Enough to Scare a Guy...

I think we can honestly say that we’ve reached that part of the season where every game makes you nervous. There are no ‘gimmes’ anymore. They all count and an injury here or there creates matchup problems, as well as concerns about depth.

If you are like me, I’m sure you thought that Seattle’s game on Sunday was going to be a breeze, and there would be a lot of free substituting in the second half and the only thing that was in doubt was the final score.

Those types of games may be found in college and high school, but not so much in the NFL even when the game is played at home.

Tampa Bay gave Seattle everything they wanted and then some on Sunday. Seattle looked like they had the game in control from the outset with a great drive down the field until Seahawks QB Russell Wilson threw an interception.

Tampa Bay’s game plan was to run the ball. They put themselves in a lot of third and short situations and would score three first half TDs to go up 21-0.

How would have Tampa Bay’s game plan changed if Wilson didn’t throw the pick and Seattle took a 7-0 lead instead? The Seahawk crowd seemed to take one in the gut with that play and didn’t get real rowdy until the second half.

The game was tough to watch at times especially when it looked like the Hawks had a stop only to see the Bucs QB find an open receiver for 8-10 yards and another first down.

It got so bad late in the second half that I finally told my wife that we were going to town for dinner.

I’m as superstitious at times as most fans are and it seemed like a change of scenery for me was in store. So we went to town for dinner. I did listen to the game on the radio and just as we were getting ready to walk in the restaurant the Seahawks tied the score. I was a little disappointed to find the Pittsburgh-New England on the restaurant’s TVs though.

I wasn’t that interested in how the Steelers and Patriots would fare so I started watching the updates on the bottom of the screen.

That was a little unnerving not knowing the particulars of the game and what was going on. I finally figured out who had the ball, and where the teams were on the field. When the Seahawks had the ball they drove down and kicked a game winning field goal to snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat.

My wife smiled when I told her that Seattle had won the game. I think she knew how frustrated I was with how the game had played out, but a win is a win as they say.

Seattle is going through some rough times when injuries affect the flow of a good offense like the Hawks have. But injuries are part of the game and adapting with new faces could mean the difference from home field advantage to missing the playoffs at the end of the season.

So it doesn’t really matter what the record of the opposing team happens to be in the NFL. There are professionals that can play and when they get confident they can make things very difficult for any opponent. But when a good team finally wakes up the important thing to know is make sure you still have time and the opponent isn’t too far ahead.

Seattle’s defense came around in the second half and Russell Wilson finally brought the offense to life and another victory was secured in overtime. It wasn’t pretty, but a lot of wins aren’t, but they are wins.

Seattle has a tendency to scare its fans with mediocre play now and then. Are we spoiled now because we think that no team is even close to Seattle’s talent?

Perhaps, but it is the NFL and on any given Sunday a team like Tampa Bay can jump start a very bad season with a very big upset win, just not last Sunday.