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.
- All
- Answers to your questions (512)
- Audio Files (358)
- Awards and honors (79)
- Brock Huard Analysis (22)
- Coaching Decisions (38)
- Coaching Staff (77)
- Flashbacks (7)
- Former Players (78)
- Front office (40)
- Paul Allen (6)
- Game Coverage (1229)
- Injuries (537)
- Interviews (65)
- Media Issues (33)
- Mike Holmgren press conferences (87)
- Minicamps (116)
- Miscellaneous (238)
- National Seahawks Coverage (67)
- NFL Draft (265)
- 2006 Seahawks Draft (37)
- 2007 Seahawks Draft (72)
- Draft-pick Signings (19)
- Mock drafts (16)
- Rob Rang Analysis (43)
- Scouting combine (36)
- NFL Europe (7)
- NFL free agency (364)
- Cuts and waivers (73)
- Character Issues (24)
- Restricted free agents (RFAs) (15)
- Street free agents (71)
- Tryouts (40)
- Unrestricted free agents (UFAs) (99)
- Cuts and waivers (73)
- NFL Meetings (39)
- Notes from practice (189)
- Off the field (137)
- Charitable endeavors (32)
- Legal system (62)
- Offbeat Stuff (51)
- Officiating (71)
- Opponents (152)
- Playoff picture (20)
- Predictions (41)
- Quotes (182)
- Matt Hasselbeck (18)
- Mike Holmgren (32)
- Shaun Alexander (13)
- Radio Shows (41)
- Roster Analysis (58)
- Schedules and calendars (40)
- Seahawks Insider (319)
- Blog News (300)
- Programming Note (223)
- Stadium/facilities (13)
- Stats, etc. (124)
- Excel Downloads (106)
- Draft-related files (9)
- Seahawks Roster (78)
- Statistics (97)
- Excel Downloads (106)
- Trades and potential trades (71)
- Training Camp (183)
- 2006 Training Camp (137)
- 2007 Training Camp (141)
- Video (8)
- Xs and Os (39)
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| << < | > >> | |||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
| 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
| 29 | 30 | |||||
- July 2009 (24)
- June 2009 (29)
- May 2009 (32)
- April 2009 (89)
- March 2009 (56)
- February 2009 (63)
- January 2009 (51)
- December 2008 (151)
- November 2008 (191)
- October 2008 (203)
- September 2008 (164)
- August 2008 (175)
- More...
Wow.
I knew there was a lot of Michael Crabtree love out there, but I didn't expect the Texas Tech wide receiver to win convincingly.
But the voters have spoken, and Crabtree was the overwhelming pick that you believe the Seahawks should select at No. 4, with Wake Forest linebacker Aaron Curry a distant second.
In our unscientific poll, Crabtree received 32 of the 96 total votes cast, with Curry grabbing 19 and USC quarterback Mark Sanchez coming in third with 12 votes.
There's been a lot of talk about who the Seattle Seahawks should select with the No. 4 pick, if they do not trade down on Saturday.
So let's put it to a vote. Post in the comments section who you believe Seattle should take. I'll count the votes and post the results later on today. We'll keep the polls open until 3 p.m. One vote per customer, please.
Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio had previously written a story that said the Seahawks are going to be a playoff team that does not make it back to the postseason. He also wrote that the Cardinals are not going to be the team to replace the Seahawks -- which means he had to pick either St. Louis or San Francisco. In his latest installment, Florio picks Josh Brown's new team.
Game 1 Seahawks at Bills: The weather will be fine, the team will be jazzed to show it is a contender. W (1-0)
Game 2 49ers at Seahawks: Alex Smith wilts under the heat of a feverish home crowd. W (2-0)
Game 3 Rams at Seahawks: Josh Brown misses game-winning FG as he is lustily booed throughout. W (3-0)
Game 4: Seahawks at Giants: Rust from bye week, East Coast travel hand Seattle its first loss. L (3-1)
Game 5: Packers at Seahawks: Packers fans are calling for the un-retirement of Brett Favre. W (4-1)
WR D.J. Hackett
RB Maurice Morris
TE Ben Joppru
WR Ben Obomanu
LB Kevin Bentley
OL Mansfield Wrotto
DE Jason Babin
QB Charlie Frye
If Bentley can go, I'd think they would not want to deactivate Will Herring or Lance Laury in case Bentley or Leroy Hill gets injured during the game, which I think would mean that Ellis Wyms would be next in line. With Joppru out, Tom Ashworth could get some extra work that would mean he needs to stay active.
Without a third quarterback on the roster, the Seahawks have to actually put eight players on the inactive list. This is my best guess on who those players will be:
Alvin Pearman
Ben Joppru
Lance Laury
Mansfield Wrotto
Ben Obomanu
Ellis Wyms
Jason Babin
The last one is tricky. If they only keep four receivers active, the eighth guy could be Courtney Taylor. If they want five receivers, they probably have to go to a second offensive lineman. The question is would it be Ray Willis, Tom Ashworth or Floyd Womack. Willis has the ability to swing between guard and tackle like Womack, but he does not have game experience. Ashworth can really only play right tackle but he is experienced. Pork Chop has been there, which may make the coaches comfortable. We'll see on Sunday.
Now it's the Bears' turn to hear about supposed jinxes involving Super Bowl losers. We've talked about this a lot. The NFL is set up for teams to be equal. Records are usually between 6-10 and 10-6. Sometimes factors come together allowing a team to enjoy an unusually successful season.
What is it about recent Super Bowl losers? Consider that three of them played New England in the big game. The Patriots are the only team in the league that has been consistently outstanding in the regular season and playoffs over an extended period. Their success reflects well on recent Super Bowl winners.
Before this season, the last five Super Bowl winners were: Pittsburgh, New England, New England, Tampa Bay and New England. The Steelers fell hard in 2006. The Bucs might still be falling. What is it about Super Bowl losers? Like some recent Super Bowl winners, they aren't the Patriots.
Enduring friendships between barrier-breaking coaches won't score points in Super Bowl XLI. Peyton Manning's midweek revelation that he danced a tango while playing the role of "Miguel" in an eighth-grade play won't help his Colts block or tackle. Barring a security lapse, Dick Butkus and Mike Singletary aren't going to run onto the field at Dolphin Stadium just because the Bears have another great MLB in Brian Urlacher. Year after year, Super Bowl hoopla obscures storylines relevant to the game itself.
The Bears are better on both lines. They are better on special teams. They are better at forcing turnovers. Manning has not played his best during the playoffs. Why, then, am I picking the Colts to win this game by about 24-21? Well, they have defeated Kansas City, Baltimore and New England even without playing their best. The Ravens and Pats are at least as good as the Bears, right? Let's take a look at five keys to the game that go beyond the hype.
The audio preview should be popping into the media player shortly. I wound up picking the Bears to win, 23-20, but it's not much of an endorsement. The Seahawks seemed quite confident this week. But their overall inconsistency this season made it tough to pick them in a road game against a 13-3 team coming off a bye week. The Bears have issues, too, and they stumbled a bit down the stretch. Should be a fun one to watch. Note: On the audio, when talking about Jerramy Stevens' impact, I referred to the Bears when I meant to say "Cowboys".
For some reason I've been unable to access the blog for a while. Turns out the entry I put together a while back never posted to the blog. It is gone forever, but let me give you the condensed version. Basically, I would have little trouble picking the Hawks to win this game (and perhaps even run away with it) if the injuries weren't raising so many question marks. Those factors make the job a little harder.
My wife was pretty happy to pick a Redskins game correctly for once, but our 9-7 records in the picks were fitting given how this season went. She was right on the Patriots beating the Titans. I was right on the Eagles beating the Falcons (not sure what she was thinking there, but hey, she married me, so it's not her first regret).
The game that surprised me the most: Lions over Cowboys. Let's just say it's looking like the Seahawks should be OK in this wild-card game. Qwest Field will help the defense a great deal. On offense, Seattle had to like what it saw from Matt Hasselbeck on Sunday. If he plays like that, the Seahawks have as good a chance as most teams in the NFC.
The Giants-Eagles game will be interesting given that these are division rivals. You can't just assume the Eagles will win, even though they've played much better in the second half of the season. The Bears could lose to anyone with Rex Grossman throwing to the other team. Who knows how the Saints will respond to their first playoff appearance with this group of players? And then you have the Cowboys, a dysfunctional team with problems on defense and at quarterback, the most important position. It's wide open, really.
Note: We started picking on the blog in about Week 3, as I recall. That explains why we don't have a full season's worth of picks.
Steven Levitt of Freakonomics fame has published a blog entry showing that people can make lots of money betting on home underdogs in the NFL. This is because bettors disproportionately favor road favorites, leading the house to adjust its odds accordingly. Levitt previous wrote an academic paper on the subject. Home underdogs are 47-30 against the spread this season, he writes. Levitt said he entered a handicapping contest this season and he currently ranks tied for seventh out of 800 entrants by picking home underdogs. The Seahawks were 4.5-point home underdogs last week. They lost, 20-17.

