The posters who are praising the defensive line seem on solid ground. I thought Cole had one of his best games, and the entire group is playing with confidence and aggressiveness. I believe Red Bryant has not only added beef, but also some real attitude to that defensive front. Remember, his sushi-buddy Mebane is the guy who barks like a dog when the other team comes to the line. Red’s a guy who will not get pushed around. And he also pressures the quarterback even if it’s just a matter of his bull rush helping to collapse the pocket.

MauMau, …

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I haven’t posted one of these in awhile and we’ve had a lot of questions in the comments section this week, so I’ll try to answer some of them this morning.

Audible asks: Eric, I have been asking this for awhile but here we go again…would it be possible for BobbyK and Dukeshire to make guest posts on this blog?

I think those guys have proven themselves to be pretty reliable over the years, and they’ve helped make this blog what it is. Perhaps, they could email their posts directly to you or Ryan, so you can review the content prior to making the post. Or, perhaps you guys could provide a disclaimer that explains that they are guest commentators and their ideas are not necessarily the ideas of the News Trib.

Something like that would be terrific for all involved because it would provide more content for the hungry readers among us, recognize these guys for their generous contributions over the years, and that would translate into more traffic and therefore more potential ad revenue for the News Tribune. What better way for you guys to connect with your readers?!

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I rounded up a few questions asked during the past week and do my best to answer them here.

DisplacedSeahawkFan asks: On a side note, has there been/will there be any talk about defensive schemes for this game, i.e., are we going to see something new? Or are we still going to run our base 4-3 and nickel defenses? I understand the need to keep Arizona guessing, but has anything at all been said?

Williams: As you know, football coaches play it close to the vest in terms of divulging what kind of schemes they will employ heading into a game with a particular scheme.

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The Seahawks are practicing right now, and I’ll have a practice report up in a couple of hours. But for now we tee up a couple questions from readers in this week’s offering of Answers to your questions.

Tillman asks: Eric, it would be interesting to hear some historical data on the end of year results of teams that have finished Q1 at 1-3. I would imagine a fairly low percentage of even 8-8 final records let alone play-off participants.

Williams: According to the Elias Sports Bureau, 22 teams have made the playoffs with 1-3 or worse records since 1990, and one of them, the New England Patriots, one it all in 2001.

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I’m headed to Indianapolis in a few minutes. Dave Boling is covering practice today, and I’ll post the injury report as soon as it’s released.
Here’s our weekly look at some interesting questions piling up over the past, few days.

Jkeola asks:Eric- On the Bears challenge at the end of the first half, the views available did not appear to offer any conclusive views to show the ball and knee/leg. In my opinion the call on the field should have stood due to inconclusive evidence. Do the officials have other views available to them that TV audiences don’t? I just thought this was a critical point in game that gave the Bears renewed life.

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Answers to some questions piling up this week.

BobbyK asks: How important is Kenny Lucas and his good health now days?!?!

Williams: Lucas is a little ding up and is dealing with a groin issue, which has been documented on the team’s injury report this week. I think he’ll likely play on Sunday.

Lucas is important because the team only has three healthy corners with Josh Wilson suffering a high ankle sprain, and Marcus Trufant still on the physically unable to perform list and not expected back until Nov. 1.

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We’ll do this every Thursday during the regular season, so if you have questions that you’ve asked on other blog posts that I haven’t answered post them below and I’ll try to get to them next week. Or you can email them to eric.williams@thenewstribune.com.

XCMAN asks: SP question for anyone or maybe for Eric to ask someone on the Hawks staff. Why oh why don’t they angle punts out of bounds anymore? They try and bounce it and down it on the 6 inch line but more often than not it ends up in the end zone. Why not just kick it out of bounds on the 3 yard line?? I remember Ray Guy doing it for years!?!?!? I just don’t get it!

Williams: First of all, great question. I asked special teams coach Bruce DeHaven about it and he provided an interesting answer.

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First of all, for folks who have had trouble logging on to the comments section, here are instructions to do so that I’ve been given from our web specialist Laura Gentry.

Problems commenting on the new blog system?
1) Clear your browsers cookies (Instructions here)
2) Access the blog post you were trying to comment on.
3) Click the “log in” link at the bottom of the comments.
4) Log in with your News Tribune account. You will automatically be redirected back to the comment.

Also, there’s just one practice today, an afternoon practice. So I’ll have a report later this evening. I’ve compiled a few questions that have been piling up for the past few days, and do my best to answer them for you down below. Thanks for the questions.

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