A diagnostic victory

The Seahawks seized the lead in the NFC West yesterday with their home win over the Cardinals.

The NFL's box score page asserts simply that "The Seahawks dominated the Cards from start to finish." I assume that whoever wrote that did not watch the game. The league's official recap accurately characterizes Seattle's performance as "unimpressive."

The truth is somewhere in the middle. Certainly, the game was closer than the final score indicated. While Seattle dominated defensively for much of the game, there were some disturbing defensive lapses that could prove fatal in future contests. Arizona's offensive line manhandled our defense and racked up more yards on the ground than any opponent has all year (113). In a closer contest, the Cardinals would have stuck with the run and buried us.

Our pass defense was generally impressive, but our defensive MVP was Max Hall's inaccurate arm. During his first drive in relief of the rookie, Derek Anderson showed how a competent quarterback can seize on the opportunities our defense offers. Fortunately, Seattle's defense adjusted and shut down Anderson for the rest of the game, but for the rest of the season, the Seahawks will face quarterbacks better than Hall and the Moose from Scapoose.

On offense, the Seahawks alternately grooved and stalled. At times, the Matt, Mike & Marshawn show worked like a charm, with Hasselbeck completing short passes to Mike Williams and handing the ball to Marshawn Lynch, who went into beast mode and tore off good chunks of yardage.

However, our offense sputtered repeatedly, particularly in the red zone. Although Olindo Mare is clutch, settling for field goals will kill you in a closer game. We scored only one touchdown.

When our offense bogged down, unimaginitive playcalling was often the culprit. There is a difference between establishing the run and being so obvious about it that you're letting the defense stop you. In the NFL, if the other team knows you want to run the ball, they can load the box and shut you down, unless your offensive line is studded with Pro Bowlers. (Ours isn't.) When we did move the ball successfully, it was usually because we had called an inspired mix of run and pass plays.

Moreover, Hasselbeck--who eluded many sacks in Chicago by judiciously throwing the ball away at the last split-second--held the ball too long and took too many sacks yesterday. Our offensive line play was inconsistent. Losing rookie left tackle Russell Okung to another ankle injury hurt a great deal. Right tackle Sean Locklear has clearly become a liability: poor run blocking, feeble pass blocking, getting flagged for holding and false starts.

As in our home win over San Diego, the special teams saved our bacon, twice forcing turnovers to regain possession on punt and kickoff coverage. While this is always welcome, we can't depend on it, anymore than we can depend on Leon Washington return touchdowns to win games for us.

Still, a win is a win, and seizing the division lead is big. The Rams and the 49ers helped secure our lead by losing yesterday. Still, if we intend to maintain pole position in the NFC West, the team must build upon the strengths and address the weaknesses on display yesterday.

Life doesn't get any easier next week, as the Seahawks enter the Black Hole. The Raiders have been very bad for a very long time, and I think every fan who saw Oakland on our schedule before the season began mentally recorded this game as an easy victory.

It won't be. The Raiders are finally getting better. Yesterday, they blew out the Broncos in Denver. Oakland's running backs gained more than 300 yards on the ground. The Raiders feasted upon horseflesh until they were glutted, coming up one calorie shy of a sixtyburger.

Maybe it was a fluke. But we can't take Oakland lightly.