tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012469417215497172Mon, 15 Jun 2026 06:11:15 +0000SeahawksSeattlePete CarrollJohn SchneiderMatt HasselbeckRyan MallettTarvaris JacksonCharlie WhitehurstMarshawn Lynchbrandon mebaneMax UngerRed BryantSeattle draft plansJames Carpenterdarrell bevellAaron CurryGolden TateMike WilliamsSeahawks draft plansTim RuskelldraftCBAColin ColeJustin ForsettKam ChancellorLawyer MilloyRichard Sherman2010Alan BranchBrandon BrownerCarson PalmerChris ClemonsJake LockerJohn MoffittKevin KolbLeon WashingtonMark LegreeRobert GalleryRussell OkungSeattle draft rumorsfree agentsquarterbackquarterbacksByron MaxwellCam NewtonDVR run analysisDeon ButlerJohn CarlsonK.J. WrightKris DurhamLeroy HillMalcolm SmithMichael RobinsonMike BrownNFLWalter ThurmondlockouttradeAaron RodgersAndrew LuckAnthony McCoyArizona CardinalsChicago BearsChris SpencerColin KaepernickDexter DavisEarl ThomasJimmy SmithKelly JenningsKentwan BalmerLofa TatupuMinnesota VikingsNew York GiantsPeyton ManningSan FranciscoSidney RiceSt. Louis RamsStacy AndrewsTom CableZach Millerarm strengthleooffseasonpreseason20113-44-3Albert BreerAldon SmithAlex SmithAndy DaltonBaltimore RavensBen HamiltonBill BelichickBlaine GabbertBrandon StokleyCameron MorrahChester PittsCincinnati BengalsCombineDeion BranchGreen Bay PackersJameson KonzJeremy BatesJim MoraJonathan BaldwinJosh PinkardJulian PetersonJunior SiaviiLazarius LevingstonMario WilliamsMatt FlynnMike PounceyNate DavisOlindo MarePhil TaylorRob SimsRoy LewisSan DiegoSean LocklearSeattle SeahawksSeattle free agency rumorsSeneca WallaceTed ThompsonTyler PolumbusWill Herringdefensedefensive endsfranchise taglinebackersoffenseoffensive linepyramidre-signrodney hudsonsenior bowltiertraining campVince YoungJ.P. Losman
Mike WilliamsMatt LeinartCharlie WhitehurstJohn SchneiderMatt HasselbeckSeattle
Lendale WhitePete CarrollSeahawks1 tech17 Blurbs3 tech5-tech53 man rosterAdam CaplanAdam CarrikerAdam SchefterAl DavisAlex GibbsAtari BigbyAtlanta FalconsBen MuthBen ObomanuBobby WagnerBrandon HarrisBrandon MarshallBrent OsborneBrett FavreBrooks ReedBruce IrvinCaleb HanieCalvin JohnsonCenturyLink FieldChris BakerChristian PonderClay MatthewsCleveland BrownsCliff AvrilColt McCoyCombine interviewsCory ReddingDa'Quan BowersDallas CowboysDanny O'NeillDarell BevellDarrell JacksonDarryl TappDavid DotyDavid HawthorneDeMarcus WareDenver BroncosDeon GrantDevin HesterDominique ByrdDoug BaldwinDrew BreesE.J. WilsonEli ManningEller v. NFLGoldengateGreg McElroyGreg OlsenGus BradleyHerm EdwardsIndianapolis ColtsIsaiah StanbackJabaal SheardJacksonville JaguarsJay CutlerJerod JohnsonJeron JohnsonJoe FlaccoJosh FreemanJosh McDanielsJosh WilsonJulius JonesJustin HoustonKJ WrightKennard CoxKurt WarnerKyle OrtonLarry FitzgeraldLeSean McCoyLendale WhiteLuckStakesMarcus TrufantMark SanchezMarques ColstonMarvin AustinMatt BarkleyMiami DolphinsMike HolmgrenMike MartzMike RobinsonMuhammad WilkersonNFC WestNFLPANate BurlesonNew England PatriotsNew Orleans SaintsNew York JetsNnamdi AsomughaPFWPatrick PetersonPaul McQuistanPhiladelphia EaglesPhilip RiversPittsburgh SteelersQB hurriesQB interviewsQwest FieldRaidersRay RiceReggie SmithReggie WayneRicardo LocketteRickey ThenarseRicky StanziRobert QuinnRocky BernardRoman HarperRussell WilsonRyan KerriganSackSEERSam BradfordScott TolzienSean LeeShaun AlexanderStephen PaeaSteve HutchinsonSuper BowlSuper Bowl XLSuper Bowl XLVSusan NelsonTerrell ThomasThe RunTom BradyTony RomoTrent EdwardsVincent JacksonWalter JonesWashington RedskinsWeek 1West VirginiaWild Card Roundanimal predictionsblitzesbump and runbye weekcollegecompensatory pickscontractcornerbackdecertificationdefensive endfree agencyfree agentinjuriesinjuryintangibleskickoff returnslabormatchupmatchupsmediaminicampsmock draftnew lawsuitpass defenseplayoffspressrebuildreport cardrun defensesackssafetyschemescoutingspecial teamstight endtrade uptrades17 Power, A Seattle Seahawks BlogSeattle Seahawks news, analysis, opinion, and discussion to help fans survive the offseason!noreply@blogger.com (Unknown)Blogger217125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012469417215497172.post-229640248327666428Thu, 08 Oct 2015 22:37:00 +00002015-10-08T15:37:36.635-07:00Where I Am Now<a href="; imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="; width="320" /></a>A few months ago I stepped away from football blogging. It took me too long to marshal my facts and thoughts, and my teaching job is consuming (I'm having a good year so far). But more importantly, I just felt that there were better minds on the case within the Seahawks blogosphere. I don't want to be a pretender, like the Seahawks' 2007 defense. I don't want to be regarded as more knowledgeable than I am.<br />
<br />
I've now started another blog, this one centered around my pursuit of Jesus Christ. He and the faith built around him are a much more natural fit for my mind and style. It's a much simpler and more refreshing arena, really an emotional antipole to 17 Power, girded with messages I really believe Christian millennials should hear.<br />
<br />
That blog is now up and out of shakedown mode. If you're into this sort of thing, or you're curious as to who Jesus really is and what he represents, my thoughts can now be found here:<br />
<br />
<a href=" style="font-size: large;"> />
<br />
I hope this new effort interests and encourages you. It'd be enjoyable to see you over there once in a while.<br />
<br />
In the meantime, my sincerest thanks for all your interest and discussion over the years. I'll remain present on Twitter at @17power.<br />
<br />
Go Hawks!2015/10/a-few-months-ago-i-stepped-away-from.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)61tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012469417215497172.post-2538353918573160641Sun, 26 Oct 2014 21:51:00 +00002014-10-26T14:51:08.260-07:00Seattle's youth bungle, then salvage Carolina victory<a href="; imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="; height="192" width="320" /></a>Today was a go/no-go for the Seahawks. Fork in the road, with a left turn leading straight to <.500.<br />
<br />
Today the Seahawks picked the road less traveled by, sneaking past the underrated Carolina Panthers with a gorgeous TD throw by Russell Wilson down the seam to tight end Luke Willson. I likes.<br />
<br />
With all the injuries hampering our play on both sides of the ball (and if you ask me, the injuries haven't gotten nearly enough credit for the team's struggles), it was good to see the Seahawks get back to winning ugly instead of losing pretty. That they did it on the road was reassuring. That they quietly cut down on the penalties was even more promising. That they gave their young bucks an opportunity to contribute and benefited from it - despite an infuriating stream of simple mistakes and missed opportunities from top to bottom - the young play may have been the most important feather in Pete Carroll's cap today.<br />
<br />
The Seahawks' struggles lately are very simple: they're a victim of their own success. They've reminded the league how to play football. Other teams are adopting physical play, reliance on the run, and tools like the zone read. They're also taking the same strategy to Seattle's defense that one would Peyton Manning: keep 'em off the field. A steady dose of patient playcalling from the last few opponents has left Seattle's defense worn down by the end, prone to last-minute heroics. Teams have found ways to hurt Seattle right in its philosophy.<br />
<br />
Today, Carolina ignored that strategy and paid for it in the final minute against Seattle's refreshed defense. Kudos to Russell Wilson for that final drive, but honestly, greater kudos to him for maintaining longer drives earlier in the field. It left the defense ready to close the deal.<br />
<br />
Game.<br />
<br />
It was good to see Seattle's youth step up, because it's time the coaching staff started closely examining what they've got on the bench. Keeping a Super Bowl team together is financially impossible, but it's starting to feel like the Seahawks hit reloading mode a little sooner and a little harder than even the most realistic of us expected. Left tackle is a question mark again. Our front seven is starting to show some holes. In general, the defensive line isn't getting the push they used to, and today's improved performance came against an injury-ravaged offensive line.<br />
<br />
So when our rookies and sophomores started filling in the gaps, it was welcome. But...that's all they did.<br />
<br />
We've got some backup linebackers that can flash and make some nifty plays in Kevin Pierre-Louis and Brock Coyle (go Griz!), but that's starting to feel like a good description for starter Malcolm Smith as well. Luke Willson and Cooper Helfet - look, it needs to be said, they're not Pro Bowl material. They're simply coming through on a weapon-starved team. They're raw on their fundamentals. But they stepped up when they were needed and never gave up. (Schools, corporations, and armies win on the backs of such people.) It still remains to be seen whether Bruce Irvin can become a consistent force at DE, and he's had quite a while to prove himself. Robert Turbin and Christine Michael are not the future. They're spot players, with due credit to Turbin for the hardy catch-and-runs he's showing lately. The staff needs to make more use of him there.<br />
<br />
Then there's receiver. Until the Seahawks find themselves a Kelvin Benjamin, they'll probably be scrambling to win ugly more often than not. Don't get me wrong, we've had extraordinary luck with the receivers we have; scrappy, hard-hitting, full of fire, including what's looking vaguely like a possession receiver in Paul Richardson. These guys make the most of their opportunities, and I stand by that despite the numerous drops this month. But there's just no substitute for a catch-soaking #1 who can drag defenders deep and outleap even the tightest of coverage. You saw those benefits for Carolina today. It would just open up so much for the offense, which up until this point has looked like it's playing in the redzone all the time because of the limited ground our receivers cover. They just don't use space like they could.<br />
<br />
Between all these shades of grey, it's not insane to think that Seattle could still benefit from another trip to the draft. Perhaps they have the bullets already waiting in the wings. Injuries have a silver lining: they afford a showcase for unknown talent on the bench. Countless NFL talents have gotten their chances that way. But there are some pieces that remain elusive for Seattle (and indeed for most teams, like that epic #1 receiver) that will not be found on the bench.<br />
<br />
Whatever. We won. My criticisms aside, all our guys showed up and played hard when it counted. Sixty minutes.<br />
<br />
And that's the most encouraging component of today's victory. The Seahawks showed character and resilience against the Panthers. With rumors of locker room divisions and departing stars swirling around the team like so much fog the last couple weeks, and with so many starters on the bench...most teams would not have been in a position to steal a win from a physical, promising conference rival like Carolina, especially in their house. But Seattle pulled it off. And they did it with their usual formula - run, physical, turnovers, Wilson's legs. It was a relief to see that the formula is not defunct.<br />
<br />
Execution needs a shot in the arm. Max Unger and Zach Miller (underrated cogs in the run game, both of them) are sorely missed. Bobby Wagner is missed. Byron Maxwell was admirably covered for today, and you'd hope so given Seattle's emphasis on DB depth. And what is with the 12-men-on-the-field penalties lately?<br />
<br />
But this team still has a lot of fight in it. The flaccid 2009 team was marked not so much by lack of talent as lack of hope. This team is not that team, nowhere close. And as long as that fight is there, the Seahawks can do what they did last year: hunker down and wait for their starters to return from injury.<br />
<br />
Next week, the intrepid and unexpected Raiders QB Derek Carr has to demonstrate the patience and decision-making of Rivers and Romo if he expects to keep Seattle's offense off its own field. The Carolina game was a good matchup for Seattle, as Cam Newton is not the type of QB to avoid feeding the Legion. Carr is efficient and minimalist, closer to the necessary mold, but his running game is off track despite its talented backs. Their defense is pitiful.<br />
<br />
Just what the doctor ordered.<br />
<br />
Quick rant: another day, another game where careful study shows how overrated the importance of the offensive line is. Seattle's pass protection bounced back from last week's undeniably bad showing, but once again, far too much is being assumed. On the go-ahead touchdown throw to Luke Willson, the announcers immediately and instinctively credited good pass protection. <a href=" the TD again</a>. It's a three-step drop from shotgun. Step, plant, throw. A quick timing play. The role of the offensive line is minimal in that kind of play - delay your man for a split second and you've got it. <i>Yet instead of such nuances, the announcers just tossed up the idea that pass protection must have been amazing since Russell didn't run and the pass was complete.</i> That's ignoring a lot. Broadcasters trade in cliches, and many of them are valid, but this is an instance of how excessively and reflexively chalking up good throws to the performance of the offensive line is a longstanding roadblock to fans' understanding of the game.2014/10/seattles-youth-bungle-then-salvage.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012469417215497172.post-3654271777822112054Mon, 13 Oct 2014 00:41:00 +00002014-10-12T17:44:08.291-07:00When Your Team Takes a Step Back<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="; imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="; height="189" width="320" /></a></div>
When a football team struggles, especially after a xenith of accomplishment like the Super Bowl, we fans look for one problem. We like to look for one problem. It gives us a comforting feeling of control, a sense that the solution is close. It's easier to fix one thing than to fix a multitude.<br />
<br />
Because fixing a multitude of problems often requires a draft or three, or perhaps a coaching change. We don't want to hear about that.<br />
<br />
No, I'm not advocating either action for the Seahawks. But after seeing Seattle edged out at home by a good NFC team they're probably going to see in the playoffs, I'm willing to say there are problems with the Seattle Seahawks. Small problems. Surmountable problems. But nonetheless, a multitude.<br />
<br />
I don't think this really surprises any of us. We did win the Super Bowl. But many of us have, way in the back of our minds, the quiet nagging feeling that <i>we won it despite</i>. We won it despite inconsistent play-calling. We won it despite of injuries. We won it despite certain traits missing from our WR corps. We won it despite an offensive line that hasn't yet fully gelled.<br />
<br />
Now, on one hand, if we can win a Super Bowl with all those issues, it says a lot of good things about the Seahawks. On the other hand, it leaves us riding the razors' edge. Twice this year, the Seahawks have slipped on the edge and lost to good but beatable teams. Now it's happened at home, and it's got me going back to my blog.<br />
<br />
<i>(Disclaimer: We're still 3-2, and have lost fairly narrowly to playoff-bound teams like our own. Put the rope away.)</i><br />
<br />
It's been said lately that people are beating Seattle by using Seattle's game: smashmouth, leatherhelmet play focused on big hits, the running game, and a QB less focused on being the all and more focused on simply completing each pass that comes. This is true, but it's even more true than people say. Other teams are playing Seattle's game in a way that many have not acknowledged: <i>they're simply not making mistakes. </i><br />
<br />
This is the secret of Russell Wilson's success. He doesn't make a lot of mistakes. You're not seeing him throwing Hasselbecks into double coverage. This is the explanation for some of the passing game's struggles in Seattle: what you're actually seeing is an ordinary passing game with all the risky throws removed. Seriously, all. With most other QB's, you'd be seeing a lot more cringe-inducing Favres. Wilson's are so rare that you can remember them by the month.<br />
<br />
Tony Romo and Philip Rivers have beaten Seattle with this philosophy. They're contenting themselves with easier throws, taking what the defense gives them, filling in the gaps with heads-up improvisation, and they're doing it for four quarters. That's a patience reserved for few quarterbacks - the ones that appear in the playoffs. As for their defenses, missed tackles are rare and coverage assignments are tight. There's a lot to be said for staying out of one's own way, because it leaves the other team free to choke on its own miscues.<br />
<br />
Seattle's miscues are not huge. But they're adding up. A good football game is a teeter-totter of tiny mistakes, and twice this season, Seattle's end has been just low enough to leave Wilson's theatrics out in the wind by the close.<br />
<br />
Now...I feel good about Seattle losing to the more complete performance.<br />
<br />
And I feel good that teams must resort to physical, mistake-free football (Seattle's philosophy) to beat them.<br />
<br />
But we're still losing. And we're losing in a very gradual manner.<br />
<br />
Today, Luke Willson, Doug Baldwin, and Jermaine Kearse all dropped (or had interfered with) clutch catches they usually make. The receivers on Dallas' side, on the other hand, didn't drop theirs.<br />
<br />
Game.<br />
<br />
On 3rd and 20 with 4:46 left to play and Dallas trailing, Bruce Irvin broke free on an edge rush and then whiffed twice on the sack of Tony Romo, who flashed a Wilson scramble and then got the ball into the hands of Terrence Williams way downfield.<br />
<br />
Game.<br />
<br />
Early on, Byron Maxwell had his mitts all over a sure pick-six on the Seattle goal-line. Instead of triumphing, he dropped it. After last week's contest Seattle currently leads the universe in dropped picks.<br />
<br />
Game.<br />
<br />
Over and over, DeMarco Murray and whatever nimble Swiss-army-knife guy to whom Tony Romo was slinging the ball would sidestep a Seahawks tackle and take it for another five yards. Our guys couldn't see to get into free space.<br />
<br />
Game.<br />
<br />
Both teams had their injuries. Bobby Wagner on the sidelines is ugly. Seattle's cornerback depth is like the Mars rovers - you can't believe how long it's lasted, but you live every second expecting its sudden implosion. Dallas also lost key guys, but it didn't stop them like it stopped us. Hello, Marcus Burley on the outside.<br />
<br />
Game.<br />
<br />
Dallas' offensive line had a couple of key holding penalties at crucial moments, enough to keep the game in question. But Russell Okung had his quickly-becoming-requisite two false starts to throw on top of a false start by the backup center.<br />
<br />
Game.<br />
<br />
Dallas gave DeMarco Murray his touches. Seattle did not reciprocate with Marshawn Lynch. I'm not about to jump all over the playcalling, which is a series of responses to a constantly shifting and evolving animal whose results only <i>seem</i> to look like a philosophy and are judged by fans without context. None of you would do better. Neither would I. Personnel problems go into playcalling as well (having a backup center doesn't boost a coach's confidence in the run game). But despite that, at the end of the day, Dallas gave DeMarco Murray his touches. Seattle did not reciprocate with Marshawn Lynch.<br />
<br />
Game.<br />
<br />
Losses like these are built brick by frustrating brick over sixty minutes by tiny mistakes. The score is close by the end, but you can always trace the loss back to a handful of moments. There is no one that stands out. It's the amalgamation of them that kills you. This is why I rarely gripe about officiating. There are always bad calls. They go against both teams. But even in Super Bowl XL, there were numerous opportunities Seattle missed that still could have changed things.<br />
<br />
Game.<br />
<br />
Attrition has now struck twice this season, and the league is starting to smell blood.<br />
<br />
Who would like to see Seattle in command of these games as Dallas was, instead of racing to make up for their own mistakes and <i>building an offense more through broken plays than intentional ones?</i><br />
<br />
I wish I could point to one thing, say "fix this", and leave you feeling like that's all it takes. Many writers are unconsciously led by that impulse. But it would be dishonest. Seattle amassed small chinks in every phase and in every unit today, kept themselves in it with gut and the Cowboys' perennial CenturyLink Field special-teams collapses, and then shattered at the end. A common story in the NFL. That sinking late-second-quarter feeling of "the mistakes are starting to pile up and we'll be vulnerable to a couple of clutch plays in the fourth quarter" is starting to become familiar. Indianapolis. Arizona. San Diego. Dallas.<br />
<br />
Credit where credit is due. And that's just it. The victory was earned by Tony Romo, who played one of the finest games of his career today. Seattle has shown that they can only be beaten by complete performances from solid teams. But that doesn't change the fact that they <i>have</i> been beaten. We need to be the solid team with a complete performance. That's how we won last year. Well, no - not really. Not often enough. Too often, we were the team with Russell Wilson's legs and a lot of sprightly luck. It's starting to feel like the Mars rovers.<br />
<br />
Complete football. It's what we need to attain. There is no substitute for it. No "Seahawks philosophy" or talented personnel pickup has ever been a substitute for it. Solid, mistake-free football.<br />
<br />
I wish I had a handy "this is the way out of worry" solution to suggest to fans while the Seattle coaching staff ignores it. Many of you came here hoping for one. But there isn't one. Resist the temptation to think along those lines. It's rarely the case. The Seahawks simply have to go back to the tape, work on their craft, and cut down on the mistakes. There isn't much more to say. There isn't much more to <i>do</i>.<br />
<br />
And when you boil it all down, that's actually a really good thing to say about your football team.2014/10/when-your-team-takes-step-back.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012469417215497172.post-7581748192720704907Mon, 03 Feb 2014 19:14:00 +00002014-02-03T11:14:19.107-08:00Just the BeginningIt still hasn't sunk in.<br />
<br />
The Seattle Seahawks won the Super Bowl. The<b><i> SEAHAWKS</i></b>! Yeah, <b><i>those</i></b> Seahawks!<br />
<br />
Just four years after posting a 5-11 record, the Seattle Seahawks are world champions.<br />
<br />
After more than three decades without a championship, the city of Seattle is on top of the world.<br />
<br />
After two weeks of practically every NFL pundit shaking their talking head at Seattle's chances in the face of Peyton Manning's offensive onslaught, the legendary QB has been humbled and sent home by...MY TEAM.<br />
<br />
Whoa. My team. Out of all the working joes in the world, the football gods shine upon the team I'M rooting for. I get to be amongst the 3% of the world who can claim we did it.<br />
<br />
It's over. No more games. No more breakdowns, analyses, and predictions. No more practice reports, expert prognostications, fretting over matchups, or ignoring taunts from enemy fan bases. No more digging for news on lasting injuries, substance suspensions, or appeals. No more looking ahead. No more hand-wringing over what might have been. No more cursing the referees.<br />
<br />
The season is over. The Seahawks are on top of the pack. For the first time, the long six months of the offseason hold no angst over how close we came or what we need to reach the top next year. At long last, it's time to relax and bask in pure, unadulterated success.<br />
<br />
Does it get any better than this?<br />
<br />
Actually, it does. In a number of ways.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
Even better than winning the Super Bowl is the impact that Seattle's victory will have on the league.<br />
<br />
In the last three years, every big-time quarterback in the league has come before Seattle to hawk his skills, and every one of them has walked away empty-handed. Philip Rivers. Jay Cutler. Drew Brees. Eli Manning. Aaron Rodgers. Cam Newton. Tom Brady. As of Sunday morning, there was only one elite quarterback left from the pass-first era for this defense to prove itself against.<br />
<br />
And then there were none.<br />
<br />
That's why Denver was the perfect opponent. And not just because Peyton Manning provided the ultimate test for this defense. Not even because he brushed off Seattle's offseason, pre-Wilson courtship without so much as a handshake.<br />
<br />
Super Bowl XLVIII was a duel of football philosophies. Manning was the epitome of the one-man show. His record-shattering 2013 season was the culmination of the pass-happy trend that has been infecting the NFL for over a decade. Teams were pass-first. 65%-35% pass-run ratio. Forget the run game, shuttle defensive priorities to the pass. I'd hate to be one of the 49 guys on the Broncos roster not named Manning, Welker, or Thomas. Nobody would ever hear of you. True story - until his midseason health issues, I'd utterly forgotten that John Fox was coaching the Broncos. Not even kidding.<br />
<br />
Flood concepts, timing throws, big receivers, flashy tight ends, 300-yard games, finesse. That had become the name of the game in pro football. Defenses had done little to respond except stacking up on more pass rushers. And the NFL, enjoying ever-increasing ratings, stood only to benefit.<br />
<br />
For a decade, a rebuilding team had only one real goal: find that perfect quarterback with the eyes of an eagle, the mind of a computer, and the arm of a trebuchet. All else is pointless.<br />
<br />
NOT ANYMORE.<br />
<br />
The one-man show is gone. In its place, new-school after being old-school for many sad years...the football team.<br />
<br />
That's been the true glory of the Seahawks under Pete Carroll: you can't name one single player who so utterly overshadows everyone else that he claims all the headlines. Everybody plays a role. Everyone has a game to stake as his own. Russell Wilson's interview gives way to Richard Sherman's gives way to Golden Tate's gives way to Kam Chancellor's gives way to Percy Harvin's gives way to Derrick Coleman's gives way to Doug Baldwin's gives way to Earl Thomas' gives way to Marshaw...oh, wait, he doesn't one. But every one of them matters. No sooner is Joe Buck done talking about Lynch, the heart and soul of the team, than the ball is snapped again and a different guy adds to his highlight reel. A game of musical spotlights.<br />
<br />
And then a 7th-round pick who couldn't lock down a starting spot for years and might not even be playing in the NFL without Pete Carroll and John Schneider, outleaps all of them for the honor of Super Bowl MVP.<br />
<br />
Who saw this coming?<br />
<br />
If I'd told you three years ago that Seattle would win Super Bowl XLVIII with a pack of 6'3" defensive backs, a bunch of 5'11" wide receivers, a 5'10" quarterback, a run-first approach behind Marshawn Lynch, and more undrafted free agents on the roster than Peyton Manning has commercial contracts, you'd have laughed me off the podium.<br />
<br />
Today, I'm laughing.<br />
<br />
And I'm laughing at myself, too. My worries of earlier years ("draft a first-round QB, the run doesn't matter anymore!") are hilarious now. Old-school football is cool again. The run matters after all. Defense can handle every facet of the NFL's most powerful offensive attack. Special teams has survived Roger Goodell's fury. Passing yards are not everything. There's room for innovation. Injuries aren't death to a season. And every guy on the 53-man roster can find a way to contribute.<br />
<br />
The entire league will be scrambling to mimic Seattle's success, but they won't succeed. NFL executives are too bound by conventional thinking and the fear of failure. They'll still laugh each other out of the room at the Carrollian ideas of letting players be themselves, accentuating strengths instead of minimizing weaknesses, gambling on injury histories, or taking the final three rounds of the draft seriously. They won't be able to pass up tantalizing quarterbacks or passing weapons. They'll shoot themselves in the foot with misguided loyalty, burdensome contracts, and free-agency races. They'll still choose proven short-term talent over risky projects. They'll be lucky to find a GM with the synergy and savvy that John Schneider possesses.<br />
<br />
And they'll keep failing.<br />
<br />
Willingness to risk has taken Seattle so far beyond every other team in the league that I no longer think Peyton Manning EVER had a chance in XLVIII. Just like everyone else, I expected Manning to get his yards and points. I still wonder if he had looked better without that early safety. Denver's defense did look sporting until the second quarter, and his offense is not crap. Momentum is something I believe in, after all. There's good reason even Seahawks fans spotted Manning some points in their predictions.<br />
<br />
Instead, depth ruled the day and only the Seahawks had a platoon. Manning's center betrayed him with the safety. His receivers couldn't play a physical game. They kept dropping passes. RB Montee Ball wasn't up to the challenge once Knowshon Moreno went out. Defenders missed tackles, five of them on one Jermaine Kearse run (karma for the tackles the 2006 'Hawks missed on that Brandon Marshall TD). Their D-line, though surprisingly disruptive, couldn't contain Russell Wilson. Their coverage unit - well, it's Percy Harvin, but you still can't let that happen.<br />
<br />
In short, the entire team had to show up. Only Manning did. And despite a few bad plays, I thought he performed well. His team let him down from the first snap. They owe him crab dinner every day for the rest of the year.<br />
<br />
But really, it's clear that Seattle just had Denver's number early on, schematically and philosophically. The Broncos aren't built to handle Seattle's blinding speed or their bruising, cloud-of-dust physicality. San Francisco is. Carolina is. The Rams and Cardinals might be soon, if they ever find a quarterback. The Broncos are not, nor are any team designed around the passing game. If mere lip-service was paid previously to the one-dimensionality of such pass-first teams as the Packers, the Saints, and Manning's Current Team, the cat is truly out of the bag now. The fad of the passing league is now passe.<br />
<br />
At this point, the best matchups are in-conference. The NFC West has gone from the laughingstock of the league to a division that nobody wants to play. Seattle is leading the pack thanks to careful drafting for the clutch gene, the chip on the shoulder, and indomitable spirit, not to mention a simple eye for talent.<br />
<br />
And the kind of team we Seahawks fans respect/fear now? Well, it's no longer the high-flying passing juggernauts than we did in previous years. We've knocked them all off now. The only teams that will ever give us pause now, are teams like us.<br />
<br />
Good thing, too. <i><b>Because I'm not satisfied.</b></i> Neither are the players. Not until we win a second Super Bowl.<br />
<br />
You see, questions remain. It'll be a herculean task to keep this team together financially, barring some generosity from the players. I'll bet the Darell Bevell haters are still out there grumbling. Wilson has more growing to do, as any sophomore QB does. I don't know how we're going to survive the increasing presence of Joe Buck covering our games. And there will always be that handful of neanderthal fans and pundits who question whether this win was a fluke, and whether Seattle can repeat and build a dynasty.<br />
<br />
But for me, our Super Bowl win doesn't just close out an amazing Seahawks year - it sets the tone for the next ten. The defense can now officially handle anything. Percy Harvin, finally healthy, hints at a completely revolutionized offense and special teams next year. The draft is still ahead. The 12th Man - now more of a reality than ever, having traveled brilliantly to the Super Bowl - is not going anywhere. And this team is young. Young, young, young. Whomever we lose this offseason, if anyone, take to the bank that some of the studs who outshone Peyton Manning last night will wind up career Seahawks. They'll grow, improve, and compete for many years. That's exciting.<br />
<br />
Had Peyton won a Super Bowl last night, it would have been merely an exclamation point on a sentence already ending, a sunset on his day.<br />
<br />
For the Seahawks, it's still morning.2014/02/just-beginning.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012469417215497172.post-6322880807273962814Mon, 30 Sep 2013 02:02:00 +00002013-09-29T19:02:51.577-07:00The Finest Win of the Pete Carroll Era...So FarRussell Wilson throwing fourth-quarter picks and running for his life. Richard Sherman vomiting on the sidelines. Marshawn Lynch pumping his legs desperately from within a crowd of tacklers. Doug Baldwin being tossed about like a rag doll. Michael Bennett lying in a hospital bed, anxiously awaiting a CTC scan. Two Pro Bowl offensive linemen sitting thousands of miles away and powerless to help against a fully healthy Texans team.<br /><br />And yet here we stand, fans of the first 4-0 Seahawks team in history.<br /><br />The sheer incredulous delight is unspeakable.<br /><br />How do we quantify this? How do we capture the gritty, determined, unshakeable belief that this team displays week after week? The analyst in me wants to get to the source, wants to extrapolate it to next week. I want to know where it comes from.<br /><br />Maybe that's what bugs me. It doesn't feel like we <i>can</i> quantify it. It just happened. It's an intangible. I hate intangibles. I can't systemize or predict them, they just decide whether to happen or not. <br /><br />Or maybe what bugs me is the fact that the only discernible cause seems to be the gut and fortitude of QB Russell Wilson. When he gets going, things happen. Release the guy from the trap of Bevell's mewling play calls and opponents just start collapsing. And something in me sinks. That feels dangerous. I wish the trigger to Seattle's patented comebacks did NOT rest with one man. It feels like there's no redundancy there. Like it's not sustainable. <br /><br />Yet the Seahawks now stand on a nine-game streak of regular season wins, four of them those classic road nailbiters that all came down to fourth-quarter fireworks by Russell Wilson. Starting with the Bears, up to the present day. It sure doesn't look like a mirage or a situational fluke. Instead, it looks like a champion. I'm not sure what more the Seahawks can do to prove their readiness for the big stage. All they can do now is play on it.<br /><br />Some of us don't want to rest on intangibles. We want understandable factors, tangible causes and effects, something we can use to guess next week's outcome. We turn our noses up at "belief" and "resilience", dismissing it as the product of over-exciteable sports media, and try to explain things in terms of the X's and O's that make us feel more in control. And surely those played a part today.<br /><br />But this team's habit of winning ugly makes us feel frustratingly out of control. We truly are along for the ride with this team, no matter how many swings of momentum we experience along the way, no matter how many times Golden Tate stops our hearts by returning punts from the end zone, no matter how many of those awful ugh-I'm-done towel throws we suffer through. Have they let us down yet?<br /><br />Nothing should have gone right for the Seahawks today. We were on the road. The offensive line was spotted with backups against the AFC's finest defensive line. Our receivers were off their game against CB Jonathan Joseph. The Texans had actual receivers to throw at the Legion of Boom, and a QB to utilize them. It's hard to overstate just how much more talent Houston's passing offense boasts over our last three opponents. It's not even close. Schaub looked rattled in the second half, all right, but given time he can slice and dice the best of them, especially a Seattle linebacking corps that hadn't been truly tested in coverage yet. It's a fact that was lost amidst the mockery of Houston's slow start this year, and they chose today to unearth it again. For a while, the league's #1 defense was badly exposed.<br /><br />And on a day when Seattle looked determined to undermine themselves with timid and repetitive play-calling that played right into Houston's hands and away from Russell Wilson's strengths, it seemed that rawness and injury were just the recipe Houston needed. This went beyond simply needing a comeback. The Seahawks looked flat-out incompetent in all three phases and didn't have the bullets on offense to compensate. Halftime adjustments seemed pointless. I confess I was already trotting out the "it's just one game, better health will shift our fortunes" lines.<br /><br />But the darkness didn't hold. Perhaps I should say it was Doug Baldwin who actually flicked the switch, with his requisite weekly OMG-did-that-just-happen miracle catch (he has 123 yards on such catches in four games). Perhaps it was Wilson pulling more of that old spinning, freewheeling scramble magic and picking up first down after first down. Perhaps, as Richard Sherman said, it was the unexpected return of grievously injured Michael Bennett that sparked the team from the sidelines. Whatever it was, the defense heard it. They woke up and slammed the door on Matt Schaub in the fourth quarter. <br /><br />Seattle was outgained badly in yards and time of possession. Wilson was horribly beat in passing stats. They didn't get a third-down conversion until impossibly late. Schaub, at least for three quarters, was the one with the gaudy conventional whiz-bang that analysts eat up because they understand it. On this day, every number on the planet pointed towards a Houston win - maybe a close one, threatened briefly by admirable Seattle grit, but a Houston win nonetheless.<br /><br />Pete Carroll's team wouldn't be satisfied with anything less than a win. In the end, the numbers on the scoreboard contradicted every other. How Seattle continues to win with Wilson getting half the passing yards of the other guy, look 20 points down while leading by three, week in and week out is just crazy.<br /><br />This team keeps giving me reasons to silence my inner cynic. The irritable contrarian that wants to grouse about how Seattle needs an entire platoon of pass rushers to match the production of a single JJ Watt. The peevish churl who loses faith against any actual pocket-passing quarterback because we seem forever barred from finding the linebackers to shut him down. The nattering naysayer who's critical of the Michael Robinson cut and disappointed with our tight end situation and aching for a consistent separation receiver and OMG WHY CAN'T YOU GUYS JUST SUCCEED MORE CONVENTIONALLY SO MY SEAHAWKS FANDOM DOESN'T FEEL LIKE LIFE ON A HIGH WIRE!!!<br /><br />Yep, that guy needs to shut up.<br /><br />This is a game whose significance leapt beyond records and statistics and into the realm of statements, character, and immortal sports memories. No Seahawks game of the Pete Carroll era has had the odds more heavily stacked against them. Their resilience has done nothing but produce a string of wins and lead the team to its first-ever 4-0 start. At some point, success becomes hard to criticize. We're past that point.<br /><br />The Seahawks have nothing more to prove, except that they can win a Super Bowl. That is the lone remaining hurdle. This team has once again stared valley-of-the-shadow-of-death adversity in the face and overcome. If you don't yet grasp this team's entertainment factor, I don't know what you're waiting for. The Seahawks are where miracles happen. Repeatedly.2013/09/the-finest-win-of-pete-carroll-eraso-far.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)35tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012469417215497172.post-9043650578081458810Wed, 21 Aug 2013 19:37:00 +00002013-08-21T13:21:20.889-07:00Hope, Hype and the Super Bowl (AKA Put a Sock in it, John Morgan)<a href="; imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="; width="320" /></a>John Morgan is once again blogging Seahawks. Recently, as I extricated myself from the cobwebs of summer, I found <a href=" had posted this</a>. It's basically telling fans what they should be thinking right now: to wit, the Seahawks will win at some point in the Pete Carroll era, but there's no way to predict whether it will be this year. And therefore, we should not invest too much hope in 2013. Or something.<br />
<br />
I agree with the underlying idea. Lombardi trophies are hard to predict: they're basically won by the playoff team with the best turn of luck that year. Fine and good.<br />
<br />
Of course, Morgan fails to offer any concrete prediction of his own. And there's little to his actual prognostication besides some POW story and the observation that Russell Wilson gets almost-sacked a lot. (He probably posted a fuller analysis somewhere else, I can't be bothered to look right now.) But it's fair and defensible to say that projections can only go as far as the playoffs, and hope the ball bounces your way after that. It almost did for Seattle last year.<br />
<br />
What I really take exception to is the article's attempt to define hope. Or structure it, or reevaluate it, or constrain it like veal, whatever.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
You have to understand - for as long as Morgan has been blogging about the Seahawks, he has been unable to go three paragraphs without slipping in subtle putdowns of the uneducated football fan. There exists a perspective that says football opinion should belong to the well-informed, hype-resistant and systematically logical. That includes making predictions. It's easy for that to turn into looking down on bepainted Twelves much like Armond White looked down on the ordinary moviegoer. Don't wade into the waters of analysis unless you've leashed your dog to the treadmill to be walked while you gather an encyclopedic knowledge of football history, play design, and stat categories. And disable your caps lock and exclamation point keys while you're at it, this isn't the ESPN boards.<br />
<br />
Good thing the NFL doesn't restrict ticket sales to people like that. They'd go bankrupt.<br />
<br />
One thing Morgan has often inspired me to contemplate (I'd still recommend many of his articles) is the friction between educated analysis and blue-collar fanhood. It is true that most fans don't know a fly route from a drag route and often can't recite the starting offensive line from memory. It's also true that they often wade into higher analysis and lofty prediction-making without that knowledge, much to all our chagrin. This can be frustrating. <br />
<br />
Yet, last time I checked, they still comprise the 12th Man. And I must have missed the regulation that says they're required to keep their hope in check. Maybe the refs should throw a yellow flag on that. (They certainly seemed itchy to throw them on Saturday.)<br />
<br />
Excuse me for a moment...<br />
.<br />
.<br />
.<br />
*checks eHarmony account again*<br />
.<br />
.<br />
.<br />
...k, I'm back.<br />
<br />
Hope is an inextricable component of fandom. Morgan calls it "enforcing optimism", looking for reasons to hope. I call it the lifeblood of the sport. Not informed opinion, not reasonable optimism...blind, defiant, purely object-oriented hope. It's the driving force of the industry and the ONLY reason millions of people put their butts in the bleachers across the nation every year. Without hope, countless seats are empty and it's all just an intellectual exercise to be dissected and hmmmed about from the armchair.<br />
<br />
Maybe some people enjoy that. Joe doesn't. Joe's an ordinary football fan. He doesn't know who Phil Bates is. (He probably never will.) Thousands of Joes fill the Clink and create the Seahawks organization weekly. Joe's not shelling out to take his son to the 49ers game in a month because he hopes the 49ers will win, nor because he hopes the Seahawks will win the following year. Joe's shelling out because he hopes the Seahawks will win THAT week. And if I'm reading his green-and-blue wig correctly, he doesn't concern himself with gloomy prognostications about the Seahawks' poor chances, as if letdown were a skin cancer to be guarded against. In fact, he welcomes them as the signal to defiantly get louder.<br />
<br />
In Joe's own words, <em>RAAAAWRRR SEAHAWKS ERRRRRMMMM WILSON GAAAAAHHHHH BEASTMODE MAAAAAAAANNNNNNN SHERMANNNNNNNNN RAAWWWWWWRRRRRR THIS IS AWEEESSSOOOOOOOMMEEE!!!</em> <em>More beer.</em><br />
<br />
Hope that wasn't beneath some of you. I know there wasn't much DVOA in it.<br />
<br />
I used to be one of the guys who based his emotional investment solely in facts. I have a reputation of being a wet blanket on Seahawks.net. Sometimes I was right. And you know how much satisfaction I got out of it? None. The Seahawks had lost, and having seen it coming bore no comfort. I gradually came to realize that while some people appreciated a level approach and an educated opinion, I was also crapping on a lot of Joes. Taking away from people's enjoyment of the game merely to indulge my contrarian personality. Who the hell was I to limit people's expectations of a game known for the phrase "Any Given Sunday"?<br />
<br />
That's purely about me. I make no such judgments on Morgan. But he asks at one point, <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: #f4cccc;">Is it better to escape expectations, be neither optimistic nor pessimistic, and approach each season with neutrality?</span></blockquote>
<br />
Look at the 70,000 deafening faithful keeping the games from blackout every week, Morgan. What do <em>you </em>think?<br />
<br />
I'm quite confident that without the unflagging hope that ignores logic and defies prediction, the NFL would wither. The Jaguars certainly would, were it not for the few faithful to whom "through thick and thin" is a badge of honor. And it certainly wouldn't carry the Any Given Sunday aura. People hope because even irrational hope has been known to precede triumph. And when it does, is not that triumph even sweeter? Does everyone drive home from such a game feeling utterly cheated just because it's unlikely to occur again next week? I spoke at length about how we weren't likely to beat the Saints two years ago. When the Beastquake occurred, it became more than just an unexpected win. It became one of this century's defining sports moments.<br />
<br />
The NFL belongs to everyone. Uninformed, irrational, decidedly nonsystematic hope is the birthright of every football fan. We can be knowledgeable, we can be smart. But let's leave dictation to the things that matter, like politics and education. This is football. It's where we go in our off-time to believe that we're a part of something. And we are.<br />
<br />
The dating scene disgruntles me. I don't welcome the prospect of heartbreak. I'm sick of it. But I must allow the possibility, even embrace it, if I'm going to win the prize. And upon winning that prize, the disappointments of the past, even the ones I should have seen coming and guarded against, become ennobled. As the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band had it, "Others who broke my heart, they were like northern stars". <br />
<br />
And when Russell Wilson hoists the Lombardi Trophy THIS YEAR (yes, I went there, a concrete prediction, right up to the part where he can't raise it any higher than Jeremy Lane's head) I don't want to be that sadsack who was on the outside of the hope. I want to say I believed. THIS YEAR. Nobody's thinking about 2014 right now.<br />
<br />
I cannot believe that anyone would tell other people how to hope. I don't care how veiled, hinted, subtle, disguised, qualified, tentative, glancing, or implied the suggestion is. It's ridiculous. And it's not all that terribly intellectual. Anyone who does so is simply raining on parades.<br />
<br />
Think this all just a little too...emotional?<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="; imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="199" src="; width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Here's a picture of me trying to care.<br />
<br />
<br />
GO HAWKS!2013/08/hope-hype-and-super-bowl-aka-put-sock.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)348tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012469417215497172.post-6901830627517959212Mon, 04 Feb 2013 23:12:00 +00002013-02-04T15:15:39.378-08:00Closing Down the BlogThe 2012 season has come to a close, and there's no way to view it as anything but a whopping success for the Seattle Seahawks. Against all seeming odds, we have found our quarterback of the future. We have a defense loaded with talent. Our offense is well-defined and resilient. And both sides of the ball are still on the way up, with our team philosophy firmly in place.<br />
<br />
It's a great note on which to end my brief career as a football blogger.<br />
<br />
Every once in a while, it's good to take note of what you're doing and ask whether you're making the most of your time and talent. The world is a struggling place, and needs each one of us to be exactly who we are, in the best manner we can manage. Perhaps that sentence makes football bloggers sound superfluous, but I don't think it has to be that way. Guys like the ones at Fieldgulls obviously have a life beyond football. They're contributing. Football is a passion for them that moves them to write, elevates others' thinking, lets us support our team and our cause in a smart and well-informed way.<br />
<br />
But when I started asking myself questions about maximizing my time and resources, my answers didn't fall in the same place. I'm a teacher. If there's one area of education that we could address <i>before</i> reflexively looking to blame government and money allocation, it would be teacher work ethic. The profession is filled with teachers who are checked out, phoning it in, going through the motions. They are shortchanging students of their highest potential and making harder the jobs of every teacher who comes after them. These kids are our country's futur