Preseason NFL Power Rankings

It’s that time of year again…four days from our first NFL action of the season.

1. New England
No significant movement in the offseason means that the Patriots should be fantastic again. I don’t necessarily see them making another run at perfection, but  I’d say they’re the Super Bowl favorites again.

2. Indianapolis
Aside from losing Edgerrin James a couple of years ago, these Colts seem to have the same exact team every year basically since Peyton Manning first came into the league…and that team is really, really good.

3. Pittsburgh
I think the Steelers have everything in place for another run at the Super Bowl as well. A lot of people seem to think that Cleveland and Pittsburgh will be neck and neck in the AFC North, but I think the Steelers are easily the better team. The one question mark is the loss of Alan Faneca…he may be just a guard, but you can ask any Seahawk fan how much losing “just a guard” can matter.

NCAA Week 1 Thoughts

Cougs

Well, the Cougars appear to be really bad. I don’t want to overreact to one game or anything, but it just didn’t look like there was much good to say about the offensive side of the football, and the special teams were atrocious. I do think the defense acquitted themselves reasonably well, they kept the team in the game for as long as possible while the special teams were routinely giving up awful field position and the offense was quickly leaving the field to make sure that the defense never got rested…of course they were going to eventually give up some points when put in such a bad spot.

I fully expect a loss to Cal next week. After that, we get one very winnable game at Baylor, followed by a very likely win against Div. I-AA Portland State, so we’ve still got a good chance to be 2-2 after four games, but if they haven’t really seriously figured some things out by the end of that fourth game, it’s going to get ugly after that. My hope for the team is the same as it was at the beginning of the day…show marked improvement over the course of the season, and win the Apple Cup. If they do those things, I’ll be satisfied. I couldn’t very well expect Coach Wulff to pull out an immediate miracle before his own recruits have gotten a chance to make any impact at all.

ACC
The picture wasn’t pretty at all in the ACC.

Palin could potentially be huge for the pro-life movement.

One argument you hear pro-choice advocates frequently make is that men simply shouldn’t have a say in the debate over abortion, whether it be its legal or moral ramifications. “It’s not their body,” after all. I think that’s a fairly ridiculous argument, but let’s for a second humor these people and concede that they’re hypothetically right. For the whole country, but especially amongst these people, Sarah Palin has the opportunity to be one of the great flagbearers of the pro-life cause.

Sarah Palin for VP…I love it.

I was very surprised just now to wake up to the news that Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, is going to be John McCain’s running mate in his run for the White House. While my favorite for this pick was Mitt Romney, Palin had been my second choice. Too bad I never did finish up my blog entry that gave my thoughts in advance on a lot of potential running mates, but I had glowing comments to make about Sarah Palin; I still do.

Incredible job of the McCain campaign of keeping this choice such a well-guarded secret; beyond being a really good choice for the ticket, the fact that he was able to surprise the country with this choice the morning after the Democratic convention comes to a close…this should really give him a bounce in the polls.

NCAA Week 1 Picks

Pac-10

Oregon State at Stanford
The first Pac-10 game of the year might not be the prettiest. Oregon State’s only consistent offensive star, Yvenson Bernard, has graduated. Fifth year WR Sammie Stroughter is still a nice weapon, but can anyone get him the ball? Based on what we saw last year, neither Beaver quarterback option (Sean Canfield or Lyle Moevao) is any good, and their offense struggled often as a result. Still, the young Stanford Cardinal don’t appear to be anywhere near ready to take the next step, and are an early candidate for conference doormat…last year’s upset over USC was very impressive, but came in spite of the usual lack of offense, and I still don’t see the pieces in place to do much scoring. I’m forced to pick an underwhelming OSU Beaver squad to squeak by on the road here.
Spread: Oregon State -3
Pick: Oregon State 17, Stanford 16

#3 USC at Virginia

Gotta love the inner turmoil of our division rivals.

With the Seahawks, there are certainly some concerns…injuries at a lot of positions, inexperience at wide receiver, tight end and offensive line, and a total overhaul of the running game that leaves that part of our offense at a big question mark entering the season. Still, the fact is that we’ve had the best team in the division for four years running, and all of our cornerstone players are in camp, and seemingly healthy and happy. Fans of our rivals have a lot more to worry about…

Oh, and one more reason to bash Obama tonight.

“I would not have nominated Clarence Thomas,” said the presumptive Democratic nominee. “I don’t think that he…” the crowd interrupted with applause. “I don’t think that he was a strong enough jurist or legal thinker at the time for that elevation. Setting aside the fact that I profoundly disagree with his interpretations of a lot of the constitution. I would not have nominated Justice Scalia though I don’t think there is any doubt about his intellectual brilliance. Because he and I just disagree.

Link

Barack Obama more or less saying that Clarence Thomas was too dumb to be nominated as a Supreme Court Justice. More arrogant disrespect toward one of America’s great legal minds, from a guy who constantly speaks out about wanting to keep the rhetoric at a positive and non-divisive level.

I wouldn’t care if he said he wouldn’t have nominated him because they disagree on a great many things, he’s a crazy liberal and he’s going to want to appoint crazy liberals to the bench if given the chance. I accept that. But for Barack Obama, of all people, to speak out against someone like Thomas for not being qualified enough to serve at the highest branch of his profession? Laughable. Absolutely laughable. Unfortunately, the joke is going to be on America if people don’t wake up soon.

“Above my pay grade.”

At tonight’s Presidential forum at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CA, the candidates were asked a question that you would fully expect them to be asked in a religious venue: “At what point does a baby get human rights, in your view?”

John McCain answered decisively… “At the moment of conception.” Kudos to the Senator for saying that outright, and not hedging in the slightest. Even if you disagree with him, you have to give a certain respect to a politician who hears a question about one of the most emotionally charged issues in politics today, and states his position with authority.

Barack Obama’s ridiculous answer?

Seahawk preseason game #2…a bit ugly, but it was fun.

If the Chicago Bears are on the field, you can be sure that they’ll turn the game into an ugly war of attrition. I can’t blame Lovie Smith for coaching them this way, they are what they are and they have virtually no offensive talent, but it sure is brutal to watch a lot of the time.

Anyway, without having to spend a single second stressing the health of Matt Hasselbeck, I was able to just kick back and enjoy the game for what it was.

The Good

*The defense looked great in general. Of course, when you’re lining up against the Bears it’s easy for a defense to look good, but it was still pleasant to watch. Leroy Hill is an animal, and our linebacking crew is just going to be sick this year. It was nice to see Marcus Trufant playing well again after a rough first preseason game.

Seahawks injuries are getting disconcerting.

Well, forget about the “no significant injuries” thing from Friday. Bobby Engram cracked a bone in his shoulder and is out 6-8 weeks. Considering that I already had a bit of nervousness about our WR corps, things are getting pretty scary on that front. It’s being said that Deion Branch might be able to return for the opener, but I won’t count on that. Pending further badness, the only veteran we can count on as an opening day starter at wideout is Nate Burleson. Beyond that, you’re looking at whoever wins the position battle amongst Courtney Taylor, Ben Obomanu, Jordan Kent and Logan Payne. I was growing more comfortable with one of those guys being our #3, but two of them being our #2 and #3? It’s getting dicey.

The good news, I guess, is that Bobby’s injury will hopefully only keep him out of three regular season games, and in all honesty when you look at an opening slate of playing at Buffalo then hosting the 49ers and Rams, the Seahawks should be able to win at least two of those even with injuries playing a larger role than any of us would like.

Thoughts from the Seahawks’ first preseason action…

Well, first things first: no significant injuries to any of our key players, at least none that have been reported so far. That, in and of itself, makes this game a success, and is far more important to me than any on-field performance.

As for how well they played? Well, where the starters are concerned, everything was kind of the opposite of what you would expect at this stage of the preseason. The old adage is that the defense is usually ahead of the defense early on in the year, but that clearly wasn’t the case tonight; our offense shredded on through the Viking defense, not only through the air but also running the ball with quite a bit of success against a team that was #1 against the run last season in the NFL.

Our defense, however, who I have high hopes for this year…they looked pretty lost, giving up big chunks of yardage to a Viking offense that was anemic in ‘07, and making Viking QB Tarvaris Jackson look better than he has for most of his career to this point. They did force a fumble on the first drive, but plays like that are not ones you can count on once the games matter; they looked lost, and I hope to see them play better in weeks to come. Again, I don’t put a ton of stock into the performance in these games at all, but it was just odd to see this particular group of defenders look so silly tonight.

In other QB news, Orton to start Bears’ preseason opener (Grossman to start the second game).

As a Seattle Mariners fan, it’s frustrating to watch a franchise with great potential get managed so poorly that the team is irrelevant a month into the season…

But then, thankfully, football season starts. The Seahawks, after years of bad management in the 90’s, are run pretty darn well. From an owner in Paul Allen who is willing to spend, to a GM in Tim Ruskell who managed to keep things together and coax a Super Bowl run out of our team after our previous management had somehow found a way to let Matt Hasselbeck’s, Shaun Alexander’s and Walter Jones’ contracts expire simultaneously. While I haven’t loved every move along the way, Ruskell acts both decisively and responsibly, a tough balancing act to pull off. We in Seahawk nation have it better than most fanbases at the moment.

For instance, the Chicago Bears management just looks hapless right now, if for no other reason than for the fact that we are entering another season where the starting quarterback position will be manned by somebody either completely awful, or by somebody even worse than that.

Really, Bears? Really?

Forget about cheering against the Packers…Mike McCarthy is a real man.

A couple of days ago, I put up my thoughts on why I basically consider Brett Favre to be an unlikable, whiny prima donna. I made the following statement at the end…

Maybe he’ll start again for the Packers this season, and play really well…but if you can’t tell by now, I’m very much rooting for his story to end a lot worse than the OT loss to the Giants in last year’s NFC Championship game ended things.

Well, it would appear that the starting for the Packers isn’t going to happen, because it would appear that Packers head coach Mike McCarthy looked the legend in the eye and told him to cry somewhere else. Citing that Favre is not in the “proper mindset” to contribute for the Packers, McCarthy says that it’s time to move on.

Nice decision, Packers.

Seahawks G/C Chris Gray finally calls it a career after 15 seasons.

A training camp injury has finally forced Seahawks’ lineman Chris Gray into retirement. While this is a loss that shouldn’t adversely affect the team’s chances of success this season, every Seahawk fan should take a moment to appreciate the years of effort this guy gave our team.

Annual reminder: preseason means virtually nothing.

As last night’s Hall of Fame game between Indianapolis and Washington kicked off, the 2008 NFL preseason officially began. There’s some mild entertainment to be had from these games…there are way too many of them, and they get pretty boring once the relevant players head for the sidelines, but amidst a sports drought it’s still really nice to see the pads popping again on my television.

They’re fine if you take them for what they are…a meaningless exhibition game between NFL teams, some of whom are trying to win and some of whom are simply trying not to get their players hurt. Teams don’t really game plan for these; they pretty much stick with the basic playbook, hope to see their players clicking and executing, and if not then we’ll try it again next week.

Brett Favre is back, and competing with Aaron Rodgers for the Packers’ starting QB job.

A drama queen and attention whore has made their way back into the public spotlight. I’m not talking about Britney Spears, Paris Hilton or Barack Obama. I’m talking about the legendary, apparently unretired, quarterback named Brett Favre. I think I’m going to puke.

One of the "good old boy's" great performances, from his farce of a retirement press conference.

Now look: I was as taken in as anyone by Favre pulling one more great season out last year, after most of the country (myself included) declared that he was pretty much done. Even though his story fell just short of the Super Bowl last year, it was very impressive for him to return to top form for one more great run, then to ride off into the sunset on probably as high of a note as he’s going to manage at his age. Unfortunately, he didn’t manage to disappear into the sunset…getting that far out of the spotlight was never going to suit this guy. I don’t know what it is about Packer legends, but I haven’t seen this much of a need for the spotlight since the late great Reggie White kept coming out of retirement once the praise for him died down.