Game 3: Seahawks vs Arizona

[Danny Darko]

VS.


Sock for Luck!

Operation "Play sub-par for a future QB star" is well under way in Seattle.

After a brutal game in Pittsburg the Seahawks come home for a battle of the birds... possible for the birds.

Play Action Jackson has relieved Aaron Curry of his role as official Seahawk whipping boy, and in related news KJ Wright has replaced Curry as starting strong side linebacker. The Cardinals will be showing off their new QB who the Seahawks had targeted last offseason as the Seahawks, Chiefs, and Colts look right past him to the draft class of 2012. That being said, the Hawks have a home field advantage and the Cards have a Defense that even Jackson has scorched. If the Seahawks are winning a close game will we see Okung replaced by Curry and Thomas replaced by Pete himself "oops i missed that tackle! shucks".


Injury update:



Seahawks-

Sidney Rice (WR) is looking like he may play, Michael Robinson (fb) is out with an ankle sprain. Gallery (LG) out with groin injury.

Cardinals

or the Cardinals, tight end Jim Dray (pectoral) and wide receiver Chansi Stuckey (hamstring) did not practice and five players were limited: linebackers Daryl Washington (calf) and Joey Porter (knee), wide receiver DeMarco Sampson (hamstring), running back LaRod Stephens-Howling (hand) and Wells (hamstring).

Things to Watch:

1-Rice Rice baby
Sidney Rice looks ready to go despite a labrum. Will he be any good? Will he aggravate the injury and get shut down for the year? Can Jackson get the ball to him?

2-Crowd animosity.
Will this be a 12th man crowd or an angry mob if things don't get going well early?

3-Charlie? if it's ugly by 3rd quarter and Jackson becomes public enemy #1 do we get to watch some Football Jesus take over as lame duck QB?

4-KJ Wright
He's taking over the sam spot it looks like. He should be better in coverage

5-Browner
He's going to have to keep his hands on guys early and get them off guys down field or Walter Thurmond might just unseat him this game.

6-O Line shuffle
Yawn same topic different game, but relevant none the less


Predictions-

We kill them, it's our only win of the year and it still robs us of Luck.
Seattle 31-Arizona 14

[Sweezo]

Play Action Jackson has relieved Aaron Curry of his role as official Seahawk whipping boy, and in related news KJ Wright has replaced Curry as starting strong side linebacker.

Of course. Now we'll trade Curry to the Lions for a 7th rounder or something.

An interesting note while listening to KJR this morning on the commute: Hugh Millen pointed out that of the 20 pass plays the 'Hawks ran last week, Z. Miller was left in to block on 14 of them. And he was primarily assigned to block block the DE, while Okung basically acted as a guard.

Why are we doing this? Sure the line needs help but we didn't hand Zach Miller a bunch of money to be a blocking TE. He's one of the best pass catching TE in the league, so we leave him in not as a helper block but as someone actually assigned to block a DE in single coverage?

Commence the countdown to Miller tearing his ACL when caught by a bullrush by [pick a defensive end]. This season is start to remind me of the Mora year where the line was a shambles and we ended up leaving Carlson in to block all the time. That worked fantastically.

[Bulltalk]

You're beautiful, Darko. I appreciate your game threads. A staple.

[Bulltalk]

I admit it. I'm a Hugh Millen fan. He's long-winded as can be, but he's good about it. And he will out of the blue come up with this one-liner that will make me laugh my arse off. And he's a HUGE Husky fan.

On a side note, my indispensable blogs for the Seahawks, Mariners, and Huskies are Danny O'Neil, Geoff Baker, and Bob Condotta. They are just all things to these teams.

What are yours?

Monday morning QB with Mitch Levy, Hugh Millen and Bob Condotta is great for the Huskies, as is the the Thursday roundtable with Mitch, Hugh, and gang.

Anyway...

[Bulltalk]

Wow! I was stunned (though probably shouldn't have been) that Curry was replaced in the starting lineup by KJ Wright. Curry is officially, without reservation, a BUST!

You know me. I wasn't big on the Curry pick back then.

[Sweezo]

I admit it. I'm a Hugh Millen fan. He's long-winded as can be, but he's good about it. And he will out of the blue come up with this one-liner that will make me laugh my arse off. And he's a HUGE Husky fan.

Not a huge Millen fan...it kind of depends on what the topic is. In terms of actual analysis, the guy brings up good points and I really enjoy it when he does that. But when he veers into talking about how important Hass is/was [which he does...alot] I sort of tune him out. If he was working in a position where he wasn't emotionally invested in the team or certain players, I think he'd be very good.

On a side note, my indispensable blogs for the Seahawks, Mariners, and Huskies are Danny O'Neil, Geoff Baker, and Bob Condotta. They are just all things to these teams.

What are yours?

Monday morning QB with Mitch Levy, Hugh Millen and Bob Condotta is great for the Huskies, as is the the Thursday roundtable with Mitch, Hugh, and gang.

Anyway...

I do enjoy the Thursday roundtable as it's a good mix of personalities. Danny's one of my favorite beat reporters. Geoff Baker does a great job on the air but sometimes he gets a little too self important on his blog. My favorite M's reporter is Drayer...she doesn't blog a ton but when she does she has an angle that no one else seems to have.

I'm struggling for a good 'Hawks blog. I miss John Morgan's writing...I thought his tape breakdowns were superb.

[Danny Darko]

Hahah I'm so glad you care!

I agree with the points on Miller, we need to abandon that route or risk losing his mind and his body.

The Curry move is interesting to me in that it really hurts his trade value if he doesn't respond by being an absolute beast

[Sweezo]

The Curry move is interesting to me in that it really hurts his trade value if he doesn't respond by being an absolute beast

Why don't they just try him at the LEO spot?

[Danny Darko]

especially with Clemons seeming a little slower on that ankle.

[Sweezo]

Beanie Wells is officially out. So that's interesting. The Seahawks defense is clearly better at defending the run, and the Cardinals will likely be airing it out today.

[Bulltalk]

Our offense is spectacularly uneventful.

[Sweezo]

Our offense is spectacularly uneventful.

Yep. Looks like we might win, and look completely awful doing it.

Sidney Rice looks great though. Wish we had a QB who could get him the ball on something more than a 7-10 yard route.

[Bulltalk]

Looking back, if this hideous win costed us Andrew Luck, I will officially give up on the thought of my favorite NFL team ever having a great QB. I was a Bear fan growing up in Chicago, and then a Hawk fan in the 2nd half of my life. Hasselbeck is the best QB I've ever had to root for. Always envious at the teams that had a Montana, Marino, Manning, Staubach, Brady, Namath, Brees, Rodgers, Bradshaw, etc, etc, etc...

[Sweezo]

As ugly as it was at times, there were some good things to take from it. Sidney Rice looks legit. Baldwin and Tate continue to look better too. If we had a QB who could get the ball to our WR corps we might be able to score, oh, more than 13 points a game at home when playing one of the worst pass defenses in the league.

Earl Thomas has looked great all year, and today Chancellor was his equal. He made a great read to make a pick when it was needed, and absolutely cleaned Todd Heap's clock on a completely clean play that drew a flag because the referees now determine penalties based on the aftermath instead of what actually happened.

The running game looked better, too. If Lynch wouldn't stretch so many plays along the line of scrimmage he might go over 100 yards one of these days. The line's slowly blocking better each week.

The pass rush also showed signs of existence, maybe because Clemons is finally getting his ankle in game shape.

Looking back, if this hideous win costed us Andrew Luck, I will officially give up on the thought of my favorite NFL team ever having a great QB. I was a Bear fan growing up in Chicago, and then a Hawk fan in the 2nd half of my life. Hasselbeck is the best QB I've ever had to root for. Always envious at the teams that had a Montana, Marino, Manning, Staubach, Brady, Namath, Brees, Rodgers, Bradshaw, etc, etc, etc...

A point made by a caller or two on the KIRO post-game show, which drew much scoffing by the esteemed panel of radio hosts. And then the defending of Tarvaris commenced, with much bluster about his toughness on the play where he scored his TD.

Who cares about toughness? I want a QB who is intelligent, poised, and can make throws downfield. No one wants a QB with a glassjaw but talent is far more important than anything else.

We put up 171 passing yards today at home against the Cardinals, a team that had given up just under 350 yards passing on average entering today. I know, those numbers were put up by such established stars as Cam Newton [in his very first start for the worst team in the league in '10] and THE Rex Grossman...

Ridiculous. We won today because we were [1] at home and [2] the defense showed up. That's it.

[bennith13]

It is fun knowing that we have a good defense now and that it will only get better with all of the young guys we have. I love the fact that we are no longer drafting little people solely based on their good character. Our defense is starting to have the kind of size that someone playing madden would put together. After years of wishing we had a good defense it looks like we might get that.

However.... I still kind of wish we lost...

Is that bad? Well I don't care. I keep hearing on the radio and reading in the paper about how "real" fans should want their team to win always. Why? so we can be stuck in mediocrity forever? Every team that is now good at some point was really bad. They had to be to get their star player(s). I just want to be epically bad this year so we can be epically good for the next decade. I mean, news flash, we aren't winning the superbowl this year. Lets suck for luck!

[Danny Darko]

yeah i knew we'd try to win this game, I couldn't blame the team and I also fully lament that this may have cost us Luck knowing that after week three teams will get competitive about losing (sadly).

Observations:

1. Tjack is tough, unafriad, and way below average QB IQ. I'm glad staring down Sidney Rice worked mainly just to prove Rice's ability and health. But no real looks all year for Mike Williams and almost never a second read that works out? pretty yeeesh.

2. Kam and Earl are probably the best safety tandem in the league. This is only a surprise due to how witty Kam is playing.

3. Carp looks alot better and is even getting down field for 2nd tier blocks. He still needs to work on leverage and leg sweeping in pass protection.

4. Browner responded nicely and to me, if Earl doesn't knock him out of the way on the jump ball to Fitzgerald Browner has the deflection.


Now let's handicap the early Luck race. Removing the teams that like their QB and would trade the pick or pass on Luck:

Minnesota- I think they are too good on D and in the run game to be a true luck contender. Peterson would have to go down and Ponder would have to take over and really suck for them to enter the picture imo.

KC- Hmmm yup these guys look like their QB is in the doghouse and their team is looking ugly which means they may turn on Haley. I've got them first in the race right now.

Indy- Pray that Manning comes back. He could certainly ruin their chances with a second half return to health.

Miami- I'm sure they will try to win next week. They have been in all of their games, but... they probably have the toughest schedule of all the 0-3 teams left on schedule and clearly would love Luck... damnit.

Den- They have a win and several games vs KC and Miami. I think they are out of the sweepstakes.

Seattle- in the bizarro world that is the suck for Luck, we have already won a game and have a pretty good D, so damn. I'm "worried" that we play Arizona again, Cinci, Cleveland, and twice vs the rams. Let's say any of those teams can beat us on the road, but Cinci and a Rams game are both at the Clink. I honestly think we end up with a 3 win year and pick 3 or4 which will be the pits and may not even give us Barkley who is not the same thing as getting Luck.

[bennith13]

I know, I think someone is going to end up with only 1 or 2 wins.

[Bulltalk]

Now let's handicap the early Luck race. Removing the teams that like their QB and would trade the pick or pass on Luck:

Minnesota- I think they are too good on D and in the run game to be a true luck contender. Peterson would have to go down and Ponder would have to take over and really suck for them to enter the picture imo.

KC- Hmmm yup these guys look like their QB is in the doghouse and their team is looking ugly which means they may turn on Haley. I've got them first in the race right now.

Indy- Pray that Manning comes back. He could certainly ruin their chances with a second half return to health.

Miami- I'm sure they will try to win next week. They have been in all of their games, but... they probably have the toughest schedule of all the 0-3 teams left on schedule and clearly would love Luck... damnit.

Den- They have a win and several games vs KC and Miami. I think they are out of the sweepstakes.

Seattle- in the bizarro world that is the suck for Luck, we have already won a game and have a pretty good D, so damn. I'm "worried" that we play Arizona again, Cinci, Cleveland, and twice vs the rams. Let's say any of those teams can beat us on the road, but Cinci and a Rams game are both at the Clink. I honestly think we end up with a 3 win year and pick 3 or4 which will be the pits and may not even give us Barkley who is not the same thing as getting Luck.

I think you're pretty close to my early diagnosis in the Luck sweepstakes. Here are my top fears on how we lose out on it:

1) Miami (0-3)

Miami, it seems to me, would take Luck if they had the chance. With Buffalo playing well now, it's hard to see them getting any wins in their own division.

2) Kansas City (0-3)

It's a tossup between KC and Miami for the top spot at the moment. I think KC has a slightly less difficult schedule than MIami, so I put them just behind. I'm confident they would pick Luck had they the #1 pick.

3) Indy (0-3)

Manning's possible return will play big in this drama. For that reason, and because they've been a winning franchise of late, I rank them in this spot.

4) Seattle (1-2)

If our defense wasn't playing as respectable as they are, and if we weren't playing in such an abysmally weak division, I'd rank them a little higher. The loss to the Cards was an early pivotal point for them in the Luck sweepstakes. I saw a loss to the Cards at home as kind of embarking on our maiden voyage for Luck.

5) Denver (1-2)

They're definitely competitors, and it seems would surely choose Luck if they had the chance to.

6) Arizona (1-2)

Well they lost to us.

7) Minnesota (0-3)

I think they're better than the teams above, and will find some wins along the way.

8) Cincinnati (1-2)

Would they pick Luck if they finished with the worst record? Not entirely sure. But they're in contention for the worst record.

9) Jacksonville (1-2)

Ditto.

10) Rams (0-3)

Doubt they would choose Luck.

11) Cleveland (2-1)

Still capable of tailspinning.

12) Carolina (1-2)

Doubt they would choose Luck if they ended with the worst record.


This will change wildly over the next month or so. I think we pretty much have to lose to both Atlanta at home and the Giants on the road before our bye-week to remain solidly in the Luck sweepstakes. Then will come our true tests after the bye-week with games against Cleveland and Cincinnati to see if we really are in the thick of the hunt. If we go 1-6 in our first 7 games, we're still in it, IMO. If we go 2-5 in our first 7 games, then we're teetering out of contention for Luck, but still in the Barkley/Jones sweepstakes.

[bennith13]

After watching the USC - ASU game I feel even more strongly that we need to make the playoffs or lose every game. Luck or bust.