Dear Seattle Seahawk Fan,

Enjoy watching this last game of the 2021 Seattle Seahawks, however it unfolds. With big changes anticipated by some in a murky 2022 off-season forecast, let’s soak in these players one last time.

They are playing this game for us, to give us the joy of watching them upset the playoff bound Cardinals and spoil their seeding, and to give us some positive thoughts heading into next season. I’m there for their efforts, however slim their chances are.

With Al Woods, Ryan Neal, and Alton Robinson all out on the Covid list, I’m personally not super hopeful Seattle will slow down a Kyler Murray led offense (determined to win their division and host a playoff game). I think it’s most likely that Russell Wilson will be forced into a shootout and I don’t love his chances of winning that with the way the Cardinals send pressure and Chandler Jones liked matched up against rookie right tackle Jake Curhan (who I actually like a lot for the Seahawks right now).

As much as I want to have these Seahawks win, I think it would be a cardinal sin for me to predict that they will. As much as I want to, I just don’t see it in the cards for them.

What I do see is me sitting on the couch rooting these fellas on for one last game. For as hard as it has been for me to stomach a lot of the losses this year (those recent ones against the Bears and Rams were especially tough), I’m ready to watch what I see likely as a losing effort this Sunday.

For me, I want to see who has the fight for 2022.

I expect Quandre Diggs and DJ Reed to give it good fights. Both are scrappy dudes, anyways, and both are looking for be free agent paydays.

I want to see Jake Curhan not back down from a fight against Chandler Jones and company. I want to see him continue to open up huge holes for Rashaad Penny to run through and to show GM John Schneider that maybe they got a solid starter type there at right tackle for the future.

If Bobby Wagner isn’t a healthy go, I want Cody Barton to play a great game and give me hope that he is able to finally look like a starter going into his final year of his rookie contract next year (especially if Seattle moves off of Wagner’s contract).

I want Dee Eskridge to have an explosive play-making game and look like the player worthy of being their high pick last year in the draft.

I want to see DJ Metcalf give a beastly effort against the Cardinal DBs.

I want to see Rashaad Penny continue to play great and play up to his lofty draft status to close out the year.

I want Darrell Taylor to make Kyler Murray’s game a difficult one by constantly getting pressure on him, and making it look more and more like he’s a building block piece for Seattle’s pass rush next season.

Finally, I want to see Russell Wilson come out of gates fiery, and playing with passion to close out this difficult season for him. Who knows how things will shake out between him and the team this off-season. I’ve let my thoughts be known on multiple occasions on this blog that I want him back, but I can’t write with any certainty that will happen.

What I can write with certainty is that I’ve noticed over the past month, that he has started out these games with a very un-energized vibe more times than not. I noticed it against the Rams, the Bears, and at the start of this last one against the Lions. No energy in and out of the huddle. No enthusiastic hand clapping to get his troops fired up. No usual “let’s go take on the world” juice from this plucky passer. Just a somber air about him, sans any usual Russ-like enthuiasm.

We can all speculate why that might be. I won’t. I will just say that it will be a huge cardinal sin for him to start out that way in this finale in Arizona.

He owes it to the fans to put forth a signature effort. He’s owes it to his teammates to have them fired up to play spoilers. Mostly, he owes it to himself.

If this is to be his last game in Seattle, he owes himself the legacy of outplaying the upstart quarterback in the division looking to take over the mantle as the best passer in the NFC West. He owes himself the history of this ending this season that sort of way, and to prove to those on Seahawks Twitter who believe he is on the downward side of his career that he’s still very much the man.

If he is to remain the starting quarterback of the Seattle Seahawks in 2022, then he owes it to himself to end this season on a high note, and he especially owes it to the team and fans to put positive vibes into the off-season that will some decent free agent spending on the offensive and defensive lines, he and the team will be back with a vengeance next year to take back the division on a softer fourth place schedule.

This is what I most want to see in this last game. I want to see Russ coming out of the gates playing with his hair on fire, determined to beat Murray and stick it to AZ.

If this happens, maybe the Seahawks do sneak this one out.

And won’t that be a fun one to watch.

Go Hawks!