Tag Archives: seattle seahawks

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?

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

The 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.

News, Sports

Are the Seahawks Building an Olympic Team?

Russell Wilson
QB Russell Wilson

This Sunday, your Seattle Seahawks open the 2012 season in Arizona, led by quarterback Russell Wilson–a rookie, a 23-year-old, and a third-round pick. This is unprecedented.

Rookies rarely start at quarterback in the NFL; if they do it’s because of injury, desperation, or because they are first-round picks who have been deemed The Future of Football. NFL coaches usually pick starters–especially quarterbacks–based on their aptitude in the fields of “leadership” and “experience” and “character.”

But Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll has this unorthodox belief in another quality: “Being good at football.”

Football is a game of speed and strength. Period, full stop, awkward silence, punch in face. SPEED AND STRENGTH! While baseball, basketball, and soccer all require years of skill development, football can be played by anyone with the requisite speed and strength–even at the highest levels. One of the NFL’s best tight ends, Antonio Gates, was a basketball player in college.

Football coaches move large, fast men like Gates around the field like chess pieces, their every motion preordained once the ball is snapped. Experience is increasingly irrelevant, let alone character. What is relevant? Oh MY GOD I already told you. Speed. And. Strength. And what men are the speediest and strongest? Young men.

The average age of the eight strongest men in the world–that is, the gold-medal-winning weightlifters at the 2012 Olympics–was 23.6 years. The average age of the eight fastest men in the world–that is, the finalists in the 100 meter dash at the 2012 Olympics–was 26.8 years.

“The average age of this team is about 21,” one of the Seahawks’ few “older” players, 29-year-old Braylon Edwards, told reporters during training camp. Edwards is exaggerating, but Carroll has tacked hard toward youth in his 2-plus seasons as Seahawks’ coach. In 2009, the season before Carroll’s arrival, the Seahawks were the 9th-oldest team in the NFL. This season, the Seahawks are the 6th-youngest.

I’m not sure whether the Seahawks’ declining age is symptomatic of Carroll’s desire to get faster and stronger (and thus, better), or if getting younger is a strategy in itself. Regardless, Carroll is getting close an Olympic ideal.

The Olympics’ ultimate test of speed and strength is the decathlon. The 2008 gold medalist, U.S. decathlete Bryan Clay, now 32, didn’t make the 2012 Olympic team after being outpointed at the 2012 Olympic Trials by 24-year-old Ashton Eaton and 28-year-old Trey Hardee. Eaton won gold in London, becoming the 24th Olympic decathlon gold medalist, and, like the last 23 of them, he’s not past 30. The average age of the 24 Olympic decathlon winners? 25.5.

“Older” players have found making the Seahawks tough going. Future Hall-of-Famer Terrell Owens (38) was cut, as was former All-Pro Kellen Winslow II (29) and Deuce Lutui (29), an All-American under Carroll at USC. Barrett Ruud (29) was traded.

With a salary cap and shared television revenue, excelling consistently in the NFL is next to impossible. What Carroll and the Seahawks are doing isn’t exactly “Moneyball,” but they do seem to be operating under a different philosophy than the rest of the league. Seahawks fans–and the rest of football–will be eager to see if it pays off.

News, Sports

Could Soccer Be the Sport Seattle Finally “Beats L.A.” In?

How long must Seattle sports fans suffer at the hands, bats, shoulder pads, and now feet, of teams from Los Angeles? The Sounders are the latest local franchise to absorb annual Angelino assaults, having won just once in eight MLS matches against the L.A. Galaxy. They get another shot at the Galaxy tonight, at 7 p.m., at CenturyLink Field..

Culturally and aesthetically, we Seattleites have no desire to best Los Angeles. On our weekends we choose hiking over Hollywood, on our bodies we choose Burt’s Bees over botox. In sports, it’s different. A generation of Seattle sports fans has desperately desired to, and frequently chanted, “Beat L.A.” But our hopes, like a North Face sleeveless fleece vest on Rodeo Drive, seem misplaced.

Something about the words “Los Angeles” strikes #FAIL into the hearts of Seattle sports franchises: The dreadful ’70s and ’80s Mariners played the franchise then known as the California Angels as well as they played any other team, and went 66-60 against the Anaheim Angels. Then, in 2005, that franchise added “Los Angeles” to their name, and the Mariners have gone 49-83 against them since.

The Seahawks lost eight straight against the Los Angeles Raiders in the early ‘90s. The Los Angeles Lakers, behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson, swept the Sonics four to zip in the 1987 NBA playoffs, and again in 1989.

Those late ‘80s Lakers/Sonics matchups may be the best comparison to the Sounders/Galaxy rivalry. Like those Lakers teams, the Galaxy are studded with stars. The supreme stud: David Beckham, one of the best-known people on Earth. The Galaxy also have Landon Donovan and Robbie Keane, who’ve both captained their respective national teams and are well-known to soccer fans worldwide.

The Sounders are a good team. But who the hell are they? Outside of Seattle, the names Fredy Montero, Mauro Rosales, and Brad Evans are known only to hard-core fans–much like the late ’80s Sonics Xavier McDaniel, Tom Chambers, and Dale Ellis.

(While we may argue whether Abdul-Jabbar or the X-Man had the better movie cameo, their relative on-court merits are indisputable.)

You may already be asking yourself: Why do Seattle teams get perennially mauled by those from Los Angeles. You obviously weren’t paying attention to the Black Bloc’s message yesterday. The answer is: Money.

Los Angeles has a larger local television market, so their teams get more lucrative local television contracts, which means more money, which means better players. According to ESPN’s recent (and awesome) survey of world professional sports team salaries, the average player on a Los Angeles professional team is making $3.8 million. The average player on a Seattle professional team is making $1.8 million. (Here, check my work!) Who do you think gets the better players?

It is no accident that the one Seattle team that has the best record against their L.A. counterparts–the Seahawks (11-13 against the L.A. Raiders)–are in the NFL, the one professional league where television contracts are negotiated only on a national level, with the revenue shared among the teams.

Until the other leagues decide to start sharing local television revenue (which, frankly, will never happen), Seattle teams will always be at a disadvantage. The inequity of television revenue may even keep us from getting another NBA team–the Maloof brothers, who own the Sacramento Kings, are considering moving to Anaheim, where they can command a piece of L.A.’s sports market. Even though Los Angeles already has two NBA teams, owning DVR-proof programming in such a large and influential market is more valuable than being the only show in town in Seattle.

Twice the money doesn’t always get you twice the player. But it helps. If you watch the Galaxy/Sounders match tonight (7 p.m., KONG TV), you’ll be watching a team with a $17-million payroll against a team with a $5-million payroll.

On the bright side, a large part of that payroll isn’t with the team today. Beckham, Keane, and starting goalkeeper Josh Saunders reportedly didn’t travel to Seattle. For once, a Seattle/L.A. will be a fair match.

News, Sports

Seahawks to End One of Seattle’s Three Great Sports Droughts?

The 2012 NFL Draft begins Thursday, and is considered to be one of the deepest drafts ever by people who consider these things. The Seahawks pick twelfth overall, and are expected to take a pass-rushing defensive end.

I am hoping they do. Getting a good, pass-rushing defensive end wouldn’t just address the weak link of the Seahawks defense, it would end a Seattle sports drought.

Every sports franchise seems to have one position they just can’t seem to get right. For the Mariners, it’s been leftfield, where they haven’t had an All-Star performer since 1981. During Ken Griffey Jr.’s 1989-99 reign in centerfield, 67 different men manned left for the Mariners. I made a Sporcle quiz to prove it!

Center was Sonics’ gaping hole–after they traded seven-time All-Star Jack Sikma in 1986. Post-Sikma until the move to OKC, Sonics fans groaned through a parade of mediocre replacements. If the Sonics had put $85 million into a decent mutual fund instead of wasting it on the salaries of Benoit Benjamin, Calvin Booth, and Jim McIlvaine, the team would’ve had plenty of money to remodel KeyArena.

The Seahawks’ great positional drought at defensive end hasn’t gotten as much publicity, but it has been just as pernicious.

After drafting and developing two of the best pass-rushers of the ’80s and ’90s–Jacob Green and Michael Sinclair–the Seahawks haven’t had a single decent young defensive end. The draft has been no help, coughing up such busts as Lamar King, Anton Palepoi and Lawrence Jackson.

As the Seahawks have gotten worse at developing pass rushers, the act of pass rushing has gotten more and more important. Teams throw more now than they did in the ’80s and ’90s, and more efficiently. Without pressure to disrupt a quarterback, a defense is doomed.

The Seahawks have relied on aging veterans to provide quarterback pressure. John Randle, Bryce Fisher, and Patrick Kerney all led the Seahawks in sacks and were out of football within three years. The Seahawks’ current Old Man of the Sack is Chris Clemons. He’s turning 31 this year, an age that is as foreboding for the careers of pass-rushing defensive ends as it is for those of swimsuit models.

Signing aging veterans to play such a critical position is expensive and risky. Younger players are more reliable, cheaper, and often more productive.

If there were ever a year for the Hawks to finally end their defensive end drought, this is it. The 2012 draft is deep and top-heavy with offensive prospects; at least one of the top pass-rushing ends should be available by the time the Seahawks pick twelfth overall.

The five consensus top pass-rushers on the board:

Melvin Ingram, 6-2, 264 lbs., South Carolina: Regarded by many as the top pass rusher in draft. Squat and powerful and could play anywhere along line potentially. Versatile, having played linebacker, defensive end, and even defensive tackle in college.

Quinton Coples, 6-6, 284 lbs., UNC: From a body-type and athleticism perspective, the most beastly pass-rusher in the draft. With great size and long arms, he’s compared to Julius Peppers. But those who study game film say Coples takes plays off. His dedication to the game is a question mark.

Upshaw

Courtney Upshaw, 6-2, 272 lbs., Alabama: Not blessed with the athleticism and body of some of the other prospects, Upshaw supposedly makes up for it with attitude–the “meanest player I ever coached,” according to Nick Saban. Here’s a good pro-Upshaw piece from Seahawks Draft Blog.

Whitney Mercilus, 6-4, 261 lbs., Illinois: Mercilus (what a name for a pass-rusher!) led the nation in sacks at Illinois in his first year as a starter. He’s still a raw prospect–a great pass-rusher, but poor against the run. With the importance of passing in today’s NFL, that may not matter.

Nick Perry, 6-3, 271 lbs., USC: The fastest of the bunch, the 2011 Pac-12 sacks leader ran an insane 4.64 40-yard-dash at the NFL combine (that’s faster than 12 running backs). Pete Carroll knows Perry well, having recruited him to USC. Shutdown Corner’s Doug Farrar points out that Perry ought to be ready for NFL-quality lineman, having faced likely top 5 pick Matt Kalil in practice every day.

The first round of the draft is Thursday at 5 p.m. PST, you can watch live on ESPN or NFL Network. The Seahawks’ twelfth overall pick will probably come around 7 p.m. (though of course they could trade up and pick sooner). For internet coverage, I recommend Yahoo’s Shutdown Corner blog. Rounds two and three are Friday at 4 p.m. PST, rounds four through seven beginning Saturday at 9 a.m. PST.

Will this drought finally end? Do your rain dances, people, so that we may soon see a flood of sack dances.