Tag Archives: football

News, Sports

How to Sound Smart During the Seahawks Game

Because I want you to win friends and influence people, here are two sentences you can say during Sunday’s Seahawks/Redskins playoff game that are guaranteed to impress.

1) “They’re in the Pistol formation.”

2) “Looked like the read-option.”

You can’t just randomly blurt these statements out and look cool. Besides, you’ve already got “Who needs a Mike’s Hard?” for that. No, you must know the perfect moment to deploy these advanced football proclamations!

Say “They’re in the Pistol formation” when you see this:

Seahawks in Pistol Formation

This, friends, is the Pistol formation. Notice: Quarterback Russell Wilson is standing five yards behind the line of scrimmage, and running back Marshawn Lynch is directly behind him.

If pressed for further explanation by football neophytes, explain patiently that the Pistol was invented by longtime University of Nevada head coach Chris Ault in 2005, and that among its many advantages are that the running back is hidden behind the quarterback–the defense can’t see the running back’s movements at the snap, and so can’t they tell right away which way the run will go. The result of this play, incidentally, was the Hawks’ first TD in the win over San Francisco. Here’s more on how the Seahawks use the Pistol, from Field Gulls’ Danny Kelly.

Say “looked like the read-option” when you see something like this:

Seahawks Zone-Read Pre-Snap

…followed by something like this (it may be easier just to watch the highlight of this one):

Seahawks Zone-Read After Snap

This time, running back Lynch is lined up to quarterback Wilson’s side. At the snap, Lynch runs toward Wilson. When they meet, Wilson will either hand the ball to Lynch, who’ll continue running left, or keep the ball himself and run right. Which OPTION Wilson chooses depends on how he READS the movement of the defense. Hence, the read-option.

If some smart-ass wants to quiz you about it, explain how Wilson makes his read: By watching the defensive end lined up on the side Lynch is on. If the end stays put or comes upfield, Wilson hands the ball to Lynch, who runs away from the end to the other side of the line. If the end runs down the line of scrimmage toward Lynch, Wilson keeps the ball, and runs around the end. The beauty of the read-option is that it can eliminate the defensive end from the play without anyone having to block him. The read-option is one of the plays in the spread offense, which Chip Kelly’s Oregon Ducks thrash the Huskies with every year. The result of this particular read-option play was Lynch scoring a touchdown.

The Seahawks also sometimes fake the read-option and pass instead–they scored the game-winning touchdown in Chicago that way. Here’s more on how the Seahawks use the read-option from National Football Post’s Matt Bowen.

The crazy thing about the Seahawks’ use of the Pistol and the read-option is that neither was in the playbook at the start of the season. The Seahawks used the read-option only sporadically until early December, and didn’t use the Pistol at all until Week 14 against Buffalo. Less than a month later–and after scoring more points in a three-game stretch than any team had since 1950–both strategies are a key part of the offense. Much credit is due to Seahawks’ offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell for his creativity, and quarterback Russell Wilson for running such a complicated offense as a rookie. (You know, that’s ANOTHER smart sentence you can say. On the house.)

So how are you going to sound smart when the Seahawks are on defense? Happily, the Redskins also use both the Pistol and the read-option, so you’re set there too. Don’t worry about repeating yourself, the worst TV announcers have been doing it for years and no one seems to notice.

The Seahawks play the Redskins at FedExField in Landover, MD, at 1:30 PST on Sunday. The game will be televised on FOX.

News, Sports

Nate-Silver-Types Rank Seahawks #2 in NFL

If you are inclined, as I am, to worship at the altar of advanced statistical analysis after high priest Nate Silver’s 50-for-50 election sweep, you should be feeling pretty good about our Seattle Seahawks.

Two years ago, Priest Silver himself called the Seahawks the worst playoff team in NFL history, based on a statistic developed by the guys at Football Outsiders (“geniuses,” according to Silver).

Times have changed. According to that same stat, the Seahawks are the second-best team in the NFL and one of the best teams of the past 20 years.

Before his career as a political prognosticator, Silver created a groundbreaking projection system for baseball. Then, the average baseball pundit was as math-challenged as Karl Rove. Still, the baseball world was a Math Olympiad compared to football.

In baseball, at least, the things we measure are basically even. Most hits are as valuable as other hits, outs about as valuable as other outs. Football is completely different. Performance is usually measured by yardage gained–a statistic that’s nearly meaningless out of context. If you complete a five-yard pass on 3rd and 4, you keep the ball and have a much better chance of scoring. But that same five-yard pass on 3rd and 8 is a flat-out #FAIL.

Measured by the football stat most media members and old-school football types rely on, the Seahawks aren’t spectacular. By yardage, the Seahawks are third in total defense and 21st in total offense. Decent, but nothing to throw down a Super Bowl bet over.

The Football Outsiders measure not just yardage, but the value of the yards. Think of it as the difference between the national poll numbers and the electoral college tallies predicted by the state polls. The first is nice to know, but the second is what really matters. Football Outsiders’ metric, DVOA, assigns a value to every play based on how much closer it got a team to scoring, then normalizes it based on the performance of the rest of the teams in the league.

According to DVOA, your Seattle Seahawks are #2 in the NFL, with a DVOA of 43.9 percent — that is, they are 43.9 percent better than the average team. The Patriots have a slight lead over the Seahawks, but both teams possess two of the highest DVOA ratings of the past 20 years. As Football Outsiders’ Aaron Schatz puts it: “If there’s one thing right now that FO readers should be telling other football fans, it’s this: Don’t sleep on the Seattle Seahawks.”

Because of the Seahawks’ slow start and some close losses, they are unlikely to secure home-field advantage in the playoffs. So despite being ranked as the second-best team, Football Outsiders thinks they’re only the fourth-most likely team to win the Super Bowl, with just an 11.9 percent chance. Still, those are pretty interesting odds considering that Vegas has the Seahawks at 18-1.

If you didn’t already triple Junior’s college fund taking money from overconfident Republicans on InTrade, with the benefit of Nate Silver’s advice, you may have another chance. Consider the New York Giants. According to Football Outsiders, they are half as good as the Seahawks–but Vegas has them as more than twice as likely to win the Super Bowl.

The Seahawks currently have the the first of two wild-card berths into the NFL playoffs, but likely must win at least two of their final three games to hold on to it. They play the Buffalo Bills in Toronto on Sunday (where PSY will perform at halftime!), in a domed stadium that will likely be half-empty. For a road game you could hardly imagine a better setting.

Then it’s home to face San Francisco–if the Seahawks win Sunday and the Niners lose at New England, the game would be for first place in the NFC West. The Hawks stay at home for the final game of the year against St. Louis. All in all, a very promising schedule. If Football Outsiders is as right as Nate Silver was, the Hawks should storm into the playoffs with an 11-5 record, ready for a run at the Super Bowl.

News, Sports

“Best-Ever” (?) Seahawks Defense Faces Biggest Test Yet

Packers Dog
Photo via Flickr (Creative Commons) user cdw9

The Tacoma News-Tribune‘s Dave Boling is my favorite local football columnist, but talk about jumping the gun. “Seahawks’ D might be the best they’ve ever had“? Two games into the season? C’mon.

Although…if the Seahawks D can check Aaron Rodgers and the Packers on Monday Night Football, I’ll be willing to concede the point. Green Bay had the NFL’s best offense last season–one of the top five offenses of the past 20 years, according to Football Outsiders. Rodgers won the NFL’s MVP award. His strength is analyzing defenses at the snap and quickly getting the ball to open receivers, who extend the gain with runs after the catch. Last year, they were nearly impossible to stop.

So the Seahawks may have a chance to pull off a season-defining performance. Their strengths are speed and physicality–the antidote to a short-passing attack. As we saw against Dallas, the Seahawks fly to the football, delivering brutal hits and limiting yards after catch. They’ll get a little bit of a break, as Packers’ star receiver Greg Jennings looks likely to miss the game. And let’s not forget the completely meaningless fact that the Seahawks are the best Monday Night Football team in the NFL! Can I get a what-what?!

Of course, the Hawks will have to score, too, and that might be a problem. Packers’ edge rusher Clay Matthews (who Pete Carroll coached at USC) has six sacks already in 2012…that is, three times more than the entire Seahawks team.

Matthews switched from right outside linebacker to left outside linebacker this year, so he’s rushing the quarterback’s blind side. He’s also matched up against the opposing team’s best offensive tackle–and he’s been making them look silly. He beat 49ers left tackle Joe Staley for 2.5 sacks and Bears left tackle J’Marcus Webb for 3.5.

Now it’s Russell Okung’s turn to try to stop Matthews. Okung missed the Dallas game with a bruised knee, but practiced this week. Hopefully he’s at top speed, or Russell Wilson will be eating field turf all day.

MORE FOOTBALL!!!

The Huskies are off this week, they host a night game against #9 Stanford next Thursday.

Your Washington State Cougars are in a rare place–18.5 point favorites in a conference road game. The Cougs haven’t covered a spread this big in a conference road game in 20 years, so maybe a decent bet? Their opponent, Colorado, is reeling after an embarrassingly huge loss to Fresno State last week. It looks like Connor Halliday has claimed the Cougs’ starting QB job after a good performance subbing for the injured Jeff Tuel last week.

If you’re free after work tonight, perhaps you’d like to see the nation’s #2 high-school quarterback play? QB Max Browne, headed to USC next year, leads Skyline High against Roosevelt at Seattle Center’s Memorial Stadium at 5 pm tonight. Weird time for Skyline, school was cancelled Thursday after someone posted, on the Internet, a threat to shoot the school’s jocks. Roosevelt is surprisingly frisky this year, having beaten Seattle Prep and Nathan Hale.

Follow @SethKolloen on Twitter for random sports observations and the ever-popular #randomjerseysightings.

News, Sports

Smart QBing Helps Huskies and Seahawks to Easy Wins. Now Comes the Gauntlet

Seattle Football WeekendBoth the Huskies and the Seahawks are where we thought they’d be on September 17th–the Huskies at 2-1, and the Seahawks at 1-1. Our two favorite teams won their games by a combined 59 points this weekend, the Huskies winning 52-13 over lower-division Portland State the Seahawks 27-7 over the favored Dallas Cowboys. During the Husky game, I felt so carefree I went to the Mobile Food Rodeo in the third quarter. Happily chomping on food truck falafel will soon be replaced by nervously biting my nails, though, as the teams both enter the toughest parts of their respective schedules.

Intelligent quarterback play spearheaded the two wins. The Huskies’ Keith Price wisely targeted the two Husky receivers who were impossible for lower-division Portland State to cover–6’6″, 260 lb. tight end Austin Sefarian-Jenkins, and 6’2″ former state track champion Kasen Williams. Of Price’s 14 completions, 11 went to either Sefarian-Jenkins or Williams. The poor Portland State Vikings tasked with defending them simply had no chance. On the bright side, someday, when Sefarian-Jenkins and Williams are in the NFL, they’ll be able to point to the TV and say, “Hey, that guy jumped over me and caught a touchdown pass!” With the Huskies’ defense and special teams getting big plays, Price knew not to make risky throws that might give the Vikings hope, and didn’t throw an interception.

The Seahawks’ Russell Wilson played a similarly efficient game. Like Price, he threw only 5 incompletions and 0 interceptions. Playmaking wide receiver Golden Tate’s return seemed to give the Seahawks offense a spark, as Tate had 3 catches for 38 yards–two for key third-down conversions on touchdown drives. Tate’s crackback block of Cowboys linebacker Sean Lee sprung Wilson for a key first-down run, energized the crowd, and put Lee out for the rest of the game. Meanwhile, Seahawks defenders were dishing out hits of their own. The Cowboys offense was moving in the first half, but whenever a completion was made, the receiver took a huge hit. By the second half, Cowboy receivers were suddenly dropping catchable balls. Until a late drive with the game well out of reach padded their numbers, the Cowboys offensive output in the second half was 3 drives for 35 yards, which all ended in punts.

Now the scary part: What’s next. The Huskies next four games are against ranked opponents–#9 Stanford a week from Thursday, then consecutive Saturdays at #3 Oregon, home to #13 USC, and at #22 Arizona. Washington will likely be two-touchdown underdogs in all four games. If you’re an optimist, maybe you think that this stretch gives Washington a chance to prove that they belong in the top 25. As for me, I don’t think they’re quite ready for this, especially will all the injuries at offensive line.

The Seahawks’ schedule isn’t quite as daunting, but it’s possible that they’ll be underdogs in each of their next six games. The early line on next Monday night’s game at CenturyLink Field vs. Green Bay has the Seahawks as 6-point underdogs. After that, it’s these five teams:

@ St. Louis — QB Sam Bradford is the 4th highest-rated passer in the NFL after two games.
@ Carolina — Cam Newton outdueled Drew Brees yesterday.
vs. New England — Is New England.
@ San Francisco — Seem even better than last year.
@ Detroit — Playoff team from last year.

The Seahawks used to be able to count on their substandard NFC West competition providing some easy games during divisional play, but our long-derided division seems to be on the upswing. Sunday, the NFC West had a 4-0 record for just the second time since divisional realignment in 2002. There will be no 7-win divisional championship this season, the Seahawks will need strong, consistent play to even sniff a playoff berth. That will start with winning at least three of these next six games.

In other weekend football: Wazzu looked shaky in a narrow win over UNLV Friday night. Quarterback Connor Halliday, filling in for the injured Jeff Tuel, threw some nice deep balls but also threw 2 interceptions. The Cougars would now seem to have a dreaded “quarterback controversy” on their hands. Whoever Mike Leach chooses to play quarterback, Wazzu should go to 3-1 Saturday, they host Colorado, which lost 69-14 Fresno State on Saturday and may be the worst team in Division I. The Cougars are 18.5-point favorites.

Insane game down South on Friday night, as Kentlake beat Puyallup 76-55. Kentlake’s QB, Steffin Church, threw 9 TD passes. The Issaquah-O’Dea game at West Seattle Stadium turned out to be pretty entertaining, with Issaquah winning 33-30. Bothell, ranked #5 in 4A at the start of the year, is 0-3 after losing 27-11 to 2A Capital Friday night. All three of Bothell’s non-league opponents were ranked in the top 5.

News, Sports

Seahawks and Huskies Go Into Weekend Asking: Where’s My Line?

LSU Tiger Dust "now with more Husky"Football, you will have been told your entire football-watching life, is won “in the trenches.” Look no further than our local teams for proof. Washington offensive linemen made All-American teams 8 times between 1990-2000–and the team had a winning record every year. Since, no All-American offensive lineman, and not much winning, either. Likewise, your Seattle Seahawks have not managed a winning season since legendary left tackle Walter Jones retired.

Most of the buzz around the Huskies this week concerned Steve Sarkisian’s announcement that he’ll no longer allow reporters to divulge “strategy or injury-related news observed during practices”–a.k.a. “report news.” Other Pac-12 teams censor injury talk, so the Huskies, according to Sarkisian, had “a pretty big competitive disadvantage.”

Another competitive disadvantage the Huskies have–possibly even bigger than whether or not other teams know that the third-string long snapper tripped over a bench and skinned his knee–is that the offensive line is disappearing.

–Before the season, guard Colin Porter had to quit football because of a degenerative shoulder injury.
–Two weeks ago, in the season opener, tackle Ben Riva broke his forearm. He’s out another 3 weeks.
–Guard Erik Kohler recently suffered his second dislocated kneecap of the fall. He’s out for a few weeks.
–Tackle Colin Tanagawa didn’t practice Tuesday with a knee injury.

That leaves center Drew Schaefer as the lone starter standing. He’s flanked on both sides by green recruits. Sarkisian may be forced to take the rare step of starting a true freshman, right guard Shane Brostek, on the offensive line Saturday. Brostek at least has some All-American pedigree–he’s the son of former Husky center Bern Brostek, a 1989 All-American who started as a redshirt freshman and had an 8-year NFL career. (Happened to look in the 1987 media guide, and Hawaiian-born Bern had the most awesome “personal interests” entry: “Likes to body surf and lift weights.”)

The Huskies offense ranks is 114th out of 120 teams in rushing yards, and 109th in sacks allowed. They should be able to improve on those numbers this week, since they’re playing lower-division Portland State (1 pm, FX). This game could be a window to the rest of the season. If the Huskies’ young lineman can’t blow Portland State’s trench-minders off the line, they’ll be hopeless against Pac-12 competition. I will make a prediction: If the Huskies do not rush for at least 150 yards against Portland State, they will only win four games.

The dumbest football story line of the week surrounds the Seahawks game vs. Dallas (1:05 pm, FOX), which will be the first visit to Seattle for Cowboys QB Tony Romo since he botched the hold on a potential game-winning field goal in a 2006 playoff game. It was five years ago, Romo’s no longer the holder on field goals, and if human beings couldn’t go back to places where they once screwed up we’d be a pretty immobile species. No one cares about this. The real question in the game is whether the Seahawks’ offensive line’s performance against Arizona (3.5 yards per rush, 3 sacks allowed) was due to a legendary performance by Cardinals’ 3-tech defensive lineman Darnell Dockett, as Pete Carroll would like you to believe, or a harbinger of disaster. The Cowboys’ pass rush is as or more potent, but in a different place. Whereas Darnell Dockett attacked inside, the Cowboys attack from the edge. The Seahawks may be better equipped to deal with this type of attack, possibly moreso because Dallas’s top pass rusher, DeMarcus Ware, was limited in practice with a tight hamstring. If the Seahawks can’t protect their quarterback up the middle or on the edge? Well, see above win prediction for Huskies.

Meantime, the Seahawks defense has to deal with the Cowboys’ potent offensive attack, with two top-notch wide receivers in Miles Austin and Dez Bryant. Dallas is a three point favorite in the game.

Washington State plays tonight at UNLV (6pm, ESPN). You wouldn’t think the Cougars, who were blown out by BYU and barely beat lower-division Eastern Washington, could be favored in a road game, but UNLV is atrocious and getting 8 points against Wazzu. The line has shrunk from 11 points earlier in the week, since Cougars starting QB Jeff Tuel didn’t take a snap in practice due to a lower leg injury suffered against Eastern. It seems likely that backup Connor Halliday, a redshirt sophomore, will start against the Rebels.

If you have a hankering for some Friday Night Lights, the best Seattle-area high school game will be #10-ranked 4A Issaquah vs. #2-ranked 3A O’Dea at West Seattle Stadium (7pm). Up north, there’s a classic cross-town rivalry game Friday night between Cascade and Everett at Everett Memorial Stadium (7pm). Saturday’s game between Hale and the resurgent Roosevelt Roughriders at Northeast Athletic Complex (a.k.a., Hale, 1pm) could be a good one too.

News, Sports

Same Ol’ Same Ol’ for Huskies and Seahawks

Football WeekendThe Huskies learned Saturday where they are in their climb back up the mountain of college football eliteness–still looking for their shoes at base camp. #3-ranked Louisiana State laid some Christian Grey-style domination on the Huskies, winning 41-3.

I missed the chance to make some easy money at Auto Battery, where I was watching among an overflow crowd of University of Georgia alumni there for the UGA/Mizzou game. Halfway through the second quarter, watching LSU make UW QB Keith Price run for his life, I mentioned to my friend that the game was “over.” Some Georgia guy sitting near us was all, “It’s only the second quarter,” and I stupidly tried to explain my position instead of just giving him 1,000-to-1 odds on a Husky comeback and telling him to put his money where his mouth was.

LSU’s plethora of huge, fast, defensive linemen owned the game. Their four-man line was able to pressure Price without blitzing–which meant that Price had to find open receivers, on the run, against seven LSU defenders. It was hopeless. A quarterback with a hero complex would have forced throws down the field and thrown multiple interceptions; Price wisely either dumped the ball to his outlet receivers or threw the ball away. The Huskies had more punts (8) than they did catches by wide receivers (7).

The oddest thing to me was reading Steve Sarkisian starting his post-game assessment of LSU by praising LSU’s offense. Not that the Tigers don’t deserve the praise, but their 437 yards of total offense was largely a function of how often they had the ball. The Tigers averaged 6.2 yards per play, which is very, very good, but San Diego State had 5.5 yards per play against the Huskies two Saturdays ago.

Sarkisian still seems to see the game through an offense-only lens, and if he’s going to turn Washington into a power again, he needs to apply his football and recruiting acumen to the subject of defense. Like legendary Husky coach Don James, Sarkisian is a former college quarterback. Unlike Don James, Sarkisian has not yet figured out that, as a football coach, he’ll be remembered for defense or he won’t be remembered at all.

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Solid Play from Wilson Highlights Seahawks’ Persistent Weaknesses
Russell Wilson had a solid but not spectacular start for the Seahawks in Week 1, and led a last-minute drive that had the Seahawks a sticky fingertip away from a victory. After four consecutive passes from inside the 10-yard-line in the game’s final minute fell incomplete, the Seahawks were left with a 20-16 loss that looked a lot like last year’s losses. To wit: The Seahawks couldn’t protect their quarterback and couldn’t get consistent pressure on the opponent’s quarterback.

One note on Wilson’s start–the NFL’s QB rating system gives him an awful 62.4 score (100 is considered a good game), but that system doesn’t take QB rushing yards into account (Wilson had 20), and it dings Wilson for a meaningless interception at the end of the first half. Wilson played well, giving his receivers multiple chances to win the game for the Seahawks. He may not, as Bill Simmons of ESPN contends, be the best quarterback in the NFL, but I’m looking forward to more.

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Aberdeen/Hoquiam #InternetFail
The 107th Aberdeen vs. Hoquiam football game was chosen for an Internet broadcast as part of the Great American Rivalry Series, so of course the game was a complete blowout, with Hoquiam winning 49-6…Skyline High did the state prouder, going to Salt Lake City and crushing one of Utah’s top teams in a game that was televised on ESPNU…Bellevue vs. Bothell was supposed to be a good game, but it was a complete mismatch, with Bellevue up 35-0 at half. Bellevue–which has added a spread attack to its already potent wing-T offense–is ranked as high as #5 in the nation. It’ll be cool to see how high they can rise.