Coffee & Cigarettes: Seahawks links for Saturday

Weekend!

The All-22: San Francisco’s complex offense is about far more than a running quarterback | Shutdown Corner - Yahoo! Sports
"One of the most fascinating plays -- and I've seen it college, which shows you how much the college run game is coming into the NFL -- was the LaMichael James touchdown in the NFC Championship game," Cosell said. "It was really cool, because it was two concepts in one play. It was a jet sweep concept with LaMichael James, but they also pulled the guard, and it was power for Colin Kaepernick if he didn't hand the ball off. You don't see that kind of stuff in the NFL. You're going to see more of it now, but you need a quarterback that can run to execute that, because you're counting on a certain defensive response. If the defense takes James away and jumps hard outside, you run power inside with Kaepernick -- who, by the way, probably would have scored on that play if it was power.

What if the Seahawks want a big receiver? " Seahawks Draft Blog
John Schneider and Pete Carroll didn’t rate the 2012 class of pass-catchers, ignoring the group completely. Instead they tried out Terrell Owens, Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow. Edwards lasted a little while on the active roster before getting cut. Owens and Winslow didn’t make it out of camp.

Morning links: K Wiggs signed to futures contract | Seahawks Insider - The News Tribune
The Seattle Seahawks signed kicker Carson Wiggs to a futures contract as part of the team’s 80-man roster for the 2013 season. The Purdue product was with the team during training camp in 2012, and also was brought back for a tryout during the playoffs, with the Seahawks ultimately signing veteran Ryan Longwell because of his postseason experience.

San Francisco 49ers – Niner Insider Blog – SFGate.com " Chris Ault and the pistol offense
Colin Kaepernick doesn’t like when people call his college offense – the pistol – that the 49ers now use at times "gimmicky." "It’s effective" he said.

Greg Scruggs’ high school coach wins NFL honor
Steve Specht made such an impact on Greg Scruggs life at Xavier High School in Cincinnati that the Seahawks’ defensive lineman nominated him for NFL High School Coach of the Year – and Specht won.

Quarterback injuries: Are mobile QBs like Colin Kaepernick more injury-prone than pocket passers? - Slate Magazine
Are mobile quarterbacks like Colin Kaepernick more injury-prone than pocket passers?

Chargers -- I Tight Pair "Power O" - YouTube
The Power O play is one of the favorite run plays of the Chargers. The idea behind the play is to carve out running lanes for the ball carrier on the outside edge of the offensive line. The play side guard, tackle, and tight end all block down away from the run hole. The fullback kicks out (blocks) the first defender that shows up outside of the tight end. The back side guard pulls and leads the ball carrier through the hole that's been created in the defensive front.

Explanation and cut-ups of the "Power O" run play | Smart Football
’ve discussed the "power" play here a few times, because it both quite ubiquitous in college and the pros and also because it is quite good. It’s been around for some time, though, like the counter trey, was made used maybe most famously by Joe Gibbs’s great Washington Redskins teams.

Dave 'Softy' Mahler - Seattle's live and local sports station
Mike Holmgren joined the show this afternoon to talk with Softy about a myriad of topics including (but not limited to) the Seahawks, Russell Wilson, the Super Bowl, gays in the NFL, and much more.

NFL Mock Database

49ers' talent should prevail in Super Bowl XLVII - Blog - MyNorthwest.com
If the Seahawks had held on to beat Atlanta and somehow defeated the 49ers in San Francisco in the NFC championship game, they would have been 3-point favorites to beat the Ravens in the Super Bowl according to John Clayton.

No charges against Leroy Hill Friday | Seahawks Blog | Seattle Times
The King County Prosecutor’s Office did not file charges against Leroy Hill on Friday. That doesn’t mean Hill won’t be charged after his arrest Tuesday in Issaquah on two allegations of domestic violence. The investigation will continue with the prosecutor making a decision on whether to charge Hill at a later date.

$uper Bow! Preview – Is It Worth Watching? " No Fair Weather Fans
Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Eli/Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers…these are all names synonymous with NFL greatness. However, they aren’t the ones playing for ultimate glory in the "Big Game" this weekend. The men fighting for the Lombardi Trophy are Colin Kaepernick and Joe Flacco – two greenhorns to the Big Game’s spotlight.

Jim Harbaugh, John Harbaugh a study in contrasts - NFL.com
It was hard not to notice the contrasts at the press conference: John Harbaugh arrived in a sharp-looking suit; Jim arrived with a pullover, hat and khakis that stopped five inches before his shoes.

NFLPA could challenge Commissioner Roger Goodell's power - NFL.com
NFL Players Association president Domonique Foxworth says players are voicing a desire to challenge commissioner Roger Goodell's power over discipline, especially in the wake of the Saints' Bountygate saga.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell believes HGH testing program will be in place for 2013 | Shutdown Corner - Yahoo! Sports
"I believe that HGH testing is going to happen prior to the 2013 NFL season," Goodell said. "It’s the right thing to do for the players, for their health and well-being long-term. It’s the right thing to do for the integrity of the game. It’s also the right thing to do to send the right message to everybody else in sports. You don’t have to play the game by taking performance-enhancing drugs. The science is there. There is no question about that. [Major League] Baseball, Olympics, everyone believes that the science is there and are utilizing the tests, so we need to get to that agreement."

NFP's final look at players that struggled at the Texas VS The Nation Practices. | National Football Post
Russ Lande gives final thoughts on five players that hurt their draft stock at the Texas VS The Nation Game.

Friday Buzz: Super Bowl Scuttlebutt | National Football Post
*Those familiar with the Jets’ thinking are not surprised to see Darrelle Revis on the market. In fact, they say they believe the Jets might do more housecleaning. The feeling out of New York is upper management is disenchanted with the roster and is pushing change.

Herm Edwards: Titans should cut Kenny Britt | National Football Post
Analyst says receiver needs a wake-up call due to off-field issues.

After Further Review: Ravens' line playing big in postseason - NFL - CBSSports.com News, Rumors, Scores, Stats, Fantasy
Timing is everything. The Ravens refused to make O-line changes until injury forced their hand, and Pete Prisco says the benefits have been obvious in the playoffs.

Browns owner: 'We're going to have a quarterback competition' - CBSSports.com
Norv and Chud have been very open that they like a lot of what Brandon does," Haslam said, via the Akron Beacon-Journal. "But we're going to have competition at that position. And I think competition makes us all better, and we'll see where that competition comes from."

2013 RSP Update & Film Notes | The Rookie Scouting Portfolio
I mentioned this on Twitter on Monday: Marquess Wilson may have cost himself a chance to get drafted after quitting the Washington State program, but if you watch Wilson against Oregon you’ll see a player who didn’t quit, didn’t celebrate little victories, and continued to battle despite dropping some passes that few NFL players would catch. I see a stronger-than-you-think receiver with preternatural skills to position himself between the incoming pass and the defense and a quick first step. Wilson and Spencer Ware are the two players I’d most like to interview this year with the perspective of a GM.

Fourth and Harbaugh: Which coach is more aggressive?
I’m going to hold off until Sunday morning to post my Super Bowl preview, but today, I’m going to look at a possible hidden key to the game. In most playoff games, each coach is faced with a critical fourth down decision. Often times the conservative coach delays the decision to go for it in favorable circumstances early in the game only to be forced to do so in less optimal situations in the final miutes. We also know that in general, coaches frequently fail to go for it early in games when the down and distance dictate a more aggressive approach: even Bill Belichick has been known to cost his team points with conservative fourth-down decisions, as he did in the AFC Championship Game. Which leads to today’s post: Is one Harbaugh more or less aggressive than the other?

FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Innovative Statistics, Intelligent Analysis | Super Bowl XLVII Preview
So, here we are again, with the "mediocre team gets hot in the playoffs" conundrum. On offense and defense, the Baltimore Ravens were essentially just an average team during the regular season. They were very inconsistent on offense (30th in variance), but the very good games and very bad games averaged out at average. It took a superb performance on special teams to pull them to a 10-6 record.

The 22 Most Important Players in the Super Bowl - The Triangle Blog - Grantland
When I decided to count down the 22 most important players in Sunday’s Super Bowl, I didn’t imagine it was going to be all that hard. I mean, there are 44 total starters; picking half of them should be doable. Then I actually started.

Breaking down the Niners' option attack - Stats & Info Blog - ESPN
The San Francisco 49ers option rushing attack has generated 244 yards on 8.4 yards per rush, and four touchdowns this postseason. Including the regular season, the Niners have boasted the most efficient option scheme in the NFL. No team which used the option regularly averaged more than San Francicso’s 7.1 yards per rush with the play this season.

The Tape Never Lies: Ed Reed is the master at baiting quarterbacks into questionable throws | 100 Yards and Running | Blogs | theScore.com
Out of all the positions in football, it’s the safety whose DNA matches his coach’s the most. The name of the position screams risk aversion, a trait that is ingrained into the minds of coaches who always fear one mistake could cost them their career. Mistakes are avoided by using a proper approach, which for a safety is to play with discipline and, like coaches, only attack when given the green light. And also like coaches, safeties stand on their heels when pressured.

Advanced NFL Stats: Regular vs. Post-Season QB WPA and EPA
As follow up to the recent post about QB 'clutch' performance in the playoffs, here is a comparison of QB performance in the regular season compared to the post-season. I've created a viz to see how each QB season stacks up. Each data point is a QB-year. The x-axis represents each QB's WPA per play in a regular season and the y-axis represents his WPA/P in the corresponding post-season. The trend line shows that there is, as expected, a systematic connection. Winning QBs in the regular season tend to continue to be winning QBs in the post-season. The residual, or vertical distance above the trend line, represents how much each QB over or under-performed in the post-season. I limited the cases to QBs who had at least 25 attempts in a post-season.

Chance Warmack 2013 NFL Draft scouting report - SBNation.com
A complete breakdown of the Alabama offensive guard.

Seattle Seahawks Blog - Hawk Blogger: 2013 Seahawks Off-Season Analysis Part I: Receivers & Tight Ends
I love the football season. I almost equally love the off-season. Anything is possible. Your team could draft the next great quarterback, or sign a free agent that re-shapes the product on the field. Each action has a cascading effect through the existing roster.

Pre-Combine Notes 1.0
Three weeks from this Saturday the offensive linemen will take to the field of Lucas Oil Stadium as the workouts for the 2013 NFL combine officially begin. Until then we will fill you on how the preparation is going for many of the invitees as well as the latest word on free agency. Update Jan 30th

Broaddus: Offensive Players From Missouri Turning Some Heads
Here are some more thoughts from Texas vs. Nation practices after watching the North squad.

Broaddus: Skill Guys Standing Out From Texas/Nation Week
Here are some random thoughts from the Texas vs. Nation All Star Game. I got a chance to evaluate the North squad on Wednesday morning.