Is there anyone outside of the immediate Seattle area that didn't feel like something magical was going on for the first three-and-a-half minutes of the fourth quarter in Saturday's NFC Wildcard game?
For the most of the first 45 minutes Saturday afternoon, the Redskins-Seahawks matchup looked like something out of Joe Gibbs's worst nightmare. Todd Collins, the thirteen year veteran quarterback who had been a backup for the last ten years and hadn't ever started a playoff game, was rushed, flushed, hit, knocked down, poked, prodded and filleted by a Seattle defense that gave new meaning to Washington's offensive line.
Collins, who seemed to be picking himself up off the ground all day after being harassed by pretty much everyone in a Seahawk uniform, looked like nothing so much as a guy who breaks into a junkyard by scaling the chain link fence, only to discover on the other side there are two Doberman Pinschers guarding the area that he didn't know about. He must have been asking himself, "I waited thirteen years for this?"
Seattle defensive ends Patrick Kerney and Darryl Tapp, along with linebackers Julian Peterson and Lofa Tatupu spent most of the game in the Redskin backfield, forcing Collins to rush his throws and not giving him the time to make good reads. Washington was fortunate to be down just 13-0 after three, as virtually all of the momentum had been on Seattle's side.
Early in the fourth quarter, though, Collins connected with Antwaan Randle El on a seven-yard touchdown strike to cut the Seahawks lead to 13-7, and on the ensuing Seattle drive, Laron Landry,a rookie starting at safety due to the tragic death of Sean Taylor in midseason, picked off a Matt Hasselbeck pass intended for Bobby Engram, giving Washington the ball in Seattle territory. Three plays later Collins hit Santana Moss on a thirty yard touchdown pass and improbably, incredibly, the Redskins had jumped on top 14-13.
The ensuing kickoff bounced crazily past Nate Burleson and was recovered by Washington, giving them an opportunity to put the reeling Seahawks away, maybe for good. Starting with the ball at the Seattle 15 yard line, two incomplete passes sandwiched around a Clinton Portis run for two yards set up a thirty yard Shaun Suisham chip shot field goal which he promptly missed.
After the missed opportunity, Matt Hasselbeck and the Seahawks moved smartly down the field, gaining 44 yards on just three plays, when Taylor's replacement Landry once again picked off the Seattle Pro Bowl quarterback, giving Washington the ball and the lead with less than ten minutes to play.
If Amos Alonzo Stagg had decided football games would be fifty minutes long, rather than sixty, the Redskins would have owned a Hollywood finish even the most optimistic scriptwriter would have rejected as too unbelievable. The rookie playing in place of the murdered Pro Bowl safety intercepts passes on two consecutive drives, giving the underdog visitors an unlikely victory in perhaps the noisiest stadium in the NFL with perhaps a little help from above.
Unfortunately for the Redskins, but fortunately for Seattle, Stagg long ago figured a solid hour of football was necessary, and in that final ten minutes the carriage turned into a pumpkin and the magical ride ended.
Hasselbeck found D.J. Hackett for a twenty yard touchdown pass and then hit a two point conversion, giving the Seahawks a 21-14 lead, and Collins was unable to finish off his Joe Montana impersonation, tossing two interceptions that were returned by Seattle for touchdowns and getting bulldozed at the end of the second one to add injury to insult.
The 35-14 final score looks ugly, and for much of the game it was ugly, but for just a little while the team that still lists Sean Taylor as a starting safety had everyone in America thinking miracle and believing it might actually happen.
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I've been busy writing - two full-length novels so far, plus over a dozen short stories - and working hard to try to get an agent. If you are curious and have a few minutes, check out my website, www.allanleve rone.com.
If you're a literary agent or if you know one, by all means contact me! In the meantime, I'll be here when I can - love this forum - and as always, thank you for checking out my blog, especially considering how many great ones you could be reading instead....
