The offense looked ugly in the early going, giving up turnovers and making the Jets look like they've got a legitimate pass rush, but an improved second half performance combined with Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow hosting an all-game clinic on how not to play the QB position ultimately led to a nice, satisfying victory.

Also, I love how well the Seahawks are executing on Wilson's option runs and those wide receiver passes.  First Sidney Rice, and now Golden Tate -- how many receivers do you think will get a shot at tossing the ball downfield this year, anyway?  I'm going to really enjoy re-watching this one when the All-22 film comes out.  Do your worst in the comments below.

Today's game against the Jets is an important one to win for the Seahawks.  The Hawks have won several games already that everyone expected them to lose, only to turn right around and lose games they should've won handily.  The passing game has improved significantly and RB Marshawn Lynch is still Marshawn Lynch, but the defense has had some trouble in its last few outings defending runs up the gut and with their coverage in the underneath middle zones. 

Injury-wise, Seattle looks like a team in sore need of a bye week.  LB K.J. Wright and LG James Carpenter have been ruled out again this week with concussion symptoms, DE Greg Scruggs is doubtful, DT Clinton McDonald is questionable, and there's a whole laundry list of key players who are just banged up enough to be listed as probable, including Lynch, DE Red Bryant, WR Doug Baldwin, SS Kam Chancellor, C Max Unger, and CB Richard Sherman.

The Jets are not a good team this year.  Their starting quarterback, Mark Sanchez, is the sort of borderline talent that Seattle's defense should eat alive.  He responds poorly to pressure, his accuracy is erratic (he's had four games with completion percentages under 50%), his star wide receiver Santonio Holmes is on injured reserve, and Tony Sparano's offense hasn't done him any favors, either.  Their star wide receiver, Santonio Holmes, is on injured reserve.  Don't even get me started on backup QB Tim Tebow and his horrific throwing mechanics.

New York does have a decent running back in Shonn Greene, although he's averaging a lukewarm 3.7 yds/att this season, and a strong receiving tight end in Dustin Keller, whom Sanchez hasn't been getting the ball to nearly enough.  One of their other bright spots, an explosive,  top-five return game spearheaded by returner Joe McKnight, is going to be hamstrung this week because McKnight is out with an ankle injury.

On defense, they've been hurt by the absence of Darrelle Revis, who went on IR early in the year, and their starting nose tackle Kenrick Ellis is out with a knee injury. Their pass rush has also been pretty anemic this year, as not one Jets defender has more than two sacks to his name and the team has managed only 12 total sacks this year (for comparison, the Seahawks have 25).  CB Antonio Cromartie and S LaRon Landry are two big reasons why the team has performed well in pass coverage despite the loss of Revis, but their run defense hasn been weak.  I would really like to see Russell Wilson help out Lynch by making some things happen through the air against a strong pass defense.

This semester, my eldest daughter is taking a child psychology course at her high school, and as part of that class she and her classmates help out in a daycare center run by the school.  Normally, all she brings home from there are cute stories about tiny children doing childreny things, but this week she brought home some sort of death flu instead.  But despite the fever and the congestion and the general unpleasantness, I kept chipping away at this week's stats article so that by the time the fever broke last night all I had left to do is give it a quick editorial run-through this morning and get it out to you. 

At least, that was the plan.  As I started to review the work I'd done, I discovered that not only were my latest calculations wildly innacurate, I had screwed up large portions of my spreadsheets for previous games, too. And when I say screwed up, I mean stuff like 50 completions on 28 attempts for Wilson against the 49ers, a 15 yds/att rushing average for the Cardinals, and a mostly complete set of special teams stats listed for the upcoming Dolphins game (Jon Ryan's good, but I don't think he's likely to average 110 yards per punt).  Apparently basic math and data entry don't mix well with cold medicines and delirium -- who knew? 

Thankfully, fixing it is a simple matter of loading up the blank template I made and re-entering the data from my notes, but that's going to take time.  Barring any more surprise gifts from those diminutive plague-bearers at the daycare center, you can expect to see an up-to-date stats article early next week.

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When I put up that post earlier in the week asking users of the Seahawk Addicts app for feedback, I expected to get a few emails, maybe thirty or forty at the outside.  Oh, how wrong I was.  I received hundreds of emails from you guys -- that first day, my inbox was snowed under at a rate of one new email every two to three minutes -- and they're still trickling in.

Now, I've never cared too terribly much about site traffic, 'cause I'd still be writing these articles even if there were only three or four people reading them.  Even so, it was really quite humbling to find out just how many of you are out there following the site.  I heard from Seahawks fans in Germany and France, from grandmothers in their 60s and 70s, from people who like to use it to catch up on Seahawks news during long meetings at work, I even heard from one fan who's been using it to read Seahawks articles to a quadriplegic family member who's currently in the hospital. 

As one email so eloquently put it, removing the app "would be a dumbass move," and I agree.  The Seahawk Addicts app is here to stay.

The main complaint I received from you all is that it doesn't allow users to comment on the articles, and unfortunately after talking to the folks over at our host site Bloguin it would appear that the Livefyre software our comment system uses is completely incompatible with the way the app reads and displays articles.  However, they also informed me that they are almost done building a mobile version of the site, and once it's complete you'll be able to read articles as well as view and post comments by visiting the site using your mobile device's web browser.  I'll let you know when that gets released, but the app will still be in service if you prefer to keep using it instead. And if you're into the whole Facebook thing, we have a page there as well (link) that Mike Parker updates regularly.

Several of you also mentioned that you don't want to view comments because you're certain they would be filled with all manner of inflammatory opinons, but nothing could be farther from the truth.  I know the comment threads on most sports websites are filled to the brim with bloviating assholes, but Seahawk Addicts has always had the good fortune of attracting polite, intelligent sorts who can kick back and talk about their favorite team without resorting to name-calling and temper tantrums. 

We do get the occasional bigoted moron (usually a fan of a team the Seahawks recently played) who stumbles in and spews bile for a post or two, but when they show up everyone quickly and cheerfully hands the twit his ass on a platter and sends him packing.  Really, aside from the R-rated postgame threads I put up so everyone has a place to get all the venting and swearing out of their system, there's rarely anything said in the comments that you wouldn't feel comfortable sharing with your dear sweet old granny. 

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I received an announcement the other day that Lawyer Milloy will be hosting a football summer camp in 2013.  The camp runs from July 14 - 17 at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, and you can read more about it here.  Lawyer Milloy and Golden Tate will be on hand for sure, and other Seahawks players may make appearances as well.

I don't know a lot of the details (like how much it costs to attend), but I figured those of you with young football-playing Seahawks fans at home would appreciate the heads-up.  For more information, you can contact Sheldon Bell by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by phone at 301-575-9413.

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This last item isn't Seahawks specific, but it's interesting nonetheless.  The graphic, which was forwarded to me by one of its creators, is targeted at accountants (it was created for the blog portion of AccountingDegree.com) and describes some of the financial troubles NFL players have experienced towards the end of their careers and afterwards.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go chug some Dayquil.

Earlier today, the Seahawks released wide receiver Charly Martin.  It's presumed that the move was made in order to make room for cornerback Walter Thurmond, but Thurmond still hasn't been officially activated off of the physically unable to play list.

As much as I like the idea of having Thurmond available again, I'm a bit torn about cutting Martin.  He isn't the most talented receiver, but he has a nice feel for the slot position and he's a game blocker downfield.  That said, he's been inactive most games, and in the games he was active he only caught three of the six passes that targeted him (it should be noted that his total still puts him ahead of tight end Evan Moore, who has zero catches to show for his five targets).

Besides, with Doug Baldwin coming back from his high ankle sprain earlier than expected, wide receiver isn't as great a position of need as cornerback, and that goes double if Braylon Edwards' knee has healed enough for him to play.  The two main backup CBs on the Seahawks' roster are Marcus Trufant and Byron Maxwell, which should make any fan uneasy right now.  Trufant ended the year on injured reserve in two of his last three seasons, and Maxwell has a hamstring injury that has forced him to miss six games already.  Granted, Thurmond's track record with injuries isn't much better than theirs, but his coverage skills are far superior to those of the only other CB on the team, rookie Jeremy Lane.

Since I took over the site last year, the only feedback I've ever heard about the Seahawk Addicts app has been in emails from people who have nothing but complaints of one sort or another with the program.  So, the other day I mentioned in a comment thread that I was thinking about removing the links to download the app from the site.  I mean, I've never used it, since I don't own any tablets or smart phones, and all I'd ever heard was negative feedback, so surely that was the correct move, right?

After that, I started receiving emails from people just to tell me I'd be making a big mistake by removing those links.  They love the app, they said, and moreover they insisted that there were a lot of readers out there who access the site exclusively through that program and told me that I would be making a huge mistake if I got rid of it.

Naturally, this made me curious to find out how many of you out there like the app and use it on a regular basis.  I decided to delay this post until Bloguin rolled out the new site templates, but now that that's done I figured it was high time I asked you guys for some feedback.  How well does the app work for you?  Does everything (text, links, images, etc.) display properly?  Is there anything that could use some tweaking?  Are the Livefyre comments still not accessible via the app?

To voice your opinion, please respond in the comment thread below or send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with "Seahawk Addicts App" in the subject line.  Depending on the feedback I get, I might look into what it might cost to address any problems you guys might be having, up to and including updating the app so that it's compatible with Livefyre.  I'm not making any promises, but if I can afford to improve your reading experience I will.

[Note: This article was supposed to go up late last week, but due to other concerns it had to go unfinished until now.  But while the subject matter is a bit past tense, if nothing else I figured it’d serve as a nice frame of reference when I take a look at the game tape for the Vikings game.]

The Seahawks’ pass coverage against the Lions was ugly, and looking at it on the all-22 tape didn’t make it any prettier.  I’m hoping I don’t have to sit through another film session like that anytime soon, but here are the four main things I learned this time around:

1) Trufant was not bad in coverage.

After the game, I mentioned in the comments that I thought Trufant was a big part of the Seahawks’ problem in coverage against the Lions.  As it turns out, I was wrong on that account, because the impression I got from the broadcast footage was not supported by what I saw on the coaches’ film.  Granted, there’s a big difference between saying his performance wasn’t bad and saying he played well, but Trufant appeared to be assignment-correct throughout the game and when a play went in his direction he generally put himself in a good position to attempt a pass breakup or help clean up someone else’s mess.

I still think the Seahawks could use an upgrade over Trufant at the nickel back position, but I’m not going to let my general disgust with his play over the last few seasons prevent me from admitting to a mistake when I’ve made one.

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

Adrian Peterson is a hell of a running back (losing K.J. Wright early hurt the run defense in a big way), but it's hard to win games when your quarterback only manages to throw for 62 yards.

More importantly, the Seahawks offense was able to overcome some bad drops early on and move the chains when it needed to most, thanks in large part to a good performance by Russell Wilson and a great one by Marshawn Lynch.  And hey, how about Golden Tate selling out to get the ball across the goal line in the second quarter, or Marcus Trufant recovering his own forced fumble?

This afternoon, the Seahawks begin the second half of their schedule with a home game against the Vikings.  A win for Seattle is likely, but by no means assured.  Minnesota has plenty going its way right now with QB Christian Ponder, WR Percy Harvin, and RB Adrian Peterson all playing well this year on offense, but they've still got some rebuilding to do.

The Seahawks appear to be getting WR Doug Baldwin back for this game, but that's the extent of the good news when it comes to injuries.  DT Jason Jones and WR Braylon Edwards are both out for the game, as is LG James Carpenter, who is a surprise scratch this week due to a concussion.  John Moffitt will likely be returning to the lineup at right guard, which mean Swiss army knife backup Paul McQuistan would slide over to replace Carpenter at left guard.  Also, CB Walter Thurmond still has yet to be activated off of PUP.

Due to circumstances, the article on the Seahawks' pass coverage issues against the Lions won't be going up until Monday (trust me, I'd much rather have it done than be slogging through yet another ugly week's worth of circumstances), but for now I'll summarize: LBs Bobby Wagner and Leroy Hill were weak points, NB Marcus Trufant was surprisingly okay, and the defense seems to perform much better when it's asked to do more man coverage than zone.  Basically, if you see the Hawks' linebackers stand rigidly in place ten yards back from the line of scrimmage while Harvin does his best Wes Welker impression on underneath routes, you might want to start worrying.

Also, the Vikings are 23rd in the NFL in sacks allowed, so this would be a great time for Clemons and Irvin to step up and do their thing.

Louis Bacigalupi posts comments on the site as LouieLouie.  He’s an accountant by trade and worked in a USFL front office.  He can be reached by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Before the regular season began, I hoped the Seahawks could be 4-4 halfway through the season.  They could have very well been 3-5, or 2-6 -- They played five games on the road; their three home games were against Tony Romo, Aaron Rodgers, and Tom Brady; plus they were starting a rookie at quarterback.

I figured they would win in St. Louis and Arizona, and hoped they would win at least one of the three home games.  San Francisco, Detroit, and Carolina all seemed to be tough road opponents, but I hoped the Seahawks coudl beat one of them to get them to four wins.  Instead, they've mostly lost the games I thought they'd win and won the games I figured they'd lose, but somehow they still wound up 4-4.  I consider that to be a successful first half of the season.

So, what have we learned?  Looking ahead, the next eight games look to be more favorable to the Seahawks, with five home games and only three on the road.  They should win at home against the Jets, Rams, and Cardinals, plus at least one of the road games (against either Miami or Buffalo).  If they do that, to finish the season 10-6 they would still need to beat either the 49ers in Seattle or the Bears in Chicago.  A 6-2 second half of the season is not out of the question.  10-6 should be good enough to get them into the playoffs, but 9-7 would most likely not.

Defense

We've also learned that the defense is not perfect.  Third down has been their Achilles' heel this season.  The short passing game on third and long has killed them at times, but the tradeoff is that long completions against this defense have been rare.

The defense was stout against Brady, Rogers, Romo, and Newton.  Brady put up some passing yards, but when doesn't he?  They dominated Romo, and Rodgers didn't have a very good hair day in Seattle.  The D stopped Brady and Rodgers in the 4th quarter when they had to, which helped the Hawks win both games.  In Detroit, Matthew Stafford tore them up and Titus Young had a party in the Seahawks secondary.  San Francisco ran all over the defensive line in the second half of their game.

This may be difficult for Seahawks to admit, but the defense is manned and coached by mere mortals.  It was the defense who lost the game in Detroit -- who would have thought?  But even with that being the case, the Seahawks woudl be 1-7 or worse right now were it not for the high level of play from the defense.

Offense

What else have we learned?  The offense is getting better every week.  Maybe by the end of the season, the offense will significantly narrow the gap between their level of play and that of the defense.  The 24 points scored in Detroit were all produced by the offense, nor did the defense contribute anything toward them.  The offense had no short fields due to turnovers or long kick returns, and the passing game looked solid.

As everyone learned last season, the Seahawks running game is amongst the best in the NFL.  In Detroit, Lynch had trouble running inside most of the game, but his 75 yard TD run made up for that.  He also had some success running wide.  Scatback Marshawn Lynch, who would've thought?

The o-line is improving one step at a time, especially in pass protection.  They did a decent job against one of the best defensive lines in football last Sunday.  That, along with moving the pocket around, allowed Wilson to be effective by giving him time to throw.  When Carpenter gets more games under his belt, the left side of the line will be solid.  The right side can be tweaked, but Moffitt's return should help.

The receiving corps is also improving steadily.  They played well against New England, and they played very well against Detroit.  Rice is looking like a #1 receiver -- the game-winning TD he caught against the Patriots was beatiful.  Miller finally caught a TD pass.  Tate has also improved.  He made a few nice plays in Detroit and has contributed all year.  I hope Baldwin can get healthy soon, because his production in the slot is sorely missed.  Dropped passes most likely cost the team a win in San Francisco, but we already knew the receivers were mere mortals.

Russell Wilson

It's no secret that I believe Russell Wilson is the Seahawks' quarterback of the future, and by the end of the season it should be clear to everyone that he's also their quarterback of the present, too.  He's got a strong, accurate arm, and he is slowly taking command of both the offense and the field of play.

The way he moves around in the pocket makes his size an advantage.  Modern defensive ends are used to sacking tall, lanky quarterbacks, most of whom are taller than 6'3" and run around on extra-long legs.  Wilson is much shorter at 5'11" and ducks under pass rushers with relative ease.  He even seems to befuddle them on occasion.  Carroll and Co. are just beginning to figure out how to use his unique talents.

One person who was at the New England game said to me that Wilson "owned the pocket.  He also had a game-winning drive in the 4th quarter of that game and a potentially game-winning drive in the 4th quarter against Detroit (unfortunately, Stafford had two game-winning drives in that game).  Wilson was effective passing the ball in both of those games, and against San Francisco the only thing more he could have done after throwing a number of dropped passes on the money was run down the field and catch the ball himself.

I'm looking forward to the second half of the season.  Let the games begin.

The news this week, aside from "what the hell is going on in the middle of the defense" (more on that tomorrow), is that WR Ben Obomanu has been placed on injured reserve after breaking his wrist in Detroit.  To replace him, WR Jermaine Kearse has been activated off the practice squad. 

Kearse has some intriguing physical ability (he can play a little running back, too), but I doubt he'll be seeing much time on offense.  Obomanu was a special teamer first and a backup wideout second, and that shouldn't change now that Kearse has taken over his job.

With Doug Baldwin (limited participation in practice) and Braylon Edwards (no participation) both still very questionable to play, don't be surprised if the Seahawks add another wide receiver in the near future.  Since we've reached the midway point of the season, I'd expect them to bring in someone who is already familiar with Bevell's offense.  Lavasier Tuinei and Phil Bates are both currently on the practice squad, so they would be possibilities, but there are also plenty of free agents who fit the bill like Deon Butler, Ricardo Lockette, Mike Williams, Terrell Owens, and Bernard Berrian.  And if those aren't enough names to pore over, here's a list of some of the other players who are still on the market.