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Advanced NFL Stats: Games I Watched (A Perhaps Never Recurring Column)
Jim Harbaugh bested Jim Schwartz. Not with a handshake but trap blocks that baited Detroit’s elite defensive line and exposed its not so elite linebacker corps. Not with an emasculating slap on the back but a coverage scheme that cooled Calvin Johnson and forced Matthew Stafford into targeting his tight end, Brandon Pettigrew, to little avail.
The so-called "wide nine" | Smart Football - Apparently the buzzword around the NFL for sounding like you know what you’re talking about is the phrase "wide nine." This refers to a technique the Philadelphia Eagles have used this season, where the defensive end in a four down lineman front slides a few inches or a foot or so to the outside and sometimes will tilt towards the quarterback. It is, in short, the defensive end getting in pure position to rush the passer. It’s called a "wide nine" because the technique, i.e. the specific alignment, of defensive linemen is categorized by a numerical system often credited to Bear Bryant (and also to Bum Phillips). The "nine" technique is the one outside the tight-end.
FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Innovative Statistics, Intelligent Analysis | Week 6 Quick Reads - Tales of failed red zone drives, Part I: Up 14-0 in the second quarter, the Philadelphia Eagles had a first-and-goal at the Washington 9. They threw three straight passes, but not one ball was thrown into the end zone (in fact, none of them even crossed the 5-yard line). The drive died at the 10, and Philadelphia settled for three points instead of seven.
Ranking the "second tier" QB prospects | National Football Post - Where do a lot of the prominent senior signal callers fall in this year’s draft class?
Three picks? A look at Coleman vs. Grossman | National Football Post - Videos, Xs and Os, plus route schemes. Let's break it down.
NFP Week 6 rookie report card: Breaking down Ponder | National Football Post - In this first of two editions of the rookie report card, I will look at the performances of Christian Ponder of Minnesota, J.J. Watt and Brooks Reed of Houston, and Torrey Smith of Baltimore.
NFL.com news: Benson's three-game suspension reduced to one game, fine - On the same day the Cincinnati Bengals agreed to trade quarterback Carson Palmer to the Oakland Raiders, running back Cedric Benson's three-game suspension was reduced to one game and a fine, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.
Helping Out The Less Fortunate - What I want to do here is help the less fortunate NFL teams. Those teams who are sitting at the bottom of the standings, those teams who seem to get blown out every week, those teams who haven’t been able to put it together this season. Fortunately the Seahawks aren’t in that list. I am talking about truely horrible teams here. Not sure why I am thinking about this today. I guess bye weeks make for pretty boring blog posts.
Thiel: Imagine if Huskies’ Price outplays Luck | UW Football - Stanford’s senior QB is the best in the land, but not so much better than the UW soph QB. An upset of the 7th-ranked Cardinal rests largely with him and an increasingly creative playbook.
Bad News for Seahawks Fans, the 49ers Are For Real " The Matchups Zone - It’s time to put to rest all of the talk about Jim Schwartz looking like he wanted to fight Jim Harbaugh after a rough post-game handshake and backslap. The real issue after this weekend is how the San Francisco 49ers appear to be for real.
Should Seahawks have outbid Oakland for Palmer? No - Blog - MyNorthwest.com - So much for all the Carson Palmer speculation.
QB? Just wait and see | Seattle Seahawks - The News Tribune - With five days until his team travels to Cleveland for a game Sunday, Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll wasn’t ready to be definitive on who will start at quarterback when his team takes on the Browns.
Seahawks.com Blog | Monday in Hawkville " - FOCUS ON Roy Lewis, Deon Butler and Cameron Morrah. These three have been on the physically unable to perform list since training camp opened in late July, and joined at the rehab schedule since then. Each will begin practicing on Wednesday. They then have a three-week window before the Seahawks must decide whether to add them to the 53-man roster or place them on injured reserve.
Seahawks Blog | Monday Night Quarterback on 950 KJR | Seattle Times Newspaper - Hey look, it's a fancy graphic for The Seattle Times' weekly takeover of 950 KJR. Columnist Jerry Brewer and reporter Danny O'Neil look ahead to the week that will be after the Monday Night Football game, including Pete Carroll's adjective of the day. Here's a hint: It's beautiful.
A Tru Warrior - The loss of veteran cornerback Marcus Trufant to a season-ending back situation has cost the Seahawks their defensive captain and most experienced defensive back.
2012 draft status check: October 17th " Seahawks Draft Blog - The early stages of a NFL draft usually features a good balance of offensive and defensive talent. In the last seven years, 50 offensive players have been drafted within the top fifteen picks compared to 55 players on defense. In five of the last seven years, there’s been an 8-7 split in favor of one side of the ball with just two drafts edging towards the defense (nine defensive players to six offensive players in 2010 and 2006). In 2008 eight of the first eleven picks were defensive players.
Carson Gets His Wish - Waiver Wired - Rotoworld.com - Evaluate the player, not the name. I tackled Carson Palmer’s obvious decline before last season, noting that his once golden arm was trending toward Chad Pennington territory. Ever since he rejected Tommy John surgery in favor of rest and rehab, Palmer has struggled with accuracy, sailed passes, and lost zip on his throws. Raiders faithful will soon find out that mobility is an issue as well.
Carson Palmer traded to Raiders for first-round pick, future considerations - Shutdown Corner - NFL Blog - Yahoo! Sports - After insisting that he would not trade quarterback Carson Palmer(notes) under any circumstances, even after Palmer threatened to retire rather than play for the his team, Cincinnati Bengals owner Mike Brown(notes) was finally ready to bend on that issue at the 11th hour. According to a Tuesday report by Fox Sports' Jay Glazer, Brown had been talking with the Oakland Raiders about a trade that would send Palmer to the Oakland Raiders for a first-round draft pick in 2012 and a conditional first-round pick in 2013. The trade has subseqently been confirmed by ESPN's Chris Mortensen, and it will happen just before the 1:00 PM PT trade deadline. According to Peter King of Sports Illustrated, Palmer is in the Bay Area getting the physical that will seal the deal.
1st Round WR's 2000-2004: A Real Horror Story - Mocking The Draft - In just a couple of weeks, the streets will be filled with witches, goblins, ghosts and other nightmarish creatures as they roam door to door demanding candy. But if you really want to scare your friends this Halloween, you should dress up as one myriad 1st round WR busts who entered the NFL between 2000 and 2004. Just hearing the name "Rashaun Woods" or "R.Jay Soward" is enough to send a chill up any general manager's spine. Drafting WR's is exceptionally difficult, but the early part of last decade produced some real nightmares.