Branch has had a streak of bad luck on injuries. Sometimes, it just happens.

Now is not the time to push it anyway.

What a bad trade for the Seahawks. There is very little chance of Branch ever doing anything meaningful for this for this football team.

In reality, if the Seahawks were to have had Branch all season, they likely would still have the same record that they do now. No more than one more win (SF).

Branch is the best receiver on the team, and Engram likely will go somewhere else after this year.

Just let him get better, and play when he is ready.

CowboysP, What has he done, that leads you to believe, he is the best reciever on this team? He's been a total bust with this team, a team that vastly overpaid for him.

I thought we traded Darrell Jackson?

Dougenfield, you're preaching to the choir. This guy is just one big injury, and Ruskell threw away a 1st round draft choice that could have been Ben Grubbs and solved our guard problem. He'd never had a 1000 yard season and he's never going to have one. It's been a total bust with him.

While watching Inside the NFL on Showtime last night I heard something that stuck with me.

Patrick Kerney was mic'd up for the GB game. He and Lofa were amped up and trying to be game changers. They kept saying "Time to make a game changing play... me and you! Right here!"

Well as the Seahawks fell behind after being up 10-3, I believe, Kerney turned to Lofa and said, "Man... we're gonna have to score on defense."

Did you hear that? Our offense is so damn terrible, the defense is under the impression that the only way we'll score or stay in a game is to score a defensive touchdown. No wonder everyone is pressing so hard and not letting things just happen instinctually. I think that attitude is crushing this team right now.

While I didn't feel bad for them (they make millions) I did feel their frustration. Its sad when your defense feels it has to stop the other team from scoring and also score all the points.

Kerney and Lofa were giving everything they had out there. It was evident in the film and audio.

Just an observation I wanted to share. What do you guys think?

Time to cut Branch and take whatever cap hit there is this year and be out from under his contract come Spring. We are not getting anything out of him so why not move on and let a young guy get some experience.

Dukeshire, I know that Branch has not yet lived up to the expectations. But he is still the best receiver on the Seahawks, due in part to the lack of talent with most of the other receivers.

I think it is safe to say that the Kent, Bumpus, Payne, Taylor experiment has for the most part failed. Burleson is inconsistent. Robinson looks like he hasn't played much.

So you are left with three options with Branch.

See what Branch can do with H-beck when they both are healthy,

Cut Branch, and take the $6+M Salary cap hit for 2009,

or, push Branch to play immediately, and if he continues to disappoint, continue to blame Ruskell for the trade.

Interesting perspective from Mike Sando about the defense actually not being as bad as everyone thinks.

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/nfcwest/0-4-160/Explaining-Seattle-s-defensive-struggles.html

does anyone here think hawks can turn it around right now and still make playoff? Or is alot of bandwaggon people on here jumping off already!

no bandwagon people here, just people talkin football and how branch has been a non factor since he came here. Yes he's great with the community but the production on the field cannot coincide with that.

It's pretty said when a Cowboy fan knows much more than all the reactionary bandwagon fans on here like nighthawk that know squat about football.

CowboyP is completely correct about Branch. He IS our best receiver. There's no point of cutting him now.

Branch when healthy is a PERFECT fit for the WCO -- excellent hands, well run and timed routes.

If he can't get healthy over the offseason, then maybe it's time to rethink the stance. But now is not the time.

How would we know if Branch is our best receiver? How do we know he wasn't just the beneficiary of playing with maybe the best QB in football, on one of the best offense in football?

Look, I liked the trade when we made it, it seemed like the kind of move a super bowl contender makes. A playmaker receiver, and one who was a super bowl MVP no less, came available, and we swooped in to grab him. So, I can't really complain about it now. But, it's inarguably true that he's done very little for us. I don't blame a guy for getting hurt, but it is what it is.

I don't know that any of our wideouts are real keepers at this point -- Branch can't stay on the field, Nate will be rehabbing major knee surgery, and Bobby will be a year older. The other guys have shown nothing.

That's why I've come around to thinking it's time to invest a #1 pick in a WR next year.

quote:

"Branch when healthy is a PERFECT fit for the WCO -- excellent hands, well run and timed routes."

unquote.

The problem is that he was slow to pick up the scheme and seems now to be hurt all the time. For him there is no "when healthy" anymore and he is quite expensive and thus unproductive. I think the team will need to have a hard look at his contract to see if he's worth keeping around next season. In a true business sense it would not be a stretch to see him cut after this year. He may be our best WR but he has proven to be the most undependable and most expensive without result as well. The trade for him was not a good trade in hindsight, i'd have rather had the OG we could have had than Branch.

"I think it is safe to say that the Kent, Bumpus, Payne, Taylor experiment has for the most part failed."

Experiment?? What have you been watching? That was out of necessity. What you ment to say, I hope, was Engram, Burleson, Obomanu (Branch when he got healthy.) You know why Robinson looks like he hasn't played much? Because he hasn't! If you're going to say Branch is the best reciever on this team, then you are including injuried players too. He has not been better than Engram or Burleson, since he has been here, by any measure. If you are simply using potential as your judge, then Kent is your man. Fail.

Branch is a total bust. I dont think he has played 6 consecutive games since being a Seahawk.

CeaYoung, we were up 10-3, and then tied 10-10 at halftime. Maybe he said that when we were down 17-10, but I get your point. Im not quite sure what people were expecting with Frye starting. I think we eek it out with Wallace, and win that game with Hass starting. The Defense would play better if they got more rest in between series, but with the O constantly going 3 and out, or throwing a pick that doesn't happen. I think they have been wearing out (and part of that is their fault for not getting off the field on 3rd down) but I do agree with Sando that the D is not playing 'that' bad.

Dukeshire-When I said "experiment, I meant most Seahawks fans thought at least one or two of the young receivers would do pretty well when Engram went down. Then when Burleson went down in the Bills game, fans still thought that the Hawks pass attack would do ok, with Hasselbeck bringing these guys along. I actually thought they would do fairly well too. It just didn't happen.

And I believe that the signs are clear that Ruskell isn't in a hurry to sign Engram beyond this year.

That's why I think it is fairly clear that Branch will be on the Hawks next season, unless he is a complete bust for the rest of the year, which I don't think he will be.

And if a player is hurt, he's just hurt. Not much you can do about it.

For a few of our loses, I feel like if we'd just had one good healthy veteran receiver that knew our offense, we would have converted some passes, moved the chains, and won those games.

That's why Branch being constantly injured pisses me off.

I wish I could just blame Ruskell for letting DJ Hackett go, so at least we'd have one other veteran, but DJ is also injured yet again in Carolina, so that was probably a good call.

It's just a freak, disappointing year with the WR injuries...

Seattle 10- Bucs 17

Branch for a #1 pick was a joke when the trade was made (injuries to Hawk WRs hasten that trade), his contract is the joke we deal with now, Ruskell's ego which forced out D-jack is the biggest joke of all, we never even needed Branch... Branch is 5'9 in cleats on a hardwood floor. When was the last 1st round WR who was below 6'0? Ted Ginn Jr. to answer my own question... That was a knee jerk to the success Devin Hester had as a game-changing return man... Before that?? Look at it this way, if you wouldn't draft a guy with your #1 pick, what in the world are you doing trading it away for him. I guess Ruskell didn't pay attention when the Raiders put their defense in the hands of Larry Brown after he was the MVP of a Super Bowl... One game does not make him a "play-maker" - Branch should give half his contract to Tom Brady.

As it is, he's here, he's getting paid, D-Jack is gone, so he needs to get his tiny self on the field.

Sac_94 you are EXACTLY right. I too laughed at that Branch trade when they made it. It was ridiculous to give up a #1 and the money that they are paying him. Guys he was never that good. Even if healthy Branch is one of the most over rated players in the league. I remember a bunch of you bozos espousing that he was better than even Moss at the time. I hope you now realize how stupidly wrong you were and are. It's pretty obvious to me that Ruskell is a piss poor judge of offensive talent. He has yet to deliver even ONE offensive play maker for us.

Uh, Steve Smith is the same height as Branch.

DESEAN JACKSON is 5 9.

bulldog, ever heard of john carlson?

you reactionary armchair gm bandwagon fans amuse me.

we're going to win by 7 in Tampa this Sunday night.

I doubt we win, but I'll be the happiest person in the world if we do. No John Madden is good as well.

just cut his a## already. He is weak and has an avg YPC of 4.2. Weak...cut everybody!!

Wow, ESPN Draft 2009 has been updated. Check out what kind of additions we can make to the team in 2009. This is why I want a 2-14 team.

Wish List for First Round,

"Illinois DC Vontae Davis* -- Brother of 49ers TE Vernon Davis, Vontae is the premier cover corner in the nation. He's blessed with the size, fluid hips and closing burst to play on an island in the NFL." Quote by Scouts Inc.

Or Malcolm Jenkins CB Ohio State,
Or Jeremy Maclin WR.


Second Round

Give me Darrius Heyward-Bey WR Maryland (6'3", 206LBs)