SEATTLE – Seattle Seahawks fans don’t want to hear this.
They probably want to read about how Marcus Trufant is planning to knock Torry Holt silly, how Grant Wistrom and Bryce Fisher want to stick it to their former team, and how Jerramy Stevens wants to kick Leonard Little in the … uh, gut.
But that’s just not the way it is. Not with this rivalry, anyway.
When the NFC West’s two best teams – year in and year out – renew their rivalry today at Qwest Field, the expected animosity takes a back seat to mutual respect.
“There’s no back-and-forth when we play each other,” Seahawks center Robbie Tobeck said, referring to the typical trash talk that goes on during the course of an NFL game. “We respect the athletes they are, and they seem to respect the athletes that we are. Maybe that’s because of the type of players they have and the type of players we have.”
As the only two teams that have even sniffed an NFC West title over the past three seasons, the Seahawks and Rams are back again as each other’s own competition. Seattle (5-3) and St. Louis (4-4) are expecting to submit another game for the ages when the rivalry continues today at Qwest Field.
“Generally, this is the biggest one of the year for us,” Rams coach Scott Linehan said in a conference call last week. “We’re playing our division rivals in a (rematch of a) game that we dropped one at home a few weeks back, and we can get ourselves right back in the hunt right away if we play a great football game and find a way to win it.”
The Seahawks have been kings of the hill in this rivalry since the beginning of last season, having won three head-to-head meetings and a division title in that span. But it wasn’t so long ago that the shoe was on the other foot, with the Rams looking like Cinderella to Seattle’s pumpkin. St. Louis held a four-game winning streak over its main division rival in 2003-04, including a playoff victory at Qwest Field.
“We’re on top right now, but we’re not the kings,” Seahawks receiver Darrell Jackson said. “You’ve got to give credit where credit’s due. Those guys beat us three times in one year. They’ve got a lot of history. When they come around, you’ve still got to be aware of their presence.”
Overlooking today’s opponent shouldn’t be a problem for either team. A win would put Seattle two games up in the standings, with the head-to-head tiebreaker clinched because of a series sweep. A loss would create a two-way tie atop the NFC West without any head-to-head advantages.
“Everyone understands what’s at stake, the ramifications of winning or losing the football game,” Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said. “Now, we’ve got eight games left to play, and I suggest it will go right down to the wire because that’s the kind of season it’s going to be. But it’s usually important to both teams. The players know that.”
The Seahawks’ Wistrom is among those who do.
“This is a game that both teams really must win,” said Wistrom, who spent his first six NFL seasons with the Rams. “We win this, we’re up two games on them in the division. As tight as things are right now between us and them, I don’t think you can overestimate the importance of that.”
The Rams, who lost to Seattle on Oct. 15 and have since dropped two successive games, might need this one more than the Seahawks do.
“It is an important game for us,” Rams receiver Torry Holt said. “Seattle, they’re handling their business a lot better than what we’re doing, because they’re still in control of the division, and in control of their destiny as far as getting where they want to be. We’re coming in, (and) I guess our backs are kind of against the wall.”
If the Rams have an obvious advantage in the latest matchup, it’s in the training room. They enter today’s game with a relatively clean bill of health, while the Seahawks could be missing as many as five starters – including quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and running back Shaun Alexander.
Seattle is 2-3 without Alexander, and 1-1 without Hasselbeck. Seneca Wallace has filled in admirably at quarterback, while running back Maurice Morris broke out with a 138-yard effort in Monday’s win over the Oakland Raiders.
Despite their lack of experience playing in this rivalry, both players know it’s not like most other games.
“It is a bigger game,” Wallace said. “It is a divisional game, and we just have to make sure we come out and play with the same intensity and awareness that we did on Monday night.”
Linehan, the Rams’ first-year coach, knows the intensity will be up for today’s game.
“This has been a very good rival game, and I got a really good feel for it this last one,” Linehan said, referring to the Seahawks’ 30-28 win at St. Louis on Oct. 15. “You don’t have to make too much reference to the fact that we’re playing Seattle. This is a huge game, and if we want to stay competitive in the division we have to play very well.”
These two teams might not hate each other as much as outsiders might expect, but they definitely get motivated to play one another.
“At one point or another, (outsiders) have written them off, they’ve written us off,” Tobeck said. “But it’s always been between the two of us. I guess that’s what has made this rivalry what it is.”
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