Football Articles

You've probably heard by now that there's yet another rumor regarding a potential reunion between Albert Haynesworth and the Tennessee Titans.

Of course, we've discussed this possibility before, due to the acrimonious relationship between "Fat Albert" and the Redskins' new sheriff in town: Mike Shanahan, and the seemingly inevitable ending of their stormy relationship.

Should the Titans pull the trigger on a deal that would bring Haynesworth back to Nashville?

Earlier in the year, I considered the notion of re-securing the services of Haynesworth a no-brainer. Considering the difference his absence played in the role of the defense's well-documented struggles in 2009, bringing Haynesworth back into the fold in my mind, was definitely worth it...if the price was right.

With Haynesworth and Shanahan continuing to butt heads in D.C., the price for reeling in Albert could be at its lowest. The Redskins seem determined to part ways with Albert, as evidenced by the spectacle surrounding his inability to pass a notorious conditioning test and #92 feeling disrespected due his boss's willingness to keep him in the game during the second half of meaningless preseason contests.

There's a part of me that's skeptical regarding the impact Albert's presence would have on the Titans' current stable of defensive tackles. With solid vet Tony Brown up-and-comers Jason Jones and Sen'Derrick Marks and a seemingly rejuvenated Jovan Haye, the Titans appear to be set at the DT position. From a chemistry and a development standpoint, the return of Albert would take away snaps from one of the vets and some meaningful playing time for the youngsters as well.

Of course, there's a bigger part of me that still believes that adding a component such as Albert could serve as a difference-making move that would solidify the defense while playing a potentially big role in enabling the team to compete for a playoff spot/division title in 2010.

Before many of us get our hopes up, let's not lose track of the reality of the matter: Unless the Redskins lower their asking price (possibly two draft picks) the chances of the Titans re-attaining Haynesworth may be slim. However, considering the stubborn yet recurring rumor of Haynesworth returning to Nashville, the old adage, "When there's smoke, there's fire" immediately comes to mind.

Stay tuned, folks....

We've gotten pretty good at prognosticating over the years.  It's always a war, but we are never lost when it comes to soothsaying.  Will it be it a glorious day or a dark night for your favorite team? 18to88 is here to tell you.

This year, we pay homage to the birth of Harrison Dunlevy, the latest child born with blue in his blood. We are rocking 2010 Harrison Ford style.  As always, the predicted records are loosely based on a combination of predictions by the Football Outsiders, pythagorean wins, and our own personal biases.

AFC EAST

10-6	New England	Allie Fox Mosquito Coast			"It's an absolute sin to accept the decadence of obsolescence. Why do things get worse and worse? They don't have to. They could get better and better. We accept that things fall apart."
9-7	New York Jets	Richard Walker Frantic			"Don't mess with me, man! I am an American, and I am crazy"
7-9	Miami Dolphins	Indiana Jones The Temple of Doom			"I'm allowing you to tag along. So why don't you give your mouth a rest. Okay doll?"
5-11	Buffalo Bills	Sgt. Joe Gavilan Hollywood Homicide			"Well we've got four mama's boys down at the morgue. It wasn't a game last night"

AFC NORTH

12-4	Baltimore Ravens	Indiana Jones The Last Crusade			"I'm like a bad penny, I always turn up"
10-6	Pittsburgh Steelers	Jack Trainer Working Girl			"The earth moved. The angels wept. The Polaroids are, are, uh...are in my other coat!"
7-9	Cincinnati Bengals	Jack Ryan Patriot Games			"I am telling you I want back in!"
3-13	Cleveland Browns	Lt. Colonel Barnsby Force 10 From Navarone			"I did your job. Now help me do mine."

AFC SOUTH

13-3	Indianapolis Colts	Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark			"I'm making this up as I go."
8-8	Houston Texans	Jack Ryan Clear and Present Danger			"Reciprocity." That's a clever name for it. Revenge is a very, very, very dangerous motivation"
7-9	Tennessee Titans	President James Marshall Air Force One			"How can I do that? I can't do that! DON'T ASK ME FOR SOMETHING I CAN'T GIVE YOU!"
4-12	Jacksonville Jaguars	Colonel Lucas Apocalypse Now			"You understand, Captain, that this mission does not exist, nor will it ever exist..."

AFC WEST

11-5	San Diego Chargers	Henry Turner Regarding Henry			-Hey Hank, watcha doin'? -Paintin'.  Crackers.
8-8	Kansas City Chiefs	Han Solo Star Wars			"What're you lookin' at? I know what I'm doin'."
6-10	Denver Broncos	Norman Spencer What Lies Beneath			"It was a passive/aggressive masterpiece."
5-11	Oakland Raiders	Richard Deckard Blade Runner			"Shakes? Me too. I get 'em bad.  It's part of the business."

NFC EAST

11-5	Dallas Cowboys	Linus Larrabee Sabrina			"You're the world's only living heart donor"
10-6	Washington Redskins	Rusty Siebich Presumed Innocent			"I like you Rusty, but I think it's over... It's just not right for me. It's over... I don't want us to end enemies"
9-7	New York Giants	Captain Alexei Vostrikov K-19: The Widow Maker			"We deliver, or we drown."
8-8	Philadelphia Eagles	Dr. Richard Kimball The Fugitive			"What I want from each and every one of you is a hard-target search of every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse in that area"

NFC NORTH

12-4	Green Bay Packers	Bob Falfa American Graffiti			"Say, I like the color of your car there. What's that s'posed to be? Sort of a cross between piss yella' and puke green ain't it?"
9-7	Minnesota Vikings	Indiana Jones Kingdom of the Crystal Skull			"Damn, I thought that was closer!"
8-8	Chicago Bears	John Book Witness			"If we'd made love last night I'd have to stay. Or you'd have to leave."
3-13	Detroit Lions	Quinn Harris Six Days, Seven Nights			"Well I'm the captain. That's my job. It's no good for me to go waving my arms in the air and screaming "Oh s**t, we're gonna die!" That doesn't invoke much confidence, does it?"

NFC SOUTH

12-4	Atlanta Falcons	Han Solo Return of the Jedi			"I'm out of it a little while and everyone gets delusions of grandeur!"
11-5	New Orleans Saints	David Halloran Hanover Street			-They're shooting at us! How come every time we fly over, they shoot guns at us? -Because we drop bombs on them
6-10	Carolina Panthers	Tom O'Meara The Devil's Own			"Don't look for a happy ending. This isn't an American story.  It's an Irish one"
5-11	Tampa Bay Bucs	Dr. Robert Stonehill Extraordinary Measures			"I'm going to go take a crap - if that meets with you fiscal approval..."

NFC WEST

8-8	Arizona Cardinals	Jack Stanfield Firewall			"Pack up your s**t and get out of here, now!"
7-9	Seattle Seahawks	Dutch Van Den Boreck Random Hearts			"You know what I do for a living?  I get paid to notice stuff.  I get paid to know who's lying.  I didn't have a clue"
7-9	San Francisco 49ers	Tommy The Frisco Kid			"You give me the pee doodles"
5-11	Saint Louis Rams	Bellhop Dead Heat on a Merry Go Round			"Paging Mr. Ellis!"

This offseason, the Raiders have seen some tremendous improvements in several areas including players, coaching staff, and front office discipline and decision making. Coincidentally, the team the Raiders just finished the preseason with, the Seattle Seahawks, have a new coach Pete Carroll, the former USC Trojans mastermind, who "handed the ball off" to former Raiders' Head Coach Lane Kiffin. Oh what tangled webs Kiffin has woven over the past few years. From the front man in Oakland to Tennessee and then back to sunny California to take over the leadership position right back where he started in the first place. During the time that Kiffin was searching the globe for his rightful place on earth, the Raiders have actually managed to keep the same head coach, Kiffin's replacement and eventual successor, Tom Cable.

With USC starting a new era with Lane Kiffin and the Raiders becoming the kind of team that Cable envisioned at the end of the 2008 season, the question I have is who is more likely to make it to nine wins this season, the Trojans or the Raiders?

For years, USC remained the cream of the crop in upper echelon college football. High School football's finest players within probably a five-state area wanted to play for the Trojans and everyone who would play against the team was aiming to send a message to the rest of the college world by defeating the Trojans.

During that same period of time, the Raiders were busy being one of the worst franchises in the NFL, setting a record for the most consecutive 11-loss seasons in a row and becoming the butt of the joke for all sports analysts.

But, yesterday, the NFL released their team-by-team breakdowns and predictions for all 32 NFL teams. While they failed at bringing an in-depth report on the Raiders to the forefront, one thing that should be taken into consideration are the Win/Loss predictions of several different NFL.com and NFL Network personalities. Their predictions are as follows:

• Bucky Brooks: 8-8 second in AFC West
• Vic Carucci: 10-6 second in AFC West
• Pat Kirwan: 8-8 second in AFC West
• Jason La Canfora: 9-7 second in AFC West
• Michael Lombardi: 7-9 third in AFC West
• Steve Wyche: 8-8 second in the AFC West

Ironically, former Raiders' executive, Michael Lombardi, is the only person who believes the Raiders are the third best team in the division. Even in spite of Lombardi being the low on the totem pole, not a single one of these guys thinks the Raiders will lose even 10 or more games this year, let alone 11. They are predicting that this is the year the Raiders get the train back on the tracks and start making their way towards being a playoff contender.

USC, on the other hand, just got handed sanctions by the NCAA for the Reggie Bush/OJ Mayo scandal. Evidently, boosters were contributing to these two college player's pocketbooks, which is a big no-no in the world of college sports. The NCAA has banned USC from postseason play fortwo years. They're taking away their BCS Championship win in January of 2005 against Oklahoma and all 12 regular season wins that next season. They'll also lose 10 scholarships for the next three seasons and be on probation for four years. The violations are for a lack of institutional control. These were the stiffest penalties given to any university since the NCAA issued the "death penalty" to the Southern Methodist football program in 1986, shutting it down for two years. Of course Pete Carroll dodged the bullet by catching the first train out of town to become the Head Coach of the Seattle Seahawks, which actually goes back to where our story today started.

One team, some say, is on the rise and it appears the other is about to go over the waterfalls and spiral downward into the depths. Is this Lane Kiffin's karma catching up to him, or is it simply going to remain that the Raiders are bottom feeders and USC crawls out of this mess virtually unscathed?

That all remains to be seen; while the Raiders have yet to start their regular season schedule, which will open next Sunday (ironically enough in Tennessee), the Trojans already have their first win under their belt, a 49-36 victory over Hawaii, which left some Trojans fans worried about Monte Kiffin's cover 2 defense against some of the pass heavy teams USC will see on their schedule like the Arizona Wildcats. If teams like the Wildcats pose a threat to the USC win-loss column then what will happen when they play teams that are actually good like Cal, Oregon, Notre Dame, and rival UCLA?

For the moment, the Raiders division appears to be an open door as far as the possibilities of a new division champion taking the reins from the San Diego Chargers. The Chargers will be without their veteran left tackle Marcus McNeal and possibly their best wide receiver, Vincent Jackson. They also have a serious issue should something happen to their starting QB, a problem that probably would not plague the Oakland Raiders this year with Bruce Gradkowski having proven he can handle a starting gig in the NFL while the starter ahead of him heals up.

You are the judge, Raider Nation, is one team on the ups and one team on the outs? Who is more likely to hit the nine wins mark this year, the Oakland Raiders or the USC Trojans? Leave your thoughts below in the comments section.

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With the NFL entering into the third week of the preseason, every team is sending out their first team offense for them to get the most complete look on how they look as a fully functioning unit.  When it comes to high powered offenses like the Colts and the Saints, these are two of the most efficient units in the NFL in getting set and snapping the ball with minimal scrambling required.

Now that the league has changed the placement of the Umpire on the field, it has put a huge damper on the game as we know it currently.

Teams with fast moving, organized offenses such as Peyton Manning and the Colts and Drew Brees and the Saints are known for being so dangerous because they are able to set up and get the ball snapped before most defenses can get a proper read on what they are going to do.  This is what gives them the offensive edge and has made them the dominant teams they've been over the past few years or in the case of Peyton Manning, the past decade.

While the placement of the Umpire in the offensive backfield is more of a precaution to prevent the officials from getting injured, it has put a very big hold on the game.  The Umpire used to set up in the middle of the defensive unit, just behind the linebackers.  Due to the fact that players were using the officials as "picks" or decoys to cause a distraction for defensive players to run into, the rules were adjusted to help keep the officials out of harm's way and still keep the game fair.

I believe a majority of coaches, NFL analysts, and hardcore fans expected this to have an impact on the amount of offensive holding calls that are flagged.  Let's face it, there is holding on every play, you just have to be around to notice it.  What alot of people never expected was that this was going to take away from the quality of the game as we know it. 

Now I can understand if the play might be called as a do-over, or even as a dead play and reset.  However, if the QB and offense are set and ready to go, but the Umpire is not in his set spot to view the play, the QB is flagged for an Illegal Snap call and it's a 5 yard penalty against the offense.  Now think about how this looks.  You have an official that is not athletic enough or just can't seem to gather his placement on the field to get out of the play on time, hindering the speed of the game that is dictated by the situation, and the offense is supposed to suffer because of the referee's mistake?  I don't know about you, but I can't see that being fair at all. I know the NFL is sometimes joked as being called the "No Fun League", but this takes it to a new level. 

There needs to be an amendment to this rule.  The officials need to gather a way to get the ball set and get out of the way in a timely order.  With most teams running into a "Hurry-Up Offense" in the final two minutes of the half or final two minutes of the game, these penalties can effective disrupt the outcome of a game.  I'm sure the Commissioner of the NFL, Roger Goodell, will not like hearing that due to the lack of athleticism of the officials, it changed the outcome of a game because of an unnecessary penalty. 

This needs to be fixed now.  If this carries over into the 2010 regular season, something as small but as disrupting as this can change the outlook on how alot of teams now approach each game.  No one ever likes to hear that their team lost a game because the official wasn't able to get out of the way in time and it cost their team's offense 5 yards.  Former NFL VP of Officiating Mike Pereira used to say that he wanted the players and the game to determine the outcome, not the officials.  Let's get back to that before it ruins some crucial moments in football.

This Q&A happened on Adam Scheffter's blog on ESPN:

Q: Have you caught how everyone is sleeping on Devin Hester? The way I see it, no one in the Chicago Bears' young talented crop of WRs has passed him as the No. 1, and that usually means a big year in a Mike Martz offense. What are your thoughts? -- Double J (Chicago)

A: Double J, I like Hester this season. I'm hoping he's around later in my fantasy drafts next week. He still is a dynamic playmaker and has made more plays in his career than the other Bears wideouts. But right now, people are talking more about Johnny Knox and Devin Aromashodu than Hester. The truth is I think the Bears' wide receivers are underrated. People are wondering if they have enough firepower there -- that's not the question. The question is whether Chicago's offensive line will hold up and give Jay Cutler the time he needs to find those wide receivers.

Interesting. I think that is the first time I have ever heard this group described as underrated, but I suppose it could be true, despite the relativity of the statement.

If you watched any of the Bears last season you probably remember Jay delivering the ball to spots where receivers were supposed to be only to find out they had either gone to the wrong spot, failed to break away from a defender, or worse yet, fallen down.

With the Mike Martz offense based on timing, and with the complexity of the whole thing, Bears fans have to hope that their group of receivers have not only improved, but grasped the scheme wel enough to utilize their natural atheltic ability.

And with the line play suspect, Hester, Aromashodu and Co. will need not only athleticism, they will need to rely a lot on football instinct. Let's hope it's not all too much to handle in one short off-season.

The inevitable has arrived. The Commissioner of the NFL announced an 18 game schedule beginning in 2011 or 2012. This is about money pure and simple. It is going to make a farce out of the game even more than the insane salaries the teams are paying now at the expense of the fans and the game. 

Andy artfully and truthfully spoke about the monolith which is now home to the Giants and the Jets. The PSLs have all but closed the door on most fans from ever seeing a game. I think about how much going to see a live game meant to me and how much fun it was. I remember when going to see your home team, your heroes, was affordable and fun.  Now it is as expensive as a one week vacation to see one game and more than the entire amount a person on Social Security receives in a YEAR for your own seat.  There is an invisible line drawn somewhere out there where the true fans, the average guy and his family, the starry eyed kid will NEVER see a game live. That line has been crossed and TV has become a fan’s only option.

Of course with the blackouts and the costs involved in cable or satellite subscriptions even television is pricing out many fans. There is something wrong, very wrong with a marginal player getting $30 million guaranteed at the top and millions at the bottom. Nick Mangold is a very good center but he is getting $23 million guaranteed on a 5 year $58 million dollar contract. Mangold is a center. The top 15 draftees get many millions and the guys in the middle get more millions. The fans get NOTHING as exemplified by Andy’s piece on the “new” stadium.

Now for a look at what it means to the game itself.

Those of you who come here know we are just over it about injuries. We are two weeks into pre-season and most every team is reeling from injuries.  The Giants have more than their fair share of trouble again.  I was done writing this post and then we find out O'Hara is gone for another two weeks with Achilles' tendinitis. The Jets seem to be in better shape (lol!) but the game has come down as much or more to injury than the players, the coaches, the game.

Glenn wrote a terrific piece on injury stats which prove that injuries have become the biggest factor in a team's success.  Of course it depends on WHO gets hurt.  The Giants, the recent trouble in Minnesota, the injury (hamstring?) to DeSean Jackson in Philly, Denver’s injury-depleted roster and the fallen from many other teams are now the determining factor in who wins and who loses.

The loss of Hixon, our return game, most of our offensive line, DB’s Ross and Johnson, JPP, Boss, Barden, Jacobs, Manning and those to come have already made this season a challenge before it has even started. The fans can’t afford to go to a game and now the quality of the game itself is compromised again... An eighteen game schedule will probably be the death knell for the brand of football that those of us young and old have enjoyed.  Whether or not they end up cutting back pre-season games, the games that count require your best players for 60 minutes. The pre-season is infinitely less demanding.  

It is conceivable that there will be a 22 game schedule without including the playoffs. There is NO way that these men, their bodies and their minds can tolerate the abuse. For the sake of money, the NFL will put out third stringers masquerading as professional football players because the league will run out of healthy men who can last 18 games.  "Managing" player time will mean more substitution of weaker players.  This is going to be the National Attrition League.  Whoever is left standing wins the title. 

I am deeply troubled that NOTHING is pure anymore, that owners and players can ruin one of the few pleasures we have.  Fans owe it to themselves to examine their unquestioned support of the NFL. PSLs, the 18 game season and a possibly strike are symptoms.  The loyalty of the fan is being put to a test.  Each one of us, collectively through our actions, will determine the future path of this sport.

The build-up around the 2010 New York J-E-T-S-JETS JETS JETS reminds me of the hype around the 2006 Redskins and the Cowboys of 2007 ('08, '09 and '10). It's "their year." They can't miss the Super Bowl. Bet the rent money.

Super Bowl fever is a curse that jinxes any chance the Jets have for the Super Bowl. But it's human nature, not any voodoo that will do the Jets in.

When everyone tells you how good you are based on what you did last year, you tend to relax. You don't know you are doing it because you're still hustling. You're making every effort. Your owner goes out and buys that one last piece needed to win it all. In the Jets case, that would be LaDainian Tomlinson and Jason Taylor, as they shoo RB Thomas Jones, S Kerry Rhodes and G Alan Faneca out the door. How did that exchange for Brett Favre for Chad Pennington work out? 

Hype about their prospects leads CB Darrelle Revis to think he can leverage a new deal when he has three years left on his contract (They-can't-win-the-super-Bowl-without-me syndrome.)

Hype about their prospects brings HBO coverage and its distractions. Head coach Rex Ryan is the only NFL coach who swears apparently--as if any son of Buddy Ryan could do otherwise.

People tell you how good you are and pretty soon you think you're better than you really are. There's a fine line between confidence and complacency. Only in hindsight does one know when that line was crossed. Hype about the Jets impedes their path to the Super Bowl, along with the Patriots, the Dolphins, The Colts, the Chargers....

Familiar Faces

The NFL is a small world and a round one. Laveranues Coles is back with the Jets after a one year hiatus with the Bengals. Coles was a high performing receiver with the Redskins in the Spurrier system in 2003, but was frustrated by the Joe Gibbs offense when he snagged more catches (90) for fewer yards (950) and touchdowns (1) in 2004.

Coles was vocal about that with Gibbs who traded him to the Jets for Santana Moss. In five years with Washington, Moss exceeded Coles' '03 performance only once, in 2005 when he set the Redskins single season receiving record for 1483 yards and nine touchdowns.

Redskins owner Danny Snyder professed man-love last year for rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez, the one-year wonder out of Southern Cal. The Redskins couldn't move up in the draft order to get Sanchez and stuck by Jason Campbell. Check that. They were stuck with Jason in Snayderrato's view.

If Sanchez were on the roster, Donovan McNabb would not be here now. I have a hunch McNabb's numbers will be better than Sanchez's, regardless of the won-loss records for these teams. That's not to knock Sanchez. The guy is only in his second season, so his performance could go either way.

The take-away for Snyder is that players are like busses. If you miss one, another will come along. There is no such thing as a must-have free-agent player.

Point After: The New York Jets have been a favorite trading partner for the Redskins over the years. Randy Thomas, John Hall and Pete Kendall came from the Jets as have Moss and Coles.

The Redskins traded QB Patrick Ramsey to the Jets when a few of us thought Ramsey got a raw deal from Steve Spurrier's ill-fitting offense and Joe Gibbs' quick hook. We thought Ramsey was a first round talent who needed a fresh start anywhere else but here. It's a recurring theme around Washington.

How did the Skins miss out on G Alan Faneca when the Jets released him after the draft? Maybe the Jets aren't on Bruce Allen's speed dial yet.  [redskinshogheaven2]

A few days ago, members of the Troy Polamalu Foundation delivered a donation of brand new football uniforms to the high school teams of American Samoa. There are 7 high schools on the island with football teams, and Troy's $100,000 gift covers 'em all. From left to right in the above picture, the schools are Nu'uuli Vocational-Technical, Samoana, Fa'asao Marist, Kanana Fou, Tafuna, Leone, and Faga'itua High Schools.

Good for Troy. The guy always seems to be doing the right thing. Plus I've been on a kick, calling out people that are positively impacting others.

And I see that Troy didn't pick camouflage for any of the teams. BECAUSE CAMO DOESN'T BELONG ON FOOTBALL UNIFORMS.

PSL Stadium, aka the New Meadowlands, is a waste of $1.7 Billion dollars.

Giants Stadium worked well enough.  And I truly believe it was karma with the son going against his deceased father's wishes when the Giants took a $301MM bath on an interest rate counterparty default (Lehman bankruptcy Sept 2008).

First, the parking.  Here is an excerpt from my friend, who treated me to the game:

"The ticket prices are higher.  And the egalitarian (or shall we say meritocracy) of parking has been replaced by a system of class distinction.  It used to be that the bigger a fan you were, the earlier you got to the stadium, the better your parking spot.  Now it is the more money you have, the better your parking spot."

When the Giants were building the new facility, word was out that they were going to widen the concourse so that fans would no longer be stuck in ridiculous pedestrian congestion.  If there was anything that could be improved, this was it!  And yet the new stadium somehow manages to screw this up!  How?  Well, to be fair, the walkways were widened.  But in SOME areas they are not appreciably changed.  Since traffic is a function of its weakest link, the passageways at some points manages to get clogged again.  No, it is not as bad as the old stadium, but it could be a lot better.  The concession stands push out into the corridors and what could be a good aisle is no longer.

For whatever reason, the designers had the concourse essentially dead-end for each quadrant.  On the first tier you cannot walk 'around' the stadium without being forced to go back down the escalators and then back up to the next quadrant.

Back in the spring when the Stadium opened up to a minicamp practice, everyone complained about the gray seats.  I must have spent a bunch of time staring at the color gray, completely bewildered at how they could choose such a color.  Were green/white and blue/red ruled out, so that they mixed the four together and got gray?  The place looks like a garage.

A while back when we picked apart the PSLs for what they were, a Wellington transgression, we noted that the pricing was incorrect and that inefficiencies existed.  Old time season's tickets holders who were in the 'best' seats in the old stadium were trading 'down' in droves to get out of the 'club.'  This past weekend, we noticed how there were literally entire sections in the second level of the new stadium that were almost completely empty.  This was reminiscent of the Yankees seats in their new palace that were empty behind home plate.  Some of the 'best' seats in the second tier of PSL were over-priced relative to their peers, and they have been avoided.

Since the Giants soaked the fans for plenty of PSL green, at least they could give them a place to take a leak.  The new facility has more restrooms and more urinals.

Speaking of seats,  one thing you knew the Giants were going to do was add a another level of luxury boxes.  Nothing in life is free- the third tier is so high up that they were selling oxygen masks and flights to Pittsburgh.

The food?  Well we are not fans of the 'club' seats, where you get fed for the price of Il Mulino.  Besides, as we asked aloud last year, isn't tailgating and eating at your own bbq as big a part of the game as .. the game?!  Nevertheless, we had to try the new concession stands just to see what the food was like, and we were summarily unimpressed.  The quantity of concession stands increased, meaning lines were considerably less, but unfortunately what they delivered in quantity was not matched in quality.  My friend's cheesesteak was "inedible" and I stopped eating my hotdog after three bites because it was undercooked.  Good thing the food was also overpriced!  But alas- there was GOOD NEWS about PSL Stadium- they have cup holders attached to the back of all seats, so there was a place to put your beer!  $1.7B for cup holders and a urinal to piss in. 

The Seattle Seahawks have no stars.

The closest thing we've got right now is Matt Hasselbeck, but that's based on past reputation, not recent performance. He's got the charisma of a star, but lacks the luster and sheen generally required. Hasselbeck may be in the early stages of going supernova and his time with the team is almost certainly limited. The last legitimate "star" the Seahawks had was Shaun Alexander.

Now, don't hear me wrong. Walter Jones was a star. Steve Hutchinson was and is a star. They play in the trenches though, they won't ever be household names to the Sunday-only football fans. The Seahawks, and Seattle sports for the most part, lack a player whose skills and personality transcend sport and endear him to the nation. They also lack the opposite: a Bosworth, Haynesworth, or even a Brandon Marshall. Someone whose skills are undeniable, but who is divisive and controversial. The closest thing we've got now is Pete Carroll.

No. The Seahawks have no stars. Why not? There are plenty of reasons, but I'll offer a few that have been kicking around in my head for the last week or so.

SKILL

Not to sound like a jerk, but the bottom line is this: the Seahawks don't have many players with the skills and talent required of a "Star." There has been no Largent since Largent, no Easley since Easley, no Tez since Tez. Matt Hasslebeck had his moment in the sun, Shaun Alexander became the face of our franchise, and Mike Holmgren carried us into the national spotlight with his reputation preceding him and us. But on the current 80-man roster, the Seahawks have a convoluted mix of hope and disappointment, with a lot of players muddled in between the two.

The Tim Ruskell era is elucidated. We can look at Ruskell and his drafts now with a different eye, no longer betrayed by our own hopes and dreams that the captain of this sinking ship has a plan. The Ruskell era was a failure, one in which "playing" the draft became as important as "winning" a draft. One in which a misguided belief that the talent we have is better than the talent we will draft. One in which the team is always on the precipice of greatness, despite being wallowed in the depressing boonies of the NFC West. There were enough hits to give us some hope today, but the majority of Ruskell's picks were misses. He won with Tatupu and Hill early on, but from that point on it was a very mixed bag.

The draft is where you get stars. The draft is where we replaced middling players with middling players, took shots at special teams people, drafted people who "won't ever be a star" in the first round (Kelly Jennings, and yes, Ruskell said that). The draft is where you take the best talent available and have to hit with impact players at least some times. We almost always got them in the second, not the first round, under Ruskell. Our first round picks over the last five years reads like a gag reel: Chris Spencer (who may finally be coming into his own), Deion Branch trade, Kelly Jennings, Lawrence Jackson, and Aaron Curry (not yet an oops, but there is some concern). None of the first four have been impact players, and that's a big part of our problem.

MEDIA

There is very little dispute that the Seahawks don't get much play in the national media. Multiple times last year the Seahawks game was skipped over altogether on ESPN. We are increasingly viewed as washed up and overplayed, with no one paying attention to the fact that we were for five years among the three best teams in the NFL. We aren't any more. The illusion that Seattle is in South Alaska is very real -- many national media types will never make the foray out to the Pacific Northwest, they'll never sit on the banks of the lake and watch practice at the VMAC. They'll never see the passion the 12th Man has for this team and for ruining the other. Until you sit at Qwest for three hours on a Sunday, you can't understand the fanbase.

And really, what reason are we giving the media to come? The Seahawks have been atrocious on the field and off in recent years. The high character guys drafted and signed by Ruskell have faltered repeatedly. The team is viewed by some (thanks in no small part to Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk) as a Cincinnati-of-the-West. When you lose and lose and lose, the only media attention you will get is for the negatives -- Leroy Hill arrested, Tatupu DUI, Rocky Bernard domestic abuse, Houshmandzadeh shooting his mouth off, Carroll cutting his USC homeboys.

GAMEPLAN

The Seahawks of the last three years have been lost in transition. Ruskell and Holmgren didn't see eye to eye, Ruskell brought in his guy, his guy faltered, Ruskell was forced to resign, Paul Allen has cancer, Mora was fired, Carroll was hired, Schneider brought in, 125 roster moves, Tod Leiweke leaves... It's insane and very little of it appears "functional" on the face of things. How could this team possibly have a game plan? They did and it failed, then they didn't and they failed, now they do and... we'll see.

It appears that John Schneider and Pete Carroll have a game plan. They want to get younger and they want to leave no stone unturned. They want playmakers -- Golden Tate, Earl Thomas, Leon Washington, Walter Thurmond. They want a strong, mobile quarterback in the mold of Jay Cutler, but hopefully with less whinyface. They want a team that will compete on every single down, and they will cut anyone unwilling to live by that mantra. That is all very heartening as a fan.

SO WHAT?

Still, if the team is going to regain national status, if we're going to swap some 10 am starts with some primetime games, the team needs a player who matters. Someone exciting, someone lovable, someone hateable, someone controversial, someone with the smile of your pastor mid-baptism, someone--anyone--who can connect with the fans outside of Seattle and demand attention. It's okay to have multiple stars (Brady-Moss, Manning-Wayne, DeAngelo Williams-Steve Smith), it's okay for them to be jerks (Houshmandzadeh fits the mold IF he can deliver on his talent promises), it's okay for them to be almost anything except mediocre.

And right now, that's what we've seen from this team. Mediocrity. Niceness. Passive aggression. It's the Seattle way, but it doesn't work on a national stage. I'm tired of mediocrity and I know you are too. It's time for this team to get serious. I believe we're on the right path, but it's up to the fans to demand it. Demand the stars. Demand the elite WR we haven't seen since Largent. Demand the elite pass-rusher that we haven't had in a decade-plus. Demand the best quarterback play, the best linebacker, the best playmakers and play breakers. We've given every iota of fandom we possibly can to the Seattle Seahawks, through good times and bad. It's time we receive the best the NFL has to offer in return.