Category: Front Page News (Page 251 of 367)

This image is fun. The game... not so much

The Seahawks are 8-1. The Seahawks have never been 8-1 before.

A lot of people are going to hammer this team over the next 24 hours. I understand that. There are definitely legit concerns following the Rams and Buccs games.

Tampa Bay ran all over Seattle’s defense, the second game in a row that has happened. They were nearly unstoppable in the first half. And the three turnovers were guilt edged.

But here’s the convenient truth. They still won.

The second half was completely one-sided despite all the stress. The defense stepped up, the offense moved the ball.

By overtime I had no doubt the Seahawks would win. And clearly the deficit that lingered until the final two minutes made for uncomfortable viewing.

But never before has this team evaporated a 21-point deficit. And they did that today. That should be celebrated.

I’d argue two key drives ruined the first half for Seattle and stopped this being the blow out most people expected.

Russell Wilson’s red zone interception was part inaccurate throw and a heck of a lot of bad pass protection. He had to adjust his throwing angle due to the pressure and side armed it behind the intended target. It took points off the board and killed a productive first drive.

Then on Tampa Bay’s first scoring possession, a very dubious pass interference call wiped out a perfectly good interception by Earl Thomas. Not only was it textbook coverage, it led to a significant points swing.

Throw in Jermaine Kearse’s fumble and a once-a-season jump-ball touchdown and the scoreline looked pretty horrific before half time. In reality, it was pretty freaky and a little bit fortunate.

The Seahawks did what they had to do in the second half. And they won.

The only sour point was Wilson’s second pick. Surely that was an audible by the quarterback? Surely after last week Darrell Bevell didn’t call a pass on the three with the crowd begging for Marshawn Lynch? We wait for answers.

There are plenty of things to work on this week and Seattle desperately needs its injured guys back. Yet when they were needed, the healthy playmakers made the big plays to win a tough football game.

And that is why they lead the NFC at 8-1.

Now where’s the headache tablets?

***One final note ***

I received the following comment today on the blog from a reader called Michael:

“Where is the Saturday or sunday “Things I’m Watching For” column from this blog? No college players no hawk names or numberz no real discussions on game day or before. Why? There is only instant reactions? Thats not much coverage this year with all the tape thats out there with the new 22 film. Love this site but…. Disappointing.”

I thought I better remind people who missed it at the time. My wife gave birth recently and any parent will tell you how life changing (and time consuming) that is. I write this blog in my free time and at the moment, it’s at a premium. I’m still watching player tape regularly, just while cradling a baby. I’m still making notes with my free arm. And I intend to make use of that work in the lead up to the 2014 draft.

But I will warn you that right now I write when I can. My priority has to be wife/son, work and then the blog. And I apologise because that’s not what this place has been about. I ask for time. We’ll get back on it.

A few people have commented on Allen Robinson — a junior receiver at Penn State. This year he already has 878 yards and six touchdowns. Last week he had a big day against Ohio State (see above) albeit in garbage time.

He’s eligible to declare for 2014. He’s listed at 6-3 and 210lbs. Check out the tape and let me know what you think.

It’s slightly unusual that for a taller receiver (even though he’s pretty skinny in the frame) he’s more of a YAC than jump ball specialist. No doubt he’s an athlete, but is he going to be able to compete with physical cornerbacks in the NFL? And is he enough of an athlete to compensate if not?

Sidney Rice should be remembered fondly for this catch

Sidney Rice is done for the year, but will he back next season?

I have a lot of time for Rice. Statistically you can argue he wasn’t worth the 5-year $41m contract he signed two years ago.

In reality, he might be worth every penny.

A few weeks ago I went back and watched Seattle’s game at San Francisco from 2010. It was Pete Carroll’s first year in charge, and Mike Singletary’s last.

It ended 40-21 to the 49ers. And the Seahawks were awful.

Looking at the roster, it was no surprise. The 2010 ‘Hawks are a million miles away from the current edition. If you need a pick-me-up after Monday night, I’d recommend going back and looking at some of those 2010 games. It’ll make you feel better about the rapid progress this franchise has made under Carroll.

Sidney Rice was part of the quick turnaround. A big part.

There was no doubt they needed a kick start. An injection of talent. The kind of proven talent that only free agency can provide.

Rice and Zach Miller were crucial additions. They immediately brought credibility to an offense that had previously relied on Deon Butler, Brandon Stokley and Ruvell Martin.

They were statement additions. The league took notice. Seattle means business.

And while they might never repay the financial investment via yardage and touchdowns, they certainly paved the way for the transition from rebuilding also-rans to genuine challengers.

Even statistically you can make a case for saying Rice has been somewhat successful. The injuries clearly hampered his 2011 and 2013 seasons. Yet when he was relatively healthy in 2012, he led the team for receiving yards and touchdowns.

748 yards and seven scores might not compare to Calvin Johnson’s statistics, but Seattle aren’t the Detroit Lions. They were fielding a rookie quarterback. They ranked #27 in the NFL for passing yards per game and #32 for pass attempts.

The Seahawks have never really used a traditional #1 target in the Carroll era. They’ve spread the ball around, whether it’s Matt Hasselbeck, Tarvaris Jackson or Russell Wilson under center. It’s a run first team, determined to feed Marshawn Lynch ahead of the receivers.

This isn’t the environment for elite wide out production. Rice’s numbers last year, when you think about it, are pretty good.

If this is his last season in Seattle, he should be remembered fondly as a competitive player who epitomised the blossoming attitude of this team. I’ll remember him as the guy who made several incredible sideline grabs to extend drives. I’ll remember that touchdown against New England — a signature play from last season.

And I’ll remember the way the younger players looked up to him, saw him as one of the leaders of the group. He helped create what we see today.

His cap hit in 2014 is $9.7m. The Seahawks can save $7.3m by cutting him.

They’re going to need to make some cuts. It’s unavoidable. He wouldn’t be the only one. Richard Sherman and Earl Thomas are getting paid in the off-season. Michael Bennett should be paid too. I suspect they’d like to make a push to keep Golden Tate.

Rice’s injury record makes him almost impossible to retain at $9.7m. Could they re-do his deal? Possibly.

If he’s going to be cut anyway, he might be willing to restructure his contract to essentially make it a one-year chancer. The Seahawks could easily back-load the new deals for Sherman and Thomas. That would allow them to keep Rice on a decent one-year contract. He would then be a free agent going into 2015, with the incentive of a big year in 2014 leading to a nice offer elsewhere.

That could still be a challenge if they intend to keep Tate around (and/or Bennett). And let’s not forget they went big on Percy Harvin. If they intend to make Harvin the focal point of the passing game, it makes little sense to pay the supporting cast big bucks.

That’s a debate for the future. Right now the Seahawks will miss Sidney Rice, especially with Harvin out indefinitely and seemingly still a few weeks away from contention.

This team avoided injuries for virtually the entire 2012 season. This year, the injury-bug is back with a vengeance.

Draft options

If the Seahawks want to go receiver early this year, there are some options. Odell Beckham (WR, LSU) is a vastly underrated talent. His partner in crime Jarvis Landry likewise should be moving up boards. Mike Evans is having a big year at Texas A&M while Jordan Matthews continues to do his thing at Vanderbilt. There’s depth across the board.

Two other players who started the year as potential top-15 picks could also be set for a fall. Marqise Lee has struggled with form and injury — the mess at USC has also contributed. He lacks prototypical size and could drop as a consequence. Sammy Watkins at Clemson has been called out by one of his coaches and remains a bit of an enigma. If he drops, you still have to consider him. The talent is too high. He is a true game changer and with the right guidance could blossom into an elite NFL receiver.

It’s set to be a strong year for offensive tackles, but it’s not a bad year for receivers either. Seattle will have some options.

Do the Seahawks need to target an upgrade at guard?

The question was posed in the comments section yesterday.

I still maintain the biggest problem last night was scheme and injury. Leaving Paul McQuistan (a guard) and Michael Bowie (a 7th round rookie) on an island with two of the best pass rushers in the NFL was suicide. And it merely reminded everyone how important Russell Okung and Breno Giacomini are to this team.

Put them back in the line-up and you see an instant, substantial improvement at tackle. You’d also see an improvement at guard.

An offensive line will always be about the unit. A weak link has the ability to pull down the rest of the group. Two weak links makes life very difficult.

J.R. Sweezy had two early penalties last night — one for holding, one for illegal use of hands to the face. Twitter immediately kicked off, calling for Sweezy to be benched and eventually replaced.

Put yourself in his shoes for a moment. He’s a second year player. And not a second year NFL starter, I mean a second year offensive lineman period. He’s playing next to a guy that in all fairness shouldn’t be asked to block Robert Quinn or Chris Long 1v1.

Surely in that situation you can understand why Sweezy was a little jittery? Perhaps he tried to do too much? And when your unit is being dominated in a way most of us have never seen an offensive line get dominated before — how does that not get into your head?

This isn’t an excuse for Sweezy, Max Unger or James Carpenter last night. I just think it’s difficult to judge the interior linemen with McQuistan and Bowie at tackle.

I don’t buy into the over analysis of the two guards this year. I feel like I’ve seen a lot of positive plays by Carpenter in the run game. He’s never going to be a terrific, mobile pass protector. But this is supposed to be a power running team. And I think a combination of Okung/Carpenter can prosper if they get anything like a run of games together.

I’m unwilling to write off Sweezy, who likewise has made several key blocks in the running game and continues to learn on the run. Tom Cable isn’t crazy or even that unorthodox for putting a defensive player on the offensive line. Look at Florida State — the #3 team in college football right now — using a former defensive player to watch Jameis Winston’s blind side.

This is the future. Nearly all the best college athletes are playing defense these days. You have to fight fire with fire. We’ll see more and more of this. Guys like Eric Fisher — touted as an athletic tackle — are struggling against NFL athletes. And he was the #1 overall pick.

With Sweezy, put him alongside a veteran tackle and center and watch him grow. For chunks of this season he’s been the only starter on the offensive line playing in his intended position. How is that a solid learning situation for a young player?

That’s not to say this team can’t improve at guard. You never rule anything out. If the right player is available in the draft next year, then you consider making that move.

I’m yet to see a guard worth a first round grade for 2014. Gabe Jackson and Cyril Richardson are both in that 330-340lbs range and just remind me of Carpenter at his biggest. David Yankey is a technician but also has the look of a classic overrated Stanford lineman. Xavier Su’a-Filo at UCLA might be one to consider — he’s only a junior but if he declares he could go early.

After that, I’ll take your suggestions. There’s no Jonathan Cooper or Chance Warmack here. No plug in and play solution.

At tackle, however, there’s a long list of prospective first or second round players. The aforementioned Florida State tackle — Cameron Erving — is a very intriguing prospect who has all the athletic qualities to play guard or tackle in the modern NFL. He just needs polish and good coaching.

Cedric Ogbuehi — if he declares — would be a fascinating option out of Texas A&M as a right tackle (see video above). I like Notre Dame’s Zach Martin more than most and he could play tackle or guard. Then you have all the usual suspects that we’ve talked about so much.

Factor in that Breno Giacomini is a free agent next year and unless you intend to start Bowie again, you’re going to need to either pay Breno (difficult) or replace him in the draft.

Supply meets demand at tackle. I’m not sure that’s the case at guard. And I’m intrigued enough by Alvin Bailey (clearly in a redshirt year this season) to think he could be a prospective starter at guard for the long haul and a versatile G/T option similar to McQuistan (also a free agent).

So if we’re talking about the draft priority on the offensive line, I’m still siding with tackle over guard.

And I still believe Seattle’s issues on the offensive line will ease greatly when their two starting tackles return (stating the obvious) and they discover the art of max protect.

**Shudders**

This was the most unpleasant experience of my Seahawks fandom.

Let me quantify that. Watching a hopeless or rebuilding team getting blown out isn’t unpleasant. For the most part it’s expected and not in the least bit surprising.

This game made me want to take a shower. It made me pace around the room clutching a foam football. It made me agitated at a time when, as a new parent, I’m already getting a minimal amount of sleep.

And worst of all it made me question what on earth they were thinking.

I’m happy to win ugly. Who isn’t? That old cliche says the good teams frequently win ugly.

But this was beyond ugly. It reminded me of the scene in Hostel with the eye.

In fact, it was worse than that.

Where do we start?

Oh yeah. Pass protection.

Tonight it was a national embarrassment. Yes, the Rams have a sensational pass rushing duo and a not too shabby interior rush. Their front seven is one of the best in the league. Tonight though, they had it easy.

I spent the entire game trying to work out what exactly Seattle was trying to do on offense. I mean, usually when you come up against a top pass rush you try to establish the run to slow it down, then use play action. This didn’t work against Houston, so I kind of figured why they weren’t doing that. Plus the eight man fronts made it difficult early on.

The best way to spread out a loaded box is to go empty backfield. They tried that, but then had everyone running routes and left the two backup tackles 1v1 against Chris Long and Robert Quinn. That’s fine, if you’re going snap-throw to purposely designed quick-hitting routes. They never really got this going.

They threw three screens in the game and all worked for positive yardage. Hey, you can’t keep milking the same cow but it’s the one thing that seemed to work all night and yet they never went back to it.

They didn’t really try to move the pocket or utilise Russell Wilson’s scrambling ability. I don’t recall many bootlegs. It was just a head-scratching mess.

Clearly the offensive line was over-stretched. Individuals will be criticised. And this isn’t my attempt to exonerate blame. Nobody played well on that line.

However, this is a team that would’ve struggled against Quinn and Long with Russell Okung and Breno Giacomini starting. They had to be ready to help out the tackles by playing max-protect with backs and tight ends spending nearly the whole game as extra blockers.

Paul McQuistan isn’t a left tackle. Michael Bowie is a seventh round rookie.

Help them like you’ve never helped two tackles before.

The coaching staff needs to take full responsibility (and I suspect they will). I’m guessing we’ll have a week now of people talking about how we need to draft for the offensive line. That’s fine. But if your new first round pick gets injured, or Okung goes down again, tonight can’t be repeated. This was all about a hopeless scheme and a badly prepared offense that did nothing to limit St. Louis’ greatest strength.

This isn’t just on offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell either. Tom Cable and Pete Carroll need to shoulder an equal portion of blame.

Take away an 80-yard touchdown (that arguably should’ve been picked) and you get 59 passing yards and 44 rushing yards on the night.

It didn’t need to be this way.

Elsewhere…

– For the first time, I really felt Wilson got jittery and started to worry about the protection issues. Who can blame him? He deserves no blame for that. The coaches and offensive line take full responsibility. If Wilson’s game suffers over the next few weeks as a consequence of bad pass protection, they’ll be to blame.

– Drops. Too many tonight from the receivers. On a night when big plays were at a premium and all but two drives ended in a punt, the simple plays needed to be completed. Jermaine Kearse’s key third down drop late on was a killer.

– The defense was on the field for 38 minutes and nine seconds. They looked shattered at the end and still made a brilliant goal line stand. The offense hung them out to dry tonight and they still won the game.

Red Bryant: “I’m so tired right now.” #SEAvsSTL #MNF

— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) October 29, 2013

– The ref’s were a joke for both teams. Let the guys play for crying out loud. The NFL needs to know this kind of display is hurting their product.

– This is the first week the offense had no turnovers. There’s your positive.

– Even despite the obvious schematic shambles, it’s unacceptable that Marshawn Lynch had just eight carries tonight. How did that happen?

– As Golden Tate taunted his way into the end zone, all I could think of was Cordarrelle Patterson’s called-back touchdown for Tennessee last year. Thankfully, the NFL rules are different to college rules. I bet Golden Tate is grateful for that, too.

– This was pretty much a mini-bye after the Thursday night game last week. Is anyone else concerned how sluggish this team looks after an extended break? See tonight, and Miami last year. This season, Seattle’s bye is the week before the Saints game…

A comprehensive win is required to wash away the memory of this game. Thankfully the 0-8 Buccs are in town next week.

And yet this is without doubt the best start to a season in franchise history. And the Seahawks are still a really good 7-1 football team.

What a weird sport this is.

Time for that shower.

I’m going to write a bigger piece on the receiver class later, but I had to highlight yet another brilliant play from Odell Beckham today (in a surprisingly close game for LSU against Furman).

You can see the play here.

He’s not the biggest receiver, but you won’t find a better competitor. Every single week he makes a grab like this, in traffic.

He ended the game with six catches for 204 yards and added this score late on. He did muff a punt in the game, which is a bit of a collectors item.

Even so, in a year where Mike Evans, Sammy Watkins and Marqise Lee are getting most of the attention, Beckham deserves a lot more praise. He’s a NFL receiver playing in college.

He started the year as one to watch. Now, he’s probably one to forget.

Colt Lyerla was arrested on Wednesday for unlawful possession of cocaine and interfering with a police officer, according to the Lane County (Ore.) Sheriffs Department.

The news follows his recent departure from the University of Oregon, after a troubled career that included much controversy.

The report states police observed Lyerla snorting what appeared to be a white powdery substance in a parked vehicle in Eugene. He admitted to using cocaine.

Chip had linked Lyerla up with Chris Herren for guidance w/ drug issues when he came to speak in '12. Sad he didn't listen

— John Middlekauff (@JohnMiddlekauff) October 24, 2013

This probably ends his hopes of playing in the NFL. There’s simply too much baggage.