Tag Archives: seattle seahawks

News, Sports

Become a True Seahawks Fan in 5 Easy Steps

Seahawks Media GuidesThe Seahawks are good again and there’s plenty of room on the bandwagon. Nate Silver has climbed aboard, so why not you? To establish your Hawks fan bonafides, this lifelong fan humbly suggests five tasks.

1. Punch Yourself Repeatedly in the Face.
This simple exercise will replicate 37 years of Seahawks fandom. Since 1976, we fans have endured such trauma as the team nearly moving to Los Angeles, the Vinnie Testaverde helmet touchdown, and Dan McGwire. Make one of the punches extra hard to represent Super Bowl XL, when referee incompetence robbed the Seahawks of a world championship.

2. Select Your Game Day Garb
From dogs to babies to the elderly to mystery beings, Seahawks fans love to dress up. If elaborate face paint and 8 pounds of Mardi Gras beads isn’t your style, snag a t-shirt at the team store. If you want to look really legit, check out the vintage Seahawks gear at Throwbacks NW. This hat says “I remember the Chuck Knox years” even if you don’t.

3. Respond to the Name “Twelve”
Seahawks fans are known collectively as “Twelves,” a reference to Seahawks fans as “the 12th man.” The Seahawks retired the #12 in honor of the fans in 1984. You’ll often see folks wearing Seahawks #12 jerseys with “Fan” on the back.

4. Join the Cult of Wilson
Rookie quarterback Russell Wilson is practically a deity in Seahawks’ fans eyes after having one of the best rookie seasons in history. Beyond that, the humble yet driven Wilson appears to be pretty much the world’s greatest person.

5. Be F***ing Loud
Perhaps as a way of throwing off our culturally inherited Scandinavian reserve, Seattle fans are exceptionally loud. The NFL instituted an anti-noise rule in 1989 because of deafening Kingdome volumes, and the tradition has continued at CenturyLink Field. Since the Seahawks began playing there, opposing offenses have committed 121 false starts–more than at any NFL stadium. Screaming fans actually caused a seismic event during a 2011 playoff game.

Ready, go! Someday, maybe we’ll randomly hug in a bar after a Seahawks touchdown. We’ll try not to get our beads tangled.

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

What’s So Great About Russell Wilson? Just About Everything

Every week, Wilson and his wife visit sick kids at Seattle Children’s Hospital (via Instagram)

The key endorsement came at the conclusion of Sunday’s Bears game, after Russell Wilson had led the Seahawks to an overtime victory on an 80-yard game-winning drive.

“Are you an @DangeRussWilson believer yet?” tweeted Rainn Wilson. “I just became one.”

Rainn (a Shorecrest grad, if you didn’t know) isn’t alone. Seahawks fans, myself included have fallen hard for Wilson. Writes Kenneth Arthur of the Hawks blog Field Gulls: “Wilson is young, he’s ridiculously inexpensive, he’s good, and he’s winning. The only thing more I could ask from him is to be my date to the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance.”

Let’s break down the many reasons for the powerful municipal mancrush:

Wilson’s an underdog.
Wilson is 5’-11”, which has long been considered too small for a quarterback. Not just for an NFL quarterback — the colleges that recruited Wilson wanted him to switch positions. Wilson was a four-year starter in college. The Seahawks already had a highly-paid and 6′-2″ presumed starter in Matt Flynn…but Wilson beat him out in preseason.

Wilson studies hard
A game film addict, Wilson reported to Seahawks HQ every day during the offseason to study opposing teams. Before every game he texts his receivers a scouting report on the opposing team’s defensive backs and linebackers.

Wilson has a sense of purpose
“I know that I’m playing for a lot of kids down the road, kids in the future that are my height,” he told the Miami Herald last week.

Wilson is advanced for his age
There is actually more to being a good quarterback than being tall — or even than having a strong arm. Wilson has a handle on the nuances of the position ridiculously early. Watch what he does with his hips on this TD throw against the Vikings. The whole play, his hips and feet point left, then he fires the ball into the right corner of the end zone for a touchdown. This is Advanced Quarterbacking, people. (This Field Gulls article has the full breakdown of the play.)

Wilson can beat you with his legs
Against a gassed Chicago defense on Sunday, Wilson led the Seahawks down the field with zone-read plays, which give the quarterback the option to run. After several successful runs, the Seahawks went zone read for the winning throw, with the threat of Wilson’s legs helping his receivers get open. Bears star linebacker Brian Urlacher pulled his hamstring chasing Wilson during the end of the game and now may be out for the season.

Wilson proves that math rulez
The stats and analysis gurus at Football Outsiders were stunned when their projection system for college players, the “Lewin Career Forecast,” gave Wilson the highest rating ever — higher than first overall pick Andrew Luck. The writers of the site started calling Wilson “The Asterisk.” Turns out their numbers — just like Nate Silver’s — may have turned out to be right. Check out how Wilson compares to Luck against seven common opponents this season.

Wilson doesn’t throw over the middle
This goes under the category of “just about everything.” Wilson has thrown over the middle on just seven percent of his pass attempts this season — less than any of the top 20 quarterbacks in the NFL. Does Wilson’s stature prevent him from seeing receivers in the middle of the field? Or does it have more to do with the Seahawks using their tight ends as blockers more often than as receivers? Either way, Wilson’s use of the middle of the field is so far below QBs in the rest of the league, it may be a weakness defenses can exploit. Let’s hope not!

The Seahawks “control their own destiny,” meaning that if they win their next four games, they’ll make the playoffs. Wilson would be only the third quarterback since the NFL/AFL merger to start all 16 games as a rookie and lead his team to the postseason. And think beyond the next four games. Have the Seahawks found Seattle’s sports star for the next decade?

News, Sports

Didja Hear About the Seahawks? Not the Refs, the Defense

Seattle Football Weekend Article LogoThe refs. Of course you want to talk about the refs. Who didn’t yesterday? [These people–ed.]

It wasn’t just the water cooler topic at work, it was the hallway topic, the lunchroom topic, the elevator topic, the copier room topic and the bathroom stall topic.

Yes, the refs screwed up. No, I’ve never seen a worse call. Yes, we all owe a beer to side judge Lance Easley, a banker from Santa Maria, CA who until this season had never refereed a professional or major college game.

What got lost in the official hysteria was something that’s less fun to talk about, but way more significant–the legendary defensive by the Seahawks’ defense.

–8 sacks of Aaron Rodgers.
–Holding the potent Pack to 3.9 yards per play (they averaged 6.6 ypp in 2011).
–Allowing just one pass play longer than 20 yards (the Pack had 70 such pass plays last year).

After three games, the Seahawks have allowed the fewest points in the league. They’re currently on pace to permit just 208 points on the season, which would shatter the team record set by the ’91 Hawks, and is nearly 200 points fewer than the 407 allowed by the decrepit 2010 Hawks in Carroll’s first season.

Part of the reason the defense has been so successful at preventing points is that the offense has been so conservative. Russell Wilson threw two long touchdown passes Monday, and that was about it. However, he also didn’t turn the ball over, and his steady play, combined with Jon Ryan’s stellar punting, meant that Green Bay started all 9 of their drives in their own territory. The Packers’ average starting point was their own 18 yard line.

Monday’s Hail Mary aside, this won’t be a season of leaping catches and breakaway runs. “We’re raising a quarterback in the system,” Pete Carroll told ESPN 710 yesterday. “It is a struggle for some people to understand that, but we’re going to keep moving along. There will be a time when it won’t feel exactly like it feels right now. But it’s not time.”

In other words, train yourself to appreciate good pass coverage, solid tackling, and quarterback sacks. That’s where your NFL thrills will come from in 2012. From the looks of it, there will be a lot of them.

OTHER FOOTBALL
Last Friday night–it seems like a lifetime ago–I swung over to Memorial Stadium to watch Skyline High’s Max Browne, who ESPN rates at the #2 high school quarterback in the USA. Roosevelt High’s Roughriders did nothing to disprove that ranking–Browne led Skyline to a TD just 59 seconds into the game. He didn’t even play the whole first half, letting a backup get some reps with Skyline comfortably ahead. Browne will compete for the starting QB job at USC next season–he throws an accurate deep ball, I can attest to that.

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.