=== Contrarian Blog Dept. ===

Since the first Bill James book we ever read -- about 1983 or so -- we've always preferred sports op-ed that offered opinions we hadn't seen eighty times before already.

...in case you weren't in the audience that day when the local magician rolled up his sleeves and showed the secret to the trick:  D-O-V, given four choices of what to tackle that day, will choose whichever (hopefully accurate) option that is precisely the opposite of what anybody else thinks.  :- )

...............

In this case, that consists of a reminder that the Seahawks are approximately as much in the playoff race as they were to start the season.

Football has one thing in common with baseball playoffs:  whoever won the last game, is presumed to be the eventual winner.   Go to a Yankee-Red Sox game in which the Sox just evened the series 1-1, and people will be asking about the next playoff series.

How high were Seahawk fans after 28-0 against the Cards?  How high will they be on Monday, if the Seahawks win game 3? 

..............

Seahawk Nation is ready to walk off Pier 51, but hey.  That's the beauty of football.  Every game is a war, and every win and loss feels like winning or losing a war.

The 49er's won fair and square on their home field.   Fine!  That's one win.  When the Seahawks beat the 49er's in Qwest, that won't end the NFL season, either.

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=== I wanna be like Mike ===

Congrats to Singletary.  He wanted a smashmouth football team and he has got one.

The 9'ers defense, in this particular game, had swagger, had bad intentions and it had a nice list of limp-offs to its credit.  ... the 9'ers running game was also smashmouth and in Chuck Knox' words, "There's gotta be something you do good."  Looks like the 9'ers run the ball good.

John Madden once said that his first rule about football players was that they had to be grass players.  The whole game looked like an old-timey grass team vs a turf team ... playing on grass.  

...............

The 49'er passing game reminds me of Team England playing soccer in the World Cup against Brazil -- as long as we don't embarrass ourselves, who cares if we win -- but the passing is there, just enough so that Gore can run against an honest defense.

I still say that the 49'er passing attack is, by itself, plenty to keep them from becoming legit.   No NFL team wins if it can't throw the ball farther than a down-and-out.

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=== Only a Baseball Writer Would Ask ===

Back in the 1970's they used to play, what was it called... um, a "halfback" and a "fullback."    Like Mercury Morris and Larry Csonka.   Rocky Bleier and Franco Harris.

Justin Forsett runs better than Julius Jones, but Mora doesn't want to advertise the run by putting Forsett in there (because Jones is the pass blocker and receiver).  No, that's not my guess.  That's what Mora SAID (albeit, he said it about Edge).

Why not Forsett at tailback and Jones at fullback.  Is that okay?   Honest question.

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=== DL, IR, What Do They Call It ===

Both of Gore's 120-yard runs came off simple "blast" plays up the middle -- with Mebane, Hill, and Tatupu out.  Mora politely referred to this.  Gore scored on the taxi squad.   No NFL team, even the Patriots, wins or even holds its own, with its taxi squad.

Put the Hawks' regulars in there today, with Hasselbeck all day, and with Gore not going for two 1-play TD drives, the Seahawks probably win.

But it's a legit question, because the Seahawks are old and they seem to draft injury-prone players. 

I'm not worried about a 1-1 record, nor about the NFC West.  But 2009 is going to be a whale of a contest between the Hawks and the IR.

Cheers,

Dr D