Coffee and Cigarettes: Seahawks Links for Sunday

NFL!!

Seahawks look better than expected (but not good enough) | ProFootballTalk
Season-changing win Seattle’s Week Five win in New York changed the early complexion of the Seahawks season. Instead of looking like "Suck for Luck" sweepstakes entrants, Seattle may just be a steadily improving young team.

ND's Smith has the package NFL teams want at safety - NFL - Sporting News
As the NFL becomes more of a passing league each season, the search for safeties who can excel in deep coverage, stay with tight ends in man coverage and be a force in run support has become more and more difficult. Simply, there aren’t enough safeties who combine the athletic ability to be strong in coverage and the size and toughness to be good in run support. But one safety to be excited about is Notre Dame’s Harrison Smith.

Palmer has been talking to Mike Brown | ProFootballTalk
Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer has been speaking directly to owner Mike Brown with the trading deadline approaching, but the conversations haven’t helped matters.

Rams could be making a play for Brandon Lloyd | ProFootballTalk
With the Broncos dangling receiver Brandon Lloyd and the trade deadline coming in less than 72 hours, there’s talk in league circles that the Rams could make a play for the veteran wideout.

Luck on 'Suck for Luck' campaigns: 'It's stupid' - CBSSports.com
"I am aware of it," Luck said. "A couple of guys told me about it. I think it's stupid. Simply put."

QB, RB & WR fantasy locks for Week 6 | National Football Post
Jay Clemons takes to the airwaves to offer up his top fantasy options for Week 6.

NFL Sunday: Five things to watch | National Football Post
Here are five things I am looking at on the Week 6 NFL schedule. Breakdowns, Xs and Os, plus some key matchups to check out…

NFL.com news: Raiders get Curry at a low-risk bargain thanks to Seahawks
The Seattle Seahawks reworked the contract of linebacker Aaron Curry prior to the trade of the former fourth overall pick to the Oakland Raiders this week, absorbing a majority of his 2011 salary, league sources said Saturday.

NFL.com Blogs " Blog Archive Bengals, Palmer moving apart after conversations "
Bengals owner Mike Brown is dead-set that QB Carson Palmer will either play for the Bengals or stay retired. As many expected, that hasn’t changed.

Will the Seahawks ever have a top selling jersey?
A couple weeks ago the list of the top selling NFL jerseys for 2011 came out. It really comes as no surprise that this list contains no Seahawks. There are five Dallas Cowboys, two Packers, two Eagles, and two Jets. Given the national fan bases of teams like the Cowboys, Packers, Eagles, and Jets it isn’t a shock that these teams show up on lists like this.

Dave Krieg's Strike Beard: Wild Card, Bitches! - One of the few things putting a bit of a damper on the Seahawks' bye week is the fact that the Niners are 4-1. Given recent history, it's understandable to think that if the Niners don't stop winning soon, the Seattle's playoff chances are kaput no matter how many wins the Hawks string together. Of course we should all root for the 49ers to start losing (getting beaten down in Detroit Sunday would be a nice start), but even if they don't, the Seahawks' playoff hopes won't die any time soon.

A Few Thoughts on Aaron Curry " The Matchups Zone - Over the past few weeks it became all but perfectly clear (even to those whose interest in the Seahawks is more casual) that the marriage between the ‘Hawks and the 4th overall pick in the 2009 NFL draft was all but over. Aside from the painfully obvious analysis that dictates that Curry’s career in Seattle should not have ended this way, the fact that it did creates more questions than it does answers. How did we "miss" on a player like Curry? How did a player equipped with freakish ability and raw talent, a player widely considered the safest pick in the first round of the 2009 draft wash out in less than three seasons?

17 Power, A Seattle Seahawks Blog: What the Raiders Fans are Saying About Aaron Curry - The following isn't an essay on Aaron Curry or the Oakland Raiders' fan base so much as it is on desperate rationalization - the need to believe that mountains of unpleasant news or unfavorable evidence can somehow be turned in your favor by a single unsupported, unsupportable, unfalsifiable hypothesis.

93 : NFL Pro Interview : Chris Maragos | Pro Interviews - My name is Max Strauss with http://prointerviews.org/, http://facebook.com/ProInterviews/ and http://twitter.com/ProInterviews/. I’d like to welcome you to the interview with Chris Maragos. Maragos attended the Western Michigan as a wide receiver, then transferred to Wisconsin to play safety. He finished his collegiate career with over ninety tackles, five interceptions, and two forced fumbles. He entered the 2010 NFL Draft, but went undrafted. Afterwards, he signed with the San Francisco 49ers. He made their practice squad at the end of preseason, but by the end of the regular season, he was on their active 53-man roster. Here is the interview with Chris Maragos.