Well, the Seahawks had proven that they could win with Shaun Alexander tied behind their back. But this past weekend we clearly proved that they can’t win with Shaun, Matt Hasselbeck, Deion Branch, and Mack Strong tied behind their backs. The sputter-y offense got stone cold beaten, killing the defense off by making them stay on the field forever (well 40 out of the 60 game minutes anyway), and the Steelers stomped the Blue Men, 21-0.

Worst thing of all, Mack Strong, the Pro Bowl fullback of 15 years, a genuinely nice seeming guy, admired by all, and maybe the coolest football player name ever, decided to hang up the helmet for good after a neck injury. Can’t blame him, of course, and a 15 year veteran running back is about as rare as a rain-free Seattle month. The timing is awful for the team, though, as much of an asset as he is not only on the field but as a team leader. The cherry on top of this crap sundae is that Deion Branch is also out for two weeks.

Anyway, the game was easily the worst I’ve seen the team play since I’ve been a season ticket holder. Just nothing could get going on offense. The defense played pretty well, but after the awesome performance against the 49ers highly touted RB Frank Gore, they somehow seemed to forget how to stop the run. Julian Peterson has to seriously be considered the Defensive Player of the Year in the league, though; he is just a beast. On one play he sacked Pittsburgh QB Ben Rothlisberger one handed…that guy is a HUGE quarterback, probably has 25 pounds on Petersen, and he just ripped him to the ground.

Sadly, no one on offense can say they had a decent game, really…maybe the line on pass blocking, as Matt seemed to have lots of time, just not very many guys open, and he was definitely not as accurate as he had been most of the year.

This leaves the Hawks 3 – 2 going into a nationally televised Sunday Night game against a hapless, winless New Orleans Saints team that is either hungry or pathetic, depending on which pundit you hear from. Sounds pathetic to me, and we ought to clean up IF the offense can get something together. We’ll see.