Deon Butler Reigns Above All Seahawks Deons

Butler did what Branch couldn't

Three Seahawks De(i)ons had chances at game-changing plays in the final 63 seconds of the Hawks' last-second win over San Francisco at Qwest Field yesterday (video highlights with local radio calls!). Only rookie Deon Butler was up to the task.

Up first, Deion Branch. With the Seahawks facing third down, only a few yards shy of field goal range, Branch had broken free from his man down the middle of the field. Matt Hasselbeck lofted a perfect pass.

Yet Branch botched the play. He jumped for the ball for no reason and mistimed it. The ball still reached his hands, but bounced off them for an incompletion. Instead of being in position for a game-winning field goal, the Seahawks had to punt.

"I just dropped the ball--I don't have an excuse," Branch told Seattlepi.com's Art Thiel. "I should have made the play, and I didn't make it."

Then it was safety Deon Grant's turn. With the 49ers inexplicably trying to win the game in regulation, Alex Smith threw into double coverage and put the ball right in Grant's hands. Grant dropped a sure interception.

It seemed clear now that the game would go into overtime. But a stellar punt return by Nate Burleson got the Seahawks to midfield. And a third Deon gave the Hawks the play they needed. Matched one-on-one on the sideline against 49er DB Kevin Smith, and with no Niner safety in the area, Butler liked his chances.

I was really hoping Matt came to me,” Butler told TNT's Ryan Divish after the game. “I really didn’t think about the timing of the game or anything, I just knew it was a great matchup.”

Butler shook Smith and got open. Hasselbeck put a perfect spiral towards Butler. The rookie faced a brief moment of panic. "It kind of looked lost for a second because I lost it in the lights, but it came back to me," Butler told the Times' Jerry Brewer. "I found it as soon as it came off the lights." The ball fell right into Butler's hands, and he kept both feet in bounds before stepping out at the San Francisco 15, stopping the clock and getting Olindo Mare close enough for a game-winning 30-yard field goal.

So it all worked out in the end, with the added benefit of showing just how useless Deion Branch is. Branch's putrid production since being acquired with a first round pick is part of the reason Tim Ruskell lost his job this week. He needs to go away (and take his ugly green gloves with him). Hopefully the last 63 seconds of Sunday's game will hasten that result.

Then we can happily chant: The Deion is Dead! Long Live the Deon!

The Hawks, now 5-7, play next Sunday at Houston.