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Seahawks 24, Chargers 17: Postgame thoughts from the couch | Seattle Seahawks & NFL News - seattlepi.com: It’s not likely that many Seahawks fans are as concerned with the outcome of these preseason games as they are with the team’s progression. And as expected, this one was a bit sloppy, with the Seahawks struggling to find any kind of offensive continuity until the second half. Still, the way Seattle won its preseason opener over the Chargers — 24-17 in comeback fashion — bodes well for a young team still trying to sort out what its depth will look like. Here are some thoughts I culled together from my couch.
NFL Game Center: Seattle Seahawks at San Diego Chargers - 2011 Preseason Week 1: SAN DIEGO -- The Seattle Seahawks can only hope Tarvaris Jackson someday runs their offense as smoothly as Philip Rivers controls the San Diego Chargers. Rivers went 5 for 6 while leading an 89-yard scoring in his only series for the Chargers, but Thomas Clayton rushed for a tiebreaking 25-yard touchdown with 3:05 left in the Seahawks' 24-17 victory over San Diego on Thursday night in both clubs' exhibition opener.
Dave Krieg's Strike Beard: Seahawks 24, Chargers 17: The big news is Russell Okung's injury. We all hope that this particular ding isn't severe, but this is his 3rd ankle injury in less than a year- THAT is troubling. Other than that, there were few real surprises in this typically sloppy opening preseason game.
HeraldNet.com - Seahawks blog: A few observations from the Seahawks' preseason opener: Obviously the most important part of the game didn’t involve the result, but rather the fact that LT Russell Okung limped off the field and was eventually carted to the locker room with an ankle injury. Word on the TV broadcast was that X-rays were negative, and it’s possible the injury wasn’t serious and that Okung only came out as a precaution, but it is still unsettling for the Seahawks to see Okung of all people leaving with an ankle injury. Last season, the first-round pick missed six games because of a pair of high-ankle sprains, so any ankle injury this preseason is a concern for the Seahawks.
Early read: How long Okung could miss - NFC West Blog - ESPN: Two high ankle sprains, one to each leg, nearly derailed Russell Okung's rookie season with the Seattle Seahawks. Early indications suggest his latest ankle injury is similar.
Observation deck: Seahawks-Chargers - NFC West Blog - ESPN: Observations from the Seattle Seahawks 24-17 victory over the San Diego Chargers in a preseason game Thursday night:
Rivers sharp for Chargers, Seattle rallies late - Seahawks News - MyNorthwest.com: The Seattle Seahawks can only hope Tarvaris Jackson someday runs their offense as smoothly as Philip Rivers controls the San Diego Chargers. Rivers went 5 for 6 while leading an 89-yard scoring in his only series for the Chargers, but Thomas Clayton rushed for a tiebreaking 25-yard touchdown with 3:05 left in the Seahawks' 24-17 victory over San Diego on Thursday night in both clubs' exhibition opener.
Final: Hawks 24, Chargers 17 | Seahawks Insider: Well, the Seattle Seahawks clanked and sputtered for most of the contest, but rallied late for a 24-17 win over San Diego in both teams preseason opener. The game marked the debut of quarterback Tarvaris Jackson, and without starting receivers Sidney Rice and Mike Williams, along with third receiver Ben Obomanu, Jackson predictably struggled. He finished 3 of 5 for 15 yards, with a 64.6 passer ratting in a quarter of play. Jackson was sacked twice. His only saving grace is he didn’t turn the ball over.
Notes from Tuesday's Practice (8/9) | August: The first thing that jumped out at me was simply how big this team is. Whether you're talking about the o-line (smallest player: 6'4", 319 lbs), our d-line (3 of the 4 starters are over 300 lbs) our starting wide receivers (6'6" and 6'4"), the two star tight ends (both 6'5"), the starting fullback (Michael Robinson looks like he added on 25 lbs of muscle), or our new starting strong safety (6'3", 232 lbs), we are B-I-G. One of the things I remember about Carroll's USC teams in the early 2000s was that they passed the eyeball test -- they just looked like football teams, and now the Seahawks do too. Carroll and Schneider have been saying that they wanted to get bigger and more physical, and it looks like they've succeeded.
OK, Go! Lockout leaves a crash course to the preseason - Shutdown Corner - NFL Blog - Yahoo! Sports: When Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll took his new job in 2010, he did so knowing that he'd have a full offseason and preseason to prepare his new team, plus the extra minicamp afforded to first-year coaches with new teams. Going into his second year, and knowing a lockout was an inevitability at some point, the only thing that Carroll knew for sure was that nothing would be as it seemed. When the lockout finally ended, it gave Carroll — and the 31 other head coaches around the league — scant time to prepare for the preseason. Adding to that frustration was the fact that newly-signed free agents (and the Seahawks had a bunch of them; five potential starters) could only practice for about a week before their team's first preseason games. Add in a travel day, as the Seahawks had on Wednesday for Thursday's preseason opener against the San Diego Chargers, and you've got very little time to deal with the physical and schematic demands of the season — even if it is the preseason.
Clayton: Don't rule out Tatupu returning to Seahawks - Blog - MyNorthwest.com: Lofa Tatupu is still searching for a new team after he was released by the Seahawks last month. ESPN's John Clayton thinks the Bears and Raiders are the likeliest landing spots for the three-time Pro Bowl linebacker, and he expects that to happen "probably by next week." Lofa Tatupu The Seahawks cut Tatupu four days into training camp after he reportedly refused to rework his contract, which was scheduled to pay him more than $4 million this season.
Pre Preseason Power Rankings | ProFootballFocus.com: 19. Seattle Seahawks Reason to be cheerful: They may have gotten the best vertical deep threat in the league in the form of Sidney Rice. Reason to be concerned: Their quarterback situation doesn’t fill you with hope. But then they got to the playoffs with Matt Hasselbeck playing poorly.
FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Innovative Statistics, Intelligent Analysis | Wisdom of Crowds 2011: QBs: Tuesday: Tarvaris Jackson Average: 2,937 ± 141 passing yards, 17 ± 1 TDs, 18 ± 2 INTs
Best-case scenario: 3,750 passing yards, 26 TDs, 10 INTs
Worst-case scenario: 2,100 passing yards, 10 TDs, 32 INTs
In Jackson's lone season as a full-time starter (2007), his 12-game stats prorate out to 2,548 yards, 12 touchdowns, and 16 interceptions. In Pete Caroll's first season as the Seahawks' head coach, Seattle quarterbacks combined for 3,536 yards, 14 touchdowns, and 20 interceptions. Therefore, readers' average projection seems to be smack dab in the middle of Jackson's history and Caroll's history; that is except for touchdowns. So the question becomes, "Will Jackson throw for more touchdowns than expected this season?" In our minds, the answer is yes. First off, Jackson's primary targets in 2007 were Robert Ferguson and Bobby Wade, not Sidney Rice and a resurrected Mike Williams. Second, with all due respect to his beast-mode run in last year's playoffs, Marshawn Lynch isn't likely to be the focus of the offense like Adrian Peterson was. Finally, the Seahawks don't figure to be a good team this season, so Jackson will likely find himself in a lot of easy passing situations (read: they're going to be behind frequently).
NFL.com news: Rams camp report: Offense needs to take the next step: Pat Kirwan recently visited Rams camp in Earth City, Mo. Here's what he saw.
Seahawks Blog | AUDIO: Talking Tarvaris Jackson with Minnesota scribe | Seattle Times Newspaper: Tarvaris Jackson is just hours from starting the exhibition opener against Seattle, and earlier this week, I reached out to Patrick Reusse of ESPN 1500 and the Minneapolis Star-Tribune to discuss Seattle's new quarterback. It's a compelling look from someone who has a great deal of respect for Jackson's physical talents though believed he played too early since he was drafted out of Division I-AA.
Sports Radio Interviews " Blog Archive " Kenny Britt Is Working On A New Clean Slate This Season, Projects Optimism In Titans New Playbook That Is More "Open": Kenny Britt joined WGFX in Nashville with The Three Hour Lunch to discuss how his hamstring feels at this point in training camp, learning from the past and putting his off-the-field troubles behind him, the new coaching staff and offensive scheme he is working under this season, bringing his game to an elite level this season and his early impressions of Matt Hasselbeck and Jake Locker.
Sports Radio Interviews " Blog Archive " Seattle Seahawks Take Interesting Approach While Trying To Make Playoff Berths The Norm: The Seattle Seahawks certainly didn’t have the greatest record or the most jaw-dropping plays throughout the season last year, but they were certainly one of the NFL’s biggest surprises. While they made the playoffs with a losing record, they won their division and then beat the New Orleans Saints in coach Pete Carroll’s first year. So what’s he do for an encore? Carroll basically completely overhauled his offense, bringing on coordinator Darrell Bevell — who brought quarterback Tarvaris Jackson and receiver Sidney Rice with him — and adding former Oakland Raiders coach Tom Cable to instruct his offensive linemen — of which the Seahawks are going young, as witnessed by their draft. Carroll says it’s all part of a plan. Whether that plan actually works out will begin to be known pretty quickly. Pete Carroll joined XX Sports Radio in San Diego with Scott and BR to discuss why Tarvaris Jackson is QB1, the biggest difference in the offense from this year to last, the receivers the quarterbacks have at their disposal, how this year’s camp has compared to last year and the grand master plan the Seahawks have orchestrated.
17 Power, A Seattle Seahawks Blog: Lockout Hangover: Cornerback, Part 1: The secondary seems to be bearing out the same theme that defensive end did last year: Pete Carroll going all batty nutso with competition. The 90-man roster is glutted with defensive back prospects, and this time, there's actual intrigue as to how the roster will shake out. Thanks to Walter Thurmond's injury, the secondary may be wide open.
Further thoughts & tape comparisons: Luck vs Barkley " Seahawks Draft Blog: I wanted to continue the whole Luck vs Barkley debate today by publishing further tape (see below) courtesy of TMB Draft and also offering a few more thoughts. I received a lot of different responses this week to my suggestion that Barkley may be the #1 overall eligible prospect for 2012, putting him above Andrew Luck. Most of it was fairly positive, with people embracing the possibility that there may be a challenger to Luck’s waltz to #1. A few argued aggressively against what I’d written, which I suppose was to be expected. Luck is an excellent prospect with the potential to be a very good NFL quarterback. However, I think we’ve got to a point now where people aren’t even breaking down his game any more or looking for counter arguments simply because the assumption is Luck = winning. That’s not how I feel.
Tennessee Titans' Matt Hasselbeck adjusts to new offense | The Tennessean | tennessean.com: Matt Hasselbeck is making progress learning the Titans offense, but is also encountering predictable issues after 10 years of quarterbacking the Seahawks, offensive coordinator Chris Palmer said Wednesday. It didn’t help that Hasselbeck had to wait until Aug. 4 before he could practice because he was an unrestricted free agent.
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