Pluck the Cardinals

The win over Chicago was big.

So big that it has convinced everyone that Seattle is for real. Last week, almost no one picked the Seahawks to win. This week, just about everyone predicts a decisive victory for us.

I agree, and I hope our prediction comes true. Arizona is starting Max Hall, a rookie playing his first NFL road game. Starting Cardinals wideout Steve Breaston is injured. This should be easy, right?

No. Today's early games should remind us that parity is for real in today's NFL. As I write, the Cleveland Browns--a bad team quarterbacked by a rookie--have jumped to a 20-3 lead in New Orleans over a normally solid Saints team. Moreover, the pitiful Bills are leading in Baltimore.

The Seahawks can't let the Cardinals continue to make road upsets the theme of the day.

Please recall that Arizona is 3-2, just like Seattle. We're playing for the division lead.

More important, let's remember that we haven't beaten Arizona since 2007. The Seahawks have dropped four straight games to the Cardinals, losing six of the last seven contests. The redbirds have owned us the way we used to own the lambs. Seattle needs to remember this recent history of humiliation, and make Arizona pay dearly for it.

I hope Seattle's players and coaches aren't believing their media coverage. For example, Danny O'Neil--the excellent Seahawk beat reporter--published a story in the Seattle Times entitled "Pete Carroll's USC offense is working with Seahawks."

Really? After it worked well for one game, we can declare the offense functional?

After Matt Hasselbeck carried us through the San Francisco game in Week One, the offense deteriorated steadily until the bye week. We looked good last week, but we won't know if the system really works until we see it move the ball and score against a few different opponents.

The formula for victory is clear: Play like we did against Chicago, balancing the run and the pass on offense. Blitz and punish Max Hall the way we pulverized Jay Cutler last week. On defense, keep shutting down the run the way we have all year.

By the way, Chris Henry is a Seahawk now. No, the notorious Bengal wideout hasn't risen from the dead, though he would have fit in just fine on our team, since Carroll doesn't seem to screen for character. This Chris Henry is a big veteran running back, evidently intended as a backup bruiser in case Marshawn Lynch goes down.

A friend of mine in Mississippi used to have two cats. One was a sleek athlete and a great hunter, and the other was the fattest feline I have ever seen. The hunter liked to kill, and the fat cat liked to eat. One day, the hunter slew a cardinal. His corpulent counterpart promptly claimed the corpse and swiftly devoured it, bones, feathers and all. After a few minutes, the fat cat retched up the redbird's beak.

This is what the Seahawks need to do to the Cardinals today.

Go, Seahawks! No mercy!