Eight years ago, I was furious. The Seahawks were scuffling to a disappointing finish in 2002. Trent Dilfer had been promising at QB, but was knocked out in a game at Dallas that would end up being the true beginning of Matt Hasselbeck’s reign as franchise QB. The team performance was not what caused my anger. It was Mike Holmgren’s fifth season as GM/Coach, and the underwhelming 2002 results had fans and local media starting to call for his ouster. Opinions ranged from requiring full dismissal to relinquishing his GM title to focus on coaching. It was bullshit. Despite an inspiring end to the season that still stands as Hasselbeck’s best statistical stretch, then Seahawks President Bob Whitsitt felt the need to placate the fans by yanking Holmgren’s GM title. That slight nearly caused Holmgren to walk away that off-season, and did eventually cause him to walk away to find the authority he once had. It was a classic example of how a short-sighted and frustrated fan base can lead to actions that only make matters worse.
Holmgren continued to act as GM while Bob Ferguson acted as front man/donut boy. His character and stubborn nature was great enough to overcome the PR-induced farce and build a Super Bowl-worthy team. Tim Ruskell gets credit for Lofa Tatupu, LeRoy Hill, Joe Jurevicious, and Chuck Darby, but every other important player came from Holmgren.
I sit here today, delaying my exit for work, because I’m pissed off again. It feels so familiar. Fans and local media are talking about this Seahawks team with such myopia that you might think the first seven weeks of the season never happened. There is a growing population of fans that only see the horrible play on the field, and completely ignore the players off it. All this talk of “inconsistency” is based on such embarrassingly superficial analysis that it belongs in a political ad. If you don’t already know, let me tell you, THESE ARE NOT YOUR SEAHAWKS. Let’s play a quick game. Name the Seahawks 10 best players this year. Here’s my list (in no particular order):
- Russell Okung*
- Earl Thomas*
- Red Bryant*
- Chris Clemons*
- Matt Hasselbeck
- Mike Williams*
- David Hawthorne*
- Lawyer Milloy
- Brandon Mebane*
- Colin Cole*
* Players that we have no viable replacement for
I could throw Lofa Tatupu, Aaron Curry, Ben Obomanu, Marshawn Lynch, Justin Forsett, or Marcus Trufant in there, but they just don’t make my list based on performance this season. Now let’s look at how many games each has missed during this recent seven game stretch where the Seahawks went 2-5.
- Russell Okung* (Missed 3 Games)
- Earl Thomas* (Missed 0 Games)
- Red Bryant* (Missed 7 Games)
- Chris Clemons* (Missed 0 Games)
- Matt Hasselbeck (Missed 1 Game)
- Mike Williams* (Missed 4 Games, also half of Raiders and Saints game)
- David Hawthorne* (Missed 0 Games)
- Lawyer Milloy (Missed 0 Games)
- Brandon Mebane* (Missed 2 Games)
- Colin Cole* (Missed 6 Games)