They care about the ozone layer still -- Seattle blog -- 20-17 us

[Art]

With Mr. Pappas getting settled. I've two nights of stuff to write about, though much of the Bennigan specials will be bypassed .

Talk in a moment.

NOTE: Don't have inactives yet, but rumor is either some receiver we picked in the second round who never plays could be active today (who will go unnamed until he makes a catch) or Springs could be active today.

Inactives: Washington, Fabini, rinehart, James, Davis, Montomery, Jackson and Brennan. For Seattle, Coutu, Wallace, Wahle, Bryant, Kent, Putzier, Miller.

Friday, 11 a.m. -- After marathon Gears of War session last week before Dallas, the door is open to by the Xbox so I can play it at home. A buddy is going out of town for 10 days so he's loaning me his and delivers it now. I immediately realize I can't leave it in the car and must take it to Seattle with me to protect it from any ill that could come.

Friday, 11:30 a.m. -- Finish up last of work. Have two hours and change before flight. Boss takes this moment to "commit to you" as an employee by providing me underwater stock options that I don't get to own for 4 years. Joy.

Friday, 11:45 a.m. -- On the road. Taking the west route to the airport rather than my normal east route. In the left lane as always. Exit to the left. Lots of construction. Left, rolling, but things seem wrong. Peter's Billiards on the right. Things are WAY wrong. Damn guys finally straightened out the crosstown mess and now I'm terribly lost. Clock is ticking too.

Friday, 12:25 p.m. -- Make first of several illegal turns to get myself onto a highway that ultimately must go to the airport. Very stressy.

Friday, 1:18 p.m. -- Make it to the gate, through security by using the MSP secret security entrance that is a walk but no line saving much time. First flight ever on Alaska Airlines. Big plane. $5 digital players so I can watch the Dark Knight. I like it. No charge for my first bag. A snack for free. Jones Soda kind of sucks, but no one is perfect.

Friday, 4:45 p.m. (Pacific) -- Got my bag, got the SUV -- a burgundy Expedition -- and on the road to the hotel. Flipping through seek on the radio it takes exactly four minutes of driving to find someone on some station ranting about the ozone layer and assorted environmental lunacy. Seattle staple. Text message from hailredskins ***** stating team just arrived at the hotel. I'm close, but am in a ton of traffic a couple miles out.

Friday, 5:10 p.m. -- Slow moving cars allows PDA e-mailing to Karl Swanson to tell him to come out with us and ignore the obligations he has. He writes back he's at the bar and to stop by. Karl's been our biggest supporter at ES, so, I never turn down the chance to say hello. But, first, in my room trying to set up the Xbox in case it's needed. Doesn't work. Will call engineering tomorrow. On way up Carlos Rogers is riding with me smelling first rate. I tell him to kick their asses Sunday and he laughs. "We'd better."

Friday, 5:45 p.m. -- hailredskins ***** is working out. I arrive at the bar and drink some very good Seattle brewed hefe and chat with Karl. He'd like to remind you all to Vote the Redskins Ticket as often as possible now that the lead by several Redskins has been making news. Run in to Larry briefly and talk about tomorrow's 12-egg omelet.

Friday, 6:45 p.m. -- Mr. Clean is not going to be with us tonight as he's depressed over huge car bill he just paid. I think he goes to Sizzler with Sonny and Sam. Larry is out to Mortons for a marketing meal. Karl's attending a private theater showing of Valkyrie to the team. They get to see it before the world does. Pretty cool, even if it is Tom Cruise. It's just me, hailredskins ***** and a newcomer to the blog, Horatio -- which is not his real name, but every waitress at Bennigans later believes it is and that it was his 21st birthday. We three head out to Nijo only to find it raining. We want to get a cab but find that the hotel has a free car and umbrellas. We take both.

Friday, 7:15 p.m. -- Nijo is solid. We can always get in. Really good sushi. Multiple Sapporo's and sake dunked in. Horatio and hailredskins ***** are flying high. It's almost time to go to Bennigans.

Friday 8:30 p.m. -- And here we are. Seattle has very fine service at their Bennigans. For the safety of marriages I will talk around the details but will say the following. hailredskins ***** discovered the wait staff at Bennigans needs to make $130 for the house before they make any money. The person with this information was clearly suggesting she'd not gotten to that point and was hoping for a $20 tip. Which, I believe, she got. Horatio had a classy evening. One of the older, but still hanging on to hotness, waitresses believed it was his 21st birthday. Later she came to me informing me she preferred grown ups and felt creepy with Horatio because he was so much younger. Miss Robinson. Later, Horatio got into an involved conversation with a waitress named Brazille. This was a 45-minute conversation ranging many topics, including the environment, Darfor, Obama, the relative musculature of unmentionable areas and other fun stuff. What was not involved, despite a blue light, free danc.....er free beer special.....was that. Sad. But, Horatio is moving to Seattle.

Saturday, morning, later -- Sleep. Sweet, wonderful, dreamy sleep.

Saturday 8 a.m. -- hailredskins ***** calls me like a stalker 10 times about our 12-egg-omlet day. We arrange a meeting in the lobby by 8:45. The 12-egger is at Beth's Cafe. I discovered this wonderful creation when my buddy told me last week about it. Each filling is a pound and a half. 12 eggs. I research it and find it both true and get more details. Served over hash browns. Served on a pizza tray. Glorious.

Saturday, 9 a.m. -- In lobby. Guys from the team are chilling out. Word of the 12-egger arrives before me as guys are curious about it, amazed at the prospects. I joke they serve it with a Lipitor chaser. Six of us head out. Intrepid travelers. Me, hailredskins *****, Charlie Broyhill, Mr. Clean, new guy John Mayer (again, not him, but look alike) and the artist who draws good pictures of the table but no self portraits. Garmin works for **** in the city but we finally get a clear shot of the sky and get the right direction.

Saturday, 9:30 a.m. -- At Beth's. It's every bit the dive it appeared to be on line, but, we get in quickly. I am the only man at the table. Broyhill orders a turkey club. Mayer orders a small breakfast. Three order a six egger. I get the 12-egg-omelet with ham, cheese and green peppers. Picture at the bottom using Charlie Broyhill's hand as scale and the Bacon Salt next to the tray. I ate the whole damn thing. Though I started to slow down about 7 eggs in, and almost stopped at 9 eggs. Mayer gave me a piece of bacon as a taste change up and I pushed through.

Saturday, 10:45 a.m. -- Back at the hotel. Too full to work out yet. Get engineering to get Xbox working and Gear up for an hour or so before working my way down for a bike ride and a little weights.

Saturday, 11:55 a.m. -- Riding the bike, feeling about to explode. Pretty sure my blood is not actually moving in my body. Watching CCW, Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Wrestling show. Extra stupid. Coach Bugel comes in to walk the treadmill about 25 minutes in to my ride. Demetric Evans finishing up a workout walks through the area. Kelli Johnson gets in just as I'm finishing up the bike ride and gets next to Bugel who's still going strong. I'm dragging the last 10 minutes but make an hour. Do some light weights just to blow time and calories and pray my level of full diminishes.

Saturday, 2:10 p.m. -- In my room, still sweaty, but killing grubs in Gears of War. hailredskins ***** comes over to play a bit. Horatio joins later and we get a good couple hours in before naptime. Surprisingly I'm getting MORE full as the day goes on. This should be impossible, but, I believe I can feel the eggs attempting to replace my beating heart as the primary driver of my life.

Saturday, 5:45 p.m. -- Larry calls and asks about dinner. We have a reservation at Shiro's, another sushi place, at 7 p.m. He's in. Wants to meet at the bar. I am unsure I can move, but get up, shower and dress and head down.

Saturday, 6:15 p.m. -- Show off cell picture of the 12-egger which inspires a number of, "Jesus Christ" responses. The general consensus is in three days when I die we can trace it back to this. Team's top lawyer comes in and sees Larry and informs him he'll be attending another marking dinner at Morton's. Poor guy. Our sushi party is shrinking. Now down to 5 with two who don't eat sushi, but we take the hotel car down the road. Mike Sellers is coming in with his kid, girl and family. Asks where we're going. We say, "Sushi." He smiles and says, "Suuuuurrre." He must know about Bennigans.

Saturday, 7 p.m. -- Nice place. We're tucked in a private back area, which is good, as we're talking about Bennigans past and future without much concern for any in ear shot. Shiro's takes the cake as THE top sushi we've had on the road. Amazing. Nijo is sweet and high quality, but this is a level above. I even try Sea Urchin for the first time, which is a horrific texture like gell, but is acceptable flavor. It's still quite shocking to the tongue. Sake, sake, better sake, unfiltered sake. ****. Mr. Clean and I are going to have a big, big bill.

Saturday, 9 p.m. -- At Bennigans. A new, very lovely, quite amazing waitress stops over to visit us. She tells us she's Cherokee when we say we're Redskins fans, and we enjoy the banter of the irony. She's not really. She finds a comfortable spot on or about Mr. Clean's lap to chat away the first hour of our visit.

Saturday, 9:15 p.m. -- Cherokee is next to me as Pappas finally texts that he's in town. I text back we're at Bennigan's, which goes by another name. Road newbie writes back, "You mean Benihana's." NO I MEAN BENNIGANS with another name. I urge him to come by, writing him, "I mean blankety blank..." when our waitress Cameryn takes the PDA and texts to Pappas..."u r a ****ing idiot....and ***** and you suck at life." John responds in the affirmative. She writes back, "at least u know your place in life." Pappas is on the way. My favorite waitress takes the stage and Cameryn offers an opinion on her bottom but asks me not to tell her because she'll kick her ass.

Saturday, 10 p.m. -- Cameryn is not showing any sign of leaving. She's just chatting up a storm. At the same time Horatio has found a new love he will never see naked but decides to spend an hour chatting Cameryn takes one of the crowd to the back for about 40 minutes apparently going over the specials. I text Larry he must come here now with cash. He's on the way. Pappas is here by now, but leaves in a reasonably short time with Larry who's coming over with clients and marketing folks.

Sunday, morning, later -- Pappas is on the couch, typing on ES offering to sleep there to protect me from his snoring. I shut the doors between rooms and sleep blissful, dreamy sleep.

Sunday, 9 a.m. -- Taking a taxi to the stadium. We are bright-eyed and bushy tailed.

Sunday, 9:20 a.m. -- Larry is the only guy in the press box. Chomping a cigar typing on the internet. We sit around. Sonny joins us soon. Talks about the league having a record completion percentage because everyone is playing the Tampa 2 and giving everything underneath. Talks about 1969 when he threw at 65 percent completion and how it was a different game because you could mug the receiver then. He's dying to see the picture of the 12-egger. Says it looks like a small turkey.

Sunday, 10 a.m. -- Food comes out with some scrambled eggs. I refuse to eat another egg until December. Sonny says I should eat six eggs, so as not to go cold turkey. Good line.

Sunday, 11:02 a.m. -- Cooley, Yoder and Brennan doing their pre-game ritual of throwing a football at the goal posts. Pappas assures me Yoder typically wins this competition but from the 10-yard-line he and Cooley seem to play to a draw hitting the post about the same number with Brennan tossing the ball back. They move back to the 20 and Cooley nails the crossbar and runs around the field hollering in victory.

Sunday 11:54 a.m. -- Zorn coming out of the locker room shadowed by five cameras.

Sunday 12:50 p.m. -- Zorn is at midfield with a camera around him and lots of handshakes from Seahawk players and civilians in Seahawk gear. Certainly is a homecoming feel for him.

Sunday, 1 p.m. -- National Anthem by opera singer who actually had a conductor. That's just silly. The conductor was crazy, on her knees, flailing around like a twit. But, the opera singer hit her marks and made my ear drums bleed.

Sunday 1:10, p.m. -- Seahawks go HEAVY on the fireworks between each player. Stadium is pretty full. Too bad. Was hoping it would be silent .

Sunday, 1:13 p.m. -- Skins send out their SIX damn captains again. Fletch, Carter, Griffin, Campbell, Rock and Khary Campbell. Our ball.

Pre-game prediction -- Seattle has given our offensive line a ton of problems our last two games here. They are fast up front and with the crowd we've had a hard time. We need early points to keep them off of their higher edge and we should be able to control things. For the first time this season I legitimately think we'll have what appears to be an explosive offense. I think we're going to lean heavy on the arm of Campbell and passing attack as Zorn wants to win this one. We're scoring 38. . Let us pray.

Kickoff, our ball -- Three receiver set and up the gut. Crowd is loud. Seattle runs a display of false starts created since 2005 which they are tops and they donate $250 per false start this year. Audible on second. Seahawks split the line on second. Bad situation to be in here. Watch to see if we keep bodies in to block. Timing pass to Moss, well played by Jennings. Not a good start. Dangerous punt. Short. Bad, bad start.

Seahawks -- Great pressure up front. Man across the field. Springs in at safety. We can cover in this lineup. Robinson gets free but Springs makes up ground to bring up third. West Coast offense throwing deep. It can happen. Tight, tight coverage on third. Good start by the defense to keep us safe.

Second drive -- At the 12. Crowd is loud. Samuels beaten around the edge. Only two men in the route, both deep. Portis getting some of the sack yardage back. We just have problems with loud crowds and fast defenses. Ugly looking screen, but it works. I like getting Sellers involved. Split backfield on first. Sellers again. The lost man in our offense but someone who can really give us an edge if used right. Cooley split wide on second. They were going to him on a slant, but had to come off because he was WELL covered. Third and three. Nothing. Quick set, no route more than 10 yards. Everything inside too or across to make it bunched. Bad punt again. He'd better pretend to be hurt.

Seattle the second -- Bunched defense with 8 in box, but they split us for a big gainer. Horton is in for Springs at safety on this series. Nine in box on second. Springs isolated again and was beaten slightly, but bad pass. Hall, Smoot, Rogers, Springs, Landry in now. Tremendous coverage set there. Grounding. That'll happen. Still, Seahawks in position to take the lead. And they do. 3-0.

Skins again -- Looked like Rock had room, but was closed quickly. That explosive thing needs to start soon. Slant behind Moss. Maybe on second. Campbell sees the Seahawks in man coverage with no one to go to, so he runs. That's a nice weapon to have. Playaction. Thomas long, but Campbell doesn't do it. Instead a dart to Moss. Good Portis run. Better Portis run. Nice mix. Things opening up a little now. Good drive. Stone wall on the third run. Play action and absolutely nothing. Third down pass high to Cooley, would have been short anyway. Chance to get it even. Suisham short from 44. What's wrong with his leg.

Seattle the third -- My explosive beliefs/hopes are being shattered so far. Landry in a rare on the line situation does great. Horton was single high. Landry now single high and Jason Taylor rocks it. Long third down here. Dump off creates lovely punt.

Skins again -- Interesting punt return. Landry and Thomas were threatening the slot, but both dropped back. Instead of going to their side to double, they crossed together and nailed the gunner on both sides. Created nice space it seemed. Moss has man situation. Has him beat. Lots of time. Pass a little too far outside and Moss can't bring it in. Second down has illegal shift being called. Sniffed out screen off play action. Not sure I like that very much. Third and forever. Play clock down and we're in the huddle. Time out. We do not excel at third and 15. Few teams do. And the Portis slips away. That'll work. 87 yards in the first quarter for us with 48 passing and 39 rushing and we have 0 points. That's been how it's been. 10:42 time of possession too. Crazy.

Start of the second -- Our ball, first down. Quick to Cooley, keeps us on schedule and when we are we look good. Four yards. Here we should win. Here we should bash them back. Missed handoff, and Campbell still makes it. LUCKY. Portis bangs out five. On schedule. Moss doubled across field. Thrash and El singled. Go to Moss. Knocked down. 107 yards to 53 and we're losing. Our kickers are killing us.

Seattle with another chance -- They've had one big play on offense and have the lead. One more and they'll have a bigger lead. Our defense can hold, but as we've seen, it can not hold forever without support. Hasselbeck throws to no one. Defense, yeah. Then delay. Yeah. Hall was isolated on that play on what appeared to be a seam route on the outside. He was jumping inside and probably would have gotten in on that. Nice cutback run by Morris giving them a controlled third shot. False start offense. Close call there. Eight in the box and time out Seahawks. Man across. Great coverage. Delayed blitz by Springs. Our ball. Defense does the job again. Moss is deep.

Moss stands there, bouncing, not running -- At least it's a first down. Pass complete to Kelly. Even PA announcer in box seems surprised. Sweep opens up beautiful. Sellers happy with his block and yaps. Kelly hand fighting down the field but never got deep enough. Quick snap and Portis just sneaks out 7. Running game is going pretty good today. Little slip draw and Portis just calmly runs behind Rabach, which is always worrisome as he's usually holding. Kelly back in down low. Seems so big out there. Portis bangs inside for little. Moss is engaged with someone away from the play and a flag is thrown. And Moss gets called for roughness. Moss is 110 pounds. It's a physical impossibility for him to rough. But, a punch is going to get called. It's a huge call against us if we can't do anything here to get at least into field goal range, which, for Suisham seems to be at about the goal line. Couple of yards to Sellers. PI defense. Tough call. Second down at the 14. Need to get closer for Suisham. Pass behind Cooley or that's a TD. First and goal from the three in field goal range. Portis down to the 1. Betts in. Portis on the sideline on the ground dinged reports Pappas. 7-3 good guys.

Seattle with one first down -- Seahawks after terrible, short kickoff have one first down total. Would be nice if we can keep it that way. Blades keeps them short on first. Smoot in great coverage, but great catch. First down. Should have been loss of 2, instead goes for 8. Seahawks right where they need to be. Griffin dinged again. Sweep and works. Not good. Seahawks now doing what Dallas did. Run outside. Dump to backs. Another first. First down throwback well defended. Second down screen TD. Just like that, 10-7 bad guys. Waiting on explosion.

Halftime review -- Exactly what I hoped not to see. Keeping a team with a bad record around, in a stadium known for the volume, is not a recipe for winning. The offense moves the ball but never seems really ready to strike, though, today we have gone deep, excluding the Hail Mary, three times. The defense plays lights out, then, suddenly gives up a drive where it seems to be off balance and has no answers. In all you see both how good and frustrating we can be because we're not quite good enough.

Zorn seems to recognize what we need to do to adjust. We are going deeper more often. We're running well. Defensively we are still very aggressive on receivers. We're trailing a team we're a bit better than and they get the ball first. At some point to win we'll have to take the game from them and take control. For the last few weeks, our game has been to keep hanging around. Not sure that'll work here. Still hoping for explosive.

Seahawks in the third -- Great return puts the Seahawks on the verge of putting us away. Backside play for another 14. Team is reeling. Another sweep with no safeties back. Rocky makes a play we desperately needed and the Seahawks go for a LONG field goal. MISS. Maybe their miss and the end of that drive gives us the spark we need.

Skins with good field position -- Portis with five. Glad he's back in. WR screen seemed to be so wide open it could have gone forever. But, just 15. Sellers with a decisive move to the outside for another first. Cooley dragging across as Kelly was long but covered. Portis up the gut and he has the first it seems, but breaks out and is taken down a yard short. Pitch 90 and Portis breaks two defenders for the first. Plays and calls like that is why we should be more potent on offense because most teams take 3 there and we continue the drive for a possible 7. Kelly is in the game plan for sure today. Not productive, but in. Field goal try. Chances are he'll kick it far enough. And he makes it. Yeah. 10-10

Seattle ball -- After a big return, knock his block off. I like that. Sweep against 8 men for another 9. Our edges are vulnerable right now. Sweep, but Alexander makes a play to squash it. Now they have to pass, and they do, but Robinson after pushing off drops an easy one. Deserved. Blitz on third down, little pressure, terrible pass and Landry flies in for the INT. Momentum is ours.

Skins after the INT -- Offsides defense negates a sack. Backside to Cooley who rumbles for 21. I love Cooley with the ball. Portis with nothing and we go empty set. Free rusher, but ARE across the front for a perfect timing play and TD. 17-10. Almost explosive

Seahawks -- Short kick by Suisham and they blast it straight back against us. It might literally kill us to make a play in the kicking game. Dump off and QB scramble for a.....NEAR first. One inch. Watch for the bomb on this. Alexander keeps Morris from a bigger cut back but another 4. Springs in the mix. I like the rotation of Springs and Horton. Crisp slant against Rogers. Hard to stop that play. Rogers great play to break up the dig. Get a sack here and move them out of field goal range entirely. Draw up the gut but we are there to hose it. Big third down now. No real pressure and Springs can't get there. First down. Damn. Corner for an easy, easy score. And we're tied. 17-17.

Skins after the tie -- Carter has a "foot" injury and is questionable to return they announce in the box. Portis breaks inside for a nice little gain. Surprise handoff to Sellers who carries a guy for five. Now it's our turn to try a big third. Crowd is loud. Empty set. Receiver screen. Lots of room. That play sure comes in handy. Moss too close to the sideline to make a move after, but a nice, pretty gain for a first. Portis up the gut. Play action backside out to ARE who's wide open. Nice gain. Another first. Good response on this drive. On first, empty set. Easy pass, though ARE could have been there on the corner for a TD if he wanted it. Portis with room and bangs out a first? Nope. Measure. About a foot. Pass to Sellers who can't hold. That hurts. Field goal try. 20-17.

Seahawks -- We need to get a pass for kick option with Suisham right now. Another sweep that kills us. But, we're holding. A third and long helps us. Pressure forces Hasselbeck to throw early which is good, cause on time Springs is beaten. Great punt for the Seahawks.

From the 2 -- We'll need an epic drive here. Portis is epic. That wins games. Now they need to convert. Not enough to change position. But Betts is snuffed. Empty backfield. Easy play to Moss with time. Campbell with a run and soft little sit down. Great drive. GREAT drive. Went down at the two minute warning. On the sidelines when Betts fumbled. Very irritating. Thank goodness for Springs.

Post-game thoughts -- One doesn't leave a 20-17 win like that where your backup running back gives them a final chance to beat you and feel great. But, the Skins are 7-4. They need three wins to almost assure themselves a playoff spot and we finish the season with Cincy, Philly and San Fran. That feels like we're in good position. The team's health is worrisome.

Rogers went off limping. Golston went out limping and had to get carted for an X-Ray after the game. Fletcher went out limping. Carter went out limping. Portis went out stung. All but Golston came back in, but with Montgomery already banged up and all those feet hurting, it's worrisome. The Giants is a wonderful game to see if we can really solidify our spot. The team seems more worn down now than at any point I've seen it since I've had access to see them in the locker room after the games.

Portis remains absolutely beastly this season, but he's clearly on the edge of needing some time off because he's consistently getting spent as to have to come out. Interestingly coming off the field about 20 media members swarmed one running back and walked off with him. That wasn't Portis, but Alexander. Seriously, a guy with one carry isn't the story. You're covering a football game, not a personal drama. It was silly.

Pappas gave me a battery for the recorder I have as I gave my battery to Murf last week. But I dropped it on the field somewhere so I have no quotes. The locker room was nice but tired. The team doesn't seem to have a ton of life about it right now. They are happy but beat. It's a tough couple of weeks. Will write more in a minute I think

MORE TO COME.

[JimmiJo]

That photo is wrong on so many levels I don't know where to begin. I am just greatful I was not here to witness it first hand...

[Stophovr6]

You were at Beth's Cafe on Saturday morning? I Could've walked there from my house. Too bad I didn't know, I would've stalked you about avatars.

[Forehead]

Nice recap, I'm a bit concerned with the end, about the team not having much life about it. That could spell disaster against the Giants.

[ST is my boy]

That is the T-rex of Omeletes.....jesus.

[KDawg]

What's with the foo-foo orange cup, Art?

[Stophovr6]

What's with the foo-foo orange cup, Art?

It probably had crayons in it. You can draw pictures to put up on the wall. Unfortunately Beth's is where I learned about 2girls1cup....the horror. Someone just wrote it with crayon really big on a piece of paper and hung it up.