Winning the Early Game

The Seattle Seahawks accomplished an unusual feat today. In beating the New York Giants 36-25 at the Meadowlands, they won a game played in the Eastern Time Zone. Even better it was the early game, starting at 10:00 AM on the West Coast. I don’t have a statistics staff to research how rare an East Coast win is for the Seahawks. Trust me, they don’t happen often and are worth a blog post.

So what’s so great about winning an early game? Since the Seahawks are a West Coast team and play their home games at 1:15 PM local time (or later), by definition it means they won a game on the road. Most years the Seahawks have a dismal road record. Last year they were 2 and 6 in away games. There have been some exceptions (like the magical 2005 season when the Super Bowl-bound Seahawks were 13 and 3 overall and 5 and 3 on the road), but most years the team struggles to win more than a game or two away from home. It’s even harder, if that’s possible, for them to win when they are on the East Coast. Doesn’t matter which team they are playing.

For the Seahawks fan it means you can kick back and watch the afternoon game without a care in the world. That’s if you haven’t enjoyed enough football excitement for the day. Your team has already WON. It isn’t just ahead with a good chance of winning (or blowing the lead as the Seahawks sometimes do). Nope. It has already chalked up a victory and is on the flight home to heal up for next week. Depending on the TV schedule, you might even catch an afternoon game in which a division rival stumbles. Double good news.

There’s something about playing on the East Coast that turns the Seahawks into zombies. Whether it’s the three-hour time difference, the travel, the climate (OK, I’m reaching on that one), or some sort of East Coast jinx, victories there are few and far between. I had to go back to the 2007 season to find one (28-24 over the Philadelphia Eagles). During today’s game, the radio announcer gloomily informed us that the Seahawks had lost 11 of the last 12 games on the East Coast. So they almost always lose there. But not today.

The next Seahawks game is October 23rd in Cleveland. That’s not on the East Coast, but it is in the Eastern Time Zone. Maybe we can win two in a row!