Saturday, January 25, 2014

NHL/NBA back in Seattle?

I would like to thank my good friend Jovan Heer for taking the time to write this post on the situation Seattle is facing. No, nothing serious just the fact that Seattle has been without an NBA team since 2008 and hasn't had an NHL back since the Seattle Metropolitains back in 1924. The Metropolitains became the first American team to win the Stanley Cup back in the 1917 beating the Montreal Canadians in 4 games in a best of 5 series. You can follow Jovan on Twitter @JovanHeer, he's happy to give his "professional" take on the Vancouver Canucks during the game. Bellow are his words, that's why I put them in bold lettering.

The Seattle Seahawks are on their way to the Super Bowl for only the second time in franchise history and all of Seattle is going absolutely insane over the team. The team has had an amazing amount of support throughout the years, this year more then ever. The last time the Seahawks were in the Super Bowl was back in 2006, where they lost to both the Pittsburgh Steelers and the refs 21-10. The team has worked so hard this season winning the NFC West and just recently winning one of the hardest fought NFC Championship games anyone has ever seen against the San Francisco 49ers. 

The 12th Man is being talked about all over the world and you see it on the back of jerseys, home decorations, and even on the side of buildings. Century Link Field may be the loudest stadium in the NFL with the greatest fans, this season the fans broke the record for the loudest crowd in a game against the 49ers and then after the Chiefs fans broke the record the 12th Man broke the record again. 

So that leaves us with the question, if the Seahawks win the Super Bowl will that open the door for an NBA and/or NHL team to arrive in Seattle? With a new arena in Seattle and with stable owners the city could support an NBA team again because of the passion that the fans in Seattle show towards both a departed NBA team and no NHL team. If a city can gather around a team and show as much and support for a team as they do for the Seahawks and the Mariners, it could open a door for another franchise coming in.

David Stern is set to retire from the NBA and I know a lot of Sonics fans are saying "Good ridden". In early February last year he was quoted saying "We're not focused on expansion at the moment. It wouldn't surprise me if Commissioner Silver was looking at strong applications from Las Vegas and Seattle in the coming years.", so that gives all those in Seattle hope for at least an NBA team in the upcoming years.

I personally don't see Las Vegas acquiring a team over a city like Seattle, just because of the limited fan base. Besides there's way too many things to do in Vegas, I mean who's going to want to go to an NBA game when they can go watch celebrities perform and lose all their money? Even when the SuperSonics were in around they were averaging 15,000 fans a game and around 600,000+ fans a season. The team was just starting to play well when Clay Bennett decided to team up with Stern and move the Sonics out of Seattle and breaking the hearts of thousands of Sonic fans. Since they have moved to Oklahoma City they have improve year after year and even earned a trip the NBA Finals 2 years ago but lost to the Miami Heat (no complaints).

Only time will tell if Seattle gets an NBA back, but nothing will change until the soon to be Commissioner of the NBA gets adjusted to the new position. On to the National Hockey League, Commissioner Gary Bettman is always reluctant to the idea of relocating teams even when in doubt.....just look at the Phoenix Coyotes situation. They have been losing money for several years and instead of folding the team and relocating it they have instead decided to pay for it until the new owner was found and lost money because of it.

Teams like Florida, Columbus, and Dallas are struggling to put fans in the seats but that may be because of the teams being down in the standings. That may open the door to them relocating any of these teams to a new city, but that doesn't mean it will be in Seattle. There are other cities in the US and Canada looking at the potential of also getting an expansion team or getting one of those franchise like Quebec City and Kansas City. In conclusion it will be easier to get an NBA team then an NHL team but both are something that fans might end up getting in the long run with it being a great opportunity to grow the city of Seattle once again.  


Thursday, January 23, 2014

Seahawks/Broncos Super Bowl Preview

Ok sure I'm writing a Super Bowl preview a week and a half away from the day before kickoff but so what! Too excited to wait. The second time in Seahawks history they are in the Super Bowl, but this opponent is way different from any opponent that they have face this season. For the first time since Super Bowl XXV that the number one offensive and defensive teams will be facing off for the ultimate prize......the Lombardi Trophy and to be crowned Super Bowl Champs!

The Seahawks have been from this stage in the NFL for 8 years and the last time they were there it was a complete disaster (thanks to the striped assholes calling the game). They fell short of their goal of Super Bowl champs to the Pittsburgh Steelers 21-10. Let's just hope that the refs will call a fair game in this Super Bowl huh?

Anyways, getting back to the game the Seahawks have the better team. Why do I say that the Seahawks have a better team compared to the Denver Broncos who have had Peyton Manning, DeMaryius Thomas, Wes Welker, Knoshon Moreno, and Eric Decker on their team? Simple, the Seahawks want this game more and have more to prove then the Broncos.

The Hawks have gone through criticism all season and have had the media doubt them all season long. Their wide receiver's have been called "pedestrian" but quoting wide out Doug Baldwin "It irritates the hell out of me when guys constantly want to talk about receiving, talking about we're average, we're pedestrian. Well guess what? We're walking our ass to the Super Bowl as pedestrians".

The Seahawks wide receiver core may not have any Pro Bowlers or highlight players in the eyes of the media and the experts but all season long Baldwin, Golden Tate, and Jermaine Kearse have shown how good they really are. The experts fail to forget that it was Kearse who made the game winning catch against the Panthers in Week 1, or made a spectacular catch in the Colts game to keep the Hawks in the game, and guess what? It was Kearse who made the tough catch against the 49ers last Sunday that basically won the game for the Seahawks. Golden Tate has had a career season for catches (64) and yards (898), he also had a career game against the St. Louis Rams in the final game of the season catching 8 passes for a career high 129 yards.

Those are not "pedestrian" wide receivers to me. The Seahawks may not have three guys who have caught 10+ touchdowns like the Broncos have no they have speedy and athletic young men who are ready to prove to the whole nation that even though they are not Pro Bowlers they are just as good.

The Broncos have Peyton Manning yes we know but here's the thing you take Manning away and the Broncos are not a Super Bowl team! That's all the Broncos are is a passing team and all season long the Seahawks secondary has shut down passing teams like this. The Legion of Boom have three terrific All-Pro and Pro Bowl players but their backups are just as dangerous. Byron Maxwell was put in for the suspended Brandon Browner and in just 5 games he picked off 4 passes!!!

Walter Thurmond III is just as dangerous, he may only have had one interception during the season but he still a great defender. Jeremy Lane has been outstanding for the Seahawks as well. To me this guy should have been a Pro Bowler for special teams, he's also a great cornerback as well.

The Broncos defense is good......but not that good. Their defense has proven that they are weak, when they go up against teams who actually HAVE an offense they struggle. The Broncos D almost blew it two weeks ago as the San Diego Chargers scored 17 points in the 4th quarter, their offense also struggled against the Chargers defense as well. The Broncos D has shown they are week in their three loses and in a couple of their wins.

If Russell Wilson can get his legs moving while under pressure and run the ball in 10 days then the Seahawks may have a shot at really pounding the Broncos. Wilson has been holding the ball way too long in the past couple games, during the first half of the season he ran the ball more often but since week 8 he has ran the ball less and less. During a three game stretch he ran 33 times and ran for 240 yards!! I mean damn what happened after that huh? Since Week 17 he has ran the ball 13 times for 15 yards.......that's not Russell Wilson. It's a big importance that Russell runs in his first Super Bowl when he has no one to go to.

Another big key in this Super Bowl for the Seahawks is get to Manning early and sack his ass! You do that you have Manning and the Broncos on the ropes. Manning has been sacked 7 times in the 3 loses this season and in the 13 that he has won he's been sacked 11 times......yeah weird huh? Doesn't matter the Seahawks D-Line needs to get to Manning early and put pressure on him and get him to panic to throw the ball, that will allow the secondary to pick Manning off or with the pressure have Manning throw it away.

Another thing is that Seahawks offensive corridinator Darrell Bevell needs to call a smart game. He's been highly criticized by myself and a lot of other Seahawks fans, but I do have to give him kudos on calling a great game last week, but he really does need to let Russell call the game. In the loss against the Colts it looked like Russell was calling the plays, actually the three game rushing stretch for Wilson looked like he was calling the plays. The point I'm trying to make is that Bevell needs to call one more smart game and let Russell call the plays from time to time.

The running game in the last three games has been scary for the Seahawks, lead by their Pro Bowl running back Marshawn Lynch has ran for 346 yards in the last 3 games (249 in the playoffs). Beast Mode has been on another level since Week 17......boy has been eating his Skittles. Lynch needs to keep this stretch going against the Broncos, who are ranked 8th in run defense in the NFL. Before the Divisional Round Game Lynch had gone 6 weeks of not going over the century mark but since then he's broken big runs and of course created two new Beast Quakes.

The Broncos really have nothing to threaten the Seahawks if you look at it. The Hawks have the number one defense against the passing game and are 7th against the running game. Last week the Seahawks had one horrible game against the run game as Colin Kaepernick ran for 130 yards, but getting onto a positive note they only allowed 31 yards on 17 carries to the other running backs that the Niners had. The Seahawks have also shut down some of the game's best quarterbacks this season.

They held Cam Newton to 125 yards in Week 1, Kaepernick to 127 the following week, held Andrew Luck to 229 yards in Week 5, Matt Ryan to 172 in Week 10, Drew Brees to 147 in Week 13, Kaepernick to 175 in Week 14, held Eli Manning to 156 in Week 15 and picked him off 5 times, and then Kaepernick one more time last week to only 153 yards.

The numbers don't lie, this Seahawks secondary is the most feared in the NFL and the Seahawks lead the NFL in takeaway's with 28 coming from interceptions. This Super Bowl is really going to be one helluva show. Both teams have explosive offenses but the Seahawks still have the advantage in the defensive face-off.

This is going to be a game to remember win or lose the Seattle Seahawks have had a terrific season and the 12th Man will always be there to support the team including myself. I just wish the Super Bowl was kicking off this week instead of on February 2nd.

GO HAWKS!!!!!

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

NFC Champions SeaTalk Intentional Edition

Sorry for the technical difficulties with the music. Me and my guest Matt discuss the NFC Champion Seahawks and give our take on the game and the upcoming Super Bowl and talk about the racist comments that people made towards Richard Sherman. http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-129537/TS-823096.mp3

Monday, January 20, 2014

Seahawks are 1/2 Super Bowl Champs!

With a tip of the ball by Richard Sherman and Malcolm Smith catching it, the Seattle Seahawks secured their second birth in the Super Bowl but it was not an easy win for the Hawks last night.

On the first play from scrimmage Russell Wilson fumbled the ball and Aldon Smith recovered. The Seahawks defense though held Colin Kaepernick and the 49er offense to only a field goal. The Seahawks next possession would see a 3 and out after Marshawn Lynch failed twice to get 2 and 1 yards so John Ryan would punt the ball back to the Niners. Kaepernick would run for 29 yards on the ensuing drive for the Niners but the Seahawks D would shut'em down and make them punt.

Though on the next possession by the 49ers Kaepernick would burn the Seahawks defense for 70 yards! Jim Harbaugh's team would fail to convert on a 3rd down running play but Harbaugh would go for it on 4th down and Anthony Dixon would get the carry for the second consecutive run play and score to put the Niners up 10-0.

The CLink and the 12th Man were in awe as the Niners were shutting down one of the best offensive team's in the NFL. On a 2nd and 7 Russell Wilson teed up and threw a bomb to Doug Baldwin for 51 yards and so for the first time in the game the Seahawks were in the red zone, but unfortunately the 49ers defense would sack Wilson and prevent the Hawks from scoring a touchdown. Steven Hauschka put the Seahawks on the board with an easy 32 yard chip shot, so with 5:47 left in the 2nd quarter the Hawks were at least on the board but they needed to keep the Niners offense at bay.

The Seahawks D did just that, with a 3 and out and so with 4:20 left the Hawks had a shot to go down the field and tie the game before the half ended. It didn't happen, Pete Carroll's team had converted two 3rd downs but failed the third. So Carroll decided to go for it on 4th down........that did not work. After Kaepernick took a knee to end the first half the Seahawks and 12th Man were 30 minutes away from losing at home and having their Super Bowl hopes crushed.

Macklemore preformed at halftime and decided to pump up both the 12th Man and the Seahawks.......and I think it worked. The Niners first offensive drive was shut down by the Seahawks and so the Niners punted it to begin the second half. Lynch started the Seahawks first second half drive with an 11 and 5 yard runs. After a 4 yard gain on a pass to Baldwin Marshawn Lynch made the 12th Man erupt!

  "Wilson turns hands to Lynch, finds room first down and more! INSIDE THE 30, THE 25, 20 HE'S ON THE MOVE BEAST MODE 10, 5.......HE IS IN!!!! TOUCHDOOOWN SEAHAWKS!!!" as Steve Raible called what is now called the Beast Quake 3.0 as Lynch took off for 40 yards to help his team tie the game at 10-10.

The excitement didn't last long, as the Niners put together a 6 play drive that ended with Kaepernick throwing a bullet pass to Anquan Boldin that just missed being tipped by All-Pro Earl Thomas. So the 49ers regained the lead in the game but that wouldn't stop the Seahawks from putting their own scoring drive. Hauschka kicked his second field goal of the game, so the Hawks were still in the game down by 4.

The defense though would help out once again as the Niners went 3 and out and on the Seahawks ensuing drive the 3rd quarter ended but on the second play of the 4th, on one gutsy call by Pete Carroll, Russell Wilson was able to force an offsides on the Niners and on the free play threw a 35 yard touchdown pass to UW alumni Jermaine Kearse to put the Seahawks up by 3. The Seahawks defense came up big time on the following possession by the Niners as Kaepernick was sacked by Cliff Avril and forced a fumble that was recovered by Michael Bennett.

Though the Seahawks didn't score on turnover. Carroll last year went for a 4th and 1 instead of kicking the field goal and he said "I will never do that again", well he ate his own words as he went for a 4th and goal on the 1 yard line but Lynch fumbled the ball and so the Niners took over on downs.

It only took two plays and the Seahawks regained possession of the football as Kam Chancellor intercepted Kaepernick on the the San Francisco 40. Hauschka would be called on to kick his third field goal of the game to give the Seahawks the 23-17 lead. That field goal was thanks to a Doug Baldwin 69 yard kick return to put the Seahawks into Niner territory.

So here it is, 3:37 left in the 4th, San Francisco's last attempt to win the game. Like last year in the Super Bowl, Kaepernick lead his team down to their own red zone and just like last year he would go for one more try with Michael Crabtree. Kaepernick went up to basically the exact same spot in last year's Super Bowl but this time Richard Sherman the All-Pro cornerback tipped the ball up and Malcolm Smith came down with it to end Kaepernick's dream's of returning to the Super Bowl. Russell Wilson would then take three knees to end the game and make it sleepless in Seattle.

For the second time the Seahawks are NFC Champions but this time the Seahawks will look to have a different outcome in the Super Bowl. In two weeks the Seattle Seahawks will look to shut up the doubters, the experts, and the entire media that doubted them and will look to hoist their first Lombardi Trophy in the team's history and bring the first national sport championship (I dont count WNBA) to Seattle since the 1979 Seattle SuperSonics!

NOTES: Doug Baldwin became just the 6th player in NFL history to have 100+ receiving and kick return yards in a game.

GO HAWKS!!!


Friday, January 17, 2014

One game win or go home!

Two days remain on the countdown to Championship weekend in the NFL, but one of those games has more media attention then any other game in the playoffs. The Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers square off for one last time this season for a shot at becoming NFC Champs and for a trip to Super Bowl XLVIII. The Seahawks and the 49ers series is tied at 15-15 but the funny thing is that this will be the first time these two rivals face each other in the playoffs! Percy Harvin has already been ruled out of this Sunday's game with a concussion but K.J. Wright is ready to play, not at 100% but he will play on Sunday. The fans, the media, and the teams always look forward to facing each other but this one is for all the marbles in the bag.

Russell Wilson will look to improve from his last 4 games. Wilson has look sluggish in last couple games by over throwing his intended receivers, not running with the ball when he has a shot at 10 or more yards, and making rookie mistakes. Some of the media has said that the sophomore slump is getting to Wilson at the wrong time, but I look at it differently.......he was just saving his A-game for this game! Wilson finished the season with a career high 3,357 passing yards and a career low of 9 interceptions. Colin Kaepernick apparently already went through the sophomore slump in the first 3 games of the season but Kaepernick has problems getting the ball off in time and he has had numerous delay of game penalties on him this year, so you know the 12th Man is going to be a huge factor in this game.

Kaepernick will have his safety blanket back for this game that he did not have in the first meeting at Century Link and that is Michael Crabtree. Crabtree suffered a torn achilles tendon at the start of the season and missed all but the last 5 games of the season, since then he has caught 33 passes for only 284 yards and 1 touchdown. Richard Sherman will do his best to shut down the Niners main receiver and the rest of the Legion of Boom will try to keep Anquan Boldin and Vernon Davis contained as well.

The goal in this game is for Russell to get going early and stay going. His main wide receiver Golden Tate was held to only 1 catch for 13 yards so its very important that Tate and Doug Baldwin get open, but Wilson does have another weapon not Jermaine Kearse but Zach Miller. If Wilson wants to get ahead early he and head coach Pete Carroll need to get Miller involved. Last year Miller caught 12 catches for 190 yards and 1 touchdown including his 142 performance in the Divisional loss to Atlanta. Miller was the big reason why the Seahawks came 31 seconds close to winning that game, so again its important that Wilson gets Miller the ball. One more weapon the Seahawks have of course is Beast Mode Marshawn Lynch, who set both a career high and a Seahawks playoff record last week with 140 yards on the ground. Wilson needs to get Lynch the ball also through the air.

There's plenty of things the Seahawks must do to win this game. Score points early, shutdown the Niner receivers, put a lot of pressure of Kaepernick, and above all give Russell Wilson plenty of protection. This Sunday is the final home game for the Seahawks and they want to give their fans one more win, they do not want the Niners winning a third consecutive road playoff win and winning the Conference Championship on their own field. The 12th Man needs to stay loud and get louder on every defensive play to get to Kaepernick and make him and head coach Jim Harbaugh to call timeouts early. In two days the Seahawks biggest game of the franchise kicks off and millions of football fans will be watch this heated rivalry not knowing who will come out on top.

GO HAWKS!!!

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Seahawks journey to New Jersey begins

13-3, the #1 seed, and home field advantage through out the playoff; this is how the Seattle Seahawks journey to New Jersey will officially begin. The Seahawks have the privilege of having the first-round bye but who will face this talented Seahawks team at Century Link Field on January 12th? I'm guessing plenty of Seahawks fans are hoping for Hawks/Niners rematch, but lets look at the facts first shall we? The Seahawks will be playing the lowest seed team after the two Wild Card games are over and looking at who is facing who it may become a Seahawks/Saints rematch.

The New Orleans Saints face the NFC East Champion Philadelphia Eagles in Phili. Now, do I think the Eagles have a snowballs chance in hell of beating the Saints........yes I actually do. Since Nick Foles has become the starting quarterback for the Eagles he's taken this team from 3-5 to winning 7 of their last 8 games. Foles has only thrown 2 interceptions in his 8 games played, he's the 2013 version of Colin Kaepernick from last year. With Desean Jackson, Riley Cooper, and Brent Celek as his go-to wide receivers Foles has thrown for 2,891 yards in the games that he started, and he has one more weapon to back him up......Lesean McCoy. McCoy has had a career year rushing for a career high 1,607 yards and 9 touchdowns and he will be the main weapon the Eagles have against the Saints.

The Saints do have the advantage in pass defense as they are ranked 2nd in the NFL in allowing passing yards with only allowing 194.1 passing yards per game, but they do rank 19th in rushing defense giving up 111.6 rushing yards a game. So, the Eagles may have a tough time passing the ball but rushing they should have no problem but the Eagles are the worst in pass defense ranking 32nd in the NFL. So, again the Saints are the passingest team in the NFL going against the worst passing defense in the NFL there is advantage New Orleans have.

For the Niners/Packers game its a rematch from last years Divisional Round game where Kaepernick ran for an NFL QB playoff record 181 yards including a 56 yard run that basically broke the Packers back. This year though its two different Packers and 49ers team. This year the Packers struggled through injuries and used 4 different starting QBs, while the Niners started out 1-2 with Kaepernick struggling but bounced back to win 5 straight and finally winning their final 6 games in a row. So, who really has the advantage in this game? Both teams are in the Top 10 in rushing but the Packers have the advantage in the passing game, the Niners rank 30th in the NFL in passing with only averaging 186.2 yards a game.

The Packers also have their franchise QB back in Aaron Rodgers after  missing 7 weeks with a broken collarbone. Rodgers had one hell of a bounce back game against the Bears in the final game of the season throwing for 318 yards and 2 touchdowns including the game winning 48 yard throw to Randall Cobb with 38 seconds left. Now, the Niners defense is going to tough to beat as they rank 7th in pass defense and 4th in rush defense. The Packers though will be prepared to not allow Kaepernick to do what he did last year both in passing and rushing so be prepared to see one physical game.

Now how bout I talk about the Seahawks again? The Hawks began the season a franchise best 11-1 before their final 4 games, but during the final 4 games the Hawks have gone 2-2 including their first home loss in 2 years. But last Sunday's 27-9 win over the Rams showed the Seahawks offense get their mojo back as Golden Tate had a career game catching 8 passes for 129 yards and a touchdown. Russell Wilson knows this stage well, as he lead the Seahawks to their first road playoff win last year for the first time since 1983.

The Seahawks have a ray of light at the end of the tunnel as Percy Harvin has been practicing with the team and could play in two weeks. Harvin played only one game this year and caught one throw for 17 yards and had a 58 yard kick return but went back on injured list, but he is said to be in practice and with only 3 wins away from being Super Bowl Champs Harvin coming back to play is a huge break for the Seahawks.

The last time the Seahawks had home field advantage in playoffs they went all the way to the Super Bowl only to fall to the Pittsburgh Steelers, but this years Seahawks are looking to finish what the 2005 Hawks could not and that is to hold the Lombardi Trophy in New Jersey. With only one month left in the NFL season in just 10 days the Seahawks journey to Super Bowl XLVIII will begin but their opponent is still unknown we will know who will be the first team to fall to Seattle's destiny.

GO HAWKS!!!!

About Me

About Me
Im a huge Seattle sports nut. Thats basically about me. But im an upcoming blogger who writes only about the Mariners, Seahawks, Sounders, and when they come back the Sonics. Now if you would like me to write about something tweet me and i will write it. Now i should mark that im also Irish and have a beard that is feared above Brian Wilson's beard. His beard can kiss my beard's ass!