The timing of Richard Sherman's appeal - Mike Sando

No word yet on if a decision will come down that day or be pushed out further.  I can see the league holding off until Monday on a decision to protect the brand for the Sunday primetime game. I do not see the Hawks being very competitive Sunday without Sherman in the game.

Your thoughts?

Three rushing touchdowns by Wilson, 2.5 sacks by Clemons, a pick-six by Thomas, and 11.3 yds/att for Lynch.  Add it up, and you get a crushing 50-17 win in which the only real blemish was Hauschka getting blocked on a point-after try.

Right now I can't even begin to put into words how much I'm looking forward to the game next week against the 49ers.  Feel free to discuss how awesome this team is playing right now in the comments below.

WR Deon Butler was signed to the roster to fill Charly Martin's role as the fifth wide receiver on the active roster, but he's been listed as inactive for the game.  And as expected, Walter Thurmond has joined Marcus Trufant as an injury scratch on the sideline along with CB DeShawn Shead.  The four cornerbacks who will be active for the game are Richard Sherman, Jeremy Lane, Byron Maxwell, and Ron Parker. 

Lane will get the start opposite Sherman, but he and Maxwell are slated to share duties at the right cornerback and nickel back positions, so don't start worrying that there's been another injury to a CB if at some point you see Maxwell's #41 on the field but not Lane's #20.  Parker played in two games for the Seahawks last year before suffering an injury that landed him on injured reserve, but in that brief span he looked like a rather promising addition on special teams -- and unless someone else gets hurt, that's the only time he'll see the field today.

The biggest news for the Bills is that starting cornerback and star return man Leodis McKelvin is inactive for the game with a groin injury.  Aside from C.J. Spiller's running, McKelvin's heroics as a punt retuner have been one of the few bright spots for them this year.  Without him on the field, this gets a lot harder for Buffalo to win.

The last team with the best regular season record to win a super bowl was New England back in 2003. That could be good news for the Seahawks that looks to be playing their best football just before the playoffs. http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/8737193/nfl-watch-potential-playoff-underdogs

I’ll get to the good stuff in a moment, but first I just wanted to say hello and welcome to all the new folks who have started to migrate this way in the wake of the announcement that the Seahawks Insider, along with the rest of the Tacoma News-Tribune, will be disappearing behind a pay wall.  If any of you have an interest in doing some writing yourselves (or if you just have a question or response you don’t want to post for all to see) feel free to contact me directly at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .  I read every email that gets sent my way, and I do my best to respond to queries within a day or two.

As for the comments, I try to stay as hands-off as possible with the moderation, so I won’t step in and delete stuff unless someone is getting abusive or overly disruptive.  I don’t mind off-topic discussions either; the way I see it, conversations are going to go in whatever direction they want to go, and that’s fine with me.  Really, all I ask is that the obscenities are kept to a minimum outside of the R-rated threads I put up after every game.

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Man, what a difference a few wins makes.  Early in the season, many of us were fretting that the Seahawks’ problems on offense were going to negate the efforts of what was shaping up to be a truly elite defense.  A few weeks after that, the cause of worry was that the team’s ascending offense was going to waste because the defense was incapable of holding on to a fourth quarter lead.

The win over the Cardinals doesn’t really prove that the defense is fixed by any means.  Arizona’s offense is about as dysfunctional as it gets, and just the week before the Hawks’ defense couldn’t stop the Bears from moving into field goal range to send the game into overtime.  Still, the 58-0 blowout seems to have settled everyone down just enough to shift the topic of conversation over to the playoff hunt.

At this point, the Seahawks are in control of the five seed, and the other teams in the hunt for an NFC wild card berth are pretty weak competition.  The Bears (8-5) currently hold the six seed, but they’ve lost four of their last five games and could miss the playoffs altogether.  The Redskins (7-6) may have to make their final push without their star rookie quarterback as Robert Griffin III is nursing a sprained knee.  The Cowboys (7-6) and Vikings (7-6) are both dealing with near-crippling problems on defense and offense, respectively.  In fact, the above four teams have so many issues that the Rams (6-6-1) could end up stealing the final wild card slot out from underneath all of them.

What’s more, if the Seahawks run the table through the last three games, they could end up with more than just a wild card berth.  If the 49ers lose to the Patriots this Sunday, the Hawks would win the division – and with it home field advantage for at least the wild card round – by beating Harbaugh’s team in week sixteen.  And if the Packers and Giants each lose one of their remaining games, then the Seahawks would leapfrog both of them in the standings (Seattle owns the head-to-head tiebreaker over Green Bay) and end up with the number two seed and a first round bye.

But for that to happen, Seattle needs to take care of business in Toronto this week, and they’ll be doing it without two players that were expected to see significant playing time.  CB Walter Thurmond has been playing lights-out fantastic since his return a few weeks back, but he’s been ruled out this week with a hamstring injury.  In his place, CBs Jeremy Lane and Byron Maxwell will share time at both the starting right corner and nickel back positions.  Neither is as good as Thurmond, but they both played well last week when they were given a chance to step in for a significant number of defensive snaps.

The other player is WR Charly Martin, who was placed on injured reserve today with a calf injury.  Had Sidney Rice not been able to play against the Bills after injuring his foot in the Cardinals game, Martin would have been the choice to start at flanker in his stead.  Luckily, Rice was upgraded to probable when he returned to practice today after sitting out on Wednesday and Thursday, so the loss of Martin doesn’t hurt the team as much as it could have.  Still, the move leaves the Seahawks with just four wide receivers on the active roster: Rice, Golden Tate, Doug Baldwin, and Jermaine Kearse.

The team hasn’t made an official announcement, but it sounds like they might be bringing back Deon Butler to take Martin’s place on the roster.  I would have expected them to just activate another receiver off the practice squad (Phil Bates and Lavasier Tuinei would both be interesting choices), but Butler knows the offense and should be able to step in right away and provide a limited number of snaps.  However, Butler doesn’t appear to have traveled with the Seahawks to Toronto, so who knows.  Also, S Winston Guy is scheduled to return from his four game suspension next week, so a roster spot will need to be opened up for him unless the team plans on putting him on waivers.

Anyway, on to the stats.

(Note, for explanations of some of the stats included in this piece, please see the first article in the series.)

Rushing Averages
 

The rushing stats for the offense just keep getting better every week, in no small part because the added threat of the run option forces the defense to split their attention between Russell Wilson and his running back on every handoff.  Also, the mere threat of the option run has an effect on opponents similar to the 46 defense Buddy Ryan ran with the Bears back in the ‘80s – sometimes Ryan only used it for a couple of snaps a game, but offenses had to devote some of their practice time each week to figuring out how to beat it.  Likewise, any time opposing defenses spend practicing to stop the Seahawks’ option game is time taken away from practicing to stop everything else the Seahawks’ offense does.

Granted, neither of the last two teams are known for their ability to stop the run (Chicago’s run defense is ranked 25^th and Arizona’s is 18^th), but it’ll be interesting to see how well the Bills hold up against their former teammate Marshawn Lynch.  Buffalo was awful at stopping the run earlier in the year (the 49ers racked up 311 yards on the ground against them back in week five), but they’ve now held their last four opponents to under 100 rushing yards.

The Seahawks’ run defense managed to hold the Cardinals to below three yards per carry, but as I said earlier stopping Arizona’s offense isn’t much of an accomplishment these days.  As you can see, they’re now ranked 21^st in the league against the run, which is a far cry from the top five ranking they enjoyed through the first few weeks of the season.  I think the Seahawks are going to win this one, but after watching them give up 6.75 yds/att against the Dolphins, I have to admit to being a little worried about how well they’re going to fare against C.J. Spiller, who currently leads all running backs with 6.6 yds/att.

(To continue reading, please click on "Read More" below.)

Recently, I agreed to do a Q&A  with Joe Pinzone, who covers the Buffalo Bills and Sabres at his site, Buffalo Wins.  Below you'll find his answers to my questions, and I'll update this article with a link to the responses I gave him once they go up on his site (UPDATE (12/14): Pinzone posted the article today -- click here to read it).  Enjoy!

1) Statistically, C.J. Spiller and Fred Jackson have been one of the best running back tandems in the NFL this year.  Now that Jackson is out with a knee injury, how will the running game be affected? Can Spiller handle the workload on his own, or will the team need Tashard Choice to step up?

It's funny, albeit harsh, but fans are kind of happy that Spiller will be getting more carries now. It has been a constant bitchfest this season about Spiller not getting enough carries. The guy is averaging 6.6 yards a carry, yet he's only carried the ball an average of 12 times a game. He's on pace to have the best yards per carry for a running back with more than 100 carries in the last 80 years. Yet, Gailey is an idiot and elects to pass more than he should. Plus, he takes Spiller out for reasons we don't get. This week, he made it sound like Spiller was "winded" a few times after carrying the ball two times in a row, which prompted him to go to the bench for a series. CJ, of course, scoffed at the notion. Spiller is a unique talent who always seems to have the ability to take it to the house on any given play. He should be getting the ball 20-25 times a game. Gailey's excuse has been that he's got Fred Jackson back there and wants to split carries. I think there's some truth to that, but I think it goes back to Gailey trying to pass his way to the HOF. Since 2010, when Ryan Fitzpatrick attempts 27 or fewer passes, the Bills are 10-2 and are averaging 145 yards on the ground. When he throws more than 27 passes, the Bills are 5-28. Enough said.

2) How would you grade Chan Gailey's tenure as head coach?  What's kept him and his team from producing more than 4-6 wins per year?  Do you believe the team would benefit from giving Gailey another year or two at the helm, or is it time for him to go the way of Dick Jauron before him?

Oh, we hate him here.  It is really up in the air at this point if gets another chance. . The Bills have never been an organization to have a short leash on coaches when they fail constantly. Dick Jauron was the last coach and he survived three straight years of 7-9 seasons to go along with a fan base that wanted his head on a platter.

If the Bills lose out, I can't see how they'd let him come back. To this point, he's 15-30 as their head coach. However, if they finish 7-9 or 8-8 -which is very possible because they have an easy schedule -- I think he comes back. Should he come back? No.

He is too arrogant as a coach and believes in passing way too much when he doesn't have a QB for it. He's Hardheaded. As for Gailey's shortcomings: He loves to pass too much. He has a running back that is averaging 6.5 yac but only 12 carries per game. He doesn't know when to be aggressive or passive. He's stuck in the 90s in a lot of his philosophy. He just isn't a good game day coach. He's a retread who has been fired from 3 of his last 4 jobs.

Last week, he sent in Rian Lindell to attempt a 52-yard FG when he didn't know the length of the kick. When he found out it was a 52-yard FG instead of a 50-yarder, he called a timeout and decided to punt. His reason was that there's a big difference between 50 and 52 yards. Um, okay.... This is what we deal with here.


3) Now that you've had four years to evaluate him, what are your thoughts on Ryan Fitzpatrick?  Is he just a placeholder, or is he franchise quarterback material?  How likely is he to reach the end of that seven year, $62 million contract he signed in 2011?

Fitz is pretty much on his last leg as the Bills' starting QB. Buddy Nix (GM) has said he plans on drafting a QB this April. Obviously, the Bills made a mistake when they decided to extend Fitzpatrick for 59 million dollars as his numbers have gone south since signing the deal. I don't blame the Bills for re-signing him at the time. During a 21 game span, Fitzpatrick had 40 touchdowns, 4,984 yards passing, and 22 interceptions. Why wouldn't you re-sign him for those numbers? However, since he signed that deal, Fitz has been either really bad or average. In his last 9 games of last year, Fitz threw for just 10 touchdowns and an eye-popping 16 interceptions. The word was out on how to defend Fitz. The Bills like to run a lot of 6-yard slant patterns and if you take away those underneath routes, you end up forcing the Bills to go over the top, which they can't do because Fitz doesn't have the arm strength/accuracy to make those throws. For this year, Fitz has been inconsistent. He has 21 touchdowns and 13 interceptions, but he's ranked 26th in yards per attempt. His best games this year statistically speaking have been against the Pats twice (6 TDs), Titans (3TDs) and the Browns (3tds), who don't exactly have stellar defenses. However, when Fitz has gone against a defense currently ranked in the top 10 (49ers, Texans, Rams, and Cards) the offense has scored just TWO touchdowns.  I think Fitz can start in the NFL, but it has to be on a loaded team. He needs to be a game manager. Put him on the 49ers and I don't think they miss that much of a beat. However, if you are asking him to win games for you, it becomes a tall ass task.

4) Over the last few seasons, the Bills have drafted a lot of defensive players in the first three rounds of the draft, but the defense still ranks in the bottom third of the league in points allowed, rushing yards per attempt, and so forth.  Are those draft picks not working out, or is there something else at work here?

The Bills defense has actually played better in the last month. They haven't allowed 100 yards rushing in a game in a month. I think a lot of it is due to Mario Williams being healthy and the fact that it took the team sometime to gel going from a 3-4 to a 4-3. Of course, their offensive competition has been lesser as of late (Rams, Jags and Miami). As for their younger guys, Marcell Dareus has been much better over the 2nd half of the season. He lost his brother to a shooting after the first game of the year and you have to think that had something to do with his slow start. Advanced Stats has Dareus ranked as the 14th best defensive tackle in the league and he's tied for 5th in sacks (5) at the position. He will be a good one. Cornerback Aaron Williams (2nd rounder in 2011) has been a disaster. He was the opposite starting corner at the start of the year and he's been burned on a consistent basis. He just has no coverage skills and is always 2-3 steps behind WRs. You can beat him deep. The other corner, Stephon Gilmore (1st rounder 2012), has had an impressive rookie season and has gotten better as the season has gone on. He's a real physical corner and the Bills have started him since day 1. He's currently tied for 6th in the NFL in passes defended with 16. Defensive tackle, Alex Carrington (3rd rounder in 2010) is finally doing something for the team. He's got a few sacks this season and is a nice addition in the DL rotation. Overall, I think the Bills have talent, but the jury is still out when they go against better offenses in my opinion.

5) Are there any lesser-known Bills players that Seahawks fans should keep an eye on this Sunday?

Offensively, check out Scott Chandler. I'm not the biggest fan of his, because I think you'd want more out of TE when you consider the position has blown up, but all of his catches this season have been for either 1st downs or touchdowns. He's a decent redzone target for Fitz. Defensively, I'd look at the younger guys I mentioned previously, but would throw in Kyle Williams. The guy is a stud. He can get after the passer and always seems to disrupt running plays in the backfield. If here playing in a major market, he'd get a lot more attention.

It's a damn good time to be a Seahawk fan.

After an inspiring Week 14 victory over a Cardinals team who appeared to quit in every aspect of how anyone could ever define the word, the New England Patriots unleashed hell on an opponent who was supposed to put up a damn good fight. They beat the Texans on national TV by a score of 42-14, coming off the 58-0 shellacking the Seahawks dished out agains the hapless Cardinals.

Why is it a good thing if the Patriots win, you ask? 

Next Sunday night, they host none other than the San Francisco 49ers. And to keep alive the Seahawks' chances of winning the NFC West, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that yes, the Patriots need to beat the 49ers. The 49ers are still arguably the best team in the NFC, and already beat a young Seahawk team by a score of 13-6 earlier in the season at Candlestick Park. 

But how much have the Seahawks grown since then? And how tenuous is the grasp the 49ers have on the division lead right now? 

San Francisco is 9-3-1, with the tie coming off a home game against the St. Louis Rams, who later beat them in OT in Week 13. The Niners previously got thumped at home by the New York Giants, just four days before the Seahawks came to town on for a Thursday night game. 

That Niners team was angry, hungry and ready to make a statement. They were ready to destroy a rookie quarterback who was on the rise. They were ready to exploit a defense that was lauded as being better than they were. Above all, they were fired up to put the hurt on a division rival after an ugly home loss. 

Meanwhile, the Seahawks had just come off a last-second home victory over none other than the New England Patriots. They were tired, but felt as though they could ride that momentum into San Francisco on such a short week. Unfortuantely, they were wrong. 

Since then -- Week 7 -- the Seahawks have gone 4-2, winning a tough road game in OT against the Chicago Bears, and coming home to CenturyLink Field and laying a historic ass-beating on the Cardinals. Since then:

• QB Russell Wilson has thrown 12 touchdown passes to just two interceptions; one of which came on a tipped pass last Sunday that gave Arizona its one lucky break all day
• The lowest point total the Seahawks have put up is 21, with the highest being 58
• RB Marshawn Lynch has put up four 100+ yard games, scoring seven touchdowns. 
• TE Anthony McCoy was the first Seahawk to reach 100 yards receiving in a game

Make no mistake about it - this is a team on the rise. The surge they've been on in the past two weeks, with some minor exceptions, has been the most convincing I've seen of any Seahawk team I can remember. I think they may be an even more complete team than the 2005 NFC Championship team, but time will tell if that's the case or not. 

The 49ers, meanwhile, are a mixed bag. Coach Jim Harbaugh made the call to switch his starting QB to second-year man Colin Kaepernick. We don't know who this guy is just yet. He's had flashes of brilliance. In other times -- namely in the botched reverse in the Rams game two weeks ago -- he's looked like a rookie. 

Even after the switch, the 49ers still rank only 26th in total passing yards, but defense has been the focal point of this team, as expected. It'll be interesting to see how this defense fares against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots at Gilette Stadium in Foxborough. ESPN's Mike Sando put together a chart giving the matchup a preview here:

The matchup will occur just after the Seahawks travel to Toronto to take on the Buffalo Bills, an inferior opponent that the Seahawks should beat. If the Seahawks get the road win, and the 49ers fall to the Patriots next Sunday night, it'll be safe to say that the momentum in the NFC West will have shifted, making the Dec. 23 game at CenturyLink field between San Francisco and the Seahawks nothing short of a bloodbath with the division title on the line. 

This weekend -- Week 14 -- was encouraging. Seeing the Seahawks get brutal and relentless on a division rival, no matter how inept they are, is a promising sign for how much damage they can dish out to anybody. In this league, a 58-0 win doesn't come often. The Seahawks should be able to ride this wave of confidence and KNOW they can handle anything in front of them from here on out. 

With eight takeaways and a final score of 58-0, the Seahawks didn't just beat the Cardinals, they razed them to the ground and salted the earth where they once stood.

Better still, the Hawks did it by dominating in all three phases of the game, which bodes well for their chances of beating the Bills in Toronto next week and the 49ers at home the week thereafter.

Celebrate to your heart's content in the comments below.

On paper, tomorrow's Week 14 matchup against the Cardinals looks like an easy victory. Since starting hot at 4-0, the Arizona Cardinals have bumped into a slew of problems on both sides of the ball and slipped into a nightmare scenario, losing their last eight straight. Coach Ken Whishenhunt inexplicably benched QB John Skelton in Week 12 in favor of rookie Ryan Lindley, with results that weren't much better than the Max Hall experiment a couple of years back. Though the Cardinals have still remained effective on defense, ranking second in the league in interceptions, the offense has not been able to convert on any of the opportunities it's been given. At times, those have been on a silver platter. 

Meanwhile, the Seahawks are surging. Despite an ugly last-minute loss in Miami in Week 13, they bounced back strong in Chicago last week and pulled out an overtime win. Russell Wilson is looking more like a seasoned veteran than a rookie. Marshawn Lynch is still finding ways to break tackles and drag defenders for extra yardage on nearly every run. The defense, though underperforming on the road, has played very well in every home game this season, ranking fifth overall, and has feasted on opposing quarterbacks. Just ask Aaron Rodgers, Tony Romo and Tom Brady about that. 

So why does Sunday's matchup with a reeling division rival make me slightly nervous? Here are some things that worry me.

• The Seahawks have a history of playing down to their competition. 
• The Cardinals' defense still managed to pick off Matt Ryan five times a few weeks ago (but still lost, somehow.)
• CB Brandon Browner begins his four-game suspension tomorrow. 
• Larry Fitzgerald is still a weapon, and has torched this unit in the past with reckless abandon (even with shaky QB play.) 
• With resources devoted more toward stopping Fitzgerald, a No.2 WR such as Andre Roberts could emerge and surprise the Hawks' defense. Remember TItus Young in Detroit? Yeah, that happened. 

Of course, this could all be a false alarm if the Seahawks remember who they are tomorrow. This offense has arisen from stagnant and sloppy into smooth and solid. John Skelton? Really? He may not be Ryan Lindley, but he sure as hell isn't Tom Brady either. This is a division game the Seahawks know they have to win to keep the momentum going as the regular season winds down. Though offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell will likely draw up a more conservative, run-heavy approach tomorrow in light of the Cardinals' skilled secondary, that doesn't mean Russell Wilson is suddenly going to crack under pressure. 

Here's what I'm confident about going into tomorrow: 

• The 12th Man will be in full effect.
• Since Week 8 -- the official halfway mark for the regular season -- the Seahawks have scored at least 21 points in every game. The Cardinals have given up 31, 23, and 31 points in three of their past four games; two of those being road games (Green Bay, Atlanta.) So even though they get a lot of interceptions, they still give up touchdowns. 
• The Cardinals rank 24th in run defense, and the Seahawks rank 7th overall in rushing yards. Look for the Beast to be unleashed tomorrow afternoon.
• Since their Week 1 loss in Arizona, the Seahawks have developed and ascended overall, while the Cardinals have reeled since starting off hot. 

So do we have anything to worry about tomorrow? We can only wait and see. But no matter the outcome, it all comes down to the quarterback -- and that's the key area the Seahawks hold an advantage over Arizona in this matchup. 

Final score prediction: Seattle 20, Arizona 10. 

It figures, I end up having to take a week off to recuperate¹, and it just so happens that’s the week the Seahawks end up having to make significant changes to both the roster and the starting lineup on both sides of the ball.  Cornerback Brandon Browner is now suspended for the last four games of the regular seasons after testing positive for Adderall, and offensive guard James Carpenter has been placed on injured reserve after experiencing sharp pain in his surgically reconstructed knee early on in the Bears game.

Both losses hurt, but not as much as they would have just a few seasons ago when Seattle’s roster had been depleted by years of Tim Ruskell’s poor draft choices and shortsighted free agency signings.  The man replacing Browner in the starting lineup is Walter Thurmond, who you might remember was third on the depth chart last season behind Browner and Marcus Trufant.  Thurmond has an ugly injury history dating back to his college career – his season-ending leg injury last year helped pave the way for Richard Sherman to step in and take over the starting job – and at 5’11” and 186 lbs he’s nowhere near as physically imposing as Browner, but there’s no denying that he’s got the talent to be a starting NFL corner.

With Trufant ruled out for this week’s game with a hamstring injury, the nickel back job will likely fall to sixth-round rookie CB Jeremy Lane.  During the offseason and on into the preseason, Lane garnered more notice for his immaturity and ability to commit penalties at the drop of a hat, but since then it would seem that he’s improved enough to leapfrog Byron Maxwell on the depth chart.  Larry Fitzgerald is still probably going to do his Larry Fitzgerald thing, but Arizona’s anemic stable of quarterbacks makes this Sunday a perfect opportunity for Thurmond and Lane to adjust to their new roles.  The fifth and sixth corners on the depth chart this weekend will be DeShawn Shead, who was activated off the practice squad this week, and Ron Parker, who was signed off of Carolina’s practice squad (Parker also played two games for the Seahawks last year).

Getting back to Browner and Sherman’s failed drug tests, there have been so few specifics released on the matter by anyone that it’s difficult to know what to think.  Do some players try to get away with taking performance-enhancing drugs?  Definitely, and it’s a problem in nearly every other professional sport as well².  That said, the workout and health supplement market is about as well-regulated and policed as a Somali bazaar.  Even when labels don’t intentionally lie about ingredients, poor manufacturing practices leads to many supplements being cross-contaminated by other substances that have been processed using the same machinery or improperly stored close by in the same warehouse.

I believe Browner’s allegation in his appeal was that the lab doing the testing improperly handled samples, and labs can and do get shut down for doing exactly that.  That said, if being married to a lawyer has taught me anything, it’s that it’s one thing to know something happened, but quite another to prove it happened beyond a reasonable doubt.

Because of that uncertainty, Browner’s decision to drop his appeal may have been his way of taking one for the team.  Sherman is still pursuing his appeal and as such will be able to play this week and probably next week as well, which mitigates the loss of Browner somewhat, but if he ends up getting suspended after that then he’ll be unavailable to play until the NFC Championship game, should the Seahawks advance that far.  Therefore, had they both kept up their appeals and lost the Seahawks would have been without both of their starting CBs up through the first two rounds of the playoffs.  This way the team knows it’ll have at least one of its starting corners when it reaches the postseason, and they’ll only have to possibly do without both starting CBs for the games against the 49ers and Rams – not ideal, perhaps, but better than the alternative.

Anyway, moving on.  The loss of Carpenter means the offensive line will have to get by without one of its best run blockers, but either John Moffitt or J.R. Sweezy (or a combination of the two) should be able to fill in well enough to get by.  Moffitt is more mobile than Carpenter, albeit not as strong, and Sweezy is an even more promising athletic talent whose inexperience at the position caused him to struggle early in the season.  Besides, only a few months ago we were discussing the possibility that Carpenter wouldn’t recover in time to play at all this season, so getting to use him at all was a bonus.  Even if the pain in his knee proves to be minor, shutting him down for the year was the right call – far better to play it safe now so he can heal up and anchor the left guard position for the next ten years than risk destroying his knee and prematurely ending his career.  Rookie guard Rishaw Johnson has been activated from the practice squad to take Carpenter’s spot on the roster.

One of the more interesting bits of news in all this is that Paul McQuistan will be staying at right guard.  McQuistan reminds me a lot of Chris Gray – he isn’t particularly big, strong, or fast, but he plays well enough on most snaps to get the job done.  From what I understand, he’s a big favorite of o-line coach Tom Cable, and the offensive coaching staff as a whole seems to love how well he and right tackle Breno Giacomini are starting to mesh together as a unit on the right side of the line.  Will the Seahawks find someone better in the near future to replace McQuistan?  I’m sure they’ll try, but Holmgren and his staff tried over and over again to replace Gray with someone bigger and better, and each time Gray managed to come out on top of the battle in training camp and keep his starting job. 

Also, veteran wide receiver Braylon Edwards was cut this week, but I’d be hard pressed to call that an important move.  Edwards has occasionally flashed the big-play ability that made him a first round pick of the Browns back in 2005, but he seems to have lost a step and has had trouble getting separation from defenders all season long.  His overturned TD catch against Chicago notwithstanding, Edwards hasn’t caught a pass since week six, and according to my stats he's been targeted 16 times but has only made 8 receptions.  Bottom line, his contributions on offense can be easily replaced by the two young, healthy receivers at the bottom of the depth chart, Charly Martin and Jermaine Kearse, and they can both run and move well enough to make an impact on special teams, too.

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¹ I know I’ve mentioned this before, but chronic pain is a serious, uh, pain (you know what I mean).  I’m pretty functional most days, but on those occasions when it gets bad it usually stays bad for awhile, and my ability to write much of anything in a coherent, intelligible manner is one of the first things to go.  In other words, you might not like it when things go silent around here, but you can rest assured that I’m liking it even less.

² On that note, one of the best headlines I’ve ever read was for an article about Floyd Landis being stripped of his Tour de France victory after he failed a doping test: “Nobody Has Won the Tour de France in the Last Twenty Years.