The Redskins’ Dan Snyder Has Become The Raiders’ Al Davis Jr.

Just when we were getting comfortable with the fact that there wasn’t a worse owner in the NFL than Oakland’s Al Davis, along comes Washington’s Dan Snyder.

Sure, Snyder has been at the bottom of the ownership barrel for some time, keeping company with the NFL’s dregs—Davis, Detroit’s William Clay Ford, Cleveland’s Randy Lerner, Buffalo’s Ralph Wilson, Cincinnati’s Mike Brown, and Arizona’s Bill Bidwell.

But if we didn’t know any better, we’d swear Snyder had handed control of his Redskins to Davis. This whole Jim Zorn fiasco is a bit of déjà vu, a la the Davis-Lane Kiffin debacle last year.

Like Davis, Snyder was an idiot to hire a coach who had never even been a coordinator in the NFL. How often has that ever worked out? Herman Edwards? Nope. Rod Marinelli? Not even close. Raheem Morris? Not looking like it. Tom Cable? That’s funny. Kiffin? Funnier yet.

Then, like Davis, Snyder is surprised when it doesn’t work out? And, like Davis, he tries to make working conditions so bad that the coach quits. 

How asinine is it that Snyder and his right-hand doofus, Vinny Cerrato, first hired Zorn to call offensive plays and now are taking away the very duties they hired him to perform?

And how ridiculous is it that they are giving those duties to a guy (Sherm Lewis) who has been out of the NFL for five years? Didn’t that strategy already fail when the Redskins brought Joe Gibbs out of retirement?

Hall of Famer Steve Largent’s comments to KJR the other day were dead on.

“To think that you can bring a guy in from a retirement center who is pulling out Ping-Pong balls in the bingo games…bring him down here for two weeks and say, ‘You are going to call the plays for the next game against the Philadelphia Eagles, a division opponent, on “Monday Night Football,” ‘ and think that is going to be successful, that is a joke.”

Largent, Zorn’s longtime friend and former teammate in Seattle, also said he thought Snyder was trying to force Zorn to quit by having Cerrato take away his play-calling duties. If Zorn quit rather than get fired, Snyder would not owe him the balance of the five-year, $15 million contract he signed last year.

To show just how dysfunctional and delusional the Skins are, Cerrato is trying to paint a happy picture.

“Jim Zorn is the head coach of the Washington Redskins and will be for the rest of this season …  and hopefully into the future,” Cerrato told reporters today.

Is there anyone dumb enough to think Zorn will be in Washington after this season?

Cerrato admitted organizational frustration but claimed “the relationships internally within this organization, quite frankly, remain the same.”

Yep. Dysfunctional as always.

Some think Zorn should quit rather than be embarrassed and emasculated in front of the entire football world. Largent said Zorn considered it but chose not to abandon his team and assistant coaches, even though he had almost no say in putting together his staff or team.

“He inherited everything that he has to work with today and yet all the blame is being laid on his feet because he can’t make them a Super Bowl champion,” Largent said, “which I could have told you two years ago, they don’t have a Super Bowl-quality team. And so it doesn’t matter how good a coach you have, you are not going to get there with the players the owner gives you.”

We completely agree that Zorn was doomed to fail in Washington. But he was kind of backed into that corner by Seahawk president Tim Ruskell.

Ruskell wouldn’t guarantee Zorn a spot on Seattle’s coaching staff after Mike Holmgren resigned and Jim Mora took over. So Zorn scrambled to find some job security and landed in Washington as the Redskins’ offensive coordinator, even though they had no coach.

That was the first sign that Snyrato had no clue. Then they were surprised that not many people were interested in coaching a team that already had all of the assistants lined up and that wouldn’t give the coach much say in personnel matters.

So they offered the head gig to Zorn, who really had no choice but to say yes even though he surely knew he was not qualified or ready. When you’re offered the coaching position for one the NFL’s 32 teams, how do you say no?

Word is Cerrato wanted a weak coach so his power wouldn’t be undermined again, like it was with high-profile Snyder coaches Marty Schottenheimer (who actually fired Cerrato in 2001), Steve Spurrier and Joe Gibbs.

Cerrato really comes across as a completely clueless power monger. And if Snyder ever wants to have a winning season again, he needs to get rid of that guy pronto. And give up football control to a guy who knows what he’s doing.

It sounds like that’s all but a done deal already, with constant rumors that Mike Shanahan is poised to come in after the season to replace Cerrato and Zorn. And that really is the best move Snyder could make if he no longer wants to be thought of as Al Davis Jr.

For this week’s OTPB picks and power rankings, go Outside The Press Box.

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Seattle Seahawks’ Pre-Game Primer: Looking to Get Even

 

If you thought Seattle’s game against Jacksonville last weekend was big, well, it was. But this one is even bigger.

With a win over Arizona, the Seahawks can climb back to 3-3 heading into their bye, and basically reboot their season in Week Eight.

With a win over the Cardinals, the Seahawks would be just a half-game behind San Francisco (3-2), which has a bye this week.

They would also get back at the Cardinals for sweeping them in 2008 and taking the NFC West crown out of Seattle for the first time in five years.

And with two weeks between games, the Hawks would have a chance to get back some of their wounded: Sean Locklear (high ankle), Rob Sims (ankle), Leroy Hill (groin), Marcus Trufant (back) and Walter Jones (knee).

In the meantime, the Seahawks go into this game with their fourth offensive line setup in six games. With Jones, Locklear and Brandon Frye out, the Hawks are down to fourth-string left tackle Kyle Williams.

But Williams has seen the Cardinals before; he made his second NFL start against them last December.

And he will be playing alongside the same guys who started that game with him as Steve Vallos and Mansfield Wrotto will share time at left guard and Ray Willis will start at right tackle, as he has all season.

Of course, the Hawks are a little more stout up front than they were last time, with Chris Spencer back at center and rookie Max Unger at right guard.

Those guys did well against Jacksonville last week, and they’ll need to give Matt Hasselbeck time again if the Seahawks are to end Arizona’s recent domination. Arizona has won four of five, including the sweep last season.

The Seahawks are going to have to be able to throw it because they’ll probably have trouble running it again; they’re going against the league’s No. 1 rushing defense (71 per game). On the other side of that, though, the Cardinals are giving up a league-high 303 passing yards per game.

As usual, the Cards rely on their passing attack, too. Kurt Warner and receivers Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin form the core of the league’s third-ranked passing group, and they will test Seattle’s ninth-ranked passing defense, which is still without top cover man Trufant.

That means the onus is on the D-line, which played its best game of the season last week against Jacksonville. Part of that was the touchdowns generated by Hasselbeck and the offense.

But Darryl Tapp spent almost the entire game in the backfield. And he got plenty of help from Lawrence Jackson, Cory Redding, and Nick Reed. Those guys will need to be on the ball again this week, getting plenty of pressure on Warner.

This has largely been a series in which the home team wins. Before a 26-20 loss at Qwest last season, the Hawks had won five straight home games against Arizona.

On top of that, Seattle has historically played very well in pre-bye games, with a league-best record of 16-4.

Given how much this game means to Seattle, that should be enough for them to play at least as well as they did last week.

 

Three and out: Q&A

Q: Might we see a lot of Edgerrin James against his old team?

A: This is the second reunion game for James this season, and he surely would love to stick it to the Cardinals, who kind of jerked him around after last season, not releasing him until after they had drafted Beanie Wells in April.

He carried the ball 16 times against Jacksonville, but that was clean-up duty after Hasselbeck had thrown four touchdown passes.

James will probably get a few more carries than normal (he’s averaging about seven), but he will still be No. 2 behind Julius Jones.

Q: Did the Seahawks sign Chad Ochocinco or T.J. Houshmandzadeh?

A: At first, T.J.’s offseason bravado was refreshing. When he predicted that he and Matt Hasselbeck would have great seasons and go to the Pro Bowl after leading the Hawks to the playoffs, you had to nod your head and say, “Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about.” But his constant griping for the ball is getting to be annoying.

The guy is 10th in the league with 27 catches. But for him that’s a low number: reportedly the lowest through five games since 2005. He’s probably annoyed that Nate Burleson has three more catches and one more touchdown and has been targeted four more times (49 to 45).

It’s understandable that Housh wants to earn his $8 million a year, as he said Friday. But he needs to realize the Seahawks have a number of legitimate receivers (Burleson, Deion Branch, John Carlson) and that Hasselbeck will find the open guy.

Housh also hinted that he hasn’t been 100 percent healthy, which seems to contradict what he said a few weeks ago about being able to beat his defender 95 percent of the time.

We like his competitiveness and desire to win, but it’s time for T.J. Hush-mandzadeh to shut up and just show up. Otherwise, he risks becoming the next Shaun Alexander. And we all know how that turned out.

Q: Why are Patrick Kerney and Deion Branch being paid so much?

A: We asked this question very early last offseason and said Kerney and Branch each needed to take pay adjustments to account for the fact that neither could stay healthy.

Well, we were right.

Branch missed the first two games of the season and Kerney missed last week…and the Hawks didn’t miss either one of them.

Kerney will make $7 million this year, including a previously paid $3 million roster bonus, and will count a team-high $10.1 million against the salary cap.

Branch is being paid almost $5 million and counting $7.34 million. By the way, Trufant and Walter Jones, who have not played this season, are both counting over $9 million.

 

Two former sports reporters freed from the constraints of traditional print media write about the hot topics on both the Seattle and national sports scenes. No deadlines, no word count, no press box decorum—we’re Outside The Press Box .

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

Deion Branch For Brady Quinn? Seahawks Should Make Another Trade With Browns

A couple of years ago, the Seahawks made a deal with Cleveland for a quarterback after the season had begun. With the trade deadline coming Tuesday, might the Seahawks consider doing it again? 

Charlie Frye is no longer with the Hawks, but perhaps they can get a better quarterback from the Browns this time.

Eric Mangini, who somehow is on his second coaching gig in the NFL, has said the Browns are “not looking to move Brady Quinn,” their 2007 first-round pick who was benched after just three starts this season. But that doesn’t mean they won’t listen to offers.

Having traded Braylon Edwards to New York last week, might the Browns be interested in trading Quinn for a wide receiver? If so, the Seahawks have a guy they probably wouldn’t mind dealing for a potential quarterback of the future.

So how about sending Deion Branch to Cleveland for Quinn?

Many people wanted the Seahawks to draft Mark Sanchez this year to be Matt Hasselbeck’s heir-apparent. And they’ll want the Seahawks to try to draft someone like Sam Bradford or Colt McCoy next year.

What about Quinn instead?

Quinn could be a cheaper, more experienced option as Hasselbeck’s heir. Seneca Wallace is not the future; that should be clear to everyone by now.

Quinn is an accurate passer stuck on a bad team. The biggest knock on him is that he does not have a strong arm. Well, Hasselbeck doesn’t have the biggest arm either, but his accuracy more than makes up for it. Quinn could probably develop well in the Seahawks’ system.

“What about Mike Teel?” some might ask. If Teel were better than Quinn, he would not have been around in the sixth round. If the Hawks could get a guy like Quinn, it would be a no-brainer to dump a rookie project like Teel.

“What about Quinn’s contract?” others might ask. He is signed through 2011 and scheduled to make $700,000 in each of the next two years. That’s a perfect salary for a quarterback-in-training.

Hasselbeck and Wallace are both signed through 2010, and Hasselbeck’s play this season will go a long way toward determining whether the Seahawks want to give him another contract extension. They might let him play it out next year. If he still has trouble staying healthy, Quinn might be an NFL-ready successor. And if Hasselbeck does stay healthy and continues to play at a high level, the Seahawks won’t have given up much to get Quinn.

Quinn is a high-profile version of Hasselbeck, who was drafted in the sixth round by Green Bay in 1998 and spent three years behind Brett Favre before Mike Holmgren acquired him in a 2001 trade.

There is so much to be said for a quarterback learning the NFL without getting beaten down. Quinn already has gotten a taste of it with six starts. He could sit behind Hasselbeck for the next season or two and actually learn how to play in the NFL by watching a proven winner.

The Browns don’t seem to want Quinn, despite Mangini’s claims. They probably would be happy to take anything they can get for him. If they don’t want Branch, the most the Hawks should consider surrendering is a second-rounder.

The Seahawks probably have no interest, but they should. Trading Branch for Quinn would be a very good move for the future of this team.

Two former sports reporters freed from the constraints of traditional print media write about the hot topics on both the Seattle and national sports scene. No deadlines, no word count, no press box decorum — we’re Outside The Press Box.

 

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

Seattle Seahawks’ Rewind: What Broken Ribs?

No one saw that coming.

A 41-0 win over Jacksonville? And four touchdown passes from Matt Hasselbeck, playing with two broken ribs?

It was just what the reeling Seahawks needed. They had to win, and they did it much more easily than anyone thought they could. It was Seattle’s biggest margin of victory since the Hawks shut out Philadelphia 42-0 on a Monday night in 2005.

Forget the sharp pain in his ribs, Hasselbeck was just sharp—sharper than anyone could have expected. He completed 18 of 30 passes for 241 yards and, as mentioned, four touchdowns—two to T.J. Houshmandzadeh and two to Nate Burleson.

He was sacked once and hit four times total, and he even ran three times for 23 yards. Hasselbeck was so pumped after a nine-yard run out of bounds in the first quarter that he quickly scrambled to his feet and sprinted back to the huddle to show he was not hurt. And he also tried to throw a block on Justin Forsett’s run after an aborted halfback option pass in the second half.

If there were any fans left who thought Seneca Wallace should be starting over Hasselbeck, or even that Mark Sanchez should have been drafted and installed as the starter over Hasselbeck, the three-time Pro Bowl quarterback shut them up with his busted-rib performance against the Jaguars.

Now he just needs to stay healthy the rest of the way.

 

DEFENSE POSTS SECOND GOOSE EGG

The defense, surely chagrined by its showing against Peyton Manning and the Colts last week, played with renewed energy in posting its second shutout of the season.

Darryl Tapp, Aaron Curry and Lofa Tatupu led a front seven that put a lot of heat on David Garrard, sacking him five times and hitting him 13.

Tapp was around Garrard all game, notching a sack and four quarterback hits while coming up with two tackles for loss on running plays.

Curry led the Hawks with nine tackles, including a sack that caused a fumble, another hit on Garrard and a pass defensed.

Tatupu had eight tackles, one for loss, a quarterback hit and a pass defensed.

The bonus was the play of rookie Nick Reed, who tallied a sack, a tackle for loss and two quarterback hits. Oh, and a 79-yard fumble return for a touchdown.

The defensive line didn’t miss Patrick Kerney at all. In fact, the Hawks might have found his replacement in Reed.

 

FIVE LINEMEN LEFT STANDING, MAYBE

The Curse of Hutch continued as the offensive line took a couple more hits in what has become a regular feature of Seahawk games over the last four years.

With Walter Jones and Sean Locklear already out with injuries, No. 3 left tackle Brandon Frye was playing with a bad groin. He left on Seattle’s second series with a neck or shoulder injury. That brought No. 4 left tackle Kyle Williams into the game, who reportedly sprained a knee but continued to play.

At left guard, Hutch’s old spot, Rob Sims was already out and Mansfield Wrotto left with a sprained ankle in the second half. He was replaced by backup center Steve Vallos, leaving the Hawks with no healthy backups.

If any of Frye, Williams, and/or Wrotto is out in Week 6, the Hawks might finally have to make a decision on Jones and put him on IR in order to sign another lineman. They have two more reserves on the practice squad: Na’Shan Goddard and Brian De La Puente.

Coach Jim Mora told reporters last week that there aren’t any veterans they are interested in and that they will probably just go with the guys they have. But if they lost three more linemen in this game, they are going to have to bring someone in.

 

STATS AND STUFF

**What was Cory Redding thinking on his third-quarter fumble return? He had a chance  to score a touchdown, but he chose instead to veer right into Garrard and bowl him over, effectively tackling himself.

**Owen Schmitt is insane.

**This is the first time since 1986 that the Seahawks have posted two shutouts in one season. That 1986 team was very streaky. They started 5-2 before losing four in a row to fall to 5-6, then won the final five to finish 10-6. They missed the playoffs by one game.

**The Seahawks’ running game has failed to develop because of the constant shuffling up front. The Hawks gained 143 yards on 40 carries, a 3.6 average. But Julius Jones averaged just 2.8 yards on 12 carries, and Edgerrin James averaged 2.9 on 16 attempts. The numbers were bumped by Justin Forsett’s 43 yards on six carries.

**What was up with that halfback option pass by Forsett with the game well in hand? The Hawks were just giving the Arizona Cardinals something else to think about next week. And maybe trying to make them forget Seattle still has Seneca Wallace.

**Why is Travis Fisher on this team? Yeah, he’s an experienced cornerback who probably isn’t that bad when healthy. But ever since signing with the Hawks in August, he has rarely been healthy. He finally got over a hamstring injury in time to play against Chicago and he ended up getting knocked around by his own teammates on the Bears’ go-ahead touchdown and two-point conversion. Now, after just three games, he’s hurt again—either the same hamstring injury or reportedly a groin pull. With Josh Wilson back, the Hawks can probably afford to let Fisher go if they need room to add a lineman.

Two former sports reporters freed from the constraints of traditional print media write about the hot topics on both the Seattle and national sports scenes. No deadlines, no word count, no press box decorum — we’re Outside The Press Box.

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

Seattle Seahawks’ Pre-Game Primer: Injuries Are a Bear

Well, almost a week later, it doesn’t look any better for the Seahawks.

As expected, they will be without quarterback Matt Hasselbeck (broken rib), tackle Sean Locklear (ankle), cornerback Josh Wilson (ankle), and linebacker Leroy Hill (groin). Linebacker Lofa Tatupu (hamstring) and fullback Justin Griffith (sprained knee) also are very unlikely to play.

Left tackle Walter Jones (knee) will be a game-time decision, and cornerback Ken Lucas (groin) and defensive tackle Brandon Mebane (calf) also are questionable.

On the bright side, receivers Deion Branch (hamstring) and T.J. Houshmandzadeh (back spasms) will be ready, center Chris Spencer (quadriceps) might start, and cornerback Travis Fisher (hamstring) is finally healthy.

 

Where to start?

 

Well, the defense is in deep trouble, with as many as five starters out. The Seahawks got a taste last week of what it’s like to play without Hill and Tatupu, and the result was over 200 rushing yards by Frank Gore. David Hawthorne will start in the middle this week, flanked by Will Herring and Aaron Curry. It’s a young group that has to play much better than it did in Week 2.

With the secondary missing two corners (Wilson and Marcus Trufant) and Lucas ailing, Kelly Jennings is the top corner. He seems to have improved quite a bit this year, and he will have to show it against the speedy Devin Hester and Johnny Knox. For once, size won’t be a big disadvantage for the 5-foot-9 Jennings. Hester is only 5-11, and Knox and Earl Bennett are each 6 feet.

With all of the injuries in the back seven, the D-line has to get pressure on Chicago QB Jay Cutler, or he will pick the secondary apart. The Pittsburgh Steelers didn’t get much pressure on him last week (two sacks, four total hits), and he was very good (27 of 38 for 236 yards and two touchdowns).

Lawrence Jackson has been a very pleasant surprise early this season, with three sacks in the first two games. He, Patrick Kerney, and Darryl Tapp (who was great against St. Louis in Week 1) need to get pressure on Cutler.

Matt Forte is off to a slow start this season, and the Hawks have to make sure not to let him go off the way Gore did. It is all on the guys up front this week, and having Mebane would definitely help.

Realistically, the Bears figure to score three touchdowns against Seattle’s beleaguered defense, which means the Seahawk offense has to get it going.

The Bears’ fifth-ranked defense has injury problems, too, with star linebacker Brian Urlacher out for the season and linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa (knee) out this week. End Alex Brown (ankle) also is questionable. The Seahawks have to take advantage and get the running game going after it was held to 66 yards on 23 carries in San Francisco.

Quarterback Seneca Wallace needs to put pressure on the Bears with his athleticism, and he needs to take a few shots deep. He throws an excellent deep ball, and the Hawks need to try to loosen up the defense for the running game by hitting one or two long passes. In that respect, Deon Butler could be a big key.

Wallace has had a week to get in sync with his receivers. Coming in cold last week, he hit starters Houshmandzadeh and Nate Burleson on just three of the 10 passes he threw their way. They have to connect more than that this week.

Wallace also needs to take great advantage of tight end John Carlson, who should win most battles against Chicago’s backup linebackers and be a big offensive key.

Three & out: Q&A

Three quick questions as the Hawks enter Week 3:

Q: If Jones can’t play, are the Seahawks doomed?

A: Brandon Frye played for almost three quarters last week and looked like he held up pretty well, so they might not be doomed. The Seahawks might have to give him help at times with fullback Owen Schmitt (starting for Griffith), and Wallace might have to use his feet to buy some time on occasion. The Seahawks would be smart to roll out Wallace a lot and give him the option of pass or run. The problem would come if Frye or right tackle Ray Willis got injured. The Seahawks have gambled big time by not signing an extra tackle for depth while Locklear is out. Then again, maybe they know Jones will play and are just not saying it.

Q: Will Justin Forsett get more playing time?

A: Only if the Seahawks fall behind like they did in San Francisco. He was one of the few bright spots against the 49ers, running for 35 yards on five carries and gaining 57 yards on six catches. But for now, coach Jim Mora said, the Hawks are going to stick to the 60-30-10 percent division of time among Julius Jones, Edgerrin James and Forsett. If the running game struggles badly in the first half, though, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Seahawks open it up in the second half. The Hawks really need to win this home game, and Mora needs to do whatever it takes.

Q: Are the Seahawks really going to wear those ugly neon green jerseys?

A: It sure looks like it. Let’s just hope they don’t play as bad as they look. We’re skeptical of this look, but we’ll reserve judgment until after the game. If the Hawks win big, they can wear whatever they want. If they play like they did in San Francisco, though, Seahawk fans next week probably will be listed on the injury report as questionable with eye injuries.

GAME-DAY STATS

**Despite their poor rushing numbers in Week 2, the Seahawks are ranked 13th in rushing offense. The Bears have had a much worse time, averaging just 65 yards per game (ranked 30th).

**Both teams are among the top-10 sackers through two games. The Seahawks have seven (two off the lead), and the Bears have six.

**The Bears have the fifth-ranked defense, giving up just 176.5 passing yards and 90.5 rushing yards per game. The Seahawks are ranked 12th despite giving up 166 rushing yards per game (they have held the Rams and 49ers to under 300 yards passing total).

**The last time these teams saw each other was in 2007, when Hasselbeck threw for 337 yards and two touchdowns and Kerney had three sacks in Seattle’s 30-23 win.

**If Kerney can duplicate that feat, the Hawks have a great chance to win. His teams are 10-2 when he has at least two sacks.

**Julius Jones and James put up back-to-back big games against the Bears in 2004. In a Monday night game in November, James ran for 204 yards for the Colts; on Thanksgiving three days later, Jones went over 150 yards with two touchdowns for Dallas.

**Carlson has scored in his past four home games, with five total touchdowns in that span.

 

For more on the Seahawks, plus NFL power rankings and weekly picks, go Outside The Press Box.

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

Seattle Seahawks’ Pre-Game Primer: Practice Is Over

All right, the preseason is over. Now it’s time to play for the division lead.

The Seahawks’ key NFC West game against San Francisco this weekend is expected to be a slugfest, with two improved defenses controlling the game.

Seattle’s offense struggled to run the ball against St. Louis. The Hawks did break one big run, Julius Jones’ 62-yard touchdown burst. But without that play, they ran for just 105 yards on 33 carries (a 3.2 average).

They’ll probably have an even tougher time running against the 49ers, who held Arizona to 40 yards rushing. That means Matt Hasselbeck can’t come out tight like he did in the opener, when he forced a lot of passes and threw two first-quarter interceptions. He can be excused, considering he hadn’t played since Thanksgiving and because he rebounded to throw three touchdown passes.

He’ll need to be that sharp against the 49ers. History says he will be: In his past 10 games against the 49ers, he is 8-2, with 18 TD passes.

The 49ers will try to get Frank Gore going against the Hawks. He typically eats them up, having averaged over 145 scrimmage yards in six games. He scored two touchdowns last week, but he had a horrible game running the ball – just 30 yards on 22 carries.

That doesn’t bode well against a Seattle defense that shut out the Rams. No, the Seahawks won’t have linebacker Leroy Hill, and Lofa Tatupu is hobbled by a hamstring. But Aaron Curry is one hard-charging, aggressive dude. He’s so aggressive he reportedly got fined $5,000 for unnecessary roughness against St. Louis rookie right tackle Jason Smith last week.

The Seahawks will surely focus on stopping Gore, considering the 49ers’ passing game is not that potent. One guy they do need to watch, though, is Isaac Bruce. He killed them in the 49ers’ 33-30 overtime win early last season, catching four passes for 153 yards.

The Seahawks have won nine of the past 12 against the 49ers and have done quite well in San Francisco, including a 34-13 win last October in Mike Singletary’s first game as interim coach.

It might not be easy, but Hasselbeck & Co. should be able to handle the 49ers and take a nice early lead in the NFC West race.

 

Three & out: Q&A

Three quick questions as the Hawks enter Week 2:

Q: Will we see more of Seneca Wallace on offense with Hasselbeck?

A: Absolutely. The double-pass trick play that resulted in Wallace running for 24 yards against the Rams showed the kind of impact everyone knew Wallace could make for this team. Mike Holmgren always talked about using him that way, but he was far too conservative to do it.

“It’s a great weapon,” Wallace told Clare Farnsworth of Seahawks.com. “Any time you’ve got two guys who play quarterback and you can get them on the field at the same time, it’s going to cause the defense to be on their toes, because you can do so many things out of that personnel. It can be dangerous.”

Offensive coordinator Greg Knapp said we will see more of Wallace.

“There will be a variety of stuff we do,” he said. “That’s just the start of it.”

 

Q: Will Walter Jones play this week? And if he does, what happens to Sean Locklear?

A: Mora said Walter would play when he tells Mora he’s ready, but you have to think Mora will be cautious and let Jones sit another game.

“We’ve got to make the right decision there with Walt,” Mora told reporters. “We can’t be greedy.”

Once Jones does return, Mora said earlier this week he doesn’t know what they will do on the line, but he called it “a good problem to have.”

The best solution would be to rotate Locklear with Jones for the first game or two, allowing Jones to ease back in. After that, Locklear could swing from left to right tackle, rotating with Jones and/or Ray Willis just as the Hawks rotate D-linemen and running backs.

Locklear needs to play somewhere, and he’s best suited to tackle. If he moves back to right tackle, Willis probably would become the top backup at right tackle and guard, behind rookie Max Unger.  

 

Q: Are the Seahawks already banged up at receiver again?

A: No. As discussed last week, Deion Branch will never be completely healthy for the Seahawks. The only reason he is on the team is because he makes plays when he is on the field and the Hawks would not have saved much against the salary cap by just cutting him (of course, they could have just told him to reduce his $5 million salary).

T.J. Houshmandzadeh is fine. He missed two days of practice with back spasms, but he said he was ready to go Thursday and the coaches told him to sit out one more day.

The former Cincinnati Bengal told reporters he had to get used to the idea that the team actually wanted to rest him as a precaution, because in Cincinnati he apparently was used to the opposite: being told to practice even when he didn’t feel like he could.

In the wake of last year’s Red Cross disaster, the Seahawks obviously are going to be cautious with any injured player this year. That explains why Marcus Trufant (back) is on the PUP, why Deion Branch (hamstring) is being brought along slowly, and why Jones (knee) probably won’t play this week.

 

GAME-DAY STATS

**Singletary’s Niners have won five of their last six games, and QB Shaun Hill is 8-3 as the starter.

**Patrick Kerney likes playing the 49ers. He has had a sack in all four games he has played for Seattle against San Francisco.

**Josh Wilson had a 75-yard interception return for a touchdown last October. He got off to a strong start against the Rams, and it won’t be surprising to see him have another good game in San Francisco.

**On the other side, Nate Clements has played well against Seattle. In the past four games, he has two interceptions and a forced fumble. He also picked off a pass last week, so Hasselbeck will need to keep track of Clements.

**Jon Ryan’s excellent punting carried over from the preseason as he averaged 53.2 yards on five kicks, good for fourth in the league after one game.

**Julius Jones knows how to find the end zone against the 49ers; he has three touchdowns in three games against them.

Two former sports reporters freed from the constraints of traditional print media write about the hot topics on both the Seattle and national sports scenes. No deadlines, no word count, no press box decorum — we’re Outside The Press Box.

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From The Top: As Usual, Jerry Jones Has His Own Agenda

Jerry Jones has always been a league maverick, a new-guard owner operating on his own agenda and working to further his own desires.

You can’t blame him. He wants what’s best for his team, and he does everything he can to get it. He doesn’t always do things that are in the interest of the league, but he certainly does things that are in the interest of the Dallas Cowboys. 

Sometimes it rankles a few people, as was the case last week when he was fined a reported $100,000 for ignoring the NFL’s gag order on talking about Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations. 

On Sept. 4, when the Cowboys were in Minneapolis to play the Vikings in a preseason game, Jones talked about the need for a new stadium to replace the 27-year-old Metrodome. It’s an old argument, one Vikings owner Zygi Wilf has been making since he bought the team in 2005. 

But the thing that got Jones in a bit of hot water was his candid statement on revenue sharing.

“Right now, we are subsidizing this market,” he told reporters. “It’s unthinkable to think that you’ve got the market you’ve got here—3 1/2 million people—and have teams like Kansas City and Green Bay subsidizing the market. That will stop. That’s going to stop. That’s on its way out.”

He was referring to the owners’ wish to remodel revenue sharing in the next CBA. It’s one of the big reasons the owners decided to opt out of the current agreement with the players after the 2010 season.

Under the current deal, all teams share national revenue, which is made up mainly of the multi-billion-dollar TV deals. In addition, the 15 richest owners subsidize the poorest with about $150 million more per season from local revenue sources.

That’s the thing that frosts Jones and other big-market owners like New England’s Robert Kraft and Washington’s Daniel Snyder, who have to share revenue that they accrue from stadium naming rights, luxury boxes and local sponsorships.

Jones just built a $1.1 billion football mecca for his Cowboys, and while he pays that off he will be helping to subsidize teams like the Vikings, Colts, Chargers and Cardinals.

As Jones told reporters in 2006, when the owners hurriedly agreed to this CBA on the eve of free agency, “If I’m going to get my fanny kicked, I can put that off until another day. . . . You had to have your league hat on to make this work. And then you had to go one step further than that and think about the fans.”

Well, apparently Jones’ league hat is off and he’s no longer as concerned about  the fans, because he does not want to help fund other franchises any longer. Owners like Jones, Kraft and Snyder have nothing to lose if the NFL goes to an uncapped year in 2010 and then locks out players in 2011, because they already are paying the lion’s share.

WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?

Wayne Weaver, owner of the financially struggling Jacksonville Jaguars, has tipped his hand about what he wants to do in the draft next year: Pick Florida QB Tim Tebow so he can sell some more seats. His football people have to be scratching their heads about that one, as Weaver just jacked up the asking price for any team the Jags might have to try to trade with.

Plus, by talking about how great it would be to get such an “iconic figure” with such “star power,” Weaver basically has said he has no confidence in his current quarterback, David Garrard. What was Weaver thinking?

 

Carolina QB Jake Delhomme threw five interceptions in a 33-13playoff loss to Arizona last season, which was apparently good enough to earn a five-year contract extension that guaranteed him $20 million.

And then he went out and played just as poorly in the season-opening blowout loss to Philadelphia, throwing four more picks. What were the Panthers thinking?

 

Oakland rookie receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey had an uninspiring debut, dropping two passes and catching none. Coach Tom Cable said, “I saw a nervous, uptight young man. A lot of big eyes.” This follows what reportedly was a pretty bad camp for the No. 7 overall pick.

On top of that, he has been completely outplayed by fourth-round pick Louis Murphy. Many, us included, thought the Raiders jumped on Heyward-Bey way too early in the draft, and it looks like we were right. What were the Raiders thinking?

 

First Oakland fell for him. Then Washington did. And that makes cornerback DeAngelo Hall the most overrated player in the NFL. The former Atlanta first-round pick was traded in March 2008 to the Raiders, who gave him a $70 million contract.

After just eight games last season, they figured out he wasn’t worth it and, after paying $8 million for half a season, traded him to Washington. In February, the Redskins decided to give him a deal with $22.5 million guaranteed.

And then, against the Giants in Week 1, he proceeded to do the same things he had done in Atlanta and Oakland: blow coverages, miss tackles and garner penalties. What were the Redskins thinking?

 

Houston cornerback Dunta Robinson, still annoyed over being named the franchise player, had a message for general manager Rick Smith while playing in Houston’s loss to the New York Jets on Sunday.

On his shoes, he had written, “Pay me, Rick.” Instead, Robinson will be paying Smith, who has fined him for conduct detrimental to the team. What was Robinson thinking?

 

The New England Patriots have made some odd personnel decisions this year. First, they traded franchise backup QB Matt Cassel and LB Mike Vrabel for a song (actually, one second-round pick). Then they added five defensive backs—three through free agency and two in the second round of the draft—and traded away another.

Then, even though they were incredibly thin at QB already, they cut 2008 third-round pick Kevin O’Connell, leaving them only with undrafted rookie Brian Hoyer backing up Tom Brady. Then they traded one of their top defensive players, Richard Seymour, just before the season.

Bill Belichick is the best coach in the game, but he sure seems to have handicapped himself this season. And we can’t help but wonder: What was Belichick thinking?

“From the Top” is a weekly look at issues involving coaching, management and ownership of the NFL’s 32 franchises. Check it and other football stories out at Football.com.

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Leroy Hill’s the Latest Victim of the Seattle Seahawks’ Payday Plague

A disturbing trend has developed in Seahawk Land over the last few years, and it has continued this year. It’s the Curse of the Cash, the Bane of the Booty, the Payday Plague.

Since 2004, almost every Seahawk who has received a monster contract has missed a good chunk of time soon after.

The latest victim of the Malignance of Money jinx is linebacker Leroy Hill. In the first year of a six-year deal worth $38 million, Hill lasted less than one quarter before suffering a groin injury that figures to keep him out for the next six weeks.

Hill’s misfortune follows injuries to Grant Wistrom, Bobby Taylor, Andre Dyson, Kelly Herndon, Jamie Sharper, Matt Hasselbeck, Shaun Alexander, Deion Branch, Nate Burleson, Patrick Kerney, Mike Wahle, Sean Locklear and Marcus Trufant.

In the last five years, the only guys who received contracts worth $3 million or more per year and didn’t miss significant time in the first or second year of the deal were Walter Jones, Julian Peterson, Deon Grant and Lofa Tatupu.

In 2004, the Seahawks gave Wistrom a team-record $14 million signing bonus. He missed seven games that year due to injury. The Seahawks cut him in 2007 after three mostly ineffective years and $21 million.

They also signed Taylor to a four-year deal worth about $12 million in 2004. But a knee injury limited him to nine games, and they cut him after just one season.

In 2005, the Hawks replaced Taylor and Ken Lucas with Dyson and Herndon, and that didn’t turn out much better. Dyson didn’t do much at all to live up to his five-year, $17.5 million deal. He started only 10 games and was cut after the season.

Herndon received a five-year deal worth $15 million, and he played okay until he missed the final four games with a knee injury. He returned for the playoffs, but he missed the 2006 playoffs after breaking his ankle in the season finale. The Seahawks cut him after that season.

Sharper got the same deal as Dyson but missed the second half of the Super Bowl season with a knee injury. The Hawks let him go after that.

In 2006, Alexander was coming off a 1,880-yard rushing season that earned him the NFL MVP award. The Seahawks paid him for his accomplishments, signing him to an eight-year deal worth $62 million. But he missed nine games over the next two years with a variety of ailments (wrist, ankle, knee) and the Seahawks parted ways with him last year.

The Seahawks also paid free agents Burleson and Branch in 2006. Burleson, who cost a third-round pick as a restricted free agent, received what initially was billed as a seven-year, $49 million deal. In reality, it was a five-year contract worth about $17 million.

The Hawks have gotten mixed results from that investment. Burleson struggled with injuries in 2006, catching only 18 passes. Then he had a nice 2007 season before blowing out his knee in Week One of the 2008 season.

Branch, obtained for Seattle’s 2007 first-round pick, got a much bigger payday — $39 million over six years – and has not been on the field to earn very much of it. They’ve paid him $22.5 million, but has yet to play a full season – playing in only 33 of a possible 48 games (Burleson has the same numbers).

Hasselbeck signed his six-year, $48 million contract in 2005 and then promptly led the Hawks to their best season ever. But the next season, he suffered a knee injury and missed four games. By the time he returned, there was no way to get in sync with Branch and Burleson in time for the playoffs.

Hasselbeck came back in 2007 to post his best NFL season and set several team passing records. But a back problem sidelined him for nine games in 2008, causing many to wonder whether he could regain his 2007 form for this season. So, since signing his big contract, he has played in 51 of a possible 64 games.

Even though Kerney was coming back from a chest injury in 2007, the Seahawks signed him to a six-year deal worth $37.5 million. The gamble paid off the first year, as Kerney recorded 14.5 sacks and went to the Pro Bowl. But a shoulder problem sidelined him for nine games in 2008, and it remains to be seen how much the 32-year-old defensive end has left.

Last year, the Seahawks gave Locklear a five-year deal worth $32 million, and he ended up missing the last four games with a toe injury.

Also, last year Tatupu got an eight-year extension worth $42 million and turned in his worst season, as a litany of injuries limited him. He missed only one game, but he was snakebitten all year with injuries to his knee, thumb, head and groin.

Then there was Wahle, who inked a five-year deal worth $20 million last year. After committing half a dozen or so ill-timed holding penalties in the first 10 games, Wahle ended up on injured reserve with a bad shoulder in December (probably from so many matador moves). Then he failed his physical before camp this year and retired.

The Seahawks also re-signed Marcus Trufant to a big deal in 2008 ($50 million over six years), and he played with a broken hand for most of last season. Then a mysterious back problem sidelined him throughout this year’s camp, and he’s out for at least the first six games.

Now there’s Hill’s groin injury.

Not counting recent signees Tatupu, Trufant and Hill, the 12 other aforementioned big-money, big-injury players have been paid about $148 million for playing in only 73 percent (279) of the games they were paid for (384) since signing their lucrative contracts. That breaks down to $530,000 per game played. That’s a lot of money and a lot of games missed.

The Curse of the Cash, the Bane of the Booty, the Plague of the Payday. Whatever you want to call it, having a dozen key guys miss a quarter of the games over the last five years goes a long way toward explaining why the Hawks haven’t been able to get back to the Super Bowl since 2005.

 

Money for nothin’

Wistrom $21 million for 41 games (3 years) = $512k per game

Taylor $4m for 9g (1y) = $444k/g

Dyson $3.5m for 8g (1y) = $437k/g

Herndon $6.5m for 28g (2y) = $232k/g 

Sharper $3.5m for 8g (1y) = $437k/g

Hasselbeck $35m for 51g (4y) = $686k/g

Alexander $18.5m for 23g (2y) = $804k/g

Branch $22.5m for 33g (3y) = $682k/g

Burleson $11.2m for 33g (3y) = $339k/g

Kerney $11.5m for 23g (2y) = $500k/g

Locklear $5m for 12g (1y) = $417k/g

Wahle $5.6m for 10g (1y) = $560k/g

 

For NFL power rankings and weekly picks, go Outside The Press Box.

 

 

 

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Seattle Seahawks’ Pregame Primer: A Fifth Preseason Game

It’s a good thing the Seahawks get a fifth preseason game, because they have a lot of unsettled issues as the season begins.

The Hawks couldn’t have asked for a better first game than to play the St. Louis Rams at Qwest Field (unless it was the Detroit Lions, of course).

Both teams have shaky situations on the offensive line, which could affect the running games. Last September, Julius Jones ran for 140 yards and a touchdown against the Rams, who do not have DT Adam Carriker this time. This should be a good starter game for the Hawks’ revised rushing attack.

In fact, it should be a good ramp-up game all around for the Seattle offense. The Rams’ defense was almost as bad as the Seahawks’ last season, so the Seattle line should be able to get in a groove and give Matt Hasselbeck time to find T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Nate Burleson and company.

The Seahawks’ defense gets a similarly easy first matchup, as Rams quarterback Marc Bugler has a bad finger on his throwing hand and the Rams’ line is a work in progress. Steven Jackson is a beast, and he will be a good test for the Hawks’ linebackers.

And it will be interesting to see how the Rams’ inexperienced receivers fare against a thin Seattle secondary that is without Marcus Trufant and just added 35-year-old safety Lawyer Milloy.

But this game should go to Seattle. After all, the Hawks have won five of their last six home openers, Hasselbeck has beaten the Rams six straight times and two of their four wins last season came against the Rams.

 

Three & out: Q&A

Three quick questions as the Hawks enter their first game:

Q: What will old-timers Edgerrin James and Lawyer Milloy give the Hawks?

A: A little veteran savvy. James will spell Jones, getting up to 30 percent of the carries, according to coach Jim Mora. Milloy’s role for the first game is less defined, but since the Hawks have only six healthy defensive backs, he probably will be the dime DB.

Q: Will Walter Jones and Chris Spencer be back next week?

A: Odds are Jones will be and Spencer won’t. Either way, the Hawks really should invest in a veteran tackle for depth on Monday. With only two reserves, Mansfield Wrotto and new OT Brandon Frye, they really should have kept Kyle Williams on the active roster as well (instead of 11 D-linemen).

Q: Will Deion Branch ever be healthy?

A: The answer, quite obviously, is no. Whatever he gives the Hawks this season will be a bonus. And it looks like he’ll be on his way out in 2010—after getting paid over $27 million. Meanwhile, rookie Deon Butler figures to get a lot of playing time this year, along with Ben Obomanu.

 

Game-day stats

**Since realignment in 2002, the Seahawks are tied for second in the league with five playoff berths and tied for third with four division titles.

**Hasselbeck holds Seattle records for career passer rating (86.2) and 300-yard games (15), and in 2007 he set team records for attempts (562), completions (352) and passing yards (3,966). And you think Seneca Wallace or Mark Sanchez is better?

**Houshmandzadeh has caught a league-best 294 passes since 2006.

**The Seahawks will travel 29,054 miles this season—as usual, the most in the NFL. In the past two years, they have traveled over 63,000 miles, most in the league. Their shortest trip is next week, when they head to San Francisco.

**For what it’s worth, the Seahawks were one of three teams (Miami and Baltimore) to finish the preseason undefeated. That’s the first time the Seahawks have ever done that.

 

For this week’s NFL picks and power rankings, plus season previews of the AFC and NFC, go Outside The Press Box.

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Seattle Seahawks Cut D.D. Lewis, Brandon Coutu; Marcus Trufant on PUP

The Seattle Seahawks made a number of surprising moves Saturday to get down to the roster limit of 53.

Early in the day, word came that they had cut starting safety Brian Russell and signed 35-year-old safety Lawyer Milloy, who played for coach Jim Mora in Atlanta in 2006.

Adding to that stunner, the Seahawks then cut linebacker D.D. Lewis, a versatile backup who figured to be the fourth linebacker.

The team chose to keep veteran Olindo Mare over second-year kicker Brandon Coutu, obviously prizing Mare’s deep kickoffs over Coutu’s youth.

The Hawks also put injured cornerback Marcus Trufant on the PUP, meaning he will miss at least the first six games of the season as he tries to rally from a back problem. With Trufant out, the Hawks kept Kevin Hobbs even though he had an uninspiring preseason.

The Hawks kept just five receivers, with Ben Obomanu joining the expected quartet of T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Nate Burleson, Deion Branch and rookie Deon Butler. Courtney Taylor was let go. Many had speculated that Branch would be cut, but the Seahawks kept him as their No. 3 receiver.

The team went with just five receivers and six linebackers because it stunningly kept 11 defensive linemen, obviously unable to ignore the preseason play of sixth-round pick Nick Reed and undrafted Michael Bennett and Derek Walker. The loser in that battle was Baraka Atkins, a former fourth-round pick. And, of course, Taylor and Lewis at the other positions.

The only draft pick not retained was seventh-round safety Courtney Greene. Tight end Cameron Morrah claimed the third spot at his position ahead of Joe Newton, who might be headed for the practice squad once again.

The team also waived receiver Jordan Kent with an injury settlement and released offensive lineman Cory Withrow from injured reserve.

Other guys cut: S Jamar Adams, G Brian De La Puente, CB Marquis Floyd, T Na’Shan Goddard, S Courtney Greene, WR Mike Hass, FB David Kirtman, RB Devin Moore, CB Nate Ness, TE Joe Newton, WR Logan Payne, LB Dave Philistin, T Andre Ramsey, T William Robinson, QB Jeff Rowe.

Adams, Greene, Hass, Moore, Newton and Payne would seem to be locks for the practice squad, with two other spots open. In the unlikely event he does not sign with another team, Coutu also could end up on the squad.

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