Seahawks’ 4 Biggest Blunders In 2011

Who would have thought that on 12-21-11 we’d be discussing the Seahawks’ playoff scenarios after a 2-6 finish to the first half of the season? Well we are. That’s the NFL for you, the best and most popular professional sports league in America.  It is also the league where any franchise can turn its fate around in a matter of weeks. We’ve seen it a hundred times. This season’s flip-floppers have belonged to the much maligned NFC West: the (11-3) 49ers, the red hot Cardinals (7-7), and the Seattle Seahawks (7-7). Those three teams are a combined (14-4) the last 6 weeks. That’s the best for any 3 teams in one division in football. Unfortunately, it is likely to be too little too late for Seattle. Today we’ll examine the 4 biggest blunders in the Seahawks’ season thus far.

1. WEEK 1 @ SF. 4^th Quarter Special Teams. With just under 4 minutes to play, a plucky rookie that would likely be cut in a few weeks named Doug Baldwin turned a routine slant pattern into a 55-yard TD to pull the Seahawks within 2 points on opening day in San Francisco. The Seahawks defense, who had played well all afternoon, should have gotten the chance to snuff Frank Gore and force Alex Smith to fail, like he always used to. That would have sent the message to SF that they’re still the Seahawks’ little sister, and the NFC West still goes through Seattle. But the defense never got that chance. The extreme roster turnover the Seahawks endured and the shortened training camp revealed the lack of chemistry on special teams, and Seattle allowed a 102-yard kickoff return to goat-boy Ted Ginn Jr. After the Hawks’ offense went 3 and out, goat-boy returned a punt for yet another touchdown for good measure. The game gave SF confidence in Alex Smith, Jim Harbaugh, and goat-boy. SF 49ers won 33-17. Plus, the friendly schedule makers sent the Seahawks to Pittsburgh for week 2. Yikes…

2. WEEK 4 vs. ATL. The 61-yard FG attempt. Trailing 27-7 early in the 3^rd quarter, Tarvaris Jackson engineered a remarkable 2^nd half passing surge. Outscoring the Falcons 21-3 and pulling Seattle within 2 points on the final drive. Seattle had moved the ball extremely well in the 2^nd half, but a 4^th down with roughly 13 seconds to go left the Seahawks with a decision to make. Should they try and convert the 4^th down, get out of bounds, and kick a long FG? Or should they try and kick an extremely long 61-yard FG to ensure the attempt? Pete Carroll chose the latter, even though Hauschka’s career long was 54-yards. The kick was predictably short and to the left, a phrase that has also been used to describe Ted “goat-boy” Ginn Jr. at times. There was a part of me that thought maybe Carroll was sabotaging the record for a play at Andrew Luck at the time, that notion would appear to be grossly paranoid and misinformed at this point. Either way, Seattle falls to Atlanta 30-28 and goes to (1-3) on the season.

3. WEEK 7 @ CLE. Hello? Offense? I’m hesitant to lay into the criticism too heavily for this game. After all, Tarvaris Jackson was hurt. Starting Center Max Unger didn’t play. And Marshawn Lynch was a game-time scratch due to back spasms. Game-time scratches hurt the most because the team has zero time to game plan for the new approach. That being said, our offense still deserves to be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment for that putrid performance. How do you score 3 points against Cleveland? I know the referee cost Seattle a Leon Washington punt return TD with an awful call, but we still need to score more than 3 points. This was a horrible display of offense coming on the heels of a bye week and an incredible win in New York against the Giants. It was a complete and total letdown. Seattle loses 6-3 and falls to (2-4) on the season.

4. WEEK 12 vs. WASH. The Rex Grossman shame game. Up 17-7 with less than 13 minutes to play, Golden Tate was flagged for celebrating in the end zone after his TD. This gave the Redskins better than average field position on the ensuing attack, and Rex Grossman put together a few solid drives that resulted in the Redskins outscoring Seattle 16-0 in the final 10 minutes. The most painful of which was a 3^rd and 19 prayer from the 50 yard line that found Redskin WR Anthony Armstrong who had beat Seattle CB Brandon Browner on the play. Instead of Washington punting back to Seattle down 14-17, they went up 20-17 and never looked back. Grossman finished the game with 314 yards and 2 touchdowns. This was a hard-learned lesson to the Seahawks about playing 60 minutes of football. Seattle loses, and falls to (4-7).

I’m aware that you can probably make arguments like these for a lot of teams. You can make arguments for the Giants and the Ravens that they should have beaten Seattle. Therefore, as opposed to saying that Seattle should have won these 4 games, I’ll say they should have won 2. Making them (9-5) and in the driver’s seat for a playoff spot. Playoff experience is invaluable to a young team, and they’ll likely be watching another team participate this season in their stead. Young teams make mistakes, the important thing is that they learn from them. But we can say one thing with 100% confidence, Ted Ginn Jr. is a goat-boy.