Coffee and Cigarettes: Seahawks Links for Wednesday

Hump day!

Flynn to start vs. Tennessee; Jackson demoted to third unit | Seahawks Insider
Owens was not at practice this morning, but is expected to practice with the team on Wednesday. Carroll said that Owens will not play on Saturday against Tennessee. Carroll said the decision to bring in Owens had to do with replacing the impact that Mike Williams had on the team in 2010 when he led the team with 65 receptions, a big, physical receiver who can win on the outside against one-on-one coverage.

Matt Flynn to start Seahawks' preseason opener - Blog - MyNorthwest.com
"Matt has done a fantastic job so far," Carroll said. "He's learned the system, he's on it. He can make all of the adjustments, all the calls. He sees the defense really well. I love that he's moving really well in the pocket."

Press Conference: Pete Carroll
Pete Carroll talks about the Seahawks quarterback situation and the addition of Terrell Owens to the 90-man roster.

Pete Carroll: Terrell Owens has a chance to start - NFL.com
Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett, Owens' former offensive coordinator in Dallas and likely familiar with the receiver's less flattering angles, wishes the receiver well. "He's going to go down as one of the all-time greats to ever play his position," Garrett said, via the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "He has a passion for playing. We know that because we were around him, how he practiced and how he played. I wish him nothing but the best. He'll help their football team."

Carson Palmer recommended T.O. to Pete Carroll | ProFootballTalk
That’s no surprise: Palmer has spoken highly of Owens in the past, and has said he thinks Owens’ work ethic makes him a good influence on younger players. It’s also not surprising that Carroll has high hopes for Owens as a positive locker room presence. Carroll was the 49ers’ defensive coordinator in 1996, Owens’ rookie season in San Francisco, so he has some familiarity with Owens. And back then, Owens was known as a hard worker who wanted to prove himself worthy of the third-round draft pick that the 49ers spent on him.

ProFootballWeekly.com - Kuechly looking disruptive in run, pass 'D'
We hear it could take quite a while to clear out the crowd competing for the Seahawks’ No. 2 WR job behind Sidney Rice. If there’s a front-runner among the six challengers for the position at last count, it would probably have to be third-year pro Golden Tate, who displayed some promising flashes late last season after Rice was placed on injured reserve. "But it’s hard to say with him," one team insider said. "Just when you’re ready to anoint him, Tate backslides. He’s a heck of an athlete, but he still needs to work on refining his skills." Ben Obomanu, Deon Butler, Kris Durham, Ricardo Lockette and Braylon Edwards are also competing for the No. 2 spot.

Film Session: How the Kansas City Defense Got the Best of Aaron Rodgers | Draft Breakdown
Now for the defense. Note the alignment of the Kansas City corners – they’re head up over the outside receivers. The corner aligned over Finley, in particular, is trying to take away an inside release off the snap off the ball. Everything about this defensive alignment screams "Cover 2 Man." In actuality, though, the Chiefs are disguising their coverage intent. While it looks like Cover 2 Man pre-snap, they’re actually running Quarters – a four deep, three-under coverage.

Seahawks rookie report: Bruce Irvin quickly impresses | Seahawks Blog | The Seattle Times
DE Bruce Irvin - First round, No. 15 overall Irvin is backing up Chris Clemons at the LEO defensive end position, and also part of the team's nickel pass-rush package, which currently consists of Clinton McDonald and Jason Jones as the defensive tackles and Irvin and Clemons as the ends. Watching him rush off the edge is pretty impressive as he's explosive coming around the edge, and it was impossible to miss his speed as he ran down running back Marshawn Lynch from behind in Sunday's scrimmage.

2010 Owens vs. Seahawks' current roster - NFC West Blog - ESPN
New Seattle Seahawks receiver Terrell Owens caught 72 passes for 983 yards and nine touchdowns for Cincinnati in 2010, his most recent NFL season.

Ten more thoughts about the Seahawks signing Terrell Owens | The Brewery | The Seattle Times
Here's my column on the Seahawks acquiring the rights to the T.O. sideshow. As usual, I have several dozen more thoughts on the situation. But I'll limit it to 10 for my and your sanity.

Terrell Owens' deal with Seahawks is no guarantee he'll play in 2012 - Peter King - SI.com
Terrell Owens is a Seahawk, for now. Not to rain on the T.O. parade, and I have no idea if he's going to make the team, but slow things down a bit. Since Jay Glazer reported Monday night that T.O. had signed with Seattle, I've been reading which dates he's going to oppose former teams and how high he might put his already Hall of Fame-contending numbers. Seattle signed him to compete for a roster spot in training camp after being out of the game for 19 months. He's 38. The contract's not guaranteed. He's gone to the right place because only Doug Baldwin, Golden Tate and Sidney Rice are near-locks for roster spots -- and Rice might not be ready to start the season after two offseason shoulder surgeries. But he's hardly a roster lock.

The Case for an Improved San Francisco 49ers Offense in 2012 - The Triangle Blog - Grantland
By almost any rational measure, the San Francisco 49ers significantly overachieved last season on offense. The Alex Smith–led attack finished in the bottom third of the NFL in yards, yards per play, and passing yards. Even the vaunted 49ers rushing attack was more a function of quantity over quality. San Francisco’s top-10 finish in rushing yards came on just 4.1 yards per rush, 19th best in the league. Under first-year head coach Jim Harbaugh, this was a team that let their defense do the talking — as well as the winning.

Smart Football's Chris Brown Joins The CougCenter Podcast - Part 1 - CougCenter
We originally had planned to just talk to him for about 30 or 45 minutes, but the conversation was so good, we ended up going much longer than that. Consequently, we're breaking the interview into two parts. Part 1 today focuses on what his site is all about, how he watches a game and how more serious fans can apply that, and why it is that he's so fascinated by the Air Raid. We also asked him about Mike Price -- or, as Brian likes to call him, the "OG Of The Spread." An excerpt of Brown's response:

Seahawks' signing of Terrell Owens a dangerous move | Jerry Brewer | The Seattle Times
T.O., the most infamous initials in sports, has agreed to a one-year deal with the Seahawks. It's a low-risk commitment, and if it doesn't work out, the Seahawks could easily cut him at any time. But for as long as the high-maintenance future Hall of Famer is in town, he always has the potential to spur a disastrous level of drama. On a team that already must monitor Marshawn Lynch, Kellen Winslow Jr. and Braylon Edwards (if he makes the team) for various reasons, this is both a dangerous acquisition and a fascinating experiment.

Training Camp Buzz: Pete Carroll's T.O. luxury - NFL.com
The cynical part of me wants to ignore the Terrell Owens signing. He's a 38-year-old wide receiver who wasn't in the NFL last year. He should be afforded the same attention as other guys fighting for a roster spot. He wants the attention, and the only way to way to diffuse someone yelling "Look at me!" is to ignore him. To not care. And still ... I care.

Seahawks sign Terrell Owens to 1-year contract | Seattle Seahawks - The News Tribune
And apparently Owens is in shape. According to an ESPN report, Owens ran the 40-yard dash in 4.45 seconds during his Monday morning workout, leaving Seattle players saying he’s back. "The man still got it!" said Baldwin via Twitter. Added rookie receiver Lavasier Tuinei via Twitter: "Just saw T.O. Workout for Seahawks the man still has it. Hope he comes to camp because I can learn a lot from him!"

A three-way QB quandary | Seattle Seahawks - The News Tribune
What the Seattle Seahawks face with their quarterback situation is less of a controversy than a quandary. Controversy implies dissension, whereas a quandary seems more of a dilemma. The former causes people to argue their case, the latter causes all factions to ask, "Uh? What’s going on here?"

Senior Signal Callers - Preseason Positional Rankings - Rotoworld.com
After previewing projected offensive tackles and interior linemen, today I offer glimpses at this year’s senior quarterback talent. Now, more than any other position, I consider quarterback prospects’ final season of games as their true resume. It is in those games that I really study the details; which throws each prefers to make, how they react on specific down and distances, and other positive or negative tendencies. For those reasons, the short preseason evaluations you read below are merely general first impressions. By no means will this list lock into place when games kickoff, but instead I consider these a nice starting point. But do not withhold feedback, I would love to hear from you on Twitter.

Training Camp Scrimmage Break Down Play-By-Play.
On August 5th the Seahawks held their first scrimmage of the season. I tried to document every play that I saw with an emphasis on the Quarter Backs. Overall I think Flynn took the most shots down field and was putting pressure on the defense. Russell Wilson managed the game very well and only had one bad throw. Tarvaris had the unfortunate task of going against the #1 defense, and he struggled because of it. Now, onto the play-by-play!

Matt Flynn to start Seahawks preseason opener | HeraldNet.com - Seattle Sidelines
Asked when a decision on the starter will be made, Carroll said: "As soon as possible, but I'm not going to rush it."

T.O. is a Seattle Seahawk.. I need a minute. " The Matchups Zone
I need a minute. Usually news such as this is given with a warning like: "You may want to sit down for this" or "are you holding anything sharp?". There are very few things I don’t like about the team currently residing in Seattle. I love the Coach. I love the fact he has built a great defense, and running game. And I love the tough as nails physicality he’s trying to install. That was up until a short while ago when Pete Carroll was abducted by aliens and returned with a small screw loose. (That’s the only thing that explains it)

Are training camp fights overhyped? | National Football Post
Training camp fights are going to happen. That’s a part of preseason football in the NFL. I went through them as a player and we are seeing them again this season with multiple teams. However, are they becoming slightly overhyped?

Dave Krieg's Strike Beard: Owens!!!! Owens!!!!! Owens!!!!!
There's a scene in the movie Moneyball where shit gets totally real between Billy Beane and aging superstar David Justice. While Justice takes cuts in the batting cage, Beane tells him how it is in the rawest terms possible- Justice wants to stay up in "The Show" for as long as he can, and Beane wants to wring every last drop of Major League production out of Justice's body. This is EXACTLY the arrangement between Terrell Owens and the Seattle Seahawks.

Run and Shoot in Action: Mouse Davis Passing Game Cut-Ups | Smart Football
The Run and Shoot remains one of the most powerful offenses ever invented, and is well worth studying:

FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Innovative Statistics, Intelligent Analysis | Quarterback Development Patterns
When ESPN asked us to write a piece on the development of the Jets' passing game this season (which you will find here), it got me thinking of the question of when quarterbacks develop the most. A few years ago, when he first came up with the Lewin Career Forecast, David Lewin look at our numbers for quarterbacks and found that quarterbacks improved the most between years 1-2 and years 3-4. I've quoted that research a few times over the last couple of years, and I wanted to give Sean McCormick those numbers for the ESPN piece. The problem is that David Lewin did that research back when we only had DVOA numbers for six or seven years of quarterbacks. Now we have 21 years of quarterbacks, so I went to go try to duplicate the research in order to make sure I got the same results. I didn't.

Blocking Clinic: Clemson TE Dwayne Allen | The Rookie Scouting Portfolio
The longer I study film the more I enjoy the skill of blocking. Yesterday, I watched Clemson tight end Dwayne Allen put on a blocking clinic. The fact that Allen has the physical skills and hands to become a productive move-tight end or hybrid player already places him atop most teams’ positional boards. The fact that he demonstrated the skill to execute a full complement of blocks gives him star potential.

How often does the best rookie running back end up having the best career?
Yesterday, I looked at how frequently the highest drafted rookie running back ended leading his draft class in rushing yards. Today, we’ll examine how often the best rookie running back ends up being having the most career rushing yards among the members from his class.

What are the toughest run schemes to defend? | National Football Post
Last week, I talked about the three toughest routes to defend in the NFL passing game, but let's not forget about the importance (and the value) of running the football. Today, let’s take a look three run schemes that will give defenses issues.

Analyzing Seattle Seahawks Football - Why You Shouldn’t Be Too Concern About T.O. Coming To Seattle…
A lot of folks are up in arms over Seattle signing Terrell Owens. I mean livid. Angry. "Pissed". I’ve heard or read some pretty creative expressions of "cyber anger" in the last few hours, and I’ve gotta say that while I get it, there’s far too much being made of the "risk" that the Seahawks are taking here. I’ll get right to it because I don’t have a lot of time – here are two reasons why this is a low-risk deal for Seattle at this point:

Kendall Hunter Stands Out
Hunter never has an off day from offensive coordinator Greg Roman’s vantage point. "I’ve never seen Kendall Hunter have a bad day or a bad snap where he wasn’t totally tuned into football," said Roman about the No. 2 runner listed on the current depth chart. "Kendall’s becoming more of a well-rounded football player. We’re really glad we have him. He gets better every day."

We Have Football - Football Daily Dose - Rotoworld.com
The 2012 NFL preseason kicked off Sunday night when the Cardinals and Saints met in the Hall of Fame Game. First-teamers didn't play much beyond the first quarter on either side, but we at least finally have a small sample from which to make observations. An undrafted rookie roster long shot was the star of the show, and that's a reminder that NFL preseason games don’t quite forecast what will go down in October and November. But it's football, and we'll gladly take it.

First Impressions: Cardinals vs. Saints - Hall of Fame Game | ProFootballFocus.com
Football is back! The sense of relief may not be the same as last summer when we faced a potential lost season, and this time around the Olympics are stealing the world’s sporting focus, but after seven months of talk the real hard work of football is beginning again.