Getting off Matt

I scared the holy crap out of my poor dog on Saturday.  I mean, she thought the end of all things was at hand, and I was the instrument of this end.  She'd been nervous all afternoon, because I'd been yelling.  A lot.  And, poor thing, she doesn't follow sports or watch TV much, so how could she know that I was yelling in excitement and sometimes pure joy that the Seahawks were playing so well, were competing hard, then that they were leading.  The moment of Armageddon came in her perception at the same time as it came in reality for the New Orleans Saints, and it came not in the form of a Horseman of the Apocalypse but in the guise of a Beast.  Or at least a man, in Beast mode.

I have been one of those dwindling few who felt that two years of mix-and-match offensive lines, countless hurries and knock-downs and sacks had nearly knocked an All-Pro quarterback out.  He'd been hurt, hurried, and was stuck throwing forty-five passes a game because the running game was missing.  My interpretation of the success Charlie Whitehurst enjoyed - though limited - against the Rams, was that he had played 'within himself, within the game plan', but moreover, he had played behind a line that suddenly was getting healthy and beginning to gel.  And I admit that I was eager to see how Matt did behind an improved line that could give him time for his tempo routes and a running game to keep the Saints from blitzing his hand warmer into the turf.  I have felt that if only the Hawks could get 100 yards a game rushing, and run the ball 25+ times a game, that would take enormous pressure off Matt (and Whitehurst too).  With the O-line finally returning to health, and showing some good signs (rushing for 141 yards on 35 attempts; no sacks allowed and only 4 quarterback hits allowed), I did believe that Matt would play well - maybe even very well.  I just never saw his skills tailing off, only his health and the root cause of both ill health and incomplete, intercepted or fumbled balls - lack of offensive line performance.

Against the Saints, Matt had time to throw, and he completed 22 of 35 passes (with four drops and a tip of a ball that was not thrown high, that works out to 27-35) for 272 yards and 4 touchdowns.  Why did he have time to throw?  The line.  They were together again, and they were gelling better by the minute after the momentum from the Rams win.  Rushing for 150 yards on 25 carries forced the Saints to honor the run, and even if you took out the long 67 yard run that scared my dog just short or ruining the carpet, the hawks were able to gain enough tough yards on first and second down that it kept the Saints honest.  I still believe that Matt has another two or three seasons in him, and I was glad to see that the Hawks will work to re-sign him.  If we can keep a healthy line, a Beast, and a veteran All-Pro who has won a Super Bowl (just a nudge to the Steelers fans), the Hawks might break the midpoint in offensive standing in the league next season.  And with the defense getting some key takeaways and stops, there is reason for some optimism there, too.

I think perhaps my poor friend Nellie, the black lab, will not be quite so concerned this week when I yell, and I hope the tiny suspicion that niggles at the back of my small mind bears out to be true - that this team is getting healthy, coming together, and peaking at just the right time.  The last two weeks sure seemed that way, and though it is a tough hill to climb to beat a Bears club that has also been peaking the past three or four weeks, I sure feel better about climbing hills than I did two weeks ago.  At least as a metaphor for the Hawks playing well and perhaps winning as an underdog.

Thanks for the GREAT memory on Saturday, the 12th man induced deafness, the blocking and the throws that Brett Favre would love to have been making this year, but which were coming from Matt...This has been a great two weeks for a Seahawks, and I hope the ride lasts a bit longer! 

Technorati Tags: Seattle Seahawks,Matt Hasselbeck,Marshawn Lynch,NFL Football

Community - CBSSports.com

CBS Sports.com writer Any Benoit - certainly not the only person who predicted a Saints thrashing of Seattle, but isn't it fun to look at his rather snide and self-assured language and chuckle after the Seahawks beat the Saints.  I guess the Hawks don't read Andy's column.  Or much else.  Thank God they don't!  With an offensive line that is whole for the first time since week 1, and the defense finding ways to get half a dozen key stops, plus a reinvigorated (or should I simply say a less hurried, less battered) Matt Hasselbeck, the team looked great.  What a win for the Hawks and for Carroll!

Here's some of Andy's best dismissive and bulletin board material:

The 2010 Saints essentially became the first wild card team in history to get a bye when they drew the matchup against the hapless/fruitless/pathetic/laughable/embarrassing NFC West Champion Seahawks. Seattle can obviously play the “nobody believes in us card”. It’s not even a card to play – it’s more just a fact. But it doesn’t matter because nobody believes in their ability to play the “nobody believes in us card” anyway. And nobody cares if the Seahawks have a chip on their shoulder or something to prove or are out for respect or whatever it is bad teams say before big games. So you say nobody thinks you deserve to be here, Seattle? You’re correct. And all the nobodies are correct, too.

Andy Benoit Blog - CBS Sportsline

Technorati Tags: Seattle Seahawks,NFL,Professional Football,NFL Playoffs,Seahawks

Seahawks Pounded Again, Outscored 74-10 in Last Two Games; Fall to 4-4

There isn't a lot to say in the last couple of weeks for the Seahawks, except that those clamoring for Matt Hasselbeck's demise might consider that with the offensive line injuries, retirements and poor play that we've seen these last three seasons, I don't think any big time QB would do much better.  I recall being at the Kingdome for a game against the Vikings way back when, and seeing Fran Tarkenton scramble between 30-35 yards backwards and god knows how far laterally before eventually completing a pass.  There are very few Fran Tarkentons, and very few quarterbacks who could survive, let alone consistently get points on the board with this line play.  I'm not calling out the line, exactly, since it is tough enough to play well when there is unit cohesion and time in a system (this line has had more shuffling in the last three years than most decks at the Muckleshoot Casino, and three systems in the past three years.    Matt Hasselbeck has done his best - which is still damn good - and better than most, but there's only so much a guy can do with no seven step drops possible, and two steps protection on a three step drop.

Another indication of O-line play is the half yard a game drop in average yards per carry for Marshawn Lynch since he's arrived from Buffalo.  Yep, the Bills winless Buffalo Bills managed to block consistently better for this running back than the Hawks have (each over a four game period).  And I have never seen a more ballsy, tough, inspiring run that one particular play Lynch had today.  He broke several tackles and then pushed a scrum of at least seven defenders forward another four yards.  It was as if he were saying to the rest of the team, and the O-line in particular, "Come ON, guys, let's go!". 

When reserve Charlie Whitehurst - playing for the concussed Hasselbeck - made his throws, it is easy to see the arm strength and poise that made Carroll want him.  He's reading defenses a little like a QB making his first start, but the man has an arm, and stays calm.  There were drops, including the painful bobble but Mike Williams in the end zone that not only killed the touchdown opportunity, but gave the Giants the ball and deprived Seattle of any points.  Especially when the QB is under such pressure, the receivers need to make big plays, and damn near every one of them let balls go through their hands, bobbled, dropped and tipped passes that were perfectly catchable. 

And while the defense has been pounded, to their credit the Hawks defense has held strong early in games, but with time of possession ratios like sixteen minutes for the opponent and nine for the Hawks, they are bound to wear down.

Luckily, when you play in the NFC West, 4-4 puts you in a first-place tie, and the Vikes OT win over Arizona gives both the Rams and the Hawks a bit of a cushion. 

So, halfway through the season, what do I think of the Pete Carroll stewardship?  I think that he will build a consistent and tough winning team, given time.  His enthusiasm, very good staff, excellent attention to both sides of the ball and the special teams, and most especially the willingness he's shown to let competition decide the starters, and even the roster, and to make as many transactions as it takes to get the best team he can on the field, I believe the Hawks will do very well over the next four or five years.  I hope the owner gives him that sort of time.  I hope that the QB coach is as good as Holmgren was, and Zorn became (as QB coach under Holmgren), because I'd love to see touch, reading defenses, check-down decision-making and great footwork added to the cannon of Whitehurst.  I want Matt to get one more shot at the big one, and that won't happen without an O-line.  And when Matt hangs 'em up finally, it would be great to see a guy groomed, practiced and ready to step in (Aaron Rogers style).  I actually thought the Hawks would be more like 3-5 at this point, and a few things break right they could just make the playoffs,  Even a first round loss would be a good step back toward the great teams the Hawk's have had in the past.

NFL Game Center: New York Giants at Seattle Seahawks - 2010 Week 9

Technorati Tags: Seattle Seahawks,Seahawks,NFL,Matt Hasselbeck,Charlie Whitehurst,Mike Holmgren,Jim Zorn,NFC West

What to make of Seahawks' opener - NFC West Blog - ESPN

This blog by Mike Sando of ESPN nailed several things, in my opinion, that were keys to the Seahawks drubbing of the 49ers.  The biggest concern I had going into the game was pass protection.  I thought that with Okung out, and the sudden resignation of the O line coach, Matt might be injured or at least a sack puppet.  What happened was far different.  The line held up, the receivers did a great job, and Hasselbeck was all the things he is: A PRO-BOWL quarterback who has been pounded, rushed, hit, hurried and unable to throw a route that took longer than one second to develop, check down to any further read than perhaps number two in his progressions. 

I saw very good offense, very good defense, resilience and toughness when pressed.  I saw a very good set of coaches adapt during the game, keep the team believing in what they were doing.  Mike Singletary is a powerful NFL figure and in this case I thought he lost his team when the pig stuff started to fly.  It made Pete Carroll’s feat of keeping his team on the rails just that much more impressive.   

What to make of Seahawks' opener - NFC West Blog – ESPN

Technorati Tags: Seattle Seahawks,NFL Football,Pete Carroll,Mike Singletary,Matt Hasselback,San Francisco 49ers

Seahawks | Houshmandzadeh officially gone | Seattle Times Newspaper

I have to say that it has been fun to see Deon Butler and Mike Williams give  Pete Carroll the chance to let TJ go elsewhere, both his talent and his ego/’tude. 

They’ve already gone for a little more depth on the O line, and it seems a bit of a telegraphing of intents that #3 QB Losman has been released.  Will we really have two QBs?  Will desert disappointment Matt Leinert put up with the rain after eight years in sunny California and Arizona to see if his college coach can rehabilitate him?  Anyway, I like very much what the Hawks are doing – trying to get anyone who may help, rewarding guys who have competed on the field and earned the right to keep on competing.

I may be proven wrong in this (as I so often am), but I love the story of Mike Williams getting in shape, getting another shot and absolutely shining; the emergence of Deon Butler, speed of Golden Tate, and gee whiz, even the now veteran experience of Ben Obamaanu (who really kicked ass with 5 receptions for 85 yards – a whopping 17 yard per catch).  If Okung can get back and really protect Hasselbeck’s blind side, and the entire line can really get the

zone blocking scheme without the offensive line coach Pete Carroll brought in to implement it – he retired yesterday –Forsett might get on a roll, rrestore the offensive diversity and it all might add up to a pretty good year.  I suppose I am leaning toward believing what Coach Carroll is doing – hopefully I’m not drinking the kool-aid!  No, I must be seeing some improved defense and and an efficient offense, a good takeaway ratio…after all, I did say 10-6.

Here’s why you ought to listen to that 10-6 playoff team thinking:  The last time a new coach came to a team that played way under .500, that team had a near-record for improvement in just one season! (Mariners, of course).

Yes, I know, I am a homer.  But I’ve earned it as one of those who has a fan stripe on my sleeve for every season since the first.  I might have let my homer stripes influence my point of view about the 2010 Pete Carroll Seahawks.  But there are enough players –if we can finally stay a little healthy – to win those ten games.  The fun is seeing if they really do.

Here’s the Seahawks Offensive Depth Chart at the moment:

WR1
Deion Branch
Mike Williams
Deon Butler

LT
Russell Okung
Mansfield Wrotto

LG
Ben Hamilton
Mansfield Wrotto
Chester Pitts

C
Chris Spencer
Steve Vallos

RG
Max Unger
Mike Gibson

RT
Sean Locklear

TE
John Carlson
Chris Baker
Cameron Morrah
Anthony McCoy

WR2
Golden Tate
Benjamin Obomanu

QB
Matt Hasselbeck
Charlie Whitehurst

FB
Owen Schmitt
Quinton Ganther

RB
Julius Jones
Justin Forsett
Leon Washington
Quinton Ganther

 

Seahawks | Houshmandzadeh officially gone | Seattle Times Newspaper

Technorati Tags: Seattle Seahawks,Houshmanfzadeh,NFL Football

Seahawks So Far

You know, I really didn’t know what to expect when Pete Carroll was selected to be the new head man at Seahawk World.  Would his enthusiastic approach work with pro players?  Especially veterans?  I thought that his previous record as an NFL head coach was just fine, given that he got just one season, and two seasons at his two stops.  That is just not enough time to put your program in place: not enough time to get the personnel you want for your system, not enough time to test that system (and yes, I feel this way about Jim Mora too.  His career was capriciously damaged, and while the team has the right to go a different way if desired, it really was a Florida State-style mess to ignore Mike Holmgren’s likely desire to stay on and get the team back to a level he could feel good about leaving, name Mora coach in waiting, then give him just one year with poor personnel?  Lame.  Lame.  Lame.). 

So, back to Coach Carroll.  I think he is likely to get much better defensive play  out of this team and the new players added.  I think that better line play and a solid receiving corps will show that if he isn’t being pounded into the turf and rushed on every play, Matt Hasselbeck is still a damn good quarterback.  Perhaps seeing the impact Steve Sarkesian has had at the University of Washington and the immediate change in the players and program from moribund and impotent to on the move and expecting great things, has given me a positive feel for the way Coach Carroll’s upbeat ways will forge a new spirit in a team that has fallen like a rock from the elite to the effete the past two seasons.

A better group of players, the sense of meritocracy, the competitiveness at every position every week, the willingness to adapt to personnel, give players second chances, make quick decisions when the second chance ain’t going anywhere…what I am seeing is a team that is competitive, improved in personnel, willing to adapt, has chemistry and a sense of aggressiveness that has been missing of late.  These are all good things, and I won’t be surprised to see this team finish first or second in the division (depending on how the Cardinals work out their offensive problems and the 49ers hold up over a season.  Especially if the line can gel by the end of the bye week, there are some good playmakers (Housh, Forsett, Carlson, a rejuvenated Mike Williams, maybe Leon Washington and maybe Branch), and I am absolutely convinced that Matt can still get the offense as revved up as any QB in the league (if his line allows him some time, and makes some holes for the running game).

I can’t predict how the season will work out – too much is up in the air with Arizona, the 49ers and the Hawks to have a strong sense of how the long season will end,  But I really do have the feeling now that the team is improved in all phases of the game, has chemistry that has been missing, and is lining up for seconds at the Pete Carroll enthusiasm and chemistry buffet.  My guess:

Seattle Seahawks Schedule

Game (Result)	Record
SF at Seattle  (Hawks)	1-0
Seattle at Denver (Broncos)	1-1
San Diego at Seattle (Hawks)	2-1
Seattle at St. Louis (Hawks)	3-1
Bye
Seattle at Chicago (Bears)	3-2
Arizona at Seattle (Hawks)	4-2
Seattle at Oakland (Hawks)	5-2
NY Giants at Seattle (Hawks)	6-2
Seattle at Arizona (Cardinals)	6-3
Seattle at New Orleans (Saints)	6-4
Kansas City at Seattle (Hawks)	7-4
Carolina at Seattle (Panthers)	7-5
Seattle at SF (Hawks)	8-5
Atlanta at Seattle (Hawks)	9-5
Seattle at Tampa Bay (Bucs)	9-6
St. Louis at Seattle (Hawks)	10-6

The great thing about this prediction is that it assumes the defense plays great, and helps the offense with takeaways and tough red zone play over the first few weeks.  By the time of the bye, the O line should be gelling and healthy – good lord willing and the creek don’t rise – and the good start plus home field advantage helps the team get on a roll.  The 12th man is valuable, but not if a team can’t win on the road, as has been the Hawks pattern recently.  In my (hopeful?) prediction here, I am assuming a 3-5 record on the road (better, but not world-beating), and a 7-1 record at home.  That may be tough with Atlanta, Carolina, SF, Arizona and the Giants, but I really think they’ll return to home form.  We shall see.  And luckily, for those of you who enjoy poking me when I am wrong, well, this may just give you the chance to do so four or five times.

I’m truly looking forward to seeing Coach Carroll’s approach and how it translates in the NFL.  And whatever happens, he better get more than one season to “git ‘er done!”

Technorati Tags: Seattle Seahawks,NFL Football,Pete Carroll,Steve Sarkesian,University of Washington,Jim Mora,Mike Holmgren,Seahawks Schedule,Seahawk Season Prediction

Disappointing Comments from Jim Mora at Seahawks Presser…Leadership Comments from Matt Hasselbeck at the Same Presser

I can’t blame him on the one hand.  Coach Mora that is.  His team is now 5-9, fourteen games into year one of the “Mora Era” in Seattle.  They have lost to good teams, but they’ve increasingly lost to poor teams, too, a trend perhaps hitting its’ nadir Sunday with a home loss to a 1 win Tampa Bay team.  What was disappointing, as shown in the blog link below, was that Mora took every out he could for the abysmal play of a team he looks very much to be losing as the season dribbles to an end.  Mora has gone from a position insisting that the team is thinking playoffs to now saying the team had a chance until Sunday’s loss to double the number of wins from last season.  It took a row of articulated Metro busses and neat lines formed and waiting for a turn at being tossed under the bus.  The head man seemed to be passing the buck to injuries, and a 4 win team last year; even referring to rebuilding after having taken reporters to task before the season for similar thinking.  The post linked below also very insightfully points out that a “true leader” such as Matt Hasselbeck, asks for no cover, and accepts no quarter.  Seeking no one to blame but himself, Hasselbeck said:

"I just feel like I let a lot of people down today," he said. "It's my fault. It's on me and I'll improve."  Not one word about being pounded like a cheap flank steak game after game.  Not one word about having a better completion percentage than last year.  No, this leader simply says, ‘It’s on me, and I’ll get better’.  Read the article for more.

The SunBreak | Sports | Jim Mora Tries to Save His Job with Revisionist History

Technorati Tags: Jim Mora,Matt Hasselback,Seattle Seahawks,Seahawks,NFL Football

Mike Holmgren to Cleveland

Everything I have heard from people who’ve spent a lot of time with Mariners CEO Leiwicki is that he is well-liked, well-respected and professional.  Certainly, he seems to be taking a measured and thorough approach to re-setting the Seahawk organization for the future.  And unless you’re one of those people who really wanted Mike Holmgren back with the team, a careful and deep look at what this team and organization need to get back to winning – to evaluating talent and getting the most from it; to demanding excellence from player, coach, scout and team staff.

I’d heard several times that Mike Holmgren had come to see himself in a role similar to that of Bill Parcells, as President of a team.  I think that the Seahawks, with a Head Coach suffering through a dismal first season in which he is installing new systems, facing injuries similar in scope and impact to last year’s disastrous injury fest, to the recently departed GM, were in fact, a rather bad fit for Mike Holmgren at this juncture.  Why?  Simply put, the one job Mike seems to have wanted – the job of team president or CEO – was the one job not on the table with the Hawks.  Tod Leiwicki is dialed in to both Vulcan and to sports organization management.  He’s got a golden reputation, and if rumors are to be believed, Owner Paul Allen is very comfortable with what Leiwicki is doing and how he is doing it.

So, much as I love Mike Holmgren, and as strongly as I believe that winning Super Bowls is as much about the Head Coach, or the CEO/GM of a team  exerting his will on the organization, this just isn’t the right situation for the Big Show any longer.  As Owner Paul Allen fights his own high-stakes battle, he will want to know that the man running his sports interests is ‘his guy’, and will maintain continuity even if Mr. Allen is slightly less directly involved for a bit.

Today, the Cleveland Browns got their new President.  A classy, determined, knowledgeable, and absolutely resolute winner with a solid gold resume.  I have no doubt that five or six years from now there will be a dog pound in Cleveland that is watching a week in, week out winner.  Maybe another Super Bowl winner. 

So, am I sad that Mike Holmgren won’t be here?  Yes.  Very much so.  But I am hopeful that Tod Leiwicki will make some deeply reasoned choices that will do what Green Bay leadership did when they brought in an unproven head coach and soon enough won that coveted Super Bowl.  Will the new GM be able to work with the coach already here?  Will the team be able to draft, sign, coach and motivate the kind of improvement  that Coach Mora will need to keep his gig after next season? 

I just don’t know.  If reputations translated to accomplishments in all circumstances, then I’d be pretty durn confident of the Hawks future hire as team GM.  But, as we all know, it is never that neat and tidy.  Even had Mike Holmgren returned it wouldn’t be a clear-cut winning hire. 

I attended nearly every Seahawks home game from 1976 through 1980 – my Dad got our family season tickets and we loved every minute of the Jim Zorn, Steve Largent, Jack Patera era.  Later, in the 80s, I watched every game I could on TV, and when the local station decided to show another team instead, I formed a Sea Hawker fan club and we worked on getting the Hawks on in our area.  I’ve been a fan across the three decades since the founding of the franchise, and I imagine I’ll be a fan as long as the team continues or I do.  I loved having a winner.  I reveled in the 2005 running game, which made Matt completely deadly.  I’ve had bleeding gums and blistered eyes from watching the 2008 and 2009 teams, and for my own health I hope the turnaround is quick!

So, all I can do is wish Holmgren the very best.  He is a great man, and a great football man, and I have no doubt he’ll take what he learned in his time as GM and apply it to make his time as team president a great success.  And then I wish Tod Leiwicki the best in bringing in his team to give Coach Mora the players he needs to win.  And then I wish Coach Mora success.  He has some big shoes both literally and figuratively, to fill. 

Seattle Post-Intelligencer: NFL/Football

Technorati Tags: Seattle Seahawks,Seahawks Football,Seattle Sports,NFL Football,Mike Holmgren,Jim Mora

Mike Holmgren Won’t Be Rejoining Seahawks

If Mike Holmgren is using the Cleveland Browns to build urgency for the Seattle Seahawks and other teams who may have some interest in giving him the reins to their football operations, he is really spending a lot of time in that effort.  Meeting for the second time with Browns owner Randy Lerner, Holmgren is spending a lot of time talking about the GM role in Cleveland for a guy merely building a market and urgency for himself.  It will certainly cause ripples of unhappiness in the Seattle Seahawk fan base if the franchise doesn’t at least speak with Holmgren, so the next week or two should be pretty interesting.  The main issue in Seattle could be that Mike wants to coach and be GM, and wouldn’t feel very good about dumping Jim Mora after one season.  In Cleveland, there is a similar situation with Eric Mangini, but it is dissimilar as well  since Holmgren spent a year with Mora tapped as his successor before he resigned, and I think he’d be reticent to make a coaching change after one or two seasons  for a coach who inherited a 4 win team from Holmgren himself.  Cleveland has been bad for years and I doubt it would be too difficult for The Show to make whatever changes he felt necessary to turn the franchise around. 

I do hope the Hawks talk to him at the least. 

Update:  I guess they did talk yesterday and Holmgren declined to rejoin the team in the structure proposed by CEO Todd Liewicki.  I’m sure we’ll hear more about what was offered soon.

Technorati Tags: Seattle Seahawks,Seahawks,Mike Holmgren,NFL Football,Seattle Sports

NFL GameTracker - CBSSports.com Seahawks at Houston

I was looking forward hopefully to the Seahawks game against the Texans today.  Wins on the road have been hard to come by the last two years, but I was hopeful that the progress we’ve seen over the past two games would continue.  Not so much.  The Texans peeled off a nice 64 yard pass for a touchdown to start, then after a Seattle three and out, they popped a nice little drive for a field goal.  Another Seattle three and out and the Texans drove easily for another score.  Seahawks three and out and Houston has the ball back with 0:48 to go in the first quarter.  The defense is in total disarray, and the offense looks like they’ve never played together before.  I can’t watch this, so I have ceded control of the remote to my eight year old, and now it is iCarly on the TV, and I am following the other NFL games online.  End of first quarter:  17-0 Texans.  Opening the second quarter the Texans are driving already, from their thirty-five to another touchdown in five plays.  24-0 Texans, with 12:58 to go in the 2nd.   Blecccchhhh!!!!  Oh, and Hasselback was nailed hard three times on the next aborted drive, fumbling twice for his third fumble.  Ryan punts and pins Houston on their own 3.  Texas ball.

Update 1:  Seahawks manage one TD drive.  Matt Schaub  has nearly 350 yards passing in the first half!  The O line just plain sucks.  Really sucks.  Hard to watch sucks.

Update 2:  Hasselbeck throws an out to the Texas cornerback and BOOM!  34-7.  Hawks drive to the Texans ten before giving the ball back on a fourth down play.  Houshmanzadeh didn’t even jump for the damn thing…then he gets an offensive pass interference.  It sucks how inconsistent the Hawks are.  Now Ray Willis gets his second false start, effectively killing a drive that reached the Houston ten with a first down.  Ray Willis jumps offside   for the third time,  Now at 4th and 16 they go for it.  Hasselbeck has no time and though he completes one to Forsett, it is nowhere close to a first.  I’m  off to eat sushi with the kids.  this is too painful to watch any more. 

NFL GameTracker - CBSSports.com

Technorati Tags: NFL Football,Seattle Seahawks,Seattle,Seattle Sports

Seahawks Injuries

Seattle Seahawks Coach Jim Mora spoke to reporters last week, and the topic right off the top was injuries.  Just as it has been through most of the last two seasons.  Mora began his press conference with a nearly five minute long monologue outlining the injuries and likeliness of each player to be available for today’s game with the Cardinals.  It was a mildly humorous opening for a press conference, but for Seahawks fans, players, coaches and management, it is bitter humor.  The injury situation had become so bad that Mora called it the worst he’s seen in his twenty-six years in football.  At times in recent weeks Mora has had eight, nine, even ten starters injured and possibly unable to play.  He’s commented more than once that the Seahawks might not be able to field 45 players due to injuries. 

All of this follows on a situation last year which saw entire positions on the depth chart virtually wiped out.  In 2008 Matt Hasselbeck was forced to throw to a group of receivers, not a one of whom had been on the roster in training camp.  Injuries hit many other positions as well, and most of us probably thought that we were seeing the sort of once-in-a-blue-moon kind of event, one we wouldn’t expect to have to face again for many years of Seahawks play.  And then this season began, and almost immediately it felt familiar and unwelcome.  This year, instead of a receiver corps (though nearly all of the receivers have had some injury that has kept them out of practice or a game to this point in the season), the entire left side of the offensive line has been wracked.  Not only has perpetual Pro-Bowler Walter Jones been injured, but for this week’s game the left guard and tackle protecting Hasselbeck’s broken ribs on the blind side included a player signed two weeks ago and another brought in off the Seahawk practice squad.  In today’s loss to the Cardinals, the Hawks lost the defensive quarterback, All-Pro Lofa Tatupu.  The defense’s signal caller will not be able to return in a couple of weeks to play through the pain, as Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck has done.  Tatupu is lost for the season.  Below is a list of players who have missed time this season (off the top of my head, so I am betting there are even more football quarters lost to injury than those listed here):

1. Lofa Tatupu

2. Matt Hasselbeck

3. Leon Hill

4. Sean Locklear

5. Walter Jones

6. Chris Spenser

7. Marcus Trufant

8. Deon Branch

9. Brandon Mebane

10. Ken Lucas

11. Kelly Jennings

12. Rob Sims

13. Mansfield Wrotto

14. C.J. Wallace

15. Josh Wilson

16. Patrick Kearney

17. Brandon Frye

18. Jordan Babineaux

19. T.J. Houshmandzadeh

20. Derek Walker

It is a tough task to turn a team around from a season like last year.  How much more difficult is it when trying to make the turnaround with half the starting players missing from week to week?  It is amazing to hear an NFL coach muse about the possibility of not being able to find 45 healthy players for a game.  I suppose I’d have to say that a 2-4 record is disappointing, but I am not sure how disappointing it is.  In some ways I have a feeling that Mora is doing a pretty fine job at ad-libbing through a nearly crippling set of injuries.  The real question that keeps coming to my mind is why does Mora find himself having to manage through another year of catastrophic injuries?  Why are the ‘Hawks getting hurt so much, and so often?  Why is the moon blue yet again? 

Technorati Tags: NFL Football,Seahawks injuries,Jim Mora,Mike Holmgren,Seattle Seahawks

NFL Update – Blowouts Galore

Though I may never again be nearly as addicted to football as I was when I was a single and childless young man, I do still geek out on football sometimes.  When I can – meaning when I have time and no one else is using our television – I watch the Seahawks, and somewhat less often I watch other NFL or college games.  Most often I record the game and watch it later.  My favorite way to watch now includes both the television and my laptop.  I like to see the action live as well as use the CBS game channel to give me up-to-the play statistics.  This year I’ve also gotten used to watching baseball games this way.  The user interface with baseball is nice because it shows the strike zone and a 3D graphic of each pitch as it approaches the batter. 

The Seahawks played like they were down to a practice-squad left tackle on the offensive line (the first three guys at that position on the depth chart having been injured in prior weeks).  That left me with a lot of time when I’d normally be flinching or cussing, but now could use the time more gratifyingly by checking in on other games in progress.  There were a couple that stood out, but none more than the absolute pounding that the Patriots gave the Titans.  With just under eight minutes remaining in the 3rd quarter, New England was leading 59 to zip.  Tom Brady threw for 5 touchdowns in the second quarter alone.  Just look at the scoring plays from the Pats up to the middle of the 3rd quarter:

TD
Laurence Maroney, 45 Yd run (Stephen Gostkowski kick is good), 5:51. Drive: 5 plays, 79 yards in 2:27.

FG
Stephen Gostkowski 33 Yd, 0:47. Drive: 7 plays, 63 yards in 4:10.

2nd Quarter
TD
Randy Moss, 40 Yd pass from Tom Brady (Stephen Gostkowski kick is good), 9:56. Drive: 6 plays, 65 yards in 3:11.

TD
Randy Moss, 28 Yd pass from Tom Brady (Stephen Gostkowski kick is good), 8:59. Drive: 2 plays, 31 yards in 0:44.

TD
Kevin Faulk, 38 Yd pass from Tom Brady (Stephen Gostkowski kick is good), 6:20. Drive: 4 plays, 65 yards in 1:34.

TD
Wes Welker, 30 Yd pass from Tom Brady (Stephen Gostkowski kick is good), 1:53. Drive: 5 plays, 76 yards in 2:49.

TD
Wes Welker, 5 Yd pass from Tom Brady (Stephen Gostkowski kick is good), 0:12. Drive: 10 plays, 49 yards in 1:04.

3rd Quarter

TD
Randy Moss, 9 Yd pass from Tom Brady (Stephen Gostkowski kick is good), 10:13. Drive: 9 plays, 65 yards in 4:47.

TD
Brian Hoyer, 1 Yd run (Stephen Gostkowski kick is good), 0:11. Drive: 12 plays, 61 yards in 7:42.

Brady threw for six touchdowns and over 380 yards in just over a half of football.  The 13-3 record posted by last year’s Titans seems much more distant than just a season, with the hapless Titans now winless in week six.

Not to be outgunned, the league’s hottest quarterback thus far in this season also threw for over 350 yards and four touchdowns against the top-ranked pass defense in the Saints 48-27 win over the previously undefeated Giants.  Drew Brees has been unbelievable all year, and today was nothing short of amazing.

I kept an eye on the Redskins progress against the Chiefs, and continued to feel badly for Jim Zorn – thrust into a position he just shouldn’t have allowed himself to accept.  I’ve liked Zorn since the Seahawks first season – Dad got our family season tickets and we went to see the expansion team with the unconventional head coach (Jack Patera), the mobile and exciting left-handed quarterback (Zorn) and the great Steve Largent.  Zorn is funny, quirky, genuine and I can see why his players asked Redskins owner Dan Snyder to give their coach a vote of confidence.  It is tough to watch the disheveled and disorganized ‘Skins lose to a previously winless team (again), and it is hard to see how Zorn could keep his job after this.  I am sure he’s a good QB coach (Mike Holmgren is as good a teacher as can be found at developing QB talent, and Zorn worked for Holmgren in Seattle these past five or six years), and I was looking forward to seeing how he did as the offensive coordinator.  It was likely an offer he couldn’t refuse when Snyder decided to make Zorn the Head Coach as well as offensive coordinator, but I sure wish Zorn had done so.  The team looks horrible, and seems to be regressing week to week.  Zorn is doing not just one, not just two, but three jobs he has never held before:  offensive coordinator, head coach and offensive play-caller. 

I do enjoy having a control panel that lets’ me keep real-time track of the game I am watching as well as all the other action around the league at the same time.  If you want to try it out, on most sports, just follow the link below:

NFL GameTracker - CBSSports.com

Technorati Tags: NFL Football,CBS,GameTracker,Jim Zorn,Mike Holmgren,Tom Brady,Drew Brees,Seattle Seahawks

The Ballad of The 2009 Seattle Seahawks: It Could Happen To You | Bleacher Report

This is one of the best analysis I’ve seen trying to make sense of the wave of injuries that have plagued the Seahawks in 2009.  Oh, and in 2008 it was just as profound in impact as it has been this year.  Looking at it as a hypothetical with other teams is a really great and insightful way to wrap one’s arms around just how much the Hawks are struggling to overcome.  A great read:

The Ballad of The 2009 Seattle Seahawks: It Could Happen To You | Bleacher Report

Technorati Tags: Seattle Seahawks,Seahawks,NFL Football,Seattle

Coach Mora Improves in Fulfilling His Destiny and Restoring Balance to the Offense

Seahawks 14   Chiefs  10

Forgive the undertones of Anakin Skywalker and balancing the Force, but don’t you think that Coach Mora’s task this year – transforming a team that has been pass first for Mike Holmgren’s entire tenure, and more so last season than any prior years, into the kind of punishing and reliable ground assault he ran in Atlanta.  The Seahawks haven't been reliable at running the ball since 2006, and last year’s squad was nearly pitiful.  So, it gives me a  great deal of enthusiasm-building interest to see that Hawks nearly achieve the fabled run-pass balance.  Tonight, in the third pre-season game, Coach Mora got ever so close to balance, running the ball 38 times, and passing just one snap more than that at 39.  Oh, so close.  Who knows what sporting glory will come when Mora achieves his goal, and balance is in the offense?  I think I need to tweet this!

Seahawks at Chiefs Box Score

Seahawks Insider

Technorati Tags: Sports,NFL Football,Seattle Seahawks,Matt Hasselback,Seattle Running game

Seahawks Win First Preseason Game

Preseason is not a time to think much about wins and losses, and early preseason games don’t give me too much of an idea how the team that ultimately opens the regular year is going to look and play by then.  There were a couple things that I thought were encouraging in tonight’s preseason opener in San Diego, won 20-14 by the Hawks in Jim Mora’s first game as the new head coach. 

First, there were no injuries to note.  After the last couple of seasons in particular, when guys seemed to go on the injury  lists just getting from their cars into the practice facility, it was great to get through a game (albeit one in which almost every starter either didn’t play, or did a quick ole and hit the showers) without any injuries.  It may be just an easy and coincidental observation that a number of players commented in various ways about how ‘fit’ they felt already.  Could it be that Mora’s focus on conditioning and physical play is already paying some dividends in the form of fewer injuries?  If so, will it continue throughout the year?  If it is just a coincidence will it please continue all year, Oh Grand Pigskin Deity?

Second, the Charger’s first offensive play from scrimmage was a Seahawk sack of Philip Rivers, and it set a nice tone for the Seahawks defense, which looked to me to be quick, physical and it seemed to me that a lot of the defensive play was occurring at the line of scrimmage, not so much with four to six guys converging to smother a runner three or four or five yards beyond the line of scrimmage.  I think every Seahawk fan would love to see a defensive front that contested the play at the line of scrimmage, and we saw that a lot tonight. 

The Hawks ran the ball often tonight, and though the average gain was unimpressive, it was a clear sign of the new philosophy at work when the Hawks ran the ball thirty-three times and threw it only thirty-five.  The new blocking approach hasn’t gelled yet, clearly, but it will be fun to see what this team can do with a tough defense and a commitment to running the ball, and doing it well.     Overall, it was a nice start to the new era – essentially meaningless I know, but despite that , I admit that I found myself revving up a bit.  Could be that I sensed some encouraging elements in the Hawks play, or schemes, or philosophy, or, I suppose it could just be that the NFL is back and I LOVE that every year just a little more than the year before. 

I will admit that I did miss the sight of Mike Holmgren, and the potential – Vesuvian as well as mad scientist-like that always seemed to be simmering just beneath the surface.  I enjoyed hearing that Mora is just as committed to accountability as Holmgren was, but according to one of the players where Coach Holmgren might see something he didn’t like on the field and go Krakatoa on a player, Mora’s style relies more on visual aids (unless you count volume, an impossibly bright red face and a glare so intense it could be used for welding).  He tends to run video of a play, stop the video and make it clear that he didn’t want to see that type of thing (be it bad technique, missed reads, sloppiness, whatever) again.  In some ways I’d say that approach is even more directly calling a player out than the red-faced tongue lashing.  When done with film and slow-motion replying of the play, Mora makes his point, and uses the entire team to hold the player (and by extension every other guy who might need to learn from the error he’s shown) accountable.  It is a different approach, but it doesn’t sound like a soft one to me.  And the knock on Mora (probably from idiots like me) has often been that he’s a ‘player’s coach’.  The implication in that remark is that the coach is soft and doesn’t hold his players accountable.  I don’t know that this description fits Mora, or if it ever has in this sense.  But if the tone I’ve heard from his players continues, and his means of holding himself, his coaches and his players accountable is in fact similar to what the players have described, I think Coach Mora will put paid to this particular vague and uncertain ‘knock’ on him pretty quickly.

(I think no matter how well any coach does for the Hawks, I will always miss Coach Holmgren much as I still miss Lou Piniella after all these years…)

Technorati Tags: Seattle Seahawks,Seahawks,Jim Mora,NFL Football,injuries