Posted by DHarp75 on December 30, 2009 under PartyHawks Central | 
T.J. Houshmandzadeh has spent most of this season with a scowl on his face. The new target of his anger is Hugh Millen.
Looking for distractions while my beloved ‘Canes were getting manhandled by Wisconsin last night, my buddy Curt told me about an on-air spat on KJR between
Hugh Millen and
T.J. Houshmandzadeh and
Deion Branch.
He was cracking up recounting how the receivers were teeing off on Millen, who had essentially pinned Seattle’s struggles on everyone outside of Matt Hasselbeck and Jim Mora.
I passed it off as a funny story that was probably exaggerated. And then KJR posted the audio.
This stuff is too good to be true. T.J. and Deion took exception to Millen and host Ian Furness’ criticism. And things really got heated when T.J. questioned Millen’s knowledge of defenses … especially considering Millen’s less than flattering professional career statistics.
It’s worth a listen, really.
Posted by DHarp75 on December 28, 2009 under PartyHawks Central |
Not since the days of games at Husky Stadium have things felt this hopeless.
It might be time to break out the hibachi and hot dogs. Not since the days Mrs. PartyHawks and I huddled underneath the overhang of the UW Medical Center, cutting our teeth on tailgating and watching the Hawks routinely getting their asses kicked at Husky Stadium have things been this bad.
Ironically, that’s the last time Matt Hasselbeck played this badly.
His decision making is atrocious, a byproduct of terrible pass protection, mediocre receivers and lacking arm strength due to a shoulder injury. There’s little to feel good about these days, because as the end of the season mercifully arrives, it’s clear no amount of free-agent money or draft picks is going to turn this thing around in a year or two.
But for those of you hanging onto anything to feel positive about, look at Denver’s two-game slid to the brink of playoff elimination. Combined with Seattle throwing itself off the deep end, and the Hawks could be looking at two picks in the top half of the first round come April.
Posted by DHarp75 on December 24, 2009 under PartyHawks Central |
Appetizer or main dish? Darryl Tapp accused of biting QB.
can’t exactly be labeled a “sackmaster” with 17.5 career sacks, but he has been known to feast on quarterbacks from time to time.
But literally?
That’s what Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers claims. He said Tapp bite him during last year’s meeting and that he had a bruise on his arm the rest of the season. We tend to believe Tapp’s defense – that it’s virtually impossible to bite someone while wearing a helmet. Hmm … maybe Evander Holyfield will campaign to get helmets instituted in boxing after losing a part of his ear to Mike Tyson’s chompers.
But Rodgers’ quote to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel is just too good to ignore: “Yeah, he bit me through my long sleeve that I was wearing. There wasn’t a whole lot of words spoken. I looked down and my arm was hurt and it felt like a bee sting. I was looking down and he was biting my arm so I had to get his teeth off my shoulder.”
Posted by DHarp75 on December 22, 2009 under PartyHawks Central |
Mike Holmgren is in Cleveland - and Hawks fans should be OK with that
Radio switchboards,
Facebook and chat rooms lit up with the news that
Mike Holmgren had “spurned” the Seahawks’ offer and was off to Cleveland.
Now it’s time for Hawks fans to get over it and look at the reality of the situation.
Yes, Holmgren engineered the most successful years in franchise history. Yes, he was pushed out a year early in an awkward move by Tim Ruskell - which is one in a line of many reasons he’s currently unemployed.
The reality is that Holmgren very well might not have been the right fit for the role he wanted in this franchise. He wanted the czar-type, sweeping control that Bill Parcells has in Miami. But as great a coach as Holmgren is, he’s unproven as a GM. In fact, he failed in that capacity in Seattle, albeit while pulling double duty.
Hawks fans need to stop complaining with their hearts. This comes at a bad time, with the team sinking into the abyss of a second consecutive miserable season. They are devoid of competitive talent and the horizon looks bleak with few people to be the cornerstones of the turnaround.
That doesn’t make Holmgren the right man for this job.
Seattle is better off looking at up-and-coming personnel people for playoff contenders who have been built through the draft. Arizona (gulp) and San Diego have rosters built for sustained success despite being in remote NFL cities because they have drafted extremely well.
Kudos to the Seahawks for not bowing to what would have amounted to a PR move by bringing Holmgren back. Now let’s see if this floundering franchise can hire the right man for the gig.
Posted by DHarp75 on December 15, 2009 under PartyHawks Central |
Hawks could be close to losing out on Mike Holmgren for their GM gig.
ESPN’s
Adam Schefter reported this morning that
Mike Holmgren spent last week in Mexico discussing with wife Kathy his options to return to the NFL next season.
The logical choice has always seemed to be Seattle. He owns a house here, enjoys the area and the team is in need of a GM and a PR boost. But the Hawks seem determined to go through a thorough vetting of candidates, while Holmgren reportedly wants to make a decision by Christmas.
So … he’s in Cleveland this week meeting with the Browns.
Yes, Holmgren failed in his stint as a GM with the Hawks. But he was double-booked as a coach, and very few have pulled that off successfully. More important, there are very few proven talent evaluators available who would make more sense than Papa Holmgren (Christine’s nickname for him).
Posted by DHarp75 on December 14, 2009 under PartyHawks Central |
Greg Knapp's scheme is leaving plenty to be desired
No matter what you think of
Jim Mora, you know you’ll get his honest opinion. And the best moment of his post-game show Sunday night was when he stopped host
Tony Silvi cold during his signoff. Silvi said Mora put his players on notice, and Mora jumped in to say “everyone” is on notice.
That should include long-time friend Greg Knapp.
The offensive line has been pitiful all season, and much of that has to do with injuries and flat out bad play. But some of that falls on scheme and gameplanning. Seattle is constantly getting hammered up the “A” gap between the left guard and center. Rob Sims and Chris Spencer are at times making wrong assignment reads, but it’s also a problem that needs to be fixed at the NFL level. Change responsibilities. Change personnel.
Do something. But Matt Hasselbeck can’t continue to take the beating his is. Well, he can, but the results will be the same.
Posted by DHarp75 on December 10, 2009 under PartyHawks Central |
Green jerseys in retirement?
If you’re a fan of the lime green jerseys, ask yourself this: would you rather see them or
Jim Mora go?
We’re not advocating firing Mora. He’s a decent coach who was given a bad roster that suffered a slew of injuries and needs to be given at least one more year. But he also said the lime green alternate jerseys have been retired… partly because the team lost to Chicago in the one game they were used (and ridiculed from coast to coast).
“What I like is the Seahawk blue,” Mora said this week. “I won’t say I don’t like those, but I like our Seahawk blue with the accent of the lime green. And I can’t believe we’re talking about uniforms. But I brought it up, it’s my fault.”
Well, now that he brought it up … those things were hiddeous. A good marketing ploy that probably netted many thousands of dollars in new merchandise sales. Hey, if it even paid the tax on Housh’s free-agent contract, it might have been worth it. But you’ll get no argument from us if those were a one and done item.
As my father put it: “It’s football. No opponent can take them seriously when they look like that. It just makes opponents want to hit them harder.” OK, so we paraphrased, and left out a few more colorful remarks – but you get the point.
And it was disturbingly close to the first color we painted our bedroom in our first house. After hours of painstaking labor, we sat on the floor, looked at the room and said: “We’ve been slimed!”
Posted by DHarp75 on December 3, 2009 under PartyHawks Central |
GM Tim Ruskell is out.
The news started trickling in late Wednesday night, and by Thursday morning it was official that general manager
Tim Ruskell was stepping down. Mike Sando, one of the best NFL reporters and writers in the biz,
talked to Ruskell before his Thursday morning presser.
Ruskell has been lampooned all season by the media and fans. Much of it is deserving. He screwed up the Steve Hutchinson situation, and the offensive line never recovered. He sent two first-rounders to New England for Deion Branch. He signed Julius Jones when no one else really viewed him as a feature back. He spent first-round picks on second-round prospects like Kelly Jennings and Lawrence Jackson (that’s not 20-20 hindsight, they were reaches even at the time.).
But he also ushered in the most successful years in Seahawks history, for which we have to provide some gratitude. He spent five years with the organization, and early on helped the Seahawks reach their first Super Bowl with a few key free-agent moves. In the end, however, he forced Mike Holmgren to leave by hiring Jim Mora while Holmgren was still in town, and has left Seattle with one of the league’s thinnest rosters.
The offensive line is pitiful, there’s no long-term running back, Matt Hasselbeck is on the downside and there isn’t a single receiver on the roster who can stretch the field and scare an opponenet. And that’s just on offense.
The Hawks weekly rely on the likes of Jennings and Josh Wilson in coverage, and the safety situation is one of the NFL’s worst. The defensive line lacks dominating pass rushers. He made a great move to trade a second-round pick for Denver’s first-round pick next year, but even that lost some of its shimmer thanks to Denver’s surprisingly strong season.
Hey, at least he left us with a slew of above average dudes at linebacker.
Posted by DHarp75 on December 2, 2009 under PartyHawks Central |
GM Tim Ruskell's contract runs out at the end of the season.
Remember the days when the December talk surrounded playoff runs and the race for home-field advantage?
Just how far the Hawks have fallen can be seen in the type of news the team is generating. Aaron Curry is in a war of words with Rams running back Steven Jackson, who said Curry tried to intentionally hurt him last Sunday. Jackson made the claims on a radio interview, Curry shot back in a Tweet that quoted the philosopher Jay-Z.
And then there are the persistent Mike Holmgren rumors. Everything from Holmgren returning as G.M., to him returning as G.M. and bringing in Jon Gruden to coach. First, Holmgren wants a new challenge. Cleveland is a possibility, as is San Francisco if the 49ers slide down the stretch. Second, Gruden re-upped with Monday Night Football, and ESPN strongly suggested that Gruden has vowed to stay on through at least 2010.
Jim Mora isn’t responsible for this mess anyway. In the spirit of “careful what you ask for,” Mora is a young coach who needs to be given a few years. Fire him, and you better already know who you’re bringing in because there aren’t a slew of proven coaches waiting around to jump up to the Northwest.
