SEATTLE--The Seattle Seahawks were on the brink of falling behind in the final minute of their playoff game on Saturday, when Cowboys' holder Tony Romo botched an easy field goal attempt and allowed them to preserve their one point victory. Surprisingly, the Seahawks attributed the victory to their resiliency, and not to the fact that the ball slipped out of Tony Romo’s hands.

“We are just a resilient bunch,” said Seattle running back Shaun Alexander after the game. “All year long we have faced adversity and we have fought through it every step of the way. When the Cowboys drove the length of the field to our two yard line and lined up for a field goal to put themselves ahead, we just dug deep, came together as a team, and then…well, you know what happened. Tony dropped the ball. If that isn’t a testament to how resilient we are, I don’t know what is.”

Seattle defender Julian Peterson never doubted his team would pull through, even when they were on the brink of elimination.

“I knew we would somehow find a way to get it done,” said Peterson, who had four tackles on the day. “I always tell the guys ‘keep fighting, keep playing hard, and eventually we’ll come out on top.’ If we were a less resilient team, Romo might have held onto that snap. Instead, he couldn’t concentrate because he was too distracted by our resilience, which was like a bright, blinding light stabbing him in the eyeballs.”

“Then we showed our tenacity again by running the clock out,” he added. “Other teams might have just handed the ball back to the Cowboys and retreated to the locker room while they scored the game-winning touchdown, but not us. We stayed on the field until the last second, because we never say die, especially when somebody gift wraps a win for us.”

The Seahawks’ 2006 season was a roller coaster ride that tested the confidence of every player in the locker room. Starting with injuries to Matt Hasselbeck and Shaun Alexander, everything that could go wrong for the Seahawks, did go wrong. How did they respond? With a 9-7 record, proving that despite the setbacks, they were still able to achieve mediocrity.

“Last year things came a bit easier for us and we weren’t tested quite as much,” said Hasselbeck. “This year it seemed like we were cursed from day one. We had injuries, we had bad luck, we had breakdowns on both sides of the ball – it just felt like forces were conspiring against us. But we rose from the ashes like a Phoenix and showed our grit by barely squeaking into the playoffs and then almost losing at home to a team that couldn't beat the Detroit Lions. ”

While the Seahawks celebrated their stirring victory, the Dallas Cowboys were left to wonder what might have been.

“I…I can’t believe it,” said Romo, who outplayed Hasselbeck despite his infamous gaffe at the end of the game. “We almost had it. It was all set up for us, but then I screwed it up. Talk about a missed opportunity. Oh well. I guess the upside is I have a date tonight with American Idol’s Carrie Underwood. Now there’s someone who’s resilient, if you know what I mean, wink wink. I mean she overcame a hardscrabble upbringing to become a country music sensation, of course. And she can suck the chrome off a bumper. ”

Next up for the Seahawks are the Chicago Bears, a team that poses a whole new set of challenges. They won’t have home field advantage this time, but that’s not going to bother this gritty group of warriors.

“This is just the first step for us,” said Alexander. “We know we have a lot more hurdles to overcome. The Bears are a great team, and they’re particularly tough at home. But one thing about this team is that we face challenges head on and we never give up. And believe me, if we’re in another situation where it’s the end of the game and the other team has a chip shot field goal to give them the lead, you can bet your ass we’re going to hope they screw it up. That’s just the kind of team we are.”

Copyright 2006, The Brushback - Do not reprint without permission. This article is satire and is not intended as actual news.