Since the first game is officially over I'd like to share what, of all the exciting moments of the Seattle game, stuck out the most to me. Marcus Stroud. In my opinion, the man has taken our defense from gutsy to stifling almost single handedly.

Marcus Stroud finished his first game as a Buffalo Bill with 6 tackles, a shared sack, and two swatted balls. That is enough to know that trading for him in the off-season was a wise move. But still, it does not tell the whole story. To me, what made our defense so great yesterday was that on nearly every single play, the interior of the Seahwaks O-Line collapsed under the assault of Marcus Stroud. Play after play you could see the line moving back and inwards as Stroud made it to the backfield an incredible number of times. When he didn't make it through, somebody else did, and even when the Hawks were able to run for a few yards, Stroud had penetrated inside and made a difference on the play; even if he wasn't near the ball.

This amazing ability our DT possesses led to plays for everybody else and it was great to watch the Hawks toss the ball to the outside, only to have the ball carrier wrapped up by Schobel or Mitchell as they had clear paths to the ball because Stroud was wreaking havoc inside, causing O-Lineman to scramble to get their runner free to the outside and out of that monster's reach.

Schobel is a Pro Bowler and Stroud brought that out in him as he finished the day with 4 tackles and a sack. Mitchell finished with another 4 tackles and a sack, Kyle Williams tallied a remarkable 1.5 sacks and 3 tackles and clearly benefited from playing next to Stroud. In all, our defense looked amazing, especially our front 7, and Stroud was the key to it all. I was yelling after every play to anyone who would listen to just watch Stroud and the effect he was having on the Seahawks interior line. That won't show up on his already maginificient stat line but man was it breathtaking to watch.