Living between Sacramento and San Francisco, I've seen different angles while watching the Kentwan Balmer situation unfold. A couple weeks ago I was listening to the radio, and heard a Balmer interview about his role last season. He was asked if he thought he should have played more, and he seemed pretty frustrated as he answered the question, but his answer was that he was definitely ready, and to look at the tape of him in preseason, it speaks for itself.

As his motivations have been questioned on both sides of the trade, I've been wanting to bring this up, but could not find anything about it in the explosion of news following his absence, and then trade to the Seahawks. Well, I finally found it.

Continue reading this post »

via Flickr

Last year, I wrote up a summary of what I observed, it was as detailed as I dared and I had a lot of enthusiasm for it as it was the first time I had watched the Seahawks practice. Of course, I had expected that plenty of people here would write about their experiences, and for whatever reason it was not done very often.

Well, I am hoping that this year is different, and I'll kick it off with more of the same, and hopefully it will cause more of you to write about practices this year. I still live in Northern California, am still in the Air Force, and I will head back out of town Monday night after taking my wife and two daughters to see Monday's practice

Continue reading this post »

One of the most widespread myths regarding Seahawks players in recent years is, "Chris Spencer is not smart enough to make the proper line calls." Whether that came from Holmgren's early comments about not having anyone to fill Tobeck's leadership role (he was speaking to his clubhouse and vocal leadership) or from the generalization that the entire line's calls (and therefore their level of play) originate from the C and his ability to read the defense. Bad blocking from the line equals bad reads from C.

Continue reading this post »

I joined the Air Force a couple years ago, and have been living near the Bay Area for over a year now. So when I realized that my brother's wedding coincided perfectly with the week training camp started being open to the public, I purchased a ticket with the idea I would discuss the other days with my wife and go to a few more. That never happened, but I did have Monday morning, the 3rd of August, to see the Seahawks up close.

Continue reading this post »

Morrah has signed a four-year deal worth $1.79 million dollars, including what NorthwestFootball.net has confirmed includes a signing bonus of just over $40,500.

After red-shirting his freshman season at Cal, Morrah backed up current Tennessee Titans tight end Craig Stevens in 2006 and 2007. Morrah moved into the starting lineup in 2008, starting 13 games and finishing the season with 27 receptions, 326 yards and a team-high 8 touchdowns.

 

Bryan McIntyre, Northwestfootball.net

 That leaves only our first day picks left unsigned.

Sando has already picked this up as well.

Going through Seahawks news, I stumbled across a Burleson tidbit that interested me. He is headed out to train hardcore before the training camp.

Audio for interview here...some of the article below.

Continue reading this post »

Mora said second-year FB Owen Schmitt enters camp as the starter and that veteran Justin Griffith, who signed recently from Oakland and was Mora's FB in Atlanta from 2004-07, "understands he has more of a mentor role."

 

Greg Bell - USA Today

The article itself is interesting, talking about how the Seattle players get to take home their playbooks, apparently an unusual move. However, it was the notes at the bottom where the FB quote came from.

Obviously now is the time for crazy speculation about who is doing what, but this seems to be straight forward telling us something that I thought might wait until week 1 to be sorted out. Of course the job could be lost, but for this to not be a straight-forward competition with the started named later is interesting to me. And of course I'm excited to see the havoc.

He talks about learning more pass rush moves, and how he'll be playing the 3-tech. basic stuff.

"I’m the three technique this year so one of my focuses this year is to get my weight down and my role this year is to bring more energy to the defensive line and the defense so my role has pretty much changed.

"The one guy I’ve been looking at as far as taking different things and different situations is Warren Sapp. He played the three-technique really well and we’re running the Tampa defense is the same defense so I’m just looking at film of what he was doing and when certain plays came at him I’m just trying to focus on him and what he was doing and incorporating that into my game.

But then he goes on to be a little discriptive about a change in defensive tackle roles, as well as the plays the defense is learning.

"This year we’re throwing a lot of different looks," Mebane noted. "From looking at the plays they are giving us, it seems like everybody is blitzing more.

"As a defensive line, the defensive tackles, we’re not sliding this year because the three technique is always going to play the three-technique and the nose guard (Colin Cole) will play the nose.

Scout.com - from Mebane interview on 710 KIRO

Continue reading this post »

From Danny O'Neill, Seattle Times Blog

Continue reading this post »

Watching the coaching signings, there it feels as though the team is transitioning towards a Tampa 2, although there really is not solid personnel evidence of that yet.

I know that we have good amount of money invested in the defense so far, but I think a good indication of whether we are seriously moving towards this is whether we go after Julius Peppers or Terrell Suggs. That of course is predicated on those teams not locking up those players in some way, which is very likely. But if one of them becomes available, or some other pass rusher with great ability, how we react to that situation I think should tell us about the long-term plans for this team.

Leroy Hill's situation is another one. If we do what it takes to retain him, we will still have two very good pass rushing OLBs, and Hill hasn't shown himself to be the most disciplined LB in coverage. I do not know Mora's defensive background. It was said by someone in a conversation here that he had more of a cover-3, cover-1, traditional 4-3 in ATL, which seems to jive with what our personnel looks like right now, as well as TR's drafting pattern. If that is correct, despite the coach signings, Mora could be the one putting the defense together and some of our fears would be for nothing.

This is completely speculation, we could not go after Peppers or Suggs, retain Hill, and transition to a cover 2. But my belief is that our moves involving these players will tell us a lot about where the team is headed.

I had an idea occur to me while watching the Cardinals game wind down. I'm probably not the first to think of this.

If a player catches the ball and does a backward lateral out of bounds, would that be legal? Or is there a rule against that to keep players from using it to stop the clock as they try to come from behind?

Your FanPost must be at least 75 words long. Right now it's only 56 words long. If you just have a quote, link, video or photo you'd like to share with the community, try creating a FanShot instead.

The disguised blitz Winfield ran was beautiful, the strip and the ball was just gravy. Then there was the play he ducked the FB and took down the back in one motion. The screen pass he blew up on his own. The guy plays like he's 6'2".

If I'm Mora I get as much tape on Winfield as I can and send them home with Wilson.
 Winfield uses his power all over the field.

The article discussing Lane Kiffin's probable exit and Rob Ryan's possible ascent to become the Raiders head coach has one small section about the offensive coaches.

Silver and Black Report

"An added bonus, on the other hand, might be that Ryan’s elevation could help Oakland retain highly regarded offensive coordinator Greg Knapp — who would finally get to call the plays — and even more highly regarded offensive line coach Tom Cable, plus popular running backs coach Tom Rathman, all of whom intend to join Seattle Seahawks heir apparent Jim Mora Jr.’s staff next year, according to S&B Report sources."

I don't know what to think, because although the names sound familiar I am not a close enough NFL follower to really know what they are highly regarded for or if they even are.

I saw some discussion and different numbers thrown out there on Colbert's contract. So when I read this I thought some here might want to know what we are on the hook for besides the 5th(4th).

Koren Robinson - Base Salary of $730,000(1 year deal)

Keary Colbert - Base Salary of $605,000, with 2.5 and 1.5 being owed to finish the 3 year deal if he stays with the Seahawks. The Broncos kept the signing bonus on their books so we are not paying him much this year.

Seattle Times Story

"The only other injury coming out of Sunday's overtime loss to San Francisco was cornerback Kelly Jennings, who suffered a broken rib that required an injection at halftime. Jennings finished the game. He will not practice much this week, but is expected to play next Sunday when the Seahawks play the Rams in the third game of the season."

Link

That leaves us with two starting CBs with broken bones in the secondary. Seneca Wallace is also out for a few weeks and Logan Payne is done for the year as we all expected.

Link to Article

The article goes on to say a few things about our new punter. Sounds like he might be a pretty good one. Here is some of the article.

 "Ryan is thrilled to have landed so quickly in a new situation, however. Two days after he and his girlfriend were lying around his Green Bay condo wondering what had happened, his agent called to say the Seahawks wanted to bring him in for a tryout.

That was before Ryan Plackemeier struggled through Sunday's opener in Buffalo, meaning the former Seahawks punter clearly was on a short leash. Ryan flew to Phoenix to work out with a kicking specialist for two days, came to Seattle on Monday and sufficiently impressed the Seahawks staff with his workout that Plackemeier got the boot.

"That was a tough call because Plack is a good guy and he had a tough ballgame," coach Mike Holmgren said. "I don't think those were ideal kicking conditions. Clearly it was wet and windy and all that kind of stuff.

"My feeling is this will not be the last time Plack punts in the NFL. He might wind up back here; who knows? But our special teams, we can't have a game like we had Sunday. There were a lot of reasons. That includes kickers, cover people, everybody."

Holmgren said Ryan had a good workout, and "now that has to transfer over for us in the game Sunday and this season, hopefully. As I said, I hope it's a long stay for him."

Ryan's averages last year of 44.4 overall and 37.6 yards net well exceeded Plackemeier's 40.0 and 34.3, but the Packers wanted to go with the consistency of former Redskins kicker Derrick Frost."

Seahawks just supposedly signed him, and we are not sure what his skill-set is.

We all know he is fast, and that he is a PR/KR. But what kind of hands does he have, is he any good at route-running? Can he play on coverage teams, is he an good, adaquate, or bad tackler? And anything else you can tell us would he helpful.

Thank you

 - Seahawk fan

72 73 74 75

Although Special Teams is a big concern...we have a new punter, and a couple guys who can return punts. Other than that hopefully the other issues are worked on this week. I'm not honestly sure how much Babs plays on special teams but hopfully he can help in coverage.

On defense, getting Bernard back should help both our run stopping and pass rushing. Our run stopping looked a lot better than I expected with him out...and really encourages me about Howard Green's supposed improvements. But where I really think Bernard will help is his pass rushing. He's always been a good pass rusher, and teamed with Mebane hopefully helps with the pressure up the middle.

On offense, we really REALLY need Locklear back. We didn't pass block very well besides Walter Jones...and we need Lock on the right side. Another reason we need him is that it gives Willis the chance to compete for RG...and we need our best backup OL to compete for that job. Our backups are much better at the Guard positions than Tackle IMO, and our OL could look better next week with Lock back and Sims out. I like Sims...but the improvement pass blocking at RT means a lot to our offense, and the drop-off from Sims to Willis or Pork Chop(so Willis eventually) is less than from Locklear to Willis at RT. With Morris out, we need to see Duckett play...and I'd like to see some of Weaver's skills used with Schmitt. Some powerback looks I think would give the defense something else to think about...having enough bodies to take down the back. I don't know what to expect this week, but was surprised not to see Seneca in the offense for any snaps last game. I expect to see him at least some this week.

First, I want to say that considering how your team played, and the Brady injury that looks like a season ending one, good luck following Whitner into the playoffs.

I really REALLY like how your team is built. Your pass defense wasn't really tested, so I don't really know what to say about it. But your run defense, blitzing, and defensive playcalling in general was(were?) dominant. Stroud and Mitchell help make that front 7 strong and scary and should be able to dominate several offensive lines in this league. Even without Locklear the Seahawks OL is not filled with chumps, and Matt Hasselbeck is a pretty smart and seasoned veteran QB. The playcalling especially I'm jealous of, I'd like to see something like that in Seattle with the talent that we have.

Something I am even more jealous of, is your special teams play. Not just the K, P and KR/PR like some teams seem to think. The whole special teams squad. In my opinion, the special teams were the difference between the Bills scoring 7, 10 or 13-14 points, and the 34 points scored today. Neither of the TDs were scored on a long field, and I don't have to recount to you all of the great things that your special teams did, and field position was consistantly close to midfield for your team.

Offensively, the power runner meshes well with the strong defense and special teams. The run wasn't particularly effective today, besides the TD rush. Lynch is special, but the blocking wasn't great for him. Not sure if it was the Seattle D, the OTs being in unfamiliar locations, or something else. But Trent Edwards I think is a real winner of a QB for your team.

The Seahawks definately looked bad today, and contributed to your team's dominance in a way no team should, but you have a lot going for your team and not a lot working against you. With that kind of pass blocking it doesn't matter how good your passing game is, your QB shouldn't lose games for you. Good luck again in the AFC East, I'd rather you all win the division than any of those teams.