Seattle Seahawks Need to Deliver Against St. Louis Rams on Monday Night Football

Tonight the Seattle Seahawks will face the St. Louis Rams on ESPN's Monday Night Football in a game three-quarters of the American viewing public will probably ignore.

Peter King over at Sports Illustrated couldn't be any more blunt in his "Weekly Pickoff" column by stating,

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"With the Eastern Seaboard watching Chevy Chase and that wacky squirrel wreaking havoc on the Griswold family Christmas, Tarvaris Jackson gets the Seahawks to 6-7 behind a patchwork offensive line in a game only Ron Jaworski could love."

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Shame really, but can you honestly argue with him?  At least he picks the Seahawks to win 23-9.

For once though, it's not King's comments/jabs that sound troublesome.

No, I leave that to head coach Pete Carroll. When Carroll was asked about the chance to play a Monday Night Football game, Danny O'Neil at the Seattle Times reports:

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"Everybody enjoys the heck out of it," coach Pete Carroll said. "And we're fortunate to have the opportunity, and we want to play real well."

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While I appreciate on some level what Pete is saying, try to act like you belong.  Saying your team is fortunate and wanting to play well makes you sound more like Ned Flanders, rather than Vince Lombardi.

Once again this team has people believing, even if those hopes are slim.  Yet at the same time perhaps more than anything else, this team from here on out needs to stay the course and not zig when we expect them to zag.

The Seahawks must handle their business for four full quarters against a team they should beat, by running the ball down their throats and hammering anyone who tries to advance the ball against them on offense.  We saw that against the Eagles in prime time a little over a week ago and need to see it again against a far-less-talented Rams squad.

Games like tonight are important not just for this season, but for seasons to come.  Monday Night Football does matter, and even if no one east of the Mississippi River is watching, that still doesn't make it any less of an opportunity to serve notice to the Rams and the rest of the West that the 'Hawks are a prime-time team both literally and figuratively.

Perhaps in all of this, Tarvaris Jackson can serve as the voice of reason, in the same article by O'Neil:

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"You can't get too far ahead of yourself," Jackson said. "Because if you do look over an opponent in this league, they'll come out and beat you. We want to make sure that we do what we're supposed to do: come out and play as hard as we can."

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Indeed.  Act like you belong, deliver the goods and don't sweat the playoffs.