Review: Seahawks 31, Raiders 21

Photo Credit: Seahawks.com

After one of the shakiest preseasons I can remember, it seemed like the Seahawks finally put it together with some consistency in their final preseason outing Thursday night. The Seahawks defeated the Oakland Raiders 31-21 to finish the preseason with a 2-2 record. Before we move on to meaningful games here are just a couple of offensive thoughts I took out of this week’s game.

Starting Offense Eases Worries: The one thing I wanted to see, if Russell Wilson and the starting offense took the field to start the game, was to put together a touchdown drive to assure the 12’s that we can be efficient. Check. It only took two plays but I got what I wanted. After Christine Michael was stuffed for no gain on our first offensive play, Wilson dropped back and hit a streaking Tyler Lockett down the left sideline for a 63-yard touchdown. It was a beautiful rainbow pass and Raiders cornerback Keith McGill had no chance keeping up with Lockett. To be honest I was not sure how the Seahawks were going to use Lockett on offense this season but after that play it is now a little bit clearer to me. I would not be surprised if Lockett sees more time on the outside than Doug Baldwin but he will likely be used similarly to how we used Golden Tate on offense two seasons ago.

Archer on the Way Out?: I held the belief that R.J. Archer would play the rest of the game after Wilson’s first quarter departure. Archer played rest of the first half and the first drive of the second half but then former quarterback-turned-wide receiver B.J. Daniels took over for the rest of the game. To be honest, Daniels played a much better game than Archer did. On Archer’s four drives, the Seahawks kicked one field goal and punted three times. Archer played conservatively and he did not look any better than he did in San Diego last week. Daniels on the other hand moved the ball extremely well. His legs allowed the Seahawks to use read option and along with the solid play of backup running back Thomas Rawls, Seattle put together two touchdown drives under Daniels’s command. The quarterback play of B.J. Daniels Thursday night gives the Seahawks coaching staff a very difficult decision. I believe Daniels performance suddenly makes R.J. Archer expendable. If the Seahawks want to keep Daniels on as a practice squad emergency quarterback, that may better the possibility of a guy like Kevin Smith or Kasen Williams making the team as a wide receiver. It will be very interesting to see how the Seahawks tackle this as we get ready to trim our roster down to 53 players.

Random Thoughts: Tat’s Delicatessen before the game was a very below average meal. The Philly cheesesteak was bland and there was not enough meat to go with the excessive amount of peppers and onions. Next time (if there is ever a next time) I’ll be ordering pepper jack cheese instead of American… I got to tailgate in the skies above the stadium for the first time this season. My friend James moved into the apartment complex in the CenturyLink Field parking lot and he was kind enough to invite my friend Josh and I up to the roof before the game. It was great. Hopefully it won’t be the last time I’m up there before a game this season… For only the second time in the Pete Carroll era, the starting special teams unit was introduced during pregame festivities. I gave a huge cheer for my man Clint Gresham but there was no doubt Tyler Lockett received the loudest ovation from the crowd… It was definitely a preseason crowd. NO ONE I sit around was there Thursday night and there were several people who you could tell were basically given tickets. Looking around, a lot of people did not even care about the game. They were just happy to be at a Seahawks game… It sucks we have to wait three weeks until our home opener. I guess it’s a good thing I’m going to Green Bay for Sunday Night Football before our home opener.

What’s Next: The Seahawks are off for 10 days before we open our regular season against the St. Louis Rams. Look for my Rams preview on the blog on Saturday, September 12^th!

Raiders/Seahawks Preview

Photo Credit: Seahawks.com

Matchup: Oakland Raiders at Seattle Seahawks

Site: CenturyLink Field (Seattle, Washington)

Kickoff: 7:00pm

We are so close to the season opener in St. Louis. The only thing standing in the Seahawks way is the preseason finale. On Thursday, for the 10^th consecutive season, the Seahawks conclude their preseason slate against the Oakland Raiders. This is the final job interview for many players fighting to make our week one roster. The starters may play the first series of the game, if that, and then their nights will be done. The spotlight in the fourth week of the preseason is on the young guys. This week I will be focused on position battles. In this preview, I will gloss over what our opening day starting units may look like while noting which battles may be important to watch this week at each position. Let’s get to it.

Quarterbacks: If Tarvaris Jackson is able to play this week, the plans at the quarterback position will surely be set. If he can play, which to me is unlikely, Jackson may see a little bit of playing time before R.J. Archer takes over. If Jackson cannot go, then Archer will likely play almost the entire game. In the grand scheme of things, if Jackson is healthy enough to play this week that makes R.J. Archer’s performance extremely important. During the Pete Carroll era the Seahawks only carry two active quarterbacks on the roster with a third quarterback on the practice squad. Archer’s performance against the Raiders will be the difference between him making the active roster and him getting cut and re-signed to the practice squad.

Running Backs: If Thomas Rawls has any chance to steal Christine Michael’s or even Robert Turbin’s roster spot he must ball out on Thursday. It may be next to impossible for Rawls to make the team now that we know the Seahawks have interest in signing free agent running back Fred Jackson. Rawls started the preseason strong but has been overshadowed by the strong play of Michael the past two weeks. Michael and Rawls will both see a lot of playing time but I believe that Rawls will have to bust off several huge runs and at least one touchdown to even have a chance at earning a roster spot.

Wide Receivers: The trade of Kevin Norwood to the Carolina Panthers on Monday makes the wide receiver competition something to watch very closely this week. I believe 6 roster spots will go to wide receivers. I believe Doug Baldwin, Jermaine Kearse, Tyler Lockett, and Ricardo Lockette will all have jobs on this team this year. With Paul Richardson starting the season on the PUP list, that means there are four receivers to watch in this game that are fighting for two spots. What will make the coaches decisions difficult is that they all play special teams. B.J. Daniels and Kevin Smith have seen their share of playing time on punt and kickoff returns while Kasen Williams has made a couple of clutch catches including one which set up Steven Hauschka’s game-winning field goal last week. Chris Matthews showed his potential in Super Bowl XLIX but has been a ghost in relation to these other players so far this preseason. Keep a tab on the number of snaps each of these guys see on offense this week. Their presence on the field alone could be a major indicator of who has the lead on the final wide receiver spots.

Tight Ends: Jimmy Graham and Luke Willson are locks to make the team. The final tight end spot will go to either Cooper Helfet or Anthony McCoy. Given that McCoy has battled injuries over the past three seasons, and that Helfet had a solid season in 2014 it would make sense if it is Helfet’s job to lose. It very well may be. McCoy will get the opportunity to prove his worth this week. This is one spot that I think could go to either player.

Offensive Line: The release of Lemuel Jeanpierre affirms our starting offensive line going into the season. From left to right our starting line will be Russell Okung, Justin Britt, Drew Nowak, J.R. Sweezy, and Garry Gilliam. This week will give us a chance to see what our depth looks like along the offensive line. One guy to keep an eye on this week is undrafted rookie Kristjan Sokoli. Sokoli has made fantastic progress during training camp and is a favorite of Coach Carroll and offensive line coach Tom Cable. Unfortunately he is listed as our fourth string left guard, likely because he is still working on converting from defensive tackle to offensive guard (similar to J.R. Sweezy). Due to his standing on the depth chart Sokoli may be destined for a possible practice squad spot. Backup linemen Mark Glowinski and Terry Poole are our drafted rookies who are listed as the backups to Sweezy and Gilliam respectively. Expect to see them on the field a lot.

Defensive Line: The feel-good story of the offseason and training camp was the comeback of defensive tackle Jesse Williams. The third year lineman had a cancerous kidney removed back in May and amazingly has returned to game action this preseason; a remarkable recovery indeed. Unfortunately Williams has a very real chance of not making the team since he is listed as a fourth string defensive tackle. Along the defensive line on Thursday look for Williams, David King and Julius Warmsley. I believe one of these three players will claim one of the Seahawks musical chairs. The others will be left out once the music stops.

Linebackers: I am putting the “you never know” label on the backup middle linebacker job. Brock Coyle won this job last year and he is probably going to earn his job back in 2015. Alex Singleton however refuses to back down without a fight. Singleton has been on the field a lot this preseason, appearing solely in the second half. I get a hunch that our coaching staff likes Singleton a lot but even a great outing on Thursday still makes him a longshot to earn a roster spot but like I said, you never know.

Cornerbacks: I get a weird feeling that surprises are on the horizon in this group. Cary Williams has struggled this preseason and if he did not make so much money I think he would be a serious candidate to be cut. Williams will make the team due to his cap number which puts pressure on our backups. Tharold Simon has played well thus far and Marcus Burley has seen his fair share of playing time with the starters. Two guys to watch are Will Blackmon and Tye Smith. Blackmon is a veteran who has bounced around the league and found himself back with the Seahawks for training camp. Smith is a rookie who was drafted in the 5^th round back in May and has impressed me thus far. My guess is that we will keep 5 cornerbacks. One of these guys will make the team and the other will not.

Safeties: The free safety position is settled in my mind. Earl Thomas starts, Steven Terrell backs him up. Strong safety is still up in the air at this point but I believe the breakdown is simple. If Kam Chancellor does not report to the team by the time our roster is trimmed to 53, Dion Bailey will make the team as the presumed backup to starter DeShawn Shead. If Chancellor does report, Bailey will be left out of the picture. This is the only position on the team where the simple presence of one player will likely determine the fate of another player.

Random Thoughts: All College Navy everything for the Seahawks this week. The Raiders will wear white jerseys with silver pants… Curt Menefee and Brock Huard will have the call one last time this preseason. The game will be broadcast on Q13 FOX… Lunch at Tat’s Delicatessen before the game. I’ve never been there but by the looks of the menu I’ll probably enjoy their Philly cheesesteak… Pregame location is to be determined but I wouldn’t be surprised if we make our way to Hawks Nest for the first time this season… Off the top of my head I cannot remember a preseason which included terrible weather for both of our home games. The forecast is calling temperatures in the mid 60’s and a 50/50 chance of rain.

Prediction: The nice way we will be describing this game after the fact is that it will be a “defense battle.” Russell Wilson will fail to lead a scoring drive on his one possession of the game. R.J. Archer will once again struggle to lead touchdown drives but will progress as the game wears on. On defense the Seahawks backups will slightly outplay the Raiders defensive backups which will keep us in the game. The Seahawks will win another close game in the fourth quarter and will finish the preseason 2-2.

Seahawks 16, Raiders 13

Review: Seahawks 16, Chargers 15

Photo Credit: KOMO 4 News- Seattle

It was not pretty by any stretch of the imagination, but the Seahawks finally got into the preseason win column. The Seahawks resiliency showed as they pulled out a 16-15 victory over the San Diego Chargers on the leg of Steven Hauschka. The Seahawks may have won, but it has been 30 days since training camp opened and there are still areas on both sides of the ball that concern me. For now however, here are my thoughts following our first win since last year’s NFC Championship Game.

Offense Starts Slow, But Picks Up When It Needs To: If I were to give the Seahawks starting offense a letter grade for their performance this week, I would give them a C. Russell Wilson finished the day 7/15 for 56 yards but once again was unable to lead a touchdown drive. If you take away Tyler Lockett’s punt return touchdown (I’ll discuss this below), the Seahawks put up only 6 points in 6 drives under Wilson’s command. If I could highlight one of our drives it would be our 5^th of the game just before the end of the first half. With only 47 seconds remaining in the half, Wilson led a no-huddle drive 40 yards in 5 plays to set up a 40-yard field goal by Hauschka. This drive makes me feel better about our offense going forward but to be honest it is Wilson himself who may need to improve the most. Although the offensive line play was average at best, Wilson made several erratic throws. He overthrew Jimmy Graham twice and missed on a floater into the endzone intended for Jermaine Kearse. If he plays next week against Oakland, Wilson will likely only play the first series of the game. If he does not play at all his final line for the preseason looks like this: 12 drives, 12 points (4 field goals), 0 touchdowns. This has me very worried.

We May Be Witnesses to Something Special: The Seahawks have scored 4 touchdowns so far this preseason. Half of them belong to rookie wide receiver/kick returner/punt returner/speed demon Tyler Lockett. Lockett stole the show once again on Saturday, returning a second quarter punt 67 yards for a touchdown, giving the Seahawks a 7-3 lead. In a way it is unfortunate that Lockett has broken out in the preseason because now opposing teams will have a definite strategy to avoid kicking to him, but what we have seen so far from Lockett is very Devin Hester-esque. What I am curious to know is if tonight’s display gives Lockett the leg up on both the kick AND punt return jobs. It would certainly look like that will be the case. I believe we are in the presence of a very special player and like I tweeted out during the game, it is going to be a very fun season with Tyler Lockett returning kicks.

Defense is Just About Ready: Even without multiple defensive starters, the Seahawks played a very sound game defensively on Saturday. Unlike the starting offense who played into the second half, the starting defense was done after the first half. All in all they only allowed 3 points, a positive sign of potential great things to come once the regular season starts. After our great play in San Diego I am daydreaming about what our defense will look like when everyone is out there together, including Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor. One thing we must improve on however is the short passing game and 3^rd down defense. The CBS broadcast showed footage of two of our games last season, against San Diego and the Super Bowl against New England. In both games Philip Rivers and Tom Brady respectively picked our defense apart with an array of short passes. The strategy was wildly effective and we lost both of those games. Rivers stuck to the short passing strategy on Saturday night and it worked very well especially on third downs. Although the Chargers were only 44 percent effective on 3^rd down with Rivers under center, it felt like that percentage was higher.

The Final Drive: In our first two preseason games backup quarterback R.J. Archer had the opportunity to lead game winning drives on our final possession. He was sacked on the final play in both of those games. Tonight however, Archer proved he could learn from his mistakes. With no timeouts and two minutes to work with, Archer led our final drive 44 yards and Steven Hauschka connected on a 60-yard field goal attempt to give the Seahawks a 16-15 lead with 21 seconds to play. Archer did not do anything fancy. He threw only high percentage passes, including a clutch 22 yarder to Kasen Williams on 4^th down. Archer definitely showed his potential on this night.

Random Thoughts: My prediction was correct. College Navy pants for the Seahawks this week… It sounded like there were tons of 12’s down there in San Diego. To all the fans who went down for the game, job well done!… You know how I said I was happy this game was on national television because we weren’t going to be subjected to the local commentators. I redact that statement. Phil Simms really got on my nerves with his mispronunciations and mistakes. Among his mistakes, pronouncing Cassius Marsh’s name as “Cassius March” and calling our defense the “Legion of Doom” twice. You would think a respectable record breaking defense with a nickname that football fans around the country know well would be called by their proper nickname. You don’t see people calling the “Steel Curtain” the “Iron Curtain” or something. Okay rant over… Don’t get me wrong I love Russell Wilson to death but for God sakes man would it kill you to be a little less cliché? His sideline interviews truly are soooo boring. Okay rant over.

What’s Next: The Seahawks have until 1pm Tuesday to cut 15 players to get the roster down to 75 players. As I have done the past few years, I will hop back on the blog tomorrow with my predictions as to who will be the 15 players released by the Seahawks before Tuesday’s deadline.

Broncos/Seahawks Preview

Photo Credit: Seahawks.com

Matchup: Denver Broncos at Seattle Seahawks

Site: CenturyLink Field (Seattle, Washington)

Kickoff: 7:00pm

Football is finally back. Seahawks fans never really had the opportunity to wash the bad taste of last season out of their mouth. Malcolm Butler intercepted Russell Wilson at the end of Super Bowl XLIX and football faded to the back of our minds, leaving us bitter for 6 long months. On Friday the Seahawks take the field for the first time since that disastrous February evening, opening up preseason play against the defending AFC West champion Denver Broncos. This will be the fifth consecutive year the Seahawks and Broncos face off in the preseason with Seattle winning the last three matchups. Since this is the first preseason game we will not see the starters play very much, perhaps a series or two in the first quarter. This first preseason game will distinguish which position battles we should be keeping an eye on. This is also an opportunity for bubble players to make a good first impression. I will not really be focusing on the opposition during the preseason; I will keep my focus on our team, from roster spot 1 all the way to roster spot 90. Here are a few things I will be keeping my eye on this week.

The top offensive position to watch this season is the wide receivers. It is widely believed that the Seahawks will only keep 6 wide receivers on the final roster. Doug Baldwin and Jermaine Kearse may be the only two “locks” at the position. I believe Ricardo Lockette, Paul Richardson, and rookie Tyler Lockett are in good position to earn roster spots. Realistically the final one or two wide receiver roster spots will belong to Chris Matthews, Kevin Norwood, and even possibly local kid Kasen Williams. Of “bubble” players I believe the one with the most catches and/or receiving yards against Denver will earn a leg up on the rest of the competition for a roster spot. Look for Norwood and Williams to get a considerable amount of playing time this week.

Right off the bat I am interested to see who will start along the offensive line. With the departures of Max Unger and James Carpenter, the Seahawks did not make it a priority during free agency or the first part of the NFL Draft to add depth along the line. Alvin Bailey is projected to start at left guard while Lemuel Jeanpierre is listed as the starting center on the Seahawks first official depth chart of training camp. Keep an eye on the center battle. Jeanpierre might get the first crack at playing time but it was Patrick Lewis who started in Unger’s place down the stretch last season.

On defense there is a lot of buzz around one of our linebackers. This week I am putting my X-Factor Player to Watch spotlight on outside linebacker Eric Pinkins. Pinkins was drafted as a cornerback who has converted to linebacker and the coaching staff is very excited about him. Coach Carroll has said during camp that Pinkins “Plays very fast, a 4.4 guy playing on the edge who seems to be the most improved guy.” This leads me to believe that Pinkins may join the likes of Bruce Irvin, Cassius Marsh, and rookie Frank Clark in our pass rushing rotation. I expect Pinkins to see a lot of playing time this week.

On the first Broncos offensive possession, likely with backup quarterback Brock Osweiler at the helm, I would fully expect him to go after the “Legion of Whom.” With Kam Chancellor holding out and Earl Thomas likely sitting out while rehabbing, our secondary will look completely different at the start of the game. DeShawn Shead will likely start at strong safety this week and I fully expect Osweiler to attempt to stretch the field to attempt to challenge our raw players and put early points on the board.

Random Thoughts: White on white for the Broncos and blue on blue for the Seahawks uniform wise this week… Curt Menefee and Brock Huard have the call for Q13 FOX this week. Got to love those local broadcasts (good thing I’ll be at the game)… Walt Anderson is the referee for this week’s game… This week I’m taking a friend and co-worker of mine. He’s a San Diego native who says he’s going to be “that guy” by wearing his Philip Rivers Chargers jersey. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a Seahawks game with someone who is neutral to the matchup… Will most likely be at Elysian before the game… I’m excited to see what the new Toyota Fan Deck looks like. During the renewal process the Seahawks sent out the seating and pricing map for 2015 and it turns out it would have cost me $20 more total to move to the Toyota Fan Deck. Pay more for a worse view? No thanks, Seahawks… Always nice to be back at CenturyLink after a 7 month break. Here is a pro and con of the preseason: Pro, all the beautiful women wearing skin-tight jerseys. Con, many season ticket holders give their tickets away to friends and family aka “fair weather fans.” During the preseason it would be wise for the Seahawks to pass out “Cheering for Dummies” books because the fans ALWAYS scream when we are on offense. To all those non STH’s going to this week’s game, offense = quiet; defense = loud. Thank you.

Prediction: A lot of rust will be knocked off this week. Neither starting offensive unit will score points in the first quarter. I expect Russell Wilson and Tarvaris Jackson to play in the first half and would not be surprised to see R.J. Archer play the second half. If Osweiler plays the majority of the game for Denver they may have the leg up this week. The Seahawks may lose, but there will be a lot to work on as we head back for another week of training camp.

Broncos 17, Seahawks 9

Check back early Saturday morning for my review of our first preseason game. Go Hawks!