Broken R-Rated Post, use this one

...but the Seahawks have a distance to go before they can compete with the big boys like Minnesota and Indianapolis.

A win is fun, though.

You guys should start a comments prediction contest. Here are mine:

"OMG !J-FORCE! is the gr8est of all time!!! What the hell is wrong with Knapp, why doesn't he hand off to !J-FORCE! on every down???"

[after two straight no-gainers by Forsett] "OMG what the hell is wrong with Knapp??? J-Carlson is the gr8est of all time, use him!!! Fire Knapp now!!!"

"Here is our list of keepers:
!J-FORCE!
J-Carlson
D-Heater
M-Unger
Fire TR, Moran, and Knapp NOW!!!"

And variations of the above.

OMG HAsselbeck is too old cut him right now!!!

You forgot that one

The win is nice...makes my Sunday supremely more enjoyable...did see this on Twitter that is interesting:

dannyoneil: For what it's worth: 25 percent of Seattle's regular-season victories under president Tim Ruskell have been over St. Louis.

Here's to hoping we can win at least 2 of the remaining games...1 seems more likely.

It was the Lambs...and they were decimated by injuries...and STILL we couldn't kick their asses...pathetic...all we did was move ourselves about 3 spots back in the draft...(do you sense a certain lack of optimism here?)

I just read from pro football weekly that the hawks r letting ruskell go at the end of the season. Is this going to the end of TR era.

OK, if TR is gone, who do we replace him with? My Dream Team of available coaches would be Bill Cowher for Head Coach, Lovie Smith for DC, Mike Shanahan for OC, Bill Parcells for GM.

OK, that would be damned expensive, and there would be too many egos involved. I'd settle for Smith and Cowher :-)

Radem

I read the article on PFW. That, to me, has more authority that some other internet sites. Lets ee if the Seahwks issue a statement contradicting it.

As for Holmgren, I am reminded of Gen MacAurthur returning to the philipines. I do not know if Holmgren can be a great GM but he will be a great asset for the Seahwk organization and a great pr move.

Read the article as well. If Holmie comes back, I hope he learned his lesson about trying to reform knuckleheads like Jeremy Stevens. Also, he need to find a damned good DC or defense-oriented HC and LISTEN to them at draft time.

Radem

A win is a win, and that's never bad. But they spent a good amount of time today getting shredded by a backup quarterback on probably the worst team in the league.

The win happened today due to the Rams' grotesque level of sucking, not because the 'Hawks were great.

I'll still sleep better tonight ...

Thanks EJohnson. Hope this is true.


http://www.profootballweekly.com/2009/11/29/source-seahawks-gm-ruskell-wont-return

Sorry, I don't know how to make this a link.

Easy there guys. The Rams, despite their record have been improving every week as well. I have watched almost every game they have played and there is a visable amount of growth among their team. they are well coached and do not give up. Now they were playing with a back up QB.......but lets be honest here, that might be an upgrade over Bulger. I am not "playoff bound" or anything stupid, I am acutely aware of the shitty state of the seahawks, but i think the heart of everyone's articles lately in regards to the Seahawks have been searching for signs of improvement and analysis of what we have for the future. So being a fan that wants the team to get better I tried to look at both sides, both positive and negative, and here is what i came up with:

1. In the second half when the secondary was attacking the receivers and not playing bullshit cushion zone defense we looked like we we found a hint of identity that worked with our personnel

2. Forsett will need a compliment and I don't know if it is Rankin yet because his outing today was piss poor, but it should be just that, a compliment needed and not a whole new search for a run game.

3. Our O-line is a mess. They can go through the motions enough to get a victory against the Rams, but we need two tackles ASAP. Sliding Locklear back over to the right is not going to cut it.

4. Hasselbeck is not the problem. Yep, I said it. Has anyone thoroughly watched a Arizona game lately? it is not just Warner, they did it with Leinart today.(despite the loss, they put up good yardage against a hot team, with a back-up QB) They change looks, deceive defenses with clear out plays with WR1 and 2 on zone coverages......Our vanilla coaching is making Hasselbeck skitish and result in check downs to Griffith or Forsett every other play. But, take a look at what else is available with the reads and I would say you can't put it on Hasselbeck. Yes, I admit you can argue it is a poor comparison because AZ's line is far superior to ours but Bottom line, Knapp is garbage and does not give Hasselbeck the opportunity to use his weapons.

5. Our DL plays well when our DB's and Safety's play aggressive. That might sound like a Capt. Obvious statement......but it does go to show that we have the personnel to get pressure..........we just have to have the components that trust each other enough to do their role and not make someone else look like a jackass for jumping a route.

That is all I got for now.......I am sure plenty of people will disagree and criticize my post. It's all good........you can't argue we got something to build on.......A WIN!

I just read that same Pro Football Weekly article and it also says that Mike Holmgren is going to be hired as Head of Football Operations. WOW, what could this mean for our coaching staff? I hope this is true! It will be amazing for our offense, but Holmgren needs an amazing defensive guru for our beloved Seahawks. Justin Forsett has won the starting job in my book. Why aren't we throwing the ball to Carleson?

This bad o-line blame is contradictory bullshit, a bad o-line will not get you 130 yards today and a good rushing game in Arizona. We have good receivers going to waste because the QB can't throw the ball. The Hawks will be back on top in a couple years if they have a new quarterback.

If Forsett keeps it up you can forget about Spiller or Best wearing Seahawk blue. I really want Spiller but whats the point of having 2 scat backs on the team? Anyone know if there is any powerful backs in this draft worth taking in the top 3 rounds? I personally like Jon Dwyer but I know some don't, he also plays in a ZBS so that would make him a perfect fit.

Hey 12 i'm all for spending a first or second round pick on a QB of the future, to sit on the bench for a season or two and learn. But you can't expect a rookie to lead us to the playoffs. Joe Flacco was a one in a million to take his team so far, we probably won't be so lucky.

The PFW article only says that if Ruskell is not retained that it leaves the door open for Holmgren to return. We do not know if that is a sure thing.

Also I agree that Forsett looks like a keeper as a scat back but we could use a Dwyer or that guy from Stanford to run in the gut of the defense. Also we need bigger stronger O-Linemen. Locklear might be a great left guard if we draft an athletic OT for the left side. Sims and Spencer should both be allowed to walk in free agency. Not because they are not talented but because they simply cannot stay on the field.

Our D-Line needs to be nastier. We are ok talent wise but a domintent DT or DE would lift the rest of the line to very good status.

Keep Hass until his arm falls off. Draft another developmental QB, unless a star falls into our lap, and sign a vet back up. Focus on getting more physical and playing better defense until Holmgren (or whomever) can rebuild toe offense. A good offense takes years to put together.

i almost shit my pants when i saw us blitz for the first time! hopefully gus learned that you cant get 4 man pressure on the qb every play. we got multiple sacks and a couple picks on defense. those were some nice blitz packages gus threw in there.

forsett looked great! he is such a shifty runner! i really hope he starts over jones now.

oh yeah, i saw a lot of nick reed out there, and he kept his motor going like he did in the preseason and he looked good out there. gus bradley really impressed me by mixing it up this week.

Mike Kelly,
Let Sims and Spencer walk, huh? Who replaces them? Oh, and you want a big nasty DT or DE and draft an athletic OT and Dwyer or "that guy from Stanford" (Gerhart)? Basically, you want four first round draft picks and huge pick ups in free agency. Brilliant. Sorry, but I really hate that kind of post. You might as well say that we need to trade rosters with the Colts or the Saints.

I loved watching the Hawks today. They weren't perfect, but they played well. I love to see the aggressive defense and the picks. The offense stalled a bit and Hass didn't look really sharp, but Forsett made up for it. And Blazeddonkey is right, the Rams have look better each week and a lot of "experts" picked the Rams to beat us (more than half of ESPN's crew). So, not a bad day to be a Seahawk fan. At least I don't have to do the walk of shame into work again tomorrow.

MikeKelly, sorry for being harsh. That was probably not called for.

I think we let Sims walk, which sucks because I like him but he is always hurt. I'm thinking we keep Spencer and maybe try him at guard and Unger at center.

I think Hass is a very good qb, we just can't protect him worth a shit. I saw one play where he threw out of bounds instead of a probable interception, why can't Seneca do that?
I also feel good about a win even though it might have been against a super shitty team.
I think with o-line help we could actually run the ball thus opening the throwing game, which Hass is good at.

I read the Pro Football Weekly blurb! Wow!
If true, we are looking at major changes between now and the start of next year.

Lots of questions like:
Who are the coaches?
What is the personnel philosophy?
What does the 2010 team look like?

I think it is time Seneca Wallace play.Hasselbeck is not himself out there.He has not looked good since the Jags game.I would like to see the SeneCat and we should bench the HasselCat.Anyone else agree.Since we know Mora's idea of rookies.If they are good enough they will play and if they aren't they will watch (Butler,Teal} from the sidelines.I cant believe how bad we still look.We used to dominate games.One thing I remember is Holmgren's press conferences.He was always cool never to up never to down.I miss you Mike please come home to Qwest the house Holmgren built.

Great. We beat the lambs for the 10th time in a row and lost a few more places in next years draft. Somehow I'm not excited by today's win.

I saw most of the first half and found us to be out classed for the most part. Starts like that against a team that can take advantage of it has been a key reason why we are always trying to come from behind. We need a better start to ALL games so that we don't have to become one dimensional and allow the other team's D to pin their ears back and blast against our already suspect O-line.

I like the make up of our "talent". I can't seem to figure out why they can't have better starts to games. The Offense doesn't ever kick it early on - maybe the exception would be the Cards' game a couple of weeks back. Other than that, I don't recall a good, aggressive, and crisp offensive start to any game this season. I would put that one on the coaches to provide the right level of motivation. This is one situation where I miss the Walrus because he always scripted the first couple of offensive series and so we always seemed to have a good start. I think Knapp can learn something here.

I saw the third quarter today and found that we stepped it up a bit right after the first 3 and out. We did that SenecaCat thing that was a busted play, but Seneca made a gain out of it. We did miss out on getting in to the end zone, but it was a good start. We are not far off from being a good team, but we do need to get an earlier wake up call for EVERY game.

Gus is growing as a D coord while Knapp needs to get to bed earlier the night before a game. Mora just needs to find a new job. He is not the leader that will lead this team to the promised land.

Hawkdude,

you are right on.

It is going to take a minimum of 2 years of good to great drafts to get this team into a position to really compete. That is also taking our health and retaining key free agents in to account. We cannot "trade rosters" with a betetr team but we can emulate what the best teams do and maximize our chances in the draft and be very smart in free agency.

Also my perspectives are that of a fan, not an expert so I may on occasion say some boneheaded things. I am just tired of getting slapped around on Sundays like we are little kids.

We are about to embark on a string of losing seasons as we break in a new regime, new QB.

I'm pretty damn excited about it.

A Win's a Win!

Still, the same old problems were apparent. Knapp's plays are utter shite! SOme were so badly drawn up, it looked like stuff I designed in Junior High! (To be fair, the Lambs had some head scatchers too!)

Knapp gets conservative for no reason, and our line is still awful. What bothered me the most was our utter failure to throw the ball downfield against a Lambs team that scares no one. Two passes in the first quarter to Nate, then nothing for a quarter and a half?! No passes to Housh until the second half?! How could our WR's be THAT covered?! Something isnt right here, Nate and Housh arent that bad.

The line sucked, but Matt had time to find recievers--he just didnt. I dont think its matt either, despite his two misses to Housh. He played fine. SO, that leaves the scheme, which is Knapps fualt.

All I want for Christmas is knapps head on a platter, and Holmy for GM, and Haskell back as OC.

Good news is Bradley called a good game. Even if the Lambs have a line almost as bad as ours, it was still a good game defensively.

Kelly Jennings proceeded to get beat for that TD, and then the Twilight Zone happened: Every time I turned around, there was Jennings laying the hat on some reciever. The guy played his best game ever Sunday, and he deserves to be in contention for player of the game, along with Wilson and Forsett. I still dont think Jennings will ever be a decent starting corner, but he sure played well yesterday! Way to go Kelly!

Mostly liked what I saw, although Danny O is right about 25% of our victories lately have been against the Lambs.

But, the Lambs looked a helluva lot better the last couple weeks than we have, so there you are.

Good point too that this team does not lack talent. Gotta keep in mind that something one of the Rooneys said about continuity (the Stealers have only had 2 or 3 coaches since Chuck Noll, who was there before I was born) - when you blow up a coaching staff and bring in a whole bunch of new ones, it's a lot like becoming an expansion team. Usually it's done after a bad season or 2 (the last several years we've padded our record against a truly atrocious division) and being thin on talent (see last year's Oline and WR injury rates).

All the new terminologies and the players and staff getting accustomed to one another's strengths, weaknesses and tendencies makes for a very messy growth curve when playing against teams that have not had that problem lately such as the Vikes and Tards. Big reason why so many successful NFL people surround themselves with retreads from their own personal old-boy network. No learning curve needed.

Personally, I'd like to see Ruskell extended 1 or 2 more years as he has not had free rein to finish the job and sufficient time to correct his own mistakes as well as replenish the nearly nonexistent pool of talent that Holmgren drafted before he got here. His last couple of drafts/FA signings have been really stellar.

And, of course, I am becoming irritated at the lack of production on the field from all this fantastic talent. Which points to a coaching problem. The last few games of this season will be telling indeed whether all this tinkering is able to pay off. New systems and new terminology on both sides of the ball for all players is a mess waiting to happen. Have they finally picked it up after a 15 game preseason?

9ers at home will be the defining moment of this current staff and who will be around next year.