Coffee & Cigarettes: Seahawks links for Saturday

Happy Weekend, you guys.

Seattle Seahawks' Richard Sherman missing practice for travel to appeal, source says - ESPN
The Seahawks do not expect a ruling until next week. So although Sherman likely can play in the Seahawks' NFC West showdown Sunday night against the San Francisco 49ers, he hasn't had a normal week of preparation for the team's first meeting against Colin Kaepernick.

Read options and running/throwing quarterbacks are becoming more than a fad | Seattle Seahawks - The News Tribune
"There’s a lot of things now that protect the quarterback," Seattle defensive coordinator Gus Bradley said. "You can’t go after him when he’s in the pocket, even if he’s faking an option. It’s not like you can go up there and hit him, even though he’s giving the ball."

Sports Radio Interviews " Blog Archive " Jim Harbaugh Not in the Mood to Discuss Relationship with Pete Carroll, More than Happy to Talk About Kaepernick and the Pistol
Jim Harbaugh joined The Wheelhouse on 95.7 The Game in San Francisco to discuss Colin Kaepernick’s emergence as the starting quarterback, the move he made midseason with Alex Smith out and his relationship with rival Pete Carroll. He also touched on Russell Wilson and "quarterback-driven runs."

49ers vs. Seahawks Week 16 Preview 2012 - YouTube
We break down the 49ers Week 16 matchup with the Seattle Seahawks. The video takes a look at the Colin Kaepernick-Russell Wilson storyline, as well as the running games and the playoff.

FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Innovative Statistics, Intelligent Analysis | Any Given Sunday: Cardinals Over Lions
Unacceptable. That's the only word for it. When your team goes up against a Cardinals offensive line that is one of the worst that we've ever recorded (one that, by J.J. Cooper's numbers, had allowed 15.5 sacks through Week 8 solely by the two tackles), and sacks much-maligned rookie quarterback Ryan Lindley just once, that is unacceptable. The most damning part thing about it is that the Lions blitzed regularly. They often sent five or six on passing downs. Time and time again, Lawrence Jackson, Kyle Vanden Bosch, and Cliff Avril would be stoned by rookie fourth-rounder Bobby Massie and rookie seventh-rounder Nate Potter, and thus, the Cardinals almost resembled an NFL offense at times in this game.

The NFL’s Most Valuable Player is… Russell Wilson? | Fantasy Douche
A few weeks ago I mentioned on Twitter that I thought that in order to name a player the MVP, you also had to believe that the player was the best at their position. For instance, if you say that Andrew Luck is the most valuable player because of the win difference he’s had for the Colts, you’re essentially making the award one of circumstance. It’s not actually about value then, it’s about relative value and in theory a player benefits from playing on a worse team. During some back and forth, someone rightly suggested that the MVP should also take into account salary. I can’t remember who said it, and I apologize to whoever it was for forgetting, but this made total sense to me. In a salary cap league, each team has limited resources to work with and they should be primarily concerned about how much value they get out of every dollar they spend under the salary cap. With that idea in mind, I figured I would look at some Advanced NFL Stats numbers and some salary info from Spotrac to name a MVP (or a 15 week MVP anyway).

Seahawks.com Blog | Friday in Hawkville: Trufant and Thurmond questionable
"They made it through this day," coach Pete Carroll said. "We’ll go all the way to game time with those guys. They’ve got to show us they can play. "We’ve got to make sure we make a good decision on that. They have been out for a couple of weeks. But it’s good to just get them close to getting back."

DT Jason Jones placed on injured reserve | Seahawks | The Seattle Times
The injury to Jones means opportunities for younger linemen, including Clinton McDonald, Jaye Howard and Greg Scruggs.

Pass rush takes blow with Jones on IR | Seattle Seahawks - The News Tribune
RENTON — The Seahawks announced on Thursday that they’ve put defensive lineman Jason Jones on the injured reserve, ending his 2012 season.

Pete Carroll, Jim Harbaugh share strategy, if not personality | Seahawks | The Seattle Times
The similarities don't exactly stick out. Seattle's Pete Carroll played in the secondary at University of Pacific and his coaching career started on the defensive side of the ball, while San Francisco's Jim Harbaugh is a former quarterback from Michigan who went on to play in the NFL.

Spencer Anderson & Rachel Henly: A double dose of smiles
Cancer patients Spencer Anderson and Rachel Henley visited the Seahawks on Friday, one as part of the Make-A-Wish program and the other through the spearhead efforts of rookie defensive tackle Greg Scruggs.

Clemons and Smith: Significant sackers
Of all the intriguing matchups in Sunday night’s game, don’t forget about how the pass-rush prowess of the Seahawks’ Chris Clemons and 49ers’ could impact the outcome.

Khaseem Greene (LB, Rutgers) vs Connecticut " Seahawks Draft Blog
In this week’s updated mock draft, we had Rutgers linebacker Khaseem Greene going to Seattle in the second round. The video above shows his tape against Connecticut from this year. Take a look and let us know what you think.

Thursday notes: C.J. Mosley will return to Alabama " Seahawks Draft Blog
As you can see from the tweet above, Nick Saban announced at a press conference today that C.J. Mosley will not be turning pro. It’s not a major surprise – many of Alabama’s big name defensive players have gone the distance over the last few years. He would’ve been an option for the Seahawks at the WILL position in the first two rounds of next April’s draft. Despite today’s news, Alec Ogletree is still expected to declare while seniors Arthur Brown and Khaseem Greene will make up for the loss of Mosley from the 2013 draft class.

Seahawks hoping to improve their run defense - Seahawks News - MyNorthwest.com
"We know that we have given up some big plays we know with Adrian and some backs," Seattle defensive coordinator Gus Bradley said. "It's still kind of a work in progress. That's still our No. 1 emphasis after getting the ball."

Justin Smith's prospects in light of his past - NFC West Blog - ESPN
The San Francisco 49ers are practicing without injured defensive lineman Justin Smith. Unofficial reports suggest Smith will be doubtful for the 49ers' game Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks, and that his elbow injury could be more serious than coach Jim Harbaugh initially indicated.

Final Word: NFC West - NFC West Blog - ESPN
Mandatory viewing, optional running. The San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks will be showcasing throw-first quarterbacks with the ability to beat defenses with their legs as well. The 49ers' Colin Kaepernick has two 50-yard runs in fourth quarters of recent games. The Seahawks' Russell Wilson had 92 yards rushing and three rushing touchdowns last week, but his decisions from the option attack are what have given defenses the most trouble. Wilson has averaged 8.1 yards per carry on option runs over the past three games. Marshawn Lynch has averaged 13.0 yards on these plays over the same span. The 49ers have faced one zone-read play all season. They allowed 35 yards to the Buffalo Bills' Brad Smith on a Wildcat play in Week 5.

CBs Thurmond, Trufant back at practice; Sherman expected to be available | Seahawks Blog | The Seattle Times
Seattle might have another couple of cornerbacks available, too. Marcus Trufant and Walter Thurmond each returned to practice Friday, coming back from hamstring injuries. Trufant has been out the past three games while Thurmond missed last week's game.

The 5 spot: 49ers in focus | Seahawks Insider
Matt Maiocco, who expertly covers San Francisco for CSNBayArea.com, has been kind enough to answer five questions on the 49ers heading into this weekend’s big matchup. You can follow Matt’s coverage of the 49ers on the web and via Twitter.

Richard Sherman Is All Systems Go Heading into Week 16 | Bleacher Report
By the sounds of it, cornerback Richard Sherman will be in the starting lineup on Sunday Night Football against the San Francisco 49ers . No questions about the appeal please the result will be announced soon enough...

Seattle Seahawks, San Francisco 49ers nearly identical - NFL.com
San Francisco 49ers-Seattle Seahawks is such an awesome matchup because the teams are two sides of the same coin. Gregg Rosenthal untangles the rivals' similarities and differences.

Seattle Seahawks' offense features more than just Russell Wilson - NFL.com
The Seattle Seahawks' offense has been on fire lately. Bucky Brooks examines how Russell Wilson, Marshawn Lynch and Co. have been confounding opponents during this second-half surge.

RG3, Colin Kaepernick, Russell Wilson head NFL's option trend - NFL.com
For years, we were told the option would never work in the NFL. But San Francisco 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick is among an electric group of young signal-callers debunking this myth. Albert Breer reports.

NFP Friday Buzz: Coaching rumors and more | National Football Post
Marc Trestman has not coached in the NFL since 2004 and he has been in the CFL since 2008 as the head coach of the Montreal Alouettes, but some think he could get some play as an NFL head coaching candidate this year. Trestman, who previously directed offenses for the Browns, 49ers, Cardinals and Raiders, interviewed with the Colts last year for the job that went to Chuck Pagano. The word out of Indianapolis is he was impressive, and that could help Trestman get more interviews moving forward.

NFP looks at prospects playing in the Fiesta Bowl. | National Football Post
Russ Lande breaks down the best prospects playing in the Fiesta Bowl.

NFL Week 16: Five matchups to watch | National Football Post
Eli Manning vs. Ed Reed, Kaepernick, A.P. and more.

What is The RSP? | The Rookie Scouting Portfolio

FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Innovative Statistics, Intelligent Analysis | Under Pressure: Stiff Locker
The Titans beat the Jets on Monday Night Football mainly due to the disaster that is the Jets current offense. But it wasn’t a good night for quarterback Jake Locker, especially when it came to his pocket awareness.

FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Innovative Statistics, Intelligent Analysis | Word of Muth: Don't Underset Aldon Smith
The original plan for this week’s column was to write a little bit about both the New England and San Francisco offensive lines after their game on Sunday night, but there was so much going on when New England’s offense was on the field that I decided to focus on that side of the ball exclusively.

Jim Harbaugh upgrades Justin Smith from doubtful to questionable | ProFootballTalk
The only game Smith has missed in his NFL career was the first game of his rookie season, the result of a lengthy contract holdout after the Bengals chose him with the fourth overall pick in the 2001 NFL draft. He has played in 185 consecutive games since then.

The Tape Never Lies: Mark Sanchez hasn’t developed, and he won’t | 100 Yards and Running | Blogs | theScore.com
Coming out of the University of Southern California, Mark Sanchez had, I believe, 16 career starts at the college level. He deemed that enough to declare early, much to the chagrin of head coach Pete Carroll, but it wasn’t enough to start in the NFL. He benefited from a very talented USC team with an offensive scheme that suited both his talent and limitations. An abundance of short passes that are so often seen in West Coast Offenses was the norm for Sanchez, who also did a lot of boot action and rollouts in general. Simplified reads for a simple quarterback in a complex and dangerous game.

Butch Jones: WR Patterson 'definitely going to the NFL' - CBSSports
Patterson currently ranks as NFLDraftScout.com's No. 7 WR for the 2013 NFL Draft and is considered a second-round pick. Although still unpolished as a route runner, Patterson has explosive ability with the ball in his hands with excellent acceleration and vision to weave through defenses.