Coffee and Cigarettes: Seahawks Links for Saturday

Weekend.

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ESPN Wisconsin - 09/20/12 Wilson: 'Anything's possible'
Mike McCarthy enjoys a good story as much as anybody, and he likes Russell Wilson just fine. In fact, the Green Bay Packers coach hasn’t forgotten how general manager Ted Thompson felt about Wilson the day he returned from his annual visit to the University of Wisconsin last fall. Who knows? Had ex-Packers personnel man John Schneider not been even more enamored with Wilson than Thompson was, the mature-beyond-his-years rookie might be backing up the NFL MVP on Monday night instead of starting for the Seattle Seahawks. "I do remember … He was very impressed with Russell at practice and it was no surprise the type of year he had for the Badgers," McCarthy recalled this week, as his Packers prepared for Wilson. "For him to be starting right away I think speaks volumes, especially because we have such a great appreciation and respect for Matt Flynn."

Seahawks' Wilson keeps passing tests
"John was on Russell early," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said Thursday. Then Carroll did a little vetting of his own. Carroll spent time talking with Superior native Bud Grant, the 85-year-old former coach of the Minnesota Vikings. Grant won a lot of games during Fran Tarkenton's second go-round with the Vikings. Tarkenton was maybe 6-feet tall. "He alleviated a lot of concerns I had," Carroll said.

Seattle Seahawks' defense emerging as one of NFL's best units - NFL.com
The Seattle Seahawks don't receive much national publicity, but Bucky Brooks says Pete Carroll's squad is emerging as a playoff contender behind a highly versatile, ball-hawking defense.

Cowboys Corner: Ryan says Seattle coaches trumped plans to pressure Wilson with fresh offensive tweaks
Believe me, I was wanting to hit the kid, too," said Ryan, responding to criticism that the Cowboys _ who had two sacks _ did not get enough pressure on a rookie quarterback. "They had a plan that wouldn’t allow us to do it … We never got the same game that the Cardinals did. If we did, that kid would have woke up missing."

Week four preview " Seahawks Draft Blog
There are five games on this week’s schedule: Clemson at Florida State, Arizona at Oregon, Oregon State at UCLA, LSU at Auburn and Vanderbilt at Georgia. I’m most looking forward to seeing Clemson’s offensive talent (DeAndre Hopkins, Andre Ellington) versus the Florida State defense (Bjoern Werner, deep secondary). I think overall the Seminoles are a little overrated and their defense is going to need to keep them in this one. I’m not sold on E.J. Manuel as a passer and they’re going to need to rely on the defense to keep things tight. Last year Clemson out-gunned a lot of teams and Manuel isn’t the type of player who can win a shoot-out. Bjoern Werner is going to need to keep a lid on Tajh Boyd and the Tigers passing game – and keeping him blocked could be Clemson’s greatest test. Werner has 6.5 sacks in three games.

Sando's best guesses: Week 3 predictions - NFC West Blog - ESPN
Green Bay Packers at Seattle Seahawks, Monday, 8:20: Pass protection against the Packers' blitzes should concern the Seahawks. The offense had trouble against Arizona's pressure schemes. Seattle must run the ball and I don't think that will be a problem. Besides, there is no turning back at this point. I will settle for nothing less than another 4-0 week from the West. Sando's best guess: Seahawks 27, Packers 20.

Seahawks.com Blog | Where to watch, listen to, and follow Monday Night Football
Can’t watch on TV and are wondering how to listen to or otherwise follow Monday’s game against Green Bay? Here’s all the pertinent media information for the Seahawks-Packers game:

Plan goes awry, so Flynn adjusts to backup role | Seattle Seahawks - The News Tribune
"I’ve been running that offense for four years," Flynn said with a grin. "So I guess if anybody can imitate him, I’m going to have a good chance of trying."

Seahawks' Flynn making best of his situation | HeraldNet.com - Sports
"I'm always preparing like I've got to be ready to go. That's how my mentality is -- I'm ready to go whenever I need to go. That's how I'm always going to look at it. I still have confidence and I think I could still get the job done if I need to."

Golden Tate wants to appeal his fine for explosive block | Seahawks notes | Seahawks | The Seattle Times
"I'm going to ask them that: 'What would you suggest that I do to make sure that this doesn't happen again?' " Tate said. "Because I never have intentions on injuring a player, and I always want to play within the rules. So that's a question that is going to come up when I have my appeal."

Seahawks' Matt Flynn keeps cool despite not getting to start against his former team | Seahawks | The Seattle Times
"It's not my decision to make," Flynn said. "I'm proud of the way that I've played and I've picked everything up and how I've handled coming into a new situation. I can't control anything. I'm just trying to make the team better and make myself better, and stay confident."

First order of business for Seahawks: stop Rodgers - Blog - MyNorthwest.com
"He's does some things that are really subtle. If you look carefully during the game and the replays and things you'll see him look defenders off better than anyone is doing in the game. There's nobody that does it as well as he does. He will actually make the defense move with his eyes and throw the ball accordingly," Carroll told "Seattle's Morning News" on Friday. "You add all of the ability that he has to move and find guys either by running to find space or to run to make yards with his legs alone, he's really, really good at it. So I don't think that there's a guy playing at a higher level than him. There's some other great players, too, as well."

Will Golden Tate finally have his breakout season? - Blog - MyNorthwest.com
"If you look at the receivers that it's taken ... until their third year before they blossom you'd be shocked at what that list of players looks like because they're great players," Carroll said.

Pete Carroll: Golden Tate fine justified - Blog - MyNorthwest.com
"He got clipped by the rules," Carroll told "Seattle's Morning News" on Friday. "I'm sure it was the right call by the way they look at it. It was a heck of a block and we just have to try and do it just an inch better and we'd be fine."

When getting overlooked isn't a bad thing for a quarterback | Seahawks Blog | The Seattle Times
Well, Dallas' Jason Hatcher wasn't quite as complimentary and used a term that can be considered offensive to describe Wilson while talking about preparing for Tampa Bay's 6-foot-6 Josh Freeman with the Dallas Morning News. "He's not a little midget like the last guy," Hatcher said, according to the report. "You can see him."

Doug Baldwin misses Friday's practice | Seahawks Blog | The Seattle Times
Receiver Doug Baldwin missed all of Friday's practice with a shoulder injury that limited him Thursday. His status is going to be a question mark for Monday's game though a final injury report won't come until Saturday.

Wilson on passing game: "We can throw it around at any time, any place." | Seahawks Insider
"Oh yeah, definitely," Wilson said, when asked if he could be successful airing it out. "But we’ve got one of the best running backs in the game, too. So you’ve got to do what’s best for our football team, and we’ve got a great defense. "I’m not worried about that. I think that we can throw it around at any time, any place. It’s just one of those things where you have to what’s effective at the time, and be smart with the football and take some time off sometimes too in those situations as well."

Rodgers disarms first line of defense | Seattle Seahawks - The News Tribune
"Those fans are really intelligent; they know when to cheer," Rodgers said Wednesday. "They get so stinkin’ loud; they do a really good job of giving the defense that advantage when we have to go on some silent counts or when we’re trying to communicate with each other."

Russell Wilson talks MNF; John Moffitt takes the bull by the horns | HeraldNet.com - Seattle Sidelines
"Aaron Rodgers is one of the top quarterback in the National Football League, so to be able to play against him and the Packers is something special," he said. ". . . When I was at the University of Wisconsin, all everyone talked about was the Badgers or the Green Bay Packers, but at the same time it's an opponent that we're looking forward to playing against. It'll be a great game and there will be a lot of great football players on that field Monday night.

What you need to know about the Week 3 injury report - NFL.com
We handle all the big injury stories throughout the day on Around the League. Everything else you need to know goes right here, on the most popular weekly injury report rundown that knows coffee helps you think.

NFP Friday Buzz | National Football Post
*More than one front office man believes the record number of points scored in the first two weeks can be traced to replacement officials. Why? Coverage has been a lot more physical, and a lot of holding isn’t being called. It will be interesting to see if scoring goes down if and when the regular officials return.

Playbook: Manning beats the Panthers in the red zone | National Football Post
Let’s go back to the Giants 36-7 win over the Panthers tonight and breakdown some red zone football up on the chalkboard. With the Panthers playing Cover 1 (man-free), QB Eli Manning targeted TE Martellus Bennett on the inside vertical seam for a 15-yard TD. Check out the playbook diagrams and then we will get into some coaching pints.

Peek at the Week: Pats-Ravens -- who's 1-2? Kolb seeks payback vs. Eagles - NFL - CBSSports.com News, Rumors, Scores, Stats, Fantasy
The key here is how effective Seattle's defense will be against Rodgers and the Packers' attack. The Seahawks can't afford to get in a tennis match with these guys, because Rodgers will win in straight sets. So it's defense where they must make an impact, and it worked vs. Dallas. The Cowboys scored once.