Morning links: Keys to Hawks vs. Cardinals
Posted By Eric Williams on October 18, 2009 at 8:37 am
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Today’s game against Arizona is an important one if Seattle wants to stay in the playoff hunt in the NFC. Here are a couple things they need to accomplish in order to get a win at Qwest Field today.
Put the heat on Warner: The Arizona quarterback has thrown for an average of 303 yards and two touchdowns against Seattle the past four meetings he has started against the Seahawks. But the more pressure you put on him, the more erratic Warner becomes. In Arizona’s two wins last season against the Seahawks, Seattle only totaled three sacks on Warner. But in the two previous games against Warner, both Seattle wins, the Seahawks defense averaged five sacks a contest against Warner.
As Deon Grant would say, “pressure busts pipes.” The Seahawks need to bust open some pipes today.
Win “moment of truth” plays: The Seahawks secondary needs to win those 50-50 battles for the ball between WR Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin. Arizona is going to figure out ways to get Fitzgerald the ball in open space, and Seattle’s smaller corners Kelly Jennings and Josh Wilson need to come up big.
Protect Matt Hasselbeck: Likely starting a new left side of the offense for the first time in left tackle Kyle Williams and left guard Steve Vallos, those two have to protect the edge and keep Matt Hasselbeck on his feet, who is still nursing cracked ribs. If Arizona gets to Hasselbeck it will be a long day for Seattle.
Re-emergence of the running game: Seattle’s performance on the ground has been uneven this season. Part of that has to do with all the juggling up front. But Seattle needs Julius Jones, Edgerrin James and Justin Forsett to get it done on the ground in order to help keep the ball way from Arizona’s potent offense. Maybe this a game where James comes up big. He only needs 18 yards to pass Marcus Allen and move into the top 10 all-time rushing list.
My story today focuses on Seahawks players stating the critical nature of getting a win today against Arizona.
TNT Columnist Dave Boling talks about the big play ability of Fitzgerald and Boldin.
Clare Farnsworth of Seahawks.com does the same thing here.
Greg Johns of Seattlepi.com predicts a close victory for the Seahawks.
More Johns: We should see a lot of spirals zipping around Qwest Field today.
John Boyle of Everett Herald asks if it’s time to draft Matt Hasselbeck’s replacement.
Dave Wyman of ESPN 710 Seattle offers his thoughts on today’s contest.
Watch a preview of the game and check out all of the stats here.
Arizona Cardinals
Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic says this inconsistent Cardinals team will have a chance to answer some questions this afternoon against Seattle.
More Somers: Rookie running back Chris “Beanie” Wells has yet to live up to expectations.
Darren Urban of azcardinals.com previews the game here.
More Urban: Arizona players discuss how to deal with the 12th Man at Qwest Field.
Eric, Or anybody else for that matter. Their hasn't been much talk about how Lock and Sims are healing that I'm aware of. Has anyone else heard anything about this? I find it hard to believe that Josh Wilson can return from a "high ankle" sprain in a week. But, it takes these two, four or five weeks. (when I played, there was no such thing as a "high ankle" sprain, I wonder where that came from). Anyway, I was just wondering if there was any news on this subject that I am unaware of.
I think both are due back after the bye, but I could be wrong.
Princeaden: That's correct. Both Lock and Sims are expected back after the bye week. It's usually easier for smaller guys to come back from high ankle sprains than bigger guys. And the fact that Wilson could come back after a couple of weeks was better than anticipated.
This is hard to watch!!!!!!
I can't remember the last time the Hawks were so completely dominated. Dominated in every facet of the game.... That was depressing.