Seattle Jells

The Laird is right: this is now a team to be feared.

Offense
On offense, Gregg Easterbrook notes, "After running 88 yards untouched for a touchdown last Sunday, this Sunday, Shaun Alexander ran 17 yards untouched for a touchdown as the Blue Men Group iced their game against Die Morgenmuffel. Many Seattle blocks were good, the best came from tackle Walter Jones. If I picked an MVP right now it would be Jones -- and it is about time an offensive lineman received serious consideration for this honor." And furthermore, "Shaun Alexander has more touchdowns than nine entire teams: Arizona, Baltimore, Buffalo, Cleveland, Houston, Jersey/B, Minnesota, New Orleans and San Francisco."

Meanwhile, Hasselbeck has quietly moved into the Top 10 of Dr X's quarterback ratings, posting an IAYPA of 6.2, right up there with the two Jakes (Delhomme and Plummer - and by the way, what's gotten into Plummer? Stopped throwing INTs about a month ago...). Unlike most of the guys ahead of him, he's doing it without a marquee receiver.

[IAYPA update: The two best active QBs (Ben R. is hurt) are...drum roll...Brady (7.1) and Bledsoe (7.0). The worst is Orton, after Harrington's big game (3 TDs, no INTs) got him out of the cellar.]


Defense
The defense has not allowed an opposing rusher 100 yards this season.

They are young. They have no memory of the bad times, and they are still finding out how good they can be.

Peter King says "Lofa Tatupu rocks. Learn about him. There aren't five middle linebackers playing any better right now." The rest of the linebackers are a rotating committee, but it's working.

Teams that step up often do so because a bunch of young talent matures at about the same time. If that happens with the Seattle defense, they will get better as the season goes on, and this could get really fun.