mon-KEYS to the Game

So here we are coming out of the bye week and this team has accomplished many of the things that the so called "experts" were saying that we never accomplish, or that we cannot be considered a legitimate contender until we accomplish.
For example, we beat St. Louis, something we didn't do all last season, but more importantly, we did it on the road. The "experts" said that we couldn't be considered real contenders until we were able to beat them, and well...we did, and on the road to boot.
We also put away with authority a couple of teams that we were supposed to beat, (something else that we were told we had to do to be considered legitimate). We beat the Cardinals in convincing fashion and we absolutely destroyed the Texans.
To be a great team, you've got to be able to beat the other great teams, and well...we did that too by beating Atlanta Oftentimes it's been said that the mark of a great team is a team that can find a way to win even when it isn't playing their best. Well we have done that also, witness the Dallas Cowgirls.
We have the leagues top offense in spite of having played three of the leagues best defenses in Jax, Washington and Dallas; and our defense has gotten better every single week. So now what is left to cross off of the list of things we need to do to be considered legitimate contenders? Nothing! Although, there is this little problem we have had coming out of bye weeks. The Seahawks are 0-6 under Holmgren coming out of bye weeks, and no one is sure just exactly why.
If we can win this week, on the road, coming out of a bye week, not only will we have laid all our ghosts of the past to rest (except playoff failure, which we will do in December) we will have done everything a team can do to be considered a great team.

So what do we need to do to beat Arizona on the road? What are this weeks mon-KEYS to the game? Actually it's not so much what we need to do, as what we need NOT to do.
The fact of the matter is, the Cardinals are a terrible team, who will not even sniff .500 this season. They cannot run, pass, or stop anyone defensively. Their OLine is among the worst in the league and their head coach is an inconsistent buffoon who cannot decide which way he wants to go even with his starting QB. Everything about this game smells of a blowout, everything except that old ghost hanging around haunting our after bye weeks.
What we must not do is force things when they aren't working. We must not play tight. And we must not overlook this lousy team, or we will end up looking silly like the Bucs did last week against the Niners.

Offensive mon-KEY #1: Establish the running game right out of the shoot, so that we can get a rhythm going. This will allow Matt Hasselbeck time to get his head into the game and get into a rhythm rather than trying to force the pass right off the bat after a week off and without our top two receivers. If Hass is out of sync the chances for a turnover is much higher, and honestly, creating lots of turnovers is the only way possible that this Cardinals team can beat us. Also this will get the offensive line into attack mode right away, rather than having them try to stop a pass rush after a week off.

Defensive mon-KEY #1: Blitz like mad right out of the gate. The Cardinals have shown that they cannot seem to run the ball, and the only way that they can score seems to be through the air, when the QB is scrambling around. I say, we need to bring the heat right out of the gate, and bring it all game long. Sure the Tards will try to run some, but the only way that the Cardinals can really hurt this defense is through the air. Our defense has been good at bend don't break run defense, and has yet to be really hurt by the run. On the other hand, when we have given QB's enough time they have found ways to hurt us deep through the air. The solution? Blitz like crazy!

The most important thing for this game, is not for the offense and not for the defense, but for the coaching staff.
Coaching mon-KEY #1: Do NOT under any circumstances at any point in the game, whether we are up by 21 or down by 21; DO NOT EVER PLAY CONSERVATIVE! The absolute quickest way to get a team coming off a bye week to play flat, is to have them play conservative football. If you want a team to come out loose and on fire, you MUST play with abandon. When you call aggressive plays and schemes right out of the shoot, it forces a team to shake off any jitters or any rust that it may be carrying over from the bye week.

Bottom line, smash the ball down their throats with the run, (they can't stop it anyway) so our offense can get into a rhythm, and don't let their QB scramble around and find targets open that wouldn't have been open had we gotten some stinking pressure on the QB.
Aggressive football is the word for the day, take it to them hard often and right away, and then when get up big (and we should) keep going after them! Matchup wise, there is simply nothing the Cardinals have that the Seahawks cannot stop, the only thing that can stop the Seahawks this game, is the Seahawks.