Dec 29th 2008 1:06PM by Matt Snyder (author feed)
Filed under: AZ Cardinals, Seahawks, NFC West, NFL Coaching
Kurt Warner — as he’s been doing to NFC West foes all season — torched the Seattle secondary. He ended his day early with 263 yards and four touchdown passes. Two of those scores were to Larry Fitzgerald, who concluded yet another strong season in the desert. The game itself, however, took a back seat to a few things.
First of all, Mike Holmgren coached his last game for the Seahawks. After a very strong tenure which saw Seattle become a regular in the playoffs and visit their first Super Bowl, Holmgren steps down as easily the most decorated coach in franchise history. They visited the postseason in six of his 10 seasons, and they had only done so four times in their first 23 years of existence. After the game, he was — understandably — quite emotional. “I started talking to the team, and I couldn’t talk,” he said. “I’m an emotional coach, anyway, and I told them I’d visit with them (Monday), because if I tried to do it now, it’d be ridiculous.”Continue Reading
Dec 23rd 2008 1:15PM by Will Brinson (author feed)
Filed under: Jets, Seahawks, NFL Police Blotter, NFL Fans, NFL Media Watch
It is implicitly understood that professional athletes are not to have any sort of violent interaction with fans during games. Shaun Ellis clearly violated that rule — I’m pretty sure it’s an official one — when he launched a monster chunk of snow into a group of Seahawks fans (VIDEO) after they pelted him with snowballs on Sunday.
And now Ellis, predictably, is paying the price, according to Adam Schefter on the NFL Network (via PFT).
The decision of Jets defensive end Shaun Ellis to hoist a large snowball/snow clump into the stands at Qwest Field on Sunday has resulted in the NFL throwing right back at him a $10,000 fine.
[…]Schefter reports that players are told before the start of each season that any contact with fans is prohibited, where such contact presents crowd-control issues and/or the risk of injury.
It’s not surprising at all — you just can’t attack fans and expect not to a) get caught on camera and b) get fined. Honestly, I’m kind of surprised that it’s “only” 10 grand, considering the way that Roger Goodell likes to lay down the law against violators of his policies.
Laugh if you want, but seriously, what Ellis did was potentially damaging to a fan’s health, and you better believe that if someone had gotten hurt and the league got sued, $10,000 would be considered “getting off light.”Continue Reading
Dec 24th 2008 11:15AM by Will Brinson (author feed)
Filed under: Jets, Seahawks, NFL Coaching, NFL Real Talk, NFL Rumors
Clearly the pressure of January is a bit much for Eric Mangini. First of all, his job is on the line. Secondly, he just lost to the freaking Seahawks in the snow (your team is from New York, dude). And finally, Shaun Ellis lobbed a giant chunk of snow into the crowd, causing quite the stir amongst the NFL’s lawdogs.
Fortunately, Mangenius is smart enough to divert all the attention to Seattle security and his irrational fear of snowballs and their ability to blind humans.
“There were a lot of people that were hit with snowballs,” Mangini said. “All you need is someone to get hit in the eye. It’s just not a safe situation. It was disappointing to see that, but that stuff, we couldn’t control that. How we can control it is how we respond.”
“I thought there could have been more done to prevent what was happening in terms of the safety issues from the snowballs coming down,” Mangini said. “But that being said, it doesn’t justify us getting involved in any context.”
Now, aside the fact that everyone and their brother has taken a snowball to the domepiece at least once or twice in their lives (and yet … can still see out of both eyes), how about we just focus on the Jets for a minute. Clearly this is a team that lacks discipline (Ellis) and that hasn’t been “coached up” properly, considering the nature of the AFC East and the firm command they had on the division just a month or so ago.
There are issues with fans throwing snowballs onto the field, but as Mike Holmgren pointed out, it’s a “novelty” in Seattle — if the Jets had taken care of business and won the game, we wouldn’t even be talking about this.
Dec 22nd 2008 12:15PM by Will Brinson (author feed)
Filed under: Jets, Seahawks, NFL Fans, NFL Eliminated Teams, NFL Coaching, NFL VideoThere is always a ton of rain in Seattle. Not so much snow, though. However, in Mike Holmgren’s final home game as Seahawks head coach, Mother Nature decided to get a little funky and pelt the ‘Hawks homefield with a ton of the white powder. Seahawks fans responded accordingly, pelting everyone in site with snowballs. Including the Jets as they did the George Michael walk off the field. Shaun Ellis, Jets team captain, didn’t take this so well, slinging snowballs back at the fans.(Gracias, TJB.)
Holmgren didn’t seem to mind the snowballs nearly as much, but that’s probably because he didn’t take any “direct hits” like Ellis and the Jets. And because he didn’t just lose to a three-win team, despite having to coach those unlucky losers all season.
Dec 16th 2008 2:00PM by Matt Snyder (author feed)
Filed under: 49ers, Bengals, Dolphins, Giants, Rams, Ravens, Redskins, Seahawks, Steelers, AFC East, AFC North, NFC East, NFC West, NFL Media Watch, Overpaid NFL Players, NFL RefereesWow, this was a long weekend to those who support the boys in stripes. That group may only consist of myself at this point, but I still do. Those people who like to call the officials “blind” — which, by the way, is incredibly uncreative and lame — or believe they are out to screw a team out of a game, really don’t have any idea what it takes to officiate at that level. Hell, I don’t. I do know what it’s like to be on the field and be a constant scapegoat for people who aren’t accountable for themselves and/or their favorite team.
Continue Reading
Dec 15th 2008 12:30PM by Adam Gretz (author feed)
Filed under: Rams, Seahawks, NFL Referees
While the NFL story of the day is the touchdown call in the Steelers-Ravens game, there was another referee controversy to come out of Sunday’s action. The only reason nobody seems to be outraged by this one is, presumably, because it involved Seattle and St. Louis, a pair of teams who entered play this week with a combined record of 4-22.
Of course, that shouldn’t matter, because everyone plays for the same reason — to win the game. So let’s evenly distribute our anger, football fans.
According to St. Louis wide receiver Torry Holt, the referees in Sunday’s game used the stadium’s video screen to call a questionable pass interference call on Holt, negating a 20-yard completion. Here’s what Holt had to say after the game:”He said he looked up in the Jumbotron and saw that I pushed off,” said Holt, who is in his 10th year with the Rams (2-12). “I told him I never extended my arm. It is one thing if you extended, because that is pass interference. But everything was in motion catching the football. I don’t even know if I had my hands on the guy. “That was his explanation, and I told him it was a bad call.”Continue Reading
Dec 14th 2008 4:27PM by Matt Snyder (author feed)
Filed under: Rams, Seahawks, NFC West
At one point early in the second half, the St. Louis Rams had out-gained the Seattle Seahawks by nearly double. They did not, however, close out the game on offense or defense. When the dust settled, the Rams only amassed nine more yards than the Seahawks, and they ran 10 more plays. They also won the time of possession battle by nearly eight minutes. And they still came up short.
Just in case anyone thinks Jim Haslett is really going to retain this job because of winning his first two games, today was yet another reminder on how the Rams need to dismantle this team. Richie Incognito was penalized with regularity, the offense fumbled twice — one was taken back for a touchdown — and solid offensive efforts from Marc Bulger and Steven Jackson were wasted. Continue Reading
Dec 11th 2008 10:40AM by Bruce Ciskie (author feed)
Filed under: Rams, Seahawks, NFC West, NFL Coaching
In one of this weekend’s highlight matchups*, the Seattle Seahawks travel east to play in St. Louis.
During the week, it’s rather customary for star players on one of the participating teams to do a conference call with the media that cover the other team.
Wednesday, Torry Holt of the Rams did such a call with the Seattle media, and he was asked about outgoing Seahawks head coach Mike Holmgren. Holt has never played for Holmgren, but is quite familiar with him because the Seahawks and Rams have been divisional foes for a few years now.
As noted by the , Holt is extremely familiar with Holmgren’s ways.
I think this is a compliment. I’d take it as one if anyone ever said it about me. I also love how Holt preceded his comments with “excuse my French”. It’s nice to know people still occasionally apologize for swearing in public settings.
(* - Probably not true. After all, who can forget about Chargers-Chiefs?)
Dec 4th 2008 2:00PM by Ryan Wilson (author feed)
Filed under: Seahawks, Steelers, AFC North, NFC West, NFL Fans
A month ago today Barack Obama became the first African-American to win a presidential election. And this week, another glass ceiling has been broken: the NFL has its first female player. At least according to Matt Hasselbeck, who on Tuesday took part in the NFL’s “Play 60″ program, which encourages young folks to get at least 60 minutes of exercise each day.
The Seahawks quarterback showed up at Issaquah (WA) Middle School to spread the good word, and to also answer a few questions. This one was easily the best of the bunch.Continue Reading
Dec 4th 2008 10:28AM by JJ Cooper (author feed)
Filed under: Cowboys, Seahawks, NFC East, NFC West
For the entire decade, there’s been no question who is the best left tackle in the NFL. Just give the All-Pro award to Seattle’s Walter Jones and move on.
Since 2001, Jones has headed to Hawaii at the end of the season as the NFC’s Pro Bowl left tackle. He’s been an All-Pro for six of the past seven years. If you’re looking for the definition of a dominating left tackle, the standard for years has been Jones.
But if Jones doesn’t make it back to Hawaii this year, he can blame Cowboys outside linebacker DeMarcus Ware for ruining his reputation. With a national TV audience on Thanksgiving Day, Ware beat Jones for a pair of sacks and an additional quarterback hurry. In addition to Ware’s two sacks against Jones, he also recorded a tackle for a loss on a running play when Jones struggled to get any push on Ware. Greg Ellis got a quarterback hurry late in the game against Jones after Ware left the game with an injury. And Chris Canty beat Jones on a running play to make a tackle.Continue Reading
