All posts by cc

Franchise history, It's bigger than football

Bush/Carroll news is a good excuse to rip the NCAA one more time

February 25, 2015 cc Leave a comment

Reggie Bush and Pete Carroll together again?

Don’t count on it. Bush, cut by the
Detroit Lions on Wednesday, is
going to be 30 in March, and the Hawks have no room for him in their backfield.

But the dual news surrounding the former USC duo (USC is giving Carroll an honorary degree in May) took us on a trip down memory lane — back to 2010, when Carroll came to Seattle and the NCAA’s good ol’ boys showed once again what a bunch of corrupt hypocrites they are.

One little sheep actually bleated for the Seahawks to fire Carroll in the wake of the NCAA’s vindictive and heavy-handed sanctions against USC. We laughed at that bozo, knowing the NCAA to be one of the most unethical organizations in America and any of its sycophants (like Mike Florio and Steve Sarkisian) to be mindless chuckleheads. We were too busy explaining why Carroll was not Dennis Erickson, despite the seeming similarities.

A few months later, we ripped the spineless fools — especially Sarkisian — who backed the farcical, two-faced, money-grubbing, oppressive establishment and blamed Bush for pulling back the curtain.

We were never USC fans, but the fact is Carroll, Bush and company dominated on the field like no other team in the 2000s. Carroll went 97-19, won two national titles and lost one he could have won.

The NCAA can do whatever it wants on paper (it vacated the 2004 title and all 12 wins in 2005), but it doesn’t change what really happened.

With two national titles and one Super Bowl title, Carroll has proven without a doubt that he is one of the great coaches of this era. (Just imagine if he had finished his two championship losses properly: five titles.)

And he clearly is a better human being than anyone who has ever been part of or supported the greedy, phony, spiteful, evil empire known as the NCAA.

USC obviously thinks so, or it wouldn’t be honoring him twice in two days in May. Good for USC.

NFL Combine, NFL draft

Hawks love speed in first two rounds, so who are their top options?

February 24, 2015 cc Leave a comment

If the Seahawks don’t go with big men with their first two draft picks, we have a good idea who their other top candidates will be — now that the Combine is finished.

The Seahawks love speed in the first two rounds. In 2010, it was Earl Thomas (4.43 in the 40) in the first round and Golden Tate (4.42) in the second. In 2012, they picked Bruce Irvin (4.50) in the first and Bobby Wagner (4.45) in the second. In 2013, they traded their first-rounder for Percy Harvin (4.41) and picked Christine Michael (4.43) in the second. And last year they traded out of the first and grabbed Paul Richardson (4.33) in the second.

The only non-speedsters the Hawks have taken in the first two rounds have been left tackle Russell Okung (first round, 2010), left guard James Carpenter (first, 2011) and right tackle Justin Britt (second, 2014).

You get the idea where the Hawks are looking with their top two picks: If it’s not an offensive (or perhaps defensive) lineman, it’s going to be a guy with wheels (i.e., sub-4.5 speed).

Continue reading Hawks love speed in first two rounds, so who are their top options? →

CHAWK LINES

February 21, 2015 cc Leave a comment

The Seahawks reportedly have offered Marshawn Lynch about $21 million over the next two seasons. Does he want to play though?

John Schneider and Pete Carroll both spoke at the Combine, about Lynch, the Super Bowl and the future.

Schneider revealed that Jeremy Lane suffered a torn ACL on the same interception play on which he also broke his wrist in the Super Bowl.

Among many topics, Carroll said they were working on hiring some assistant coaches at the Combine.

Speaking of Lynch, he had a good message for a crowd at an underground concert in Oakland on Thursday.

Russell Wilson also did some talking this week, taking the blame for the goal-line interception in the Super Bowl but reminding everyone that he is moving forward and thinking ahead, as always.

Continue reading →

Contracts

Lynch controls the action, and his bosses know it

February 20, 2015 cc Leave a comment

Pete Carroll and John Schneider have kowtowed to Marshawn Lynch for years, so why would anyone think they suddenly would take a tough-guy approach with him and set a drop-dead deadline for him to accept a new contract or declare that he will play in 2015?

Carroll and Schneider are not disciplinarians. They ask their players to do things; they never tell them.

In Lynch’s case, they have let him do whatever he wanted ever since they traded for him in 2010. He plays when he wants, he defies the NFL as he chooses and he grabs his junk whenever he is about to score. He has Carroll and Schneider by the balls, too.

Continue reading Lynch controls the action, and his bosses know it →

Franchise history, NFL history, State of the team

If NFL wants Hawks back in AFC, Paul Allen should make league pay for it

February 20, 2015 cc 1 Comment

The news that the Chargers and Raiders are working on a deal to move to Los Angeles together raised once again the specter of the Seahawks moving back to the AFC — and, if the NFL does come calling yet again, Paul Allen needs to make the league pay in a major way.

A few months after Field Gulls posited the idea of the ping-pong move, 12th Man Rising brought it up again Thursday after the Los Angeles Times reported the newest development in the saga to get an NFL team back in Los Angeles.

Continue reading If NFL wants Hawks back in AFC, Paul Allen should make league pay for it →

Free agency, Injury report, The roster

With Lane out, here are some cornerback options

February 20, 2015 cc Leave a comment

With the stunningly bad news that Jeremy Lane could miss the start of the season with a torn ACL, it is clear the Seahawks will sign at least one veteran cornerback in addition to drafting one or two.

Considering they have just three other cornerbacks — Richard Sherman, Tharold Simon and Marcus Burley — they have to add some bodies.

Continue reading With Lane out, here are some cornerback options →

NFL Combine, NFL draft, The roster

Seahawks’ needs haven’t changed in a year

February 19, 2015 cc Leave a comment

The Seahawks have played — and won — more games than any team in the NFL the past three seasons.

By the time they reached Super Bowl XLIX, their defense was a shadow of itself — six key defenders on injured reserve or out of the game by the end and the Legion of Boom fighting through major injuries. Those issues played no small part in their 28-24 loss to the Patriots.

The Seahawks put 17 players on IR — fourth most in the NFL. John Schneider did a great job making moves to keep the Hawks in the hunt, but the injuries on both lines, in the secondary and at tight end affected Seattle throughout the season.

So, as Seattle coaches and personnel people arrive in Indianapolis for the Combine this week, their major goal clearly is to find players who could improve the team’s depth across the board, with an eye to replacing future free agents as well.

Continue reading Seahawks’ needs haven’t changed in a year →

NFL draft, State of the team, The roster

Lynch is a study in sentimentality: Hawks don’t really need him

February 17, 2015 cc 2 Comments

A major myth has been propagated across the Pacific Northwest and the NFL in recent months. You know, the one that says the Seahawks need Marshawn Lynch in order to win a Super Bowl.

(This is completely separate from the idea that the Seahawks would have won Super Bowl XLIX if they had run Lynch one last time.)

The Hawks have been partly guilty themselves of spreading the nasty rumor, with Pete Carroll and John Schneider talking him up as a core player. They consider him such a key piece that they have offered the soon-to-be 29-year-old a pay raise and extension.

There is nothing wrong with that — they can fit it under the cap nicely and not lose much even if he does walk away after 2015 — but the fact is the Hawks don’t really need Lynch.

Continue reading Lynch is a study in sentimentality: Hawks don’t really need him →

It's bigger than football, Super Bowl XLIX

Dookie Baldwin apologizes — finally

February 16, 2015 cc Leave a comment

Two weeks later, Doug “Dookie” Baldwin saw the error of his ways and showed contrition for the “turddown” celebration in Super Bowl XLIX.

It cost his team 15 yards in a tight game, although Seattle’s defense made sure it did not come back to haunt Baldwin, who nonetheless shrugged it off after the game.

On Monday night, he told 710 ESPN’s “Barbershop”: “I apologize to anyone I offended in any way. If I could go back, I would take it back.”

Obviously, Pete Carroll has talked to him about it, and Baldwin now knows — two weeks later — that he messed up.

It still doesn’t change the fact that he and other Seahawks need to grow up and the Hawks need to surround Baldwin with better talent at receiver.

Contracts, Free agency, History

As usual, Hawks won’t use franchise tag

February 16, 2015 cc 1 Comment

John Schneider (via Fresh Files) The Seahawks have not used the franchise tag since 2010 — the first year of the Carroll/Schneider regime — and they almost positively won’t use it this year either.

The window opened today and goes through March 2.

John Schneider has been great about re-signing key free agents before their contracts expire, and the guys they have lost in free agency have been role players or lesser starters they were prepared to lose.

This year they have only two starters scheduled to hit free agency, and they are not going to pay cornerback Byron Maxwell or guard James Carpenter $13 million in 2015.

Schneider has said the team will try to retain Maxwell, but he also admits it will be hard. Maxwell is expected to get an offer worth at least $7 million a year — the Hawks probably would go only as high as $6 million.