RENTON — Cardinals vs. Seahawks, week six of the NFL season.
This was going to be the big early season game in the NFC West. The game that determined who would have the early advantage in the division race.
At least that’s what everyone thought before the season started.
Instead, both teams have gotten off to slower-than-expected starts, and both have lost to San Francisco, the surprise early leader in the division.
But that doesn’t mean today’s game lacks significance. For the Seahawks, today represents a chance to head into their bye week with a 3-3 record that would put them right back in the division race, not a terrible start considering Seattle was 1-3 two weeks ago and has suffered a huge number of injuries. The Cardinals can improve to 3-2 win a win, which would put them into a first-place tie with the 49ers, who are idle this week.
And even though San Francisco is currently in first place, this is still a game between the current NFC West champs and the team that owned the division for the previous four seasons.
“Oh, there’s no question, when you’re playing a team that’s had great success like Seattle has, especially coming there and what a tough environment that is to play in, you know you have to get up for it,” Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt said in a conference call. “I certainly can’t speak for the Seahawks and how they feel about us, but I can tell you this: after watching the Seattle Seahawks be successful for so many years, you want to get up for that game because you’re playing against a good football team. Any time you can win a game against a team like that, it certainly helps you.”
But even if a game against the defending NFC champ carries a lot of significance for the Seahawks, they insist they’re not talking about it that way.
“I don’t come in here and talk to the players about reclaiming the West,” Seahawks coach Jim Mora said. “I talk to them about getting better every week. I really did. The theme wasn’t chip on our shoulder, it was, ‘Let’s get better. Let’s get better as a football team this week.’”
Instead, both teams are looking at this game as a chance to jump start this season and put 2008 behind them. Whisenhunt said earlier this week that his team hasn’t handled the success from last season very well, noting that his team is playing too tight while trying to live up to expectations. The Seahawks, meanwhile, are trying to show that last year’s 4-12 season was a fluke, not a sign things to come for the franchise.
“I’m pretty sure we feel the same way about last season as the Cardinals do,” Seahawks receiver Nate Burleson said. “They’re not sitting at home thinking, ‘We’re the guys that almost won the Super Bowl.’ They’re just focused on this year, and I think that’s where we’re at too. We’re in both in similar boats where in certain ways we’d like to forget about last year. They would like to forget they didn’t complete their goal, and we’d like to forget that we had such a bad season. So right now we’re both in a situation where we need to prove who is ahead in the NFC West, and this is one of the games that can make that picture a little clearer.”
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more Seahawks coverage, check out the Seahawks blog at heraldnet.com/seahawksblog
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
