When we headed into the BYE week, knowing there would be a dark Monday with no Contributor Awards, I thought about suggesting a mid-year review, where we would hand out each of the awards for the best accomplishment of the year so far.Well, that obviously didn't happen, but as I sat down to write this week's Moonlight Graham Award, it kind of unfolded that way.
The Week 7 MGA winner, Ryan Hannam had only one catch for 8 yards, but threw some outstanding blocks to contribute to the running game. Jerheme Urban, our Week 6 MGA winner, had only one grab, but it was good for 46 yards, making him the game's leading receiver, and sustained one of our scoring drives. One of Week 5's co-winners was Jordan Babineaux, who today had 4 tackles, 1 assist, 1 interception and another recovered fumble on special teams.
In week 3, Josh Scobey not only picked up an MGA, but a nickname as well. "12:30" finally had a huge kickoff return that wasn't nullified by the "yellow hankie of death", breaking off a 53 yarder in the second half to set up the Seahawks deep in Cardinal territory.
In Week #2, the MGA was shared by the entire Seahawks Defense, for keeping Michael Vick in check in the Falcons game. While not even Brenda could confuse Kurt Warner for Michael Vick, the Seahawks defense once again denied the opponent a 100 yard rusher, picked off 3 Warner passes, and held the Cards to FGs whenever they got deep within Seahawks' territory.
Admittedly, I was not watching the game as closely as I should have this week, being on "daddy duty" and knocking off some household chores as I viewed, but I do remember seeing D.J. Hackett throwing some key blocked, Maurice Morris breaking off some big runs while Shaun was "dropping the kiddies off at the pool", and Marquand Manuel stepping up HUGE in Hammer's absence, leading the team with 9 tackles and 3 assists, and just constantly being around the ball.
But the story of the day was the TEAM, more specifically, the TEAM stripping yet another hairy-asssed monkey off of its back with a huge win AFTER THE BYE WEEK, on the ROAD, against a Divisional Oppenent, that we were SUPPOSED to beat!
Last year, that was all the ingredients for "Seahawks Self-Destruction Surprise", but this there's a new Executive Chef running the kitchen, and mixing that stuff together just a little differently results in Divisional Domination Decadence - - - which is "Just Desserts" for this Seattle club.
So this week's Moonlight Graham award, which is given to someone who steps out of obscurity with an outstanding performance goes too.....Head Coach Mike Holmgren, who was previously 0-6 after the BYE week!
While he has been to the Superbowl countless times with previous teams, winning it once as the head man in Green Bay, he certainly has been toiling in obscurity since he arrived in Seattle, and this game-after-the-bye-week record is a perfect indication of the lack of focus and execution of previous Seahawk teams under Holmgren.
However, this year he has been leading by example, changing his focus to concentrate more on establishing the run, and executing his offensive schemes to perfection. He even mixed things up by giving the team the entire BYE week off, which means he's really rejecting the status quo and leveraging opportunity to the advantage of this team.
So Coach, strap on your helmet, crank up your Harley, and take a Moonlight ride to Albany so you can pick up your rightfully earned Moonlight Graham Award for Week 9.
