=== Is he a #1 WR? ===

He's not, no, at least not yet.  But the question is irrelevant.

Holmgren doesn't need a Terrell Owens.  He needs to turn his WR corps into a weapon, as opposed to a competent unit.  He did so.

The Seahawks' paradigm is not to add a home-run hitter, a franchise RBI player.  The Seahawks' paradigm is to make their passing game as a whole more dangerous.  The passing game was just upgraded, big time. 

Branch at 27 years of age has settled in as a 60-70 catch, 800-1000 yard receiver, 13 yards per ball type.  That is playing with a top QB in NE, as he also will be in Seattle.

He has a convincing record of playing well against top opposition, as you know, winning a Super Bowl MVP and catching 10/143 in another Super Bowl.  This matters.  A lot.  The fact that he is a big factor in "showdown", challenge games.

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=== SIZZLERS:  Seahawk D ===

We don't follow the NFL closely at all (since about 1985).  The first and last time we tried NFL fantasy, we scored the #1 overall — Terrell Davis, who was KO'ed for the season 1st game out.  LOL.   #2 pick?  Steve Young, who was KO'ed early too.  Major league SP's got nuttin' on NFL players.  I got your war of attrition right here, Steve-O. 

But we do assume that Adam Schefter follows the NFL closely.  He seems to think that the Seahawks hauled in the best defensive player on the market:

One of the busiest teams of the offseason struck again when the Seattle Seahawks reached agreement with former San Francisco linebacker Julian Peterson on a blockbuster seven-year, $54 million deal.  

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Very interesting piece on Steve Hutchinson at Crushed Optimist. Kudos. (Hyperlink in the M’s Blogs in the sidebar.)

=== Where’s the Ref When You NEED Him, Dept. ===

CO reports that the Vikings inserted a clause that guarantees Hutchinson’s contract “if another lineman makes more.” If true, this is an obvious attempt to use Walter Jones against the Seahawks.

How can this possibly be legal? What’s the next step here? Offers to Colts players that double the salary if the quarterback makes more than the free agent does? Offers to quarterbacks by teams with good offensive lines that guarantee salaries if they’re sacked more than 40 times? No way.

=== Worth A Lot More Than He’s Worth, Dept. ===

At any rate, it has become clear that not only is Hutchinson one of the two best players on the Seahawks — he was accused in 2005 of being the very best guard ever to play in the NFL — but also the toughest man in the organization. The soul of the offense, from a competitive-drive angle.

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The Seahawks are the best, but are not the champs.  … Happens all the time.  Lots of Olympic athletes, pro sports teams, and amateurs have been #1 in the world — often by a wide, even dominating margin – but for various reasons, fail to win the championship. 

What to do?  Recognize that they (1) are the best, but (2) are not the champs.  There’s a difference.  The Seahawks were the best, but they did not prove it.  Not this time.  (Some M’s fans feel that this was the case in 2001.  I don’t agree, but I don’t blame them one whit for their position.)

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I told D-O-V readers that when Mikey Jay and Dr. D part ways — seldom — he’s right 75% of the time.  He simply has a superb feel for sports.

Before this game, he said that the Seahawks would “expose” Roethlisberger and I absolutely disagreed. Mikey was absolutely right.  Mike’s general impression that the Seahawks were double-digits better, was a fair characterization of the gap between the two teams.  The Seahawks had 450 yards on offense if you "normalize" for refereeing.    Pittsburgh on the other hand, except for two big plays, struggled all day at the line of scrimmage.

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If you haven’t read it yet, there is a genuinely state-of-the-art scouting report here:  http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/5293444?GT1=7840

Parrish notes that … sure, the Steelers disguise their blitz packages, so much so that they’re practically indecipherable.  …but on the other hand, Hasselbeck *is* all but unblitzable (because of the "pure" West Coast offense Holmgren runs).  That the Seahawks will dart the ball to "hot" receivers until they go back to the sideline and figure something out against … Well, whatever Pittsburgh’s tendencies are today.  … Which nobody will know until about the 2nd quarter. 

At last, a non-naive dissection of the game.  Kudos to Parrish and Merriman.

Parrish adds interesting things like, (1) the Seahawks have good running numbers to the right side because play-action comes off runs to the right, and (2) Alexander and Strong occasionally have bigger receiving games and that is when the defense takes the RB’s for granted in the passing routes.  Good stuff!

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There’s nothing more annoying to a chess grandmaster (by analogy, that’s Jimmy Johnson) analyzing a game … and having to address every inane comment by the class D players standing around watching (by analogy, that’s Dr. D). 

On Mike Holmgren, we pointed out that he has built not one, but two dominating NFL teams — which is practically unique in recent history.  And it proves that the first one wasn’t a fluke.

But Johnson also has a track record kind of like that:  before he built his tremendous Cowboys teams, he also did a superlative job with the Miami Hurricanes.  Johnson has nothing but respect from D-O-V.

Since it’s annoying, of course it’s a no-brainer for D-O-V!

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Like the AFL with John Brodie and with the draft picks like Joe Namath … we continue to try to raid SportSpot to get MA in here as a co-author but he ain’t buyin’ what we’re sellin’. 

Everybody else is buyin’ what he’s sellin’, though.  If you haven’t hit SportSpot and/or its Seahawks area … here’s one of the best Seahawk analyses you’ll ever feast your eyes on: 

http://www.sportspot.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=7967

Burning question for today:  will Jerramy Stevens take his rightful place as an NFL All-Pro?  And in so doing, take the Seahawk air game from "unstoppable" to "nightmarish"?

You da MAN,

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Sorry, we been out on bidness all week.  Pretend like the T.A. subbed in today with a armful of blue books.  As y’know, Johnny-Come-Lately bandwagon fans have no chance in trivia games against REAL fans.  So take out a #2 pencil and see whether you’re a Real Fan or a pretender:

.

=== Q1.  Mike Holmgren is: ===

1.  Lucky he wasn’t fired about 2003, if not 2001

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