Thursday, y'all.
Rookie QB Week 2 rankings: Andrew Luck leads pack - NFL.com
5. Russell Wilson Save the angry emails, Seattle Seahawks fans. I picked your team to win the NFC West and love to watch Wilson. He came in fifth because this was a ridiculous week for rookie quarterbacks and Wilson wasn't asked to do much. Special teams gave him a 10-0 lead. One 14-play drive only required one completion. Another 88-yard touchdown drive only required two.
The Payne Train: The Ethics of Dirtiness | Shutdown Corner - Yahoo! Sports
The NFL is abuzz with allegations of dirty play, and many point to the replacement officials as the reason. They claim that the scabs don't have the ability to police the game like they should, and that players are accordingly trying to get away with more. Frankly, I'm tired of talking about the replacement officials, so instead let's just have a quick chat about dirty play.
Stock up, stock down " Seahawks Draft Blog
Last week we published a ‘mock draft’. Although it wasn’t really a mock, not this early in the process. It was more an attempt to identify potential first round picks we can monitor during the college season. I won’t be starting the usual Wednesday mocks until later in the season, but that doesn’t stop us looking at who helped or hurt their stock in week three.
Four thoughts on Golden Tate's $21K fine - NFC West Blog - ESPN
What comes to mind after the NFL levied a $21,000 fine against Seattle Seahawks receiver Golden Tate:
Seahawks' ‘D’ might be best they’ve ever had | Seattle Seahawks - The News Tribune
"So many guys are more aware and communicating better and adding to the overall effort in many ways other than their own personal play," coach Pete Carroll said. "We have a chance to really improve."
Seahawks.com Blog | Up next: Green Bay Packers
Unsung hero: Charles Woodson. How can a guy who’s in his 15th NFL season and has been to eight Pro Bowls be unsung? Woodson has moved to strong safety in the Packers’ base defense, and still plays as the slot corner in the nickel and other sub-packages. This after being voted NFL Defensive Player of the Year last season, when he shared the league lead with seven interceptions. Woodson got his 55th career interception last week against the Bears and in the opener he played in his 200th career game. Nine of his career 11 interception returns for touchdowns have come since joining the Packers in 2006, and the total ties him for second all-time with Darren Sharper – one behind Hall of Famer Rod Woodson.
The whole story: Seahawks only half good so far | Seahawks Blog | The Seattle Times
The Seahawks' offense has yet to score a first-half touchdown, and two of the three field goals Seattle has managed in the first two periods of the first two games were the result of turnovers.
By the numbers: Packers at Seahawks | Seahawks Blog | The Seattle Times
What do the numbers say about Monday's matchup? The Packers have allowed the second-fewest passing yards in the league while Seattle has thrown for the fewest. The fact Green Bay leads the league with 11 sacks isn't exactly encouraging for Seattle, either.
Don't insist on selling Russell Wilson short | Seahawks Blog | The Seattle Times
short QB That was the subject line of the e-mail that arrived Tuesday. You can guess what followed: A complaint against the performance of Seattle's offense -- specifically in the red zone -- under the direction of Russell Wilson so far this season.
Lions vs. 49ers: Breaking Down Alex Smith's 107.7 Quarterback Rating | Bleacher Report
Before Jim Harbaugh arrived in San Francisco, Alex Smith had never put together back-to-back games where he had a quarterback rating above 100. Not to mention he had only had seven games prior in his career where his quarterback rating hit the century mark.
Week 3 injuries you need to know - NFL.com
The Chargers scored 38 points without running back Ryan Mathews and Antonio Gates last week. It looks like they'll get both stars back this week. They participated in practice Wednesday as they prepare to face the Eagles. San Diego is slipping under the radar at this point at 2-0, but that won't be the case if they can beat Philadelphia on Sunday. Here are the other injuries you should know from Wednesday's official report:
The Top 5 Cornerbacks for the 2013 NFL Draft | National Football Post
As the NFL has morphed into a pass first league over the last fifteen years, the ability to pressure the quarterback and cover receivers has become vital to a defense’s success. In addition, as big receivers like Calvin Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald and Andre Johnson have become dominant players; teams are constantly trying to find tall cornerbacks who can cover them. As you read the breakdowns of the top cornerbacks below, you will not see Tyrann Mathieu as he is now expected to try and return to play for LSU in 2013, which I believe would absolutely be the smartest decision for him.
The UFL & NFL could use one another | National Football Post
My phone, along with every other active NFL agent’s phone, has been ringing off the hook the last few days. UFL teams have been like boiler room operators trying to secure the best players who are not currently under contract with an NFL team. For a while, I didn’t even return the calls because I wasn’t sure if the league would get off the ground this year. However, now with their CBS TV contract secured and head coaches Jim Fassel and Kurt Schottenheimer inked, the league will play its first game on Wednesday September 25th.
Scout Talk | National Football Post
Teams don’t often cut second round draft picks one year later. So it’s worth examining at the case of Jaiquawn Jarrett to examine what went wrong with the Eagles safety. NFP spoke with three front office men to get their input. These were the mistakes that were identified in the Jarrett case.
Analysis Notebook Week 2, 2012 | ProFootballFocus.com
We now have two weeks of NFL action in the books, and once again Senior Analyst Sam Monson takes a look a little deeper inside with the Analysis Notebook.
Re-Fo: Cowboys @ Seahawks, Week 2 | ProFootballFocus.com
Most expected the Dallas Cowboys to come through Week 2 with a 2-0 record, in fact, just one PFF analyst picked against them. After outdueling the defending Super Bowl champions on opening night, and seeing their Week 2 opponents lose to the Arizona Cardinals, it was almost elementary. Instead it was the Seattle Seahawks that came out on top, convincingly, in a 27-7 game.
NFL fines Golden Tate $21,000 for block on Sean Lee | ProFootballTalk
For his part, Lee has said he thinks hits like Tate’s are part of football. But he also seemed to be annoyed by the way Tate got up and started celebrating afterward. "Crackback hits, that’s not a definition of toughness," Lee said. "A definition of toughness is hitting, squaring up, being able to do your job as hard as you can every single play. That’s at least what I believe. Anybody can crackback block."
Week 3 Target Watch – NFC - Targets and Touches - Rotoworld.com
Now that we have two games under our belt, I’ll be showing you the per-week targets and the total number of targets. So for Larry Fitzgerald you’ll see "Larry Fitzgerald: 11-5 (16)." That means he had eleven targets Week 1, five targets Week 2 for a total of 16 targets. Math!!
How TV Sports Docs Changed Reporting - Grantland
How the Hard Knocks era vaporized the standards of clubhouse access
Film session: Eagles' 'Hi-Lo Triple-In Flood' | National Football Post
Today, let’s go back to the Eagles 24-23 win over the Ravens and break down the "Hi-Lo-Triple-In Flood" out of Posse personnel from the "All-22" film.
Ay Bray Bray - Evaluations - Rotoworld.com
Note from Josh: In an effort to offer even more detailed evaluations, I reached out to Eric Stoner who offers a slightly different perspective on prospects than I do. Eric is excellent at explaining the positives and negatives of prospects' mechanics and their issues facing different types of alignments and coverages. His first article looks at Tennessee junior QB Tyler Bray, who flashes tremendous skill but struggles in certain situations. I'll pass it off to Eric to tell us why...
Smokin' Jay Cutler
This site is dedicated to the most apathetic looking athlete in the history of sports.
Remembering Steve Sabol, The Man Who Made Pro Football Look Awesome - SBNation.com
NFL Films president Steve Sabol passed away at 69 years old on Tuesday, and there's no better way to remember him than by remembering his life's work: Making pro football look like the greatest sport...
Seattle Seahawks QB Russell Wilson measured by more than just height - ESPN
When nobody was watching, a little quarterback practiced for his day in front of the cameras. He used a hairbrush for a microphone. His dad did the interviewing, prepping him in the hopes that one day a roomful of people would listen. Anything in his control, the kid would be prepared for it. The tightest spiral? He was up at 6 a.m. to work on that. The smartest guy in the locker room? He once drove 17 hours straight, from Richmond, Va., to the University of Wisconsin just to get a copy of the playbook so he could become one with it over the Fourth of July weekend.
NFL Power Rankings Week 3 - National Football League - ESPN
Not that they weren't impressed by others. The Seahawks, thanks to a convincing victory over Dallas, made the biggest gain, jumping nine spots from No. 26 to No. 17. Arizona (up six spots) and Philadelphia (five) were also big movers.
Cowboys meet Legion of Boom in Seahawks Home Opener (Sam’s Visceral Reaction Week 2) " The Matchups Zone
Last week Doug Baldwin tweeted he’d need some new teeth after a costly-dropped past in the Seahawks Week 1 loss at the Arizona Cardinals. Baldwin better let Cowboys linebacker Sean Lee borrow those falsies after getting absolutely here-I-am, rock-you-like-a-hurricaned (Scorpions reference, whaaaaat?) by Hawks receiver Golden Tate in a play that basically summed up how the day went for the ‘boys in a 27-7 loss at Century Link Field.
Looking closer at Brady & 'tipping plays' - New England Patriots Blog - ESPN Boston
"We let Tom Brady tell us what kind of defense we were going to play," Horton said. "What I mean by that is we had looked at them and given our players some fantastic keys. We'd call the defense in the huddle, but if New England came out [with a specific look], we were going to check to [something else] because we knew they were going to run the ball. The players did a great job. "When [Aaron] Hernandez got hurt, it threw that game-plan out the window. We knew that whenever Hernandez was in tight, it was going to be a run.
So we had a run check. But when he got hurt, it screwed that up because they went to three wide receivers [instead of two tight ends]. What they did, and we figured out real quick, was whenever Tom Brady was under the center they were going to run the ball and whenever he was in the shotgun he was going to pass the ball. "We told our players, make the run check if Tom Brady is under the center. If he's in the gun, go to the pass check. They handled it beautifully. We had dual calls and what we were telling them was that we knew when they were going to run and pass. Our players put us in the best position to win the game. They did a flawless job of managing the game of getting inside New England's head."
Seattle Seahawks Blog - Hawk Blogger: Early Look: Green Bay Packers
It has been a while since a Seattle Seahawks team could look forward to playing a team like the Green Bay Packers that went 15-1 last season. There has not been enough firepower on either side of the ball to realistically compete with championship level teams. Things are different this year, and it is not just in Seattle.