, Emmitt Smith. I have never been impressed by records built on one and two-yard runs.

A couple weeks later, after an amazing three-week run at the #2 spot, Zimmerman takes another shot at the ‘Hawks defense:

I’m reading about all the records this team could set. I’m also noticing that the Titans put together four long scoring drives Sunday. OK, a down game on the road and all that, but do you really feel that you’re seeing a big league defense at work here?

Big League Defense… Oh, if only he could have known how Big League the Seahawks defense would be when it met his Panthers a few weeks later in the NFC Championship game.

By the way – it had to be killing Zimmerman to put Seattle #2, didn’t it? I mean, he throws a jab at this team every single chance he gets. He’s praying for failure at this point because he can’t stand the thought of having to write something positive about a team that he simply doesn’t know or understand.

Finally we get to the playoffs, and Zimmerman – for the first time all year – picks the Seahawks to win. But he doesn’t believe in them, you can hear it in the voice:

Washington is the tougher team, but the Hawks are rested and they’ve got tremendous firepower. One nagging thing I can’t forget, though, is how they blew their chance to beat the ‘Skins last time by playing it cozy.

We’re back to that “tougher team” balony. What do the ‘Hawks have to do to prove their toughness? That’s coming up… But before then we get a glimse into Dr. Z’s real feelings about Seattle (he’s just dying to see them fail!):

Noah of Chicago is not impressed with what he considers the Seahawks’ easy schedule. You know something? I’m not going to get into that now, after the way the Jaguars fans blistered me for pointing out the same thing. I mean after getting my left cheek roasted, do I want to hold my right one to the fire? But if the Skins upset Seattle, you bet I’ll be leading the parade of, “You could see it coming … I mean who did they play?” (Journalists, as you know, are America’s greatest front-runners).

Fortunately, Seattle won the game even though their MVP went down early with a concussion, largely due to a dominating defense and Matt Hasselbeck’s break-out performance. Hasselbeck scrambled on critical plays to keep drives alive, and Mo Morris subbed in for Alexander to grind out some tough 3rd-and-2 yards. But Dr. Z evidently didn’t see that game, because there was no mention of Hasselbeck’s heroics in his post-game column which was titled Jackson Emerges For Seattle. Ok, sure, Darrell Jackson had a great game, but who was leading that offense? Casper the Friendly Ghost? Maybe Zimmerman doesn’t just hate Seattle, he hates Hasselbeck as well?

Finally, we end with this: After the championship games, when Seattle blasted Dr. Z’s Super Bowl favorites, the Carolina Panthers, do we get any sort of column acknowledging what the ‘Hawks have accomplished? Nope. Check Dr. Z’s archives for yourself; there’s nothing there. Just one article on Tom Brady not getting ripped enough, and then Commentator Awards.

So there you have it, the season of the Seahawks as seen through the eyes and words of Paul Zimmerman, one of Sports Illustrated’s elite NFL writers. Yep, he’s a fountain of wisdom and knowledge, at the very top of his game.

Or he just hates the Seahawks.

Post game comments come in two flavors: those that are immediate, right after the event has happened when everything is still fresh in our mind, and those that formulate after a period of reflection. Maybe I’ll do the latter next week. For right now I feel the need to write something down for all the other Seattle fans and maybe for the few who frequent this site.

When the clock hit the 2:00 mark in the 4th quarter I turned to my wife and asked, “Did you ever think you’d see this in your lifetime?” Her answer was definite and sure: “No.”

I’ve always been a little bit more optimistic in my life as a Seahawks fan but even I did not envision such a butt-whooping as the ‘Hawks put on Carolina. Probably because, for as much as I like to formulate my own opinion I am still clouded by the input of others, namely the press and ESPN. And all week long all we heard was Steve Smith this, Steve Smith that, Steve Smith is impossible to stop and Seattle’s defense isn’t that good.

I got brainwashed.

But not to the point that everyone else did. No one really gave the ‘Hawks a chance in this game. Not the experts at Sports Illustrated, not the guys at ESPN, not the guys at CBS… This was Carolina’s game and Seattle might as well not bother showing up. But I wasn’t totally fooled by the hype. A few days ago I wrote:

The facts are: the deck is stacked against Caronlina. They lost their running back. They have one offensive weapon in Steve Smith. As good as he is I’ve never seen one wide receiver win a playoff game by himself. Even Jerry Rice couldn’t do that.

I picked Seattle. More weapons. A balanced offense that was on the verge of being a juggernaut, and a defensive unit that I felt was underrated, while everyone else said they were overrated for playing in a soft NFC West division. I just felt like they were going to focus their attention on Smith and force Carolina to beat them with someone else. And I thought they could get pressure on Delhomme with four down linemen because that’s what they have done all season.

Turns out I wasn’t far off the mark, was I? I hate it when people get all smart-ass on everyone and say “I told you so“, but now I know why they do it: because if feels good. Take that Peter King, Paul Zimmerman, Dan Marino, Tom Jackson, and the rest of you “experts.” You got it wrong.

As for the game itself, I was a nervious wreck the entire time. All butterflies and anxiety. I’d never seen this before. Last time the ‘Hawks played for a trip to the Super Bowl I was 13 years old and more interested in sledding out in the snow than watching football.

I thought the Lofa Tatupu interception was outstanding, but I didn’t expect any more from the defense. I loved Jerramy Stevens’ touchdown catch over the middle, showing why a 6′7″ tight end is so valuable. I love the way he has emerged for this team as a great receiving threat (he finished the game with 6 catches for 66 yards and the touchdown, pretty good for a tight end). Seneca Wallace catching that pass was awesome; bet Carolina didn’t see that coming. That was a nice reward for a guy that was used during practice to immitate Steve Smith, and who Holmgren said they “beat the hell out of him.” Darrel Jackson, aching back and all, was huge again. Most underappreciated wide receiver in the NFL.

Shaun Alexander was able to silence the critics finally. They were dogging him all week with the “Yeah, but he hasn’t done anything in the playoffs his entire career.” Now we can put those stupid, silly thoughts to rest.

And Matt Hasselbeck reminded us of the greats; of Farve and Elway. Farve because Hasselbeck looks like Farve in his prime, when Brett had complete command of Holmgren’s West Coast Offense and Elway because he scrambled again this week, at opportune times, killing the defense’s soul and sucking the heart right out of them. I used to curse Elway because he did this to my Seahawks, keeping drives alive and converting third downs with his stupid running ability. Now I’m praising Matt for doing the same thing. For all the talk about how Seattle wouldn’t be able to stop Steve Smith it was Carolina that proved unable to stop the best, most balanced offense in the NFL.

And the defense… I simply can’t say enough about how they impressed me. Even I didn’t expect that level of domination. That was as impressive a display of scheming, hitting and tackling as I’ve ever seen from a Seattle team. Folks said you couldn’t shut down Steve Smith, only contain him. They said, “he’ll get his catches.” I can’t remember which pre-game show it was, but someone said something to the effect of, “If you can hold him to something like 9 catches for 93 yards then you’re doing good.”

Final stat line proved different for Steve Smith: 5 catches, 33 yards. Evidently Seattle’s defense did the impossible.

As the game wore on all I could think was, “We have to score more points.” Even when the lead was 20 I felt it wasn’t enough. I was just waiting for Carolina to morph from Dr. Jekle to Mr. Hyde and start gathering miracle touchdowns off plays that we would be seeing on NFL highlight shows for the next two decades. But it never happened. The defense kept pounding Delhomme. And just when Carolina finally mounted a drive they forced him into an errant throw and Boulware picked it off for interception #3.

I simply cannot describe the joy I feel right now. This team did it. My team did it. On national TV, in the biggest game of the year to date, against a team that everyone else thought would win, against the unstoppable force Mr. Steve Smith, and they did it. They won.

No, they didn’t just win. They manhandled Carolina. They bullied them.

And they punched their ticket to Detroit for Super Bowl XL.

I love this game. I love this team. This is why it’s great to be a fan.

This is why I watch the NFL. This is why I am a fan. I’ve been a Seahawks fan for as long as I can remember being excited about football. I’ve waited for a season like this for a long time. Now it’s happened. My ‘Hawks are one game away from their first trip to the Super Bowl. Win or lose this is the greatest season in my lifetime. I hope Holmgren stays and we can get a few more of these. Wouldnt’ it be wonderful…

Without further delay, on to the picks.

Pittsburgh @ Denver

I can’t believe how wrong I was about the Steelers when the season started. I thought Big Ben would regress. Far from it, he’s proved to be the best quarterback out of last year’s rookie crop. The Steeler’s also helped themselves with a productive offseason adding much needed weaponery to their team and giving Big Ben more targets to distribute the ball to. They acquired an impact rookie in the draft in tight end Heath Miller who has proved to be a very important part of the Pittsburg passing Game. Randel El has stepped up and filled Plaxico’s shoes rather nicely. Roethlesburger became more accustomed to the offense and made better decisions, elevating his status to elite among AFC quarterbacks. And Willie Parker has reignited the Pittsburgh running game.

I’ve watched more Steeler games this season than any other team except Seattle (thanks to DISH network and the way NFL games get programmed, Pittsburgh ends up on my receiver a lot). They are a physical, punishing team. There are many lessons that the playoffs remind us about each year and one of those lessons is that physical teams, even if they don’t have the best records during the regular season, are dangerous in a one-and-done playoff matchup. They are able to punish opponents during 60 minutes and come out on top. Physical playoff teams win the majority of their games against less physical opponents.

That’s not to say Denver isn’t physical. I’ve been surprised by the defensive line they hired away from Cleveland. Also, the way Denver has unleased John Lynch as a blitzing safety of late is really impressive. Denver is going to give as good as they get. They are also a very physical team.

They’re also playing at home where they are 9-0 this season. Denver is one of the loudest stadiums in the NFL. Their crowd could make a difference, especially if Denver can get a lead early and play to the 12th man. I really like Denver’s odds in this game. I think this is far and away Shannahan’s best chance at a Super Bowl since he had Elway on his roster.

In the end though I’m going with Pittsburgh, despite the fact that no #6 seed has ever reached the Super Bowl. I’m with most analysts though in that I don’t think Pittsburgh is a true #6 seed. They lost some games this season with their field General out of the picture when Big Ben was hurt. I think of Roethlesburger would have played every game for Pittsburgh the way Hasselbeck started every game for Seattle, the Steelers would have won their division and would be the #3 seed, not the #6 seed. They’re better than people think, but maybe more importantly they have more weapons now on offense than they did last year.

And Jake Plummer, well… Let’s just say the the soundbites I heard on HBO’s Inside the NFL this week didn’t make me change my opinion on Jake the Snake. He’s being tightly harnessed by Mike Shannahan. He is capable at any moment of making a game-changing bonehead play. With Pittsburgh’s physical style of play and their penchant for causing opposing quarterbacks to make bad decisions I like Pittsburgh in this game.

Prediction: Steelers 27 Denver 24

Carolina @ Seattle

The whole wide world believes that Steve Smith is single-handidly going to defeat the Seahawks. They also think Seattle isn’t for real, despite also being 9-0 at home like Denver, despite the #1 offense, the NFL MVP, a defensive Rookie of the Year candidate, leading the NFL in sacks and most drives over 80 yards, and winning a game last week on the sheer guts and smarts of their quarterback after Alexander went down early to a concussion.

The facts are: the deck is stacked against Caronlina. They lost their running back. They have one offensive weapon in Steve Smith. As good as he is I’ve never seen one wide receiver win a playoff game by himself. Even Jerry Rice couldn’t do that.

What Carolina has going for them is a very good defense and a quarterback who elevates his game when the pressure is on. That’s a good combination to have. But let me ask people this: if the roles were reversed, if it was Seattle who had lost their runningback for the remainer of the season and this game were being played in Carolina, who would you pick? Hands down, no brainer, people would choose the Panthers.

I like Seattle’s underdog mindset. They know they aren’t getting any respect until they prove it. Well, it’s time to prove it gentlemen.

Prediction: Seattle 28, Carolina 23

Final thought: Whether the ‘Hawks win or lose Sunday this is still the greatest season in Seahawk history. It was the best season I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching unfold. Thank you ‘Hawks. You’ve done your fans proud.

Now go kick some butt.

I believe in the possible existence of other intelligent life. It seems really backwards to me to we’re the only ones here in this great, spacious universe of ours. As Jodie Foster’s character Ellie said in the movie Contact, “So if it’s just us… seems like an awful waste of space. Right?” If it’s just us, God did one piss poor job of estimating how much space we were going to need.

Unfortunately, aliens are never going to visit us and I have discovered why.

Humans are delusional.

What am I talking about? Well, first thing is to check out the dictionary definition of the word delusional, which is described as:

A false belief strongly held in spite of invalidating evidence.

Still don’t know where I’m going with this? Well, think about this: If you wanted to contact an alien race, wouldn’t you be concerned if that race showed signs of mass delusional thinking? If they couldn’t differentiate reality from fiction? I mean, who knows what that race would do to you once you made your presence known… Bad things could happen. They could all of a sudden decide you’re the greatest threat to the universe and spend 100% of their time planning for your destruction… So contacting a race that is prone to delusional thinking probably isn’t the best idea, eh? I mean, given the choice, we probably wouldn’t do it, would we?

Neither will aliens, because we humans are delusional on a mass scale.

And I have the proof to confirm it. It is called American Idol.

The new season of American Idol started last night and my wife is a big fan of the show. I usually try and leave the room when it’s on TV because I feel like my IQ is irreversibly diminished. I don’t know what an actual lobotomy feels like, but I imagine it feels like watching American Idol.

Watching the show is a clear window into the human delusional condition. Thousdands of people try out for the show, and every single one of them actually believes, despite all evidence to the contrary, that they can sing - and sing well. They believe they are going to be the next American Idol. They believe their vocal chords are going to blow far and wide over the airwaves of America.

They don’t just think they can sing. They believe it with all of their heart and soul. Even after they’ve been judged as horrible. Even after human being within earshot has covered their precious hearing organs and prayed for the screeching to halt. Even after having three professionals in the music industry tell them they were the worst thing since a dying cat they still believe in their own vocal prowess. They walk out that failed audition cursing the judges instead of doing what any intelligent being would do: realize the truth. Instead, they walk out still clinging to fiction…

A false belief strongly held in spite of invalidating evidence.

Delusional.

If you need more proof why we’re a race of idiotic beings, look no further than the mass delusion on American Idol. All hail the human race’s inability to acknowledge the facts.

I feel dumber already.

There is a common thread among most Super Bowl winning teams: The year they won the trophy, they had their best season ever. While the playoffs may be a simple 12-team tournament where “anything can happen”, generally the best team wins. They win because the playoffs are an extension of the regular season for them, and the magic that transpired in the regular season carries over to the post season.

The Seattle Seahawks have had such a season, a magical season, but to hear it from the major writers of the NFL you wouldn’t know it. Heck, if you listened to the “experts” you might just think Seattle had a very average season at best.

A sample from Monday’s columns shows that most NFL writers aren’t prepared to handle the Seahawks. They expected the Patriots and Colts to be the real story and they were prepared to spend every ounce of writing prowess on that matchup. Then the Broncos went out and beat the Patriots and the Steelers punched the Colts in the mouth.

Oooops.

NFL writers don’t know what to do now.

The subhead to Peter King’s Monday Morning Quarterback read: “Everything you thought you knew about this NFL season changed in a 17-hour span.”He then writes:

The best two teams in football, out of the race in a 17-hour span.

Then there’s Gene Wojciechowski lamenting on ESPN.com:

Victoria’s Secret and the NFL say, “Give me sexy.” Carolina at Seattle isn’t sexy. It isn’t even cute. There isn’t a casual football fan outside the Starbucks capital that can name five Seahawk starters.

Well whose fault is that? Whose fault is it for not knowing about the Seahawks and their magical season? Isn’t that the job of the writers who cover the NFL? Shouldn’t they know this stuff? Isn’t this what they get paid to do?

Apparently only if the team in question is named “Patriots” or “Colts.”

It’s sad, to me, to watch the greatest season in Seahawks history go completely unnoticed by the very writers who are supposed to cover this sport. After all, isn’t part of the reason you write about the NFL is to uncover the great seasons and teams? To expose those stories that are being missed by the general public? If you read Peter King, Paul Zimmerman, or any of the Sports Illustrated writers, then you had a very clear picture from early in the season that Seattle was a team they didn’t have a clue about. They didn’t “trust” the ‘Hawks. They simply assumed it was the same team as last year and that the ‘Hawks would fold when the going got tough. So they wrote them off. The put the Seahawks on the back burner and labeled them clearly with “Do Not Touch”, and then crossed their fingers and hoped Seattle wouldn’t put up a fight.

Fortunately for us ‘Hawks fans, Seattle did put up a fight. In fact, they put up their best season ever.

This is far and away the best Seattle team that has ever played. Better than the 1984 team that went 12-4 and lost in the championship game. Better than any team with Zorn, Warner, or Largent on it. But Seattle doesn’t have a storied history like some NFL franchises, so being the “best” Seahawks team ever might not be a huge accomplishment. But look closer and you’ll see Seattle was one of the best teams in the NFL this season. Maybe the best. We’ve got two more games to find out.

The Seahawks Should Be A Major Story

The Seattle Seahawks should have been a major story for the NFL 2005-2006 season. The writers missed it with their East Coast bias, drinking all that Patriots and Colts Kool-Aid. But if you look back, all the ingredients were there since the offseason.

First, they brought in Tim Ruskell to overhaul the personnel. If you don’t think that was a big move worthy of national attention then you haven’t been paying attention to the truckloads of praise that have been heaped on New England’s GM, Scott Pioli during New England’s four year Super Bowl run. For the past few seasons all everyone could talk about is the Patriot Way, and how they find players who fit into the system, often putting work ethic and love of the game ahead of raw talent. So Seattle goes out and gets their very own version of Scott Pioli, and no one blinks an eye. Ooooops.

Second, they were one of the top offenses last season with one of the best offensive lines in the NFL, and they managed to resign all the major players: Alexander, Hasselbeck, and Walter Jones. Everyone was back. That should have been a clue to the writers that this team could be a player in the post season. After all, talk to any person in an NFL position – head coach, scout, GM – and they will tell you that success starts up front on the offensive line. Experience and continuity mean more at that position than anywhere else on the field, except quarterback, and Seattle had it going into the season. The best line in the NFL and everyone ignored it. The best offense in the NFL and no one wanted to notice, because Manning was leading the Colts in Indy and Brady is the poster boy for the NFL. Meanwhile, as the 2005 season progressed it was Seattle that had the #1 offense week in and week out. Read that again: the number one offense. That means more yardage that anyone else, even the Colts, Broncos, Patriots and Bengals. And they had similiar stats the year before.

Third, the defense was vastly improved from a year ago and yet no one wanted to acknowledge it. Nine new starters on defense, and yet the criticism from the writers was that this was the same Seattle team that had choked away multiple double-digit leads last season. How could it be the same team with nine new starters?

Ask the writers and they would tell you that Lofa Tatupu is a potential Rookie of the Year candidate, but who else is on the team? Most NFL experts, people who do this for a living, couldn’t tell ya. They simply didn’t want to pay attention. It’s easier to assume they are the Same Old Seahawks and move along to a jucier story, preferably something involving a Manning or the Patriots.

Meanwhile, those nine new starters helped Seattle finish the regular season with the most sacks of any NFL club (there it is again, that annoying #1 rating in some important category). The achilles heel of Seattle’s past defensive units, their run defense, also finished the season vastly improved at #5. The area of biggest weakness in Seattle’s defensive past, and they solidified it this season. But to hear the writers of NFL America talk, this is the same team that played last season.

Fourth, there were the offseason acquisitions of Joe Jurevicious, Peter Warrick, Lofa Tatupu, Leroy Hill, Andre Dyson, Kelly Herndon and Bryce Fisher. You recognize those names don’t you? Stars on other teams, or in college, yet it the minute they landed on the Seahawks everyone forgot they existed. You can’t even begin to measure the importance these guys have made to this team unless you watch the games. Sadly, the writers of the NFL don’t have the time to watch Seattle. They’re too busy attending Patriot’s games.

Fifth (and the biggest one) the best players had their best seasons.

Mike Holmgren has said in the past that in order for Seattle to have success in the playoffs and get to the Super Bowl their best players had to have their best years. And those players did just that. Hasselbeck has enjoyed his best season as a starting quarterback, maturing into a field general with laser precision. Gone are the boneheaded mistakes of old, replaced by a calm, confident decision maker. He’s been allowed to audible more this season and get the ‘Hawks into better plays. The results have been more completed passes, more first downs, more 80-yard drives than any team in the NFL, huge Red Zone numbers and more touchdowns.

The receivers have quit dropping balls. Darrell Jackson has emerged as a legitimate #1 wideout with the ability to take over a game. Had he been healthy all season he could have battled for a Pro Bowl slot. Joe Jurevicious has been a savior, making one big play after another, for a team that didn’t used to have big-play potential.

Lofa Tatupu gave the defense the leadership and playmaking ability that they’ve never had on that side of the ball. He lead the ‘Hawks with 105 tackels in the regular season, three interceptions and four sacks. Not only did their middle linebacker have his best season ever, he did it as a rookie.

Jeremy Stevens finally emerged as a legitimate receiving thread at Tight End. Seattle gambled on him in the first round of the draft several seasons ago and he has done nothing to deserve such high selection, until now. This year he’s lived up to his potential, all 6′ 7″ of it. He’s become a mismatch that Seattle can exploit down the middle of the field, helping to free up coverage on the outside. He’s shown reliable hands, and he’s a darn fine run blocker as well.

Finally, Shaun Alexander exploded. 1880 yards and 28 touchdowns. He gave Seattle the running dimension that they needed to elevate them from good team to great team. The best teams in NFL history – the ones that win the Super Bowl – always are very good at running and passing. They are the dual threat teams. Seattle is the best dual threat team in the NFL.

When you look at it you have to wonder why Seattle isn’t favored to win the whole thing. They have the classic Super Bowl makup: a great dual-threat offense with multiple weapons and a defense that (a) stops the run and (b) gets pressure on the quarterback. They have a marquee runningback and a veteran quarterback who makes great decisions and has laser-like precision. And unlike years past this team doesn’t throw in the towel when they get behind. They actually believe they’re going to win. Even the loss of their MPV running back couldn’t deter them from winning their first playoff game in 21 years.

And the really sad part? Nobody in America knows about this team. And the writers of the NFL aren’t going to tell you about them either.

I wonder: If Seattle gets into the Super Bowl, how many people will have to rush to a map to find Seattle?