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Seahawk talk
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Ex-Navy. Still hold that rank though.
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Secret to Pete Carroll's Seattle Seahawks? Don't stop the music
RENTON, Wash. -- The Seattle Seahawks opened their locker room to the media Thursday afternoon, three days before the flight across the country for a week's worth of Super Bowl XLVIII hype, and, as with Sundays at CenturyLink Field, it was all about the noise.
While reporters probed various members of the newly crowned NFC champions for their thoughts, Pro Bowl running back Marshawn Lynch stood at his luxuriant locker playing deejay, blasting an eclectic ensemble of hip-hop tunes through his iPhone-programmed portable sound system.
It was Beast Mode meets Beats Mode -- an everyday occurrence at the team's training facility, where coach Pete Carroll and his players have put a 21st-century spin on the notion of Seattle Sound.
Whether it's reggae in the draft room, classic rock on the practice field or Lynch's Oakland-heavy rap playlist in the locker room, there's an omnipresent groove at the Seahawks' training facility, one of the many reasons so many players have come to regard their workplace as refreshing, progressive and enjoyable.
"Look at this," defensive lineman Michael Bennett said Thursday, gesturing toward Lynch as he reclined in a plush leather chair in the middle of the locker room. "It's the Google of football."
That's one reason this Pacific Northwest outpost has become a prime destination for free agents searching for an upbeat environment, a movement the Seahawks' success is only likely to amplify. And the credit should go to the region's most influential power trio since Nirvana: Carroll, general manager John Schneider and owner Paul Allen, all of whom are committed to cultivating an atmosphere conducive to smiling employees.
"We work hard, but we like being here," All-Pro free safety Earl Thomas explained. "We have the best facility. The cooks are great. Across the board, they've placed great people in great positions. And the music is always playing ..."
In a city that has given the world an inordinate share of musical excellence -- claiming Jimi Hendrix, Heart (whose lead singer, Ann Wilson, provided a blistering rendition of the "Star-Spangled Banner" before the NFC Championship Game), Sir Mix-a-Lot, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Foo Fighters and Macklemore (last Sunday's halftime performer), among others -- the local football team most definitely rocks.
"It's a very relaxing work environment," said All-Pro cornerback Richard Sherman, who knows a thing or two about volume. "People are most comfortable being themselves. And if you allow people to be in the most comfortable state, they're going to be the most successful."
It might be somewhat of a stretch to equate the constant rhythm at the VMAC (Virginia Mason Athletic Center) with the noise the Seahawks have made on the field since Allen lured Carroll from USC four years ago, with the team's then-CEO, Tod Leiweke, plucking Schneider from the Green Bay Packers' front office shortly thereafter. Yet there is a method to the loudness, something upon which Carroll expounded during our sit-down interview Thursday, for a feature scheduled to air on NFL Network's "GameDay Morning" on Super Sunday.
"Music's always been a big part of my world," Carroll told me. "And I've just found over the years that our game and the environment that we perform in has a beat to it. And there is a pulse and a rhythm to it, and it's always encompassed in noise and sound and all of that. And it's all part of something that is part of what we feel.
"And so I found out, you know, years ago back at SC that if I included the music as much as possible wherever it fit, we might be able to benefit from it. And I found some information, some reports that support that people learn better, you know, when they're upbeat and they're uplifted. But mainly it's just about (the fact that) I like it. I like the feel of it. And I like the way the players respond to it.
"I mean, it's not for everybody. I don't expect everybody to understand that. But it's something that's very special and it's a big part of us."
Carroll, naturally, plays a part in choosing the soundtrack that accompanies the Seahawks' daily routine. There is a deejay on hand for practices -- including those open to the public in training camp, adding some entertainment value to the monotony of 7-on-7 drills and the like -- and he also sets up shop on the sidelines on Sundays at CenturyLink Field, where the pregame mix is routinely popping. And while Carroll doesn't decide the entire playlist, the coach does have input. "If I'm not feelin' it," Carroll said, "I'm gonna let him know."
You would think a 62-year-old coach supervising musical selections for a team of mostly 20-somethings (the Seahawks are the second-youngest team in Super Bowl history) would have the potential to create some serious blowback. Carroll, however, isn't your typical sexagenarian.
"For a 62-year-old, he has good taste," Lynch said. "He listens to all types of music. Sometimes I'll be like, 'What the (expletive) is that that he's playing?' But the majority of what he plays, everybody knows and likes. Even the oldies -- he'll play some James Brown out there, and even the youngest guys on the team will be dancing and singing along."
From his days growing up in Marin County, where he checked out a few shows by the Grateful Dead as they forged their golden road from hippie house band to legendary American rock ensemble, to his decade-long stint presiding over the Trojans' renaissance in Los Angeles, where his celebrity helped him forge a friendship with iconic Long Beach rapper Snoop Dogg, Carroll has stayed in the mix when it comes to musical trends.
His players notice, too. In August, when Snoop Dogg showed up for a Seahawks preseason game against the Oakland Raiders at CenturyLink -- rocking a white Lynch jersey, to boot -- nobody on the 'Hawks was saying there Ain't No Fun in Seattle.
"You have to be a part of it to see how it's run, and how cool it is," said outside linebacker Cliff Avril, who signed with the Seahawks as a free agent last March. "You can't really see it from the outside. We embrace it. Pete himself is an up-tempo, hyped-up guy. If your coach is like that, it kind of trickles down, and you can't help but have fun."
Added backup quarterback Tarvaris Jackson, who returned to Seattle after spending the 2012 season with the Buffalo Bills: "Look around -- you see it. There aren't too many locker rooms like this. The type of music we play here, it's like home. Music in the locker room, music on the field, even music at meetings. Music's a big part of what we do here."
In the eyes of Bennett, who signed with the Seahawks last March after four years with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Carroll's insistence on exposing his players to tunes might help them tune out unwanted distractions come game day.
"I think it's a focus thing," Bennett said. "If you can focus when there's music, when it's loud all the time, it trains your mind to deal with hectic game situations. Your mind is constantly having to think with the noise in the background. Cerebrally, that's one of those things I think (Carroll's) doing -- messing with your psychology."
Perhaps -- but Carroll is also fostering an atmosphere of self-expression, especially in the case of a certain reticent running back. While getting Lynch to conduct an interview (present company excluded) is tougher than tackling him in the second level, he's practically an extrovert when playing locker-room deejay, a state of affairs to which his teammates have happily become acclimated.
"People connect with music," said Lynch, who on Thursday accepted an old-school request, "Don't Fight The Feelin' " by iconic Oakland rapper Too Short -- exposing several amused Seahawks to its raunchy lyrics. "You see it while you're out -- if you put some good tunes on, no matter where you are, people can appreciate that. It's a relaxing environment. It just puts everybody in a good frame of mind."
Secret to Pete Carroll's Seattle Seahawks? Don't stop the music - NFL.com
RENTON, Wash. -- The Seattle Seahawks opened their locker room to the media Thursday afternoon, three days before the flight across the country for a week's worth of Super Bowl XLVIII hype, and, as with Sundays at CenturyLink Field, it was all about the noise.
While reporters probed various members of the newly crowned NFC champions for their thoughts, Pro Bowl running back Marshawn Lynch stood at his luxuriant locker playing deejay, blasting an eclectic ensemble of hip-hop tunes through his iPhone-programmed portable sound system.
It was Beast Mode meets Beats Mode -- an everyday occurrence at the team's training facility, where coach Pete Carroll and his players have put a 21st-century spin on the notion of Seattle Sound.
Whether it's reggae in the draft room, classic rock on the practice field or Lynch's Oakland-heavy rap playlist in the locker room, there's an omnipresent groove at the Seahawks' training facility, one of the many reasons so many players have come to regard their workplace as refreshing, progressive and enjoyable.
"Look at this," defensive lineman Michael Bennett said Thursday, gesturing toward Lynch as he reclined in a plush leather chair in the middle of the locker room. "It's the Google of football."
That's one reason this Pacific Northwest outpost has become a prime destination for free agents searching for an upbeat environment, a movement the Seahawks' success is only likely to amplify. And the credit should go to the region's most influential power trio since Nirvana: Carroll, general manager John Schneider and owner Paul Allen, all of whom are committed to cultivating an atmosphere conducive to smiling employees.
"We work hard, but we like being here," All-Pro free safety Earl Thomas explained. "We have the best facility. The cooks are great. Across the board, they've placed great people in great positions. And the music is always playing ..."
In a city that has given the world an inordinate share of musical excellence -- claiming Jimi Hendrix, Heart (whose lead singer, Ann Wilson, provided a blistering rendition of the "Star-Spangled Banner" before the NFC Championship Game), Sir Mix-a-Lot, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Foo Fighters and Macklemore (last Sunday's halftime performer), among others -- the local football team most definitely rocks.
"It's a very relaxing work environment," said All-Pro cornerback Richard Sherman, who knows a thing or two about volume. "People are most comfortable being themselves. And if you allow people to be in the most comfortable state, they're going to be the most successful."
It might be somewhat of a stretch to equate the constant rhythm at the VMAC (Virginia Mason Athletic Center) with the noise the Seahawks have made on the field since Allen lured Carroll from USC four years ago, with the team's then-CEO, Tod Leiweke, plucking Schneider from the Green Bay Packers' front office shortly thereafter. Yet there is a method to the loudness, something upon which Carroll expounded during our sit-down interview Thursday, for a feature scheduled to air on NFL Network's "GameDay Morning" on Super Sunday.
"Music's always been a big part of my world," Carroll told me. "And I've just found over the years that our game and the environment that we perform in has a beat to it. And there is a pulse and a rhythm to it, and it's always encompassed in noise and sound and all of that. And it's all part of something that is part of what we feel.
"And so I found out, you know, years ago back at SC that if I included the music as much as possible wherever it fit, we might be able to benefit from it. And I found some information, some reports that support that people learn better, you know, when they're upbeat and they're uplifted. But mainly it's just about (the fact that) I like it. I like the feel of it. And I like the way the players respond to it.
"I mean, it's not for everybody. I don't expect everybody to understand that. But it's something that's very special and it's a big part of us."
Carroll, naturally, plays a part in choosing the soundtrack that accompanies the Seahawks' daily routine. There is a deejay on hand for practices -- including those open to the public in training camp, adding some entertainment value to the monotony of 7-on-7 drills and the like -- and he also sets up shop on the sidelines on Sundays at CenturyLink Field, where the pregame mix is routinely popping. And while Carroll doesn't decide the entire playlist, the coach does have input. "If I'm not feelin' it," Carroll said, "I'm gonna let him know."
You would think a 62-year-old coach supervising musical selections for a team of mostly 20-somethings (the Seahawks are the second-youngest team in Super Bowl history) would have the potential to create some serious blowback. Carroll, however, isn't your typical sexagenarian.
"For a 62-year-old, he has good taste," Lynch said. "He listens to all types of music. Sometimes I'll be like, 'What the (expletive) is that that he's playing?' But the majority of what he plays, everybody knows and likes. Even the oldies -- he'll play some James Brown out there, and even the youngest guys on the team will be dancing and singing along."
From his days growing up in Marin County, where he checked out a few shows by the Grateful Dead as they forged their golden road from hippie house band to legendary American rock ensemble, to his decade-long stint presiding over the Trojans' renaissance in Los Angeles, where his celebrity helped him forge a friendship with iconic Long Beach rapper Snoop Dogg, Carroll has stayed in the mix when it comes to musical trends.
His players notice, too. In August, when Snoop Dogg showed up for a Seahawks preseason game against the Oakland Raiders at CenturyLink -- rocking a white Lynch jersey, to boot -- nobody on the 'Hawks was saying there Ain't No Fun in Seattle.
"You have to be a part of it to see how it's run, and how cool it is," said outside linebacker Cliff Avril, who signed with the Seahawks as a free agent last March. "You can't really see it from the outside. We embrace it. Pete himself is an up-tempo, hyped-up guy. If your coach is like that, it kind of trickles down, and you can't help but have fun."
Added backup quarterback Tarvaris Jackson, who returned to Seattle after spending the 2012 season with the Buffalo Bills: "Look around -- you see it. There aren't too many locker rooms like this. The type of music we play here, it's like home. Music in the locker room, music on the field, even music at meetings. Music's a big part of what we do here."
In the eyes of Bennett, who signed with the Seahawks last March after four years with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Carroll's insistence on exposing his players to tunes might help them tune out unwanted distractions come game day.
"I think it's a focus thing," Bennett said. "If you can focus when there's music, when it's loud all the time, it trains your mind to deal with hectic game situations. Your mind is constantly having to think with the noise in the background. Cerebrally, that's one of those things I think (Carroll's) doing -- messing with your psychology."
Perhaps -- but Carroll is also fostering an atmosphere of self-expression, especially in the case of a certain reticent running back. While getting Lynch to conduct an interview (present company excluded) is tougher than tackling him in the second level, he's practically an extrovert when playing locker-room deejay, a state of affairs to which his teammates have happily become acclimated.
"People connect with music," said Lynch, who on Thursday accepted an old-school request, "Don't Fight The Feelin' " by iconic Oakland rapper Too Short -- exposing several amused Seahawks to its raunchy lyrics. "You see it while you're out -- if you put some good tunes on, no matter where you are, people can appreciate that. It's a relaxing environment. It just puts everybody in a good frame of mind."
Secret to Pete Carroll's Seattle Seahawks? Don't stop the music - NFL.com
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Doublejive
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Carroll said Manning called him 2 years ago
RENTON, Wash. -- The Seattle Seahawks were one of the teams Peyton Manning had on his short list before signing with the Denver Broncos two years ago.
Seattle coach Pete Carroll was asked Friday how serious those negotiations became at the time.
“Well, he called me,” Carroll said about Manning’s interest. “That was a good start. Then everything went downhill from there, so I guess I didn’t do a very good job on the phone.”
Carroll can joke about it now because the Seahawks went on to draft Russell Wilson, who became the rookie starter as a third-round pick. Would they have drafted Wilson if Manning had signed with the Seahawks?
“Yes," Carroll said. “And knowing what we know now, we would have drafted him a lot sooner. Obviously, we’ve all moved on, but it is interesting that we're playing each other now in this setting. It’s pretty cool.”
Seahawks general manager John Schneider was asked if he wonders how things might have turned out had the team signed Manning.
“Yeah, often,” Schneider said. “I think we would have continued to do things the way we do them. We would not have been able to afford several players we have now, but we would have competed in other areas to compensate.”
Pete Carroll said Peyton Manning called him 2 years ago - ESPN
RENTON, Wash. -- The Seattle Seahawks were one of the teams Peyton Manning had on his short list before signing with the Denver Broncos two years ago.
Seattle coach Pete Carroll was asked Friday how serious those negotiations became at the time.
“Well, he called me,” Carroll said about Manning’s interest. “That was a good start. Then everything went downhill from there, so I guess I didn’t do a very good job on the phone.”
Carroll can joke about it now because the Seahawks went on to draft Russell Wilson, who became the rookie starter as a third-round pick. Would they have drafted Wilson if Manning had signed with the Seahawks?
“Yes," Carroll said. “And knowing what we know now, we would have drafted him a lot sooner. Obviously, we’ve all moved on, but it is interesting that we're playing each other now in this setting. It’s pretty cool.”
Seahawks general manager John Schneider was asked if he wonders how things might have turned out had the team signed Manning.
“Yeah, often,” Schneider said. “I think we would have continued to do things the way we do them. We would not have been able to afford several players we have now, but we would have competed in other areas to compensate.”
Pete Carroll said Peyton Manning called him 2 years ago - ESPN
Doublejive
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Seahawks GM praises Pete Carroll
RENTON, Wash. -- Seattle Seahawks general manager John Schneider, giving a rare media interview Friday, said coach Pete Carroll is a low ego guy who cares only about the team getting better.
"The thing that stands out about Pete is it's just all about the team and competing and getting better every day," Schneider said on 710 ESPN Seattle radio. "It's not about him. All he cares about is getting better. 'Are we getting better?'"
Carroll has said many times that the team would not be where it is today without his strong working relationship with Schneider over the past four years.
Schneider was asked what stands out to him about Carroll.
"Low ego,'' Schneider said. "That's easy. People have certain perceptions of coaches, but he's the same guy all the time. It's just a blessing to work with a guy like that.
"You are going to have differences along the way, but there's always give and take. It's not, 'I have to have this player.' That doesn't exist with him. If we feel we made a poor decision, it's 'How do we fix it?' That's who is he. First and foremost, Pete knows who he is as a person."
Schneider also talked about Carroll's excitement level during games.
"It's just his energy," Schneider said. "What you see on the sidelines with that enthusiasm, that's him and it's real. He has a natural compassion about him that's off the charts, but you also are not going to run over him.''
Pete Carroll praised by Seattle Seahawks GM - ESPN
RENTON, Wash. -- Seattle Seahawks general manager John Schneider, giving a rare media interview Friday, said coach Pete Carroll is a low ego guy who cares only about the team getting better.
"The thing that stands out about Pete is it's just all about the team and competing and getting better every day," Schneider said on 710 ESPN Seattle radio. "It's not about him. All he cares about is getting better. 'Are we getting better?'"
Carroll has said many times that the team would not be where it is today without his strong working relationship with Schneider over the past four years.
Schneider was asked what stands out to him about Carroll.
"Low ego,'' Schneider said. "That's easy. People have certain perceptions of coaches, but he's the same guy all the time. It's just a blessing to work with a guy like that.
"You are going to have differences along the way, but there's always give and take. It's not, 'I have to have this player.' That doesn't exist with him. If we feel we made a poor decision, it's 'How do we fix it?' That's who is he. First and foremost, Pete knows who he is as a person."
Schneider also talked about Carroll's excitement level during games.
"It's just his energy," Schneider said. "What you see on the sidelines with that enthusiasm, that's him and it's real. He has a natural compassion about him that's off the charts, but you also are not going to run over him.''
Pete Carroll praised by Seattle Seahawks GM - ESPN
Doublejive
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Huge banner, fan signatures to fly over Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl
PEMCO Insurance is offering Seahawks fans a chance to go to the Super Bowl, even if it’s in name only. The local insurance firm is assembling a “12th Fan” banner to fly over MetLife Stadium, the site of Super Bowl XLVIII on Feb. 2, and they’re hoping to bring the spirit of the 12th Man along with it, too.
PEMCO — a Seahawks partner — will be taking the banner throughout Seattle until Tuesday in hopes of gathering at least 12,000 signatures from the Seahawks fans. Fans can also “virtually sign” the banner by using the hashtag #12banner on social media sites.
This isn’t the first banner to be flown over a Seahawks game away from CenturyLink Field this season. In December, a group of fans flew a banner reading “Go Hawks” over Candlestick Park during Seattle’s game against the San Francisco 49ers. Its presence didn’t exactly help the Seahawks, who fell 19-17.
Click here to see when the banner will be in your neighborhood and to add your name to the cause.
Huge banner, fan signatures to fly over Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl - Seattle Seahawks & NFL News
PEMCO Insurance is offering Seahawks fans a chance to go to the Super Bowl, even if it’s in name only. The local insurance firm is assembling a “12th Fan” banner to fly over MetLife Stadium, the site of Super Bowl XLVIII on Feb. 2, and they’re hoping to bring the spirit of the 12th Man along with it, too.
PEMCO — a Seahawks partner — will be taking the banner throughout Seattle until Tuesday in hopes of gathering at least 12,000 signatures from the Seahawks fans. Fans can also “virtually sign” the banner by using the hashtag #12banner on social media sites.
This isn’t the first banner to be flown over a Seahawks game away from CenturyLink Field this season. In December, a group of fans flew a banner reading “Go Hawks” over Candlestick Park during Seattle’s game against the San Francisco 49ers. Its presence didn’t exactly help the Seahawks, who fell 19-17.
Click here to see when the banner will be in your neighborhood and to add your name to the cause.
Huge banner, fan signatures to fly over Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl - Seattle Seahawks & NFL News
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Harvin a riddle for Broncos to solve
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- When the Denver Broncos’ defense lines up in Super Bowl XLVIII, it expects to see Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Percy Harvin somewhere in the formation across from them.
But to plan for that eventuality, the Broncos will have to do some digging. They're going to have to sift through the Seahawks' body of work to find those plays when Harvin was in the lineup in what was an injury-marred year.
“I don’t know how they’re going to use him, we don’t have a lot of tape on him,’’ said Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey. “But they’re going to use him. You don’t have a weapon like that and not use him.’’
Harvin was the crown jewel of the Seahawks’ busy offseason last March. He signed a six-year, $67 million contract with the them, but then had hip surgery on Aug. 1 to repair a torn labrum. He missed the first 10 games of the season before he played 19 plays Nov. 17 against the Minnesota Vikings, his former team.
Harvin had one catch, for 17 yards, and a 58-yard kickoff return in the game, but aggravated his surgically-repaired hip and did not practice again until the week before the Seahawks played the New Orleans Saints in the divisional round.
He then played just 19 plays against the Saints -- he three receptions in the game for 21 yards -- before he suffered a concussion and was held out of the NFC Championship Game last weekend. Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said this week Harvin was ready for whatever the team wanted him to do in the Super Bowl.
For the Broncos it means the Seahawks could break out a few more three-wide receiver looks to challenge some of the Broncos’ specialty packages on defense. It may also mean when Harvin moves around the formation the Broncos may send Bailey with him.
“That’s a dangerous man right there,’’ Bailey said. “He can change the game if you allow him to. I remember playing him in Minnesota and he was one of the most explosive guys I’ve seen coming off the ball.’’
With Harvin having missed one of the Seahawks playoff games and played less than two quarters in the other, Seattle has lined up with at least three wide receivers in the formation on just 12 first-down snaps, 16 second-down snaps, but have used it more on third down – 24 snaps. If Harvin is indeed full speed the percentages figure to go up.
“The thing about the playoffs is that it’s a one-weekend thing,’’ said defensive end Robert Ayers. “ … You look at the film, you think about what they’ve done, but you know you have to be ready to see something you haven’t seen much before. (Harvin) is like that. We know he’ll be in there and it might be for something we have to adjust to.’’
Harvin a riddle for Broncos to solve - Denver Broncos Blog - ESPN
Of note the Hawks started using three wideout set's in the saint's and Niner game's,they are getting ready for Harvin imo.
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- When the Denver Broncos’ defense lines up in Super Bowl XLVIII, it expects to see Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Percy Harvin somewhere in the formation across from them.
But to plan for that eventuality, the Broncos will have to do some digging. They're going to have to sift through the Seahawks' body of work to find those plays when Harvin was in the lineup in what was an injury-marred year.
“I don’t know how they’re going to use him, we don’t have a lot of tape on him,’’ said Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey. “But they’re going to use him. You don’t have a weapon like that and not use him.’’
Harvin was the crown jewel of the Seahawks’ busy offseason last March. He signed a six-year, $67 million contract with the them, but then had hip surgery on Aug. 1 to repair a torn labrum. He missed the first 10 games of the season before he played 19 plays Nov. 17 against the Minnesota Vikings, his former team.
Harvin had one catch, for 17 yards, and a 58-yard kickoff return in the game, but aggravated his surgically-repaired hip and did not practice again until the week before the Seahawks played the New Orleans Saints in the divisional round.
He then played just 19 plays against the Saints -- he three receptions in the game for 21 yards -- before he suffered a concussion and was held out of the NFC Championship Game last weekend. Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said this week Harvin was ready for whatever the team wanted him to do in the Super Bowl.
For the Broncos it means the Seahawks could break out a few more three-wide receiver looks to challenge some of the Broncos’ specialty packages on defense. It may also mean when Harvin moves around the formation the Broncos may send Bailey with him.
“That’s a dangerous man right there,’’ Bailey said. “He can change the game if you allow him to. I remember playing him in Minnesota and he was one of the most explosive guys I’ve seen coming off the ball.’’
With Harvin having missed one of the Seahawks playoff games and played less than two quarters in the other, Seattle has lined up with at least three wide receivers in the formation on just 12 first-down snaps, 16 second-down snaps, but have used it more on third down – 24 snaps. If Harvin is indeed full speed the percentages figure to go up.
“The thing about the playoffs is that it’s a one-weekend thing,’’ said defensive end Robert Ayers. “ … You look at the film, you think about what they’ve done, but you know you have to be ready to see something you haven’t seen much before. (Harvin) is like that. We know he’ll be in there and it might be for something we have to adjust to.’’
Harvin a riddle for Broncos to solve - Denver Broncos Blog - ESPN
Of note the Hawks started using three wideout set's in the saint's and Niner game's,they are getting ready for Harvin imo.
Uhsplit
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Yep. Me too!
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Superbowl tickets dropping in price.
Super Bowl ticket prices plummeting as demand drops - Local - MyNorthwest.com
"While the 12th Man won't be nearly as much of a factor as in Seattle, the Seahawks faithful should still make their presence known"
"We expect Seahawks fans to more than double the number of Broncos fans at the game," says Gregoire. "Based on traffic to SeatGeek's Super Bowl pages, we've seen about 18 percent of all shoppers originate from the state of Washington. That's twice as much as from Colorado. I think we're going to see a much more Seahawks friendly crowd than we did in 2006."
Super Bowl ticket prices plummeting as demand drops - Local - MyNorthwest.com
"While the 12th Man won't be nearly as much of a factor as in Seattle, the Seahawks faithful should still make their presence known"
"We expect Seahawks fans to more than double the number of Broncos fans at the game," says Gregoire. "Based on traffic to SeatGeek's Super Bowl pages, we've seen about 18 percent of all shoppers originate from the state of Washington. That's twice as much as from Colorado. I think we're going to see a much more Seahawks friendly crowd than we did in 2006."
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One of my favorite Seahawk bloggers, on how he see's the game.
How Seattle & Denver will attack each other in the Super Bowl | Seahawks Draft Blog
How Seattle & Denver will attack each other in the Super Bowl | Seahawks Draft Blog
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Boxer Floyd Mayweather Bets $10 Million on Denver in Super Bowl
I'd like to see the look on his face when the Seahawks win this game!
Boxer Floyd Mayweather Bets $10 Million on Denver in Super Bowl
I'd like to see the look on his face when the Seahawks win this game!NinerSickness
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Boxer Floyd Mayweather Bets $10 Million on Denver in Super Bowl
If you have 10 million dollars you don't ever need to make a bet for the rest of your life!
Who cares if you win? You were filthy rich anyway!
Athletes go broke all the time because they didn't have to get up early every & bust their asses all day to get rich; they were born with their abilities. It's the same reason 75% of Lottery winners go bankrupt.
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Boxer Floyd Mayweather Bets $10 Million on Denver in Super Bowl
Mayweather is a turd. Can't stand that guy.
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Cigar Thoughts, Super Bowl: Seahawks Smite Broncos, Make Claim To Be Among All-Time Greats - Field Gulls
I was born two weeks late to parents that didn't own a television the day before the Seattle Seahawks' began their 8th year in the NFL. The hospital room had a TV, and apparently the American health care system in 1983 allowed the option for my parents to choose to pay extra to spend another night in the room -- which they did in order to let me "see" my first 'Hawks game.
I never had a choice in the matter: I've been a Seahawks fan since birth. My story isn't any better or any worse than any other Seahawks fan's story, but it is mine. For the vast majority of my 30 years on this planet, there have been a lot of cooler teams to cheer for than Seattle, but we held strong. We stuck with this team when it wasted Cortez Kennedy's career. We were there during Stan Gelbaugh, Dan McGwire, Kelly Stouffer, and Jerramy Stevens. We have died a thousand deaths for the greater part of the last 40 years; a penance I've often thought would last a lifetime.
Then Pete Carroll and John Schneider happened. At some point in the NFL's space-time continuum the football gods saw fit to grant the Pacific Northwest a holy tribunal council when it sent PCJS to the Emerald City. They quickly separated the wheat from the chaff and plugged in a futuristic algorithm that in four short years transformed a moribund afterthought of a franchise that was struggling to find an identity into the new standard for NFL excellence.
What I saw today was the culmination of a season I barely thought possible and was terrified to imagine, let alone talk about. Then the 'Hawks led the NFL in DVOA. They became the first defense since the GOAT '85 Bears to lead the NFL in fewest points allowed, fewest yards allowed, and largest turnover margin. They took a difficult schedule and used it like a Spartan agoge to prepare themselves for the gauntlet they'd have to run this winter.
They won the NFC West.
They won the NFC.
They beat the 49ers two out of three games.
They won the Super Bowl.
The Seattle Seahawks won the Super Bowl. There wasn't a better script in any of our minds than the one that the 'Hawks acted out this season. They owned the division. They owned the conference. They beat the most hated rival they've ever had en route to desecrating and degrading the greatest offense the NFL has ever produced. Pete Carroll and Russell Wilson held the Lombardi trophy aloft and dedicated it to the 12th Man. The credits rolled, leaving me in a respectful, contemplative state that looked an awful lot like a baby crying in the corner.
This Super Bowl is what I imagine Heaven must be like: the Seattle Seahawks drubbing the shit out of a legendary team while Bruno Mars delivers pelvic vocal sex in the background for all eternity. Seattle's defense played like like mafia hit-men, the offense played like their getaway driver. Every single yard the Broncos gained came at a premium; a price paid for in contusions that will take weeks to fade without the solace of a championship to ease the pain. Even when Seattle was up by a vulgar 36 points, the defense brought the battering ram like they were attacking a medieval fortress.
Marshawn Lynch (15 carries, 39 yards) never got going. Russell Wilson (18/25, 206 yards) was efficient but not spectacular. No Seahawks skill player recorded more than 66 yards from scrimmage (Doug Baldwin); even Percy Harvin, who is a supernova incarnate, was held to 50 offensive yards. Every single digit in this paragraph would've given Broncos fans hope if you had told them that's what Seattle's offense would be held to.
None of the numbers in that paragraph, however, account for the remorseless band of marauders making up the Seahawks defense / special teams. Have you ever read "Watchmen"? This Seahawks defense was the Black Freighter, a wanton group of soulful, soulless murderers patrolling the gridiron in search of innocent blood like pirates on the deep seas. They held the most prolific offensive attack in league history without so much as a first down for the first 20 minutes of the game. They didn't just get in Peyton Manning's head, they took the real estate therein and built a monument to themselves on his medulla oblongata.
The Seahawks brought bricks to a pillow fight. After Seattle swallowed up Denver's return man Trindon Holliday like a Sarlacc on the opening kick, the Broncos Omahahaha'd themselves into a two-point hole on the first play from scrimmage with an errant snap that bumbled foreshadowingly out of the back of the endzone. It was the last time the Broncos had a chance at this game.
Seattle would settle for two field goals early to push the lead to 8-0 before unleashing more touchdowns (5) than the Broncos average yards per play (4.8). It was a shellacking reminiscent of the '85 Bears team that set the standard for NFL domination en route to their lopsided Super Bowl victory, a team whose style and swagger superseded everything, causing a mad scramble by every other team to adapt to a new football reality. The Seattle Seahawks defense and special teams were so dominant today that if the 'Hawks offense never stepped on the field, Seattle still would've beaten the team that set all the records by a score of 16-8.
Kam Chancellor got a pick and three or four legitimate attempted homicides. Malcolm Smith transformed from a 7th-round afterthought to a Super Bowl MVP with a pick-six and a fumble recovery. Earl Thomas took away the entire second and third levels. Bobby Wagner and KJ Wright erased the first level. Richard Sherman was targeted twice for zero yards. Cliff Avril and the D-line assaulted Manning consistently, tipping desperate passes and throwing the impeccably-timed Denver offense off like a stick in the spokes of a bicycle. Percy Harvin was the world's most expensive victory cigar, adding a pretty cherry to the top of a super sundae with an 87-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, validating his entire contract in eight glorious seconds. Put that Percy on a pedestal.
To give a blow-by-blow account of this game would be pure schadenfreude and while I'm not above it, it seems superfluous to do so. This game was a matchup between the greatest skier the world has ever seen and an avalanche. No matter how talented Manning and his receivers were, they weren't gonna beat the force of nature that was the 2013-'14 Seattle Seahawks.
Before the season started, I splurged on a bottle of Glenmorangie Ealanta scotch and a Sol de Cubana cigar with vows of not opening either until the Seahawks won the Super Bowl. It goes without saying that I'm attempting to write this article through the inordinately expensive equilibrium that combo is producing. I don't know how it's going to read in the harsh light of hungover sobriety, but I'm happy to be hammering my way through it with you guys.
Other stuff:
~The Seahawks only out-gained the Broncos by 35 yards while outscoring them by 35 points. That's got to be some kind of first. Not just for Super Bowls, but, like, ever.
~The most productive passing offense in history managed 5.7 yards per attempt in the biggest game of their lives.
~The gap between Russell Wilson's passer rating (123.1) and Peyton Manning's (73.5) was greater than the Super Bowl record 34 completions that Manning recorded.
~The Super Bowl winning quarterback was a 3rd round pick. The most talked about Super Bowl player was a 5th round pick. The Super Bowl MVP was a 7th round pick. There is a system in place in Seattle whose success can no longer be denied.
~The Seattle Seahawks won the Super Bowl.
~The Seattle Seahawks won the Super Bowl.
~The Seattle Seahawks won the Super Bowl.
Thirty years. It took three full decades of seasons ending with either a loss or a meaningless win for Seahawks fans to feel what we're all feeling now. I woke up today with the frenetic energy of a small dog in a crowd or a girl who suspects that this date is the one during which her long-term boyfriend finally proposes. I came into this hoping the Seahawks would pop the question, knowing I'd forgive the years of heartache in an instant; I didn't expect the team to fly me to Paris, climb the Eiffel Tower, and offer a ring made of diamonds and bacon.
This season has followed, almost precisely, the most indulgent script Seahawks fans could have written. They gave this region (both the geographic northwest and the universal 12th Man) an ending more satisfying than Red meeting Andy Dufresne on the beaches of Zihuatanejo -- the perfect culmination of a long, agonizing story of frustration and hope.
It will be a minimum of one year before the Seahawks are no longer NFL champs. At long last the window has been cracked, letting God's glorious sunlight into a dim, dusty room whose inhabitants have been pining for relief. The window is open, my friends, and it's gonna be a long ass time before it closes.
I raise my glass and my cigar to you, 12th Man. Enjoy tonight. Enjoy this next year. Enjoy the triumph to the same degree with which you've withstood the struggle. The Seattle Seahawks are kings of the NFL and nothing, not nobody, can take that away.
I was born two weeks late to parents that didn't own a television the day before the Seattle Seahawks' began their 8th year in the NFL. The hospital room had a TV, and apparently the American health care system in 1983 allowed the option for my parents to choose to pay extra to spend another night in the room -- which they did in order to let me "see" my first 'Hawks game.
I never had a choice in the matter: I've been a Seahawks fan since birth. My story isn't any better or any worse than any other Seahawks fan's story, but it is mine. For the vast majority of my 30 years on this planet, there have been a lot of cooler teams to cheer for than Seattle, but we held strong. We stuck with this team when it wasted Cortez Kennedy's career. We were there during Stan Gelbaugh, Dan McGwire, Kelly Stouffer, and Jerramy Stevens. We have died a thousand deaths for the greater part of the last 40 years; a penance I've often thought would last a lifetime.
Then Pete Carroll and John Schneider happened. At some point in the NFL's space-time continuum the football gods saw fit to grant the Pacific Northwest a holy tribunal council when it sent PCJS to the Emerald City. They quickly separated the wheat from the chaff and plugged in a futuristic algorithm that in four short years transformed a moribund afterthought of a franchise that was struggling to find an identity into the new standard for NFL excellence.
What I saw today was the culmination of a season I barely thought possible and was terrified to imagine, let alone talk about. Then the 'Hawks led the NFL in DVOA. They became the first defense since the GOAT '85 Bears to lead the NFL in fewest points allowed, fewest yards allowed, and largest turnover margin. They took a difficult schedule and used it like a Spartan agoge to prepare themselves for the gauntlet they'd have to run this winter.
They won the NFC West.
They won the NFC.
They beat the 49ers two out of three games.
They won the Super Bowl.
The Seattle Seahawks won the Super Bowl. There wasn't a better script in any of our minds than the one that the 'Hawks acted out this season. They owned the division. They owned the conference. They beat the most hated rival they've ever had en route to desecrating and degrading the greatest offense the NFL has ever produced. Pete Carroll and Russell Wilson held the Lombardi trophy aloft and dedicated it to the 12th Man. The credits rolled, leaving me in a respectful, contemplative state that looked an awful lot like a baby crying in the corner.
This Super Bowl is what I imagine Heaven must be like: the Seattle Seahawks drubbing the shit out of a legendary team while Bruno Mars delivers pelvic vocal sex in the background for all eternity. Seattle's defense played like like mafia hit-men, the offense played like their getaway driver. Every single yard the Broncos gained came at a premium; a price paid for in contusions that will take weeks to fade without the solace of a championship to ease the pain. Even when Seattle was up by a vulgar 36 points, the defense brought the battering ram like they were attacking a medieval fortress.
Marshawn Lynch (15 carries, 39 yards) never got going. Russell Wilson (18/25, 206 yards) was efficient but not spectacular. No Seahawks skill player recorded more than 66 yards from scrimmage (Doug Baldwin); even Percy Harvin, who is a supernova incarnate, was held to 50 offensive yards. Every single digit in this paragraph would've given Broncos fans hope if you had told them that's what Seattle's offense would be held to.
None of the numbers in that paragraph, however, account for the remorseless band of marauders making up the Seahawks defense / special teams. Have you ever read "Watchmen"? This Seahawks defense was the Black Freighter, a wanton group of soulful, soulless murderers patrolling the gridiron in search of innocent blood like pirates on the deep seas. They held the most prolific offensive attack in league history without so much as a first down for the first 20 minutes of the game. They didn't just get in Peyton Manning's head, they took the real estate therein and built a monument to themselves on his medulla oblongata.
The Seahawks brought bricks to a pillow fight. After Seattle swallowed up Denver's return man Trindon Holliday like a Sarlacc on the opening kick, the Broncos Omahahaha'd themselves into a two-point hole on the first play from scrimmage with an errant snap that bumbled foreshadowingly out of the back of the endzone. It was the last time the Broncos had a chance at this game.
Seattle would settle for two field goals early to push the lead to 8-0 before unleashing more touchdowns (5) than the Broncos average yards per play (4.8). It was a shellacking reminiscent of the '85 Bears team that set the standard for NFL domination en route to their lopsided Super Bowl victory, a team whose style and swagger superseded everything, causing a mad scramble by every other team to adapt to a new football reality. The Seattle Seahawks defense and special teams were so dominant today that if the 'Hawks offense never stepped on the field, Seattle still would've beaten the team that set all the records by a score of 16-8.
Kam Chancellor got a pick and three or four legitimate attempted homicides. Malcolm Smith transformed from a 7th-round afterthought to a Super Bowl MVP with a pick-six and a fumble recovery. Earl Thomas took away the entire second and third levels. Bobby Wagner and KJ Wright erased the first level. Richard Sherman was targeted twice for zero yards. Cliff Avril and the D-line assaulted Manning consistently, tipping desperate passes and throwing the impeccably-timed Denver offense off like a stick in the spokes of a bicycle. Percy Harvin was the world's most expensive victory cigar, adding a pretty cherry to the top of a super sundae with an 87-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, validating his entire contract in eight glorious seconds. Put that Percy on a pedestal.
To give a blow-by-blow account of this game would be pure schadenfreude and while I'm not above it, it seems superfluous to do so. This game was a matchup between the greatest skier the world has ever seen and an avalanche. No matter how talented Manning and his receivers were, they weren't gonna beat the force of nature that was the 2013-'14 Seattle Seahawks.
Before the season started, I splurged on a bottle of Glenmorangie Ealanta scotch and a Sol de Cubana cigar with vows of not opening either until the Seahawks won the Super Bowl. It goes without saying that I'm attempting to write this article through the inordinately expensive equilibrium that combo is producing. I don't know how it's going to read in the harsh light of hungover sobriety, but I'm happy to be hammering my way through it with you guys.
Other stuff:
~The Seahawks only out-gained the Broncos by 35 yards while outscoring them by 35 points. That's got to be some kind of first. Not just for Super Bowls, but, like, ever.
~The most productive passing offense in history managed 5.7 yards per attempt in the biggest game of their lives.
~The gap between Russell Wilson's passer rating (123.1) and Peyton Manning's (73.5) was greater than the Super Bowl record 34 completions that Manning recorded.
~The Super Bowl winning quarterback was a 3rd round pick. The most talked about Super Bowl player was a 5th round pick. The Super Bowl MVP was a 7th round pick. There is a system in place in Seattle whose success can no longer be denied.
~The Seattle Seahawks won the Super Bowl.
~The Seattle Seahawks won the Super Bowl.
~The Seattle Seahawks won the Super Bowl.
Thirty years. It took three full decades of seasons ending with either a loss or a meaningless win for Seahawks fans to feel what we're all feeling now. I woke up today with the frenetic energy of a small dog in a crowd or a girl who suspects that this date is the one during which her long-term boyfriend finally proposes. I came into this hoping the Seahawks would pop the question, knowing I'd forgive the years of heartache in an instant; I didn't expect the team to fly me to Paris, climb the Eiffel Tower, and offer a ring made of diamonds and bacon.
This season has followed, almost precisely, the most indulgent script Seahawks fans could have written. They gave this region (both the geographic northwest and the universal 12th Man) an ending more satisfying than Red meeting Andy Dufresne on the beaches of Zihuatanejo -- the perfect culmination of a long, agonizing story of frustration and hope.
It will be a minimum of one year before the Seahawks are no longer NFL champs. At long last the window has been cracked, letting God's glorious sunlight into a dim, dusty room whose inhabitants have been pining for relief. The window is open, my friends, and it's gonna be a long ass time before it closes.
I raise my glass and my cigar to you, 12th Man. Enjoy tonight. Enjoy this next year. Enjoy the triumph to the same degree with which you've withstood the struggle. The Seattle Seahawks are kings of the NFL and nothing, not nobody, can take that away.
octagondd
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Boxer Floyd Mayweather Bets $10 Million on Denver in Super Bowl
Time to set up another fight, Floyd.
Doublejive
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Super Bowl 2014: Extinction Level Event
The passing game is alive and well, but a meteor looms heavy in the sky.
I was expecting that to happen because the Broncos are the old model. The outdated model. Pete Carroll looked at teams like the Denver Broncos, made note of their dimension and their shape, and crafted himself a team in their perfect negative likeness. Every advantage that teams like the Broncos have enjoyed over the past decade and a half: gone. Pete Carroll knows what you are good at, and he is glad that you are good at it, because every atom of this team was designed to stop it. From nucleic acid to eye black. Pete Carroll built himself an apex predator.
Things we all know: The cornerbacks look and play like wide receivers. They love it when you throw 50 times a game, because they want the football. The single high safety sees the field like a quarterback. He loves it when you make adjustments at the line of scrimmage, because it tells him what you were thinking coming out of the huddle and what you're thinking now. The linebackers are dying for you to run your screens because they know they can't be blocked by your "athletic" tight ends and wide receivers. And the defensive line? They love you, in particular, pocket passer. All they have to do is make a 5-yard by 5-yard square living hell, and the boys behind them will take care of the rest.
So, no, Sunday was not a surprise, because Peyton Manning's passing attack was only the latest dinosaur to choke to death on the asteroid dust raised by the Seahawks. A very clear picture has emerged. Elite quarterbacks should be worried. Since 2012, Seattle has faced the top-tier elite signal callers in the NFL. Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Drew Brees: Playoff Edition, and Peyton Manning: Super Bowl Edition. They went 0-5.
Win/Loss record is only a part of the story. First, a baseline:
Rest at linky---->Super Bowl 2014: Extinction Level Event - Field Gulls
The passing game is alive and well, but a meteor looms heavy in the sky.
I was expecting that to happen because the Broncos are the old model. The outdated model. Pete Carroll looked at teams like the Denver Broncos, made note of their dimension and their shape, and crafted himself a team in their perfect negative likeness. Every advantage that teams like the Broncos have enjoyed over the past decade and a half: gone. Pete Carroll knows what you are good at, and he is glad that you are good at it, because every atom of this team was designed to stop it. From nucleic acid to eye black. Pete Carroll built himself an apex predator.
Things we all know: The cornerbacks look and play like wide receivers. They love it when you throw 50 times a game, because they want the football. The single high safety sees the field like a quarterback. He loves it when you make adjustments at the line of scrimmage, because it tells him what you were thinking coming out of the huddle and what you're thinking now. The linebackers are dying for you to run your screens because they know they can't be blocked by your "athletic" tight ends and wide receivers. And the defensive line? They love you, in particular, pocket passer. All they have to do is make a 5-yard by 5-yard square living hell, and the boys behind them will take care of the rest.
So, no, Sunday was not a surprise, because Peyton Manning's passing attack was only the latest dinosaur to choke to death on the asteroid dust raised by the Seahawks. A very clear picture has emerged. Elite quarterbacks should be worried. Since 2012, Seattle has faced the top-tier elite signal callers in the NFL. Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Drew Brees: Playoff Edition, and Peyton Manning: Super Bowl Edition. They went 0-5.
Win/Loss record is only a part of the story. First, a baseline:
Rest at linky---->Super Bowl 2014: Extinction Level Event - Field Gulls
Doublejive
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Seattle Seahawks' deep, young roster could spawn dynastic run
NEW YORK -- Malcolm Smith had been glancing at the shiny, silver football on a pedestal Monday morning. He took the keys to a new truck, answered a few questions, joked about being dressed for a trip to Disney World -- all in an early day's work for the newest Super Bowl MVP. But as Smith walked out, the wide-eyed wonder of what had befallen him and the Seattle Seahawks in the previous 12 hours finally took hold.
"So, do I really get to keep that football?" he asked a league official.
Yes, Smith gets to keep the Pete Rozelle Trophy, awarded to the title game's MVP, and the Seattle Seahawks get to keep something much more in the wake of their 43-8 rout of the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII: not just the world championship, but the knowledge that they are perfectly poised to do something even rarer than shutting down the best offense the NFL has ever seen. The 'Hawks could win a few additional Super Bowls, with a young, deep and relatively inexpensive roster whose window of opportunity was only just starting to open when the defense kicked it in Sunday night.
Smith is merely the poster child -- "child" being the operative word -- for the Seahawks right now. At 24, he has blossomed in the past few months into a ballhawk after being a backup for most of the season, after being plucked in the seventh round of the 2011 NFL Draft, after not being invited to the NFL Scouting Combine, after being overlooked -- by coach Pete Carroll's own admission -- at USC because he played behind one of the most impressive linebacking crews to be cobbled together. Smith had an interception in four of the Seahawks' last five contests, including the corralling of Richard Sherman's tipped ball that ended the NFC Championship Game and the pick six that was the result of Cliff Avril bashing into Peyton Manning's arm Sunday night.
The linebacker was one of a number of Seattle defenders who could have been named MVP -- I voted for him, but I was considering Avril, Kam Chancellor and Chris Clemons for at least parts of the evening -- a fact that provoked a rush to place this defense among the best to have ever won a Super Bowl. The 1985 Chicago Bears smothered a New England Patriots team quarterbacked by Steve Grogan and Tony Eason in Super Bowl XX. The 2000 Baltimore Ravens overwhelmed Kerry Collins' New York Giants in Super Bowl XXXV. But the Seahawks destroyed a legendary quarterback who was coming off the best season of his -- or anybody else's -- career. That, then, places Seattle firmly in the pantheon of defensive mythology, with the terrifying promise that there might be even better results to come as the team grows together.
Carroll declined to compare his squad to those legendary, historical units. With good reason: The 'Hawks might be at the very beginning of their reign.
"I think you look back years down the road and you assess what you accomplished with the group and you can take account of it then," Carroll said. "I think when you're in the middle of it, it's not time to talk that way. We've put together a couple of good seasons, back to back, really big-time seasons in scoring and playing good, solid defense in a similar fashion. And that's pretty cool. But when the names of the teams and the years of those guys come up and you bring up the big-time defenses that have played -- we'll see. You've got to look back, I think, and evaluate that. I wouldn't try to call it right now."
Rest at Link--->Seattle Seahawks' deep, young roster could spawn dynastic run - NFL.com
NEW YORK -- Malcolm Smith had been glancing at the shiny, silver football on a pedestal Monday morning. He took the keys to a new truck, answered a few questions, joked about being dressed for a trip to Disney World -- all in an early day's work for the newest Super Bowl MVP. But as Smith walked out, the wide-eyed wonder of what had befallen him and the Seattle Seahawks in the previous 12 hours finally took hold.
"So, do I really get to keep that football?" he asked a league official.
Yes, Smith gets to keep the Pete Rozelle Trophy, awarded to the title game's MVP, and the Seattle Seahawks get to keep something much more in the wake of their 43-8 rout of the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII: not just the world championship, but the knowledge that they are perfectly poised to do something even rarer than shutting down the best offense the NFL has ever seen. The 'Hawks could win a few additional Super Bowls, with a young, deep and relatively inexpensive roster whose window of opportunity was only just starting to open when the defense kicked it in Sunday night.
Smith is merely the poster child -- "child" being the operative word -- for the Seahawks right now. At 24, he has blossomed in the past few months into a ballhawk after being a backup for most of the season, after being plucked in the seventh round of the 2011 NFL Draft, after not being invited to the NFL Scouting Combine, after being overlooked -- by coach Pete Carroll's own admission -- at USC because he played behind one of the most impressive linebacking crews to be cobbled together. Smith had an interception in four of the Seahawks' last five contests, including the corralling of Richard Sherman's tipped ball that ended the NFC Championship Game and the pick six that was the result of Cliff Avril bashing into Peyton Manning's arm Sunday night.
The linebacker was one of a number of Seattle defenders who could have been named MVP -- I voted for him, but I was considering Avril, Kam Chancellor and Chris Clemons for at least parts of the evening -- a fact that provoked a rush to place this defense among the best to have ever won a Super Bowl. The 1985 Chicago Bears smothered a New England Patriots team quarterbacked by Steve Grogan and Tony Eason in Super Bowl XX. The 2000 Baltimore Ravens overwhelmed Kerry Collins' New York Giants in Super Bowl XXXV. But the Seahawks destroyed a legendary quarterback who was coming off the best season of his -- or anybody else's -- career. That, then, places Seattle firmly in the pantheon of defensive mythology, with the terrifying promise that there might be even better results to come as the team grows together.
Carroll declined to compare his squad to those legendary, historical units. With good reason: The 'Hawks might be at the very beginning of their reign.
"I think you look back years down the road and you assess what you accomplished with the group and you can take account of it then," Carroll said. "I think when you're in the middle of it, it's not time to talk that way. We've put together a couple of good seasons, back to back, really big-time seasons in scoring and playing good, solid defense in a similar fashion. And that's pretty cool. But when the names of the teams and the years of those guys come up and you bring up the big-time defenses that have played -- we'll see. You've got to look back, I think, and evaluate that. I wouldn't try to call it right now."
Rest at Link--->Seattle Seahawks' deep, young roster could spawn dynastic run - NFL.com
Doublejive
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Seahawks have salary decisions to make along both lines for 2014
Some high-paid players might have to go or restructure their contracts to relieve some salary-cap pressure
The Seahawks will parade through town Wednesday celebrating their first Super Bowl title. Then they may not be seen again as a team until Organized Training Activities and mini-camps in the spring.
When they return, they won’t be completely the same — no NFL team is from one year to the next.
But with most of a youthful core under contract for at least another season, the Seahawks could have pretty remarkable continuity, one reason Seattle has already been established as a favorite to repeat in Super Bowl XLIX in Glendale, Ariz.
Here’s a quick look at each position group and some thoughts on how the roster might look like:
Quarterback
Here’s one spot with no questions moving forward. Russell Wilson will be Seattle’s QB for years to come, the only question being how much money he will get after the 2014 season, when he can finally get a new deal. Tarvaris Jackson is a free agent but seems an ideal backup at this stage of his career if he’s willing to accept that role for another year. The team likes the potential of practice-squad QB B.J. Daniels, as well.
Running back
Marshawn Lynch has two years left on his deal, and at 28 next season, should have some wear left on his tires. An intriguing training-camp battle could loom at the backup spot between Robert Turbin and Christine Michael. Veteran Michael Robinson, one of the team’s more influential locker-room presences, was non-committal before the Super Bowl when asked if he wants to keep playing. Either way, Derrick Coleman could have a larger role next year at fullback, as could Spencer Ware, a rookie limited to two games this season.
Tight end
Zach Miller will represent a $7 million salary-cap hit next year, leading to some thought the team might look to restructure his deal or examine other options to clear some cap space. Luke Willson showed potential as a rookie, Anthony McCoy should be healthy by the spring, and there are some intriguing draft options this year, as well (Austin Seferian-Jenkins?).
Wide receiver
Golden Tate is an unrestricted free agent and could command some heavy offers after another step-in-the-right direction season and entering his prime at 26 when next season begins. Another team could give Seattle a tough decision there. Doug Baldwin is a restricted free agent, so Seattle can keep him if it desires. There seems no way Sidney Rice returns under the terms of his current deal (scheduled to make $9.7 million in 2014). Seattle will hope for a full season from Percy Harvin in 2014 to anchor its receiving corps, as well as assuming increased production from Jermaine Kearse.
Offensive line
Here’s one position group that could look a little different next year. Center Max Unger and left tackle Russell Okung are proven players entering the prime of their careers, but both battled through injuries this season. Okung could be asked to restructure a contract to relieve an $11.24 million cap hit in 2014. J.R. Sweezy seems to have earned the team’s confidence at right guard. Right tackle Breno Giacomini is a free agent, though, as is left guard Paul McQuistan. And the jury still seems out a bit on the other part of the left-guard tandem, James Carpenter, due to represent a $2.4 million cap hit in 2014. The team likes the potential of Michael Bowie and Alvin Bailey, who could give Seattle some options, and this also seems a spot the Seahawks might address heavily in the draft.
Defensive line
Here’s another spot where salary-cap issues could take a toll. Michael Bennett is a free agent, and Seattle appears willing to pay a lot more than the $5 million he made this year to keep him. Clinton McDonald and Tony McDaniel are also free agents, and some wonder if Seattle might have to part ways with Red Bryant ($8.7 million in 2014) or Brandon Mebane ($5.7 million) to make it all work. And many think it almost a certainty that Chris Clemons, who turns 33 next October and will cost a $9.6 million cap hit next year, won’t be back. One factor is how much Seattle thinks it can count on Jordan Hill and Jesse Williams, rookies in 2013 battled through injuries — Williams missing the entire season — and little-used Benson Mayowa. Another spot Seattle could also address in the draft.
Rest at link covers all areas.
Seahawks have salary decisions to make along both lines for 2014 | Seahawks | The Seattle Times
Some high-paid players might have to go or restructure their contracts to relieve some salary-cap pressure
The Seahawks will parade through town Wednesday celebrating their first Super Bowl title. Then they may not be seen again as a team until Organized Training Activities and mini-camps in the spring.
When they return, they won’t be completely the same — no NFL team is from one year to the next.
But with most of a youthful core under contract for at least another season, the Seahawks could have pretty remarkable continuity, one reason Seattle has already been established as a favorite to repeat in Super Bowl XLIX in Glendale, Ariz.
Here’s a quick look at each position group and some thoughts on how the roster might look like:
Quarterback
Here’s one spot with no questions moving forward. Russell Wilson will be Seattle’s QB for years to come, the only question being how much money he will get after the 2014 season, when he can finally get a new deal. Tarvaris Jackson is a free agent but seems an ideal backup at this stage of his career if he’s willing to accept that role for another year. The team likes the potential of practice-squad QB B.J. Daniels, as well.
Running back
Marshawn Lynch has two years left on his deal, and at 28 next season, should have some wear left on his tires. An intriguing training-camp battle could loom at the backup spot between Robert Turbin and Christine Michael. Veteran Michael Robinson, one of the team’s more influential locker-room presences, was non-committal before the Super Bowl when asked if he wants to keep playing. Either way, Derrick Coleman could have a larger role next year at fullback, as could Spencer Ware, a rookie limited to two games this season.
Tight end
Zach Miller will represent a $7 million salary-cap hit next year, leading to some thought the team might look to restructure his deal or examine other options to clear some cap space. Luke Willson showed potential as a rookie, Anthony McCoy should be healthy by the spring, and there are some intriguing draft options this year, as well (Austin Seferian-Jenkins?).
Wide receiver
Golden Tate is an unrestricted free agent and could command some heavy offers after another step-in-the-right direction season and entering his prime at 26 when next season begins. Another team could give Seattle a tough decision there. Doug Baldwin is a restricted free agent, so Seattle can keep him if it desires. There seems no way Sidney Rice returns under the terms of his current deal (scheduled to make $9.7 million in 2014). Seattle will hope for a full season from Percy Harvin in 2014 to anchor its receiving corps, as well as assuming increased production from Jermaine Kearse.
Offensive line
Here’s one position group that could look a little different next year. Center Max Unger and left tackle Russell Okung are proven players entering the prime of their careers, but both battled through injuries this season. Okung could be asked to restructure a contract to relieve an $11.24 million cap hit in 2014. J.R. Sweezy seems to have earned the team’s confidence at right guard. Right tackle Breno Giacomini is a free agent, though, as is left guard Paul McQuistan. And the jury still seems out a bit on the other part of the left-guard tandem, James Carpenter, due to represent a $2.4 million cap hit in 2014. The team likes the potential of Michael Bowie and Alvin Bailey, who could give Seattle some options, and this also seems a spot the Seahawks might address heavily in the draft.
Defensive line
Here’s another spot where salary-cap issues could take a toll. Michael Bennett is a free agent, and Seattle appears willing to pay a lot more than the $5 million he made this year to keep him. Clinton McDonald and Tony McDaniel are also free agents, and some wonder if Seattle might have to part ways with Red Bryant ($8.7 million in 2014) or Brandon Mebane ($5.7 million) to make it all work. And many think it almost a certainty that Chris Clemons, who turns 33 next October and will cost a $9.6 million cap hit next year, won’t be back. One factor is how much Seattle thinks it can count on Jordan Hill and Jesse Williams, rookies in 2013 battled through injuries — Williams missing the entire season — and little-used Benson Mayowa. Another spot Seattle could also address in the draft.
Rest at link covers all areas.
Seahawks have salary decisions to make along both lines for 2014 | Seahawks | The Seattle Times
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The Seahawks win the Super Bowl: Deserve had nothing to do with it
By Matt Ufford on Feb 3 2014, 10:50a
1. Here is everything you need to know about sports: nobody deserves anything.
Keep this in mind when you read about the travails of long-suffering Seattle fans, or aSeahawks franchise that was almost moved to Los Angeles before Paul Allen bought the team in the late '90s. If there were justice in sports, the Yankees and Cardinals wouldn't have a third of all World Series victories, the Browns never would have left Cleveland, and Michael Irvin would have faced some kind of repercussion for stabbing his teammate in the neck with scissors.
Championships are earned or bought or stolen, but never deserved. Make no mistake: the Seahawks didn't win the Super Bowl because of Ken Griffey Jr. or the Sonics. They won because they had the gall to fire coach Jim Mora after a single season in order to hire Pete Carroll, who was never supposed to work in the NFL again after failed stints with the Jetsand Patriots in the '90s.
They won because Carroll teamed with a new general manager, John Schneider, and promptly drafted a slew of cheap young talent that won a championship on their rookie contracts. They traded for a franchise running back, signed key free agents to make the defensive line as fearsome as the secondary, and drafted a too-short franchise quarterback in the third round of the NFL draft.
They won because Carroll is the kind of coach that no Seattle team has ever had. His "always compete" philosophy granted Russell Wilson a chance to start in his rookie year over Matt Flynn, even though the Seahawks had just given Flynn a $10 million contract to be their starter. It's no accident that Carroll, a former defensive back and defensive backs coach, has built the deepest and most fundamentally sound secondary in all of football. That he is just the third coach with both college and Super Bowl titles is also no accident. In time, this excellent young Seahawks team will prove him more a Jimmy Johnson than a Barry Switzer.
This is how the Seahawks' clinical, all-phases destruction of the AFC's top seed happened: not with the karma of long-suffering fans, but with a phenomenal assembly of talent, excellent coaching, and superior preparation and execution.
2. But while we're here, let's visit the psyche of a Seattle fan prior to Super Bowl XLVIII. Let's take a fan born at Fort Lewis, an hour south of Seattle, in 1978 -- he is younger than the Seahawks by two years, and was still an infant when the SuperSonics won the city's only major pro sports championship. A Seattle fan born then has lived through:
3. Something changed over the last two weeks. After a hard-fought and gruesomely violent victory over the 49ers -- the hottest team in the NFL and a popular choice to upset the Seahawks leading into the NFC Championship -- I felt confident that the Seahawks would win the Super Bowl, and I thought it was an obvious enough conclusion that I was surprised Vegas tapped the Broncos as the favorites.
Who were these people picking the Broncos? Did they not see the Seahawks beat superior competition in the NFC bracket? How could they expect Russell Wilson's alleged struggles to continue against a team without an elite pass rusher? How could they not give more credence to the best defense in football? I collected names, wrote off experts, held grudges.
Still, because of Seattle's history, a part of my brain held on to the terror that everything would go wrong. The top-ranked '05 Seahawks managed to lose to a 6-seedSteelers. The '01 Mariners won 116 games and missed the World Series. The '93-'94 Sonics won 63 games but lost in the first round of the playoffs. Shit happens. It made sense to accept the possibility that the greatest quarterback in NFL history could defeat my stupid team.
To read the rest of the article, click below:
The Seahawks win the Super Bowl: Deserve had nothing to do with it - SBNation.com
By Matt Ufford on Feb 3 2014, 10:50a
1. Here is everything you need to know about sports: nobody deserves anything.
Keep this in mind when you read about the travails of long-suffering Seattle fans, or aSeahawks franchise that was almost moved to Los Angeles before Paul Allen bought the team in the late '90s. If there were justice in sports, the Yankees and Cardinals wouldn't have a third of all World Series victories, the Browns never would have left Cleveland, and Michael Irvin would have faced some kind of repercussion for stabbing his teammate in the neck with scissors.
Championships are earned or bought or stolen, but never deserved. Make no mistake: the Seahawks didn't win the Super Bowl because of Ken Griffey Jr. or the Sonics. They won because they had the gall to fire coach Jim Mora after a single season in order to hire Pete Carroll, who was never supposed to work in the NFL again after failed stints with the Jetsand Patriots in the '90s.
They won because Carroll teamed with a new general manager, John Schneider, and promptly drafted a slew of cheap young talent that won a championship on their rookie contracts. They traded for a franchise running back, signed key free agents to make the defensive line as fearsome as the secondary, and drafted a too-short franchise quarterback in the third round of the NFL draft.
They won because Carroll is the kind of coach that no Seattle team has ever had. His "always compete" philosophy granted Russell Wilson a chance to start in his rookie year over Matt Flynn, even though the Seahawks had just given Flynn a $10 million contract to be their starter. It's no accident that Carroll, a former defensive back and defensive backs coach, has built the deepest and most fundamentally sound secondary in all of football. That he is just the third coach with both college and Super Bowl titles is also no accident. In time, this excellent young Seahawks team will prove him more a Jimmy Johnson than a Barry Switzer.
This is how the Seahawks' clinical, all-phases destruction of the AFC's top seed happened: not with the karma of long-suffering fans, but with a phenomenal assembly of talent, excellent coaching, and superior preparation and execution.
2. But while we're here, let's visit the psyche of a Seattle fan prior to Super Bowl XLVIII. Let's take a fan born at Fort Lewis, an hour south of Seattle, in 1978 -- he is younger than the Seahawks by two years, and was still an infant when the SuperSonics won the city's only major pro sports championship. A Seattle fan born then has lived through:
- A 21-year streak without a Seahawks playoff win
- The first No. 1 seed to lose in the first round of the NBA playoffs
- The greatest Sonics team ever assembled facing Michael Jordan's 72-10 Bulls in the Finals
- The threat of the Mariners leaving town (saved by new owner)
- The threat of the Seahawks leaving town (saved by new owner)
- The Sonics actually leaving town (screwed by new owner, with help from old owner)
- The Mariners' most dramatic playoff victory not even resulting in a World Series appearance
- The best Mariners team ever assembled happening the year that Bud Selig canceled the World Series
- The team with the most wins in baseball history losing in the ALCS
- Matt Hasselback -- poor, doomed Matt Hasselbeck -- saying, "We'll take the ball and we're gonna score!" before throwing a game-sealing pick-6
- Super Bowl XL, in which Antwaan Randle El outperformed Ben Roethlisberger as a passer and horrible person Jerramy Stevens scored the first -- and for eight years, only -- touchdown in Seahawks history
3. Something changed over the last two weeks. After a hard-fought and gruesomely violent victory over the 49ers -- the hottest team in the NFL and a popular choice to upset the Seahawks leading into the NFC Championship -- I felt confident that the Seahawks would win the Super Bowl, and I thought it was an obvious enough conclusion that I was surprised Vegas tapped the Broncos as the favorites.
Who were these people picking the Broncos? Did they not see the Seahawks beat superior competition in the NFC bracket? How could they expect Russell Wilson's alleged struggles to continue against a team without an elite pass rusher? How could they not give more credence to the best defense in football? I collected names, wrote off experts, held grudges.
Still, because of Seattle's history, a part of my brain held on to the terror that everything would go wrong. The top-ranked '05 Seahawks managed to lose to a 6-seedSteelers. The '01 Mariners won 116 games and missed the World Series. The '93-'94 Sonics won 63 games but lost in the first round of the playoffs. Shit happens. It made sense to accept the possibility that the greatest quarterback in NFL history could defeat my stupid team.
To read the rest of the article, click below:
The Seahawks win the Super Bowl: Deserve had nothing to do with it - SBNation.com
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Seahawks leave former players of great defensive teams in awe
By: Hank Gola
New York Daily News
Monday, February 3, 2014
New York Daily News
Monday, February 3, 2014
Three guys who played on a couple of the best defenses of all time are ready to welcome the Seahawks to the club.
“An incredible performance,” said Rob Burnett of the 2000 Ravens, who dominated the Giants in Super Bowl XXXV. “I don’t think I’ve seen a defensive performance of that magnitude in a single game since our game. An absolute beatdown.”
Jim Burt of the ’86 Giants went one further. “I thought it was the most dominating performance I’ve seen in any Super Bowl,” he said on Monday. “I thought this was better because Kerry Collins (of the 2000 Giants) was not Peyton Manning. That Giants offense could never compare to this Denver offense. They had everything and they couldn’t do anything.”
“You’re not talking about a slouch,” said Carl Banks of the ’86 and ’90 Giants and the team’s current radio analyst. “When you can take what was the most prolific passer in modern times, whether he’s a playoff quarterback or not, with an offense that broke all kinds of records, if you can do that to that team and that quarterback you deserve to be in a very elite club.
“And then when you also add on the fact that they’re playing in a league that literally ties one hand behind your back defensively, I don’t think you can say anymore,” Banks added. “You have to ask yourself, ‘Could they have played in another era?’ One hundred percent. There’s no doubt that the Bears, the Ravens and even my teams could have played in this era and been dominant but also, could you have thrown the Seahawks back to the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s? I say 100%.”
A few things jumped out with what the Seahawks were able to do. Recently, after the rules changes tilted things toward the offense, the only real recourse a defense had was via the pass rush. A secondary was only as good as the time a quarterback had. But Seattle made up the difference with incredible closing speed and a four-man rush that consistently collapsed the pocket.
A few things jumped out with what the Seahawks were able to do. Recently, after the rules changes tilted things toward the offense, the only real recourse a defense had was via the pass rush. A secondary was only as good as the time a quarterback had. But Seattle made up the difference with incredible closing speed and a four-man rush that consistently collapsed the pocket.
“I was looking at the game, thinking, ‘Oh my God. These guys are catching the ball at three yards and they’re not getting three and a half yards,’ ” Burt said. “They’re getting hit and they’re getting stoned.
“They get back in position really fast and they’re able to react with great speed,” Banks said. “I was talking to Terrell Owens and he said the one thing he noticed was that the Denver receivers were definitely affected because instead of going forward when they caught a ball, they were actually giving ground.”
No wonder, after the hit Kam Chancellor laid on Demaryius Thomas early.
No wonder, after the hit Kam Chancellor laid on Demaryius Thomas early.
“It was a game-changer. That set the whole tone,” Burt agreed. “When he knocked him five yards back, I’m like, ‘That’s like the Giants used to play.’ It was like, ‘OK, we’ll let you catch the ball across the middle but you’re going to get punched in the face.’ ”
Both Banks and Burt agreed that Manning was affected.
Both Banks and Burt agreed that Manning was affected.
“Just the way they were getting to him, he was shook,” Banks said. “He didn’t have his progressions available to him and he didn’t want to wait it out at all.”
“When you saw Peyton, he was shaky in the pocket,” Burt said. “He actually had a scared look on his face. All the years I watched Peyton, I didn’t realize he was scared to get hit. His feet were moving all around.”
“He’s such a smart guy. He can scheme out of a lot of different stuff,” Banks observed. “But when you’re not giving him a lot of different looks, it baffles him. I talked to (Bill) Parcells yesterday morning before the game. He said he wouldn’t be shocked if they lined up just like they did every week and tell Manning, ‘Come get us because we’re not going to play nickel, we’re not afraid of you,’ and that’s exactly what they did.
“Everybody for the past four or five games was playing him in nickel. He’d run ‘check with me’ at the line,” Banks added. “And they said, ‘OK, here’s what we’ve got, let’s see you scheme out of it.’ The beauty of it is that when you have a team that can line up and say, ‘here we are,’ it’s tough because you can’t call a play for that. You’ve got to beat the guy in front of you.”
Burt said the only negative aspect to the Seattle defense was how much holding he thought it got away with.
“They’re holding on every play, not a lot, just a little bit. They’re tugging, just enough and every single one of them are doing it. Just before the guy goes in a break, they get a hold of the jersey and tug just a little bit.
“They’re holding on every play, not a lot, just a little bit. They’re tugging, just enough and every single one of them are doing it. Just before the guy goes in a break, they get a hold of the jersey and tug just a little bit.
“But look,” he went on. “After this one, I’ve got to say, these guys, take your hats off to them. They’ve flat-out got it going.”
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