What Pete Carroll to Seattle Could Mean For The Seahawks Draft

Rumors continue to swirl this evening about Pete Carroll being courted for the now vacant head coaching job in Seattle.  While nothing is definite (yet), let’s take a moment and speculate on just what that could mean for the Seahawks in the upcoming draft.

The Seahawks are coming off a forgettable 5-11 campaign, one that saw the eventual termination of Jim Mora Jr.  While the roster needs for the Seahawks may seem plenty, really filling the void at just a few spots would go a long way.

The most staggering stat that you see when running down the rankings of 2009 is that Seattle was 30th in pass defense, 22nd in interceptions.  If you ever wanted to hire a guy to help with that, Carroll’s your man.  He’s held defensive coordinator positions and defensive backs coaching gigs at various collegiate and NFL stops in his career.  He’s got an impressive pedigree of defensive players from USC in the NFL now (Troy Polamalu, Lofa Tatupu, Clay Matthews, Brian Cushing, etc), so picking the right players to fit a team should be no problem.

Seattle has two first round selections in the 2010 draft, the sixth spot and 14th spot.  If Carroll is gunning for a defensive back with either spot, he can probably count out Tennessee’s Eric Berry, who is a virtual lock to be a top five pick. 

That leaves Carroll’s own All-American project, safety Taylor Mays.   Mays was built up to be the west coast Eric Berry, but his senior season was not overly impressive.  He ended with only one interception, and his size (6-3, 236) leaves many wondering if he may eventually project as a linebacker.  Though he does bring tremendous speed to the table.

So then what about Florida’s shut down CB Joe Haden?  He’s only  a junior, but has declared for the draft and is ranked by many to be the top corner in the draft. 

Carroll would have his choice between Mays and Haden, but Haden may be the safer pick for a true DB. 

The other need for Seattle is on offensive line, with a group that was in the bottom third of the league in sacks allowed.  Many think Oklahoma State OT Russell Okung will be a top 5 pick, just out of the Seahawks’ reach.  Should he fall to the sixth spot, there’s no reason Seattle shouldn’t snatch him up.  By far the best tackle in this year’s class.

Should Okung be gone, there are numerous other tackles to choose from.  The best though is Anthony Davis from Rutgers.  At 6-6 325 he’s a massive size perfect for run blocking in the NFL, something the Seahawks must improve upon (they finished 25th in run yards per game).  Other potential OL picks would be Bruce Campbell from Maryland, Bryan Bulaga from Iowa, or USC’s own Charles Brown.

Filling the defensive back and offensive line with first round talent would be a great start for Carroll.  But we know the Trojans are more than grinders and smash mouth defenders.  He’s got a vast array of offensive weapons, and perhaps he’d be looking for that in the first round.

Many have suggested the Seahawks should target a quarterback.  With a QB class that’s pretty deep, there’s no need to get on in the first round.  You’ll have Bradford and McCoy and Clausen go off in the first round likely, but there will be talent behind them with guys like Jevan Snead from Ole Miss and Dan LeFevour from Central Michigan.  Carroll can afford to be patient with a QB, since Hasselback still has some good years left.

But perhaps a speedy tailback that’s versatile in the passing game would help?  Look no further than Clemson’s CJ Spiller, a dynamic playmaker from the running back position and as a wideout.  Spiller excels best, however, in the return game.  Seattle had 109 receptions from the running back position in 2009, proving the guys in the backfield do more than just run with the ball. 

Seattle does have a decent pair of backs in Julius Jones and Justin Forsett, so it would be hard to see exactly where Spiller would fit in right away beyond special teams.  Do you use a first round pick on a special teams guy?  It may not hurt to help Seattle’s aging receiving corps and get a wideout.  There’s plenty in this draft, and either Illinois’ Arrelious Benn or Cincinnati’s Mardy Gilyard should be lingering in the second round for Carroll to pounce on.

Look for an interesting draft from Seattle regardless of who their coach is.  With so many potential roster spots to fill and two first-round picks, big decisions await the new head man at Qwest Field.

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Aaron Rodgers: The NFL MVP Candidate Nobody’s Talking About

If any Packers fans were still gripping tight to their No. 4 jerseys before this season began, by now they’ve probably exorcised the Favre ghosts and opened their eyes to the bright future in Green Bay.  His name is Aaron Rodgers.

Now in his second season as a starter, Rodgers will be making his first Pro Bowl appearance and, more importantly, has led the Packers into the playoffs. 

Yet his impressive season is buried behind the glittery successes of the big stats, guys like Drew Brees and Peyton Manning.  A closer look, however, shows just why Aaron Rodgers deserves as much MVP hype as those guys, if not more.

Currently, Rodgers ranks fourth in the league in passer rating, just behind Brees, Phillip Rivers, and Brett Favre.  He’s sixth in yards per game.  He’s tied for third with (guess who) Favre in touchdowns, just behind Brees and Manning. But the most impressive stat, the one coaches and fans love to see most, is that Rodgers has only thrown seven interceptions all season, the least among all full-time starters. In fact, of all his pass attempts, only 1.4 percent end in a pick.

A big factor we must consider in the rising stardom of Rodgers is the offensive line he plays behind, which can be called horrendous at best.  Rodgers has been sacked 50 times this season, more than any other QB in the league.  8.8 percent of plays in which Rodgers is attempting a pass end in a sack. 

This disadvantage causes Rodgers to lose some ground against the NFL’s other big guns. Consider Peyton Manning, who has only been sacked 10 times all season and has attempted roughly 40 more passes than Rodgers.  The closest QB to Rodgers in sacks with at least 500 pass attempts is Favre with 34.  You can only imagine how great Rodgers could be if he had a decent line to play behind.

Another highly impressive stat line for Rodgers is his efficiency on third downs.  The Packers rank third in the league in third down success percentage.  Rodgers is a big part of that success.  On third down plays alone, Rodgers has a 67.8 completion percentage, throwing for 11.01 yards per attempt.  His QB rating on third downs alone is 135.1.  Lastly, on third down plays, Rodgers has thrown 14 touchdowns and zero interceptions.  When it comes to critical downs, few in the league manage the game better than the young gun QB for Green Bay.

I doubt Rodgers will win the MVP this year.  His team’s record isn’t as sexy as that of the Saints and Colts, and his offense isn’t completely reliant upon the pass.  But rest assured that Rodgers will have his share of MVPs by the end of his career.  And feel free to go ahead and start those comparisons to Brett Favre.  Even in only his second year as a starter, Rodgers isn’t that far off from No. 4.

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Dear Colts Fans: Get Over Sunday’s Loss

It’s easy to see when a fan base has turned from dedicated, face painted, hoarse-throat diehards into a bunch of spoiled brats. For example, the fans of the Indianapolis Colts.

After numerous division titles, countless number of wins, and a Super Bowl ring, it’s clear the fans of the white and blue aren’t content just to win nearly 90% of their games, they must win every single one.

Thus you have the rabid backlash of Sunday in which Colts’ coach Jim Caldwell decided to pull Peyton Manning midway through the third quarter of a 15-10 game in which Indy was leading the New York Jets. The Colts ended up losing 29-15. 

The outrage extended far beyond Indianapolis, spilling into remarks of former players and NFL analysts. And I can partly see their point: Jim Caldwell owes it to fans and players to end the season with a perfect record, right? 

Wrong. Dead wrong.

The objective of any team in the NFL (and any other sport for that matter) is to win a championship. Yes, winning is a requirement to get there, but there’s no mandate to win every game you play in order to get into the championship game (unless you’re from the BCS). 

What Jim Caldwell did was smart. 

He gave his team the opportunity to win the game without unnecessarily risking potential injury to his star quarterback. The Colts had nothing to gain by winning Sunday, except to maintain a meaningless streak of wins that only does good as ink on an NFL record book page. After all, we remember what happened to the last team that ended the regular season undefeated.

Tony Dungy would go consecutive games at the end of seasons not playing starters.  Why? Because there was no point. No gain. What happens if Sunday in the fourth quarter Peyton Manning breaks his ankle? Colts fans complain, crucify Caldwell, and begin to look forward to the playoffs with Curtis Painter leading the charge.

Then there are the people calling for refunded tickets for the game Sunday, claiming they didn’t get their money’s worth once Manning was pulled. 

Are you kidding me? If I could get a refund for every time I went to a baseball game and a starter was scratched from the lineup for a day of rest, then I’d have a couple hundred extra bucks in my pocket. You paid for 60 minutes of football, and that’s what you got. 

Deal with it.

Reggie Wayne may be right: The Colts might just be the only 14-1 team in NFL history to be booed at home. And if they are, I hope they don’t pull the starters from the game, but rather the ignorant fans from the stands.

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John Fox or Jake Delhomme: One Must Go

In some places, mediocrity is the standard.

In the college ranks, winning half of your games gets you a spot in the postseason.

In the NFL, winning half of your games is acceptable if you’re the Browns or the Lions, where eight wins would equal your combined win total from the previous four years.

In Carolina, winning half of your games has turned out to be acceptable, or so it seems.

So what steps need to be taken by the Panthers’ front office if they decide that mediocrity is no longer acceptable? It seems obvious to me: Either fire the coach or get rid of the quarterback.

It’s certainly easy to throw the first stone at Jake Delhomme, who has had one of the worst seasons for any starting quarterback in recent memory. In fact, one website’s latest news release on Delhomme says, “Jake Delhomme is now in a place where he can’t throw an interception. He’s on injured reserve.”

I doubt, however, too many would be surprised if he threw a pick from there. Delhomme threw 18 interceptions in only 321 attempts this season, a statistic completely mind-boggling considering Delhomme only played in 11 games. To put that in perspective, Delhomme has thrown more picks this season than Kyle Orton and Tony Romo combined, while throwing about 200 fewer passes.

Delhomme has also thrown seven fewer touchdowns this year than he did last year. While he played in fewer games this year, an 8-to-18 touchdown-to-interception ratio isn’t good any way you slice it.

To top it off, Delhomme’s passer rating this season is a paltry 59.4, putting him next-to-last among NFL starters, ahead of only Jamarcus Russell. Even rookies Matthew Stafford and Mark Sanchez boast a better quarterback rating.

Yet as bad as Delhomme has been this year, some of the blame needs to be placed on his boss, John Fox. 

Coming over from the Giants eight years ago, Fox brought a defensive swagger that had not been seen before in Carolina. In his first season, Fox led the Panthers to six more wins than they had the year before. His second year in Carolina saw the Panthers make a run to the Super Bowl before losing by a field goal to the Patriots. 

Fox has had other winning seasons during the decade, but the 2009 season will be the fifth time since taking over as the Panthers’ coach that Fox will have a team with seven or eight wins. Seven or eight wins won’t put you in the playoffs. 

Based on record alone, however, Fox’s numbers aren’t bad. The knock against Fox is his questionable decision this year to stick with Delhomme as the starting quarterback despite his continual problems with turnovers. It wasn’t until a Week 12 injury to Delhomme that Fox was forced to make a change at quarterback. 

Much to Fox’s delight, Matt Moore has come in and played lights out in his three starts. But with such a small sample to draw from, we don’t know if Moore is a flash in the pan or a reliable, consistent starter.

After an impressive 2008 season in which the Panthers finished 12-4, it appeared Carolina was en route to setting up another NFC title run before things went awry in a home game against Arizona. Entering this season, many thought Carolina would be a lock for a wild card spot. However, ranking 30th in total offense and 24th in total defense won’t get you there. Probably the most puzzling thing is that this is nearly the exact same team the Panthers fielded last season and they haven’t had to deal with as many injuries. 

The front office in Carolina has already said that Fox and the entire staff will be given a chance to return in 2010. With the amount of talent on the roster, not making the playoffs next year will be inexcusable and heads will roll.

I have to wonder, though, if heads will roll this year.

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