W.W.R.D.?

To borrow from the popular Christian wrist bands, this week's question can be abbreviated W.W.R.D. or What Will Ruskell Do?

Tim Ruskell was brought in to change the core of this team, to give it character, to give it heart, to give it direction, from the top on down. I chose this picture of him for this piece because I believe it will be the look that everyone from Holmgren on down will be getting from the new President/GM. A peircing, questioning and uncomfortable gaze that looks directly into the soul of the coach and/or player as asks "do you have the right stuff?"

You can learn more about someone in adversity than you can from success, so this week's lackluster outing should provide great material for our head evaluator on his quest to elicit greatness from this team. Add to that the fact that our next game is not only our home opener, but against his former team, and you gotta imagine he is going to demand a much higher degree of concetration, and a much better quality product for next Sunday's game.

Ruskell outlined his plans and ideals for this team in a letter to season ticket holders, and the pillars of his foundation are players with character, getting more pressure on the opposing quarterback from the front seven, and strengthening the cornerback and linebacker positions.

This means that guys like Jamie Sharper, Lofa Tatupu and DD Lewis are going to be seeing this icy stare as they explay why 3 of the 4 leading tacklers from Sunday's game are in our secondary. And Marcus Trufant, Kelly Herndon and Andre Dyson are also going to have Ruskell Lasik Surgery as they explain why the Jaguars receivers spend most of the afternoon behind them.

Much like Shaun Alexander, Mike Holmgren is also in a "contract year", and I think Ruskell is going to be looking hard at him as he does at the players. Coach Holmgren may just decide to ride off into the sunset regardless of how we do this season, but if he wants to remain coaching in Seattle, I think Mr. Ruskell is going to hold him personally accountable for these kind of error riddled and embarrassing outings.

And of course Matt Hasselbeck is going to have to endure the visual x-ray while he describes his decision making process (or lack thereof) which lead to 4 turnovers, 3 by poorly thrown interceptions.

I'm not saying we should fire Holmgren, bench Matt or discard the high draftees and free agent acquistions. For as bad as the outcome of that game was, there was a lot of good elements to build on. Receivers actually Received. Pass rushers actually rushed the passer. And a young and inexperienced defense actually held their own while playing on a less than 50 yard field most of the day.

What I am saying is that this week we should reap some benefits from our biggest off season free agent acquisition, which was Tim Ruskell. I expect that after enduring this kind of look all week, the Seahawks will play much better against the Falcons, so that Mr. Ruskell will be looking like this next Monday!