Seattle Seahawks Injuries: Chris Spencer Joins a Growing List On The Sideline

Last nights 27-13 win over the Denver Broncos showed that the Seahawks have really turned around under first year head coach Jim Mora Jr.

There is, however, one lingering effect from the Holmgren era: injuries. Countless mounting injuries have always killed the Seahawks.

That statement was heard loud and clear last season when the Seahawks lost four starting wide receivers, Matt Hasselbeck, all five starting offensive linemen, Patrick Kerney, and others.

This season, they haven’t lost as many players yet as last season but I would like to say that it is only the preseason where injuries annoy coaches.

Current injured Seahawks are LT Walter Jones (knee surgery), LG Mike Wahle (retired), C Chris Spencer (leg injury, left last night), CB Marcus Trufant (back), RB Julius Jones (leg), and LB Aaron Curry (groin).

The list is getting long, but will shorten when Curry and Jones come back next week as expected. Jones, Trufant, and now Spencer are out indefinitely.

Last night the starting offense line looked like this: LT Sean Lockear, LG Rob Sims, C Chris Spencer, RG Mansfield Wrotto, RT Ray Wills.

Locklear, while preforming badly in the start of the game with two sacks allowed and one false start penalty, will remain at LT until whenever, if ever, Walter Jones returns.

I expect Sims will be the starting RG by the third or fourth preseason game, and allow first-round draft pick Max Unger to become the starting LG.

Spencer, who was replaced by backup Steve Vallos, is now out with a leg injury. Vallos is now the teams starting center, just like last season.

There is no way Wrotto he will be in the starting lineup come the third or fourth preseason game.

Willis is pretty much a lock at RT, and he didn’t do anything to hurt his chances of that last night.

How will Hasselbeck be able to throw the ball around to all of his weapons? What about Jones and Forsett running the ball? The Seahawks’ offense, which has to be led by a great offensive line for all that to happen, is now looking dim and not getting better.

Stay tuned for more information.

Seahawks Saturday: Hasselbeck, Defense Lead Seattle to 27-13 Win

Two up, two down for the Seattle Seahawks and Jim Mora Jr. The Seahawks, after picking up a 27-13 win at home over the Denver Broncos improve to 2-0 in the preseason and 2-0 under new head coach Jim Mora Jr.

Coming into the Seahawks second preseason game against the Denver Broncos, Seahawks head coach Jim Mora Jr said he would have all of his healthy starters play the entire first half, barring injury.

That’s just what happened and it paid off. Starters Julius Jones and Aaron Curry were not in tonight’s home game due to injury. Jones sat out with a leg injury and Curry sat with a groin injury.

So that gave Justin Forsett and D.D Lewis the opportunity to shine.

Forsett shined brighter than 20 carrot diamond.

Let’s take a look at the game and how it went.

First quarter:

SEA- 34 yard TD pass from Hasselbeck to Deon Butler. Eight plays, 70 yards. 3:14 TOP

DEN- three yard TD pass from Orton to Stokley. 12 plays. 5:51 TOP

DEN- 53 yard FG by Matt Prater

Second quarter:

SEA- two yard TD pass from Hasselbeck to TJ Houshmandzadeh. 14 plays. 80 yards. 2:48 TOP.

Third quarter:

SEA- 22 yard FG by Brandon Coutu

SEA- one yard TD pass from Wallace to Joe Newton. Six plays. 29 yards. 2:39 TOP

SEA- 52 yard FG by Brandon Coutu

Fourth quarter:

DEN- 39 yard FG by Britton Colquitt

Final score: SEA 27-DEN 13.

This was a great offensive game at first with the Seahawks scoring first with a nice touch pass from Matt Hasselbeck to Deon Butler for the Seahawks first touchdown.

The Broncos responded quickly with a long drive which was capped off by a three yard touchdown pass from Kyle Orton to Brandon Stokley.

After that the Seahawks defense rose to the occasion and showed their transition from Mike Holmgren to Jim Mora.

The Seahawks defense bent a little bit in the second quarter and allowed the Broncos to drive all the way down to the three yard line.

But on fourth down, one of the most interesting plays I have ever seen in football. Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton saw the Seahawks blitz close down the pocket and scrambled out side.

Right after finding a receiving target the right handed Orton switched the ball from his right hand to his left hand and threw the ball which wound up being intercepted by Seahawks cornerback Ken Lucas.

One of the main keys to the game for the Seahawks that they performed but I did not list was capitalizing on turnovers.

All of the turnovers turned into points whether that is a field goal or a touchdown.

The Lucas interception was turned into the first even Hasselbeck to Houshmandzadeh touchdown connection.

In the second half the Broncos first series in the second half, Seahawks cornerback Kelly Jennings delivered a jaw dropping hit on Broncos tight end Tony Scheffler.

The fumble was picked up by Seahawks cornerback Jordan “big play” Babineaux which turned into a 22 yard field goal by Brandon Coutu.

Even on special teams the Seahawks were creating turnovers. C.J Wallace created a fumble which was recovered by Seahawks linebacker Will Herring for no gain.

It was later turned into a 52-yard field goal by Brandon Coutu.

One of the main problems for the Seahawks last season and under the Mike Holmgren era was the fact that the Seahawks could rarely convert turnovers into points.

Tonight, all three turnovers were turned into points for the Seahawks.

Now let’s take a look at some key players in the game.

QB Matt Hasselbeck: 16/23, 171 yards and 2 TD’s (first half)

RB Justin Forsett: seven carries, 18 yards rushing. seven receptions, 58 yards.

WR TJ Houshmandzadeh: five receptions, 41 yards and one TD (first half)

DE Nick Reed: 1.5 sack, three tackles, one FF and one blocked punt.

Tonight Justin Forsett and Nick Reed pretty much locked up roster spots on the 53 man roster. Nick Reed has made the Seahawks look like geniuses’ when they selected him in the seventh round.

Justin Forsett is in his second turn with the Seahawks had this time he is here to stay and has fit better under Jim Mora Jr than Mike Holmgren.

Now in my preview I had my keys to the game as I will in all my Seahawks previews. Lets see how I did.

H to H connection

The Seahawks’ offense will rest mainly on Hasselbeck and Houshmandzadeh having a lot of hook-ups this season.

 

Defenseless in Seattle

The Seahawks’ offensive line is looking more like it did last year, with Walter Jones on the sideline, Mike Wahle retired, and a lot of players shifting and moving around. The key will be for Locklear and Unger to be the new Jones and Hutch.

 

Relentless

Mora Jr. wants his defense to be relentless, and that includes getting to the quarterback. Kyle Orton is the quarterback in Denver, and he has almost no receiving options, so the Seahawks will need to be hitting him hard this week.

 

The $140 million dollar trio

Lofa Tatupu, Aaron Curry, and Leroy Hill make up a combine $140 million line backing corps. They all will need to be in action and playing in their top form for the Seahawks’ defense to be great.

The Seahawks’ front office built up the defense on the linebackers—they run the show on defense next to Patrick Kerney.

The green equals a check and the red equals a non check. So lets take a look at the keys and if they happened and worked.

The H-H connection gets a green check for sure. In their first preseason game TJ and Matt made only one hook-up for five yards.

Tonight TJ had five receptions for 41 yards and his first TD as a Seahawk.

Now TJ did exactly what he was signed to do. That’s move the chains and be a great target in the red zone.

Well TJ moved the chains twice on third down and also caught his only TD from the two yard line. The last time I checked that was pretty far in the red zone.

Now defenseless in Seattle gets a green check but it could have been gray because the Seahawks allowed three sacks.

Now the reason it gets a check was because early in the game they were not on the same page and the blitz was getting to them.

But once they got into a grove on offense the entire offensive line settled down and in and really gave Hasselbeck a great pocket to work with along with having a great few screen plays created by great blocking.

Relentless for sure gets the check and from a lot of different players. Nick Reed was for sure the most relentless player on defense by recording 1.5 sacks, one forced fumble and one blocked punt.

Last game he had a sack and an interception. I can’t wait to see what he does next week.

Maybe he will line up at tight end or running back who knows?

The $140 million dollar trio gets the only red. Lofa Tatupu missed a few tackles, something that never happens to Lofa. Leroy really didn’t show up that much. Aaron Curry did not play tonight so that didn’t help much.

But getting three out of four checks is still 75 percent and no one can argue with that but as Nick Reed said “this game is over and we move to the next one because when you’re working to make the team this game doesn’t help me for the next game if I play bad next week.”

So the final score in Seattle: Seattle Seahawks 27 and the Denver Broncos 13.

NFL Preseason: Seattle Seahawks Versus Denver Broncos Preview

Jim Mora Jr., after picking up his first win against the San Diego Chargers last week, will have all of his starters play the entire first half against the Denver Broncos.

Currently, those starters are quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, running back Justin Forsett (Julius Jones has not practiced this week due to a leg injury), fullback Owen Schmitt, wide receivers T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Deion Branch, and Nate Burleson, tight end John Carlson, left tackle Sean Locklear, left guard Max Unger, center Chris Spencer, right guard Rob Sims, and right tackle Ray Willis.

Starting on defense will be left end Cory Redding, defensive tackles Colin Cole and Brandon Mebane, right end Patrick Kerney, linebackers Leroy Hill, Lofa Tatupu, and David Hawthorne, cornerbacks Ken Lucas and Josh Wilson, free safety Brian Russell, and strong safety Deon Grant. Rookie linebacker Aaron Curry has missed the last two days with a strained groin, so he might start if the test goes well.

Olindo Mare will be the kicker, and Jon Ryan is still the punter.

Against San Diego, most of the starters played four series or less. Hasselbeck had only 12 passing attempts in his four series.

And even thought it’s the preseason, Hasselbeck needs more playing time with his new wideout in Houshmandzadeh. Houshmandzadeh had only one catch for five yards, and I don’t think that’s what the Seahawks are aiming for with his five-year $40 million dollar contract.

 

Keys to the game

 

H to H connection

The Seahawks’ offense will rest mainly on Hasselbeck and Houshmandzadeh having a lot of hook-ups this season.

 

Defenseless in Seattle

The Seahawks’ offensive line is looking more like it did last year, with Walter Jones on the sideline, Mike Wahle retired, and a lot of players shifting and moving around. The key will be for Locklear and Unger to be the new Jones and Hutch.

 

Relentless

Mora Jr. wants his defense to be relentless, and that includes getting to the quarterback. Kyle Orton is the quarterback in Denver, and he has almost no receiving options, so the Seahawks will need to be hitting him hard this week.

 

The $140 million dollar trio

Lofa Tatupu, Aaron Curry, and Leroy Hill make up a combine $140 million linebacking corps. They all will need to be in action and playing in their top form for the Seahawks’ defense to be great.

The Seahawks’ front office built up the defense on the linebackers—they run the show on defense next to Patrick Kerney.

 

If the Seahawks can get put a check mark next to the majority of those keys, then they will have no problem going 2-0 under Mora Jr.

Seattle Seahawks: Trufant, Jones Out indefinitely

Seattle Seahawks head coach Jim Mora Jr. reported today that star players, cornerback Marcus Trufant and LT Walter Jones will be out indefinitely.

Jones is going to under go arthroscopic knee surgery and Trufant has a disk problem in his back and has not practiced at all since the start of training camp.

It has been reported that the Seahawks have interest in OT Levi Jones and could bring him in to bulk up the offensive line.

The Seahawks will most likely start with Ken Lucas at the No 1 and Josh Wilson at the No. 2 unless they decide to sign a free-agent cornerback to bulk up the defensive backs as well.

Currently Jason Craft, Reynaldo Hill, Brian Kelly, and Mike McKenzie are all current free agent cornerbacks.

Look for the Seahawks to add either an OT or CB or possibly both in the coming days and weeks.

Seahawks Looking to Tackle a Need?

The Seattle Seahawks best offensive lineman, LT Walter Jones, is currently sitting out with a back injury; and before the San Diego Chargers game, he worked out with the scout team in practice.

Head coach, Jim Mora Jr., said it was the first time Jones had been part of and worked with the scout team.

I guess there’s a first time for everything.

However, the lower back injury that is keeping Jones out, could keep him away indefinitely. He may become the next Jonathan Ogden and retire.

So now, the Seahawks are slim on the offensive line. LG Mike Wahle retired; LT Walter Jones is 50-50 and could retire as well. They now have to turn to unproven Rookie LG Max Unger, up and coming RT (now turned LT) Sean Locklear, and a backup RT in Ray Willis.

What came in as their most important position entering this season, still holds that title, but is also their most vulnerable.

The Seahawks have been rumored to be pursuing current free agent LT Levi Jones, who has had some injury problems, but is currently healthy and their best option for depth purposes.

Right now, Locklear’s future move is going from RT to LT, like the Seahawks said he would. Ray Willis now becomes the starting RT.

Time will tell how all this maneuvering on the OL will affect the Hawks’ chances in the NFC West, but its definitely not the start they envisioned to their preseason.

Chad Ocho Cinco to Race Usain Bolt?

Oh the show that never Cece’s to stop. Chad Ocho Cinco, the Bengals star wide receiver and cheerleader has something new to challenged other than NFL defensive backs.

Via twitter Chad was telling all of his followers to go turn on NBC and watch Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay in the 100M sprint.

After Bolt won with a new world record, Chad tweeted and said “Holy ( expletive) 9.58, Child stuttering pppppplllllleeaaasssseee!!!!”

About three hourse after that post Ocho Cinco went to his all american agent. The one and only Drew Rosenhaus.

Here is the quote from the one and only Chad Ocho Cinco to his agent Drew Rosenhaus.

“Drew I want to race Usain Bolt in the 20, 20-yard dash, once he opens up you can kiss the baby goodbye!!!!!”

You heard it from the words of Ocho, he wants to race Usain Bolt.

Now last season he raced a horse and won, but he had a huge risk doing it. Most likely if anything where to happen it would be a secure deal and he would not try to pull anything.

Its a great idea and a great money marketing idea from Drew and Chad.

Wait for more news on this subject as times goes on.

Jim Mora 1-0: Sights and Sounds of The Seahawks 20-14 Win Over San Diego

The Jim Mora Jr. era is officially under way and it has started off in grand fashion with a 20-14 preseason win over the San Diego Chargers.

Now I do stress that this is a preseason game and whoever wins just shows how deep in talent they are and how good their coaching is.

The Seahawks started out with Matt Hasselbeck under center. Knowing that this was their first preseason game, the Seahawks did not keep Hasselbeck in very long.

Hasselbeck went 3/5 for 27 yards and did not record a touchdown or a interception. Over all from seeing Hasselbeck at the game, he looked crisp and healthy. Now it’s hard to judge for five throws but out of those five he looked crisp.

The other Seahawks quarterbacks Seneca Wallace, Mike Teel, and Jeff Rowe all saw playing time.

Wallace went 8/12 for 40 yards and one touchdown pass to TE John Owens, with 5:55 left in the second quarter. Wallace also added two rushing attempts for two yards, no Michael Vick here.

Rookie seventh round pick Mike Teel’s rookie debut went well throwing 7/15 for a Seahawks game high of 75 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

Seahawks fourth quarterback who doesn’t figure into the roster one bit; Jeff Rowe threw 3/3 for 16 yards and did not record a touchdown or interception.

Combined the Seahawks quarterbacks threw for 158 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception and completed 21 of 35 passes.

The Seahawks rushing game was solid but not the highlight. The Seahawks rushed for a total 94 yards (Julius Jones, Justin Forsett, T.J Duckett, and Devin Moore who led the way with 32 yards.

The most important thing I noticed in the game was how many players were involved on both sides of the ball. A total of 17 different receivers caught at least one or more passes and 27 different players on defense recorded one or more tackles or assisted tackles.

That shows the key part of the preseason, show casing your entire roster so everyone plays and gets involved.

The Seahawks start off the Jim Mora Jr. era with a 20-14 win against the San Diego Chargers.

For one game, this makes Mora the whiniest coach in Seahawks history just for laughs.  

The next Seahawks game is against the Denver Broncos at Quest Field on August 22.

This will be good because the Seahawks hold the Broncos first round pick in the 2010 draft, thanks to a draft day trade.

 

Seahawks Defense or Offense: Which One Will Dominate This Season?

The Seahawks’ new-look roster has some big time flash on both sides of the ball. Wide receivers TJ Houshmandzadeh (signed via free agency) and Deon Butler (acquired via ’09 NFL draft, 5th round) bring a lot of speed and talent to a dead wide receiver corps.

Rookie linebacker Aaron Curry, defensive tackle/defensive end Cory Redding and defensive tackle Colin Cole bring a lot of talent. In Curry’s case, he is perhaps the best NFL-ready rookie talent-wise, bettering a Seahawks defense that ranked near the bottom in just about every single defensive category. The Seahawks allowed a total net yards amount of 6,048.

Last season neither side of the ball was dominant or even good for that matter. However, with a new attacking head coach in Jim Mora Jr. and a great running offensive coordinator in Greg Knapp the Seahawks look to rebound from their worst season in over three decades.

Now looking at the Seahawks offense, there is no longer any excuses. Matt Hasselbeck is 100 percent healthy, and has one of the deepest wide receiving corps in the NFL with TJ Houshmandzadeh, Deion Branch, Nate Burleson and Deon Butler who all project in that order in terms of depth with TJ as the No 1 and Butler the No 4.

Along with a great aerial attack, the Seahawks feature a good rushing attack that hasn’t and will continue to not get much attention around the NFL because of running backs like Adrian Peterson, Matt Forte, Chris Johnson and others. The Seahawks don’t have their Shaun Alexander but what they do have is one of the best rushing offensive coordinators in the NFL in Greg Knapp.

Jim Mora brought in Knapp, who coached in Oakland last season, as the Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator.

The Seahawks feature running back Julius Jones who has been beaten out everywhere he’s played. In Dallas with Marion Barber and Seattle last season with Maurice Morris. Now the only reason why Morris took over as the starting running back was because former Seahawks head coach Mike Holmgren wanted to go with players that he liked and had a lot of previous experience with.

Now with Holmgren gone and Jim Mora in, there is no reason why Julius won’t have his best season of his young career.

The bright side for Jones is not only that Holmgren is gone but the man he lost his starting job to, Maurice Morris, is now with the rebuilding Detroit Lions along with linebacker Julian Peterson.

With Jones betting 20-25 carries per game look for him to have a breakout season, added to the fact that offensive coordinator Greg Knapp has never finished less than 10th overall in rushing in the NFL which includes having T.J Duckett in Atlanta and Justin Fargas/Darren McFadden in Oakland.

Now on the defensive side of the ball the Seahawks feature a talented and healthy defensive line led by defensive end Patrick Kerney, along with the best linebacking trio in the NFL with Lofa Tatupu, Leroy Hill and rookie Aaron Curry.

The only question mark for the Seahawks will be their secondary, yet again.

The Seahawks signed CB Ken Lucas and drafted safety Courtney Greene in the seventh round out of Rutgers who looks to have a great rookie season and could be the next Bob Sanders.

The Seahawks defensive line has always lacked a top, huge run stuffing defensive tackle next to Brandon Mebane. The Seahawks thought they had their man in last year’s draft with defensive tackle Red Bryant but he seemed to pull a muscle every time he got out of bed.

So the Seahawks went out and signed a defensive tackle by the name of Colin Cole from the Green Bay Packers to a five-year, $21 million dollar contract with $5 million being guaranteed.

Now the move did not make a huge splash around the NFL but a lot of people in the Green Bay Packers organization were extremely disappointed that they couldn’t resign him and the Seattle Seahawks believe he can be great and fill a huge hole on the defensive line.

The Seahawks traded pro bowl linebacker Julian Peterson to the Detroit Lions for DE/DT Cory Redding and a fifth round pick in the ’09 draft. It was one of the NFL’s biggest trades of the offseason other than the Denver Broncos’ trade which to this day still shocks many NFL reps.

When people looked at this move they really were shocked that the Seahawks traded their best linebacker next to Lofa for an overpriced player on a 0-16 team and many people where trying to figure out how this could make the Seahawks better.

It was announced that the Seahawks wanted Peterson to restructure his contract and when he refused they decided to trade him to someone who would. Cory Redding signed a six-year, $57.5 million dollar contract last offseason with the Detroit Lions after being slapped with the franchise tag.

The Seahawks restructured his contract down to a one-year, $2 million dollar deal and just blew up the remaining five years of his contract along with the money that came with it.

This made it a little more interesting because Peterson had four years left on his contract and the Seahawks didn’t seem to be a team rebuilding. But when it was announced that Redding would be an unrestricted free agent after this season it put the question in peoples mind.

Are the Seattle Seahawks starting to rebuild?

As I referred to it in an article I wrote about a few months back it’s called a “moving rebuild” which basically means that the Seahawks are aiming to win now as well as long term.

Almost like the Seattle Mariners as quoted by GM Jack Zduriencik, “We want to build a team that can compete right now as well as long term.” So far that has worked out great for the Seattle Mariners but the Seahawks are looking to be better than third place or second place.

The Seahawks are going back to their business atop the NFC West and go deep into the playoffs and some people have said if everything goes as planned the Seahawks can get to the Super Bowl and win.

The Seahawks have done exactly what the Mariners have done but even better and that’s to make moves that better the team now and in the long term.

The signing of Houshmandzadeh and drafting of Max Unger, Aaron Curry and Deon Butler are all moves that can have the Seahawks win now and long term.

So now you have to look at the Seahawks defense. With the entire team healthy and on the field this could be a top five defense.

Patrick Kerney, Lofa Tatupu, Leroy Hill, Aaron Curry, Brandon Mebane, Marcus Trufant, Ken Lucas, Deon Grant and Courtney anchor the Seahawks defense and if they all play to their potential there is no reason why this defense can’t be better than the Seahawks’ defense of ’05 which led them to the Super Bowl.

So the question remains which side of the ball will be more dominant this season for the Seahawks, offense or defense.

The answer is offense for the main fact that Hasselbeck can possibly throw for 3,500-4,000 yards this season and really open up this offense with TJ, Deion, Nate, Deon and John Carlson.

Plus with the offensive line getting a shot in the arm with rookie LG Max Unger who has drawn a lot of comparisons to former Seahawks left guard Steve Hutchinson.

 

 

 

Seahawks Defense or Offense: Which One Will Dominate This Season?

The Seahawks’ new-look roster has some big time flash on both sides of the ball. Wide receivers TJ Houshmandzadeh (signed via free agency) and Deon Butler (acquired via ’09 NFL draft, 3rd round) bring a lot of speed and talent to a dead wide receiver corps.

Rookie linebacker Aaron Curry, defensive tackle/defensive end Cory Redding and defensive tackle Colin Cole bring a lot of talent. In Curry’s case, he is perhaps the best NFL-ready rookie talent-wise, bettering a Seahawks defense that ranked near the bottom in just about every single defensive category. The Seahawks allowed a total net yards amount of 6,048.

Last season neither side of the ball was dominant or even good for that matter. However, with a new attacking head coach in Jim Mora Jr. and a great running offensive coordinator in Greg Knapp the Seahawks look to rebound from their worst season in over three decades.

Now looking at the Seahawks offense, there is no longer any excuses. Matt Hasselbeck is 100 percent healthy, and has one of the deepest wide receiving corps in the NFL with TJ Houshmandzadeh, Deion Branch, Nate Burleson and Deon Butler who all project in that order in terms of depth with TJ as the No 1 and Butler the No 4.

Along with a great aerial attack, the Seahawks feature a good rushing attack that hasn’t and will continue to not get much attention around the NFL because of running backs like Adrian Peterson, Matt Forte, Chris Johnson and others. The Seahawks don’t have their Shaun Alexander but what they do have is one of the best rushing offensive coordinators in the NFL in Greg Knapp.

Jim Mora brought in Knapp, who coached in Oakland last season, as the Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator.

The Seahawks feature running back Julius Jones who has been beaten out everywhere he’s played. In Dallas with Marion Barber and Seattle last season with Maurice Morris. Now the only reason why Morris took over as the starting running back was because former Seahawks head coach Mike Holmgren wanted to go with players that he liked and had a lot of previous experience with.

Now with Holmgren gone and Jim Mora in, there is no reason why Julius won’t have his best season of his young career.

The bright side for Jones is not only that Holmgren is gone but the man he lost his starting job to, Maurice Morris, is now with the rebuilding Detroit Lions along with linebacker Julian Peterson.

With Jones betting 20-25 carries per game look for him to have a breakout season, added to the fact that offensive coordinator Greg Knapp has never finished less than 10th overall in rushing in the NFL which includes having T.J Duckett in Atlanta and Justin Fargas/Darren McFadden in Oakland.

Now on the defensive side of the ball the Seahawks feature a talented and healthy defensive line led by defensive end Patrick Kerney, along with the best linebacking trio in the NFL with Lofa Tatupu, Leroy Hill and rookie Aaron Curry.

The only question mark for the Seahawks will be their secondary, yet again.

The Seahawks signed CB Ken Lucas and drafted safety Courtney Greene in the seventh round out of Rutgers who looks to have a great rookie season and could be the next Bob Sanders.

The Seahawks defensive line has always lacked a top, huge run stuffing defensive tackle next to Brandon Mebane. The Seahawks thought they had their man in last year’s draft with defensive tackle Red Bryant but he seemed to pull a muscle every time he got out of bed.

So the Seahawks went out and signed a defensive tackle by the name of Colin Cole from the Green Bay Packers to a five-year, $21 million dollar contract with $5 million being guaranteed.

Now the move did not make a huge splash around the NFL but a lot of people in the Green Bay Packers organization were extremely disappointed that they couldn’t resign him and the Seattle Seahawks believe he can be great and fill a huge hole on the defensive line.

The Seahawks traded pro bowl linebacker Julian Peterson to the Detroit Lions for DE/DT Cory Redding and a fifth round pick in the ’09 draft. It was one of the NFL’s biggest trades of the offseason other than the Denver Broncos’ trade which to this day still shocks many NFL reps.

When people looked at this move they really were shocked that the Seahawks traded their best linebacker next to Lofa for an overpriced player on a 0-16 team and many people where trying to figure out how this could make the Seahawks better.

It was announced that the Seahawks wanted Peterson to restructure his contract and when he refused they decided to trade him to someone who would. Cory Redding signed a six-year, $57.5 million dollar contract last offseason with the Detroit Lions after being slapped with the franchise tag.

The Seahawks restructured his contract down to a one-year, $2 million dollar deal and just blew up the remaining five years of his contract along with the money that came with it.

This made it a little more interesting because Peterson had four years left on his contract and the Seahawks didn’t seem to be a team rebuilding. But when it was announced that Redding would be an unrestricted free agent after this season it put the question in peoples mind.

Are the Seattle Seahawks starting to rebuild?

As I referred to it in an article I wrote about a few months back it’s called a “moving rebuild” which basically means that the Seahawks are aiming to win now as well as long term.

Almost like the Seattle Mariners as quoted by GM Jack Zduriencik, “We want to build a team that can compete right now as well as long term.” So far that has worked out great for the Seattle Mariners but the Seahawks are looking to be better than third place or second place.

The Seahawks are going back to their business atop the NFC West and go deep into the playoffs and some people have said if everything goes as planned the Seahawks can get to the Super Bowl and win.

The Seahawks have done exactly what the Mariners have done but even better and that’s to make moves that better the team now and in the long term.

The signing of Houshmandzadeh and drafting of Max Unger, Aaron Curry and Deon Butler are all moves that can have the Seahawks win now and long term.

So now you have to look at the Seahawks defense. With the entire team healthy and on the field this could be a top five defense.

Patrick Kerney, Lofa Tatupu, Leroy Hill, Aaron Curry, Brandon Mebane, Marcus Trufant, Ken Lucas, Deon Grant and Courtney anchor the Seahawks defense and if they all play to their potential there is no reason why this defense can’t be better than the Seahawks’ defense of ’05 which led them to the Super Bowl.

So the question remains which side of the ball will be more dominant this season for the Seahawks, offense or defense.

The answer is offense for the main fact that Hasselbeck can possibly throw for 3,500-4,000 yards this season and really open up this offense with TJ, Deion, Nate, Deon and John Carlson.

Plus with the offensive line getting a shot in the arm with rookie LG Max Unger who has drawn a lot of comparisons to former Seahawks left guard Steve Hutchinson.

 

 

 

Aaron Curry Signed, What Does It Mean for the Seahawks Future

$140 million, what can it get you? Well it can get you a house, financial security, a nice car, and three top linebackers for the Seattle Seahawks.

The Seattle Seahawks line backing corps combines to total $140 million just for three players.

Middle linebacker Lofa Tatupu’s contract is worth $42 million over six years. Outside linebacker Leroy Hill’s contract is worth $38 million over six years and now top draft pick Aaron Curry’s contract is worth $60 million over six years.

The Seahawks have decided to build around their line backing corps on defense.

Lofa Tatupu is a three year pro bowler, Leroy Hill is getting a lot better and this season hie’s going to have to be his boom year. Aaron Curry was the fourth overall pick for the Seahawks in the 2009 NFL draft.

Now some people might think that $60 million is a lot for a rookie who hasn’t played a single snap in the NFL but the Seahawks take pride in top linebackers and feel that Curry will cement their line backing corps as one of the best.

Now that Curry is signed what it means for the Seahawks future this season and also for the other five years on that contract.

Curry is going to be the starting SAM for the Seahawks, as coach Jim Mora said at training camp today. He would be out there with the first team starting if we played our first game tomorrow.

Lofa Tatupu is going to be the Seahawks starting middle linebacker for the rest of his future even if they got Patrick Willis.

Leroy Hill is going to play opposite of Curry at WSLB.

Curry, Tatupu and Hill are one of if not the best line backing corps in the NFL if they all play to their fullest potential which no Seahawk outside of John Carlson and Seneca Wallace did last season.

The Seahawks will demand that Curry either replicate or top Patrick Willis’ rookie season performance which was one of the best by a linebacker.

Willis had 174 total tackles, 135 solo tackles in his rookie season.

Curry is going to have to prove he’s worth that $34 million guaranteed money he got in his contract.

Now Curry isn’t going to be the only player in the line backing corps that needs to step up and prove their contract.

Lofa received his contract last season and he turned in his worst statistical season in his five year NFL career with a career low 94 tackles.

Leroy Hill got his money this off season and not only has to prove himself on the field but off it as well as Hill was busted for marijuana position right around the time he was entering free agency.

The Seahawks guaranteed even if Hill is suspended he still gets all $15 million that his contract guarantees’ him, out of the possible $38 million which is the total value of his contract.

Now the only thing left for the Seahawks and the fans is to come up with a nickname for the top three line backing trio (Curry, Tatupu and Hill).

 

 

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