Seahawks Show They Can Fly

Sorry, the name “Seahawks” must go.

We can stick to the bird family, fine, but we’ve got to change it to the Seattle “Phoenix.”

As the myth goes, the phoenix was a bird that, despite appearances that it had been destroyed by fire, was able to rise from its own ashes, take shape and fly away.

The Seahawks/Phoenix may not be able to fly far, and the ultimate ash-can might be as near as next week, but on Sunday - one week after apparent destruction - they flew.

This 26-14 win over the Philadelphia Eagles leaves fans facing an uneasy option:

1) Should they be elated with the knowledge that the Seahawks can be this good?

2) Should they be royally ticked that they don’t play this way every week?

Surely, there is a danger in making too much of this win.

And too great a suspension of disbelief is required to enter into a discussion of playoff possibilities - mathematical or otherwise.

The Eagles’ 8-4 record, after all, was grossly inflated by the NFL’s glaring mediocrity. This is a team that won eight games, but not one of those eight came against a team with a winning record.

That said, the Seahawks on Sunday showed an uncommon convergence - the coming together of all aspects of the game.

Most critical was the play of Rick “Lazarus” Mirer.

The quarterback has been wildly erratic, leading the NFL in interceptions, but having a couple big-yardage passing games sprinkled in.

His varied fortunes have given columnists weekly fodder, with analysis chronicling his fall from grace/redemption/fall from grace/redemption.

We love him. We love him not.

We bury him one Sunday and he’s resurrected seven days later. If they played every three days, the thing would have Biblical overtones.

Sunday, he overthrew a handful of passes, but he was never intercepted and his scrambling energized the Hawks offense and caused Eagles defenders to fret about containment.

“I’m tired of things not working right,” Mirer said. “I went into it today thinking (about) getting first downs, getting completions, taking what they give and when I need to, running around a little bit.”

He ran around for several big first downs and a 12-yard touchdown in the second quarter, showing both quickness and nerve.

“Consciously, I’m not making a big effort to try to run, but I have been reminded that when I need to, it works out pretty good,” Mirer said. “It really kind of breaks the defense up when the quarterback takes off uncovered.”

That was the Philly beef after the game; that Mirer could not be contained.

“You have to give Mirer a lot of credit,” Eagles safety Michael Zordich said. “He played a great game.”

Some long-forgotten coach once said that, sometimes, teams just have to finish losing before they can start winning.

Perhaps that is what happened in the Seahawks’ putrid loss to the Jets last week. They hit bottom.

As Hawks center Jim Sweeney delicately observed, “Last week, we played like poop.”

(That’s not a cleaned-up, family-newspaper quote, the 295-pound Sweeney actually said, “… we played like poop.”)

And in the wake of last week’s display, Hawks coach Dennis Erickson let all players know that “we’re going to find out a lot about the future of our team in this final month; in what direction we’re headed.”

What he meant was that players had better start lobbying - with the quality of their play - for positions on next year’s roster.

Left guard Matt Joyce, for instance, served as a lunch entree for Eagle defensive tackle Rhett Hall. His efforts were rewarded by a seat on the bench and his replacement, Jeff Blackshear, has likely earned himself a starting job.

Perhaps inspired by insecurity, the Seahawks showed consistent intensity - and the fans in the Kingdome responded.

Recently, the Kingdome has been a good place to get some rest on Sundays, a quiet place to catch up on one’s reading. That environment left sportswriters to discover whether or not the word “mausoleum” was in their computer spell-checkers before filing their stories.

But Sunday, the crowd was loud and appreciative for the entire afternoon.

“I think this win vindicates us,” Sweeney said.

Time will tell.

But at least for one afternoon, the Seahawks regrouped and flew above the ashes of a disappointing season.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo