Seahawks win ugly, but win

The Seattle Seahawks defeated the Miami Dolphins 12-10 today in a slugfest at CenturyLink Field in Seattle.

You know the cliche’…… it wasn’t pretty but it counts. 

Pretty it definitely was not, save for the beautiful game-winning TD pass from Russell Wilson to Doug Baldwin with less than a minute remaining.

Crucial…… it definitely was.

Yesterday in my “Random Thoughts” column I wrote the following:

You can’t underscore the importance of this game enough… winning it is paramount… getting off to a good start is crucial… the Seahawks don’t want to be 0-1 with a home-opening loss going down to face their road nemesis the Rams next week.

I feel even more strongly about that comment today after watching what happened on the field. This is the way the Seahawks may have to win games for awhile, at least until the offensive line gels and some key players return from injury.

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Early on it looked promising; clearly offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell was trying to take pressure off the line by calling a flurry of sideline screens. Seattle was moving the ball, but failed to crack the endzone. There weren’t any holes in the running game early, Wilson threw 26 times in the first half, a career high.

There were times during the game where it would be easy to catch yourself thinking “maybe this team just isn’t as great as we think it is this year.”  I still believe they are…or can be. Sometimes teams just don’t play well. There was no single culprit to blame for this closer-than-it-should-have-been dramatic win. Too many penalties, too many missed tackles (including a few from All Pro safety Earl Thomas in an uncharacteristically bad performance), and way too many drops. Seahawk WR’s dropped 12 passes all last season. Today they dropped three, all of which would have resulted in drive-extending first downs.

Next week’s game may look very much like this one. The Rams defensive front is an even bigger test for Seattle’s patchwork O-line, but the Seahawks defense should be able to contain LA’s offense. Until RG Germain Ifedi and RB CJ Prosise (injured again today) return to health, Wilson will have to get by with what he has.

This is assuming, of course, that Wilson has no setbacks with the ankle injury he sustained today. He played through it, but it clearly was affecting his ability to run and his accuracy at time.

There were positive signs today, things to build on, areas that you can see the team is far ahead of where they were at this time a year ago…….

Next: Seahawks stage symbol of unity during anthem

….but those are all things better left to write about as the week progresses. For now, savor this win, no matter how ugly it may have been.