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<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   ADDITIONAL ITEMS • Seattle Seahawks (External Link) • Stats (External Link)   CONTACT THE HERALD Report scores and results to 425-339-3470 or 1-866-6-SCORES (Call after 4:30 p.m.) E-mail information including items for Tuesday's Communities Sports Roundup and Thursday's Outdoor Calendar, to sports@heraldnet.com Kevin Brown, Sports Editor kbrown@heraldnet.com   Published: Friday, December 14, 2007 Seahawks season resumes in January By Scott M. Johnson, Herald Writer Perhaps you're feeling a little antsy. Shaking like a child on Christmas morning. Rubbing your hands together as if it were the morning of your wedding. Understandable. Being a football fan right about now, especially in Seattle, is a wait-and-see proposition. Sunday's game against Carolina doesn't seem to hold much importance. Nor does the Baltimore game a week later. And that season finale at Atlanta? Three hours of Bobby Petrino screaming "Pig Sooey!" might be more exciting. With three weeks to go in the regular season, the only thing worth watching is the calendar pages flutter to the floor. The Seahawks are going to be the No. 3 seed in the NFC. They're going to host a first-round playoff game, and travel to Green Bay if they're fortunate enough to win that one. It's as inevitable as I-5 traffic, and yet we have to sit and wait behind an SUV while the regular season crawls to a finish. Three weeks of playing out the string. Coach Mike Holmgren can wax poetic about how there's still a chance for his team to earn the No. 2 seed, which would take, at the very least, two losses by the Green Bay Packers. Yes, the same Green Bay Packers who have lost just two games in three-and-a-half months. As chances go, this one's as fat as Sam Adams. I've got a better shot of supplanting Lofa Tatupu as the Seahawks' starting middle linebacker. This isn't just about the Seahawks' destiny being set in granite. It's also about the remaining opponents. Carolina, Baltimore and Atlanta have combined for 12 wins this season and zero chance of making it to the postseason. The only interest in those parts right about now involves the futures of their coaching staffs. Carolina's John Fox and Baltimore's Brian Billick are in a race to see who'll be fired first, and the Falcons are already searching for Petrino's replacement. And speaking of dire, how about the quarterback situations on those teams? The Panthers are down to 44-year-old Vinny Testaverde or rookie Matt Moore from Oregon State. Baltimore is so fed up with Kyle Boller that the Ravens turned to Heisman Trophy winner-turned-NFL-project Troy Smith last Sunday. And Atlanta is starting a guy, Chris Redman, who was selling insurance last year and hadn't played a game since 2004. Think any of those teams wouldn't give their right arm for a Charlie Frye right about now? If nothing else, it might have been interesting to see how the Seahawks would stack up against fellow contenders. The only sure-fire NFC playoff team they've faced was Tampa Bay, and that was in the opener. That was also the last time Seattle beat a team with a winning record. The only other NFC contenders on the schedule, New Orleans and Arizona, have each beaten Seattle once this year. So it might behoove us to see Seattle tune up with a meaningful win down the stretch. But that, I can promise you, will not happen. Not with the pathetic Panthers, the reeling Ravens and the flailing Falcons on tap for the next three weeks. Sure, there are some storylines. Carolina might be looking to avenge that NFC Championship loss at Seattle two years ago. Baltimore comes to town with an offensive coordinator named Rick Neuheisel. And the Falcons will be hosting a former head coach (Seahawks assistant Jim Mora) and a Pro Bowler who left town (defensive end Patrick Kerney). That's as juicy as it gets, folks. If you're looking for real drama, for excitement or pure entertainment, you might be better suited to sit through one of those Bill Belichick press conferences. Read the Mitchell report, page-for-page. Take a history class from Nick Saban. Anything else. Just don't bother with the Seahawks. Not this month. Enjoy the holidays, and check back in after the turn of the new year. Because the rest of this regular season is for the birds. Scott M. Johnson is The Herald's pro football writer.

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