There’s no way to spin this positively.  Everybody is going to be down in the dumps after a divisional victory on the road for good reason.  Or should I say reasons, as in many of them, as in all the fucking injuries the Seahawks suffered because the greedy fucking NFL just HAD to have its Thursday games, regardless of how shitty they are and how most people fucking hate them.

The injuries include:

• Richard Sherman’s achilles, out for the year
• Duane Brown’s ankle
• Jarran Reed’s hamstring
• C.J. Prosise’s ankle
• Michael Wilhoite’s calf
• Frank Clark’s leg
• Shaq Griffin’s shoulder
• Kam Chancellor’s whatever at the end of the game
• Sheldon Richardson’s whatever when he collided with Frank Clark on his injury
• Russell Wilson’s (maybe a) concussion?  Or at least that blow to the chin/neck area

And, I’m sure there are lots of other bumps and bruises that will hopefully heal up before the next game, on Monday night, November 20th against the Falcons.

The Sherman injury alone is enough to keep me down in the dumps for the rest of the season.  Yeah, we’ve got Jeremy Lane (thank God the Texans are a bunch of idiots who failed him on his physical), and sure DeShawn Shead is looking like he’ll be back in the next few weeks, but neither of those guys are Richard Sherman.  NO ONE is Richard Sherman.  Plays every day, every snap, blankets his opponent, supports in the run game like a safety.  I mean, he does it all, and if you take him out of your defense, your defense becomes worse.  It’s just basic math!  The more complicated math becomes:  what percentage of Richard Sherman can you get out of guys like Lane and Griffin and Coleman and Thorpe and whoever you end up picking up off waivers or the practice squad?

Also, I mean, when is Earl Thomas coming back?  It never felt realistic that he’d be back for the Redskins game, and you hate to risk him on a short week against the Cardinals.  But, can he make it back for the Atlanta game?  We’re KINDA gonna want to have him back there, you know, given the whole Richard Sherman thing and whatnot.

As for the rest of those injured guys, you just have to hope for the best.  Griffin and Richardson both came back to finish the game, so they don’t sound too serious.  I have to wonder if we’ve seen the last of Prosise, because AGAIN he’s seriously hurt himself after only a few on-the-field plays.  Just put him on IR and we’ll get back to him next season.  Let him have the 9 months to get healthy and get STRONGER.  Considering he’s never really had a break from rehabbing since he was drafted, it might be nice to take the pressure off and let him build.

As for the game itself, sure, the Seahawks won, but who cares?  Sure, Russell Wilson had an okay game, and Doug Baldwin had a lot of yards, and Jimmy Graham had 2 touchdowns, and Bobby and K.J. and Kam all had amazing games on defense and the Seahawks are now 6-3 and get a bunch of time to rest before their next game, but this really feels like the end of the season in a lot of ways.

The offensive line is what it is; it’s bad.  The running backs are who they are; they’re bad.  The offense as a whole is too mistake-prone and inconsistent.  The team as a whole is too ravaged by injuries and susceptible to idiotic, mind-blowing penalties (to the point where it honestly feels like the refs are now anticipating these calls and throwing flags on the most benign bullshit).  And, quite frankly, there are too many teams that are flat out better than the Seahawks.  Forget the whole Any Given Sunday adage; yeah, the Seahawks are so inconsistent, on any given Sunday, they could CERTAINLY lose to any team, up to and including the winless 49ers.  But, there are too many teams that could beat us on our BEST day.  Who likes the Seahawks against the likes of the Eagles?  How about the Cowboys?  Or the Vikings with that defense?  Or the Saints with their own improved defense?  Or the Panthers, who know how to beat us.  Or the Rams for that matter, who will be out for revenge when they come back to Seattle to play us.  And on and on and on.  I’m not holding my breath against the Falcons, the Lions, the Redskins, or any other team that we might face in the playoffs if we’re fortunate enough to get there.

Once again, the Seahawks’ season ends prematurely.  Now, it’s just a matter of running out the string.

On the Pro Football Talk radio show this morning, they were talking about how this might have been Richard Sherman’s last game in a Seahawks uniform.  I never for one second even CONSIDERED that, but they have a point.  The Seahawks have already put him on the trade market before.  He’s only signed through 2018, and his dead cap hit if we were to cut him before then is only $2.2 million.  Sure, it’s only an achilles injury, and I’m sure he’ll be able to come back to full strength in time for next season, but he’ll also be 30 years old next year, and maybe the Seahawks will want to move on.  Maybe they’ll want to allocate that money elsewhere.  Maybe they’ll take another shot at drafting a starting cornerback opposite Shaq Griffin and life will go on.

If that’s true, then my heart is broken.  As frustrating as this team can be to watch on a weekly basis, I’m certainly not ready for one of its core guys to play in another uniform.  The core, of course, being Richard, Earl, Kam, Bobby, K.J., Russell, and Doug.  Guys who’ve played their entire careers in Seattle.  Draft picks and undrafted free agent.  Future Ring of Honor guys.  Future Hall of Famers.  You start chipping away at this group, and the Seahawks are going to feel a lot different in a hurry.

Boy, a downer of a blog post ended on a really shitty note, huh?