Obviously the subject of Mike Holmgren as Seattle GM continues to be brought up. I can't get away from it, from Steve Kelley to Ian Furness to several commenters on this site. So regardless of whether or not we'd all like it to be a dead issue, there is a feeling out there that he's the best fit to take us back to respectability. Well... let's actually take a real peek at his record as GM from 1999-2002. Luckily, a lot of the heavy lifting has already been done for us, by everyone's favorite former Seahawks beat writer, Mike Sando. Please read this link first before proceeding.

Let's also take a look back through Holmgren's drafts, courtesy of www.databasefootball.com (sorry about any formatting issues):

1999:

2000:

2001:

2002:

Let's look realistically at the outcome of these four drafts. The 1999 draft is a complete and total bust. There is a grand total of zero decent players listed. In 2000 Holmgren got lucky when Shaun Alexander dropped to him and also grabbed a terrific WR in Darrell Jackson. He also got unlucky with Chris McIntosh, who was probably better than his medical issues made him. However, there was again no additional NFL talent added in the draft. Anyone remember Isaiah Kacyve??? and the gaping holes in our run defense he created? I sure do. In 2001 Holmgren again drafted a future HOF in Steve Hutchinson, who he actually passed over originally to pick up Koren "Drop it or Drink it" Robinson. He also drafted a future decent FB in Heath Evans (who he promptly never effectively used in Seattle) and a decent CB in Ken Lucas (the only decent secondary player he drafted in 6 attempts). Finally in 2002 Holmgren drafted Rocky Bernard in the 5th round after missing on Jerramy Stevens in round 1 and somewhat hitting on Mo Morris in round 2 (was Morris really worth a 2nd round pick? really?). Bernard has the somewhat dubious distinction of being the only NFL caliber talent drafted by Holmgren after round 3 (although I suppose you could throw Pork Chop in that mix as well). So in 38 total draft picks, Holmgren grabbed two HOF players (congratulations), six additional players who played a fairly long term role in Seattle (more so in Jackson's case, less so in Lucas' case). This is not exactly what I would call a stellar record to hang a hat on.

So now to combine back with the rest of his GM decisions. He hit well on certain offensive players, including trading for Hass and signing Engram and Tobeck. That's the good news. Let's look at the bad...

On offense, he failed to sign Walter Jones to a long-term deal, trapping Jones and the team into a never-ending contract dispute and yearly holdout. He let Pro Bowl G Pete Kendall walk (think of how much crap we're giving Ruskell about Hutch). He traded RB Ahman Green to Green Bay for CB Fred Vinson. Remember Vinson? Of course not. He barely played.

His handling of the defense is beyond awful. Outside of signing an aging John Randle and Levon Kirkland (who he drove out of town over weight issues), he managed to lose DE Phliip Daniels AND DT Sam Adams, crippling our defensive line. He was never able to patch together a LB core that was worth anything.

Look, there is very little about this overall performance (notwithstanding the 31-33 record) that inspires confidence in this man's ability to turn this team around. It's a pipe dream. A mirage. Holmgren was an awful GM who was fired for incompetence. Bringing him back is not the recipe for success the Hawks need.

Edited to add: As pointed out, Pete Kendall never made a Pro Bowl. While he did leave under acrimonious circumstances, he also managed to do the same with other teams later, so the fault definitely does not completely lie with Holmgren.

I know this is a bit of a break from our excited chatter...

Comment 1: "We should get a QB"

Comment 2: "No. We should get an OT"

Comment 3: "No. We should get a WR"

It's all a bunch of fun, but instead we could be discussing the asinine BCS system, which for the second time in five years has pushed an undefeated Utah team out of the national title picture. So Utah, home to many angry white people at this point, is pissed, and the Attorney General is trying to bring the long arm of the law into the picture by considering to sue the BCS for federal antitrust violations. The attached link from ESPN goes into some more detail. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3814472

The point itself appears valid. The BCS is basically set up to put every school not in a BCS conference at a competitive disadvantage, Utah being a prime example of such. The BCS also is set up to give more money to an exclusive group of conferences at the expense of mid-majors. These seem to be pretty basic facts. Now, I am not sure whether or not that will be enough for an actual federal case (they left this out of my engineering major), but if the AG has enough to go on, I'd at least root him on.

Is anyone else besides me starting to get somewhat tired with sports talk radio and some of the hyperventilating going on about this season? I have to listen to Mitch in the Freaking Morning's promo where he's saying that we're entering a rebuilding stretch, in another show there's multiple people coming to excoriate Tim Ruskell. Another states that our #1 priority in the offseason is getting a defensive tackle.

Look, I appreciate we can all be disappointed about how this season has gone. I think there comes a point however when we just forget about the past few years in our disappointment. Why can't we appreciate simple solutions?

1. Injuries. At some point one has to admit injuries play a role. If Arizona lost both Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin how many games do you think they would win? What if they lost Kurt Warner for five games, Fitzgerald for 10, Boldin for 7, one of their starting offensive lineman for 3, one of their starting offensive linemen for the season? How many games would they win? Did anyone notice how the Dallas Cowboys looked without Tony Romo?

2. Poor safety play. Remember 2006 and the Michael Boulware debacle? Same corners that year as well. Can we at least remember that we are asking our corners, whether they are in zone or man coverage that they are compensating for having zero safety help in most circumstances?

3. Coaching. Unimaginative play calling, especially defensively, is killing us. We had another of those ill-advised 7 man blitzes in Sunday's game on an important 3rd and long.

So yes, there are players who are underachieving, and yes, there are holes to fill. But I am sure hoping that I don't have to spend the next year listening to pundit after pundit write off the Seahawks. It's getting old. Are they the Mariners? No! You want to know why they'll be competitive next year? How about the freaking schedule!

Next year we'll play AZ twice, SF twice, STL twice, Minnesota, Chicago, Green Bay, Detroit, Indy, Tennessee, Houston, Jacksonville, and some crappy filler teams.

So breath into a paper bag people. The Seahawks world isn't coming to an end.

Admittedly one of my favorite Jeff posts of all time was his recap of the LL/USSM trip to the Everett Aquasox game and his interaction with the Zooperstars!. Well, a show I never watch (America's Got Talent http://www.tvsquad.com/2008/09/02/americas-got-talent-episode-311/) apparently is featuring these amazing acts. Hasselhoff LOVES them.

Harry Canary still looks like a giant douche-tool. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s0HaJVsppM

I've struggled with this ever since knowing the Steelers were on the schedule for this season. Would I care about needing to win this game, on the road, because it was the first time we were going up against the Steelers since that horrible January day when many awful things happened?

Without recapping the angst (I'm sure we've all had enough of that)... I've tried to approach this week's battle as just another game (an important game between two contenders, but another game nonetheless), but at the end of the day, I really really want to beat these guys. I want to take them behind the woodshed and go all "Brock Samson" on them.

Yes, nothing is going to take away the fact that they are World Champions, and they did deserve the title, especially with the road they had to take to get to the game. And with Jerome Bettis now retired, most of my feeling doesn't really have a target. Did anyone know that he's from Detroit? Anyone?

I know John Morgan's stayed away from it, probably for good reason, and if I was still blogging, I probably would be trying to keep it all professional as well. I'm just curious if I'm the only fan out there struggling with "it's just another game" syndrome.

Perhaps we're trying to avoid that talk since it is a difficult game on the road and chances are decently good that we will lose, so getting the trash talk going sets us up for a bit of a fall. And if we recall, Steeler fans trash talk is only beaten by Texas A&M trash talk for the sheer inanity. So avoiding that is a good thing.

At the end of the day, whether or not it is healing, I think I know this. A win tomorrow would be the most satisfying of the season so far.

Go Hawks.