Coffee & Cigarettes: Seahawks links for Gameday

Links. Read 'em.

The Tape Never Lies: Russell Wilson is much more than just a mobile quarterback | 100 Yards and Running | Blogs | theScore.com
The words uttered from the mouth of the Cardinals’ respected blitz-happy defensive coordinator were a sign of the utmost respect towards the young man the football world calls "DangeRuss," a heavily scrutinized athlete prior to being selected 75th overall in the 2012 draft who has now gained full backing from rabid football fanatics and support league wide. Gil Brandt perhaps gave the biggest endorsement through the eyes of a personnel man when he said, "You go broke looking for those guys. For every guy that you draft, that’s three inches and four inches below the accepted minimum, 99 of 100 are going to fail. He’s a real exception."

FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Innovative Statistics, Intelligent Analysis | Futures: WR Marquess Wilson
This week’s Futures is about more than Marquess Wilson. It’s about the dynamics of power within college football programs and the risks that come with questioning their authority. For most of us outside the situation, it’s about being willing to reserve judgment about a player’s decisions when we may never know the truth behind them. Most of all, this week’s column addresses the mindset that I think a scout or personnel director should utilize when evaluating a football player who left his college team on bad terms.

Seahawks.com Blog | Butler re-signed
The 5-foot-10, 182-pound Butler was a third-round draft choice in 2009 and caught 57 passes in three seasons – including 36 for 385 yards and four touchdowns in 2010. Butler remained with the team during training camp this summer, but was released Aug. 31 on the roster cut to 53 players.

Seahawks.com Blog | Week 15: Seahawks vs. Bills
The Bills’ defense vs. Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch: It was the Bills who traded Lynch to the Seahawks in 2010. It is the Bills who will have to contend with the Beast Mode back on Sunday. The Bills were allowing an average of 163.7 rushing yards through their first nine games, but have macheted that to an average of 68.8 yards over the past four games. But that was against the Dolphins, Colts, Jaguars and Rams. None of those teams have a back as productive as Lynch has been this season, when he already has run for a career-high 1,266 yards; or since Week 9 last season, a 22-game span when he has run for a league-high 2,207 yards and scored 18 rushing touchdowns. His efforts against the Cardinals last week were stunning, especially considering that Lynch got his 128 yards and three TDs on only 11 carries. Then there’s that little former-team factor.

A game with three-appeal
The Seahawks are down to their final three regular-season games, and one last road trip. But they can’t take a step back in their postseason quest by tripping over the Bills in Toronto on Sunday.

Tavon Austin (WR/RB, West Virginia) vs Kansas " Seahawks Draft Blog
Tavon Austin (WR/RB, West Virginia) vs Kansas

Keys to the game: Seahawks vs. Bills | Seahawks Blog | The Seattle Times
1. Contain C.J. Spiller. Spiller is one of the most explosive running backs in this league, averaging 6.6 yards per rush, only Washington quarterback Robert Griffin III has a higher average than Spiller among players with more than 85 carries. Spiller somewhat inexplicably carried the ball only seven times last week, but with Fred Jackson out, expect Spiller to play a featured role in this game. "He makes people miss," said Gus Bradley, Seattle's defensive coordinator. "He is a real threat, not only that, but all of the screens he catches, and all of the different styles of screens to get him the ball. They're really aware of him. They utilize him in numerous ways."

Buffalo offers potential 'trap game' for Seahawks | Seahawks | The Seattle Times
After a rout of Arizona and with a potential NFC West-deciding game against San Francisco looming, Seattle coach Pete Carroll acknowledged the dangers of easing up against the Bills.

Report: Green Bay Packers to release Jermichael Finley - NFL.com
Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that the team "not only wants to get rid of Finley but has decided to do exactly that in the off-season."

Bob McGinn - Packers seem to be finished with Finley
Sources familiar with the Packers' thinking say the club not only wants to get rid of Finley but has decided to do exactly that in the off-season. It means that if the Packers cannot find a trade partner, they are prepared to release Finley because of financial, competitive and behavioral reasons.

Deion Branch helps Pats prepare for Colin Kaepernick - NFL.com
The New England Patriots used old friend Deion Branch this week to help prepare for the San Francisco 49ers and their option attack with Colin Kaepernick behind center. Branch played it as a kid.

Darnell Dockett unsure about Arizona Cardinals future - NFL.com
The relationship between Darnell Dockett and the Arizona Cardinals is strained, to put it mildly. But can it be repaired? The veteran defensive end isn't sure what the future may hold.

Nine Potential Playoff Teams, Nine Things We Want to Happen - NFL.com
Seahawks – The Seahawks beat the Bills and 49ers lose to the Patriots and all of a sudden the Week 16 matchup between these two teams is huge. Who would’ve thunk it that Seattle would actually have a shot at winning the West? The only thing we would need from this game is a Jim Harbaugh and Pete Carroll handshake showdown after the game. Maybe they could arm wrestle or something.

Nick Saban would face a serious perception problem in returning to the NFL | Shutdown Corner - Yahoo! Sports
With the successes of San Francisco's Jim Harbaugh, Seattle's Pete Carroll, and Tampa Bay's Greg Schiano, it would seem that there's been a shift in the perception that most college football coaches, no matter how well they've done at the NCAA level, would be better off staying put as opposed to making the jump to the NFL. Of course, the future NFL prospects of Alabama head coach Nick Saban, who worked under Bill Belichick in Cleveland in the 1990s and was the Miami Dolphins' head coach in 2005 and 2006, have been discussed more recently as a combined result of this new influx of college coaches, and Saban's impressive success at Alabama.

Who isn't 'beat up' in the NFL right now? | National Football Post
Cowboys' Bryant expected to play through injury, but there are plenty of guys hurting at this point of the season.

NFP looks at prospects playing in the Rose Bowl. | National Football Post
Russ Lande breaks down a handful of prospects playing in the Rose Bowl.

Darnell Dockett: 'I’m not going to be somewhere where I’m treated unfairly' | National Football Post
"I have no idea," Dockett said, according to sportsradiointerviews.com. "First of all I’m very thankful that the Arizona Cardinals have given me opportunities. From drafting me and to show my talent, I’m very thankful to the organization. If I’m not wanted somewhere then I will be happy somewhere else or however that situation may go down. To all the Cardinals fans, this was not my idea of me being traded or people thinking I might be traded and I came up with this or I said this. I never said that but at the end of the day I’m never going to be anywhere I’m not wanted or I’m not going to be somewhere where I’m treated unfairly.

ProFootballWeekly.com - Culliver a Niners starting CB in the making
"Culliver’s getting better and better each and every week," Niners FS Donte Whitner said after his DB mate’s sterling performance vs. Miami in Week 14 (three passes defensed). "He’s playing like a top corner in the National Football League. He’s a big guy. He’s 6 foot plus, almost 200 pounds. He wants to be physical. He is really starting to study and become a student of the game."

Long live the Air Raid! The Air Raid is Dead? | Smart Football
he Air Raid offense — the pass-first attack developed by Hal Mumme and Mike Leach from the old BYU offense — is seemingly everywhere. In the last couple of weeks, Cal hired former Leach and Mumme assistant Sonny Dykes as well as his offensive coordinator, the mercurial Tony Franklin; Southern Miss hired Oklahoma State’s nouveau guru Todd Monken, after he impressively orchestrated the Cowboys attack over the last two seasons, both with a future first round quarterback and while rotating three different quarterbacks; Mark Stoops is bringing prodigal son Neal Brown back to Kentucky to run the Wildcats’ offense; and Kliff Kingsbury, fresh off his tutelage of Heisman winner Johnny Manziel, returns to his old stomping grounds at Texas Tech to become one of the youngest head coaches in college football history. These new hires, together with existing Air Raid programs, brings my count to ten different college football teams that will all be using some variant of the Air Raid in the fall of 2013.

Bills vs. Seahawks, NFL Week 14: Let The Self Scouting Begin - Buffalo Rumblings
Without anything meaningful to cheer for, Buffalo Bills fans are resorting to scouting young players as the team begins its annual season wind-down against the Seattle Seahawks in Toronto.

Buffalo Bills' Buddy Nix Envisions Stevie Johnson As Slot Receiver - Buffalo Rumblings
Buffalo Bills GM Buddy Nix envisions Stevie Johnson as an ideal slot receiver and T.J. Graham as a high-upside "outside" guy. All that is missing? A "bigger guy" that can catch "when he's covered."