Seattle Seahawks vs Green Bay Packers: With a Vengeance

In just three more days, our beloved Seahawks will be playing the Green Bay Packers in what will essentially be a glorified scrimmage. Outside of these two teams evaluating their roster, the results mean nothing, yet the feelings among both Seattle and Green Bay players and fans tell a different story. In case you forgot, the NFL opened up last season with replacement officials. The replacement officials tried their best, but it was an absolute disaster for both the teams and fans that had ballooned by the time the Packers faced off against the Seahawks in Seattle during week 3 for MNF; a game that would have the national audience watching. The game itself was quite possibly the worst officiated game in the NFL’s history, and not just because of one final play that everyone focuses on. This play is now widely known as “Fail Mary”, and is the very essence as to why this game matters so much to the Green Bay Packers’ players and fans. In a way, the same can be said for the Seahawks since the players received so much of the blame despite the call, or any calls before, being out of their hands. Yes, this is just a preseason game, but at the same time, it isn’t at all.

Touchdown, maybe! / NFL.com

For Green Bay, this game is about justice. Most of us heard the cries after the game and still do even today. Aaron Rodgers was vocal enough about it on his radio show. It would seem that Packer fans and many NFL fans in general forgot about the Seahawks beating up Rodgers in the first half, forgot about his missed opportunities, and even forgot about the obviously terrible PI call on Kam Chancellor in the 4^th quarter that kept the Packers drive alive and eventually led to their go ahead score. Of course, the Seahawks also had help on their very next drive when more terrible calls were called against the Packers, such as roughing the passer and defensive pass interference against Sam Shields. However, the Seahawks failed to score on a play that left me scratching my head, but were able to stop the Packers near their goal line which led to a punt and “Fail Mary”. Wilson made a big time throw up field which put them in position to put up a prayer as time ran to zero where Jennings opted to catch the ball instead of knocking it down. The problem was that Golden Tate also had his hands on the ball as they came down. Whether it was a simultaneous catch or not does not matter, all that matters here is that this very play is all that Green Bay and that national audience remembers. Aaron Rodgers ran off the field shaking his head and acting like they were absolutely screwed, and many followed suit.

For Seattle, this game means just as much. Yes, the final play went in their favor, but the result was that pretty much everyone forgot about everything else in the game. They forgot the defensive dominance that Seattle displayed, especially in the first half, and they forgot that Seattle was also screwed by terrible calls. Yes, I am obviously biased, but when I watch the entire game and take everything into account I still feel like the right team won. The Seattle Seahawks organization feels the same way. Many others don’t, but who cares? To be honest, most other people don’t even know what they are talking about. For Seattle, this game is about proving that they were the better team all along.

To be honest, going into the game last year I thought that the Packers were the better team overall, and still thought they were slightly better after the game if the two teams were to face off on a neutral field. By the end of the season, however, I felt that the Seahawks were clearly the better team and would have loved for the two to face each other during the NFC Conference Championship in Lambeau. This dream fell short as Seattle had an epic comeback followed by an epic failure to beat the Falcons and the Packers were so far behind the 49ers at that point in the season that home field advantage would not have mattered. That is why outside of helping get our regular refs back, “Fail Mary” ultimately did not matter in the end, but still matters on a personal level between the two organizations and their fans. As Seattle is set to face off against the Packers in Lambeau Field this upcoming Friday I feel the same way as I did towards the end of the season last year, and fully expect the Seahawks to be the better team. Do the Seahawks need the presence of Irvin and Clemons to prove that? No, I don’t think so, but it would certainly help. The current starters will take the field for what is often three entire quarters during preseason action on week 3, and by the end of those three quarters I expect we will have some sort of clarity, regardless of the outcome.  

Go Hawks!

Preseason Week 2: Seattle Seahawks vs Denver Broncos

The Seattle Seahawks' second preseason game has finally arrived and this time we face off against the Denver Broncos, who are also legitimate Super Bowl hopefuls like our very own Hawks. This would be a very exciting game if this were the regular season, but it is not and instead we are left with two solid teams that may only show off their starting lineup for the first quarter. However, that is if we are lucky as it could easily be less since both teams really do not have much to prove right now, and the chance of injury to any player is probably the greatest concern for both the Seahawks and the Broncos. Still, in a short amount of time I am sure the Broncos are wanting to get a preview of what Peyton Manning can do with Wes Welker just as we should want to see how well Russell Wilson is connecting with his very own receivers.

Sidney Rice recently returned to the field and there does not seem to be any sort of concern with his knee. If you have been paying attention to the Seahawks offense for the past week you would have noticed that the offense has been a lot more fluid and that is no coincidence; Rice returning to the lineup is just that important. The return of Sidney Rice gives Wilson familiarity and allows a little more breathing room to our other receivers like Golden Tate and Doug Baldwin because of the attention Sidney Rice demands. The offense looks a lot better, and the defense still looks like the NFL’s number one defense, so overall there is not really any crucial areas we need to address tomorrow, but there are certainly some things to look forward to.  

Here is what I would like to see tomorrow against the Denver Broncos:

A good showing from the starting offense

Like anyone hopes to see a bad showing from their offense, right? I am not worried about our starting offense whatsoever, but a good showing against a solid Broncos defense would still be encouraging. Last week the starting offense looked out of sync in very limited play, but that appears to have been resolved so let’s see it in action, even if it is only for a few series or less.

Wilson to Baldwin/Willson

Dougie / CNN.com

Richard Sherman was recently talking about the connection that Russell Wilson and Doug Baldwin have right now in the offense. I have no doubt that a healthy Doug Baldwin can be a major player in our offense. There is a reason that other organizations were making calls about Baldwin’s availability after the Seahawks traded for and signed Percy Harvin. I would love to get a preview of those two tomorrow.

I am also going to be paying close attention to Luke Willson. Last week I talked about how I was a little disappointed, but I also expressed that Willson appeared to be fighting nerves, which is completely understandable. Now that the first game is out of the way I imagine Luke Willson will be a little calmer and put on a better showing. Let us hope so because Willson certainly has the tools, plus who doesn’t want to see Wilson to Willson for a TD? If any area is crucial to address right now, it would be the TE position, in my opinion.

QB Pressure

I was very pleased with the pressure we got on the quarterback last week, as we all were. I want to see that continue now and for the rest of the season. The rest of our defense is dominant without putting pressure on the quarterback, but every defense is more dominant with quarterback pressure. We will need that pressure to be consistent if we want to be the champions at the end of the season.

No injuries

This goes for both teams. Injuries suck, but they suck more during the preseason. The only thing that sucks more than an injury during the preseason is when it happens because of a cheap pile of **** FedEx Field.

I am looking forward to tomorrow, and for one more preseason game to pass because I am ready for the regular season!

If you have any thoughts or opinions, please feel free to share! 

Go Hawks!

Recap: Seattle Seahawks at San Diego Chargers

See the Chargers fan? / Seahawks.com

The Seattle Seahawks defeated the San Diego Chargers easily 31 – 10, displaying their very talented deep roster for all to see. Seahawk fans drooled; Charger fans cried, but probably drooled in jealously. One thing became very clear throughout the game: making the roster cuts down to 53 is going to be very challenging and I do not envy Pete Carroll for having to deliver the bad news to the men that have been giving it their all in camp.

For all that was good during the first preseason game, there were also a few negatives which I will cover first.

Negatives

The “Starting” Offense

Our first couple offensive drives were very underwhelming. I realize that the offense was very vanilla, but I was still hoping for the Hawks to march down the field and get in the end zone. Russell Wilson made some nice scrambles, escaping some close encounters that included nearly getting sacked by his own offensive lineman, J.R. Sweezy. However, I am not worried about the offense at all, especially considering that our true starting offense was not on the field.

Winston Guy

Seriously, Guy looked defeated out there on the field. I was not impressed with him whatsoever. The Chargers scored a late touchdown on the Seahawks and I recall Winston Guy standing out like a sore thumb. Dating back to last year, I have personally not seen much from Guy other than some attitude and physicality which has been on our own guys during camp, like the Stephen Williams hit during a non-tackling drill a week ago. I know it might be too soon, but I do not think Guy will make the final roster this season.

TE appears to still be the weakest position on our roster

The rookie Luke Willson had a couple of catches for 16 yards, but he also had two drops, one of which came on third down during the first drive, and the other was a simple catch that had me shaking my head. It appeared to me that nerves got the best of Willson, so hopefully he will show us more next week. Cooper Helfet had a very nice diving snag for his one catch of 23 yards, but he also had a drop. We should all send Zach Miller a “Get Well Soon” card!  

DangeRuss is back! / Seahawks.com

Overall, the negatives really are not a big deal at this point. If this were week one of the regular season, I would be a little more worried. Plus, the negatives were blanketed by all that went right for the hawks!

Positives

Backup QB battle between Quinn and TJack

Brady Quinn did a good job running the second team offense. Overall he was 6/11 for 59 yards, connecting with camp star Jermaine Kearse for a TD. For as good as Brady Quinn looked, Tarvaris Jackson looked better. TJack was 8/9 (one dropped pass) for 128 yards and had two passes for touchdowns, one of which was to…

Stephen Williams

Soon to be TD / Seahawks.com

Is this guy fast or what? He had two catches on deep balls and appeared very good in the process. Our receiving group is pretty loaded, especially once Percy Harvin comes back, but I really liked what I saw from Williams yesterday. In total, he caught two passes for 83 yards and a TD.

Rookie running backs

Nothing made me happier than Christine Michael and Spencer Ware! I saw Ware make some nice blocks on blitzes from the defense, and Michael looks like a solid fit in the zone blocking scheme. Both ran the ball very well. Christine Michael ran the ball the most for a total of 89 yards on 16 carries (5.6 avg) while Spencer Ware had 32 yards on 7 carries (4.6 avg) and a touchdown to boot. I do recall Michael having a nice hole open up on the right side, but he was not patient enough and ran into the back side of his own guy, but he will learn and get better. Overall, the rookie running backs were fantastic!

Allen Bradford and Byron Maxwell

Seriously, Bradford was all over the place and very quick on the trigger! He has been working hard transitioning from running back to linebacker the past three seasons and he looked like he belonged starting this game. I was very impressed with Bradford’s overall ability to perform and lead the defense. Byron Maxwell made less of a statistical impression, as cornerbacks often do, but he did have a very nice interception and seemed to be doing a great job covering the receiver the entire time he was on the field, which is his job. Maxwell looks like he could be a starter for a lot of other teams in the league.

LOL / Seahawks.com

Special Teams

Drool.

  

 The Defensive Line

Pressure, pressure, and pressure! Despite not getting to Rivers (who would be the sacked-master if not for Aaron Rodgers) the first series, the Seahawks continued to make whichever QB who was on the field (mostly Clipboard Jesus) very uncomfortable. Michael freakin’ Bennett looked unblockable at times and very fast off the snap, which makes me even more excited that we signed him during the offseason! Benson Mayowa was very impressive at DE; he never stopped pushing for the QB. Talk about a guy that appears to be a steal early on! Other rookies such as Jordan Hill and Ty Powell also got me excited. Jesse Williams looked slow off the snap, but the guy is a wall. As I am writing this, I take back what I said earlier about Michael and Ware; it was the defensive line that got me the most excited!

Other guys fighting for a spot to note: Jaye Howard, John Lotulelei, Derrick Coleman, O’Brien Schofield looked awesome. The biggest surprise to me, however, was Alvin Bailey (who?) on the offensive line at LT. The guy just looked like a straight up bully out there. Having a quality backup at LT is very rare, but we just might have that based on what I saw yesterday. I am so very impressed right now!

Overall I am very happy with our performance. Preseason is the time to get the sloppiness out of the way, but we did not seem to have much of that. Despite some key injuries, I am very confident that we will be ready to go week one. My biggest concern is the cut down to a 53 man roster because I feel like so many of our guys deserve to make the team, and I will absolutely hate seeing them being picked up off the waiver wire by other teams. With that being said, it is part of the game and if that is your biggest concern then you should be very happy. It was not too long ago that our biggest concern was who would be the starting quarterback – that was dreadful.  Thankfully, it is the New York Jets’ problem now, and not ours. Go Hawks!

Game MVP

TJack! Seriously he looked like a man among boys out there, but that is what I would expect from a veteran going against guys fighting to make the Chargers’ roster. Nevertheless, he did a great job running our offense and I would personally like to see him run the second string offense next week to see how he performs. 

UNITTYY / Seahawks.com