Thursday, August 28, 2008
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Respect For Seattle's Five Playoff Births in Five Years
After a Peter King-inspired rant by TheBigLead sparked a fire (with the kindling laid by Tirico monday night), I thought I might deal with some revisionist history as to how easy Seattle's path to the playoffs have been over the last five years.
2003 - Seattle (10-6) grabs a wild-card birth. The NFC West-winning Rams have the second seed in the playoffs, and the NFC West has the best average winning percentage of the four NFC divisions.
2004 - Seattle (9-7) grabs its first division title since 1999. The NFC West again sends two teams to the playoffs.
2005 - Domination. Seattle (13-3) goes 10-2 against the NFC in the regular season and goes on to win the NFC, concluding with a ridiculous blow-out of the national media's darling team, the Carolina Panthers. Wha happened?
2006 - Seattle (9-7) wins a third-straight division. For all the talk of the NFC West being weak, it had teams with 9, 8, 7, and 5 wins. Meanwhile, the 'powerhouse' NFC East had teams with 10, 9, 8, and 5 wins. Not much difference. Also, the NFC East went 1-3 in the playoffs, with the one win coming when two NFC East teams played each other. Oh, and Seattle beat an NFC East team in the playoffs.
2007 - Seattle (10-6) earns its easiest playoff birth by going 5-1 in a horrendous division. No way to make this one look tough.
Mainstream NFL commentary is a lot of 'what have you done for me lately?' All the Seahawks have done lately is make the playoffs five years in a row. Maybe the national media should put two and two together and consider Seattle's 7-3 record against Arizona over the past five years when wondering why the Cardinals continually fail to meet expectations.
2003 - Seattle (10-6) grabs a wild-card birth. The NFC West-winning Rams have the second seed in the playoffs, and the NFC West has the best average winning percentage of the four NFC divisions.
2004 - Seattle (9-7) grabs its first division title since 1999. The NFC West again sends two teams to the playoffs.
2005 - Domination. Seattle (13-3) goes 10-2 against the NFC in the regular season and goes on to win the NFC, concluding with a ridiculous blow-out of the national media's darling team, the Carolina Panthers. Wha happened?
2006 - Seattle (9-7) wins a third-straight division. For all the talk of the NFC West being weak, it had teams with 9, 8, 7, and 5 wins. Meanwhile, the 'powerhouse' NFC East had teams with 10, 9, 8, and 5 wins. Not much difference. Also, the NFC East went 1-3 in the playoffs, with the one win coming when two NFC East teams played each other. Oh, and Seattle beat an NFC East team in the playoffs.
2007 - Seattle (10-6) earns its easiest playoff birth by going 5-1 in a horrendous division. No way to make this one look tough.
Mainstream NFL commentary is a lot of 'what have you done for me lately?' All the Seahawks have done lately is make the playoffs five years in a row. Maybe the national media should put two and two together and consider Seattle's 7-3 record against Arizona over the past five years when wondering why the Cardinals continually fail to meet expectations.
Seattle's Soft Media
Mike Tirico made some comments last night that flew right past me, but really hit a nerve with some people at KJR. To paraphrase, Tirico suggested that Seattle's media wouldn't be as aggressive in pursuing the Holmgren vs. Mora narrative should the Seahawks stumble out of the gates. He specifically made reference to some of the larger east coast cities (Boston, New York, Philadelphia, etc) as examples of 'tough' media markets, and specifically referred to them as towns 'with multiple newspapers and sports radio' (that's a near-exact quote, taken from memory from hearing it 20 times on Mitch's show).
As I said, what Tirico said didn't initially bother me, but as I listened to it again (repeatedly), the sheer ridiculousness of the statement, and the ignorance it reveals, did get to me a bit. Anybody that's familiar with Seattle sports media would know, at a bare minimum, that the Seattle Times and Seattle P.I. cover all Seattle-area sports (that's two, Tirico). In reality, three major papers cover Seattle sports - those two plus the Tacoma News Tribune - as do a number of smaller papers (the Everett Herald comes to mind). As for sports radio, KJR is a highly-rated sports talk station in the 11th largest media market (I learned that from the Sonics trial). And, as Mitch pointed out, New York has only one full-time local sports talk station (WFAN).
So, I can whine about this, but in reality I'm hardly bothered about it. I'm used to Seattle getting treated like it's in Alaska by the generics in the national media. I grew up in Seattle, spending the first 19 years of my life upset (not really, but kind of, in a sports way) that the national media had an east coast bias. Then I moved to LA, where I've spent the last 8 years and gained some perspective.
There certainly is some bias, but it's not purely directed at the east coast. Los Angeles teams have no problems getting noticed. Bay Area teams are equally covered. To some extent, San Diego teams are well represented. Hell, just look at the Arizona Cardinals, a team that the national media has repeatedly despite real evidence to support such sentiments. It's not an east coast bias. It's an anything-but-the-provincial-northwest bias.
Seattle really is ridiculously far away from all other parts of the counter. If you were to calculate the expected value of a United States citizen in the contiguous 48 states, Seattle would surely be the furthest (major) city from. Combine such proximity with Seattle's reputation as a gloomy city (never mind that it's the most beautiful place on earth during the summer) and its lack of a reputation as a destination city (no conventions, no industry hubs, a tourism industry hurt by its rainy reputation) and you get a discarded sports market.
As I said, what Tirico said didn't initially bother me, but as I listened to it again (repeatedly), the sheer ridiculousness of the statement, and the ignorance it reveals, did get to me a bit. Anybody that's familiar with Seattle sports media would know, at a bare minimum, that the Seattle Times and Seattle P.I. cover all Seattle-area sports (that's two, Tirico). In reality, three major papers cover Seattle sports - those two plus the Tacoma News Tribune - as do a number of smaller papers (the Everett Herald comes to mind). As for sports radio, KJR is a highly-rated sports talk station in the 11th largest media market (I learned that from the Sonics trial). And, as Mitch pointed out, New York has only one full-time local sports talk station (WFAN).
So, I can whine about this, but in reality I'm hardly bothered about it. I'm used to Seattle getting treated like it's in Alaska by the generics in the national media. I grew up in Seattle, spending the first 19 years of my life upset (not really, but kind of, in a sports way) that the national media had an east coast bias. Then I moved to LA, where I've spent the last 8 years and gained some perspective.
There certainly is some bias, but it's not purely directed at the east coast. Los Angeles teams have no problems getting noticed. Bay Area teams are equally covered. To some extent, San Diego teams are well represented. Hell, just look at the Arizona Cardinals, a team that the national media has repeatedly despite real evidence to support such sentiments. It's not an east coast bias. It's an anything-but-the-provincial-northwest bias.
Seattle really is ridiculously far away from all other parts of the counter. If you were to calculate the expected value of a United States citizen in the contiguous 48 states, Seattle would surely be the furthest (major) city from. Combine such proximity with Seattle's reputation as a gloomy city (never mind that it's the most beautiful place on earth during the summer) and its lack of a reputation as a destination city (no conventions, no industry hubs, a tourism industry hurt by its rainy reputation) and you get a discarded sports market.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Long-Snapper Schmitt to Injured Reserve
The Seahawks trimmed their roster to 75 today, with the one notable 'cut' being long-snapper Tyler Schmitt. That's a disappointment. Schmitt was supposed to make us forget the Seahawks had a long snapper. Now we start the year with a guy we signed just to fill in until Schmitt got healthy.
Behind only the playoff loss to the Packers and the defeat-snatched-from-the-jaws-of-victory loss to Arizona, the loss to New Orleans was difficult to watch. The Saints definitely came ready to play, the momentum for the entire first half was set when Boone Stutz botched a snap to Plackemeier and the Saints got an easy touchdown. I know players are supposed to persevere, not let stuff like that get them down, but momentum is a palpable source of energy in the NFL, and that bad snap completely let the air out of the Hawks, never mind all of Qwest Field.
Maybe it was just me, but it seemed like the Chargers were getting awfully close to the punter last night. That could just be bad blocking (they did give up two blocked punts against Chicago). I sure hope it's not the snapper.
Behind only the playoff loss to the Packers and the defeat-snatched-from-the-jaws-of-victory loss to Arizona, the loss to New Orleans was difficult to watch. The Saints definitely came ready to play, the momentum for the entire first half was set when Boone Stutz botched a snap to Plackemeier and the Saints got an easy touchdown. I know players are supposed to persevere, not let stuff like that get them down, but momentum is a palpable source of energy in the NFL, and that bad snap completely let the air out of the Hawks, never mind all of Qwest Field.
Maybe it was just me, but it seemed like the Chargers were getting awfully close to the punter last night. That could just be bad blocking (they did give up two blocked punts against Chicago). I sure hope it's not the snapper.
Burleson From the Slot
For having watched the play at least 10 times, I'm not sure how I missed that Burleson's TD catch came when he was lined up in the slot. (And as I rewatch the play again, Jordan Kent was the other slot receiver, with Mo Morris and Courtney Taylor wide).
[Burleson] also said he was working in the slot for the first time this week and he was in the slot when he caught his TD pass. He said it gives them more options on offense. He said he was tutored this week by Ben Obomanu because he forgot some of the plays at that spot. - Seahawks InsiderCould Burleson, who has played slot previously with other teams, be being asked to play slot for a couple of games as a way to get Jordan Kent in the game? My point isn't helped by Jordan Kent also running from the slot on that play, but I have a hard time believing Kent would play much in the slot. Unless he's asked to run down the middle of the field each time, playing in the slot would neutralize Kent's speed and size advantages.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Last Tape-Delay Entry, Unless Overtime Comes
The second team defense has a shot to come up with a big stop after the untimely fumble by Forsett. Kevin Hobbs just made a nice play to almost pick off a pass. Man, I only got two sentences written before the defense forced fourth down. Chargers are punting... from the 40? I guess that's right in that in-between area, just outside of field goal range.
No magic for Justin Forsett tonight, running the ball or returning kicks.
Hobbs just made what looked like a beautiful play to break up a long pass in the endzone, but a flag was thrown. He touched the receiver but he didn't redirect the receiver at all. That hurts for the game, but that should grade out well for Hobbs. The Seahawks really have great depth at corner right now. No more signing of forest rangers (or whatever) to play significant time in playoff games.
Hobbs' penalty just led to a touchdown. Chargers going for two to avoid overtime... successful. Damn. Well, two and a half minutes are left to drive for a game-winning field goal. That's got to be doable, right?
ESPN just showed that the Chargers have seven TEs and WRs that are 6'2" or taller. Damn.
The two and a half minute drill just turned into a two minute drill after a single (short) play ran the clock all the way down to the two minute warning. If the Seahawks don't have at least two timeouts, that probably was a bad decision.
I'm surprised to find myself thinking this, but I kind of feel like Charlie Frye would have a better chance at completing this drive than Wallace (if only because Wallace wasn't expecting to play). And, as I write that, Wallace takes a sack and throws an interception. Tough way for a game to end, but it's just the preseason.
And, to add insult to injury, ESPN just said Lofa Tatupu may have a sprained knee. Not good. The games over, so it's time to go find out what's been reported since the game ended 3.5 hours ago. I'll summarize my thoughts on this game probably tomorrow.
No magic for Justin Forsett tonight, running the ball or returning kicks.
Hobbs just made what looked like a beautiful play to break up a long pass in the endzone, but a flag was thrown. He touched the receiver but he didn't redirect the receiver at all. That hurts for the game, but that should grade out well for Hobbs. The Seahawks really have great depth at corner right now. No more signing of forest rangers (or whatever) to play significant time in playoff games.
Hobbs' penalty just led to a touchdown. Chargers going for two to avoid overtime... successful. Damn. Well, two and a half minutes are left to drive for a game-winning field goal. That's got to be doable, right?
ESPN just showed that the Chargers have seven TEs and WRs that are 6'2" or taller. Damn.
The two and a half minute drill just turned into a two minute drill after a single (short) play ran the clock all the way down to the two minute warning. If the Seahawks don't have at least two timeouts, that probably was a bad decision.
I'm surprised to find myself thinking this, but I kind of feel like Charlie Frye would have a better chance at completing this drive than Wallace (if only because Wallace wasn't expecting to play). And, as I write that, Wallace takes a sack and throws an interception. Tough way for a game to end, but it's just the preseason.
And, to add insult to injury, ESPN just said Lofa Tatupu may have a sprained knee. Not good. The games over, so it's time to go find out what's been reported since the game ended 3.5 hours ago. I'll summarize my thoughts on this game probably tomorrow.
Rivers Out, Seahawks Defense Still Struggles
I wrote the title after two plays, so take that with a grain of salt.
Did Frye just duel Rivers to a draw? This performance from Frye is a complete 180 from last week against the Bears.
It looked like Volek was going to complete his second pass attempt, except a linebacker brought the heat and knocked the ball loose. Guess who: David Hawthorne. Love that guy.
Duckett just made his first appearance with three second left in the third quarter. How is this guy not completely redundant given our other backs? As I wrote that, Duckett just got about 23 yards on two carries. Then another seven on his third carry. Perplexing... Haven't seen Forsett on offense at all. What does that mean? Damn, Duckett just had another 10+ yard carry.
Frye's game stats just flashed on the screen: 17/27, 202 yards, 1 TD, roughly through three quarters. That's Hasselbeck quality there. And he's doing a good job of standing tough in the pocket. Roughing the passer penalties don't happen unless the quarterback is willing to take a hit to get a pass off.
Frye just got his second touchdown. Of course it was thrown to Jordan Kent. Kent's made the team. One small problem, though, brought to my attention by Hugh Millen on KJR, is that Kent has been taking most of his reps at Nate Burleson's position (which I think is split end, but I can't remember for sure), who is the one starting receiver not hurt. This means Kent hasn't been groomed to step in for Branch (that's supposed to be Taylor) or Engram (that's Obomanu, Payne, or even Bumpus - another guy I haven't seen yet tonight).
The defense either stepped it up a bit, or the Chargers second team offense drops off significantly from the first unit. Jason Babin gets the first sack (that I can remember) of the night, which is huge given that he's fighting Baraka Adkins for (probably) the last DE roster spot.
Frye is apparently hurt, so we get to see a bit of Seneca Wallace. Nice. Forsett just fumbled. That's sure to piss off Holmgren. Previous to that Courtney Taylor made a nice diving catch that was worth mentioning. Damnit, Forsett, you've got to hold onto that ball.
Did Frye just duel Rivers to a draw? This performance from Frye is a complete 180 from last week against the Bears.
It looked like Volek was going to complete his second pass attempt, except a linebacker brought the heat and knocked the ball loose. Guess who: David Hawthorne. Love that guy.
Duckett just made his first appearance with three second left in the third quarter. How is this guy not completely redundant given our other backs? As I wrote that, Duckett just got about 23 yards on two carries. Then another seven on his third carry. Perplexing... Haven't seen Forsett on offense at all. What does that mean? Damn, Duckett just had another 10+ yard carry.
Frye's game stats just flashed on the screen: 17/27, 202 yards, 1 TD, roughly through three quarters. That's Hasselbeck quality there. And he's doing a good job of standing tough in the pocket. Roughing the passer penalties don't happen unless the quarterback is willing to take a hit to get a pass off.
Frye just got his second touchdown. Of course it was thrown to Jordan Kent. Kent's made the team. One small problem, though, brought to my attention by Hugh Millen on KJR, is that Kent has been taking most of his reps at Nate Burleson's position (which I think is split end, but I can't remember for sure), who is the one starting receiver not hurt. This means Kent hasn't been groomed to step in for Branch (that's supposed to be Taylor) or Engram (that's Obomanu, Payne, or even Bumpus - another guy I haven't seen yet tonight).
The defense either stepped it up a bit, or the Chargers second team offense drops off significantly from the first unit. Jason Babin gets the first sack (that I can remember) of the night, which is huge given that he's fighting Baraka Adkins for (probably) the last DE roster spot.
Frye is apparently hurt, so we get to see a bit of Seneca Wallace. Nice. Forsett just fumbled. That's sure to piss off Holmgren. Previous to that Courtney Taylor made a nice diving catch that was worth mentioning. Damnit, Forsett, you've got to hold onto that ball.
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