Copout-gate 2012

By Blaidd Drwg

The NFL ref situation is now beyond ridiculous. Everyone knows about the botched calls at the end of the Seahawks-Packers game that resulted in a Seahawks win.

Well, the NFL decided to release a statement about the game, and, in the biggest copout ever, Roger Goodell said this:

While the ball is in the air, Tate can be seen shoving Green Bay cornerback Sam Shields to the ground. This should have been a penalty for offensive pass interference, which would have ended the game. It was not called and is not reviewable in instant replay.

I am fine with that. It was a play that was missed, although I am less likely to excuse the missed call on the interference based on the lousy calls earlier in the 4th quarter, one of which included Sidney Rice doing everything but stabbing Green Bay DB Sam Shields on a pass play and Shields getting called for pass interference.
The travesty is the NFL won’t admit that the refs and the replay officials got the call wrong on the actual interception:

Replay Official Howard Slavin stopped the game for an instant replay review. The aspects of the play that were reviewable included if the ball hit the ground and who had possession of the ball. In the end zone, a ruling of a simultaneous catch is reviewable. That is not the case in the field of play, only in the end zone.

Referee Wayne Elliott determined that no indisputable visual evidence existed to overturn the call on the field, and as a result, the on-field ruling of touchdown stood. The NFL Officiating Department reviewed the video today and supports the decision not to overturn the on-field ruling following the instant replay review.

I am not really sure which replay the officials were looking at, but there was definitely enough evidence to overturn the call in just about everyone’s opinion. What I suspect this is all really about is the league does not want to give any leverage to the officials that they locked out. By admitting that the replacement refs blew both calls, the locked out officials could use that as leverage in their negotiations.

That being said, I am tired of watching the officials constantly blow calls and get calls wrong, so I won’t be watching another minute of NFL football until the regular refs are back blowing calls weekly.

Update: It appears sometime between the time I wrote this and the time I posted it, the regular refs are going to be back at work.

Too Short II

by A.J. Coltrane

Ok, I know I’m hung up on this “Russell Wilson Is Too Short Thing”, but:

Wilson has been called a test study in a league that hinges on centimeters and is steadfast on black-and-white metrics. A wide receiver is supposed to run the 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds, an offensive lineman is supposed to weigh 300 pounds and a quarterback is supposed to stand at least 6-foot-2.

“He’s what you call an outlier,” said former Dallas Cowboys executive Gil Brandt, whose grading system would’ve subtracted 15 points for Wilson’s height. “You go broke looking for those guys. For every guy that you draft that’s three inches and four inches below the accepted minimum, 99 of 100 are going to fail. He’s a real exception.

“Have you ever talked to him personally? He’s the most dynamic guy you’ll ever be around. He has such an unusual flair. I mean, this guy wins you over with two minutes’ talk. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a quarterback that’s undersized like he is that has been so dynamic.”

Emphasis mine. Overall the piece gushes about Wilson. Including this:

…In the middle of the [locker-room] noise, Wilson is sitting on the floor in front of his locker, his face buried in a binder. He’s highlighting pages with a fluorescent marker. It’s as if he’s in a library. Oh, Wilson will engage with his teammates soon. In a couple of days, he’ll take the field against the Dallas Cowboys. He’ll struggle a bit in the first half, but will slap nearly every hand on special teams and make every man feel amped and important.

Then Wilson will scramble and throw lasers in the second half of a 27-7 victory. He completes 13 of his final 15 passes and throws for 151 yards and a touchdown. His 75 percent completion rate is the highest for a rookie in Seahawks history.

That’s fine, they can select their statistics to make him look good, but through the first two games Seattle is last in the league in passage yardage at 136 yards/game. (also 7th in Rushing, and 28th overall) They’re scoring 21.5 points per game, tied with Cleveland for 24th in the league.

The Seahawks play Green Bay on Monday night. Green Bay is 5th in total defense (7th pass, 28th rush). I’ll be interested to see what happens when Green Bay stacks the box to stop the run — they’re going to have to do it to win. My feeling is that it’s going to be a long day to be Russell Wilson.

Too Short

by A.J. Coltrane

From left to right: Matt Flynn, the recently departed Tavaris Jackson (he’s not dead, he’s just been traded to Buffalo), and new rookie starter Russell Wilson.

Flynn is 6′ 2″.

Jackson is 6′ 2″.

Wilson is 5′ 10″ +5/8″

Longtime readers may remember a series of posts I did looking at the heights of Super Bowl quarterbacks over the last 20 years. Those posts and research are now gone, but the result was: The average Super Bowl quarterback of the last 20 years stood 6′ 2″ – 6′ 3″. Wilson is a full four inches shorter than that.

Here’s a list all quarterbacks to win a Super Bowl. The only winner as short as 6’0″ is Drew Brees. Three time loser Fran Tarkenton was 6’0″. Len Dawson was 6’0″; he was the unfortunate loser of Super Bowl I. That’s the entire height-deficient list. 45 Superbowls = 90 quarterbacks, and three guys standing 6’0″.

Here’s the list of the all-time passing leaders. Find the shortest guy in the top 100. I don’t think there are any quarterbacks under 6’0″, even among the old-school guys.

I keep hearing Drew Brees comparisons as an example of a short quarterback who can be successful. The shortest listed height I’ve been able to find for Brees is 6’0″ — Brees is nearly an inch and a half taller than Wilson.

I’m belaboring this point: Unless Wilson is an outlier of truly historic proportions the Seahawks are barking up the wrong tree. I’d go with Flynn.

A Bruce Irvin Bio

by A.J. Coltrane

From SI.com. A story about Seahawks’ first-round draft pick and pass-rush specialist Bruce Irvin.

Reading it, I don’t think it’s really a surprise that most of the “experts” felt that the Seahawks drafted him with too high a pick. Who really knows, though — Aaron Curry was supposed to be a “can’t miss” prospect at the time…

Seahawks Sign Matt Flynn

by A.J. Coltrane

The Seahawks signed Green Bay QB Matt Flynn to a 3-year, $26 million dollar deal on Sunday. I’ve been so wrapped up in the NCAA tournament that I didn’t notice until today.

The dollars and length seem about right.

The Whitehurst experiment didn’t work. Maybe Flynn will be a better answer.

I’m willing to consider about anything so that I don’t have to watch Tavaris Jackson.

Average Would Be Nice

by A.J. Coltrane

	Offense	Defense
Mariners (runs)	30th of 30	15th of 30
Seahawks (points)	26th of 32	15th of 32
Seahawks (yards)	28th of 32	11th of 32

Seahawks (rushing)	27th	8th
Seahawks (passing)	25th	15th

(Stats current as of November 26 pm.)

The first Seattle team to “win” will be the team that can get to at least average on offense. I think both teams are at least two years away from that happening.

Punt, Punt, Punt, Rinse, Repeat

by A.J. Coltrane

Yeah, I know I’m belaboring the point about Tavaris Jackson, but, as Peter King from SI writes:

Seattle’s possessions at Pittsburgh. They ended with a punt, punt, punt, end of the half, punt, punt, punt, punt, surrendered on downs, punt. Charlie Whitehurst anyone?

Charlie Whitehurst is the better option. He may even prove to have some value. Hopefully the Seahawks go to plan “Charlie” soon.

The Seahawks Keep Getting Bigger

by A.J. Coltrane

On Monday the Seahawks traded diminuitive CB Kelly Jennings to Cincinnati for 300-pound DT Clinton McDonald.

From the ESPN piece:

Clinton who?: McDonald was a seventh-round choice of the Bengals in 2009. The team had released him previously. He played in eight games last season. McDonald stands just under 6-2 and converted from linebacker in college. Nolan Nawrocki of Pro Football Weekly, writing for his 2009 draft guide, lauded McDonald for possessing toughness and a mean streak. He thought McDonald would project as a three-technique defensive tackle in a one-gap scheme. McDonald was not expected to earn a roster spot in Cincinnati.

The trade continues the Seahawks process of getting bigger.

Jerry Brewer hit it on the head about a month ago:

Their goal is to build a championship team with mostly young, athletic 20-something players who possess prototypical size. They want to be an attacking defense-centered team with a mobile quarterback guiding an offense that makes opponents choke on the running game. And they want to build from within, using the draft as their primary resource and filling out the roster with smart free-agency moves that help them acquire players who still have an upside.

…and that’s why Kelly Jennings didn’t fit in anymore.

Uglier And Uglier, Or Something

by A.J. Coltrane

Predictably, expectations for the Seahawks’ season are headed south (Grantland):

FALLING

Seattle Seahawks
OPENING LINE: 7 wins, Over EVEN, Under -120
NOW: 6.5 wins, Over +145, Under -165

Even at 6.5 wins, the Seahawks’ odds keep falling. On Monday, that over was at +130. Now it sits at +145. Although they beat the Chargers in the preseason opener on Thursday, it wasn’t pretty; Tarvaris Jackson looked awful at quarterback, key left tackle Russell Okung sprained his ankle, and the Seahawks left some of their first-team players in for the entire first half, a sign of how far they have to go in installing their offense under new coordinator Darrell Bevell. Would you want to bet on the combination of Tarvaris Jackson and Charlie Whitehurst winning seven or more games this season? It’s become increasingly difficult to find anyone who would say yes to that question.

The Grantland piece links this piece, which talks about the “The Magic of 55 Percent Winners” — how often gamblers have to win to succeed at gambling on sports. Very instructional if you’re at all interested in how the process works.

While we’re here, through two preseason games:

Charlie Whitehurst – 28 of 39, 71.8%, 212 yards. 1 TD, 0 INT, 93.1 rating.

Tavaris Jackson – 14 of 26, 53.8%, 88 yards. 0 TD, 1 INT, 45.0 rating.

And Coltrane favorite:

Colt McCoy – 19 of 28, 67.9%, 231 yards. 4 TD, 0 INT, 132.6 rating.

Uglier And Uglier

by A.J. Coltrane

Multiple sources are reporting that the Seahawks are parting ways with Matt Hasselbeck. They chose to go with two new guys, signing Tavaris Jackson and Matt Leinhart.

Ugh.

I’m of the opinion that Hasselbeck is cooked, so I’m not broken up about him leaving — I don’t think the Seahawks were going to win more than 9 games with him anyway. Tavaris Jackson, however, is… terrrrrible. Worse than terrible. I thought he stunk with the Vikings — bad technique, bad decision making, just tons of stuff that made me glad he wasn’t my quarterback… I’m not sure I could stand watching him as the quarterback of the Seahawks on the weekly basis.

I’m hoping we won’t have to.

I seem to be in the minority in that I think Whitehurst may still prove that he can play. There’s also the possibility that Leinhart may “get his act together” and show that he’s the guy.

Here’s Mike Sando’s take on it, appropriately titled “Tavaris Jackson? What Seattles Thinking?” John Clayton also has a video at the bottom of the Sando piece.

I know that this has all been rumored for days, but now that it finally happened my reaction is… I’m disgusted.

The Vegas over/under is 6.5 wins for the Seahawks. Take the under before it moves.