I spent my younger years as a Seahawks fan in the 1990's. I sat through 2-14, I sat through the back to back 6-10 seasons, and I sat through the teams of the late 90's who could never fathom being anything other than mediocre. Winning wasn't expected, losing was. I remember always thinking how great it would be to cheer for a perennial playoff team, winning the Super Bowl was secondary. Just to taste the playoffs, taste the respect and prestige of those playoff teams, is all I wanted. Now a decade later the Seahawks are the four time defending champions of the NFC West. They have made five consecutive playoff appearances and haven't been knocked out in the first round since 2004. They have won playoff games, they have won a conference title and they have played in the Super Bowl. I am not satisfied. The ultimate goal of any professional franchise should be to win the championship. Any other result is nothing but a failure to achieve the goal.

Continue reading "The sun doesn't shine forever."

The Seahawks defense is based on speed. Blazing, swarming, hard hitting speed. Running wide on this defense is liking wandering, unguided into Dante's Hell. But fast defenses lack size, and against the run their margin for error decreases drastically. Size on the defensive line makes up for a lot of deficiencies. If your linebackers have trouble shedding blocks, two space eaters in the middle will take up blockers and prevent linemen from reaching the second level. With the smallish defense line that the Seahawks have, if Bernard or Terrell or Mebane do not fulfill their assignment, the offensive line moves quickly to Tatupu, Hill and Peterson and within a milisecond the running back has reached our veteran and speed challenged safeties.

Patrick Kearney for all his greatness as a pass rusher is adequate at best against the run. Run right at his edge, have the tackle get him on his outside shoulder and drive him and you do not have to worry about that monster anymore. He has a wiry frame which does not hold up against the run. Their first round pick, Laurence Jackson, has the body of a 3-4 defensive end, short strong and with a wide base. If you want to shut down the run, you draft guys like Jackson.

Continue reading "The first line of defense"

I first heard of the notion of the NBA having its officials influence games fifteen years ago in Sam Smith's legendary book "The Jordan Rules". In the 1990 playoffs the Bulls had taken a 3-0 series lead over the Sixers and Sam Smith alluded to the fact, as if it was an accepted rule of the NBA, that a overcontrolling officiating crew would undoubtedly officiate game 4 so that the series would be extended meaning more money for the NBA. Smith noted the remarkable free throw disparity and moved on. This was before Kings Lakers Game 6, this was even before Game 7 of the Sonics Suns series in 93. This was nearly twenty years ago. Tim Donaghy's letter comes of no surprise, and David Stern's reaction comes as no surprise. Donaghy is detailing things everyone largely assumed to happen.

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