T.J. Duckett has been pitted against Justin Forsett. After Forsett's two week preseason spectacular, Duckett has unilaterally gotten the worst of it. The (flimsy) pretense for this discussion is that Seattle will only keep three running backs and with Maurice Morris and Julius Jones mortal locks, the discussion turns to Duckett V. Forsett. There is no discussion; just like there is no logical basis for the contention that Duckett should be cut. There are an awful lot of irrational arguments, locked in hearsay and incomplete information, but to that in a second.

See, a roster is a bit like a draft. You have your needs, but your greater goal is best overall talent. The argument that either Duckett or Forsett is "on the bubble", while Kyle Williams or Charlie Frye is "safe", simply because the team must have x number of running backs and y number of offensive tackles or quarterbacks defies not only common sense, but common practice. There's no one way to build a roster, not in the NFL, not in Seattle, and no well-run team will ditch better talent in favor of needs. Why then should Seattle cut Forsett or Duckett? Do they represent two of the least valuable players on Seattle's roster? Why, if Duckett is on such unstable footing, did he get a quarter+ snaps in each of Seattle's two preseason games?

He's not, and, sad to say, this "controversy" seems like pure media fabrication. To wit, I listened to this interview to audit this post by Frank Hughes. Upon further review, what a snow job interpretation. This is Mike Holmgren's answer about Duckett in its entirety. The question starts at 18:49 if you want to listen along.

Well it's, it's gonna be a tight call going down to the wire. T.J. comes in; clearly he has the ability to move the pile. And in short yardage situations, goal line situations, there's real value there.

I think he's a better than average pass blocker. So that - there's value there.

The problem is how to use him and when to use him and things like that. You have - and it's not his problem, it's the fact is we have, the pile is pretty big. Y'know, you got Morris, you have Jones and you have Weaver, but, y'know, TJ's a great guy. He's working hard and, uh, we'll just see how it plays out at the end. It's tha - the, the - a couple positions are going to be a real tough call at the end.

Interpret that as you will, but I challenge you to find more than praise and coach speak.

The second tier of the cut-Duckett argument centers on his 19 preseason rushes. And I know where the vitriol stems, it's as plain as paper, the vitriol stems from fans who either don't watch the games or watch them drunk or distracted. I'm not digging their fandom, one does not become a better or worse fan because they live outside the local broadcast. No, but fans who do not watch or do not watch attentively are often victims of hype and bad stats. I've talked hype, now let's cover bad stats.

Duckett's yards per rush is 1.9. An ugly number, no doubt, but a number that speaks more of Duckett's usage than ability. Of those 19 rushes, nine have come on short yardage downs. Most if not all against a stacked box. On those nine rushes, Duckett has been successful six times, gaining two yards on first and five, converting four first downs and scoring a touchdown. That's a 67% success rate in "power situations". Seattle as a team converted just 52% of power situations in 2007. Right off, nine of Duckett's 19 rushes are not only in situations where yards per attempt is reduced, but also meaningless. Go ahead and cut out three more attempts from Saturday's overtime victory. Duckett rushed three times starting from Chicago's 21, essentially to position the ball for Brandon Coutu.

That leave seven runs. Seven runs to build a case on. Seven runs and bollocks.

Sorry to take the piss out of this controversy. I know something had to supplant Bobby Engram's riveting holdout, but not only has Holmgren not bad mouthed Duckett, he praised him and seemed more concerned about finding him touches among the sure starters (Jones, Morris, Weaver) than cutting him. And not only has Duckett not played poorly, he's done exactly what was asked of him. I don't get it, isn't football exciting enough without all the TMZ drama?

• Kyle Williams made his case for the continued presence of Porkchop, blowing four blocks against competition as good as Dan Bazuin and as bad as Nick Osborn. Recent free agent signee Osborn had just 7 sacks in a 46 game career at San Diego State. He's so new he's not listed on the official roster. Osborn, who saw only limited action with Chicago's second string, is 6'4", 250-260. He's Chicago's Dallas Sartz: tall, a good employee and as likely to make the roster as, well, as Kyle Williams.

  The blown block that blew up came one play after a hold by John Carlson backed Seattle to its own 5.

  It's 2^nd and 10 on the Seattle 5. Seattle breaks in 2 WR, TE, Rb. Bears are in a base 4-3. At the snap, Bazuin runs right around Williams, before even fullback David Kirtman reaches the line of scrimmage. In fact, Charlie Frye is still in his backpedal. Whatever wily decision Frye should have, could have but didn't make, this play is FUBAR. Frye does, as Warren Moon put it, the "thing he can do" and scrambles right avoiding Bazuin. In the confusion, Williams has not only permitted Bazuin near unimpeded to the ball carrier, but stupidly vacated right containment attempting to make up for his mistake. Making another mistake.

  In the scrum, Steve Vallos has lost his man, tackle Matt Toeaina. Kirtman puts a block on Toeaina, but rightly continues his route left. Right not because it positively affects the play, moving towards the left flat whilst Frye is rolling right renders Kirtman dead, but right because that was Kirtman's assignment. Toeaina grabs Frye, Frye attempts to dish the ball to T.J. Duckett and you know the rest.

• Mansfield Wrotto was the man ducking defenders on Frye's first interception of the quarter - second of the game. Wrotto has quick feet and can dominate a defender, but against a blitz he makes terrible reads, too often hustling forward to engage one man while obliviously allowing defenders to storm in around him. That was the case on this play, Wrotto quixotically charging Rod Wilson while Ricky Manning, Jr. sprinted untouched just right of Wrotto. I'm not sure Wilson was even blitzing, and Wrotto certainly should have held the line rather than volunteer a pass rush lane.
• Duckett can be picky but he does pick up blitzes well.
• One thing Logan Payne can do, to repeat a theme, is snatch the ball away from his body.
• Michael Bumpus and new long snapper Tim Lindsey missed tackles on Earl Bennett's punt return touchdown. Bumpus, a gunner, struggled to break Chicago's press and was very late to reach Bennett. Lindsey was nearly the last line of defense and was forced into a bad angle.

That's it. Both teams went vanilla and interesting play took a quarter off. Frye may not be long for this league, but his line didn't help him. We'll complete the 4th quarter and overtime tomorrow.

Before we delve into the 3^rd quarter, I wanted to talk briefly about Howard Green. Some may know that I don't much like Green. That is, I don't think he's a particularly good defensive tackle. Against Minnesota, Green forced a fumble, recorded two sacks and caught the improbable interception of the preseason. Just an awesome statistical showing. Green can do that. He's a playmaker. What he needs to be is a run stuffer and I don't think he can. At 6'2", 320, Green has the size of a solid 1-tech run stopper. That impression, that he could hold the point and clog rush lanes, is why Green bounced around the league, disappeared for a couple seasons before resurfacing in 2007. See, Green is not a run stuffer. He's overmatched against double teams and isn't even really reliable against single blocks. He's a single gap defensive tackle trapped in the body and athleticism of a two gap tackle. Paired with Craig Terrill, the two, Seattle's little man unit, watched on for the Cedric Benson careen, the DeAngelo Williams cutback and Ryan Grant reading Seattle its last rights. He's also never recorded a regular season sack in 24 games.

With Tubbs out, this team badly needs a healthy Red Bryant to create some semblance of sturdiness on its second team tackle rotation. Not to consciously run against the grain, but - that was a hell of a game for Green and I'd just rather he didn't play too much when it matters.

• Josh Wilson blew coverage in a familiar site for Seattle DBs. He slipped attempting to breaking on a simple curl route.
• David Hawthorne has some serious pop. That pop, power, explosiveness, tackling, whatever, has a lot to do with his forced fumble on the play of the third quarter, but I'd give equal credit to Terrill.
• It's 2^nd and 7. Minnesota aligns with 3 WR, TE, Rb. Seattle is in a base 4-3. At the snap, the Vikings attempt to pull the right tackle and center, with the two guards collapsing the middle. Babin, who had a very good game, stalemates the guards, but this is incidental. D.D. Lewis targets pulling right tackle Marcus Johnson. Johnson responds with a somewhat premature and somewhat misguided cut block. That leaves Albert Young exposed. Hawthorne annihilates Young. Young's collapsing limbs squirt the ball high into the air. But it is what happens first, why Hawthorne has a five yard freeway to the ball carrier, without a blocker in sight, that makes this play.
• Let's start again. At the snap, the Vikings attempt to pull the right tackle and center, with two guards collapsing the middle. The center, the man who would have sealed off the inside and prevented Hawthorne from an open path to the ball carrier, is retarded by Terrill's almost instantaneous penetration. Terrill's presence in the backfield, two yards deep before the center can even fully pull, is what forces John Sullivan to readjust and take on Terrill. Without him, Hawthorne tees off. Without Terrill, Hawthorne doesn't force a fumble.
• Directions for a Lawrence Jackson sack: Explode off the snap, maintain perfect spacing against the tackle, shove said tackle into next week, enter trail position on quarterback, hit that second gear like a Boxster, and, oh yeah, be so damn smart you poke the ball away before sacking your former teammate. I'm gettin' a jersey.
• Bumpus looked good. Real good. And quick. But let's be clear. Minnesota had the 23^rd ranked pass defense last season. Minus McCauley, their defensive back depth is atrocious. As sure as Seneca Wallace's pass to Joe Filani was a nice show of arm strength if not accuracy, it was doubly proof that the Vikings' DBs are completely clueless. Speaking of Bumpus, clueless and Filani, quitting on your route is bad Joel. Quitting on the route so that you are seen jogging past - almost shielding - the targeted receiver, one Michael Bumpus on a crisp deep out route, is why you can start packing your bags.
• Guess what? Emotion is stupid. T.J. Duckett didn't play poorly. For one, he didn't actually fumble. Well, he did kind of fumble on the play negated by a Letroy Guion facemask, but Tyrell Johnson sunk his helmet right into the ball. Duckett didn't do anything particularly careless. The second non-fumble fumble, was just a non-fumble. As in, a player is allowed to let go of the ball when he's clearly down. The officials overturned it and the play shouldn't be held against Duckett. Actually, I'll get back to that play in a second, because a funny thing happens...
• I watched Duckett make good decisions. I watched Duckett fight through trash for an additional two yards on 3^rd and 2 on the Minnesota 14. And I watched Duckett take the brunt of Seattle's bad blocking.
• Flash ahead. Seattle's second drive, fourth play, 3^rd and 6 on the Seattle 42. Mansfield Wrotto misreads the blitz, or is misdirected by Steve Vallos' line call, and two Vikings shoot into the pocket, chase Seneca Wallace and "force" an intentional grounding. Three plays later, Seattle with the ball again after Jamar Adams and Hawthorne team up for another forced fumble. Seattle's in 2 WR, I, TE formation. Vikings, base 4-3. It's 1^st and 10 on the Minnesota 18. At the snap, Wrotto again badly blows a block allowing Erin Henderson and half of Minnesota's defense through the proverbial crack in the dam. Duckett isn't Barry Sanders and he's not football agile and he's not going to put a move on everyone or bounce the ball outside when a geyser of purple bodies are bearing down on him. The worst we can say about Duckett is he didn't accept the failed block and do his best to minimize lost yards. That's bad, but not Wrotador bad.
• Moving along. First play, Seattle's final drive of the quarter. 3 WR, I against a Minny Nickel D. Kyle Williams is swam over, putting Duckett headlong into a free defensive end before he even hits the hole.
• Finally, to our non-fumble. 1^st, 10, Seattle 46. The Hawks again break 3 wide, I against a Nickel D. The play involves a trap block from Ray Willis, who must cut across the line and seal the outside left. Willis is slow on the draw, or slow to recognition or just slow, and begins moving left only after seeing a free defender circling the left side. That's bad. Duckett, nearing the line of scrimmage perpendicularly intersects Willis' path, y'know running the ball, forcing Willis not to hold up, but rather to attempt a cut block that lowbridges Duckett and sends him tumbling head and ball first into the turf. Der.
• Duckett can be picky and slow in his first gear, but I think we can put the shovels away. He certainly didn't do anything on Friday to warrant murmurs of cutting him.

We pick up the action with 11:50 remaining in the first. Jordan Kent hauls in Matt Hasselbeck's touch pass for the score.

• Nate Burleson runs a very tight diagonal left then horizontal into the flat route that causes confusion and hesitation by the safety and corner and allows Kent to get behind both and be open for the easy reception. It's a level of precision and discipline I'm not used to seeing from Burly.
• The closest thing to legitimate pressure by Seattle's front four was accomplished on Minnesota's second play from scrimmage. Bernard, able to isolate Anthony Herrera, wins his matchup and forces a hold before breaking into the pocket. For the rest of quarter, Seattle's pass rush was nearly non-existent.
• Fumble recoveries are luck--not always. The forced fumble and Seattle's subsequent fumble recovery featured that perennial MVP: the team. It's first and 20. Minnesota is set in a four WR,single TE formation. Seattle deploys nickel coverage. At the snap, the Hawks rush three, optioning Brandon Mebane into a short middle zone. Tarvaris Jackson targets Visanthe Shiancoe, a major mistake. Shiancoe is not tightly covered but sits in the middle of three Seahawks zones. After the reception, Hill and Tatupu close in. Hill hitting from the offensive right forces the ball loose. Tatupu, fractions of a second later, hits from the offensive left, forcing the ball out. Mebane strikes from the back, leveling Shiancoe and removing any chance of an offensive recovery. Grant grabs the loose ball, but half a dozen Seahawks could have collapsed on the ball before a Viking was within five yards of the fumble. Over the past two seasons, Seattle's gang tackling has elevated its ability to force fumbles.
• Next play. Seattle breaks with a three WR, single TE, RB set. Minnesota is in a base 4-3. At the snap, Seattle initially creates nice wedge. This is something Steve Vallos can do; he gets off the snap extremely well. Moments later, Vallos is reeling in his own backfield. Rob Sims and Mike Wahle pull to the second level. Wahle is a revelation as a pull blocker and though Sims lacks Chris Gray's skill, he more than makes up for it with mobility. I believe the skills will come. Morris does something even he didn't often do last season: adjust in the backfield to the free defender. He then makes a nice lateral cut right and shoots through the B gap. He's free. 18 yards downfield, Morris displays another lateral cut, doesn't evade Tyrell Johnson but does put him out of position. The effort nets another three yards. Morris not only looked in top form, he looked like another back: bigger, more agile, reading his blockers with aplomb and making smart decisions in the open field. It's fair to say, yesterday's Morris is untradeable.
  
• On the next play, Vallos exploded off the snap, stood his man up and held his block. On the next play, Vallos was tossed on his back by Fred Evans.
• Coutu kicked the ball three times. The second was serviceable. Decent height, decent length: 2 yards into the end zone. The other two were awful. The first landed at the 9, was so low it only briefly traveled off frame and gave his return team so little time to get downfield that Albert Young made it to the 22 before encountering Seattle's frontline coverage unit.
• Coutu was identified in a graphic as either a "ROOKE" or a "RDDKE". I'm almost sure it was the latter.
• Tru had rough quarter. On Minnesota's first play of its second possession his misread his assignment and blew coverage on Bernard Berrian. The play resulted in a 24 yard gain. Trufant runs stride by stride with Berrian, uses a legal pick to chuck Berrian inside and then assumes man off coverage outside right. Brian Russell, perhaps, shares part of the blame, choosing to double the well covered Shiancoe instead of providing inside cover on the much more dangerous Berrian, but with Trufant alone and Berrian his clear assignment, it's hard to excuse the lapse. Tru wasn't beat, he misread the route and misread his own secondary.
• On the next play, Tru nearly loses his footing after a move by Sidney Rice, but recovers to bury a shoulder into Rice's midsection, truncating Rice's route and putting Tru in good position for a pick.
• Berrian is a good receiver, freed from Rex Grossman and in his prime. In the same drive, on Minnesota's 4^th play, he discarded Kelly Jennings, getting 5 yards of separation and then converted the reception in front of Leroy Hill, nearly scoring. Hill made the wrong read, jumping on a double team to his right and ignoring Berrian, but it wasn't Hill's assignment. No, this was all about Berrian looking like a superstar, embarrassing a hell of a young cover corner.
• Tru would blow coverage on the next play. Biting inside on a rollout and finding himself in an inexescapable trailing position against fullback Thomas Tapeh.
• Seattle's third play, third drive: three WR, TE, RB. Minnesota is in a base 4-3. Another nice run by Morris, aided by a good, quasi-legal block by Sean Locklear and a decent pull block by Sims. Sims is much quicker than Gray, but still lacks the skill to engage a blocker on the run. It's coming, and he at least shielded Morris. Morris shows good patience and a nice read, gets skinny at the end for another two yards and again impressed the heck out of me against a top rush defense.
• Weaver threw a real nice lead block on Duckett's 7 yard run that converted the first.
• Is Burleson making the jump? On Courtney Taylor's end around, Burleson made a sufficient but crucial block that allowed Taylor to cut inside for an additional ~7 yards. On the next play, Burleson looked downright savvy. Seattle breaks with three WR, single TE, RB. Minnesota in nickel. Burleson is able to isolate Tyrell Johnson, initiates contact but does not push off, and forces a Illegal Contact penalty while simultaneously creating separation and converting the 15 pass. The sequence looked vintage Michael Irvin.
• I was pleased to see Jennings attempt to jump a route knowing he had deep help by Russell. I was displeased to see Russell run past Rice and turn good coverage into a 9 yard reception.
• On the next play, Jennings put it all together. Matched against Berrian in man coverage, Jennings used his tremendous speed to outpace burner Berrian and then, recognizing a go route, cut off Berrian midstride placing himself as the only man able to catch the ball, should the ball have been catchable.

Update II:

Talkin' Hawks

This merits mentioning...

INJURY REPORT
The training staff is shutting down Pro Bowl defensive end Patrick Kerney until his strained left calf heels. The calf has bothered Kerney since the first practice Friday morning, and it acted up again at the start of the Sunday morning practice.

because fans should expect nagging injuries and a decline in play from Patrick Kerney in 2008. That doesn't mean he won't be good. That doesn't mean he can't be great. Kerney defied expectations last season. It means we shouldn't let one great season create a new baseline for expectations going forward. Kerney is 31, and even before tearing his pectoral in 2006, had recorded just 11 sacks in his previous 25 games. At that rate, that's about 7 sacks over 16 games. I'd be satisfied if Kerney can do that in 2008.

. . .

Update: The rest of the reports roll in with smidgen left to be said.

Seahawks Blog:

Courtney Taylor's hamstring is not pulled. It's not tweaked. It's not dinged or any of those other words that football coaches throw around to imprecisely diagnose an injury.

Taylor's hamstring is tight, however, which is why coach Mike Holmgren said the receiver was taking it easy toward the end of Monday's morning practice.

Meh. This will be the story with Taylor, unfortunately; he's talented and skilled but takes more than his share of bumps. And suffers. Hopefully his game won't suffer when it matters. This sounds precautionary and I expect Taylor back tomorrow.

Seahawks Insider:

Newly signed Bryan Gilmore also had a tough day, dropping a few passes, including one on a deep flag pattern.

Methinks it's his hands.

Owen Schmitt's feistiness came out on one play when he continued to block Brian Russell and the two got into a minor scuffle, slapping each other in the helmet a few times before separating. This is what Schmitt is going to make his name doing, antagonistic toughness. He also caught a swing pass and lumbered through the secondary, David Hawthorne bouncing off him when they made contact.

This stinks of perfunctory Owen Schmitt coverage. Well, you asked for it. He got into a fight with Brian Russell and "lumbered" into z-string linebacker David Hawthorne. We all want Schmitt to be great because he's a Hawk and because he does stupid thing like thrash his head with his helmet, but let's let Schmitt be great before we call for reports of his greatness.

. . .

To be updated as reports roll in.

Dave Bolling is first in with a look at one-on-one blocking drills.

In the past, only Mack Strong had much luck. The drill this year was a real eye-opener. Leonard Weaver stonewalled Lofa Tatupu, and then absolutely flat-backed Leroy Hill. I know, I know ... you don't believe it. Brothers and sisters, I saw it with my own eyes.

Everybody knows Weaver has some rushing and receiving talents, but the challenge for Weaver was to block. And if he didn't learn how, he wasn't going to get much time on the field. It's obvious he's taken this challenge head on. Julius Jones then did a great job against Julian Peterson.

Unfortunately, pass blocking wasn't really Weaver's weakness and he displayed significant prowess last season. Weaver's weakness is run blocking, specifically squaring up and exploding into a block while on the move. So, while it's good to see Weaver kicking ass pass blocking, that's not the stride he needs to take.

The guy who really showed up was back T.J. Duckett, who may have had his best practice as a Seahawk. He looked very strong up the middle...

As I've said, as long as Duckett does enough in training camp and in the preseason to be trusted with carries, he'll produce. After all the brouhaha about Justin Forsett looking better than Duckett in mini-camps, it's encouraging to see someone recognize that a quick, scatback out of pads is probably going to outperform a bruising interior rusher in non-contact drills, but it doesn't mean Duckett is slow or destined to be cut.

Logan Payne continues to be a real training camp star.

Payne is undoubtedly an excellent practicer, but the fawning over his play is betrayed by some simple facts. Whenever questioned about Seattle's four young wide receivers and who will emerge, the answer is almost always Courtney Taylor. Then Ben Obomanu. Then mention of Jordan Kent's athleticism/pedigree/growth as a wide receiver. Then praise about Payne. Not Payne will produce, just praise.

Payne didn't produce last preseason. If we look at all passes targeting Payne, 8, and then apply "The Hidden Game of Football" adjusted yards per attempt  (pass yards + 10*(pass TD) - 45*(interceptions thrown))/(passing attempts) formula, Payne tallied -1.25 yards per target. Payne wasn't targeted in Seattle's final two preseason games.

Despite being highly polished, Payne spent all of 2007 on the practice squad. Before the playoffs, Seattle signed him off the practice squad, but despite Payne suffering no injuries and the Seahawks suffering many, was never targeted or even activated.

Payne is your classic hard working, humble, white guy overachiever that gets mad pub around practice time but struggles to make the club. I wish him all the luck in the world, hope he proves me wrong-wrong, but for those expecting Payne to explode on the NFL this season, you're probably deluding yourselves.

Offense/Defense

Split End	Slot	Left Tackle	Left Guard	Center	Right Guard	Right Tackle	Tight End	Flanker
Nate Burleson Ben Obomanu Jordan Kent	Ben Obomanu LoganPayne	Walter Jones Sean Locklear FloydWomack	Mike Wahle Rob Sims MansfieldWrotto	Chris Spencer Chris Gray Steve Vallos	Rob Sims Chris Gray RayWillis	Sean Locklear Ray Willis SteveVallos	John Carlson Jeb Putzier Will Heller	Bobby Engram Courtney Taylor DeionBranch

Fullback	Quarterback	Running Back
Leonard Weaver Owen Schmitt David Kirtman	Matt Hasselbeck Seneca Wallace Charlie Frye	Julius Jones Maurice Morris TJ Ducket JustinForsett