Coffee and Cigarettes: Seahawks Links for Tuesday

Seattle Seahawks news, rumors, info, interviews, analysis --  from around the interwebs.

FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Innovative Statistics, Intelligent Analysis | Audibles at the Line: Week 4
Atlanta Falcons 30 at Seattle Seahawks 20 Vince Verhei: Michael Turner cuts back for a touchdown to make it 14-0 Atlanta. I noticed this charting the Pittsburgh game this week, Seattle is way more vulnerable to outside runs than they are up the middle. The outside linebackers get hooked inside, or abandon their outside containment duties to jump inside and fill the middle. Seattle has gone to a no-huddle offense in the second half, and it's giving Atlanta a surprising amount of trouble. They've pulled within 27-14, and Tarvaris Jackson hit Zach Miller for what would have been a touchdown, but James Sanders knocked the ball out of his hands, and Falcons intercept. Falcons go three-and-out, and Leon Washington gets a big punt return inside the 10. Marshawn Lynch then scores to make it 27-21 with 3:07 to go in the third. Seahawks have a third down in the red zone. Atlanta rushes three and drops eight into coverage, but none of the eight men cover Ben Obomanu in the corner of the end zone. Atlanta 30, Seattle 28. Julio Jones has something like 200 catches today, but a lot of them have been for short gains, including some attempted screens for big losses.

Baylor's ever-improving Griffin is on the climb - NFL - Sporting News
• Most of the national talk about quarterbacks has focused on Stanford’s Andrew Luck, Oklahoma’s Landry Jones, USC’s Matt Barkley and Texas A&M’s Ryan Tannehill. But one player scouts can’t stop talking about is Baylor’s Robert Griffin. Though Griffin is still a bit raw in terms of his footwork and delivery/release mechanics, he has displayed the top-level arm strength and excellent deep accuracy that excite NFL teams.

Seattle Seahawks Game Balls - Week 4 Offensive, Defensive MVP
Steven Hauschka could have won the game with a 61 yard field goal with 13 seconds remaining but fell short handing the Hawks a disappointing and heartbreaking loss. Still, despite the setback, there were a few good things that came from their Week 4 game. There were standouts on both sides of the ball. They are highlighted in the Week 4 Offensive & Defensive Game Balls.

Seattle Seahawks Blog - Hawk Blogger: The Morning After: Falcons Beat Seahawks, 30-28
Seattle almost lost much more than a game on Sunday. Down 24-7 at halftime, having surrendered more rushing yards in that half than they had in two of their previous three games, the Seahawks had a near-death experience. As much as football games are decided by talent on the field, confidence, will, and desire play major roles. Getting blown out at home, and getting pushed around in the process, can sap each of those three crucial elements. That game was on its way to a 41-14 rout. The Falcons were going to rush for close to 200 yards. The Seahawks offense was going to continue its historic non-scoring competition with the 1992 squad. Not every loss is equal, and that type of loss can kill. Seattle coaches and players may still fall into the pit of a lost season, but the only thing they lost on Sunday was the game. Nearly every other measure showed improvement. You can be certain that Seattle will win games when they play worse than they did yesterday, because they already have. Everyone will be watching to see if that second half was a mirage. Know this, there was nothing lucky about the way the Seahawks offense or defense finished that game. Each point and each stop was well earned. That bodes well, not only for the rest of this season, but for the seasons to come.

Seattle Seahawks Blog - Hawk Blogger: 2011 Seahawks Running Away From 1992 Ghosts
Back in August, I wrote about the eerie similarities between the 1992 Seahawks and the 2011 Seahawks. That 1992 team surrendered 67 sacks and set an NFL record for offensive futility by averaging only 8.8 points per game. Both the 2011 and 1992 teams featured a young and inexperienced offensive line, and both represented the first season after waving goodbye to a long-time franchise quarterback (Dave Krieg and Matt Hasselbeck). The script was playing out almost identically through three games.

Thiel: Seahawks’ second half a near-fantasy | Seattle Seahawks
Down 27-7 early in the third quarter, with five first downs and five yards rushing against an Atlanta team that was 13-3 a year ago, the Seahawks Sunday were about an oil-tanker car short of a complete, flaming train wreck. The National Guard had to have been on alert. By the final seconds, so many preposterously good things had happened that it really didn’t occur to many Seahawks that placekicker Steven Hauschka would NOT make a 61-yard field goal to win the game. That’s how intoxicating was the second-half renaissance.  By then, the Seahawks were ready to believe they would ride off the Clink Field carpet triumphantly upon unicorns, then climb aboard Pegasus for an airborne loop around the stadium roof. "We thought he was going to hit it," said tight end Zach Miller. "No doubt about it. We felt we were going to walk off the field winners."

It takes a village to bring down Turner, a cannonball in cleats | Seattle Seahawks - The News Tribune
Michael Turner entered Sunday’s contest averaging 5.6 yards a carry and part of the Seattle Seahawks’ game plan was to gang-tackle him. "He’s a big, strong back and you’ve got to wrap him up," defensive back Marcus Trufant said of Atlanta’s leading rusher. "No one guy is going to bring him down." In the first half, when the Falcons jumped ahead 24-7, no one man did. In fact, it didn’t seem to matter how many guys hit him.

Hawks’ ‘O’ improves; no-huddle shows it | Seattle Seahawks - The News Tribune
Max Unger says no more excuses. "We’re kind of at the point of our group where progress is good, but we just have to start winning games," Seattle’s center said about his team’s young offensive line. "I mean we’re an NFL offensive line, and no one cares if we’re all younger guys that didn’t really have an offseason. It’s time to start winning games." For the first time this season Seattle started the same starting five up front for successive weeks. And the consistency appeared to help. Seattle came into Sunday’s contest against Atlanta tied for the lead with Chicago in sacks allowed with 14. But the Seahawks did not allow a sack for the first time this season against the Falcons.

Seahawks Blog | Seahawks expected to look at LB David Vobora | Seattle Times Newspaper
Linebacker Matt McCoy suffered what is believed to be a serious knee injury on Sunday during a first-half special teams play. Expect the Seahawks to take a look at David Vobora, a linebacker Seattle signed during training camp. Vobora initially made the team, but was released after the Seahawks claimed four players on waivers after final cuts. Vobora is from Oregon and attended University of Idaho. He played the previous three seasons in St. Louis.

Week 5 - Carroll Press Conference Monday

Seahawks.com Blog | Monday Hawkville "
FOCUS ON The 61-yarder. As in, the field goal Steven Hauschka attempted at the end of Sunday’s 30-28 loss to the Atlanta Falcons at CenturyLink Field. Coach Pete Carroll has been second-guessed for not going for the first down on fourth-and-8 with 13 seconds left in the game to give Hauschka a closer attempt. But he hasn’t had second thoughts about the decision. "Only that I wish it would have gone," Carroll said today during his day-after news conference. "We easily could have gone the other way on that and this is one of those coach’s choices. But I wanted to win the game right then, and not take a chance on not converting on fourth down." Carroll said that Hauschka has been kicking the ball well and long – including what Carroll called "a monster kick" in practice. "So we took a shot at just capturing the moment to win the football game right there following a great comeback, and unfortunately it didn’t happen," Carroll said. "I’m fine about it. I knew clearly what I wanted to do at the time and went for it. "I’m not looking back at it."

Seattle Seahawks: 5 Players Who Stepped Up in Week 4 | Bleacher Report
The Seahawks were a missed 61-yard field goal short of erasing a 20-point second-half deficit against the Atlanta Falcons. The 30-28 loss hurts, but silver linings exist for the Seahawks.  Seattle rebounded from a horrific start and for the second week in a row, the defense clamped down in the second half. The offense exploded for the first time with Tarvaris Jackson at quarterback. Special teams played their part, too. 

Seahawks' Slow Start and Stalled Finish Yields Week 4 Loss, Shows Larger Issue | Bleacher Report
The Seahawks started slowly against Atlanta, down more than 15 points at halftime for the third time this season. For the second time this year, they mounted a comeback in the second half to close the gap to two points in the fourth quarter; only to have their furious comeback attempt foiled by their own demise. Seattle had a meltdown in Week 1. They were on the road and had scrapped their way from down 16-0 at halftime to down 17-19 with 3:56 to go in the game. Then, breakdowns on special teams led to two Ted Ginn touchdowns in the final four minutes. As soon as the Seahawks seemed back in it, the game slipped away.

Pete Carroll likes what he sees from Tarvaris Jackson - Blog - MyNorthwest.com
The Seahawks offense in general, and quarterback Tarvaris Jackson in particular, made significant strides in Sunday's loss to Atlanta. Having averaged 10 points over the first three games, Seattle scored a season-high 28 points against the Falcons, and didn't allow a sack for the first time this season. While Jackson had completed over 60 percent of his attempts and managed to avoid costly interceptions, he hadn't thrown for over 200 yards in a game and had only two touchdown passes. Tarvaris Jackson had a career-high 319 passing yards and a season-high three touchdowns on Sunday. (AP) Given his unspectacular totals through three games -- and over the first five years of his career, for that matter -- Sunday's effort might have qualified as a surprise to some. Not to coach Pete Carroll.

Seahawks Blog | What we learned: Falcons 30, Seahawks 28 | Seattle Times Newspaper
The Seahawks have some scrap to them. Close won't count in the standings, but Seattle's second-half rally against Atlanta constitutes a significant improvement over the past couple seasons when the Seahawks tended to go from bad to awful. Over the previous two seasons, Seattle faced 14 halftime deficits of 10 or more points. The Seahawks lost 13 of those games by double digits. In the previous two seasons, Seattle won just once after trailing by double digits at halftime, and that was last year's comeback against Carolina. The Panthers led 14-3 at halftime, but Seattle came and won 31-14. While Seattle didn't complete its comeback from a 20-point deficit, the fact the Seahawks came as close as they did counts as progress.

Seattle 28, Atlanta 30 – The Aftermath
I thought about writing up this post last night but I wanted to let this game stew in my mind a bit before throwing my thoughts out there. If you told me before the season that the Seahawks would only lose to the Falcons by two I would have thought you were crazy. I expected this to be one of Seattle’s toughest games this year and thought it would be one of those games where the Seahawks never really showed up and for the first half it looked like that might be the case. But then the second half started. The Seahawks started moving the ball and the defense started stopping the Falcons. Momentum had clearly shifted towards the Seahawks and if there were just a few more seconds on the clock Seattle could have won this game that seemed, for the most part, out of reach at halftime. There is a lot of good stuff to take away from this game and there is still a lot to be concerned about. Looking over the box score (I love looking at box scores and stats) there are a few good and bad stats that stand out that I think do a good job explaining this game:

Silver linings: Seahawks vs. Falcons - NFC West Blog - ESPN
The facts: The Seattle Seahawks fell to 1-3 with a 30-28 home defeat against the Atlanta Falcons. The upside: Even the worst defeats tend to feature a bright spot or two.

The Brewery | Extra points: Breaking down my criticism of Pete Carroll | Seattle Times Newspaper
This is not the kind of column that I enjoy writing. If you read me regularly, then you know that I'm not an armchair quarterback. I don't write flippant commentaries that ignore the difficulty of sports. I respect the athletes who play these games at a high level, the coaches who are constantly strategizing, motivating and evaluating, and the front office personnel who must make tough, multifaceted decisions under intense scrutiny.

Scout’s corner: How did Crick perform this weekend? | National Football Post
Observations and analysis from the fourth week of the college football season, including thoughts about some of the nation’s top defensive prospects.

A storming-back setback
"The thing I'm very happy about is how we down 24-7 at halftime and guys could have easily given up, but the guys kept lugging and we kept working hard," Jackson said. "It just shows the character of our team. Guys could have easily put their heads down and given up. "But guys kept fighting, so it's good to know we've got a team with a bunch of fighters. I feel like we're coming together more as a team. Not just the offense, but with special teams, offense and defense. That's very encouraging to see that we do have those types of guys on this team that never give up. "So I'm looking forward to the future for this team."

Give them a chance? Pete Carroll explains decision to kick 61-yard FG | Seattle Seahawks & NFL News - seattlepi.com
"If we don’t make the yards, eight yards or whatever it was on fourth down, then the game’s over," Carroll said. "We had a shot at 60 and Steven’s got a big leg and he can hit the ball and maybe he hits it on that time. I wanted to give us a chance to win it. If we get the ball knocked down and something doesn’t happen and we come up short on fourth down, then we don’t get a shot to win the game. "They put us in position to win, and I wanted to give them a chance to win, so that’s what we did."

Falcons win shootout with Seahawks | HeraldNet.com - Sports
"I thought our offense played great," said Seattle safety Earl Thomas. "They carried us, especially when we needed them."

Carroll wanted to give Seahawks chance to win game | HeraldNet.com - Sports
"We were going to take a shot at making a historic kick," Carroll said. "And if we do it, we win a great football game. ... Steven’s got a big leg. This was going to be a career kick, but he’s got enough leg to hit a big kick."

A welcome performance by Tarvaris Jackson | Seattle Seahawks - The News Tribune
Sunday turned into a day of new sensory experiences for Seahawks quarterback Tarvaris Jackson. For periods of time, his play generated a sound slightly foreign to him: Cheering. And when he left the field, he was not limping nor aching from having been pulverized all afternoon by surly defensive linemen.

Seahawks | Undrafted Doug Baldwin is unbelievable for Seahawks | Seattle Times Newspaper
The temptation is there, but Doug Baldwin refuses to say "I told you so." He has every right to complain about being disrespected in April's NFL draft. Who would blame him for harboring a grudge against the 32 teams who overlooked the 5-foot-10, 189-pound receiver and told him what so many others have said. "I've heard all my life how I'm too short or not big enough to play this game," Baldwin said. "It's nothing new." Yet four games into his rookie season, he's arguably the second-best receiver for the Seahawks.

Steve Kelley | Memo to Seahawks: Go no-huddle 24/7 | Seattle Times Newspaper
What if the Seahawks had opened the game this way? What if they came out Sunday fast-breaking? Pushing the tempo. Running and gunning. Scurrying the Atlanta Falcons until their defense was gasping like smokers on Kilimanjaro. What if Seattle quarterback Tarvaris Jackson could have started this Sunday in a no-huddle offense, playing fast, making decisions like a point guard on the run, reacting instead of thinking. Playing football like street ball.

Falcons Vs. Seahawks Highlights: A Tale Of Two Halves - SB Nation Atlanta
On Sunday, the Falcons would barely hang on for the win in Seattle, pulling out a 30-28 victory after nearly collapsing in the second half. Still, a win is a win, and if you want to get technical about it, the Falcons just beat a playoff team on the road in one of the loudest stadiums in the NFL. Does that mean the Falcons don't have problems? Absolutely not. But the Dirty Birds are 2-2 and still very much alive through the first quarter of the season.

Around the NFC West: Jackson's big game - NFC West Blog - ESPN
Quite a few of us thought the Seattle Seahawks defense would keep them competitive during a low-scoring defeat to the Atlanta Falcons. Instead, the Seahawks got blown out early, then rallied on offense before losing a high-scoring game, 30-28. For the first time this season, the Seahawks showed how their passing game can perform under favorable circumstances: at home against a team that hadn't collected a sack in its previous two games.

Seahawks notes: Jackson shows his potential | The Columbian - Tarvaris Jackson just might have won over the Seahawks faithful on Sunday. After leading an offense that struggled mightily through 3½ games, the Seattle quarterback put together his best performance of the season in a 30-28 loss to Atlanta, completing 25 of 38 passes for a career-high 319 yards. In the second half, he was 17 of 24 for 189 yards while directing three touchdown drives. Jackson said he feels comfortable using the no-huddle attack the Seahawks employed in the second half. "I guess that takes the thinking out of it," he said. "Being a young player, I tend to think a little bit too much, and I’ve got so much stuff going through my head, like all the different looks defenses give us, instead of just focusing in on what they’re showing and just try to execute that. So I think that helps."

QB Jackson is why Seahawks are lowly regarded and Falcons should be highly concerned  | ajc.com
Matt Ryan thinks the Falcons can still achieve all of their goals this season, but it’s fair to wonder if they will after yesterday’s closer-than-it-should-have-been 30-28 victory over the Seattle Seahawks. At 1-3, the Seahawks are no one’s idea of a Super Bowl team. Yet if Steven Hauschka had made a 61-yard field goal at the end of the game, the Falcons would be 1-3 and the Seahawks 2-2. Tarvaris Jackson is the main reason why the Seahawks are so lowly regarded and why the Falcons should be highly concerned.