Giant Mistake

The crowd at Qwest Field was ridiculous on Sunday. Those Redskins fans at RFK (FedEx Field) can put away those signs they were holding up during the Week One Monday Night game that read "The Loudest Stadium in the NFL." The noise level at Qwest reached 110 decibels at the start of the Seahawks-Giants game on Sunday, and the Giants should point the finger at their own GM - they are throwing each other under the bus left and right as it is.

Giants GM Ernie Accorsi made the allegation that the Seahawks were piping in artificial noise during home games. That was a giant mistake because the Seahawks were smart enough to leak the story to get the fans riled up. It worked. The Giants would have been better off with some piped in noise than dealing with the raucous 12th Man that filled the stands on Sunday. Tom Coughlin insists that the crowd was not a major factor and Tim Booth (AP) is towing the company line.

The crowd clearly impacted Eli Manning and the 12th Man had a lot to do with the fast start of the Seahawks. The noise not only affects the game directly, but has an impact on firing up the Seahawks, especially the defense. The opening interception looked like a mistake by the officials on the jumbotron replays, but I did not get a great look, so I can't say for sure. Normally a mistake like that hurts a team, but it fired up the crowd even more and the tide quickly turned in the Seahawks favor.

The rest of the NFC better hope the Seahawks don't end up with home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. If the road to the Super Bowl goes through Seattle, then it is probably a formality that the Seahawks will be making a trip to Miami in early February. The win over the Giants was important. The Seahawks have a more important game in Chicago next week. It could be the deciding game for home-field advantage in the NFC. Seahawk fans should now be rooting for the Giants to beat the Bears when they travel to New York in Week 10. The Bears then play at the Jets and at New England.