Posted By Eric Williams on February 8, 2010 at 9:34 am Share this

Well, Walter Jones appears headed toward retirement, according to his latest tweet on Sunday.

Although the latest news appears a little more conclusive than his previous announcement during the season, it still seems a bit odd that he would choose to make this announcement on Super Bowl Sunday.

Neither the Seahawks or Jones agent, Roosevelt Barnes, have confirmed that Jones, 36, is indeed retiring.

Continue reading “Hawks have not confirmed Jones retirement” »

Categories: General Seahawks, Player movement
Tags:
50 Comments »

Posted By Eric Williams on February 7, 2010 at 8:08 am Share this

Of the two teams that are playing in Super Bowl 44, I’ve only had the pleasure of seeing one of them in person this season, the Indianapolis Colts.

In that game, Colts quarterback Peyton Manning dissected Seattle’s defense with surgeon-like precision in a 34-17 win that was not as close as the score indicated.

As potent as the Colts and the New Orleans Saints offenses are, I’m going with the Colts in this one for one reason – their defense.

Continue reading “Who do you like in Super Bowl XLIV?” »

Categories: Blog News, Super Bowl
Tags:
34 Comments »

Posted By Eric Williams on February 6, 2010 at 2:49 pm Share this

Former Seahawks defensive tackle Cortez Kennedy will have to wait another year to take his rightful place among the best players to have played in the NFL.

Kennedy was not among a list of seven selected for enshrinement into the Pro Hall of Fame. But another former Seahawk, John Randle, is headed to Canton, along with four other finalists, including Jerry Rice, Russ Grimm, Emmitt Smith and Rickey Jackson.

The two nominees of the Seniors Committee, Dick LeBeau and Floyd Little, also not made the cut. Nominees need 80 percent of the vote from the 44-member panel to get in.

Continue reading “Randle in, Kennedy out in Hall of Fame voting” »

Categories: Awards and honors
Tags:
8 Comments »

Posted By Eric Williams on February 6, 2010 at 9:30 am Share this

The voting for the Pro Football Hall of Fame is taking place this morning, with an announcement expected at 2 p.m. Pacific Time.

This year’s list of 15 finalists include two shoo-ins, with receiver Jerry Rice and running back Emmitt Smith likely making the final five.

The rest of the list includes receivers Tim Brown and Cris Carter, coach Don Coryell, running back Roger Craig, center Dermontti Dawson, defensive end Richard Dent, offensive lineman Russ Grimm, linebacker Charles Haley, linebacker Rickey Jackson, defensive tackle John Randle, receiver Andre Reed, tight end Shannon Sharpe and former Seattle Seahawks defensive tackle Cortez Kennedy.

Kennedy made the final 15 for the second straight season, and is in Miami as a guest of the New Orleans Saints, where he served as a scout for a short time after his playing career was over.

Kennedy failed to make the final 10 last year.

Continue reading “Morning links: Kennedy up for Hall of Fame” »

Categories: Morning links
Tags:
18 Comments »

Posted By Eric Williams on February 4, 2010 at 2:20 pm Share this

After a couple weeks of individual names leaking out, the Seattle Seahawks finally announced new head coach Pete Carroll’s coaching staff today.

Only two coaches have been retained from Jim Mora’s staff. They include defensive coordinator Gus Bradley and defensive line coach Dan Quinn, who will remain in the same positions on Carroll’s staff.

The coaching staff includes members with a wide variety of experiences, from college to the pros, with staff members who have won Super Bowls and national championships. Eight of the 21 coaches are former USC staff members under Carroll.

“I’m excited about the makeup of our staff,” Carroll said in a prepared statement. “It’s an energetic group of teachers with a nice blend of experience,” said Head Coach Pete Carroll. “Now we can turn our focus on the task at hand – competing in the NFC West.”

Continue reading “Hawks announce coaching staff” »

Categories: Coaching, Coaching Decisions
Tags:
56 Comments »

Posted By Eric Williams on February 4, 2010 at 10:02 am Share this

Most passing offenses, including the West Coast offense, have a version of four vertical routes in their passing game playbook to stretch the defense vertically and create some explosive, chunk plays downfield.

They are simple routes to run, easy for the quarterback to read and can be ran out of several different formations, using receiver, tight end or running back motion. The four verticals allow offensive coordinators to expand the playbook without creating a lot of complex, confusing combination of routes and just allowing players to go make plays.

Continue reading “Offseason rewind: Four vertical routes” »

Categories: General Seahawks, Xs and Os
Tags:
5 Comments »

Posted By Eric Williams on February 3, 2010 at 11:33 am Share this

Seattle Seahawks rookie Aaron Curry will have his jersey retired at E.E. Smith High School in Fayetteville, NC, where he played outside linebacker. The ceremony will take place on Friday.

Curry earned the conference defensive player of the year his senior year, and also was named to the All-Conference and All-Region team after finishing with 123 tackles in his final season at E. E. Smith.

Curry also was selected to play in the North Carolina-South Carolina Shrine Bowl as a tight end.

“I am honored to have my jersey retired,” said Curry in a prepared statement. “It serves as proof that hard work pays off. More importantly, this gives me an opportunity to get the community involved in helping E.E. Smith find success both academically and athletically.”

Continue reading “Morning links: Curry to have high school jersey retired” »

Categories: Morning links
Tags:
12 Comments »

Posted By Eric Williams on February 2, 2010 at 11:04 am Share this

This week I thought it would be good to take a look at some of the things the Seahawks did well offensively in 2009. Now, with the offense finishing the year ranked 21st overall, you probably would say not much.

However, I do think there’s a few things new head coach Pete Carroll can take away from the film during his evaluation of the offense. And he can begin to use these things as building blocks for bread-and-butter plays as he revamps the offense for next season.

One of those things is the inside zone running play. While the Seahawks struggled overall to consistently get the zone blocking scheme going, specifically the outside zone running plays, Seattle regularly began to hit the inside zone running plays late in the season.

Continue reading “Offseason rewind: Inside zone running play” »

Categories: General Seahawks, Xs and Os
Tags:
33 Comments »

Posted By Eric Williams on January 30, 2010 at 4:30 pm Share this

I just finished watching the Senior Bowl, and wanted to offer some quick thoughts on guys who played well, and some others who struggled a bit.

* As far as wide receiver play, I thought Tulane’s Jeremy Williams and Cincinnati’s Mardy Gilyard really stood out. Williams, who had two ACL knee surgeries during his college career, showed good hands and good quickness in and out of his breaks to get open.

Gilyard showed good explosiveness in his ability to consistently get behind the defense for big plays.

* Michigan defensive end Brandon Graham was probably the most disruptive defensive player in the game, but at 6-1, 263 pounds, Graham is a Darryl Tapp clone. The Seahawks need a taller guy with more leverage coming off the edge.

Continue reading “Thoughts on Senior Bowl” »

Categories: NFL Draft
Tags:
66 Comments »

Posted By Eric Williams on January 29, 2010 at 1:37 pm Share this

Seahawks defensive end Patrick Kerney remains on the team's roster and has not filed retirement paperwork with the league. And according to this report from KING 5 Sports, Kerney did not have a retirement party last week and does not plan on retiring, contrary to this report from ProFootballTalk.com.

Categories: Blog News, Player movement
Tags:
35 Comments »