Even way out here on the West Coast, if the wind catches it just right, you can make out the faint rumble of a St. Helens-sized eruption exploding from the belly of the great beast known as the New York sports media.

It’s just a guess, but the next week for Jay Feely might be a tumultuous one. 

Right about the time my girlfriend was scouring the closet for a defibrillator she purchased last month after I busted through my latest pair of relaxed-fit trousers, Feely had already embarked on his journey into a realm where every NFL kicker dare not tread.

Not only did the Giants’ place-kicker miss a game-winning field goal attempt as time expired in regulation during Sunday’s loss to the Seahawks, but he managed to repeat the nightmare scenario twice in overtime.  Witness protection has been notified.

"People are going to say it's a team game and they're going to say the right things. But the fact of the matter is that you've got to come through when you have one opportunity -- much less two good opportunities."  Feely bemused following his tragic trifecta.

During overtime, as I hovered precariously somewhere between the here and now and the great beyond, I was afforded ample time to ponder the great mysteries of life.  What I discovered, as Feely flat-lined and resuscitated me twice over with his errant boots, is that sometimes in life and the NFL, what goes around comes around.

“That was something, wasn’t it?” Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said. “In some ways we were fortunate to win.”

They say it’s better to be lucky than good. 

As the Seahawks moved to 9 – 2 Sunday, the best mark in Holmgren’s tenure as head coach, no one in Seattle can, or would even bother to argue with that.

But this unlikely win, assured to be met with skepticism throughout the national media as a victory based primarily on good fortune, had a mystic quality to it, a quality that could easily be described in Seahawks circles as “retribution.”

Nobody succeeds in the NFL without a few breaks - those moments in a game when the action on the field is so hard to decipher that often times the team that comes out ahead is the beneficiary of fortunate happenstance. 

On Sunday, as Feely missed kick after kick, it was never more apparent that luck was smiling down and shining brightly along the Seattle sideline. Certainly though, if you have followed the Seahawks for any substantial amount of time, it’s easy to understand that luck is a commodity not often awarded to Seattle’s football team and, without question, the advantageous consequence of Feely’s futility was long overdue.

December 6, 1998

It was the play that brought back instant replay to the NFL.  With 27 seconds remaining, and the Seahawks clinging to a 31 – 26 lead over the Jets at the Meadowlands, Vinny Testaverde called a timeout and trotted to the sidelines to discuss the options with Jets’ head coach Bill Parcells.

The situation was a fourth down on the 5 yard line.  Testaverde suggested to Parcells that the offense spread the field and either try to find Keyshawn Johnson on a slant, or, failing that, the quarterback would attempt a sneak though the middle of Seattle’s defense.  Parcells gave the green light and set in motion a series of events that would result in one of the most egregious officiating errors in the history of the NFL.

Testaverde took the snap and barreled forward through a surprised Seattle defensive front. With Cortez Kennedy hanging on a leg and Jay Bellamy pounding the quarterback to the turf, the crown of Testaverde’s helmet had successfully crossed the goal line, however, the football in his grasp had failed to come within even a foot of the end zone.

Line judge Earnie Frantz, perhaps swept away by Jets players raising their arms and 72 thousand fans screaming their approval, signaled the touchdown.  Moments later, referee Phil Luckett, who weeks earlier had blown a simple overtime coin toss in Detroit sparking another controversy and off-season rule change, followed suit, handing the Jets a victory they had failed to produce on the field.

The error was life-changing for more than one person on the field that day.  The set-back gave the Seahawks their seventh loss of the season and ended their hopes of a playoff birth.  It also meant the end of Dennis Erickson’s run as the head coach of the franchise and, with the sweeping change brought about by Mike Holmgren’s hiring, ended the Seattle careers for a number of Seahawks.  It also meant the end of Phil Luckett as a referee, as he was later reassigned to back judge.

After the game, Parcells could only explain the victory as a result of a helping hand from above, “God’s playing in some of these games.  He was on our side today.”

The next day, Dennis Erickson sought out a mortal explanation from NFL director of officiating, Jerry Seeman.

After apologizing to Erickson and admitting that the officials had made a mistake, Seeman explained that Frantz “saw the helmet go across the line and thought it was the ball.”

Ironically, Phil Luckett was working the game Sunday and was amongst the masses at Qwest Field who witnessed Feely’s kick at the end of regulation sail wide left of the goalpost. 

In explaining the inexplicable, perhaps Luckett’s presence provided enough karmic influence to gently coax Feely’s attempt wide of its intended target.

November 23, 2003

With a minute left to play and the Seahawks leading the Ravens 41 – 38, Shaun Alexander ran the ball three yards to the Baltimore 33-yard line.  Prior to the second-down run, the Seahawks had sent reserve tackle Floyd Womack into the game as an additional blocker.  The move required Womack to report as an eligible receiver, which he did, as was evidenced by the fact that referee Tom White announced it prior to the play over his microphone.

Following the Alexander run, head linesman Ed Camp threw a flag penalizing the Seahawks for an illegal substitution despite the White announcement of Womack as eligible.  The errant penalty stopped the clock with 58 seconds to play.  After the play, the Ravens called their final timeout, trying to stop the clock before third down.  However, Baltimore was not charged the timeout because, according to an NFL statement, “the administrative stoppage of the clock for the penalty flag supersedes a request for a timeout.”

After the flag was thrown, the officiating crew convened and decided that Womack had properly declared his eligibility before the play and decided to wave off the penalty for illegal substitution.  At that point, by NFL rule, White should have reset the play clock to 40 seconds and started the game clock, forcing the Ravens to burn their final timeout.

White failed to do so and the Seahawks had to huddle and run their third-down play without the benefit of a diminishing play clock.  When Alexander was stopped on third down, the Ravens then called their final timeout, creating a fourth down situation with well over a half-minute left to play.

On fourth down, Matt Hasselbeck was stopped with 39 seconds left to play.  Had the officials followed the rules as they are set forth by the league, the Ravens would have taken over possession with approximately 10 seconds remaining on the game clock.

But with 39 seconds left, the Ravens had more than ample time to push the ball down field to the Seahawks 16 yard line where they kicked the game-tying field goal.  They won the contest in overtime.

Once again, the league offered an olive branch to the disenchanted Seahawks in the form of an apology, this time from the league’s new director of officiating, Mike Pereira.  Pereira described the error as “an administrative error from the officiating crew.”

Fortunately for the Seahawks, the error did not cost the team a playoff birth, but it was the second time in four years that incompetent officiating had cleared the way for an opposition’s victory.

December 6, 2004

With 2 minutes remaining and Seattle leading Dallas by 10 in front of a raucous Monday night crowd at Qwest field, the fates once again aligned against the Seahawks.

Earlier, on fourth down and 2:53 remaining on the clock, Shaun Alexander blasted through the Cowboys’ defense for 32 yards and a touchdown that put the Seahawks ahead by 10.  Mike Holmgren, weary from a manic-depressive season that would have sent Bill Walsh to the madhouse, exploded along the Seahawks sideline in a rare display of overwhelming emotion.

As Qwest Field preemptively erupted, along the Dallas sideline a familiar duo, Bill Parcels and Vinny Testaverde, were already forming a strategy to counter Seattle’s late game heroics. 

No one could have guessed that six years after Phil Luckett awarded Testaverde a touchdown he didn’t deserve, the very component those circumstances helped to resurrect, instant replay, would this time work against the Seahawks on yet another phantom Testaverde score.

1:54 remained on the game clock and Dallas had driven the ball to the Seattle 34-yard line.  On first down, Testaverde dropped back to pass to another former Jet, Keyshawn Johnson.  As Testaverde’s ball sailed into the frigid Seattle air, Johnson raced to the back of the end zone, preparing himself to pull the football down out of the night sky.

Johnson left his feet in order to catch the football over Seattle strong safety Terreal Bierria. When he clutched the ball and began to descend perpendicularly to the painted turf, one foot touched in bounds, however, before the other foot could drop, his right forearm landed out of bounds.  With only one foot in play before he contacted the rear perimeter of the end zone, Johnson had not made a legal reception.

But with the predictable ineptitude that typifies NFL officiating at times, the back judge declared that indeed Johnson had hauled in the catch legitimately for a touchdown. 

While no one in Seattle was surprised at the bad call, the true shock came after numerous replays had clearly depicted the official’s mistake and yet, with less than two minutes left to play, no review was requested from the booth official overseeing the action from his perch high atop Qwest Field.

After the Cowboys scored the touchdown, they managed to recover an onside kick and then finished off the hapless ‘Hawks on a Julius Jones touchdown run with thirty seconds remaining.

While the Seahawks themselves shouldered the majority of blame for this fourth quarter collapse, as they should have, the NFL once again took the opportunity to apologize to the organization for blowing another opportunity to treat the critical, game-changing moment of the contest with the proper diligence it warranted.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello explained publicly that while booth official Bobby Skelton could have called for a review of the play, he had agreed with the officials on the field.

Behind closed doors, however, NFL officials fruitlessly placated Mike Holmgren by explaining that the issue was more than whether or not the play could have been reviewed, but that, in fact, the play should have been reviewed by Skelton.

Three game-changing breaks awarded.

Three game-clinching kicks missed.

While it will never be questioned that the Seahawks had luck on their side Sunday when Jay Feely repeatedly blundered his way into New York infamy, neither will any coach, player or fan of the Seahawks apologize for the good fortune that had finally smiled upon the Seattle franchise.

In today’s NFL, no team makes it to the Super Bowl without a few positive breaks bouncing their way.  After a season like 2004 and the recent history of Seattle’s struggles with NFL officiating, it appears that 2005 is playing out differently.  Suddenly the Seahawks are receiving the fortunate breaks and are finding ways to pull out victory from the clutches of defeat.  For too long in Pacific Northwest, the opposite was not only the trend, but the truth.

Earlier in the season, after Mack Strong was called for a questionable tripping penalty against the Atlanta Falcons, he took the time to explain why Seattle has long suffered from an officiating jinx.

“I (had to) realize the deal a long time ago. Until you start winning big, you’re not going to get the calls. You’re going to get phantom calls, crazy calls, and you scratch your head and wonder how they made that call. We’ve been going through that here for years. It’s ironic, the good teams that play well and win games, just don’t get those calls like we do. Those things miraculously get eliminated for them. But it doesn’t matter, because we can’t change the way it is. We just have to battle through that, and once we establish ourselves as one of the elite teams, some of that stuff will go away.”

On Sunday, Seattle solidified itself as the elite team in the NFC, not only because of their record, but also because of the breaks.

While Jay Feely will undoubtedly be lambasted in New York, those with the benefit of Seattle’s perspective can attribute each of Feely’s failed field goal attempts as bit of karmic vengeance.

As each kick fell harmlessly to the turf or sailed wide of its mark, so too did they manage exorcise the demons of seasons past and declare to the football universe that Seattle is no longer the red-headed step-child of the NFL.

At 9 – 2 and comfortably planted in the driver’s seat to clinch home field advantage throughout the playoffs, the Seahawks are finally becoming a force, ethereal or otherwise, to be reckoned with.