2. The announcers. Dick Stockton and Charles Davis again? Whatever I did to deserve this, I’m truly sorry.
3. Julius Jones. A very scary rib/lung injury that caused Jones to stay in Arizona overnight. Even if it allowed Forsett to shine, it was a scary moment.
4. Defensive pass interference calls. Very spotty calls by the officials against Marcus Trufant weren’t called on the Cardinals secondary. I don’t care if they are going to call it tight as long as they call it both ways.
5. Defensive play calling. It became obvious that Arizona was figuring out the Seattle defense. The defensive coaches were in a rut, failing to bring pressure at any time. The inability to get pressure, to even mix things up was an ugly thing to watch.
So the dreams of a Seattle run to the playoffs are over even if the season is only halfway done. Where do we go from here? First off, a priority is to see which players continue to play hard.
When Mike Holmgren took over from Dennis Erickson, the first thing he did was look at film from the end of the season to see which players had quit on the team. Anyone slacking was cut. This is the time for the players without the guaranteed starts to prove they are serious about wanting to be a professional football player.
Tim Ruskell should be gone too. His five years have been a disaster as the team that was at the top and needed to be reloaded each season now needs an overhaul if not a full rebuild. While no general manager is perfect, Ruskell’s draft choices and free agent signings have been more miss than hit, in some cases much more. I nominate Mike Holmgren as his successor.
Next week Seattle travels to Minnesota to take on the red-hot Vikings. How the team plays will show whether the bloodletting stops with Ruskell or continues onto Mora and his staff.
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