Too much negative around the Hawks at the moment, so lets focus on the positive.  We have a winner for this weeks prediction game.  Its:

Alyssa

 She guessed Hawks: 17 GB: 20.  It was good for 18 out of 20 possible points.  Congrats.

 

 

 

 

The Outsider and I duked out the upcoming game on Madden.  Him as NY and me as Seattle.  I sure hope this is not indicitive of this weeks game:

NY:28  Seattle:14

 The game was full of NY big passing plays, which unfortunately could be true.  But with Plaxico out, maybe maybe Ellie won't be able to get away with the old jump ball passes he likes to put up.

So far the Rams have posted abymal defensive stats: ranking dead last in pass defense and 27th in rush defense.  So weekend warriors, which way can the Seahawks dominate in Qwest Field on this given Sunday?  It is doubtful if any reliable receivers will be out on the field, and Koren Robinson is utterly unpredictable at this point.  Julius Jones is predicted to do fairly well representing the run game, but that is not who I am choosing this week.

The Outsider's fantasy choice against the Rams is:

John Carlson

The Golden Egg winner from last week?  Ya, you betcha.  He was good last week, and is looking just as good for this week.  The Hawks have a lot of holes in the lineup right now, and they need someone out there who can plug those holes.  We are talking about flexibility on the field, someone who's role in a play can't be easily read by the defense until it's already in motion.  If he is still not snapped up in your league, and you are looking for a Hawk on your lineup, go get him while the getting is good.

The loss sucked, but there was a very nice bright spot.  So bright in fact that it gets the first gold egg of the year.

John Carlson

Our new rookie tight end can hang onto the rock, and didn't get hurt.  Both of which are feats the likes of which have not been seen this year.  He was the top reciever with 6 catches for 78 yards, the longest of which was 17 yards.

Honorable mention for this week is Leroy Hill.  He was all over the place an making critical tackles.

Alright folks.  In the inaugural Madden 09 kickoff at the Outsider's coop, I already played the forthcoming matchup versus the 49s.  If that game is any predictor for today, we are going to see a thorough trouncing ending in a Hawks victory of 21 - 7.

If last week's prediction is any indicator on my ability to make good fantasy picks, you should instantly drop whoever I pick from your fantasy lineup.  My awesome DST pick against the Bills got a whopping 1 point.  Yet despite the blow to my ego that my pick gave me last week, I'm hopeful for this week's pick.

I think the fantasy man of the hour this week vs San Fran will be:

Julius Jones

 

 

 

He has got everything going for him this week.  There is none of that pesky splitting time with Mo, there is none of that fancy passing stuff (thanks to lack of people to pass to) ... nope ... there is just going to be a full day of Jones down their gullet while our defense keeps them from scoring.  With any luck we'll go up early and turn into a one dimensional team.

Run to the left.... Run to the left.... Run to the left.... 

Apparently Shaun Alexander's god does exist, and he is mad as hell at the Hawks for letting his Holy Runner go.

There is bad luck, and then there is divine intervention, and the later is about the only thing that can explain the current injury situation. Think about it, its like we are being guided to run.  Just look at our WR injuries:

• Bobby Engram 
• Nate Burleson
• Deion Branch
• Ben Obamanu

And now it looks like our best receiver this Sunday is going to be our backup QB?

Then just to make sure we get the hint, he goes and takes out our starting RB.  Then a couple days later, when we still don't listen to what the gods are telling us, one of our starting offensive linemen goes on IR and Pork Chop (apparently Alexander's god isn't Jewish) becomes our man at right guard.

Seems to me like it's about time we resign Shaun and get back into good graces before the almighty starts picking on our defense.

First off, no golden egg.  Infact there is a rotten egg.  It gets awarded to our entire:

Special Teams

That was some serious suck ass performance.  And to stand out as a suck performance next to extremely weak offensive performance, you really had to stink.

 

 

Now for the happy shiny bright spot in all of this.  The way I figure it our special people cost us 21 point

• 7 for the punt return
• 7 for the fake field goal
• 7 for the quick td after the kickoff return fumble

So if you take those away we only lost by 3 points.  In other words, if would not have been so "special" we had a fighting chance.  I know it's a stretch to spin it into saying we really only lost by 3, but that's what I'm clinging to since there ain't much else at the moment.

 

Drum roll  please ... ... ....

The winning prediction is:
The Outsider (Seahawks: 14 Opponent: 10 for 3pts) 

Congrats, you and your 3 pts should be very proud 

 

Actually it was brought to my attention that I managed to break something on the site when I put up the new design that caused predection entries to not work.  That has now been fixed.  So watch out Outsider, you might have some real competition next week. 

Where do we go from here?

The Seahawks press release today annouced the loss of both the Seachicken's punter and one of the rooks.  With Burleson now on IR, joining Branch and Engram(and Tatupu) on the injury reports, the offensive strategy is going to have to do a complete 180 from last season.  Since the Seachicken run game was dominated by the "Shaun Show" in 07, most of the major gains were made by effective passing.  Now with those premier receivers out of the picture, Hasselbeck(if his back situation isn't as bad as has been hinted) and Co. are going to have to shift focus to the hand-off and work on protecting those runners behind the o-line.  Morris/Jones can bring home the bacon, provided they realize their role in the grand show and play it right.  The best way to avoid a hit(tackle): don't be there when it comes.  Finess is the keyword here; the ability to out-play the opponent, anticipate where they will attempt to bring you down and shift your footwork to not be there when they execute.

Easier said than done, right?