Tag Archives: Richard Sherman

Just a Seahawks fact: ‘We’re playing the referees, too’

October 20, 2014 cc Leave a comment

In a loss like the Seahawks suffered in St. Louis — rallying from a horrible first half to lose by two — it is easy to assume that any complaint about the officiating is simply sour grapes and poor sportsmanship.

But Earl Thomas merely stated the obvious when he said, “We’re playing the referees, too.”

We are not just referencing the controversial final play to the game in which the Rams fumbled and Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman appeared to recover with about a minute left.

The St. Louis game was the third in a row in which NFL officials have quite obviously favored Seattle’s opponent.

In those three games, Seattle has been flagged 32 times for 237 yards. Their opponents have been penalized a mere 11 times for 96 yards.

For the season, Seattle opponents have been flagged a league-low 29 times — and it certainly isn’t because they have committed just 29 fouls. They have been called for 51, which is tied for seventh most. They led the league in penalties last season.

“If you really look at some plays, we’re playing (against) more than our opponents,” Thomas said. “We’re playing the referees, too. I don’t care what anybody is saying. Something is wrong. That needs to be brought up.”

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Injury report, Week 7: At St. Louis

Sherman jinxed Wagner

October 15, 2014 cc Leave a comment

Richard Sherman jinxed Bobby Wagner.

At his media session last week, Sherman stumped for the middle linebacker to be voted into the Pro Bowl — and now it looks like Wagner will have no chance to make it.

Coach Pete Carroll said Wagner is likely to miss several games with a sprained toe suffered in the loss to Dallas on Sunday.

It’s the second straight year Wagner has suffered a significant injury that has cost him games. Last year, he missed two games with a high ankle sprain, which affected him for a couple of games beyond that.

Wagner has played very well ever since he got over the ankle injury, and his 50 tackles this season are 13 more than No. 2 tackler Kam Chancellor and 15 more than K.J. Wright, who will now take over Wagner’s spot in the middle.

Malcolm Smith will start at weakside linebacker, with Bruce Irvin at strongside. Both of them have been off to slow starts after offseason surgeries.

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CHAWK LINES

September 26, 2014 cc Leave a comment

Seattle’s next opponent, Washington, was embarrassed at home by the New York Giants. The Washington Post highlights all of the things that went wrong for the home team.

Quarterback Kirk Cousins, filling in for the injured Robert Griffin III, failed to assert his case to hold onto the job, Jason Reid of the Post says.

Danny Kelly of Field Gulls takes a look back at Jon Ryan’s spectacular day against Denver and the overall emphasis Pete Carroll places on special teams.

Hawk Blogger Brian Nemhauser breaks out the stats that show how the Seahawks’ passing game has changed so far this season.

Percy Harvin affects the offense even when he doesn’t touch the ball, Jayson Jenks of The Seattle Times says. (We’ll have a corollary to that later.)

Bob Condotta of the Times has a few thoughts on how bye weeks may or may not affect teams.

Josh Kerns of KIRO and MyNorthwest.com writes about the growing trend of players such as Richard Sherman marketing themselves online with their own personalized merchandise.

Michael Bennett is in Houston this week to have his high school jersey retired, and he ends the interview talking about the power of a Super Bowl ring.

CHAWK LINES

September 21, 2014 cc Leave a comment

The folks running Earl Thomas’ site give perspective to his impassioned press conference the other day in which he said he regained his “championship spirit” after the loss in San Diego.

Contrary to previous reports that had the Chargers’ receivers saying they “exposed” Richard Sherman, several Chargers expressed admiration for his ability.

Bruce Irvin apologized “to the 12th Man” for his “boneheaded play” that helped lose the game and also cost him some cash.

On to the Broncos …

Peyton Manning, 38, is in his third year in Denver, and he sounds like he will be back at least for a fourth.

Andy Benoit of MMQB predicts some of the strategies the Seahawks and Broncos will use against each other.

Denver tight end Julius Thomas is the next big challenge for Kam Chancellor and K.J. Wright.

And more …

According to this analysis, Russell Wilson is the league’s third-best two-minute quarterback.

The Seahawks aren’t the only team using a WR/RB hybrid (Percy Harvin). Danny Kelly of Field Gulls looks at the NFL trend.

Clay Travis of FOX Sports talks about the politicization of sports (the NFL) in the wake of Roger Goodell’s very politicky apologies-and-promises speech. Along the way, Travis points out that Goodell is just the scapegoat for issues that social media (and one video) have suddenly turned into bigger deals than they were 5-10 years ago.

While the media frets and frowns about a few bad NFL apples and makes it seem as if the entire league is populated by felons, Russell Wilson goes about his daily good deeds.

Week 3: Denver

The things the defense had to fix this week

September 20, 2014 cc Leave a comment

The Seahawks’ defenders have been serious, focused, “locked in” as they prepare for their anticipated Super Bowl rematch with Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos on Sunday.

The defense melted down against Philip Rivers in the San Diego heat last Sunday, putting forth probably its worst performance since the playoff loss in Atlanta to end the 2012 season.

Perhaps not coincidentally, the Chargers pulled out some tricks that the Falcons used against the Seahawks in that game, and safety Earl Thomas said that is one of the lessons the Hawks learned from their first loss of 2014.

He said the Broncos surely will take note of that chink in the armor of a defense that was the league’s best last season and dominated the Broncos in the Super Bowl.

“Obviously, they’re going to go back and see what we had trouble with in past games and even from previous years,” Thomas said. “Last week, San Diego hit us with some concepts from that Atlanta game we lost. So we’ve got to start thinking like that: How do teams want to attack us?”

Continue reading The things the defense had to fix this week →

CHAWK LINES

September 18, 2014 cc Leave a comment

Larry Stone of The Seattle Times relates Richard Sherman’s thoughts of the Chargers and Broncos games.

Did the Chargers reveal a way to pick on Sherman?

Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett (that’s two T’s, guys) have been playing great — even if the rest of the defense has not.

Avril and Bennett talk about how the Seahawks like to play their base defense, with minimal blitzing, per Jayson Jenks of the Times.

Bob Condotta of the Times reminds everyone of Robert Turbin’s tragic family history, which Turbin says “plays into my motivation.”

John Fox is 1-4 vs. the Seahawks, but the Broncos are 34-18 — and more stats.

Steve Rudman of Sports Press NW looks at previous Super Bowl rematches and also offers up stats on Seattle’s worst time-of-possession games under Pete Carroll.

Condotta asks whether the off-field legal problems of Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson have “diminished your desire to watch NFL games.” Not sure why they would unless you are a Vikings fan who is bummed that your team is now much worse, but 25 percent of people (probably new fans) apparently think those guys reflect an entire league.

CHAWK LINES

September 16, 2014 cc Leave a comment

Pete Carroll looks back at the loss to the Chargers and ahead to the Super Bowl rematch with the Broncos.

Bucky Brooks of NFL.com gives a detailed breakdown of how the Chargers beat the Seahawks and then concludes, “Even with the winning script in hand, it still takes flawless execution to defeat the defending Super Bowl champs.”

“If you thought San Diego was fired up to play the Seahawks, well, wait until Denver comes to town Sunday,” Larry Stone of The Seattle Times says.

This is the first time since 1997 that Super Bowl opponents have played a rematch the next season.

Denver cornerback Chris Harris: “Antonio Gates made a few plays, so we need Julius (Thomas) to have a huge game.”

Richard Sherman talks! To a llama. In a sunglasses commercial.

The inspiration for the Seahawks’ logo could be coming to Seattle’s Burke Museum.

Week 2: At San Diego

More bust than Boom: Rough start for Legion

September 15, 2014 cc Leave a comment

San Diego wide receiver Eddie Royal stiff-arms Earl Thomas on Sunday (AP)

The Legion of Boom had trouble with the dehydrating temperatures in San Diego, and the group is taking some heat in the aftermath of a 30-21 loss to the Chargers and a two-game start that has been more bust than boom for the all-star unit.

Whether it was what happened on the field or what was (or was not) said off the field, Seattle’s top defenders did not respond very well in San Diego.

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Week 2: At San Diego

Maxwell: ‘I take it as earning my keep’

September 13, 2014 cc Leave a comment

Byron Maxwell says he is just “earning my keep” as the cornerback who gets targeted most while playing opposite Richard Sherman.

In the season opener, Sherman was avoided by Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who instead threw it Maxwell’s way all game. He didn’t have too much more success as Maxwell shut down the big plays and ended up with an interception — making Rodgers and the Packers pay for picking on him all game.

But Maxwell is not offended by all of that action. He knows Sherman has proven himself as perhaps the best corner in the game, so it follows that teams will look Maxwell’s way more often.

“I take it as earning my keep,” he told 710 ESPN.

Continue reading Maxwell: ‘I take it as earning my keep’ →

Week 2: At San Diego

Seahawks are passing through gauntlet of NFL’s top-rated QBs

September 12, 2014 cc Leave a comment

Plenty has been made of the fact that Russell Wilson is undefeated against the best quarterbacks in the league over his first two-plus seasons: Aaron Rodgers (twice), Drew Brees (twice), Peyton Manning, Tom Brady.

But who is largely responsible for him beating those quarterbacks? Seattle’s defense, of course.

The Hawks, who beat Brees, Colin Kaepernick and Manning last postseason as they claimed the first Super Bowl title in franchise history, face a trio of the best QBs to start this season as well: Rodgers, Philip Rivers and Manning.

Rodgers, Manning and Rivers are the three top-rated active quarterbacks in the NFL (Brady and Brees are fourth and sixth), and they are 1-2-4 in NFL history (Steve Young ranks third, ahead of Rivers). These guys are so good they basically run their offenses, calling plays in their fast-paced, no-huddle schemes.

“If you look at it from what we saw last week, this week and next week against Denver, we’re seeing very similar expertise,” coach Pete Carroll said. “The guys really understand the game to such great depth that their coaches have recognized that and given them the opportunity to run the game at the line of scrimmage.

“They get to utilize their strengths by seeing what they want to see, changing what they need to change,” Carroll said, “so I think we’re as challenged as you can get by the level of play by these guys. There is no drop-off and it’s amazing that we see three terrific quarterbacks right in a row.”

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