Tag Archive: Seahawks

2020 NFC Divisional Round Playoff Predictions!

January 11, 2020 Adam Thomas

Man, how sweet are the graphics Randy’s been cooking up lately? You should just stop reading the column now and scroll back up to bask in their glory.

Appreciating the Star Wars graphics is an apt way to start the blog as last week, while I went 1-1 in my picks, I totally whiffed on my Star Wars analogy. Here I thought Titans coach Mike Vrabel was young Anakin to Belichick’s older and wiser Kenobi–the implication being that the young Padawan would eventually be chopped to pieces on Mustafar. I should’ve known that it was more like Vrabel being Anakin to Belichick’s Palpatine! Of course it would be Anakin (aka Darth Vader) who ended up destroying Palpatine and the evil Empire  by chucking the old man’s lightning scared body down a Death Star II reactor shaft, just like it was Vrabel who ended the Patriots empire by, well, winning a football game. Not quite as dramatic but alas, good riddance.

While the Titans beating the Patriots last week (hooray!) was no doubt surprising, I’ve got to think that the Vikings beating the Saints was arguably the bigger upset. I thought the Saints were the team to beat this year and had them going to the Super Bowl to represent the NFC.

So what can we surmise from last week? That every team has a chance to win it all. I am basing my picks solely on the assumption that we are most likely NOT going to get a 1-2 match up in both the NFC and AFC. One of these underdogs has to get through and I think the lower seeds in the NFC are stronger than those in the AFC. So it has to be one of these teams. The hard part is picking which one that will be…

Minnesota Vikings (+7) @ San Francisco 49ers

Looks whose all grownsed up!  Kirk Cousins showed up last week and ‘You like that’-ed all over the Saints! What a thing to behold. Add that to sentences that I never thought I’d find myself typing.

This week, he will try to catch lightning in the bottle again on the road against the 49ers. I am so very tempted to take the Vikings here—mainly because of Dalvin Cook and the Minnesota run game against the 49ers weak run defense. But I just can’t. I think the niners get the job done at home, though the Vikings cover.

49ers 27 Vikings 21

Seattle Seahawks (+4) @ Green Bay Packers

It’d be really cool to see the 49ers play the Packers in the NFC Championship—a throw-back to the mid-90s where the two teams faced off in the playoffs in 1995, 96, 97 and 98—but here’s where I think the upset happens. Russell Wilson in the post-season is no joke and I think he makes just enough plays with his legs to ultimately win a cold, low scoring game.

Though the Packers have Aaron Jones, who has been a beast this year, I think Aaron Rodgers makes one big boneheaded play—like a red zone INT or a strip sack fumble late—and the Seahawks prevail.

Seahawks 20 Packers 16

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Percy Harvin

The NFL Double Standard

August 1, 2013 Adam Thomas

Can you imagine if a team like the Jets had traded a first and seventh round pick in this year’s draft and a third round pick in next year’s draft for a wide receiver, and then gave that player a 5 year contract worth 25.5 million dollars in guaranteed money AND THEN it turned out that player had to have hip surgery and was out for–possibly–the entire season?

BEDLAM!

But instead, we get….crickets. From CBSSports “Obviously, this is bad news for the Seahawks.” Obviously.

From ESPN “The loss of Harvin is significant, but not a huge setback for a team that relies on the legs of Marshawn Lynch and timely passing of Russell Wilson to drive its offense.” OK…so if it’s not a setback then why did they trade a 1, 3, and 7 for him, and give him a huge contract?

Harvin, at best, will miss 12 to 16 weeks. This is a guy who couldn’t get on the field because of migraines. You think he is going to jump back immediately when he is cleared from hip surgery?  Doubtful.

So let’s call this trade what it is: Bad.

Seattle: You got fleeced.

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Hope Gets Hitched

November 14, 2012 Adam Thomas

Hope Solo married Jerramy Stevens on Tuesday–as some astute commentor on Yahoo! pointed out, ‘Who gets married on a Tuesday?’–but the real story is what went down BEFORE they got married.  Because I am lazy, allow me to copy and paste the police report from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer courtesy of Yahoo!:

“According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Marcus Solo (Hope’s brother) was the one who called Kirkland police, and when police came to the scene, he had blood on his forehead and knees, and a bruised eye. Hope solo then emerged from the house, intoxicated and with a laceration on her elbow. She did not cooperate with police and told her brother not to say anything. When police swept the house, they found eight intoxicated people, a woman in the kitchen with a hip injury, and Stevens on the floor of an upstairs bedroom, claiming that he was sleeping, not hiding.

Stevens had blood on his cheek and his shirt. He admitted that he had been arguing with Solo, and since police have to make an arrest when there is a domestic violence call, Stevens was arrested and charged with fourth-degree assault.”

My favorite part about the story is when the police found 8 intoxicated people in the house and a woman in the kitchen with a hip injury.  WHAT IN THE WORLD WENT DOWN?  Nobody knows…even those present, I’m sure…but apparently it wasn’t enough to deter the two love birds from tying the knot.  Sala.

Now, there are a lot of terrible stories out there about Stevens, and he most definitely is a despicable character, but my favorite memory of him is way back on Monday night football when he played for the Seahawks and he pissed off a Raider so bad (I think it was Tyler Brayton?) that Brayton grabbed Stevens and kneed him in the balls. (Exhibit A is to your left).

The weirdest part of that altercation? Stevens didn’t even act like it hurt. He just laughed. I don’t know ANYBODY that would be laughing after getting kneed in the junk by a 250-pound D-lineman.

Also, that was the night they let Christian Slater and his percocet into the Monday night football booth and he marveled at a punt by the Raiders. Not the play, mind you, just how high the ball went saying (with genuine glee like he had NEVER seen a ball get punted before) “WHOAAA! LOOK AT THAT!”

Good stuff.  Somebody needs to find that and put it on Youtube ASAP.

I finished the half marathon last Saturday in Richmond and if you’ve never run one, I highly recommend it. Especially in Richmond.  Now, it’s the only one I’ve ever run in so I’m sure they do this in other cities, but the whole town completely shuts down for the race. People come out of their houses and cheer you on, some of them hand out gummie bears, some of them hand out shots of Natty Light and Whiskey.

I was having none of it, however, as I had my eye on the prize!  That prize: Beating my brother’s time from last year of course! Nothing wrong with a little spirited brotherly competition.

So when I crossed the finish line in 1:54:39, I thought that I had won!

Until I got back to my Uncle and Aunt’s house and looked up his time from last year:

1:54:27

GAHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Next year, it’s on!

And we’re buying a championship belt for whoever wins.

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Pitbull, Draft and Girls

April 27, 2012 Adam Thomas

1.) My favorite commercial on TV right now has to be the Bud Light commercial with Pitbull where he takes a Bud Light from the waitress says, “Daddy!” Or something like that and then strolls through a room filled with people 8 feet taller than him. He looks so damn tiny in that commercial, and while he is trying to look tough, it seems like he would need a step stool to look over the bar.

2.) That show “Girls” on HBO is incredibly, mind-blowingly awful. I watched it because it is produced my Judd Apatow and it got really great reviews, but man alive, it sucks. I can’t even remember a single character’s name, and the main girl is annoying as all get out. The show reminds me of a Radiohead album. Before it comes out, it already gets 4 stars from the critics no matter how average it is.

Just because a show is set in New York and is on HBO doesn’t mean that it’s automatically good. Don’t waste your 30 minutes on that show.

3.) Instead, waste it on the excellent third season of Eastbound and Down. Holy crap, I just watched the fourth episode and it featured perhaps the funniest moment in television. I don’t want to spoil it for everyone (like I did in a text to Randy yesterday), but it is a breakout episode for Stevie, and (mini-spoiler!) the hilarious moment in question features Candlebox. Enough said.

4.) The NFL Draft started last night, and because megalomaniac Hue Jackson decided to go “all in” with Carson Palmer (which never works), the Raiders were left without a first round pick. Which sucks, cause the draft is AWESOME! And boy oh boy were there trades galore yesterday.

My favorite pick? Morris Claiborne to the Dallas Cowboys!  You know why?  Cause Claiborne only got 4 questions correct on the Wonderlic test,  and here is his rationale via Profootballtalk via Sirius via USA Today: “That test don’t tell me who I am and what [type] of guy I am and what kind of ability I have,” Claiborne told SiriusXM NFL Radio, via USA Today.  “That test can’t drop me. They say it’s an IQ test,” Claiborne added.  “I came to the Combine for football.  I looked at the test, and wasn’t any questions about football.  I didn’t see no point in the test.  I’m not in school anymore.  I didn’t complete it.  I only finished 15 or 18 questions.”

And they say athletes don’t care about their education!  I would be really interested to see what classes Claiborne took whilst at LSU. “Basic Shapes” and “The Number After 2” sounds about right.

5.) The worst pick?  Let’s just go with Bruce Irvin to the Seahawks.

Oh no, wait, let’s go with the Browns selecting a Quarterback who has never played in the NFL and is already older than Aaron Rodgers. That’s why the Browns will always be the Browns.

I also love the ESPN draft analysis. This morning on Sportscenter, here is what Jon Gruden said about Quarterback Ryan Tannehill: “You know what I love about this kid? It’s that he can throw the football.”  Well, I would HOPE that he can throw the ball. That is just a tiny requirement made of all quarterbacks. Gruden just made $100,000 dollars for saying that.

6.) Ron Artest should be banned for life from the NBA. What a moron. I know that when I’m celebrating, my first instinct is to elbow the crap out of the player closest to me.

7.) Remember that song, “If you’re friends with P then you’re friends with me. If you’re down with P then you’re down with me.”  I don’t have anything to add other than, do you remember it?

8.) I’ve gotta say Phillies fans, being only 3 games back from Atlanta for the wildcard when the Phils are playing arguably their worst baseball in the past 4 years is not a bad thing. Be worried NL East, be very worried…

That’s all for me, until next time!

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I’m Sick of Hearing About Tony Romo…. Already…

September 27, 2011 Randy Neil

Sometimes, I like to think of a story as a meal. You want to start the readers off with something wonderful to drink, enchant them with some light appetizers, and then make your point with the meat and potatoes. Every once in a while, I’ll end the meal with some sweet desserts. Today…. we’re going to start with steak the cook dropped on the floor in the back.

Tony Romo is getting so much praise for a mediocre performance, it’s making my stomach turn. This is the problem with national exposure, I suppose. They need something to discuss and “analyze”. Lord knows nobody wants to dissect Rex Grossman’s performance, so Tony Romo is getting commended now as an elite quarterback that has taken control of his team. Is that what 255 passing yards and an interception gets you?

If that’s the case, Cam Newton is the greatest quarterback of all time….

I understand that Romo was hurt, I get that. He’s overcoming huge adversity. There is an immense amount of national coverage that the Cowboys receive over most teams. He has a punctured lung. The guy is playing through terrible pain, and what appears to be a terrible supporting cast. That still doesn’t qualify him as an elite quarterback, and I hardly see how this game was the game that got him over the top in people’s eyes.

The kicker made 6 field goals. That’s the only points the team scored. Just let it be what it is.

While Tony Romo was busy saving children from burning wreckage with his bare hands, Michael Vick was busy getting destroyed by the New York Giants.

Vick was getting punished repeatedly on Sunday. It looked disgusting. The offensive line is atrocious this year. Next to Jay Cutler, Michael Vick may be the most sacked quarterback of the year.

Vick complained to the media after Sunday’s game, stating the referees don’t call the same penalties to protect him that other quarterbacks get. Two things come to mind when I heard this :

1) I honestly believe it’s a combination of his offensive line sucking, him running around a lot, and referees not calling those particular penalties when they should. At some point, when he’s on the ground, one of those three things just happened. Sure, he does scramble more than most, but there has probably been about a half-dozen cheap shots I’ve seen where Vick goes down after he’s released the ball, and nothing has been called. The guy’s kinda tiny and easy to push around.

2) This is what happens when you instate a rule that has no real boundaries. The “roughing the passer” rule has become so gray and vague, it’s hard to tell what is and isn’t a penalty anymore. It’s not fair, and it gives people like Michael Vick a lot more weight in their argument. Leaving a decision up to a particular referee during a quick 4-second instance leaves a lot of room for errors.

I suggest that all quarterbacks are placed in a large synthetic polymer bubble with some sort of release mechanism that ejects the ball out of the bubble for passes. If a defensive player manages to roll the ball more than once, the quarterback is sacked. This, of course, will lead up to the famous “half-roll” controversy in Superbowl 2024.

So, let’s look at some of the standings after week 3 and play a little real or fake.

The most surprising of all may be the Buffalo Bills, who lead the AFC East with a 3-0 record. I don’t know how they are winning, or how they defeated the Patriots this weekend, but they did, and Ryan Fitzpatrick now looks like a God. I gotta say fake. I don’t see this lasting the entire year and I still think the Pats are going to take that division.

The Oakland Raiders are leading the AFC West and the Kansas City Chiefs are 0-3. Did we step back into the early 2000s? This is real folks. McFadden is probably going to be the best running back at the end of the year when all is said and done, and those guys are mean. Even with the Chargers winning early in the year (which is super-rare for them), Oakland swept that division last year, and they look more dominant than ever.

The Dallas Cowboys lead the division at 2-1, tied with the Redskins, and the Eagles are in last place at 1-2. It turns me to say that this is real. I don’t envision Michael Vick playing all 16 games (which he’s only done once in his career) and you’re telling me Vince Young is gonna get it done? I don’t see it. This division is packed. I think the Eagles will definitely contend, but it’ll be like the Patriots missing the playoffs at 11-5 two years ago.

I also have to take a moment to say this, and trust me, I’m befuddled saying it as well…. I think Rex Grossman is no longer a shitty quarterback. (Looks left, looks right) I’m not saying he’s great or anything, I’m just saying he’s good. He’s average, or better. The real reason I’m saying this is because of his post-game press-conference last night. I honestly liked how he handled himself. He answered the questions correctly and seemed to be way more intelligent and assured than the Grossman of 2008. His play is reflecting that. Ok, I’m done….

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers lead the NFC South at 2-1. This I believe to be real. I picked the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to make the Superbowl. After Week 1, that looked silly, but now they’ve won 2 games and are atop their division. I like Josh Freeman. I think there’s something special about that kid. I also think that the NFC South is going to be a pretty tough division with the Falcons, Saints, and… Panthers (cough, ahem…) I see the Bucs winning the NFC South with a 9-7 or 10-6 record and making a great playoff run.

The San Francisco 49ers lead the NFC West at 2-1. I think this is sad, and real. I saw the St. Louis Rams doing way better than they are, but at 0-3 they look terrible. What really stands out is there points differential. 36 points scored, 96 points allowed. Yeeeeesh. The Seahawks and Cardinals are both pretty average, so it’s pretty much the Niners division to lose.

It’s important to note that there are literally 2 games left in baseball and they’re going to jump right into the playoffs. Don’t take things lightly. The Phillies cruised into the playoffs this year, but come September 30th, we are just like everybody else. It’s time to get serious.

No picks this week. I’ve done enough writing. Plus, I went 50%, so you don’t want to listen to me anyway….

Take a minute to digest your meal, folks. It’s probably food poisoning….

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So Long and Thank You for the Lack of Memories Part 2

August 3, 2011 Adam Thomas

You know, when I was in 3rd grade, we had a big water gun fight at my elementary school.  I had a hold of a pretty solid Super Soaker 50.  I was lighting kids up left and right, all was well with the world.  But then I saw this sweet looking contraption lying on the ground: it was a HUGE water canon connected to a back pack that held an ungodly amount of water.

I threw down the Super Soaker, sprinted to the canon, put it on my back, strapped up and was ready to tear the roof off the sucka when all of a sudden something dawned on me: the back pack was empty. There was no water. I looked back and my Super Soaker was gone.  My gambit failed and I endured the wrath of running out of water at a water gun fight.

Why do I bring this up?  Because I feel like Zach Miller just traded in his nice Super Soaker 50 for a shiny looking water canon/backpack that is out of water.

Actually, scratch that.  Miller traded in his Super Soaker for a broken water balloon.

The Seahawks?  THE SEAHWAKS?  Are you F-ing kidding me!

This free agency period has left me pretty freakin’ disenfranchised with football players. Look, I poke fun at the Eagles for having never won a Super Bowl (which is true), but they do routinely make the playoffs, so I can understand Nnamdi wanting to play there.

The Seahwaks are a disgrace of an NFL franchise. They have never won a damn thing (yes I know, ONE super bowl appearance, congrats).

Here are some facts for ya:

Fact: Zach Miller made the pro-bowl one year (as an alternate) and it was last year when Hue Jackson was the Raiders Offensive Coordinator. Now that said Coordinator is head coach, Miller decides it’s time to leave. Makes sense.

Fact: The Raiders beat the Seahawks 33-3 last year. Yep, that seems like a team headed in the right direction. (By the way, in that win Miller put up a steller one catch for 8 yards.)

Fact: Tavaris Jackson…TAVARIS JACKSON is going to be throwing passes to Zach Miller, and when I say throwing passes, I mean throwing them into the dirt or directly into the back of an offensive linemen’s helmet.

Fact: Tight Ends grow on freaking trees.  I think I started three different TE’s last year in fantasy football and they all played for the Patriots. There is no shortage of good tight ends. And paying one who missed time last year with injuries (i.e. concussions) 17 million dollars does not make sense.

Fact: In all of the Raiders’ 8 wins last year, Zach Miller caught two TDs. Not exactly irreplaceable numbers.

Fact: Despite wall the doom and gloom pundits out there saying that Tom Cable is stealing all of Al Davis’ free agents, the Raiders had like 17 free agents this year and two of them went to the Seahawks.  One (Robert Gallery) will be injured by week 4 (he is ALWAYS injured) and the other will be playing shortstop for Tavaris Jackson’s passes.

Smart choice, guys.

Nnamdi, I forgive you.  Miller, you are dead to me.

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