Coffee and Cigarettes: Seahawks Links for Sunday

LINKS!

Press Conference: Pete Carroll Preseason Week 3
Coach Carroll addresses the media following the Seahawks 44-14 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs.

Derrick Johnson Says 'It's Hard To Learn' From Blowout Loss - SB Nation Kansas City
"We thought that we could stop the run," Johnson said of the Chiefs' defensive plan heading into the game. "I think we did a good job at it. The quarterback played tremendously, especially when things broke down he took off running. He threw a couple of good balls. We had a lot of penalties tonight. Seattle is a good team, and when you get penalties the way we did, it's hard to win. It's hard to be in the game."

Wilson should (and will) be the starter - Blog - MyNorthwest.com
Personally, my favorite throw was an incompletion down the left sideline to Braylon Edwards where he stood in the pocket and was unaffected by an unblocked rusher. He stood tall (ha!), took the hit, and nearly completed a big play. It was everything he wasn't supposed to be able to do!

ESPN.com's Mike Sando: 'Russell Wilson is winning this competition' - John Clayton Show at KIRORadio.com
ESPN.com's Mike Sando tells "The John Clayton Show" that Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson is 'winning this competition.' Clayton and Sando also break down the team's potential roster cuts, position by position.

Carroll on Wilson: "This is what we had hoped to see." | Seahawks Insider
"Honestly, this is what we had hoped to see," Carroll said. "We wanted to see if he could just go do it again effectively and play well. And he was very comfortable in the pocket. He had good protection for the most part. He took off (running) when he needed to, and he did that really well "He had run so much in the first two games – running meaning moving outside of the pocket – I wanted to see what would happen if he would just hold in there and do everything and read it all out. And he did exactly that. So it was a nice job by him."

Five Incompletions in Five Days (Part One)
Pre snap you can see TO out to the bottom of the frame, the Broncos have two safeties deep. Drayton Florence is lined up on Owens, pressed up against the line of scrimmage. Right before the snap the safety on the opposite side of the field comes up to the line of scrimmage leaving only one safety deep.

Five Incompletions in Five Days (Part Deux)
I’m back for second round in as many days! In case you missed it, I’m trying my hand at breaking down plays by examining all five of Matt Flynn’s incompletions intended for TO in Saturday night’s game in Denver. In the first session I ended up placing the blame on Owens for the lack of a completion, if you missed it you can check it out here. I’m sure you want to read about Russell Wilson’s somewhat shocking promotion but you’ll have to wait. I promised myself I’d write all five of these and I’m going to dammit!

Seahawks rookie QB Russell Wilson is writing his own story | Seahawks | The Seattle Times
So the three things we learned about the Seahawks this week, not surprisingly, revolve around the quarterback who answers to two last names and wears No. 3 for the Seahawk

Observation deck: Seahawks-Chiefs - AFC West Blog - ESPN
The Chiefs may be the answer to a trivia question: They were the opponent of Russell Wilson's first preseason start. The rookie quarterback was terrific in his staring debut. He beat up the Chiefs pretty good. Should Kansas City be worried that a third-round pick whipped them? It’s not ideal, but again, it’s the preseason, so it really doesn’t matter. Plus, the Chiefs have some injuries. Still, like their performances against St. Louis last week, the Chiefs’ defense showed it is not quite ready for prime time.

Crennel not planning drastic changes to offense, defense - KansasCity.com
"We’re not ready to throw the offense or the defense in the trash can or anything like that," Crennel said. "The thing that we have to do is refine some techniques and we have to play better. Our guys are capable of doing that. We’ve got good ability on the team. I still feel that way. I still feel like we can make some plays and do some things. But we also have to be diligent about doing our responsibilities and executing our responsibilities and executing them at a high level. "I’m frustrated because of the way the game turned out but as you look at it, it’s not as bad as it seemed. There are some good things in the game. Guys are hustling and trying to play and trying to do the right thing. But in this team game, if you have one guy who’s not on top of his game, then the other team, sometimes they can find the soft spot. (Seattle) found the soft spot a couple of times (Friday) night. We’ve got to shore up the soft spot and not allow there to be any and then we’ll be able to be competitive from that point.

Three things we're still trying to figure out: Seahawks 44, Chiefs 14 | Seahawks Blog | The Seattle Times
What's the significance of Seattle's blowout victory? You can't say that steamrolling an opponent like the Seahawks did in Kansas City is a bad thing, but it's also good to keep in mind that it might not have much long-term significance, either. The last time the Seahawks won their first three exhibition games: 2009. That was the year Jim Mora coached the team and Seattle finished 5-11. The last time Seattle scored more points than the 44 it rang up on Kansas City: 1997. That was Dennis Erickson's third year as head coach, and the Seahawks went out and lost their first two games - both of which were at home - by a combined score of 76-17.

Three things we learned: Seahawks 44, Chiefs 14 | Seahawks Blog | The Seattle Times
Russell Wilson's success is about more than the caliber of competition. His statistics from the first two exhibition games didn't lie, per se, but they did include a footnote however.* Well, Wilson went up against Kansas City's starters on Friday, a group that included Pro Bowlers like defensive end Tamba Hali and linebacker Derrick Johnson, and Wilson was just as effective, passing for 185 yards, rushing for 58 and leading Seattle on six scoring drives on its first six possessions against the Chiefs. His quarterback rating of 119.4 ranks No. 1 in the NFL after Friday's games.

Seattle Seahawks News: Daunting Schedule May Keep Russell Wilson on the Bench -
Russell Wilson played well enough against the Chiefs on Friday to get strong consideration for a starting shot with the Seahawks. Going 13 for 19 with 185 yards and two touchdowns, the rookie out of Wisconsin helped guide Seattle to a 44-14 win in Kansas City. Building off impressive performances against the Broncos and Titans the first two weeks of the preseason, Wilson is definitely making a claim to be tabbed the starter going into their Week 1 game in Arizona.

Wilson takes QB reins, might not let ’em go after 44-14 win over Chiefs - Seahawks -
"I have to watch the film, obviously," Wilson said. "I just try to do everything I can to be successful. I can’t control all of that. I know that we keep getting better as a football team, and that’s the exciting part."

Seahawks get a glimpse of what Owens can do | HeraldNet.com - Sports
"He's on our team now," Thomas said. "He's been making great plays in practice, and it's good to see him translate that to the game. I know he has a lot of people watching him and criticizing him. So it's just great for him to get his first catch out of the way so there won't be so much pressure on him."

Steve Breaston: Chiefs took 'step back' vs. Seahawks - NFL.com
"They (the Seahawks) punched us in the face, and we didn'€™t respond well," Chiefs wide receiver Steve Breaston said after the game. "Everybody is big on the third preseason game. It’s a step back as a team."

Why I got it wrong with Russell Wilson " Seahawks Draft Blog
I’m happy to admit when I get something wrong. I think people who write draft blogs should be prepared to do that. Not with every bad judgement, but certainly with some. Just to balance it out. There’s a lot of self-appreciation from people who pontificate on the draft but not enough humbling honesty sometimes. I ignored Russell Wilson because of his height. That was a big mistake.

Rookie quarterback rankings: Russell Wilson's on top - NFL.com
In this season of the rookie quarterback, no one saw Russell Wilson coming. We knew all along that three rookies -- Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III and Brandon Weeden -- would start in Week 1. Ryan Tannehill figured to have his chance with the Miami Dolphins sooner than later. Wilson was viewed as a project, a No. 3 quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks.

Seahawks.com Blog | Game at a glance: Wilson does his thing, again "
"I kind of baited the quarterback a little bit," Thomas said of Chiefs QB Matt Cassel, who had completed 75 percent of his passes in Kansas City’s first two preseason games. "He was a little late on the read. So I was able to make the play. I always think about touchdowns. I want that ball in my hands and when I get it, I try to make something happen."

Tim Hasselbeck: Russell Wilson's height is a non-issue - Blog - MyNorthwest.com
"I got the coaches' tape on all his Wisconsin games from a year ago. I believe it was four or five games that I watched of him – and this is at a time where everyone is talking about him being 5-10 – so I watch four or give games. I didn't see one ball get batted down. Not a single ball got batted down," Hasselbeck said. "I was watching him the same time I was watching Ryan Tannehill, who I believe is every bit of 6-3. Tannehill got like three balls batted down every game I watched."

Video: Russell Wilson in focus | Seahawks Insider
JmpasqNFL of Draftbreakdown.com has broken down every pass play of Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson on youtube. Check out the video below. (hat tip to Davis Hsu)

Predicting The Seahawks Cuts Down To 75 - 12th Man Rising - A Seattle Seahawks Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and more.
Somewhere between the minute I publish this and the next couple days, the Seahawks will cut their roster from 90 down to 75. I’ve been getting a lot of questions about who it will be, and the truth is that I have no idea. It’s not always as obvious as you’d expect for this first cut, as teams will keep players who have no chance at the final roster but play at a position where the depth is needed for practice, and they might cut a player on the bubble in order to give them more time to find a new team. It’s fairly unpredictable, but people keep asking. So here I go with an attempt.

Playbook: Ravens' red zone play action | National Football Post
Breaking down Flacco's TD pass to Boldin vs. the Jags.

Jamaal Charles can overcome Jim Brown as league's most explosive runner ever - Kerry J. Byrne - SI.com
Jamaal Charles was one of the great casualties of 2011. Now he's back, in good health, and with a chance to shatter one of legend Jim Brown's seemingly unbreakable records. Charles can leap past Brown and stake a claim as the most explosive ballcarrier in NFL history.

Seahawks history in the making " Seahawks Draft Blog
I don’t even want to entertain thoughts of Wilson not starting at Arizona or for the majority of games over the next decade. It does not take a ton of insight to see the path Wilson has ahead of him. Greatness. Carroll may act coy, but we all know the Russell Wilson era in Seattle has begun. Doing anything else would make a mockery of his "earn everything" mantra. Even Matt Flynn knows that this competition is over.