Archive for October, 2005

When the Seahawks take the practice field tomorrow (later today, technically), only one team in the NFL will have fewer losses — Indy, who’s 7-0. The Hawks’ 5-2 record is tied for the best in the NFC with the Giants, Falcons, Panthers, and Bucs.

The Hawks have already beaten one of those teams — Atlanta, in Week 2. Tampa Bay appears to be starting to slip with Griese out at QB. I don’t expect them to be there at the end. The Hawks won’t have a chance to play Carolina this season, but they do face the two others listed in that paragraph above: Indy and the NYGiants. And fortunately for Seattle, both those games are at home. The Seahawks are 4-0 so far this season at Qwest Field.

I’ve had a brief but ongoing discussion with one of our readers about how many games the Hawks will end winning this season. Most recently, f2aler stuck by his 11-5 prediction after the easy win over Houston. I figure it’s about time I take a stab at forecasting the rest of the season…..

Nov. 6 @ Arizona: This should be a win.

Nov. 13 – St. Louis: The Rams always scare me. Bulger will be back by this time. Steven Jackson is turning into a monster. But the Rams defense is so bad that the Hawks should win another high-scoring affair.

Nov. 20 @ SF: Should be another win, potentially a 6-game winning streak at this point.

Nov. 27 – NY Giants: A lot can change between now and then, but if the game had been played today in Seattle, I would expect the Hawks to have won. Eli is growing up fast. But they still have a suspect secondary (today’s shutout of WASH notwithstanding), and you’d think the Hawks can outscore them with the home field advantage. Win.

Dec. 5 @ Philly: Loss. A Monday night game in Philly? Not gonna happen. The Eagles aren’t the same Eagles we saw the past couple years, but they’re still 3-0 at home this season. The struggles are happening on the road.

Dec. 11 – SF: Win.

Dec. 18 @ Tennessee: The Titans are flailing as of this writing. They’re just not very good, at home or away. So you want to pick this as a win, and I will, but…….

Dec. 24 – Indianapolis: If my predictions above are correct, Seattle comes into this game at 11-3. The Colts will be at least that good. And this will be billed as a potential Super Bowl preview. Okay, stop right there. We’re getting way out of control. Home or not, this is a loss. C’mon, let’s be realistic.

Jan. 1 @ Green Bay: The Packers are a broken team. But there are other things to consider. This is the last week of the season, so it may mean a lot more to GB than it does to the Seahawks. (Brett Favre’s final game?) Half of the Hawks’ starters may sit if playoff position isn’t at stake. It should be a win, but…..

So where does all that leave us?

Purely on paper, it leaves Seattle at 12-4. But realistically you have to assume they’ll lose at least one, and probably two games that look like wins.

So I’m saying: 10-6, maybe 11-5. Just don’t take that to Vegas…….

Jay Glazer is reporting on Fox Sports’ web site that contract proposals have been exchanged between the Seahawks and Shaun Alexander.

The two offers, however, were a little extreme on both sides, with Seattle’s too low and the player’s request too high. The two are expected to talk again within the next 24 to 48 hours in order to see if either side is truly serious. If the Seahawks come back with an offer that is completely under par again, Alexander’s people may suggest they cut off talks and let him become a free agent after the year. However, if the Seahawks respond with an offer that shows the two sides can seriously iron out a new deal, something could move pretty quickly on this front.

None of the Seattle-area papers seem to have picked up on the story yet, or at least their web sites aren’t updated at this hour.

Mike Sando did post a largely uneventful blurb about it on the T-N-T web site. The only newsworthy bit: “I have spoken with Alexander’s agent tonight. He had nothing to say.” Sando and the others should have their chance to chat with Alexander himself tomorrow as the Hawks return to practice after a week off.

Seahawk Game
Originally uploaded by occecid.

Wow — Flickr user “occecid” has added more than a dozen pix from the Seahawks-Dallas game to our Flickr Group, and they’re all excellent.

Here you go:

The Fan Flickr Group

Thanks occecid!

The Zags come in at No. 7 in the ESPN / USA Today pre-season hoops poll. The Huskies didn’t crack the Top 25.

Arizona (9th), Stanford (13th), and UCLA (18th) are representin’ for the Pac-10…..

The NFL folks at ESPN think the Hawks are one of the top five teams in the NFL. That seems a bit on the high side to me. (I’m also not convinced the Eagles deserve to be as high as No. 7.) I’d put the Hawks in the Jacksonville / Cincy / NY Giants range down closer to the end of the Top 10.

And everyone yawns….

Official item on SeattleMariners.com: Chaves to be pitching coach; Pentland named hitting coach

Seriously, if your name isn’t Mazzone, or maybe Ray Miller, do you matter as a pitching coach? And does it really matter who a team’s batting coach is?

Anyway, the new hitting coach had the same job with the Royals (the ROYALS!) for the past three years. I don’t recall them setting any AL marks for offensive production, but maybe I need to look at the stats…. Rafael Chaves comes up from Tacoma, so he’ll be very familiar with and to Felix and the rest of the kids that are sure to make up the brunt of next year’s pitching staff.

The addition of Dan Rohn as “administrative coach” — makes it sound like Team Babysitter on first glance, doesn’t it? — might be interesting. After that first glance, you see he’ll be making sure the team as a whole does its homework with regards to video, charting games, scouting, etc. In other words, they’re giving Mike Hargrove every bit of help they can think of.

ESPN.com has put together a couple terrific previews / overviews of the Sonics and Blazers chances in 2005-06.

Sonics’ perch precarious

The headline is a reference to the fact that most observers see no way for the Sonics to win 52 games and be NW division champs again this season. In fact, take a look at the predictions from the ESPN experts — they range from the Sonics finishing anywhere from 2nd to 4th in the division and 5th to 13th in the conference. Talk about a lack of consensus.

The one thing almost all of them (mistakenly) agree on is that Nate McMillan is the 2nd coming of Red Auerbach. Right.

Blazers searching for new trail

There is a general consensus on the Blazers this year: wait til next year, or the year after. The 12 experts all have the Blazers 5th in the division and 12th to 15th in the conference. Only Tim Legler gives Team Trouble a boost, optimistically pegging them for 4th/11th.

Save yourself a few bucks at the newsstand. From the Sports Illustrated NBA Preview issue:

NORTHWEST DIVISION (predicted order of finish)

Denver Nuggets
Sonics (7)
Utah Jazz
Minnesota Timberwolves
Portland Trail Blazers (14)

(conference standing in parentheses)

** They have a feature called “Combustible Ingredients” which features pairings (i.e. – Phil Jackson and Kobe) that could either lift their teams to new heights or send them spiraling to new depths, and the Blazers’ combo of Sebastian Telfair and Jarrett Jack, both “point guards of the future” are included.

** In a feature called “Perfect Team,” where they build a team of all-stars to beat the Spurs, with the caveat that this team also has to stay under the salary cap, Luke Ridnour is the 12th man. “He needs to improve his jump shot, but he’s a magical ball-handler who makes brilliant decisions in the open court. For a 24-year-old, Ridnour also has exceptional leadership skills.”

** In a sidebar called “5 Predictions,” there’s this: “The Sonics, led by All-Star Ray Allen, will be the league’s top-scoring team yet win fewer games than the 52 they did last year.”

** Lastly, “Nate McMillan vs The Sonics” is listed as one of “5 Defining Rivalries.”

Oh, wow … is this how Rams’ fans felt last season after they stole that game from us? Maybe it’s how Cowboys’ fans felt after they stole that Monday night game from us. Either way, what a feeling! 10 points in the final 40 seconds to win – amazing!

I’ve been trying to maintain some semblance of realism and objectivity so far this season, but ummm … please squish in and make some room for me on the bandwagon. Like I said in Week 2, and like I felt in Week 5, this is a game the Seahawks do not win last year, the year before, etc.

First things first: The Cowboys defense is superb. And they had the right gameplan — shut down Shaun Alexander and make the 3rd-, 4th-, and 5th-string receivers beat you. I’ve been saying all along that you can’t keep getting away with having your starting WRs injured, and it caught up with them today. Urban and Hackett had some great catches, and Jurevicius was Jurevicius — but the offense clearly missed D-Jack and Engram today. Guys weren’t getting open, pass routes weren’t as crisp, and MattHass didn’t have as many choices when he got flushed out of the pocket.

Next things next: The Seahawks defense was even better. Fisher made that rookie OT look like a bad college lineman. Wistrom got great pressure. Seven tackles each – great numbers for your DEs. And what can you say about Jordan Babineaux — he’s been the hero twice in the past three weeks.

Last things last: MattHass got lucky today with a couple balls that he should never have thrown, but didn’t end up as INTs. His numbers were far from great, but neither INT was his fault and, most importantly, look at the composure and the perfect throws he made on the final TD drive. The passes to Urban and Stevens on the first two plays, and the out to Hackett at the 1-yard line — you can’t expect any better. He delivered when it mattered. The whole offense did, Josh Brown included.

GREAT, great win.

Link: NFL.com Recap

Game ball: The defense. Two Dallas drives possessions in the 4th quarter — one after the Williams’ punt fumble and one after the Roy Williams INT — started at the Hawks’ 9 and 12 yard lines respectively. No points on the first, and only a FG on the second — a possession which only lasted 58 seconds and gave the offense time to drive for the tying TD.

Play of the game: Jordan Babineaux’s INT. Duh. Terrible pass by Bledsoe, way underthrown. JB picked it and made the return to get into FG territory.

Next up: Quite possibly the most enjoyable bye week the Seahawks have ever had. Then it’s on to Arizona in Week 9. The Cards are at 2-4 after beating Tennessee today. The Seahawks already demolished Arizona in Week 3 this season.

Seahawks win! Seahawks win! Seahawks win! Seahawks win! Seahawks win! Seahawks win! Seahawks win! Seahawks win! Seahawks win! Seahawks win!

YESSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!