Eric D. Williams took over the Seahawks beat and Seahawks Insider blog in December. Williams has covered the Seahawks, Sonics and high school sports for The News Tribune since joining the paper in 2006. Eric lives in Tacoma with his wife and two children.
Tacoma News Tribune columnist Dave Boling also contributes to the Seahawks Insider blog.
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It was a busy day at the Seattle Seahawks practice facility this afternoon, with both quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and wide receiver Deion Branch returning to practice and preparing to play against Arizona on Sunday.
The team went with just helmets and shells, as Mike Holmgren attempts to ease off the players with no serious hitting during practice. However, the practice remained brisk. With Hasselbeck back, the offense seemed to have more rhythm and move at a quicker pace. Even the huddle breaks were crisper, as the team seemed to respond to having their leader back on the field.
"It felt good," Hasselback said about practice. "I've been working really hard to get back. I've been wanting to get back for a long time. And you know, the first step was this weekend getting cleared by the doctors to practice. Hopefully, for everybody practice all week goes well."
Hasselbeck says he still has to be cleared to play by Dr. Stan Herring of Seattle, which could happen this evening.
Hasselbeck said pain was not the main factor with his injury, but more of a concern was the nerve aspect of the injury. Hasselbeck said he wanted to play after the Giants game on Oct. 5, but team doctors would not clear him because of the weakness in his knee. That led Hasselbeck to get another opinion from Dr. Robert Watkins in Los Angeles, who confirmed the same diagnosis Seattle team doctors had given him. And all Hasselbeck could do at that point is wait until the strength in his knee returned.
Listen to part of the conversation with Hasselbeck here.
The Seahawks practiced inside because of the rain. Hasselbeck looked better than he did Friday, but still doesn't look like his old self. Branch seemed to move well and looked explosive running his routes.
And, I know we've said this before, but Courtney Taylor, pictured above, looked comfortable running routes and said he's ready to make plays now that he's back in the receiver rotation.
Asked what he learned by sitting on the sidelines, Taylor had this to say:
"I think that's what I really learned -- that you have to go all out on every play," Taylor said. "Especially at this level. Playing against our defense (on scout team), I took a step forward in that aspect of the game."
Branch said after practice that this is the best he felt since he's been in Seattle. He'll practice this week, and if cleared by the training staff he'll play on Sunday.
"It was just good to be on the field with the team," Branch said. "These guys have been working so hard, and for me I'm just trying my best to get back on the field, just seeing these guys go out there and playing in the game, out there fighting every week."
Tight end Will Heller (knee) also returned to practice and should be ready to go on Sunday. Floyd "Pork Chop" Womack also practiced today, getting the majority of the reps at right guard over Ray Willis.
David Hawthorne (calf) went through some individual drills early but did not finish practice.
Players who did not practice include Red Bryant (ankle), Julius Jones (ill), Koren Robinson (knee), C.J. Wallace (hamstring), Seneca Wallace (groin) and Leonard Weaver (ribs). Robinson sitting out was just a precaution. Patrick Kerney (shoulder) also did not go, and will not play this week.
COMMENTS:
Good to have Matt back!
It is good to hear players are getting healthy, now if that translates to wins, I'm skeptical. Having good players on the field is one thing, having them play well is another. God, a win would feel good.
Seahawks to hire Knapp?
Seahawks Offense - TM - SEA - Nov. 12 - 6:37 pm et
NFL Network's Steve Wyche reports that the Seahawks are expected to hire current Raiders offensive coordinator Greg Knapp to fill the same position in Seattle after the season.
Move aside, Gil Haskell. Jim Mora, who will take over for Mike Holmgren in 2009, worked with Knapp during their stint together in Atlanta. Knapp runs a West Coast offense like Haskell and Holmgren currently have in place, but uses fewer three- and four-receiver sets. The offensive production in Seattle will threaten to go down if this marriage happens. Nov. 12 - 6:37 pm et
They better enjoy their Division win this year, 'cause WE WILL BE BACK NEXT YEAR.
GO SEAHAWKS!!!
Hawks need coach who got proven track record and not going to bring in coaches who didnt do so good in Atlanta. They were average team at best.
Mora is going to bring a good change for '09. The team is going to win the division (with a halfways decent off-season) and we are going to make a run at getting to and winning the Super Bowl.
I'm not worried about Mora taking over. It's going to be good. Anything less than 10-6 (in a relatively injury free season to the key cogs like Matt and Walt) will be unacceptable though.
I'm excited for '09! But I want to beat the damn Cards this weekend and run the table until we're officially eliminated --- then it's Wrotto, Adams, Bumpus, etc. time.
I want them to give that kid a shot at playing now. He is a good player and a ball hawk, there isn't any doubt about that. His college resume is a lot stronger than his draft position would suggest...
I say activate him and let him play some snaps when Russell or Grant need a breather. It won't be much, but he'll see the field and actually get some experience and a chance to showcase his skills...plus he's got special teams too.
KIRO. Please put on the national sports shows. Stay away from the local biased homer sports guys. The other station, with local biased dj's, create these false expectations for teams, leading to a high level of disappointment and despair with the Seattle sports fan base.
Who outside of Seattle picked the M's to win the AL West? Nobody. Who outside of Seattle, other than Holmgren, picked the Seahawks in the Super Bowl? Nobody.
KIRO. Please bring a national perspective (and reality)to the Seattle sports fan base. Thank you.
I'm glad to see other people now starting to call for Adams, too. He and Hobbs are the two guys I'm most interested in seeing get some time (assuming this season continues down this road) in the secondary.
No offense to anyone here, but in amazes me that some of you go from running the table to playing the practice squad all in one sentence. FYI, reality exists somewhere in between.
This was a bad trade when Ruskell made it and is now obviously a bad trade. He hasn't even come remotely close to justifying his $39 million contract or the 24th pick in the '06 draft we gave up for him. Truly he isn't a #1 WR. He has been slow in learning the offense and otherwise hurt and not available 1/3 the rest of the time.
The Seahawks have hurt their cap in signing him and he hasn't produced, of course we're locked in with him and he will do nothing much for the rest of the year, see above excuse, and cost us quite a bit more next year. It's too bad we can't unload his unproductive fragile tiny rear end but the cap hit for doing so puts us in an Alexander situation again. Next season we pay Branch >$6.5 million.
I hated this trade when we made it and note that it marked the second big goof of the '06 season by Ruskell who had previously lost us our Pro Bowl player at LG who was then the best OG in football. After that the next spring he traded WR-Jackson our true #1-WR for an offensive line player a project who hasn't seen the field yet and left Hasselbeck without a reliable #1 the next offseason. Don't argue with Ruskell he will trade you, the consequences to the team are irrelevant. Branch our Ruskell #1 meanwhile has done nothing much and he has had 105 catches in 192 attempts 54.6%, has been active for 26 of 39 games 66%, and has produced 8 TDs and a measly 1417 yds or 54.5 yds /game since arriving here. If he were on the Patriots still they would have cut him for lack of production or demoted him. Those stats don't come close to justifying his salary or him being a #1 WR.
The team has so undervalued the WR position beyond our diminutive hope in Branch that despite a year where Engram is the #6 WR in the league he doesn't get a new deal, and we draft nobody even when we know that Branch is hurt again and won't likely be available for at least half the season. As well we let go another WR who was able to make big plays happen because he too was injury prone. Naturally when Engram got hurt as well we were screwed. The other injuries showed how thin the depth was for the team. Who are the playmakers at WR? Do we even have one young player who is a budding star at WR?
Meanwhile the fans got to pay for a third rate product and get to watch an emasculated offense, an underperforming defense, and Trader Tim escapes accountability for very poor management. He in 3 seasons has spent the hard earned capital of the Holmgren period and not replaced the key parts of the team he denuded. The poor product we have seen this year confirms the O is a shadow of it's 2005 version and the future isn't looking that good.
We deserved better.
The coach(es) I want to see replaced besides the DC are the strength and "conditioning" coaches. With the rash of injuries this squad has I think it's time for a change there.
"Raiders offensive coordinator Greg Knapp was stripped of his play-calling responsibility last week and told that he won't be used in that capacity for the rest of the season"
Not a good sign.
Glad to see players getting healthy and looking forward to a good game Sunday.
Go Hawks!
But the problem is that MANY on this station (not Mitch) were pumping up the Seahawks as Super Bowl favorites prior to the start of the season. This wasn't the case anywhere but in Seattle. And many (more like most) of the Seahawks fans bought into this "Super Bowl favorite" thinking.
When the season went from "SuperBowl Favorite" to "2 and 7", many fans felt "completely let down" and wanted to find a scapegoat for the perceived disaster (i.e. Ruskell, Branch, Mora, others).
The reality is that the Seahawks were not a Super Bowl team at the beginning of the season, but are also as not bad as the 2 and 7 record would indicate. The Seahawks are a team in transition. Transition to a new coach, transition to some new players, and likely a transition to new systems at the end of the season, after Mora takes over. Mike Sando on ESPN has said this many times.
If the "disappointed" Seahawks fans had realized that the Seahawks were NOT a Super Bowl team at the beginning of the season, the negative over-reaction, resulting from the extreme disappointment, likely would not be occurring.
"FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday, October 31, 2008
Last off season, Paul Allen, Tim Ruskell and the rest of the Seahawks organization displayed unique generosity in signing me to a long term contract. This gesture guaranteed me the opportunity to coach one of the very best organizations in all the NFL and the opportunity for my family to live in our favorite place in the world.
In turn, I made a commitment to the Seattle Seahawks. It is a commitment and challenge that I am excited to tackle.
I love the University of Washington. I will always bleed purple and gold. But I will honor the promise I made to the Seahawks exactly as I would if the roles were reversed.
-Jim Mora Jr."
Branch: I think he is okay player if healthy. Even if he had turned out to be a star, I still maintain my opinion from the beginning that Rascle is a poor negotiator. When New England was dangling Branch for a trade, the only teams that were interested was the Jets and Hawks. The season has started already, and teams were not interested. But NE was not going to trade it to the Jets. It was just the Hawks. It was a buyer's market. Yet, Rascle was fooled in to coughing up a 1st round pick. He could have given NE a 2nd round pick and NE would have done cartwheels. A 5'9 receiver is not worth a 1st round pick unless he is extremely explosive like Smith (Carolina Panthers). Given that the market was in our favor and it was a small receiver, why bid against yourself and gave a 1st round pick? Pure stupidity.
Furthermore, he keeps on drafting small guys with no speed. For example, Daryl Tapp is barely 6 ft tall but he is no Dwight Freeney because he doesn't have an explosive first step. Same problem with Jackson. Same problem with Jennings. If a player is small, he must have killer speed. Why can't our front four put pressure on opposing QB? It is because of Rascle.
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