Tag Archives: Germain Ifedi

Cable hopes butt kickings will make his revamped line better

October 1, 2016 cc 1 Comment

The Seahawks are finally going to have their so-called first-team line together, but that doesn’t figure to help them much as they face another stellar defensive line in New York.

Germain Ifedi hasn’t played an NFL game yet and will be slow to get back into the groove, so we can expect Leonard Williams, Muhammad Wilkerson and Sheldon Richardson to dominate the line of scrimmage the same way Miami and Los Angeles did.

In case you forgot, the Seahawks were horrendous on offense in those two games. They scored just 15 points, ran for just 180 yards (3.2 per carry) and gave up five sacks and 18 hits on Russell Wilson, who sprained an ankle trying to get away from Ndamukong Suh.

Usually one of the league’s best rushing teams, the Hawks have been a middling unit so far with their revamped line going against strong defensive fronts. Even in the blowout of San Francisco, they were barely above average — 127 yards on 31 carries (4.1 average).

Led by Williams, the sixth pick in the 2015 draft, the Jets are the third-ranked run defense in the NFL — much better even than the Dolphins and Rams. So the Hawks are going to go nowhere on the ground in this one either.

Tom Cable just hopes these butt kickings will make his unit better down the road.

Continue reading Cable hopes butt kickings will make his revamped line better →

CHAWK LINES, Week 4: At N.Y. Jets

September 29, 2016 cc 1 Comment

chawk-lines-hawks-at-jets

Russell Wilson says he will play vs. the Jets.

Germain Ifedi, who could return this week, said he was happy his high ankle sprain did not keep him out longer.

Nick Vannett also is back from his own high ankle sprain, which kept him out six weeks.

Luke Willson says his turn as H-back means defenses can’t key on the Seattle two-TE offense.

Tom Cable and Bradley Sowell talked about the improvement of the offensive line.

The Seattle O-line faces yet another tough D-line, with Leonard Williams and company.

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State of the team, The roster, Trades

Joe Thomas? Still a fantasy trade

September 22, 2016 cc Leave a comment

The Seahawks’ offensive line has endured a couple of rough games against stellar defensive fronts so far, and Bradley Sowell has been the most consistent problem player.

While we can expect Germain Ifedi’s eventual return to steady the right guard spot and Mark Glowinski and Justin Britt to continue to improve, left tackle is the one spot where there seems to be no help on the horizon. The Hawks are basically playing without a true left tackle this season.

Granted, Sowell will not have to go against great defensive lines like Miami’s or the Rams’ every week. And the coaches probably are counting on him holding his own against less stellar players than Robert Quinn.

But, in the wake of the slow-footed Sowell’s horrendous start to the season — three flags, one sack, one blocked field goal allowed, numerous pressures and hits surrendered — a lot of Seahawks fans are wondering once again whether John Schneider would make a deal for Cleveland All-Pro Joe Thomas.

The answer, like it was in the offseason, almost surely is no.

Continue reading Joe Thomas? Still a fantasy trade →

State of the team, Week 2: At Los Angeles

O-line on Plan C as Hawks face Rams’ stud D-line

September 18, 2016 cc Leave a comment

“The best-laid plans of mice and men (oft go astray)” — Robert Burns, “To a Mouse”

After getting pushed around by the great defensive fronts of the Rams, Panthers and Vikings last season, the Seahawks knew they needed to beef up their offensive line if they were going to win the NFC this year.

So they signed 6-foot-7, 331-pound J’Marcus Webb and 6-7, 309-pound Bradley Sowell and then drafted 6-6, 324-pound Germain Ifedi, 6-4, 314-pound Rees Odhiambo and 6-2, 299-pound center Joey Hunt.

The original plan was to pair Ifedi and Webb on the right side to, as Pete Carroll put it, “get as big as you can get in football.” That, along with moving Justin Britt (6-6, 315) to center, was their strategy for dealing with the great defensive fronts they were set to face in 2016 — the Rams, Panthers, Dolphins, Jets, et al.

But, Robert Burns’ poetic proverb has proven true for the Hawks, who are on to Plan C — and possibly D — as they take their first crack at Aaron Donald, Robert Quinn, Michael Brockers and the rest of the Rams’ deep line.

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State of the team, Week 2: At Los Angeles

Hawks ‘have a lot of stuff to clean up’

September 13, 2016 cc Leave a comment

After Week 1, the Seahawks look like the third-best team in the NFC West. The good news is they face the fourth-best team this week.

The Rams melted down Monday night in San Francisco, which means either the 49ers are much better than we thought they would be or the Rams are much worse.

Of course, the Seahawks had their own issues – almost all on offense — in their nail-biting win over Miami, and they will need to fix those if they are going to beat the Rams in the first game in Los Angeles since 1994. (It will be Seattle’s first game vs. the Rams in L.A. since 1988.)

Continue reading Hawks ‘have a lot of stuff to clean up’ →

Injury report, State of the team

Curse of first-round linemen continues

September 8, 2016 cc 1 Comment

It’s no wonder John Schneider and Pete Carroll had developed an aversion toward drafting offensive linemen in the first round: They always get hurt.

After going back-to-back with first-round linemen in 2010-11, it took them five years to try again. Now it might be another five years before they do it again.

We can only hope Germain Ifedi’s high ankle sprain, which is expected to sideline him for at least three weeks, will not send him down the same injury path traveled by Russell Okung and James Carpenter.

Continue reading Curse of first-round linemen continues →

The roster, Training camp

Like us, Cable is ready to see line in action

August 12, 2016 cc 1 Comment

Tom Cable has been working with a mostly new cadre of offensive linemen for over three months now, and — like all of us — he is eager to see them “block someone that has a different helmet on.”

He will get his chance Saturday in Kansas City, and we will finally see what Justin Britt looks like at center, how first-round pick Germain Ifedi fits at right guard, whether Bradley Sowell has any shot of playing left tackle and more.

With J’Marcus Webb injured again, it appears the Hawks might start with a line featuring (left to right) Sowell, Mark Glowinski, Britt, Ifedi and Garry Gilliam. We’ll probably see the tackles move around a lot — e.g., Gilliam or George Fant on the left with Terry Poole or Rees Odhiambo on the right.

“It’s really more just to see the different combinations,” Cable said. “Maybe we missed something — like this guy is better at left than at right or vice versa. This is the time to do that, obviously.”

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The roster, Training camp

Evans addition is exciting and confusing

August 8, 2016 cc Leave a comment

The addition of Jahri Evans to Seattle’s line is both exciting and confusing — exciting because the Hawks are adding a highly decorated veteran and confusing because Evans plays the position where the Seahawks appear most set.

Mark Glowinski and Germain Ifedi have received glowing praise from Tom Cable and Pete Carroll, leading everyone to believe they will be starting at the guard spots when the season starts. Along with Garry Gilliam at left tackle, those positions looked like the only ones where the Hawks had figured it out.

But the addition of Evans, a six-time Pro Bowl right guard, certainly bolsters the competition there — assuming he is healthy and able to play at age 33.

“He’s not been told he’s the starter or anything like that,” Pete Carroll said. “He’s been brought in to compete; (we’re) hoping he’ll add to the level of our play.

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State of the team, Training camp

Worried about the O-line? Remember 2013?

July 29, 2016 cc 2 Comments

The Seahawks are expecting to compete for a second Super Bowl title this year, and they’re planning to do it with a completely revamped offensive line.

That scares a lot of fans who view the line as the one thing that could keep this team from winning it all — kind of like it did last year.

But, anyone who thinks they can’t overcome that concern probably forgot what happened in 2013.

Continue reading Worried about the O-line? Remember 2013? →