Week 16: At Arizona

Offense sets records & Carroll has a blast

Leave a comment

Luke Willson makes a catch over Arizona linebacker Larry Foote (AP)Few doubted the Seahawks would beat the offense-challenged Arizona Cardinals on Sunday night. The only question was whether Seattle’s struggling offense would manage to score any touchdowns.

Russell Wilson and company answered that emphatically, amassing a team-record 596 yards and scoring five times in a stunningly offensive 35-6 victory that served notice to the entire league that the Hawks are poised to run over anyone in their path on the way to another Super Bowl title.

Wilson played perhaps his best game of the season, throwing for a career-high 339 yards and two touchdowns and running for 88 yards and a score. He and Marshawn Lynch both turned in mindboggling TD runs — juking, stiff-arming and overpowering Arizona defenders — to put the game out of reach in the fourth quarter.

Combined with a defense that expectedly shut down the Cardinals — 216 yards, just 29 rushing — it was Seattle’s most complete, dominant victory since the opener against Green Bay. And it was Arizona’s first loss of the season at home.

It gave the Seahawks control of the NFC West and the inside track to the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs — both of which can be theirs with a home win over the St. Louis Rams next week.

Continue reading Offense sets records & Carroll has a blast →

Week 16: At Arizona

Nothing against Lynch’s awesome run, but Beast Quake was better

Leave a comment

Beast Quake and Desert StormIn the heat of the moment, plenty of people are calling Marshawn Lynch’s career-best 79-yard touchdown run Sunday the best run of his career. It certainly was another unbelievable effort by Beast Mode, but those people apparently have short memories.

While Lynch’s cutback dash past and through the Arizona defense was a sick run, especially for a guy who had a queasy stomach early in the game, it was only his second-best run ever. His 67-yard Beast Quake run against New Orleans nearly four years ago still stands as the superlative play of his career.

That is not to diminish the Beastly beauty of this latest run, which was remarkably similar to the one that sealed Seattle’s upset win in the 2010 playoffs. On both runs, he started left, cut back right to the sideline and then knocked down a defensive back (or two) on his way to the end zone. And he also finished each run with a satisfying backward dive into the end zone.

Continue reading Nothing against Lynch’s awesome run, but Beast Quake was better →

CHAWK LINES
Leave a comment

CHAWK LINES -- Seahawks at Cardinals

Have the Cardinals replaced the 49ers as the Seahawks’ top rival in the NFC West?

Jerry Brewer is correct when he says the Seattle offense “has to become more sophisticated,” but how can it when the offensive line is such a mess?

I was going to write about the importance of a quick-hit passing game, but John Boyle did a nice job of it.

With the underwhelming Ryan Lindley starting for Arizona, Kenneth Arthur of Field Gulls attempts to foreshadow his performance by looking at some of the worst games by quarterbacks in NFL history.

A preview of the game from The Sports Xchange.

Field Gulls takes an early look at the Seahawks’ 2015 schedule as we know it so far.

Contracts, The roster

All rainbows: Defense set to dominate through 2017

Leave a comment
Double rainbow at Seahawks headquarters
A double rainbow at Seahawks headquarters in Renton on Friday was quite apropos considering K.J. Wright and Cliff Avril got their pots of gold.

The Seahawks’ deals for Cliff Avril and K.J. Wright had been in the works pretty much all year, so it was no surprise they got them done before the end of the season.

It takes away the top two players from Seattle’s sizable 2015 free-agent list and means Seattle now has all but one starter from the league’s No. 1 defense under contract next year (two if you add Kevin Williams to Byron Maxwell).

Wright and Avril join Legion of Boom stalwarts Kam Chancellor, Earl Thomas and Richard Sherman, plus defensive lineman Michael Bennett, as the keys to a defense that could reign over the NFL through 2017.

Continue reading All rainbows: Defense set to dominate through 2017 →

Contracts

Paying a premium: How Wright’s deal affects Wagner and the rest

Leave a comment

Seahawks top salary cap numbersK.J. Wright’s $27 million contract extension is the latest proof that John Schneider and the Seahawks are willing to pay a premium to keep their favorite players.

The Seahawks paid Wright more than they really needed to — he admitted he had a lower figure in mind. We recently projected they would offer him $4 million a year, which was their original goal, per ESPN’s John Clayton, who said Wright wanted $5.5 million.

Instead, they made him the highest-paid 4-3 outside linebacker in the NFL, according to OverTheCap.com. The only outside linebackers with better deals are the guys who rush the passer.

The Hawks obviously value Wright’s versatility — he can play inside or out. But they seemingly overpaid him, just as they did Red Bryant when they gave the run-stopping end $7 million a year.

Continue reading Paying a premium: How Wright’s deal affects Wagner and the rest →

Contracts, State of the team, The roster

With decisions to make, Hawks need to create a more dependable O-line

Leave a comment
The Seahawks' line
Russell Okung (76), James Carpenter and the rest of the Seahawks’ line sit on the bench during their win over the 49ers on Sunday (Seahawks.com)

Rookie right tackle Justin Britt’s
struggles have opened up the
debate about whether the
Seahawks should consider
replacing him next year, but the bigger question is whether the Seahawks should replace the left side of their line — Russell Okung and James Carpenter — over the next two years.

The Hawks are unlikely to give up on Britt so soon, but they definitely will have decisions to make along the line in the next couple of years, especially with three starters up for free agency — not that we can tell a starter from a backup anyway, considering injuries continually knock out Okung, Carpenter and center Max Unger.

Offensive line has long been Seattle’s weakest link — and that predates John Schneider, Pete Carroll and Tom Cable. The last time the Hawks started the same five all season was 2007, and they have averaged seven combinations a year in five seasons under this regime. They really need to find some consistency so the offense can progress.

Continue reading With decisions to make, Hawks need to create a more dependable O-line →

State of the team, Week 15: San Francisco, X's & O's

Once again, Hawks are winning despite O-line

Leave a comment

The Seahawks' offensive line struggles to protect Russell Wilson against the 49ers in Week 15 (Seahawks.com)

The Seahawks have rediscovered the formula that won them a Super Bowl: No. 1 defense plus Beast Mode plus DangeRuss plus crappy offensive line.

Can you imagine what kind of season Marshawn Lynch would have if he was running behind the 2005 Super Bowl line that featured future Hall of Famer Walter Jones and All-Pro Steve Hutchinson? We’re probably talking a 2,500-yard season with 30 touchdowns.

But that’s fantasy. Reality is that this line is basically in the same shape as the one that limped into the playoffs last season.

Continue reading Once again, Hawks are winning despite O-line →

Week 15: San Francisco

That bogus roughing call was a rare flag in favor of Seattle

Leave a comment

Penalties with logos final 2For just the second time all season, the Seahawks on Sunday had fewer penalties than their opponent — and some people are griping about it. Figures.

Specifically, people are ripping that ticky-tack roughing-the-passer penalty called by Ed Hochuli that gave the Hawks a second chance at a touchdown early in the fourth quarter after Russell Wilson had thrown incomplete on third down.

Yeah, linebacker Nick Moody’s hit on Wilson looked clean to us, too, and the NFL confirmed Monday it was the wrong call. Just like the NFL confirmed it missed a huge fourth-down end zone pass interference against Kansas City four weeks ago in a game the Seahawks lost 24-20.

The call against the 49ers was nowhere near as impactful. Seattle scored on a 10-yard TD pass from Wilson to Paul Richardson two plays later, giving the Hawks a 17-7 lead. But the 49ers didn’t score again anyway, so 13-7 would have been just as good for Seattle.

Pete Carroll, who has joined us over the past month in pointing out the huge disparity between flags thrown against Seattle and their opponents, had no problem getting a cheap call or two for once.

“We actually felt the benefit of a couple calls. We rarely feel that,” he told 710 ESPN on Monday.

Continue reading That bogus roughing call was a rare flag in favor of Seattle →

Week 15: San Francisco

Seahawks can clinch playoff spot vs. Arizona

Leave a comment

At 10-4, the Seahawks control their playoff destiny and can lock up a playoff spot with a win over Arizona in prime time Sunday.

They also are now the favorites for the No. 1 seed in the NFC after Green Bay lost. If the Hawks beat Arizona and St. Louis to finish 12-4, they would win any three-way tie.

The only way they would not get the No. 1 seed by winning out is if Green Bay loses to Tampa Bay this week and Detroit loses to Chicago; in that case, the Hawks would need Dallas to lose once as well to avoid a head-to-head tiebreaker (which Seattle would lose).

Continue reading Seahawks can clinch playoff spot vs. Arizona →