If you want to find out what went wrong at Little Bighorn, you wouldn’t ask a cavalryman. If you want to find out what went wrong at WaMu, you wouldn’t ask a bank teller. And if you want to know what’s wrong with the Seahawks, you wouldn’t ask the players.
This could not have been demonstrated more clearly than on KJR yesterday (audio), when Seahawk receivers Deion Branch, Nate Burleson, and T.J. Houshmandzadeh tried to explain why the team is so terrible. And now, ladies and gentlemen, here’s the reason why the Seahawks have been outscored 106-24 the last three weeks!
Deion Branch: “We’re not executing our plays.”
KJR’s Dave Mahler: “Why not?”
Branch: “Could be a combination of things.”
Ah–well, that clears it up.
The reason the players can’t explain this is that they are cogs in a machine, jostled by forces beyond their control. Like Custer’s troops and WaMu’s tellers, they are doing the best they can. Housmandzadeh and Burleson (I think, voices ran together) revealed that they’ve both been playing with broken ribs.
So of course they don’t like to hear noted quarterback apologist Hugh Millen saying that receivers are running the wrong routes. Millen, a former Husky and NFL quarterback, frequently finds fault with receivers; he does it when analyzing Jake Locker’s struggles as well. Apparently Millen goofed, claiming that Seahawks tight end John Owens failed to run a route, when Owens is actually supposed to stay in and block. The receivers defended Owens, claiming that Millen doesn’t know what he’s talking about, then KJR producers got Millen in on the call, and he attempted to defend himself in a very “inside football” conversation.
For example–from Housh: “If you’re a defensive coordinator and you know I’m going to run a dig route, what coverage are you going to run? Two man!”
Millen didn’t really get much of a chance to respond. It was really interesting–great radio–but for some reason KJR host Dave Mahler cut the conversation off. Too bad.
Reading between the lines of their comments, it seems pretty clear that the Seahawks receivers are dissatisfied with the offensive playcalling. They wouldn’t come out and say it, but Branch (I think) was specific in pointing out the importance of throwing deep. Which the Seahawks don’t do. But what they think doesn’t really matter. And obviously the silly little issues Hugh Millen points out aren’t that big a deal when you lose a game 48-10. Until circumstances change–a new coach, a stronger offensive line, better playcalling–the Seahawks won’t improve.
