Orgy of NFL Action the Next Two Weekends

The orgy of NFL action begins tomorrow.  For the next two weekends there will be two playoff games televised each Saturday and Sunday.  By the time the conference championships games  arrive at the end of January I'm usually ready to throw in the towel.

I'm hoping Arian Foster has a big day tomorrow and that the Texans triumph.  Not that I don't like the Bengals.  I just love to watch Arian Foster run. 

Since I'm a Berkeley man I've got to go with Aaron Rodgers and Green Bay.  One of the largest disappointments from last season was how he underperformed in the playoff game against the Giants.

My prediction is that the Ravens will have a big day on the ground against Indy.  I appreciate the Ravens.  The largest disappointment of last season was Lee Evans not hanging onto the football in the end zone to beat the Patriots. 

And the final game of the weekend the ascendent Seahawks travel to Maryland to joust with chivalrous RG3 and his fellow rookie Alfred Morris.  I think Darrell Bevell will have an answer to all the blitzes the Redskins threw at Dallas, if in fact that's the way Washington plays Russell Wilson.  I think our -- meaning the Seahawks -- receivers are better than Washington's.  Yes, Pierre Garcon and Santana Moss are talented.  But they're not Sidney Rice and Golden Tate and Doug Baldwin.  We've got to have production from Marshawn Lynch; he's got to run with Alfred Morris.

As an old Montana-era 49ers diehard I don't like my team having to travel back to D.C. to play a game in the dark of winter.  It's tough for a West Coast team to win on the East Coast in a winter playoff game.  But it can be done.  And I'm hoping it will be.  Afterall, this bachelor goes to bed every night wrapped in a Seahawks blanket.

Seahawks Pass Rush Disappears Again

Drinking lots of coffee and watching the home team underperform isn't a smart way to relax; also, I've been popping up off my bed on the floor where I watch the game to periodically check online the status of the fiscal cliff negotiations in the Senate.

The Seahawks pass rush disappeared.  The last time they lost, Week 12 in Miami, was largely due to the lack of a pash rush in the fourth quarter allowing rookie QB Ryan Tannehill to move the Dolphins down the field at will.  Today Sam Bradford had time to sit in the pocket and zip throws to his wideouts.

The Rams on the other hand had a mighty pass rush, sacking Russell Wilson time and time again.  But to the credit of Darrell Bevel there was no panic, no major shift in the play calling.  Seattle stuck with the read option and piled up good yardage on the ground.  Then the Seahawks got a lucky break break in the 4th quarter when Marshawn Lynch fumbled but Seattle recovered beyond the first down marker.  Golden Tate came through with a huge catch thanks to a Russell Wilson scramble, and we were on the way to our fifth win in a row.

Never having lost at home this season, to lose now in the final game would have been bad.  But the home team hung tough.  Now it's the playoffs at either the Cowboys or Redskins.  I'm rooting for RG3.

Sunday Night's Seahawks Blow Out of the 49ers

Every day is a chore to make some meager meaning.  And often we are wrong, as I was in a previous post when I stated that being a fan is at best a break-even proposition.  Last Sunday night's Seahawk game was a rich surprise, an unexpected gift, particularly after San Francisco's drubbing of the Patriots in Foxboro the previous week.  I savored this Seahawk win for days.  Doug Baldwin's virile TD grabs.  Red Bryant's field goal block and Richard Sherman's return of it for paydirt.  Marshawn Lynch's power running and Russell Wilson's channeling of Fran Tarkenton.  To take my mind off a migraine during a delayed flight home yesterday I contemplated the play calling of Darrell Bevell: his use of the tight ends; how he incorporates everyone into the game plan.  Brilliant.

This isn't the first time that I've savored Sunday Seahawk victories.  Walking home along 12th Avenue I have replayed in my mind the Russell Wilson long bomb to Sidney Rice that stunned the Patriots in Week 6 and the read-option overtime demolition of Urlacher's Bear defense at Soldier Field in Week 13.  Those two games alone have put me in surplus for the season.  And now that Seattle is in the playoffs, regardless of whether we end up division champs or a wild card entrant, I am far past the break-even point.  Anything is possible for this team, even a super bowl victory. 

Thank you Richard Sherman.  Thank you Kam Chancellor.  Thank you Doug Baldwin.  Thank you Sidney Rice.  Thank you Golden Tate.  Thank you Russell Wilson.  Thank you Marshawn Lynch.  Thank you for this feeling of bounty, this loss of self.  What does one call it?  Don't we call it love?

Great thanks to my coworker and union sister who attended last Sunday's Seahawk-49er game and provided the photos.  (Note the urinating 'Hawk tailgaters.)