Coffee & Cigarettes: Seahawks links for Friday

........... Thank GOD it's TGIF, yo.

Greg Cosell podcast with FootballGuys.com
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NFC West Bold Prediction: Fitzgerald & Floyd Will Be One of NFL’s Best Receiving Duos | Fanspeak's NFC West Blog
By Guest Writer Ikeem Boyd: The Arizona Cardinals finally acquired a proven veteran quarterback this offseason when they traded for the rights of Carson

Ten weeks of lightning: the legend of Dante Hall, the human joystick - SBNation.com
For a brief period of time 10 years ago, Chiefs return specialist Dante Hall electrified the NFL with a series of astounding jukes, spins, and touchdown runs. This is an appreciation of the X Factor, lest we ever forget.

Clayton: No. 15 ranking for Carroll 'too low' - 710sports.com
Pete Carroll checked in at No. 15 in CBS Sports' NFL coaches rankings. Considering what he's done to build the Seahawks into a contender, is it too low? - Blog 710 ESPN Seattle at 710sports.com

Advancing conversation on Bradford, 49ers - NFC West Blog - ESPN
San Francisco 49ers safety Donte Whitner's recent comments complimenting St. Louis Rams quarterback Sam Bradford invites a closer look at some of the dynamics. I'll start by addressing a couple points made in the comments section of our earlier item.

Whitner: 'Don't forget about Sam Bradford' - NFC West Blog - ESPN
"Well, don't forget about Sam Bradford," Whitner said. "Sam Bradford had two excellent games against us, actually beat us once and tied us another time. That is a blemish that was on our record and he is going to be feeling good coming in against us this year."

Breaking Down the Most Exciting Rookies to Watch in 2013 Training Camps | Bleacher Report
Prior to training camp, every year, two types of players generate buzz. High-dollar free agents who switched teams during the offseason are always under the microscope, while incoming rookies with high expectations are watched the closest...

Seattle Seahawks Blog - Hawk Blogger: PODCAST: Previewing 2013 Seahawks With Ryan Burns & FootballSickness.com
An old friend, Ryan Burns, of FootballSickness.com invited me on his podcast to preview the Seahawks. Burns and I met each other through our mutual football obsession on Twitter a few years back, and if you dig enough, you should find some old podcasts of talking about Pete Carroll in his very first season with the Seahawks. Burns gave me hope where I was skeptical early on.

Kaepernick Wins Breakthrough ESPY
Colin Kaepernick continued his dominance of July headlines.

49ers Blog and Q&A: Battle stations! Full cornerback cupboard may be bare next season
The 49ers have a deep and experienced group of cornerbacks heading into the 2013 season. You have to wonder, however, how much that pool will have evaporated at this time next year. Four of the veterans currently on the roster -- Tarell Brown, Nnamdi Asomugha, Tramaine Brock and Perrish Cox (RFA) -- are scheduled to become free agents in March. Another, Carlos Rogers, will have a team-high salary-cap figure of $8.1 million next season.

Two rookies from Clemson could make Arizona Cardinals roster | Insiders
In the course of working on a story about Cardinals General Manager Steve Keim (slated to run this weekend), I had the opportunity to interview Clemson offensive line coach Robbie Caldwell, who was Keim’s position coach at North Carolina State.

NFL's most memorable careers cut short - NFL.com
Jahvid Best left the Detroit Lions wondering what could have been after his release on Wednesday. Who else is among the most memorable NFL players cut down by injury during their prime?

Colin Kaepernick expects flak from 49ers for photo - NFL.com
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick knows he's going to get a lot of grief for his nude photos in ESPN The Magazine. That's why he's not looking forward to returning to the 49ers locker room.

Earl Thomas 'as good as any' safety Pete Carroll's seen - NFL.com
Pete Carroll has seen his share of great safeties, from Ronnie Lott to Troy Polamalu. It might not be a league-wide consensus, but the Seattle Seahawks coach ranks Earl Thomas among the best.

Tiki Barber says Eli Manning is better than brother Peyton, which still is wrong | Shutdown Corner - Yahoo! Sports
Every once in a while someone offers up that Eli Manning is better than Peyton Manning. It's an elaborate troll job to get anyone who understands football angry.

Inside Ryan Clady's big payday | National Football Post
Denver’s star offensive lineman cashed in to the tune of $52.5 million this week.

Cruz deal done, Giants know Nicks will get even bigger deal - CBSSports.com
Victor Cruz got his big contract, but he's a slot guy. Jason La Canfora says the Giants know Hakeem Nicks is the kind of receiver who will get big money soon.

PFT Preseason Power Rankings No. 14: Dallas Cowboys | ProFootballTalk
Since Jerry Jones bought the Cowboys in 1989, the franchise has never gone more than three consecutive seasons without making the playoffs. The Cowboys have endured two such streaks in Jones’ ownership.

PFT Preseason Power Rankings No. 13: New York Giants | ProFootballTalk
If the NFL seeded every team one through 32 last January and had a playoff tourney, the Giants would have been a chic sleeper pick to win it all. Everyone knows New York is a serious threat no matter its seed. Of course, there is no such 32-team tournament.

Matt Stafford has a 17-28 record, which has little predictive value
Longtime readers of this blog know that I’m not a big fan of Matt Stafford. Last year, when most people were praising his breakout 2011 season, I questioned whether he was as good as his backers claimed. And, of course, his 2012 performance only raised more questions.

RSP Flashback: Marshawn Lynch and Adrian Peterson | The Rookie Scouting Portfolio
One of the most common questions I get from new readers is What did you think about [insert player name here] before [NFL team] drafted him? For the next month, I’m going to post scouting reports of some of my bigger hits, misses, and lingering questions when it comes to the past eight years of evaluating rookies for the Rookie Scouting Portfolio. I’ll also include the lessons I learned – or am still learning – from the experience of evaluating these players.

49-Day NFL Warning: Aldon Smith, Clay Matthews, and the Rest of the All–Pass Rush Team - The Triangle Blog - Grantland
Earlier this morning, I wrote about how Cameron Wake remains the league’s most underappreciated great pass rusher. Because I’ve got great sack artistry on the mind, I decided that today would be the perfect time to get excited about the rest of the league’s best rushers.

The All-22 All-Star Team: The Rebirth of Cameron Wake - The Triangle Blog - Grantland
At first, nothing seemed amiss about the empty field. I'm just early, Derek Wake thought. It was the spring of 2007, and Wake had been invited to a D.C.-area tryout for the Canadian Football League's BC Lions. As he waited for others to arrive, Wake threw on his cleats and started warming up on the turf at Howard University's Greene Stadium. Fifteen or so minutes passed before Wake made a call. "Everyone's here," said the voice on the other end of the phone. "Here" was Hampton University, another historically black college, three hours south of Howard. "I'm going to drive three hours, get out of the car, and run the 40?" Wake says, recalling that embarrassing moment six years later. "That's not going to happen."

Super Bowl Rings and the Overpricing of the Quarterback - Over the Cap
With Tiki Barber taking to the airwaves again to make his latest outlandish statements, it immediately brings up the more modern TV made argument of just how important a Super Bowl ring is to the legacy of the QB. Since then its grown to become a difference maker in salaries and contracts for QBs who have outdistanced everyone else in the game by a wide margin now because of the correlation that is expected between QB and SB titles. Seems like a good topic.

The NFL's most injury-prone players
NFL Training Camps begin in just about two weeks and the 2013 season will culminate on February 2, 2014. In the National Football League it’s not about how you’re ranked in the preseason, how you start out in weeks one or two, but rather how you finish. A key component to staying on track to a successful playoff run is keeping your original roster intact.

Story behind football's innovative yellow first down line - NFL - The Bonus - SI.com
The large conference room full of ESPN executives was silent as Jerry Gepner and I finished presenting a simulation of a yellow, electronic first down line for football telecasts in May 1998. Finally, the silence was broken. "Can you really do it?" one said. We nodded.

49ers Blog and Q&A: No charges to be filed against 49ers' Ahmad Brooks
The Santa Clara County District Attorney has decided not to pursue charges against 49ers linebacker Ahmad Brooks, who had been accused of beating teammate Lamar Divens repeatedly over the head with a Heineken bottle last month. District attorney Jeff Rosen concluded this week there was insufficient enough evidence to convict Brooks, a two-year starter with the 49ers.

49ers Camp Preview: Safeties
The defending NFC champion San Francisco 49ers will open training camp at the end of the month. But before the pads come on and the competition for 53 coveted roster spots begin, 49ers.com will preview the storylines to track for each position group on the team. San Francisco’s safeties come into focus next in our “49ers Camp Preview” series.

Bonus:

Stitch | Indiegogo
(Had a request from a FG reader to link to his project so here you go!) Stitch A short film about the bitter-sweet nature of growing up and letting go.