Game 6: Seahawks vs Cardinals *nsfw again edition

[Danny Darko]

VS.


*I've decided that the 'Hawk hooters stays until proven a loser after the Bears game.

Game 6 at Qwesticle will test the new found success and belief that the Seahawks may have started to dial in Pete's formula. The battle of the birds will sort some of the NFC west out, featuring an undrafted rookie FA QB and his league best at no false starts O-line vs the loudest stadium in the NFL, a stifling run defense, and Beastmode.

Injury update:

Seahawks-
Mebane (DT) still looks gimpy with a calf injury. Jennings (CB) has also remained out of practice with advanced midget hamstring. Dexter Davis also has his weakly muscle pull.

Cards
WR Early Doucet (groin) is still recovering from surgery. Arizona is otherwise fairly healthy.


Things to Watch:

1-Cards O-Line vs noise and DB blitzes. Expect some safety blitzes and stunts to apply pressure. The Cards have the leagues fewest false starts, but I look for that to change or for Clemons and Lawyer to blow into the back field by the slugs.

2-Beast Mode, Beast Mode, Beast Mode- can he put up some yardage at home? If not can he continue to make Forsett a more dangerous runner by fighting for hard yardage on early downs?

3-Max Media Darling Hall. Can we deflate the legend of the next Curt Warner? (then again this guy might be equally good at bagging groceries)

4-Russell Okung did his best Big Walt impersonation last week vs Peppers. In his second full game can he pave the way to more clock hogging marches down field while keeping Matt upright?

5-Can Mike Williams continue to produce and lead the comeback player of the year race?

6-Tate the returner- He's had some very dumb plays back there, I look for him to wise up or lose that job this week.

7-Curry- you got a sack buddy! Get another one and people will at least stop all the bust labeling for 7 days... maybe.



Predictions-

17-3 Seattle. Arizona's offense looks anemic and 12th man will stack the deck against Max Pain.

[Bulltalk]

Hawks in a BLOWOUT 31-10.

[Danny Darko]

jeez even Risdon thinks we'll blow this one out. Now I'm concerned. haha.

[Bulltalk]

I haven't felt so good about a Seahawks' game in a long while. Here we're playing the division champs of the last few years, we can claim 1st place for ourselves, and we're doing surprisingly well so far this year with all of the personnel changes. I think the crowd is going to be pumped up, and I think we're poised for a dominant victory. I look for a big game from our secondary. I could see at least 2 interceptions coming from Trufant and Thomas. I think we're going to get after their QB, force mistakes out of him.

God this game is going to be fun, come what may.

PS> I appreciate the game threads.

[Bulltalk]

Locklear almost singlehandedly screwed up that last drive. First the false start on 1st down and goal from the 1-2 yard line, then a missed block on the 3rd down running play.

Oh well.

[Bulltalk]

The play-calling is annoying me a little bit early on. Not a lot, just a little. We didn't even run the ball that last drive in the rain and wind.

[Bulltalk]

We need some good running, and more Carlson this drive.

[Bulltalk]

16-0 Seahawks. But OMG! This is one of the sloppiest, most inconsistent and disjointed games I've seen in awhile by both teams.

[Bulltalk]

Sean Locklear has sucked today.

[Danny Darko]

yup Lock was back to his bs self. He screwed Lynch out of 40 yards on holds alone and Hass did take a pounding.

I also concur that the early play calling totally went away from the run (especially on 1st down) leading to predictable 3rd and longs that the D jumped on. Lame in weather especially.

Williams looks like he wants a special year, actually. What hands on the TD and that 3rd down turnaround catch. Lynch was a hard driver again, Butler showed up a bit, and Clemons just wiped the memories of Tapp clean.

That being said, our run D was a little vulnerable, Hass was wayyy slow, and our TE's looked like garbage. Baker freaking rolled over Okung's other ankle and that will cost us alot, Morah with consecutive holding calls, and Carlson.... did he even play? Dear McCoy... please develop soon.

[Sweezo]

Went to the game today! What fun...the weather was lousy but it was great to watch. I wanted Max Hall to learn a lesson, and I think that mission was accomplished.

The team still has some work to do, but a win is a win.

Our young defensive backfield looks awesome. Thomas just make plays. I enjoyed seeing one play right off the bat where Trufant was lined up and the Cardinals sent another man in motion to the same side. Thomas raced over, tapped on Trufant, switched up the coverage...and the audible perfectly covered the play call. We've seen him show great range and the ability to make picks, but as the season wears on we get to see that he can use his speed to get in the backfield and he has the smarts to analyze what an offense is doing and react.

And Thurmond? He's developing. His size and range is an improvement over Jennings in a big way.

Mike Williams is a beast. And oh how I enjoyed seeing SEATTLE sending a big WR out there and forcing the other team to stop him physically. Fitzgerald's done that to us for years...and today was our turn.

Watching Hass get flustered, double/triple/infinity clutch and a take a sack when the pass pro was adequate was irritating. We have these weapons on offense now...I wish we had a strong armed QB with the ability to get the ball to them. Hass can hit the slant, but every thing else is a question right now.

[TTown]

At least we get the Raiders next week, it's always nice to get that extra bye wee... wait, Oakland beat Denver by how much yesterday?

[Bulltalk]

Went to the game today! What fun...the weather was lousy but it was great to watch. I wanted Max Hall to learn a lesson, and I think that mission was accomplished.

The team still has some work to do, but a win is a win.

Our young defensive backfield looks awesome. Thomas just make plays. I enjoyed seeing one play right off the bat where Trufant was lined up and the Cardinals sent another man in motion to the same side. Thomas raced over, tapped on Trufant, switched up the coverage...and the audible perfectly covered the play call. We've seen him show great range and the ability to make picks, but as the season wears on we get to see that he can use his speed to get in the backfield and he has the smarts to analyze what an offense is doing and react.

And Thurmond? He's developing. His size and range is an improvement over Jennings in a big way.

Mike Williams is a beast. And oh how I enjoyed seeing SEATTLE sending a big WR out there and forcing the other team to stop him physically. Fitzgerald's done that to us for years...and today was our turn.

Watching Hass get flustered, double/triple/infinity clutch and a take a sack when the pass pro was adequate was irritating. We have these weapons on offense now...I wish we had a strong armed QB with the ability to get the ball to them. Hass can hit the slant, but every thing else is a question right now.

Yes Sweezo. It's great to see our defensive secondary turning from a negative into a positive in such a short amount of time. It may be the biggest feather in our new management's cap. Thurmond looks like the real deal, though we can expect rookie mistakes off and on for the rest of the season. Trufant and Thurmond make a nice pair of starting corners. Add to that Thomas (OMG! what a pick!), and the leadership of an aging but still productive Milloy, Babineaux, and the rest of the bunch...not too shabby. I think I'll take that over the Jennings and our former safety combo of yesteryear.

I've been peaking ahead to the draft next spring, and it looks like it's pretty deep at the DE position. It will be very interesting to see where we end up slotted at year's end. We *should* be able to get one of the top 3 QB's or top 4-5 DE's ends next spring in the first round. It's nice that we won't have to be looking for either a RB, CB, LB, TE, or S in the first two rounds. I suppose we could still take a top OLman/DT under the best-player-available rubrik rather than a DE or QB, but it's looking like we can really focus on those two needs in the first two rounds.

A win's a win. Our offense did go somewhat surprisingly limp after the first possession, but it came back around later in the 3rd quarter. Williams...I'm hesitant to say it, but could we have a #1 receiver now? We'll see. You gotta think that he'll just get better as the season progresses.

4-2. I'll take it now. We do, however, have a tough series of games ahead of us. 9-7 is looking possible. Dare I say it, but we've got to be the early favorites for winning the division now. Who'd-a-thunk?

[Danny Darko]

Division Favs? Let's look:

Cards- their QB situation will suck all year. (way to let leinart go). Their rb situation is avg, their o-line is aging and slow, and their strength is D and WR. The QB thing negates the WR's so unless Hall develops quick(don't think so though) they are about done over the long haul.

49'ers- Head cases. The most talented team on paper, but they have alot of divas and a weird weird coach. Considering their current record, I'd say stick a fork in em.

Rams- Well, considering they have a special QB in the works and a good D and a good RB they may actually get tougher throughout the year and they do have a win against us. That being said any rookie QB will struggle and we have a coaching edge imo.

Us- we have a nice running game 3 deep, a workable vet QB, some good and getting better WRs, a serviceable O-line (except Locklear), and a good D (especially if Tru stays healthy and Thurmond looks like he did vs the Cards), and a coach I really think is a big advantage. Don't forget one of the better special teams in the league (though the kick returns are a little suspect right now)

I'd say we got this, but we'll have to shore up the secondary and get Matt looking better to do anything beyond win the division.

[Sweezo]

I've been peaking ahead to the draft next spring, and it looks like it's pretty deep at the DE position. It will be very interesting to see where we end up slotted at year's end. We *should* be able to get one of the top 3 QB's or top 4-5 DE's ends next spring in the first round. It's nice that we won't have to be looking for either a RB, CB, LB, TE, or S in the first two rounds. I suppose we could still take a top OLman/DT under the best-player-available rubrik rather than a DE or QB, but it's looking like we can really focus on those two needs in the first two rounds.

The DE question is an interesting. What does Carroll look for in a DE? Or a DT in general? Bryant isn't really a typical DE, but he's been fantastic. Mebane's a double team drawing DT. Cole clogs the lane against the run...but maybe you can find a better DT to put on beside Mebane, and then upgrade at the LEO spot. Or pull Curry up to the LEO spot and see about adding in another LB. So many options...

DE/DT, QB, RT, and G are the main areas we need to focus on in the draft IMO. Do that, lock up Mike Williams, and watch out.

[Danny Darko]

Mankins will be available... if we grab him as a FA then he's the starting G and backup/3rd LT. This could allow us to replace Locklear with Andrews at RT and use our draft on the DE or QB spots.

[Danny Darko]

My explanation of Matt's sacks vs the cards:

Pete: "Hey Matt, you know when in doubt don't throw. Take the hit if you have to instead"
Matt: "Fine, but you do know that Locklear is over there on the right playing tackle?"
Pete: "You'll be fine, you're 6'4" 220lbs and know how to take a hit"
Matt: "Those guys are alot bigger than 220, Pete"
Pete: "Matt, take the hit if you have to, even if you think hey it's a 25 yard throw to a wide open man- remember it hurts to throw the ball very far at your age"
Matt: "Pete you can still throw 50 yards!"
Pete: "But I'm pumped and Jacked, you're bald and noodle armed"
Matt: "Jeesh, ok Pete whatever"
Charlie: "Psssst Pete, you said he wouldn't last past Arizona"
Pete: "Patience my son, you will be starting by the end of the NY game"