Coffee and Cigarettes: Seahawks Links for Wednesday

Hump day!!

Mac's Football Blog: Rams May Turn To Tom Brandstater At Quarterback
With starting quarterback Sam Bradford hobbled by an ankle injury, and backup quarterback A.J. Feeley suffering a fractured thumb in Sunday's 26-0 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, the St. Louis Rams may have no choice but to start Tom Brandstater at quarterback next Monday night in Seattle.

Fly on the wall: Harbaugh learned from prep coach
Pete Lavorato was watching the 49ers on Thanksgiving night when he saw something familiar flash across his TV screen. Receiver Ted Ginn, in motion from the right side of the 49ers' offensive formation, received the handoff from quarterback Alex Smith at near full speed. Ginn got a block from fullback Moran Norris to get to the outside. On a night when it was difficult for the 49ers to move the ball against the Baltimore Ravens, the play gained 9 yards.

NFL.com Blogs " Blog Archive Playbook: New view for evaluating QBs "
Tarvaris Jackson: Jackson was by far the biggest surprise of the "True QBR" rankings. He had the second largest increase at 15.2 points. A combination of big receivers that lack speed, a lot of deep route combinations, and a rickety offensive line have resulted in 22 throwaways and 23 drops. His adjusted completion percentage is an impressive 70.1 percent.

Tuesday (Wee) Morning Thoughts on Blaine Gabbert | The Rookie Scouting Portfolio
Scared. That’s how most will characterize Blaine Gabbert’s performance from the pocket on Monday Night Football. It’s how I see it. It’s hard not to see it this way after watching several of Gabbert’s rookie performances. When the rookie throws the ball, even from a reasonably clean pocket, he doesn’t follow through by shifting his weight forward. Instead he’s veering away from the direction of the defensive pressure and never really placing full weight on his front foot.

FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Innovative Statistics, Intelligent Analysis | Week 13 DVOA Ratings
After 13 weeks, the Football Outsiders DVOA ratings still have the Houston Texans number one, although their overall rating drops this week. Green Bay is still number two, and Pittsburgh is the big mover of the week, climbing up to number three. In fact, in Weighted DVOA, which lowers the importance of early games, the Steelers are now second behind Houston and ahead of Green Bay. Remember, their worst game of the year by far was in Week 1.

After further review: Week 14 | National Football Post
The good, the bad and the ugly from the weekend's action.

Breaking down Ryan Tannehill and Justin Blackmon | National Football Post
Taking a look at the prospects of two Big 12 offensive stars.

A Golden moment
Golden Tate has had to wait his turn, but the second-year wide receiver made the most of his opportunities in his first NFL start and will get more in Monday night's game against the Rams.

Seahawks Playoff Chances
5-7 right now. Not an amazing record but the win this last Sunday against the Eagles kept the Seahawks alive in the hunt for a playoff spot.

17 Power, A Seattle Seahawks Blog: The Ignored Seahawks
Alright, this is just getting ridiculous. I've never been a huge fan of FOXSports' Adam Schein, and this week he has joined the chorus of national writers who are incapable of interpreting a Seahawks' win (over the Eagles, in this case) as anything but the opposition throwing the game:

Hawks’ Jackson finally healthy | Seattle Seahawks - The News Tribune
Leading up to the Seattle Seahawks’ convincing win over Philadelphia last week, coach Pete Carroll said Tarvaris Jackson finally looked healthy. Jackson had been playing through a strained pectoral muscle injury he suffered Oct. 9 in a 36-25 win against the New York Giants.

Chris Clemons does the dirty work on Seahawks' D-line - Seahawks News - MyNorthwest.com
Now that the end of the 2011 season is rapidly approaching, the subject of the 2012 NFL draft and free-agency is on everyone's mind.

Seahawks.com Blog | Photoblog: Prime Time Performance "
The Seahawks returned to CenturyLink Field after only a four day break to face the visiting Philadelphia Eagles in front of a national television audience in prime time. Seattle did not disappoint, thumping the Eagles 31-14 to improve their record to 5-7.

A few thoughts on the Rams' Sam Bradford - NFC West Blog - ESPN
Sam Bradford's first season with the St. Louis Rams made him the NFL's offensive rookie of the year.

Austin Davis game tape vs Houston " Seahawks Draft Blog - As I mentioned yesterday, this isn’t what you’d call ‘picking apart’ an offense. It was far from a perfect performance, and I’ve seen Davis perform a lot better. However, the conditions were very windy and Southern Miss were big underdogs on the road against #6 Houston. Davis had four touchdowns on the day and helped his team to a big victory. If you look at the plays at 2:53, 3:49 and 6:18 you’ll see why I think there’s something to work with here. For more of a breakdown, see my article from yesterday.

The Brewery | How must the Seahawks end the season to satisfy you? | Seattle Times Newspaper - We had some great discussions last night during our Monday Night Quarterback show on Sportsradio KJR (950 AM and 102.9 FM). Included was a question pondering how your expectations have changed as the Seahawks have improved this season. So, let's ask the question in this space. Fill in the blank: I will be satisfied with the Seahawks if they end the season ___________.

Robert Griffin III, Quarterback, Baylor NFL Draft Scouting Report - NFL Mocks - Covering the 2012 NFL draft, Mock Draft Database, Scouting Reports, and Fantasy Football - Robert Griffin III came into his junior season with virtually no expectations, and he really blew everyone away with his performance. As a redshirt junior, Griffin displayed all the tools you look for in a franchise quarterback. He is poised, intelligent, insanely accurate, clutch, and he has a heck of an arm.