A fans view from Seattle 2018
| October 09, 2018 11:41PM |
People sometimes forget a simple fact:
Seattle is a RIDICULOUSLY tough place to play.
From the field surface, to the unbelievable crowd noise, historically most teams that have traveled there over the last half decade leave with a loss. The Hawks are 38-10 since 2012. The Book of World Records twice certified that they were the loudest outdoor stadium in the NFL (now surpassed by KC) approaching 140 decibels.
Their fans understand situational football better than any stadium I have been at ever. They get deadly silent for their offense and they blow roof off for their defense.
Heading to Seattle, everyone knew what was at stake: Win and the Rams essentially put a hammerlock on the division with a 3.5 game lead after only 5 weeks. Lose and Seattle gets puffed up, a game behind with a tie breaker in hand. It’s the divisional standings equivalent of a 14 point swing in a ball game.
I figured the Hawks would be up for this one, having been humiliated at home the year before and the Rams publicly declaring that “they don’t feel pressure, THEY APPLY IT”. Todd Gurley publicly pronounced “we can’t be beat a mere days earlier”. It was the type of combination heading into the game that portends a tough battle.
I recall in 1999 how John Lynch was incredulous at Dick Vermiel’s remarks ahead of the Championship game that only the Rams could beat the Rams. He was getting his Bucs fired up by the purported “disrespectful statements” being made by Vermeil in advance of the game.
No doubt that similar discussions were occurring in the Pacific Northwest heading into what was clearly a “must win” game for the Hawks.
While I understood conceptually that this was going to be a tough game, I’ve had an eerie calm about this team since the preseason. Just looking up and down the roster, it feels a lot like 2001. Too many good players in too many important positions for any team to not seriously compete or be favored against anyone.
The difference, here, however, is that the “difference makers” also extend to the coaching staff. McVay, Kromer, Wade, Bones. So other than preparing some feigned “spontaneous insults” to be hurled at Seattle Super fan “Bob” aka “Our House”, I was pretty chill about going to the game, even allowing myself to envision another systematic dismantling of the hawks.
On the walk from the hotel to the stadium, it was clear that the Seattle fans were not feeling the same excessive arrogance they would normally display just hours before kickoff. In fact, it really appeared that many of them were downright concerned about what might happen.
Despite my son and I being fully decked in rams gear for the 1.2 mile walk to the stadium, not one comment was to be heard from ANYONE! The lone insult coming from a guy waiting for a light to turn green at a cross-walk then flipping me and my 7 year old off. We both laughed and waived at the guy as he drove away.
Just then we walked by a WWII memorial and my son spontaneously asks me how many Russian’s died in WWII? I said nobody really knows but probably at least 20 million. He asked me if they fought on our side and I told him that we were both fighting against the Nazi’s. I said, you know, for all the grief between our two countries, the Russian’s fighting in WWII was a big part of the eventual defeat of the Nazi’s.
Just as I am trying to have this serious historical moment with my kid, he says something which causes me to realize that my legacy as a fan is secure.
“Dad, that’s not the coolest thing the Russian’s have done you know?”
“Yeah, Michael, what was cooler than that?”
“Vladimir Putin stole Robert Kraft’s Super Bowl Ring”
BOOM!
“Mike! DUDE!
So just as I am having a real proud father moment, my phone buzzes. An old friend of mine from St. Louis who used to work for the Rams and now does radio work for the Seahawks, Christopher Taylor says: check your email.
I open my email:
PREGAME FIELD PASSES.
WTF!!!!!
20 minutes later, my son and I find ourselves in a tunnel meeting with Guest Services who affix Red Pregame Field Access Passes on our jerseys.
As we are escorted on to the field, we are told that we would be “confined” from the rams bench around the endline to the goal posts. We are told not to bother the players with autograph requests and not to video anything but still photos were cool. A seahawks fan heading to the sideline with us tells me "if you come onto the field with us, you will have to cover your Rams jersey".
I said, "While I truly want to assist you with your PTSD, as your therapist explained the best deterrence is to avoid going to where the traumatic event happened in the first place . . . .
The guest services person tells the guy "you got to admit, that was a pretty good response".
They bring us to the sideline and tell us we can move about in this area until 15 minutes before kickoff. Our guest services escort leaves us around the 20 yard line.
I look up 2 feet in front of me. This is what I see:
I send the picture to a childhood ram fan who responds “are you seriously that close”.
My son and I are literally 2 feet away from Gurley as he warms up for 10 minutes.
Jake McQuaide, ever the gentleman comes over to my son to pay his respects:
As close as I try and get to the players before the game, I have NEVER been that close. This gave me some additional insights that I really haven’t been able to personally witness other than through the occasional “WIRED” segments.
Both teams had absolute game faces on. Everyone understood what was a stake. A few of the Rams players got a bit heated with the Hawks players during the warm ups. Trash talking could be heard but it was the Rams who had the look of the Alpha Dog and the Seahawks as a challenger.
The trash talking made me think about Bob . . . but he was in the opposite corner, away from where I was allowed to move. I tried to find him with my binoculars and I did see him. His sign that last year said “Rookie Coach, Clueless QB, No Players” was noticeably missing. In its place, something to the effect that the Rams Coach looked like a High School PE Teacher.
In other words, Bob realized that his sign from last year was not only obsolete, it was down right inaccurate. His new sign – in many ways – was true. But his edge was gone. His sign was more “cute” than rude.
I have to say, I felt a tinge of sadness for the guy. He is on a sinking ship and he is a smart enough fan to know it. Given his sad new sign, I figure this is a good year to give the guy a break.
Goff came out and was warming up right in front of us. Saguaro pointed this out in a post about a week ago referencing the Vikings game. Goff now exudes confidence and leadership. You could see it crystal clear from up close. The players love and respect him.
He along with Todd are the clear-cut leaders of the offense with Big Whit serving as the “Godfather” overlooking it all. Anyone who doubts the types of leaders we have in Todd and Jared need only listen to the 60 second sound bite from Whit – he talks about how 16 and 30 are not only special players but they have become special leaders and cornerstones who, despite their being elite, are about everyone else and not themselves a quality he called “rare beyond rare”.
It is a beautiful thing to see how those players interact with the team and how they are received by the other players. Its something beautiful I noticed in Oakland and is probably more so now – These players know they are part of something special.
This is a “TEAM” in the genuine sense of the word and only a true team could have overcome what the Rams did on this rainy October day.
Though the scoreboard would make you think otherwise, this was – to this point – the most gratifying win of the season for me.
The seahawks came to play. Their fans and players knew what was a stake and they gave it absolutely everything they had. This was their season – their Super Bowl.
One could be disappointed at some of the breakdowns on defense – particularly with Marcus Peters, or one could stand in awe in what we overcame.
I choose awe.
Losing not one but both of your starting WRs, being with a back up kicker who has been with the team for a week, being without your first or second string returner or in the case of the punt return even our 3rd string returner, being without one of your top corners and without your top back up corner for most of the game, having the Refs make questionable calls across the board, ignoring holding calls, missing a Seattle player coming back in bounds on a TD play
and taking away several clear 1st downs at critical moments including what would be a game ender and still pulling off a "W" is nothing short of amazing.
Because of the forecast of rain, I took seats in the Loge section which are elevated but also under cover. They provided me an excellent vantage point to see just how beautiful this Rams offense is. Literally, and this came out even in the replay on TV, Rams players were running free regularly on nearly every series. Some of the pass completions, there weren't defenders within 3 yards of the receiver.
McVay is a genius. His play designs really do stress the hell out of a defense but more importantly eliminate my need to stress. We fall behind and within 3 plays, there we are within the opponents redzone threatening.
This offense is so good, there is almost no time to worry before we respond. Using Whit’s terminology “its Rare beyond Rare”. We’ve lived the opposite for so long, its almost like a dream being on the other side of it.
But even with all the greatness our offense showed, there were two moments in the game that told me that we are just scratching the surface.
10:34 to play in the game rams on their own 17 yard line. Score seahawks 31- Rams 30.
Our defense had just gotten the ball back despite struggling immensely. The game is stalled as we are on an obvious TV time out. They are playing a track in the stadium with a really heavy beat. I look in the rams offensive huddle with my binoculars looking to see what is going on.
The players a just grooving to the beat. Heads bobbing, bodies swaying, just biding their time on the commercial by enjoying the music.
My son even commented on how relaxed they were before such a pivotal drive.
They DO know how good they are. They not only believe but they actually KNOW they will score. 2 minutes later they are in FG position and 4 minutes later, they have the lead.
No time to worry. I like that.
When the Defense took the field and promptly allowed the Hawks to get to the 30 yard line – remarkably I still wasn’t worried.
I had just earlier listened to a radio program on meditation. The speaker described thoughts – good and bad –as cars passing by in your mind. You could get on them and take the bad thought wherever it was going or just watch it drive by.
I started seeing the thought that the Rams defense would not make the stop, without having any timeouts, and the hawks would kick a game winning FG.
I took the expert’s advice, accepted that this was the “car” with a “loser” thought in it and let it drive by in my mind and allowed the car with the good thoughts (that our offense can score at will be the car I would ride in).
I will say this about our defense, while their were breakdowns across the board, the biggies were obviously Peters getting smoked on multiple occasions, they rose up when they needed to and came close to several other big plays (nullified sacks and a sam shields near pick six) which could have changed the game.
From my standpoint, I don’t believe Peters is fully healthy. Its like he is playing his usual game of trying to bait a QB and his body simply can’t respond like it would normally. Its simply not possible for a player that good to drop off that badly. That said, MP would have had a pick six at the 3:47 mark in the 4th Q if Cory Littleton doesn’t bat up Wilson’s pass. He read the play right and was breaking on the ball.
As I mentioned in my write up from Oakland, Peters is a highly emotional player and it was on display again. Without Talib there to get into his face, its almost like none of the other DBs have the “juice” to get into Peters face. I really think Talib keeps MP more in check and is the only guy with enough standing to challenge Peters to his face - but I do credit most of his poor play by his body simply not being 100%.
Back to our offense – the stars of this show.
With the defense making the stop when it needed to, it was still up to the offense to put this away.
On the critical drive, it was patently clear that the refs were HOSING the rams in terms of ball placement. On the 2nd and 8 carry, one side judge had Gurley a full two feet past the first down marker and another one picked up the ball and moved it back behind the marker. It seemed like the Rams kept getting first downs and the refs kept putting it back.
Non-champions crumble with these types of bad breaks.
The rams did not crumble.
On the play that defined the game, with all of the marbles riding on the 4th and 1, with the crowd willing their defense to make just one more hold, the rams line – and particularly Rob Havenstein – a player who was the subject of much debate this week on this board - absolutely CRUMBLES the seattle defense and paves the way for Jared to burst through. (Yes, Rob is worth it!).
The entire Rams Offense – lead by big Rob is up, pumping their fists.
They knew what they did this day was special, even though some others do not.
You could see it on their faces and in their reactions.
They KNEW.
This was big.
Those who know, know.
A 3.5 game lead in the division after 5 weeks!
On my walk out, feeling special satisfaction at this win, I decided I would reserve the smack talk choosing instead to bestow “great game” comments on seahawks fans that appeared to be truly hurt by the loss. I wanted to show the class that Dick Vermeil said costs nothing.
That said, I'm no Dick Vermiel. . ..
When I hit the streets and joined with a large contingent of Rams fans joyously leaving the stadium, I couldn’t resist joining the chant . . . .started by some SHTT stirring rams fan:
WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR! Clap, clap, clap-clap-clap
WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR! Clap, clap, clap-clap-clap.
WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR! Clap, clap, clap-clap-clap
WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR! Clap, clap, clap-clap-clap.
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/10/2018 12:14AM by stlramz.
Seattle is a RIDICULOUSLY tough place to play.
From the field surface, to the unbelievable crowd noise, historically most teams that have traveled there over the last half decade leave with a loss. The Hawks are 38-10 since 2012. The Book of World Records twice certified that they were the loudest outdoor stadium in the NFL (now surpassed by KC) approaching 140 decibels.
Their fans understand situational football better than any stadium I have been at ever. They get deadly silent for their offense and they blow roof off for their defense.
Heading to Seattle, everyone knew what was at stake: Win and the Rams essentially put a hammerlock on the division with a 3.5 game lead after only 5 weeks. Lose and Seattle gets puffed up, a game behind with a tie breaker in hand. It’s the divisional standings equivalent of a 14 point swing in a ball game.
I figured the Hawks would be up for this one, having been humiliated at home the year before and the Rams publicly declaring that “they don’t feel pressure, THEY APPLY IT”. Todd Gurley publicly pronounced “we can’t be beat a mere days earlier”. It was the type of combination heading into the game that portends a tough battle.
I recall in 1999 how John Lynch was incredulous at Dick Vermiel’s remarks ahead of the Championship game that only the Rams could beat the Rams. He was getting his Bucs fired up by the purported “disrespectful statements” being made by Vermeil in advance of the game.
No doubt that similar discussions were occurring in the Pacific Northwest heading into what was clearly a “must win” game for the Hawks.
While I understood conceptually that this was going to be a tough game, I’ve had an eerie calm about this team since the preseason. Just looking up and down the roster, it feels a lot like 2001. Too many good players in too many important positions for any team to not seriously compete or be favored against anyone.
The difference, here, however, is that the “difference makers” also extend to the coaching staff. McVay, Kromer, Wade, Bones. So other than preparing some feigned “spontaneous insults” to be hurled at Seattle Super fan “Bob” aka “Our House”, I was pretty chill about going to the game, even allowing myself to envision another systematic dismantling of the hawks.
On the walk from the hotel to the stadium, it was clear that the Seattle fans were not feeling the same excessive arrogance they would normally display just hours before kickoff. In fact, it really appeared that many of them were downright concerned about what might happen.
Despite my son and I being fully decked in rams gear for the 1.2 mile walk to the stadium, not one comment was to be heard from ANYONE! The lone insult coming from a guy waiting for a light to turn green at a cross-walk then flipping me and my 7 year old off. We both laughed and waived at the guy as he drove away.
Just then we walked by a WWII memorial and my son spontaneously asks me how many Russian’s died in WWII? I said nobody really knows but probably at least 20 million. He asked me if they fought on our side and I told him that we were both fighting against the Nazi’s. I said, you know, for all the grief between our two countries, the Russian’s fighting in WWII was a big part of the eventual defeat of the Nazi’s.
Just as I am trying to have this serious historical moment with my kid, he says something which causes me to realize that my legacy as a fan is secure.
“Dad, that’s not the coolest thing the Russian’s have done you know?”
“Yeah, Michael, what was cooler than that?”
“Vladimir Putin stole Robert Kraft’s Super Bowl Ring”
BOOM!
“Mike! DUDE!
So just as I am having a real proud father moment, my phone buzzes. An old friend of mine from St. Louis who used to work for the Rams and now does radio work for the Seahawks, Christopher Taylor says: check your email.
I open my email:
PREGAME FIELD PASSES.
WTF!!!!!
20 minutes later, my son and I find ourselves in a tunnel meeting with Guest Services who affix Red Pregame Field Access Passes on our jerseys.
As we are escorted on to the field, we are told that we would be “confined” from the rams bench around the endline to the goal posts. We are told not to bother the players with autograph requests and not to video anything but still photos were cool. A seahawks fan heading to the sideline with us tells me "if you come onto the field with us, you will have to cover your Rams jersey".
I said, "While I truly want to assist you with your PTSD, as your therapist explained the best deterrence is to avoid going to where the traumatic event happened in the first place . . . .
The guest services person tells the guy "you got to admit, that was a pretty good response".
They bring us to the sideline and tell us we can move about in this area until 15 minutes before kickoff. Our guest services escort leaves us around the 20 yard line.
I look up 2 feet in front of me. This is what I see:
I send the picture to a childhood ram fan who responds “are you seriously that close”.
My son and I are literally 2 feet away from Gurley as he warms up for 10 minutes.
Jake McQuaide, ever the gentleman comes over to my son to pay his respects:
As close as I try and get to the players before the game, I have NEVER been that close. This gave me some additional insights that I really haven’t been able to personally witness other than through the occasional “WIRED” segments.
Both teams had absolute game faces on. Everyone understood what was a stake. A few of the Rams players got a bit heated with the Hawks players during the warm ups. Trash talking could be heard but it was the Rams who had the look of the Alpha Dog and the Seahawks as a challenger.
The trash talking made me think about Bob . . . but he was in the opposite corner, away from where I was allowed to move. I tried to find him with my binoculars and I did see him. His sign that last year said “Rookie Coach, Clueless QB, No Players” was noticeably missing. In its place, something to the effect that the Rams Coach looked like a High School PE Teacher.
In other words, Bob realized that his sign from last year was not only obsolete, it was down right inaccurate. His new sign – in many ways – was true. But his edge was gone. His sign was more “cute” than rude.
I have to say, I felt a tinge of sadness for the guy. He is on a sinking ship and he is a smart enough fan to know it. Given his sad new sign, I figure this is a good year to give the guy a break.
Goff came out and was warming up right in front of us. Saguaro pointed this out in a post about a week ago referencing the Vikings game. Goff now exudes confidence and leadership. You could see it crystal clear from up close. The players love and respect him.
He along with Todd are the clear-cut leaders of the offense with Big Whit serving as the “Godfather” overlooking it all. Anyone who doubts the types of leaders we have in Todd and Jared need only listen to the 60 second sound bite from Whit – he talks about how 16 and 30 are not only special players but they have become special leaders and cornerstones who, despite their being elite, are about everyone else and not themselves a quality he called “rare beyond rare”.
It is a beautiful thing to see how those players interact with the team and how they are received by the other players. Its something beautiful I noticed in Oakland and is probably more so now – These players know they are part of something special.
This is a “TEAM” in the genuine sense of the word and only a true team could have overcome what the Rams did on this rainy October day.
Though the scoreboard would make you think otherwise, this was – to this point – the most gratifying win of the season for me.
The seahawks came to play. Their fans and players knew what was a stake and they gave it absolutely everything they had. This was their season – their Super Bowl.
One could be disappointed at some of the breakdowns on defense – particularly with Marcus Peters, or one could stand in awe in what we overcame.
I choose awe.
Losing not one but both of your starting WRs, being with a back up kicker who has been with the team for a week, being without your first or second string returner or in the case of the punt return even our 3rd string returner, being without one of your top corners and without your top back up corner for most of the game, having the Refs make questionable calls across the board, ignoring holding calls, missing a Seattle player coming back in bounds on a TD play
and taking away several clear 1st downs at critical moments including what would be a game ender and still pulling off a "W" is nothing short of amazing.
Because of the forecast of rain, I took seats in the Loge section which are elevated but also under cover. They provided me an excellent vantage point to see just how beautiful this Rams offense is. Literally, and this came out even in the replay on TV, Rams players were running free regularly on nearly every series. Some of the pass completions, there weren't defenders within 3 yards of the receiver.
McVay is a genius. His play designs really do stress the hell out of a defense but more importantly eliminate my need to stress. We fall behind and within 3 plays, there we are within the opponents redzone threatening.
This offense is so good, there is almost no time to worry before we respond. Using Whit’s terminology “its Rare beyond Rare”. We’ve lived the opposite for so long, its almost like a dream being on the other side of it.
But even with all the greatness our offense showed, there were two moments in the game that told me that we are just scratching the surface.
10:34 to play in the game rams on their own 17 yard line. Score seahawks 31- Rams 30.
Our defense had just gotten the ball back despite struggling immensely. The game is stalled as we are on an obvious TV time out. They are playing a track in the stadium with a really heavy beat. I look in the rams offensive huddle with my binoculars looking to see what is going on.
The players a just grooving to the beat. Heads bobbing, bodies swaying, just biding their time on the commercial by enjoying the music.
My son even commented on how relaxed they were before such a pivotal drive.
They DO know how good they are. They not only believe but they actually KNOW they will score. 2 minutes later they are in FG position and 4 minutes later, they have the lead.
No time to worry. I like that.
When the Defense took the field and promptly allowed the Hawks to get to the 30 yard line – remarkably I still wasn’t worried.
I had just earlier listened to a radio program on meditation. The speaker described thoughts – good and bad –as cars passing by in your mind. You could get on them and take the bad thought wherever it was going or just watch it drive by.
I started seeing the thought that the Rams defense would not make the stop, without having any timeouts, and the hawks would kick a game winning FG.
I took the expert’s advice, accepted that this was the “car” with a “loser” thought in it and let it drive by in my mind and allowed the car with the good thoughts (that our offense can score at will be the car I would ride in).
I will say this about our defense, while their were breakdowns across the board, the biggies were obviously Peters getting smoked on multiple occasions, they rose up when they needed to and came close to several other big plays (nullified sacks and a sam shields near pick six) which could have changed the game.
From my standpoint, I don’t believe Peters is fully healthy. Its like he is playing his usual game of trying to bait a QB and his body simply can’t respond like it would normally. Its simply not possible for a player that good to drop off that badly. That said, MP would have had a pick six at the 3:47 mark in the 4th Q if Cory Littleton doesn’t bat up Wilson’s pass. He read the play right and was breaking on the ball.
As I mentioned in my write up from Oakland, Peters is a highly emotional player and it was on display again. Without Talib there to get into his face, its almost like none of the other DBs have the “juice” to get into Peters face. I really think Talib keeps MP more in check and is the only guy with enough standing to challenge Peters to his face - but I do credit most of his poor play by his body simply not being 100%.
Back to our offense – the stars of this show.
With the defense making the stop when it needed to, it was still up to the offense to put this away.
On the critical drive, it was patently clear that the refs were HOSING the rams in terms of ball placement. On the 2nd and 8 carry, one side judge had Gurley a full two feet past the first down marker and another one picked up the ball and moved it back behind the marker. It seemed like the Rams kept getting first downs and the refs kept putting it back.
Non-champions crumble with these types of bad breaks.
The rams did not crumble.
On the play that defined the game, with all of the marbles riding on the 4th and 1, with the crowd willing their defense to make just one more hold, the rams line – and particularly Rob Havenstein – a player who was the subject of much debate this week on this board - absolutely CRUMBLES the seattle defense and paves the way for Jared to burst through. (Yes, Rob is worth it!).
The entire Rams Offense – lead by big Rob is up, pumping their fists.
They knew what they did this day was special, even though some others do not.
You could see it on their faces and in their reactions.
They KNEW.
This was big.
Those who know, know.
A 3.5 game lead in the division after 5 weeks!
On my walk out, feeling special satisfaction at this win, I decided I would reserve the smack talk choosing instead to bestow “great game” comments on seahawks fans that appeared to be truly hurt by the loss. I wanted to show the class that Dick Vermeil said costs nothing.
That said, I'm no Dick Vermiel. . ..
When I hit the streets and joined with a large contingent of Rams fans joyously leaving the stadium, I couldn’t resist joining the chant . . . .started by some SHTT stirring rams fan:
WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR! Clap, clap, clap-clap-clap
WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR! Clap, clap, clap-clap-clap.
WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR! Clap, clap, clap-clap-clap
WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR! Clap, clap, clap-clap-clap.
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/10/2018 12:14AM by stlramz.
