THE WAIT IS OVER!!!
How can it
be? Here we are in just "Week #2" of the National Football League 2013
season, and already one of the most highly anticipated NFL matchups is set to
occur this Sunday evening in the bright lights of Seattle's CenturyLink
Field. This is a contest of wills that
features; "Kaepernicking", "Gore", "Beast Mode",
"Russellmania", "Q", "Golden", and of course the
"Legion of Boom"; These are only
a handful of superstar athletes that will play in this game, and believe it or
not, those aren't even the best reasons
to watch. These are all great,
cosmically known parts of the game, but this most highly anticipated Clash of
the Titans is the epitome of "The whole being greater than the sum of its
parts.” Actually, Sunday evening's
"event" isn't really a game at all; it's a heavyweight bout, and the
fight card features the biggest and best up against each other on a 100 yard,
green, synthetic canvas. This battle
royale is going to be epic and the nation is waiting for the outcome, either
way; A fight of attrition; and the last men standing will have the ultimate
bragging rights… until December 8, that is, when they face-off next, at
Candlestick Park.
The
burgeoning rivalry between the Seahawks and 49ers developed quickly. In fact, it could be said that it required
only one man, one decision, in one moment, as Jim Harbaugh signed a contract to
become the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, leaving his previous job at
Stanford. Harbaugh's decision came
precisely one year after, Pete Carroll, chose to leave the USC Trojans, for
Seattle and a return to the NFL to coach the Seahawks. There is no shortage of personal jabs thrown
between Harbaugh and Carroll during their college tenures, but one doesn't need
to go back far to see that jabs are still being exchanged and that it's Jim
Harbaugh doing most of the punching.
Coach Carroll has plenty of pent-up hostility for his colleague, but he
chooses to use his words very carefully when he's out of his own player’s
locker room or practice field. That
doesn't mean he's not feeding choice words to his team, rallying them around
him to provide them even more motivation to destroy his old and current
nemesis. Harbaugh doesn't cloak any of
his comments to the press or anyone else who will listen. He has made it clear to everyone with ears
that he finds extra motivation for himself and his players to try and beat the
Seahawks more than any other team in the NFL.
Carroll will feed the press the politically correct responses to any
questions inferring that he or his players put any more importance in this game
against the 49ers then they do any of the other 16 games per season. He went as far as to say that he as a coach,
and his players "Approach and prepare for each and every football game as
the most important game in the world".
He refutes that the Seahawks put any more importance on this game and
cites the media as the source that puts this conference and divisional matchup
at a "rival status.” Russell Wilson
echoes his coach’s sentiment saying, "Each week of the season we are
playing our rival and each week our plan is to prepare to go one and oh and
nothing more. I don't think many people
buy the story, but all in all it is probably the correct way to prepare your
players. However, it's likely that both
the 49ers and the Seahawks have circled their 2 regular-season meetings on the
calendar as a special day to get down and dirty, to show their conference and
division opponent who's boss in the NFC West.
The 49ers beat Seattle at Candlestick Park early in the 2012 season and
it was Russell Wilson's worst statistical game.
This is no doubt more motivation for Wilson to perform better against
this football team and to reinforce the lesson the Seahawks gave San Francisco
when they visited CenturyLink Field last December when the Seahawks lambasted
the 49ers in a lopsided 42-13 shellacking where the 13 points came late in the
game in the only touchdown was symbolic at the end of the 4th quarter. Now, that touchdown may have kept a streak
alive for Kaepernick or the 49ers, but it didn't give them more confidence to
come back and play Seattle in the loudest Stadium in the world. Seahawks fans intend to prove that theory as
they seek to set the Guinness book of world records this Sunday evening as the
loudest recorded Stadium roar ever. The
record is currently held by a group in Istanbul, Turkey when they recorded
131.7 dB during a soccer match held in a stadium in that city. It will be a lofty goal, but the Seahawks
12th man has been put on notice that they will be monitored for crowd noise and
I wouldn't bet against them, particularly since it's being recorded throughout
a matchup with the San Francisco 49ers.
More than
any other stadium in the NFL, perhaps in the world, CenturyLink Field is the
most inhospitable of surroundings for a visiting football team. The noise is so distracting it literally
prevents one from gathering their thoughts, and for an NFL quarterback who
needs desperately to communicate with his offensive teammates, it can be nearly
impossible to coordinate a successful huddle and play call. Colin Kaepernick is a year older, and a year
more experienced, but last season he didn't cope well with the crowd noise at
all. This year, by NFL rule, stadiums
throughout the National Football League will be allowed to play music and
public address speaker noise during clock play.
In addition, messages can be displayed to incite even more fan crowd
noise. This could be good news for
Kaepernick and the 49ers. I would
imagine that Harbaugh, being an intelligent and proactive coach, that he has
taking measures to be the crowd noise with hand signals, perhaps field signs
from the coaching staff and no huddle, hurry up style offensive play
calling. This has proved ineffective in
the past from every other football team in 2012, but of course he's free to
try.
It's no
secret anywhere in the United States that the Seahawks and 49ers loathe each
other and this hasn't been lost on the fans of San Francisco or Seattle. Reports of Seahawks fans harassing people,
either brave enough or dumb enough, to venture into the entrance of CenturyLink
Field have been harassed and even assaulted presumably by Seahawks
fanatics. In response, Seattle police,
in cooperation with CenturyLink Field security, well control the concourses,
aisle-ways and concession courts wearing 49ers merchandise (hats, jerseys
etc.). They will be obviously arresting
fans who interfere with them or harass them due to team loyalty. This has been widely spread throughout
computer social media and news programs, so this won't resemble any kind of
sting operation. This same method has
been used in Oakland and San Francisco effectively.
It's
amazing how this rivalry has become so bitter and intense in such a short
time. It was just 2 years ago that the
NFC West was referred to in ridicule as the NFC Worst. All 4 franchises had losing records against
all of the other divisions in the NFC and appeared to be on a crash course of
mediocrity for years. This was before an
enormous transformation of the Seahawks by Pete Carroll and an equally drastic
change of the 49ers by Jim Harbaugh.
Both teams transitioned much differently, however. The 49ers already had the nucleus for a
playoff team when Harbaugh arrived in 2011.
Harbaugh added a lot of talent to the team over the next 2 years, but
what made the 49ers become so dominant was a change of leadership. Harbaugh has provided a nasty, unyielding and
smart tone to his coaches and players and they have reflected his energy and
nastiness on the field. Carroll had a
much different approach to reforming the Seahawks into a winner. You can say it was a much kinder and gentler
way of relating to his players. Carroll
wanted to provide a positive working environment for everyone in the
organization all the way from the quarterback to the person who mops the floors
after practice. Make no mistake; this
isn't a soft football team, nothing of the kind in fact. Just ask the Legion of Boom, Richard Sherman,
Brandon Browner, Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor if they're going to take on
their opponents with a soft and gentle approach. Carroll teaches toughness and physical,
hard-hitting with big, fast and athletic players that want nothing more than
just have the ball in their hands, and players around them ready to distribute it
and provide a path. Harbaugh's approach
is a much more blue-collar, working man's mentality of intimidate and
dominate. He also creates a team of
athletic and quick, hard-hitting players.
But it would take a lot less time to describe how both teams are
different. As different as their
approaches are, Harbaugh and Carroll produced football teams that are physical,
they like to establish a tough running game, complimented by a big play,
dangerous set of offensive weapons to build a quick lead and hold it with
excellent defense.
I would
venture to say that, while they aren't likely on each other's Christmas card
list, they have more in common than either of them would like to admit. Intensity is a virtue that echoes throughout
their organizations, coaches and players.
Harbaugh and Carroll are aggressive defensive coaches who will stunt and
take chances at critical times in close games.
However, both head coaches trust their offensive coordinators to make
most of the offensive calls. Seahawks'
Daryl Bevell and Niners' Greg Roman, both have supreme trust in their
quarterbacks to make smart decisions when plays break down, but neither of
these crazy geniuses are willing to hand over playcalling to their extremely
intelligent quarterbacks.
QB's
Russell Wilson and Colin Kaepernick are as different as it gets considering
their physical stature and personas off the field; Kaepernick goes 6'5"
230 lbs. and Wilson 5'10" 5/8 205 lbs. Kaepernick is rap music, hanging
with celebs and clubbing, Wilson is Rachmaninoff, Pike Street Market and the
Seahawks film room. However, that's
where the big differences trail off; both players are superb athletes with the
ability to hurt defenses badly with their legs running the football or their
strong arms throwing accurate downfield passes.
San
Francisco pounds the football at you with the human bowling ball, running back
Frank Gore, while Seattle gives you Beast Mode all day, every day with his
churning legs and unwillingness to be dragged down without a gang tackle.
Frisco has
perhaps the best offensive line in the NFL, but not a far drop when Seattle
fields their front 5 o-lineman. Harbaugh
gives you Vernon Davis, and Carroll answers with Zach Miller. Miller doesn't have the speed and pass
catching prowess of Davis, but Miller might be the best run and pass blocking
tight end in the game and don't ever go to sleep on his ability to run precise
routes and he has remarkably soft hands downfield.
The 49ers
have a slight edge at the linebacker position, and could possibly have the best
linebacking crew in football as well.
Kevin Willis, Navarro Bowman and Aldon Smith are 3 of the best. Seattle has 2 outstanding young linebackers
in KJ Wright and runner-up for defensive rookie of the year, Bobby Wagner. Seattle is still looking for a dominant
outside linebacker to complete the trio.
One of the
places that might give the Seahawks the edge at defensive line is the fact that
free agent acquired Cliff Avril will return to the starting lineup this Sunday
evening for the first time of the season.
With Red Bryant, Tony McDaniel, Michael Bennett and Brendan Mebane in
the middle and O'Brien Schofield and Cliff Avril attacking at the edges,
Seattle could cause real problems for Kaepernick in a stadium where you can
literally feel the noise inside your chest cavity. The art of the noisy stadium gives the
defensive line a decided advantage and nowhere in the world is there a more
disruptive and loud fan base than at CenturyLink Field in downtown
Seattle. Last season, San Francisco
didn't have the benefit of a healthy Justin Smith on their defensive line, and
this year he is healthy. Seattle will
have to try to neutralize him with double teams if possible. However, Frisco also features Glenn Dorsey
and Ray McDonald on the D line, but those players don't carry the clout of
Seattle's front 4. Also, the Seahawks
defensive line depth is going to be a problem for the Niners and Pete Carroll
likes to keep his defensive line fresh and will be substituting a rotation of
down linemen all night long.
Next up is
the defensive backfield positions… Boo!… Niners, because Halloween is coming early for
your skilled positions, all of them. This
is where the Seahawks have a decided and emphatic advantage of complete and
utter dominance. This is simply
indisputable. The Seahawks corners and
safeties are the best and the biggest that the NFL has to offer Pro
football. Coach Carroll brings along
All-Pro caliber, physical and athletic corners and pro-bowl safeties that blow
you up and ask questions, Lat-… Uh,
Well… they don't really ask any questions; they just "blow you up, and
real good.” Seattle's "Legion of
Boom" is quite possibly the best four to ever patrol the top of any
defense, or any era. Sherman, Browner,
Thomas and Chancellor are going to make it a long, long night for the 49ers
skill positions… all of them. Where
Vernon Davis and Anquan Boldin can usually impose their size and physicality on
much smaller corners and safeties, they will now be facing safeties the size of
linebackers and corners that resemble the faster tight ends in the league. Where most large defensive backs suffer the
kind of speed necessary to keep up with the more speedy wideouts, the Legion of
Boom can keep up with the fastest receivers in the game. But for players like Brandon Browner, who
lacks speed necessary to blanket players like Mike Wallace, DeShawn Jackson and
Vernon Davis, he will play press man-to-man coverage and with his size and
quickness, he will disrupt the wide receiver's pass pattern so much that
quarterback and wide receiver cannot synchronize in their intermediate and deep
pass patterns. This most often forces
the offense to try and overwhelm the DB's with 4 wide sets, but they'll only
find their own foolishness with this strategy.
Browner and Chancellor will punish pass receivers in the intermediate
zones on the field, and Earl Thomas and Richard Sherman will cover so much
ground that any passes that aren't thrown with laser speed and precise accuracy
will only end up in the defenders reach and the Seahawks will cause turnovers
by interception or by fumble. It is
inevitable for any receivers gutsy enough to attempt pass routes in the areas
where the Legion of Boom patrol. Just
like vicious shark attacks, there will be no signs of warning inside of
CenturyLink Field. Outside the stadium
warnings will be clearly posted all over the city of Seattle; "Beware of
Boom: Enter at your own Risk".
Lastly, I
come to the wide receiver position for both clubs. The Seahawks went out aggressively during the
off-season and boldly traded for perhaps the single best playmaker in the NFL,
Mr. Percy Harvin. This was a major
acquisition and seemingly put the Seahawks in a category that many
"so-called experts" chose the Seahawks as the team to beat, not just
the NFC West, but the NFL complete. Unfortunate
for the Seahawks, Harvin came into training camp with a hip condition,
diagnosed as a slight tear of the Labrum and Harvin chose surgery to fix the
problem rather than worsen the condition by playing through the pain. Many of the prognosticators pulled their
endorsement of support because of the Harvin injury. However, is likely the critics never paid
attention to last year's football roster in Seattle. Pete Carroll and Russell Wilson never had
Percy Harvin in 2012, and they outscored every other team in the NFL over the
final 8 games of the regular season. Once
the rookie QB, Wilson, was finally given
the remainder of an aggressive playbook that Daryl Bevell wanted to distribute
to him slowly, he proved his worthiness, and the Seahawks began to pummel their
opponents by very wide margins. The
Seahawks scored 150 points (total) over 3 consecutive games, completely
blanking the Cardinals 58-0, then throttling the bills 50-17 and trouncing the
49ers 42-15.
All of this
ridiculous, gaudy, football scoring carnage, was created without Seattle's new
play-making phenom, Percy Harvin.
No… Number 12 was spinning gold for the Minnesota
Vikings at the time until he sustained a high ankle sprain in the 8th week of
the season. It was Sidney Rice, Golden
Tate, Doug Baldwin, and Zach Miller who sliced and diced through defenses last
year supplemented by the soft hands of Beast Mode and Michael Robinson who both
got several passes that season. The
Seahawks will return with; Rice, Tate, Baldwin and Miller, but now they add a
deep threat in Stephen Williams and a crafty slot standout in preseason,
Jermaine Kearse who has proved himself to be more than a little bit dangerous
with the football in his hands. Unfortunately
for the 49ers, there most prolific pass catcher, Michael Crabtree, was injured
in training camp with a completely detached Achilles tendon and will likely
miss the entire 2013 season. However,
one day after the Seahawks traded for Percy Harvin, the Niners made a trade to
counter the Seahawks offensive move.
They made a trade for Anquan Boldin, the favorite target of Super Bowl
MVP Joe Flacco, in Super Bowl XLVII. So
far, that trade looks like a stroke of brilliance as Boldin ripped up the Green
Bay Packers for 13 receptions, 208 yards and a TD. Tightend, Vernon Davis, added 6 more catches
and 98 yards. Kaepernick ended the night
with 412 yards and 3 touchdown passes.
Obviously, the Seahawks are going to need to do their best to put a hold
on the prolific passing 49ers, even without Michael Crabtree. Jim Harbaugh best know where Cliff Avril is today and Golden Tate is due for a huge breakout game receiving and returning punts. The 49ers have a bad taste in their mouth and you can be sure they remember the humiliation of getting completely blown out in Seattle. Kaepernick looked fused and beaten in the first quarter and Harbaugh's birthday turned out to be a lesson in football fundamentals taught by his nemesis, Pete Carroll. The 49ers are sure to want to come in, Chippy and salty, to prove that they are not intimidated by the crowd noise or the highflying Seattle Seahawks who bested their defense in 2012, only surrendering 15 points per game (a league leading scoring defense). There are so many sub stories in this matchup you could practically go through each position on the offense and defense and you would find intense emotions; resentment, humiliation, prideful jubilance and conquering dominance. There is the 49ers desperate desire for redemption and vengeance after being embarrassed by Russell Wilson and the Seahawks, and you can bet the Seattle players and coaches haven't forgotten that there was only one half game that stood between them winning the NFC West and the chance to host at least one playoff game. I think it's fair to say this one is going to be a donnybrook and the team who is hungriest and can focus through all the hype and the crowd noise will be the team walking off the field with a win.
****
5 comments:
Brad, you my friend know the Seahawks better than anyone I know. I follow your blog to increase my winnings. JK ;-)
Brad, you my friend know the Seahawks better than anyone I know. I follow your blog to increase my winnings. JK ;-)
Brad, you my friend know the Seahawks better than anyone I know. I follow your blog to increase my winnings. JK ;-)
Brad, you my friend know the Seahawks better than anyone I know. I follow your blog to increase my winnings. JK ;-)
As always, your fans are impressed with your words. I'm the lucky one cause I get to watch the outcome of this match with you today. GO HAWKS, SINK the 49ers!!! mw
Post a Comment