Partner Pulse

By DEREK STEPHENS
The Blue Bird Herd

There were a lot of ugly moments on offense Sunday for the Seahawks, no doubt about it.

Tarvaris Jackson continued to struggle making decisions. His timing was inconsistent once again, and in comparison to the previous two weeks, there wasn't much improvement from No. 7. Any perceived improvement in the passing game can be contributed more to Sidney Rice than Jackson, but that said, there wasn't a digression either. We've beat the Tarvaris Jackson drum (or horse) enough for three weeks, so maybe it's time to switch the focus up a bit to a more positive tone. Let's talk about attitude.

Attitude won the game for Seattle, plain and simple. There was a nastiness to this group, particularly on defense, that set the tone early for a Seattle win. Ironically, it started on a play that didn't count. A play that was ultimately nullified by a fabricated penalty that was called more out of shock than anything else. Literally ... shock. As in "Hello, Todd Heap. I'm Kam. Please excuse me while I attempt to decapitate you" shock. Did anyone think to check the Richter on that one? Looking at the replay of the hit that Chancellor laid on Heap after Earl Thomas had intercepted a Kevin Kolb pass, there was nothing dirty about it. Ken Wisenhunt was over there having puppies on the sideline, demanding a flag and the refs bought it.

By the time Heap re-entered the galaxy, the 'Hawks had left a mark. You can call the play back, but you can't call the hit back. A message had been sent, that the 'Hawk defense was not going to make a Cardinal win easy and regardless of what the scoreboard said at the end of the game, guys were going to be hurting if they ended up anywhere in Kam's vicinity.

It didn't take long for Red Bryant to send the same message. I was on the Cardinals' sideline for most of the game, and Bryant was blowing up his side of the Arizona O-line and doing so violently. On a number of occasions following plays in which Bryant would blow his opponent off the line or stuff the runner, he'd get up and yell “bring it” directly at the Cardinal bench and motion with his hand accordingly. A lot of players do that, I know. But rarely do you see no response from the sideline. The Arizona bench was silent. Nobody wanted to respond.

Click here to read the full column about the Seahawks' new attitude on Blue Bird Herd.

Read more of Derek Stephens at The Blue Bird Herd.