Coffee and Cigarettes: Seahawks Links for Wednesday

It's totally humpday.

Lockout, Packers, Drew Brees among top 10 NFL stories of 2011 - Don Banks - SI.com
Biggest NFL stories of 2011.

Report: Philly will hire Steve Spagnuolo if he’s available | ProFootballTalk
Late Monday night, Florio posted on a report that Jon Gruden and A.J. Smith could be headed to St. Louis as part of a package deal to replace Steve Spagnuolo and Billy Devaney as coach and general manager.

Cosell Talks: You’re Seeing the Real Mark Sanchez : NFL Films Blog
No one should be surprised by the relative poor play of Mark Sanchez, certainly not Rex Ryan and the Jets. Ryan knew what he was getting when he traded up to draft Sanchez in 2009. He was looking for a complementary quarterback that would fit his world view of championship NFL football: Run the ball with power and efficiency, and dominate with a turnover-based defense. The quarterback was a puzzle piece, a role player more than a foundation.

FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Innovative Statistics, Intelligent Analysis | Week 16 DVOA Ratings
Although a few teams have moved up and down a bit, there's no change at the top of the Football Outsiders DVOA ratings this week. Green Bay is still at number one in overall DVOA, and Pittsburgh is still number one in weighted DVOA. In fact, one week after having their worst single game of the season, the Packers had their best single game of the season according to DVOA, with single-game DVOA of 77.0%. The Packers open up a little bit of a lead on the rest of the league and no longer are in line for the title of "lowest-rated number one team in DVOA history." Right now that title would still go to the 1993 San Francisco 49ers at 25.6%. (The 2003 Chiefs were also lower than the Packers though 15 games, but they had a big game in Week 17 to get back above 30% for the season.)

Report: Gruden could land in St. Louis with A.J. Smith | National Football Post
Jon Gruden is reportedly interested in making the move from the broadcast booth to the sideline and one report has him ticketed for St. Louis.

Memphis DT Dontari Poe adds intrigue to D-line class | National Football Post
Underclassman has as much upside as any prospect on the defensive side of the ball.

Two NFL prospects pace the Michigan State offense | National Football Post
Cunningham and Cousins lead the Spartans into the Outback Bowl.

NFL.com news: Rams expected to fire Spagnuolo, pursue ex-Titans coach Fisher
Steve Spagnuolo is bracing to be let go by the St. Louis Rams, according to sources close to the coach.

NFL.com news: Thin at receiver, 49ers might have to consider T.O.
This sounds utterly and completely nuts, but what are the chances that Terrell Owens returns to San Francisco? If you're a 49ers fan, the thought either gets you pumped or makes you cringe. On Tuesday, the team abruptly released veteran Braylon Edwards, who didn't pan out, mostly because of a nagging knee injury. And now the 49ers are so depleted at wide receiver that a T.O.-49ers reunion has to, at the very least, be considered.

17 Power, A Seattle Seahawks Blog: Indiana Carroll and the Quarterback Crusade
For a while, the Seahawks' 2011 campaign was just one long draft discussion. Who are we getting at QB next year - that's all we cared about. Then the running game and defense suddenly emerged and started making a regular season out of it. That was fun, and hugely heartening. 2011 proved more informative and promising than we had expected.

Mebane: Sacks don't tell the story of Seahawks' D-line - Blog - MyNorthwest.com
The Seahawks have put together a top-10 defense thanks to a run-stuffing front seven and a secondary that has a penchant for interceptions and physical coverage. Pressure on the quarterback has not been a major part of the formula, and that stands as one criticism of a defense than ranks ninth through 16 weeks. The Seahawks have 31 sacks -- including a team-high 11 by Chris Clemons -- which puts them in a five-way tie for 20th in the league. Only the Browns (30 sacks) and Jaguars (28) have top-10 defenses and fewer sacks than the Seahawks.

Unsung Seahawks playing huge roles | Seattle Seahawks - The News Tribune
In two seasons, coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider have transformed the Seattle Seahawks from one of the oldest rosters in the NFL to one of the youngest.

Seahawks.com Blog | Photoblog: A Close One on Christmas Eve "
The Seahawks hoped to continue their five-game winning streak with a Christmas Eve game against the San Francisco 49ers at CenturyLink Field. Santa hats were everywhere, but the 49ers played the part of the Grinch and escaped with a hard-fought 19-17 victory, essentially eliminating the Seahawks from playoff contention.

NFC West Stock Watch - NFC West Blog - ESPN
Falling: 3. Josh Brown, St. Louis Rams kicker. The Rams have enough problems without missing relatively short field goals on those few times when the offense moves into scoring position. Brown missed from 33 yards (and also from 52) against the Steelers when the Rams badly needed points. They trailed only 13-0 after three quarters before allowing two touchdowns to lose 27-0. Brown has made 73.1 percent of his attempts this season, which would be a career low. He has missed five times from inside 50 yards and twice from longer distances. Brown has made at least one attempt from 50-plus yards in each of his eight previous seasons, but none in 2011.

Thoughts on Austin Davis vs Nevada " Seahawks Draft Blog
This was largely described as a disappointing performance by the media, but it wasn’t quite as bad as I expected. The game was littered with offensive line penalties putting Davies in not-ideal 3rd and long situations. There were some key drops and a perfect pass at the end of the first quarter would’ve gone for a touchdown but for a blatant hold on the receiver that wasn’t called. On a go-route downfield, Davis throws nicely into the back of the end zone but his receiver – seemingly not expecting the ball – hesitates for some reason and checks back, losing a step and then missing what would’ve been a pretty simple touchdown catch. Southern Miss generally looked a bit off which isn’t surprising given the ‘job done’ element of their win over Houston and the fact their coach Larry Fedora has since accepted the vacant position at North Carolina. For what it’s worth, I think that’s a great appointment by UNC.