Seattle reminds us all—never give up

by Anne Homan

Well, I have to admit, I haven’t fully let go of the Dez Bryant “catch” and the fact that Dallas is out of the playoffs; but I’m still working on it and in the meantime, we were treated to some amazing football.

The Seattle-Green Bay game was one of the most exciting comebacks I can remember. The first half was crazy—turnover after turnover and despite being gifted the ball deep in Seattle territory, not once but numerous times, the Packers had to settle for three—that was going to hurt them, I thought.

No matter how bad your opponent is playing you have to take advantage—not being able to get into the redzone was Green Bay’s first mistake. The second came on the onside kick.

Okay, wait a minute, let’s back up. Green Bay was leading 16-0 at the half in a game that several people thought they had no right to be in. The loudest stadium in the world was quiet—a repeat trip to the Super Bowl was looking unlikely. Russell Wilson was struggling (and that might be an understatement).

Ha ha Clinton-Dix and the Packers were laughing all the way to the locker room (no pun intended, well maybe a little) as they had picked apart Wilson and the Seahawks—literally. Wilson was picked off three times in the first half and didn’t complete a pass to a teammate until the second quarter.

But trailing 19-7 with about four minutes left in the game, Wilson put together a drive that cut the lead 19-14 with just over two minutes left.

Green Bay was nervous and of course knew an onside kick was coming. Enter Brandon Bostick. The ball went high to the Packer tight end and Jordy Nelson, standing behind Bostick, could only watch in horror as Seattle’s Chris Matthews recovered the kick. Wow.

Now enter Marshawn Lynch. Lynch, who must have had his fair share of Skittles before this drive, had a monster 24 yard run for the score and one miracle two point conversion later, Seattle was actually winning this thing, 22-19. Unbelievable.

Green Bay managed to send it to overtime but the 12th man had awoken in Seattle and it was now the Seahawks’ game to win. It was fitting that the winning touchdown went to Jermaine Kearse (Wilson’s target on all four of his interceptions).

Seattle reminded everyone—never give up.

It was an incredible game and I was happy with the outcome—sorry Packer fans, but trust me, I know how you feel.

We go from an amazing game like that to the Patriots-Colts game. Let’s just say that was rough to watch. If you were a Patriot fan, I’m sure you enjoyed every minute of it but it was not much of a game. New England dominated Indianapolis.

At halftime, I had hoped the Colts could still make a game of this thing, trailing only 17-7, but things went south for Indy quickly in the second half. Andrew Luck had one of the worst games of his career—completing 12 of 33 passes for 126 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions. There is no way you can play like that against a team like New England and expect to get the win.

So we are left with a Patriots-Seahawks Super Bowl. And I’ll be pulling for…Seattle.

Want to take your guess at who you think will win and have a shot at winning $50 cash in the process? Turn to page two of this week’s Tea Weekly and participate in the Pigskin Predictions Super Contest. Simply fill out the form and return it to the office by noon on Jan. 30. If you’d rather enter online, go to www.teaweekly.com and click the extras tab. Good luck and let’s hope for an exciting game before football leaves us again (insert long sigh).

Never forget…Go Cowboys!