Hawks Open Mini Camp Monday

by: Michael Steffes

Starting Monday morning, the Seahawks will open the second of their voluntary mini camps. The team will be on the field practicing Monday through Thursday next week, and then again the following week.

There are several stories worth tracking through the two weeks of OTA's. First an foremost will be the Bobby Engram situation... again. Will he be there? My gut says no. Whether or not he should be there is something that has been debated since early May.

Because of Bobby's absence, that adds to another story line, the young wide receivers. It will be interesting to see the daily reports. So far they have been very positive, even for Jordan Kent, who has seemingly made great strides. The team should have plenty of players on the field, as all of the rookies are back.

With all the rookies back, that will be something else to follow (the segues are just flowing :-)). We will hear more about the progress of these youngsters. Hopefully we will not hear any reports about players who maybe spent too much time out with friends and not enough time in the weight room. I suspect this group will come back ready to prove something, although, these mini camps are usually when we start hearing about rookie mistakes.

One of these rookies is Brandon Coutu. He is going to be engaged with vet Olindo Mare in a heated kicker competition throughout the summer. According to the informal poll, most of you think he will emerge victorious. Is that is to be the case, these upcoming weeks will be the start of it

I will chime in tomorrow with a list of players that are not expected to participate due to injuries, and other issues. END Read More!

Touchdown City

by: Michael Steffes

Yesterday seemed to spark a bit of a debate on the poll that has been running on the right side of the page; Who will lead the Seahawks in touchdowns? It is an interesting question and worthy of some debate.

I have compiled a chart documenting the Touchdown leaders of the Holmgren era. Lets take a look and then breakdown the case for each of this years players.

To Continue....



The first thing that we see is that in two thirds of the Holmgren years the team was led in touchdowns by a running back. That is odd considering Coaches reputation as a passing game genius. Several of those years though the back caught touchdown passes as well, with the tops being four by Alexander in 04'.

However, with the running game struggling the last two years, and with the feature back spending time injured, a wide receiver has led the team. DJack in 06', and Nate last year, both had double digit touchdowns. That hadn't happened since Holmgren's first year, when Derrick Mayes led the team with 10 TD catches.

So I guess an exercise in predicting this years TD leader comes down to choosing one of two theories....

1) Holmgren prefers to finish the drives off on the ground. It is, in essence, easier to run it in, once in close, than pass, due to the condensed space near the goal line. Or...

2) Holmgren is going back to his roots. He now has backs who can catch and pass protect, and thus we will see an offense again in which the back is featured as a receiver more, and thus a WR should grab double digit catches while the running backs share the wealth.

Only once in the Holmgren era, in 2005, when the Seahawks led the league in offense did the team have both a double digit TD running back, and receiver (Joe Jurevicius,10). However, in 2005, Shaun set the record (at the time) for touchdowns. Clearly the team could spread the wealth a bit more and have again have a both a double digit TD runner and wide out, despite possibly not being as proficient as the 05' squad.

Back to 2008. In the poll on the right, right now Julius Jones is leading. Nate Burleson is second. Lets take a look at the case of each player and see if we can't narrow down the one with a better chance to lead the team.

Julius Jones:

Reasons for... The running game figures to be much improved. With a new, pro bowl guard and new line coach, all of us expect the team to be able to run more effectively. Jones figures to be one of the recipients of this improvement. He defintely has the speed to take it to the house if he breaks free. Also, he figures to be involved in the passing game, which will give him an opportunity to be on the field even on third down situations; A bonus when the team is in red zone.

Reasons against... Not known as a tough goal line runner. The team has TJ Duckett who could be used as a goal line back despite Holmgren saying he isn't sure how to use him. Regardless, it appears to be a running back by committee and both Duckett and Morris will vulture TD's away from Jones. Also, Jones has been known to get banged up and miss games from time to time. Also, Seahawks look to be returning to their passing roots, which will keep the overall touchdown numbers of the backs down.

Nate Burleson:

Reasons for.... Nate lead the team last year. Also, this the third year in the system for him, which has been known as a magic number. He easily is the biggest threat in the open field amongst the wide receiver core. No questions about playing time this year. Still possible he could be used in return game, all though questions surround that. Seems to be improving every year, if that continues he should build on lasts years total.

Reasons against... The team was forced to throw the ball more than they wanted last year. An improved running game means less opportunity. Plus, the young guys are better suited to take away catches this year. Bobby will be playing for a contract, he will surely be in fine form. Also, an improved defense may mean more leads, and thus the running game takes priority. New tight ends could vulture some red zone scores Losing return duties will shrink his total.

Overall, I think that both of these players have equal chance to lead the team. Holmgren has a history, in Seattle, of using his running game when it works. It could also be said that TJ Duckett or Mo Morris has an opportunity too. While the running backs should be scoring more than last year, that doesn't necessarily mean less touchdowns from the passing game. I expect this team to score more. The West Coast Offense spreads the ball around. This year the team has added a position to spread the ball to, in the tight end. I think even if Nate improves, it would be hard for him to score more than 10 or 11 touchdowns. If one running back proves to be better than the rest, they could top that. Either way, having so many people who we expect to score is a good dilemma. Now...what do you think? Read More!

Tony Siragusa... Please Shut Up

by: Michael Steffes

I haven't had time to give this its due notice, but since the football world is catching its breath before mini camps begin, tonight is a perfect time.

After a cool 850 votes were totaled, the winner (loser?) of the worst and most annoying football personality goes to you Fat Tony! The Seahawk Addict readers agreed! While we thought that Cris Collinsworth getting run over by a bus, or Tony Kornheiser being eaten by an alligator would be sweet, we would trade it all to see you disappear from the football airwaves all together. You mumble, you bumble, you make absurd and biased statements against our beloved Hawks. And now we clown you! Seahawk Addicts...enjoy

Read More!

Congratulations Tim Ruskell, We Approve

Well I thought, as I close the Seahawkaddcits.com Tim Ruskell approval rating poll, I would document the results in the archives. With approximately 440 votes counted, Tim Ruskell has an approval rating of 97%.

-77% of people are completely satisfied with the work of Mr. Ruskell

-another 22% are at least partially satisfied with the job he has done

- and only as mere 5 votes, or 1%, feel he needs to be canned.

Despite the fact that those who don't like him seem to be the ones shouting, overall Tim Ruskell is well liked by Seahawk fans. As he should be. He makes tough decisions. Some work, some don't, but either way, he keeps a winner on the field and everybody but Warren Moon out of the tabloids. Well done Timmy, Seahawk fans are behind you!

Of course if I put this up in a week and Hackett and Brown are gone, who knows, it could be flipped! Read More!