The Raiders are back but so are the Hawks

Seahawks vs. Raiders is a classic matchup of old AFC West foes.

It also is one of those "something has to give" games.

The Oakland Raiders are pounding the football like crazy. Oakland's starting runningback, Darren McFadden is playing like a man possessed through the first seven weeks of the season.

McFadden and the Raiders rank first in rushing attempts, averaging 33 attempts per game. They are beating back defenses at a 4.7 yard per carry average. Those fun-sized numbers add up to a Raiders offense collecting 158 yards/game on the ground and eight touchdowns.

Oakland meet your match, the 2010 Seattle Seahawks.

The Seahawks relentless defensive line and their talented linebackers have kept every opposing runningback in check this season. Seattle's run defense deserves to be preceded by "vaunted" if they continue their dominance in Oakland this Sunday.

Coming in this weekend's battle by the Bay, the Seahawks are allowing a puny 3.3 yards per carry and 77 yards per game on the ground. Of the Seahawks eleven total touchdowns allowed, Seattle has only given up four to runningbacks. By the way, eleven touchdowns allowed through six games is really good. Only the typically stout Pittsburgh and Tennessee defenses rank higher.

Conversely, the Raiders defense is allowing close to 140 yards on the ground each week. That mouth-watering stat should be enough for head coach Pete Carroll to veer away from the inconsistent passing attack otherwise known as Matt Hasselbeck and the Who?

Bring on Marshawn Lynch and Justin Forsett. I want to see Seattle run the ball 30 times between those two. Lynch should realistically dominate Oakland for over 100 yards and a touchdown, maybe two.

An interesting side note to this game is each team's point spread in their respective victories last week. The Seahawks won 22-10 over Arizona, a 12 point differential. The Raiders beat Denver 59-14, a 45 point differential. And the Broncos beat the Seahawks in week two, 31-14.

I'm not sure what to make of all those scores but one them is an aberration and one is reality.

Only time will tell which one is which.

Go Thunder!?

Editor's Note: From this day forward, Wednesday's on Rambling Tangent will be dedicated to the Oklahoma City Thunder and the NBA. Read at your own emotional risk.



I've been known to go against the grain occasionally in my life. My opinion on the Oklahoma City Thunder is one of those rebel moments.

July 2008 was a horrible time in Seattle, Washington. It marked the end of an era when the Seattle Sonics left town for the Oklahoma flatlands and took the NBA's brightest future with it.

Before the team moved, they drafted the best player since LeBron James, sharp-shooter Kevin Durant. The 19 year-old Durant was fresh off a dominant freshman year at the University of Texas. He then was promptly selected second overall in the 2007 NBA Draft by your Seattle Suuuuuuper Sonics. Sorry, I just had to. (Sonics P.A. Announcer, Matt Pittman was incredible)

Durant met all expectations by winning the 2007 NBA Rookie of the Year award. He averaged 20 points per game as a teenager; begging the question, how high is this young man's ceiling?

At that point, the Sonics still had a future in Seattle and it was burning bright, at least on the court.

But then it all came crashing down.

Of course, the Sonics didn't leave without a fight. It has been well documented how the Sonics weren't moved, they were stolen. Owner, Clay Bennett bought the beloved basketball franchise from Starbucks owner, Howard Shultz. Bennett promised to try his best to keep the Sonics in town and get the stadium funding they needed.

Neither happened. Shocking.

Bennett was planning on moving the team from the get-go. The cowboy Bennett was based in Oklahoma City already, so moving the team there after one year was inevitable. The moving trucks came and took Seattle's baby away and we have grieved for two years straight.

It happened Seattle, it is time to move on.

I'm attempting to rip the life-sized Band Aid off this deep emotional wound Seattlites suffer from. I know many fans will not like my thoughts on this subject but that is not enough to stop me from sticking with my team.

The location changed, the jersey's look different but the history is still ingrained in my cranium and I 'Refuse To Lose' (those memories).

Bennett can't take away the fact that the franchise he purchased, thrived in Seattle for four decades, including in 1979 when the Sonics brought home a championship. He can't take away the fact that Kevin Durant was drafted by Seattle and played his rookie season at Key Arena.

With that said, I'm declaring myself an unabashed Thunder fan that never stopped rooting for the team he grew up watching. Bring on the boos and hissing. I will be the bigger man in this controversy and go with my heart. The rest of you can quietly and enviously, watch Durant dominate the NBA out the corner of your eye.

The O.K.C. Thunder kick-off their season at home tonight against the highly talented Chicago Bulls. All-Star point guard, Derrick Rose runs the Bulls offense along side his odd-looking, yet very physical, Joakim Noah. These two are the center-pieces to the Bulls lineup but the edge in this matchup of young basketball duo's goes to O.K.C.

The league's reigning scoring champion (30 points/game), Kevin Durant, returns with his trusty sidekick, point guard Russell Westbrook. Durant enters his fourth season and Westbrook's third season coming off a great summer in which they won a gold medal with the USA Basketball team at the World's Championship.

But the last time the NBA saw this combo and rest of the Thunder players, they were pushing the Los Angeles Lakers to the brink of elimination from the 2009 playoffs. In the end, the Lakers were the better team and went on to defeat the Thunder and everyone else for that matter, winning the 2009 NBA title.

The future for the Thunder is simple: feed Durant the ball and the wins will come. I expect O.K.C. to earn a high-seed for the playoff run and shock the basketball world by upsetting a couple veteran teams. They are not championship caliber. Yet.

Earlier I posed the question: how high is Durant's ceiling? It was a trick question.

There is no ceiling.

Good, bad and certainly ugly; Hawks find a way to win

A win is a win, right?

When that win is "earned" and appears sloppy, some hesitate to embrace it, including yours truly.

Yesterday's win over the Arizona Cardinals was one of those unattractive wins the Seattle Seahawks have unfortunately come to rely on.

Sunday's 22-10 Seahawks victory played out in Seattle's typical autumn weather, which in hindsight likely had a strong imprint on the horrid play of the sun-kissed Cardinals.

In the intermittent downpour, the Seahawks forced the Cardinals into four turnovers including rookie safety Earl Thomas' fourth interception in six games. The defensive play of the game for Seattle was when Cardinals punt returner, Alan Branch muffed the catch and simultaneously was recovered by Seattle's Roy Lewis. The great play by Lewis gave the Seahawks the ball inside Arizona's 10-yard line.

From that turnover the Seahawks Matt Hasselbeck threw a jump ball to his 6-5 receiver Mike Williams for the first and only Seahawks touchdown to put Seattle up 10-0 at halftime. Williams is hands down Hasselbeck's go-to receiver as those two hooked up eleven times for 87 yards on Sunday. In fact, the Seattle's quarterback-wide receiver combo has connected 21 times for 210 yards in the last two games.

Seattle's new star, Marshawn Lynch ran a season-high 24 times for 89 yards and his fleet-footed backup, Justin Forsett, kept his run per attempt (4.6) up by rushing nine times for 41 yards. The most exciting number from the ugly Seahawks offense was the 24 carries by Lynch.

Head coach Pete Carroll must implement this run-heavy strategy every week to stay successful. Because the Seahawks do not even threaten opposing defensive secondaries with deep passes, they must continue to perfect their running game. Rushing a combined 33 times is a great step forward.

The true hero of the game was Seahawks kicker, Olindo Mare. The man simply doesn't miss. Mare nailed five field goals yesterday, extending his streak of consecutive field goals made to 30. Actually, he hit two more but because of penalties he was forced to re-kick twice; an impressive feat considering each kick was progressively longer.

The Arizona offense never got off the ground, both literally and figuratively. Rookie Cardinal quarterback, Max Hall, was 4 for 16 passing, gaining only 36 yards with one interception and one fumble. The hapless Hall was pulled in favor for another borderline starting quarterback, Derek Anderson, who managed 96 yards on 17 attempts.

Compared to the passing attack, the Cardinals ground game worked well. It was consistent enough to garner one touchdown and 113 yards on 20 carries. Their back-field looks similar to Seattle's, in that they rely on two runningbacks with different abilities. The bruiser is Beanie Wells and the pass-catching back is Tim Hightower. Both players combined to rush for more yards in a game than the Seahawks had given up all season. Despite their efforts, Seattle still ranks second in rushing yards allowed at 77 per game.

The dink and dunk Seahawks offense stalled many times in the red-zone, which is never helpful but fortunately for them, their kicker is absolute money. Coach Carroll needs to address their passing game because it looks disgusting and irrelevant. The rest of the team looks solid and should continue to get by on great defense and consistent run play as long as Seattle keeps playing mid-level teams.

Speaking of average teams, the Seahawks fly to Oakland this weekend to take on the surprisingly good Raiders. The Raiders are fresh off a massacre victory over rival Denver Broncos, so the Seahawks shouldn't take this game lightly.

Seattle proved they could win on the road by whooping the Bears in Chicago, and now they need to recapture that same mentality next week in Oakland.

Seahawks defense makes Bears look like cubs

They did it. They won on the road.

The Seattle Seahawks 23-20 win over the Chicago Bears this weekend was as solid a win the team has seen in years. This was one of those no excuses wins. The Seahawks went on the road, played early in the day, scored multiple times without special teams and won.

The Seahawks accomplished the seemingly unfathomable by controlling the clock with a consistent rushing attack and timely 3rd down conversions. Seattle had the ball for 34:23 to Chicago's 25:37. The combination of Justin Forsett and Marshawn Lynch ran the ball 27 times for 111 yards and two touchdowns.

Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck connected with wide receiver Mike Williams ten times for 123 yards on his way to 242 passing yards and a touchdown with no interceptions. Hasselbeck shared the wealth by hitting seven other receivers, including a beautiful 22-yard touchdown pass to Deon Butler in the corner of the endzone to tie the game early in the first quarter.

The Butler touchdown represented the missing ingredient the Seahawks were looking for all this time away from Qwest Field; the ability to respond immediately when scored upon.

As for the defense, they played very well against a big-play Bears offense. This stat never gets old: the Seahawks rank second in the NFL in rush defense, allowing 70 yards per game. The Bears ran for 61 yards on 14 attempts. Most of those rushes came in the first half when the Bears coaches believed they still had a chance to burst through the Seahawks wall.

No chance.

Not only did the defensive line continue building on it's previous run-stopping success, they also swarmed Bears quarterback Jay Cutler all game and sacked him six times. Cutler only connected with his speedy receivers, Johnny Knox, Devin Hester and others, 17 times on 39 passes and gained 290 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions.

The defense line is playing surprisingly aggressive and the ball hawking secondary always seems to be on the verge of picking off a pass. Very simply, the Seahawks defense is real and they're spectacular.

As great as the team played as a whole, my game ball goes to rookie left tackle Russell Okung for his elimination of the NFL's most feared pass rusher, Julius Peppers. Most NFL coaches would agree Peppers is dominant enough to warrant a double-team block on most plays but Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll doesn't fall in with most coaches.

Carroll allowed Okung (starting his first full NFL game) to go one-on-one with Peppers all game and Okung won. Peppers finished with two tackles and no sacks. That is amazing. Okung's play gave me chills when I day-dreamed about the possibility of having a Walter Jones protege' protecting Hasselbeck. It's quite possible that the Seahawks stuck gold with Okung.

The battle for the NFC West lead will be held at Qwest Field this Sunday when the 3-2 Hawks take on the 3-2 Arizona Cardinals. Seattle is licking their chops for a shot at Cardinals rookie quarterback Max Hall and a chance to come home to a heroes welcome by the 12th Man.

Revamped Seahawks fly into Chicago

In case you haven't heard, the Seahawks do not win on the road. Unfortunately, this is not an exaggeration.

For many years now the Seattle Seahawks as a team have been the NFL's most considerate guest and have simultaneously proven to be the league's rudest host. Translation: they love playing at Qwest Field and they don't know how to win away from Qwest and their 12th Man.

Since the Super Bowl run of 2005, the Seahawks home record is 28-14 and their road record is a frightening 15-27. Rarely do you see such a dramatic home/away split in sports. Talk about home cooking.

The last time Seattle won on the road was November 29th, 2009 at St. Louis. The previous road win came a year prior at San Francisco in October of 2008. Yes, both were division wins which are always important but do you know the last time the Seahawks won outside the NFC West? Try December 2, 2007 against the Philadelphia Eagles.

So how about that Bear's game in Chicago this weekend?

Despite the foreboding path I've laid out for the Seahawks chances on the road, they actually could beat the Bears with the right approach. The key to a Seattle victory is to mimic the Bear's long-standing mantra; play hard-nosed defense and pound the football.

The Seahawks enter this Sunday's matchup with a tough new look. In their bye week Seattle added a bulldozer of a runningback in Marshawn Lynch. He runs with purpose and thrives when he is the hitter not the "hit-tee". The new offensive approach is simple; feed Lynch the ball and control the time of possession.

On defense, the Hawks will have their hands full. The Bears best weapon is runningback Matt Forte. With streaky quarterback Jay Cutler coming off a concussion he suffered last week, the Bears are sure to test the Hawks run defense.

Forte is scary for one reason, he loves receiving short passes and turning them into homeruns. In the Bears first five games, Forte has two rushing and three receiving touchdowns. Expect Seattle to continue stopping the run with their second ranked rush defense. The focus should be on stopping the dump-off passes to Forte because that will significantly shutdown the Bears attack.

The bye week timed out well for Seattle because they were able to acquire a potential stud runningback and the extra week allowed left tackle Russell Okung to rest his bum ankle. Those two figure to be important cogs in the Seahawk's future. It will interesting to see how the previously hopeless Seahawks rushing attack responds with the exciting makeover.

I have a feeling this Sunday could be the start of a new period in Seahawks football and there would be no better way to jump-start the Pete Carrol era than with a solid road win in the Windy City.

Lynch adds much needed grit

He runs nasty. He wears gold teeth. He is perfect.

He is Marshawn Lynch.

The Seattle Seahawks addressed a major flaw in their offensive approach Tuesday when they acquired runningback Marshawn Lynch from the Buffalo Bills. Lynch runs with the mentality that the defender is not an obstacle to run around, instead Lynch prefers to run through the defender as if he isn't standing there. (Supposedly he has an extra gear called 'Beast Mode')

That is the type of player the Seahawks were desperate for. Many players have come through and still play for Seattle who don't have a chip on their shoulder or show a mean streak. Football is a violent game played by hard-nosed men who enjoy hitting each other. When a key position like runningback doesn't fit that profile, the mindset filters down through the team in a negative manner.

Lynch was drafted in 2007 by the Bills and he immediately paid dividends for the team. In his rookie season he rushed for 1,115 yards with seven touchdowns. Next season he repeated with 1,036 yards and eight touchdowns. During those years he ran behind a suspect offensive line and a weak passing attack. Sound familiar?

For two seasons Lynch rarely shared carries with another runningback. But then something changed. Last season there was a considerable drop-off in Lynch's numbers. The decline came when he shared half his carries with the Bills other runningback Fred Jackson. Lynch rushed for a mere 450 yards with two touchdowns. This should be a warning sign to Seahawks head coach Pete Carrol.

If Lynch performs well early on, he needs to be the featured back because it's quite possible he is a lot better rusher than current starter Justin Forsett. Plus if Lynch is running well that means he is bruising defenders. Thus, by the fourth quarter the defense will be more prone to getting run over and be tired because of all the physical play early on.

Coming into this season I thought runningback was the biggest question mark. Forsett is the Hawks most dynamic offensive player and coach Carrol would be a fool to forget that. Ideally, Forsett would play on third down or in obvious passing situations because he is a great weapon in the flat for a screen pass.

Lynch brings a nasty attitude and some flash (a gold grill) to a team without much personality. Seahawk management should be applauded for recognizing their short comings and be pro-active about it.

Seahawk fans are sure to fall in love with the team's edgy new look when they take on the blue collar Chicago Bears next Sunday.

It's just like starting over

Well that didn't go as planned.

The Seattle Seahawks strolled into St. Louis this weekend feeling confident that they were the better team and the status quo would live on.

Not so fast.

The Rams emphatically snapped their 10 game losing streak against the Seahawks with a 20-3 win. St. Louis has suffered through seemingly infinite misery and now has come out of the other side with hope for a bright future. That future being quarterback Sam Bradford.

The rookie Bradford, threw for 289 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. By NFL rookie standards those numbers are fantastic, especially win you also beat a division rival.

On the complete opposite end of the quarterback spectrum, the 35-year-old Matt Hasselbeck looked helpless and beatable. Hasselbeck passed for 196 yard with no touchdowns and one interception.

Once again the frustrating offense sputtered. Each pass attempt rarely looked threatening; most completions were for seven yards or less. The worst part was the Seahawks lack of adjustments when it was apparent the Rams were not fooled by anything.

The Seahawks running game was actually decent most of the game. Justin Forsett ran for 65 yards on 19 carries. Unfortunately, the Rams knew the Seahawks couldn't afford to run the ball in the second half as their lead grew. Seattle had to pass often which allowed the St. Louis linebackers to tee off on Hasselbeck and the perpetually beat up offensive line with no regard for human life.

The Hawks emerging defense played well in spurts; collecting four sacks and one timely interception by their most dynamic defensive player, Earl Thomas. The Seahawks safety snatched a Bradford endzone pass right out of the air, saving a touchdown. Their defense is consistent enough to give the Seahawks a chance to win; but the offense attempts to blow that chance every Sunday.

Despite the flashes of hope on defense, the Seahawks are doomed to repeat this performance because the offense is absolute garbage. They had 11 straight possessions after the first quarter when they either punted or turned the ball over. Something needs to change. Coach Carrol needs to re-access his team during this week's bye and adjust the offensive scheme.

The Seahawks were handed a wake-up call by losing to the one team that represents how far they have fallen and whom to model their future after.

One thing is for sure, the times are a changing.

Fiery Seahawks defense looks to rattle Bradford

There is something about Seahawks vs. Rams.

Any football fan outside of Seattle and St. Louis probably doesn't understand what I mean. And why should they?

The Seattle Seahawks and St. Louis Rams are the butt of many NFL jokes. Neither team has sniffed the playoffs in years or even the division title. Yet, when these two strap up the laces and line up across from each other Sunday afternoon, there is a unique bitterness pulsating between that four inch gap called the line of scrimmage.

The Seahawks have won the last ten games versus the Rams. A very nice streak for any team and a devastating streak for another. You can imagine how the Rams players feel about the Hawks coming to their turf this weekend. They want this to end. Now.

Rams head coach Steve Spagnuolo said this week that "it wouldn’t matter if we had won 10 games in a row, I would still want to beat them."

Of course, second-year head coach Spagnuolo only experienced two of those losses but it is apparent he feels the intensity of the division rival match-up just the same.

The first overall NFL draft pick, quarterback Sam Bradford, was drafted by St. Louis this year and this Sunday marks the first of many battles with the Seahawks. Bradford replaces long time Rams quarterback, Marc Bulger and many other unworthy QB's St. Louis has thrown into the fire over the years.

Bradford gives the Rams a very interesting dynamic for the future. So far he has played well (for a rookie). Bradford has thrown for 655 yards with four touchdowns and five interceptions. The Seahawks are sure to exploit Bradford's short-comings with their consistent pass rush and ball hawking secondary.

As for the Seattle's offense, runningback Justin Forsett needs to continue to work the gaps that the rag-tag offensive line provides him. Head coach Pete Carroll said this week that there is strong possibility that Seattle's own first round draft pick, Russell Okung plays this week at left tackle.

Okung suffered a high-ankle sprain very early in the season and has a lot to prove. If Okung can get comfortable covering Matt Hasselbeck's blindside; the Seahawk faithful will be quite smitten. Left tackle has been a black hole since All-Pro Walter Jones retired.

Rams runningback Steven Jackson is questionable with a pesky groin injury, so the Seahawks might avoid one of the league's biggest bruisers. Even if Jackson plays, the Seahawks defense should be able to contain him with stout D-line play. The Seahawks are only allowing 2.5 yards per carry through three games.

This Sunday at St. Louis figures to be the most winnable road game this season for the Hawks; a team that plays like Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde depending if they're at Qwest Field or not.

I think if reality plays out, the Seahawks will be 3-1 entering the bye week. First in the NFC West.