Dark Angel Award: Week 10

[Continued]

Now 'regular starters', Mo Morris and Seneca Wallace were given serious considerating for this prize. Morris breaking the century mark for the second consecutive week, and Wallace racking up a gawdy QB rating and out-performing is opposite number, pro bowler Mark Bulger. But since these guys have been staring for 3-4 weeks now, and are getting all kinds of accolades on TV and in the national press, they can hardly be considered as toiling in obscurity, so to the trenches we go for some other candidates.

On the offensive side of the ball, second year man Chris Spencer got the surprise of his young career, finding out minutes before game time that he would be starting in place of pro bowler Robbie Tobeck, who was stricken with a bad case of the flu. Spencer filled in admirably, opening holes for Morris to run through, and providing the necessary protection for Wallace to guide the offense. On the defensive side of the ball, veteran Chuck Darby had a career day, racking up his first two-sack day, both coming on critical 3rd down stops, one holding the Rams to a field goal, and the other forcing the precipitating punt that lead to the first Seaahawk return for a touchdown in several years. On any other week, these high-motor efforts from a coulpe of "big uglies" would be enough to walk away with honors from Alba, but not this week.

In previous posts, I have referred to my trip to Seattle as my "Pilgrimage to Mecca", and like any other pilgrimage based on religous devotion, appropriately, this one was also about redemption.

First up on the pulpit is Kelly Herndon, everyone's favoriate whipping boy of the secondary. His tight coverage and aggressive play bog down the high powered Rams offense as much as the steady Seattle rain, which also served to down the fires which usually lead to Kelly getting burnt!

Two other of Alba's favorites also had particular redeeming days, kick returner Josh Scobey and morally challenged tight end Jerramy Stevens. Scobey did muff one kickoff, but quickly recovered, and provided yoman's efforts on each of his kick returns, up to the last one. Already starting with a 15-yard advantage due to the Ram penalty on the Steven Jackson touchdown, Scobey saved his best effort for last, matching is new jersey number and ripping off 33 yards to hand over the ball for the game-wining drive, already one yard deep into Rams territory. Jerramy Stevens not only doubled his catch total for the year with three clutch grabs, one for a touchdown, but he provided great blocking and decoy services, opening options for other members of the offense, and didn't get any needless penaties or otherwise embarrass the franchise, which is always a good thing!

But the Seahawks player to be awarded this week's Dark Angel is hometown hero Nate Burleson, to submerged himself in the baptismal font of a 90-yard punt return for a touchdown, emancipating himself from an eight week bender of sloth (ineffectiveness) and sin (dropped passes), emerging as a born-again fan favorite and savior of playoff plans and divisional crowns. Burleson, who actually started this game as part of a 3 receiver set, did not allow his demotion to effect his attitude or willingness to help the team, which allowed him to contribute to the win with this momentum changing punt return, which energized the stadium, and provided the spark that the team needed to close out the Rams.

Now Nate, I know you've had to share your homecoming story line with Steve Hutchinson's departure, and your starting reciever spot with Deion Branch, so I don't know you to break it to you that you have to share this week's Dark Angel award with someone too. As noted in the opening paragraph, it's someone outside the Seahawks organization, so don't worry, there's nobody else in the locker room breathing down your neck. Actually, you co-recipent this week is someone who you probably wouldn't mind breathing down your neck, or anywhere else for that matter, as it's the lovely, but not so sweet HawkHeart from SeahawkBlue.com, pictured here with some unknown but devilishly handsome hometeam tailgater. If you look at the picture, there's no need to go further into detail about why she's receiving a share of this week's Dark Angel award!

But for the ladies in the audience, I guess I'll have to explain. While HawkHeart is certainly lovely, I don't want people to think she's getting this award just because she loves me! No, she's getting it for being a hot mom who brings the whole family to the game, and not only loves the Seahawks, but has deep and extensive knowledge of football, enough to know when not to take the advice of her husband or son when setting her weekly fantasy lineup.

So Nate and Heart, enjoy this honor and cherish it for all it's worth. You both have a starting spot on my fantasy team any day of the week, and twice on Sundays!



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Dark Angel Award: Weak 4

[continued from 12SS Home Page]

Last week, Chris "Hollywood" Spencer picked up his first Dark Angel Award, for seemliness solving the problem at left guard. To quote from last week's piece, "I can't wait to see the sequel next week in Chicago!"

Not since CaddyShack II has a sequel sucked so bad, looking nothing like the original. Spencer looked more like the Hollywood Madame, as he let Bear defenders penetrate through every hole imaginable.

I thought too of giving it to rookie punter Ryan Plackemeier, who was asked to put his leg over his head more times than Madonna on an audition. However, just doing your job on punts and field goals isn't enough to earn you an ebony halo and wings. Besides, he's already getting his fair share of slobberknockers from Alan!

No, this week's Dark Angel Award actually is going to someone outside the Seahawks organization, so Mr. Myron Torkulson, step up and be noticed.

Not many people know this by Torkulson is the father of the proprietary Scheduling software developed exclusively for the NFL. Shown here working on the original version for Commissioner Pete Rozelle in the early 80s, Torkulson pushed the limits of that original IBM PC to create an application that would take into account all extenuating circumstances, like the Giants and Jets sharing a home field, possible conflicts with playoff caliber baseball franchises in the same cities, and maximizing the fuel efficiency of the Madden Cruiser.

Now comfortably retired in Duluth, Minnesota, living off his fame and outrageous licensing fees, Torkulson's original design is still present in the current day scheduling software, which now has to manage 32 teams, five broadcast partners, including DirecTV and the NFL Network, and of course, scheduling the BYE weeks.

If not for Torkulson, the Seahawks might have had to travel directly from Chicago to St. Louis, without as much as a week to regroup from one of the worst beatings in franchise history. Instead, through the genius of Torkulson, the Seahawks get a week to relax, reflect, and recuperate, before heading to the Special Ed dome to take out all their aggressions and frustrations on a St. Louis team that mistakenly feels it deserves to be on top of the NFC Western division.

So Mr. Torkulson, put down your fly rod, and clear off a spot on the end table, between the ashtray full of Pall Mall butts and half empty can of PBR. You'll need a somewhere to put your Week 4 Dark Angel Award.

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Dark Angel Award: Week 3

[Contintued from 12SS Home Page]

This was the first game for newly acquired Deion Branch, as well as the first start for 2005 first round draft choice Chris Spencer at left guard. This was also the necessary wake up game for the overall Seahawk offense, but the defense wound up stealing the show.

A lot of consideration for this award was given to the much-questioned Seahawk secondary, that came up with three early interceptions, two by Kenny Hamlin and one by Michael Boulware, which set up the Seahawk offense in great field position. Adding to the outstanding play of this unit were Kelly Herndon, who has been playing like a man who doesn't want to lose his job to the 2006 first round draft choice, and said first-rounder, Kelly Jennings, who was third on the team with five tackles. Together with a solid performance from Jordan "Big Play" Babineaux, they shut down the Giant wide receivers for most of the day.

On the offensive side of the ball, it may have been Deion's debut but it was Nate Burleson's coming out party. The $49 Million Dollar Man racked up 4 catches for 42 yards and a touchdown, and should quiet any of the naysayers who were questioning the deal to get him from Minnesota. First time starting TE Will Heller also made a strong case for this award, with a 3 catch, 1 TD performance, making the injury to Itula Mili not hurt as much.

But this week's award is going to someone on the offense, whose contribution to the game was NOTHING. NIL. NADA. ZERO. ZILCH. What I'm referring to is the number of sacks the Giants were able to rack up against the Seahawk offensive line. The Lions and the Cardinals each got to Hass three times, the Giants, with Strahan, Umenyiora, Pierce and Arrington, got NONE!

While the credit goes to the entire offensive line, the biggest difference from the previous weeks is Chris Spencer, and it appears Seattle has found the answer to the burning question at left guard. Sure, they still need to gel together to get the ground game in gear, but the pass protection allowed Matt & Company to take full advantage of the great field position the defense kept handing them.

All Seahawk fans know this team will only go as far as Matt Hasselbeck can take them, and with the way he was getting knocked around like a lotto ball, it's good to see we have a young, strong, healthy optoin to go along with Walt to protect Matt's blind side.


So this week's Dark Angel Award goes to the second year man they call "Hollywood". I can't wait to see the sequel next week in Chicago!




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Dark Angel Award: Week 1

Seahawks 9, Lions 6.

No, this isn't the score at the end of the first quarter, but the final score of the first game for the defending NFC Champs. Three field goals for the good guys, two for the home team, and both teams combined to miss three others.

I know the game is called Football, but this is pretty ridiculous!

You would think that kicking the game winning field goal, as well score all fo the team's points, would pretty well lock up this award for Josh Brown. However, as noted above, his first two attempts were blocked, so no blog iron for the kicker with the cute smile this week.

On offense, new starters Floyd Womack, Itula Mili and Nate Burleson would have seemed to be odds on favorites for stepping up and providing a spark for the team. However, Pork spent most of the day yelling "look out" over his shoulder, Mili caught 4 balls, but didn't dominate like Stevens, and Nate made just one catch - albeit a beautiful one - but one beautiful catch does not buy you this award!

By the same token, the Emaciated Maniac, Julian Peterson, had a very quiet seven tackle, one sack performance, D.D. Lewis did well in relief of the injured Leroy Hill, but no well enough, and rookie Kelly Jennings played sparingly, notching three tackles in the contest.

Honorable mention goes to the old man, Mack Strong, who turned in a career day with six receptions for 30 yards, and who went airborn to pick up a critical 1st down early in the game.

Serious consideration can be given to the other Kelly though. Yes, Boke, THAT Kelly, as in Kelly Herndon, who lead the team with eight tackles, and was frequently seen in the same camera shot as the man he was defending! Herndon actually played very well, covering tight and providing run support, and bringing some serious wood when he squared up to make his tackles.

But this week's Dark Horse Award is going to the return men of the Seahawks, Willie "I'm Da Mann" Ponder and Jimmy "It's More Fun To Run" Williams. My unhealthy man-crush on Josh Scobey is no secret to the regular readers here, so I was watching this new return man with a keen eye. Not to seem fickle, but it was love at first sight, as Ponder took the opening kick off at the 10 and contemplated himself for 23 yards, giving the offense great field position.

He followed that up with a 41 yard return from the two, his long of the day, and a 24 yard return from the three. Thanks to some decent play by the Seahawk defense, he didn't get any more opporunities to impress.

Jimmy Williams used to evoke the same response from Seahawks fans, as a parent watching their child running with scissors, but not today. He did call for a fair catch on the first one at the 10, but it was the right thing to do, as he was surrounded by Lion defenders. He broke the next two for 22 and 17 yards, each time handing the ball over to the offense well beyond the 20 yard line.

The field position provided by these return men, coupled with the workman effort turned in by the defense, is what kept the Seahawks from suffering another dissapointing defeat in a road opener.

And I'll take a disappointing win over a disappointing loss every time!


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NFC Championship: Moonlight Graham Award

[Continued]

But an entire team cannot win this award, so how about a single unit? Consideration had been given to the Special Teams unit. Seriously. I'm not kidding. Really!

While they did give up a TD on a punt return, everyone agrees that it should have been called back, if for no other reason than the ticky-tack block in the back call on Seattle that stood, earlier in the game. But apart from this one gaff, the unit made no major mistakes and did not turn the ball over, which is to say it was SUPERB!

Peter Warrick didn't do anything special, except hold on to every punt, which when you're filling in for Jimmy "Jittery" Williams, that in itself is pretty special. The punt team kept pinning the Panthers deep in their own end with good coverage on kicks, even if the refs did put another screw job on us, originally calling one punt out at the 4 yard line, only to come back from commercial break and seeing the Panthers starting at their own 20.

Admittedly, Josh Brown did miss a 47-yard attempt, but he was money on his other tries, was kicking the ball off nice and deep, and the one pooch-punt earlier in thegame was a thing of beauty. On the other side of the kicking game, Josh Scobey once again provided adequate return yardage, and he did break one long return which set up our opening scoring drive in the 3rd quarter, the same drive that was awarded the prestigious "Corney Bronze Race Car."

But the award really needs to go to an idividual players, so let's get down to those who stepped up during the actual game.

The first person who comes to mind is Sean "the anti-Heather" Locklear, who earlier in the week dubiously stepped out of obscurity by being arrested for an altercation outside a nightclub with his live-in girlfriend, and spent the long weekend in jail. Talk about a potentially distracting situation going into the biggest game in the history of the franchise! Thankfully, the media, the organization, and Sean himself handled things well and appropriately, and he turned in an outstanding performance against one of the league's fiercest pass rushers. However, even though all the facts of the case are not public, being an East Coast liberal "hippie", this award cannot go to someone facing a domestic violence charge. Sorry Sean.

On the defensive side of the ball you've got Craig Terrill, one of the Ruskell "high motor" free agents who seemed to be everywhere the ball was when it was his turn to be in the game. Most notably, Craig "the Terrible" (meant in an Ivan wreaking havoc complimentary way) was the one who forced the Jimmy Smith fumble late in the game, which not only put the exclamation point on how thoroughly and completely we shut down the hottest receiver in the playoffs, but it allowed Matt Hasselbeck and the offense to come in and rightfully and proper end this game in the "Victory V" formation.

But while Craig's efforts were appreciated, they were only good to make him a runner-up for the MGA this week.

In terms of someone truely stepping up when called upon, and in terms of stepping out of obscurity, there is only one member of the 2005 Seattle Seahawks deserving of the MGA this week, and it's none other than backup quarterback Seneca Wallace. Never before has a backup quarter back received such accolades and attention in a close game where the starting quarterback remained healthy!

It was just one play, but that one play spoke volumes about the man, the team, and this organization. Statistically, it was a 28-yard completion from the quarterback to a wide receiver for a first down. Upon further review, it was our backup-quarterback lining up opposite one of the leagues' young shutdown cornerbacks, who incidentally left the Seahawks last year in free agency, executing a picture perfect double-move, and then making a spectacular over the should catch. Metaphorically, it was the organization thanking every selfless player on the team for being prepared week after week, understanding the possibilities of getting quality playing time were "slim and none", yet performing at a very high level when their number was called.

The list of these players is endless, but it has to start with guys like Marquand Manuel, DD Lewis, Leroy Hill, Jerheme Urban, D.J. Hackett, Jordan Babineaux, Joe Jurevicius, Sean Locklear, Jerramy Stevens, Ryan Hannam, Jimmy Williams, Mo Morris, Isiah Kacyvenski, Niko Koutouvides, as well as Pork Chop Womack and Itula Mili. Sure this seems like the entire team, but the reason why we're playing in the Super Bowl next week is that every guy on that list either stepped up in a big way when called upon, or understood and accepted that some other guy be playing his position for whatever reason.

So when "AVIS" cradled that pass from Matt on his shoulders, he was also shouldering the load for all of the guys on the depth chart, and cradling a bundle of admiration and gratitude from the coaches, the organization and all of the fans, proving that when you are number two, you definitely try harder!




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Dark Angel Trophy Options

Ties in with the Moonlight Graham Award nicely, but not really a "Dark Angel"












Very Goth so it fits the Dark Angel motif really well, and just hot enough to remind you of Jessica

















Two words: TITTIES!!! Very appropriate for an award, she's naked which is definitely hot, but would she fly over at SeahawkBlue??!!
















Politically incorrect as hell, but certainly fits the Dark Angel motif. Pluse, odds are good that the recipient will be black.
















Somewhat trailer-trashy, but I could put the photo of each recipient in the frame!








Not exactly Dark, but good Seahawk colors

















Cornball enough to rival the EXTREMELY Corney Bronze Racecar

DIVISIONAL ROUND: Moonlight Graham Award

[Continued]

Sadly, two of this author's fan favorites got great notice and attention during this game, but unfortunately it was due to mental errors (Jimmy Williams) and turnovers (Josh Scobey), rather than outstanding play. In their defense, each did have some credible returns during the game, and each contributed on special teams coverage, so it wasn't all bad. Clean it up for next week though boys, or you may be looking for another team to suit up for next season.

On to the game makers, and we have to start with Maurice Morris. We all know what happened to Shaun Alexander, and MoMo was called into action. He came in and picked up some critical first downs, got good yardage on first and second downs, and DID NOT PUT THE FOOTBALL ON THE GROUND. It showed that MoMo is a true professional, was prepared and knowledgeable of the gameplan, and the rest of the team has faith and comfort in his abilities.

So often you see the backup come in and run the wrong way, or miss handoffs, or just play tentatively, and MoMo did none of these things. While resting the starters seemed to make Indy rusty and off their game, it seemed to really give our backups some quality game-speed reps, which I believe helped MoMo step into this situation without being nervous or cold.

Other offensive honorable mentions have to go to "Pork Chop" Womack, who also was called into action when Big Walt went down, Ryan Hannam for one drive sustaining catch and his usual outstanding blocking, like he was 20 yards down field helping Mack Strong pick up those 32 yards, and Joe Jurivicius for his punishing yards after his one ad-lib catch, and for breaking up a sure interception on Matt's ill advised "whirly-bird" prayer.

On the defensive side of the ball, you'd like to give it to the entire squad, John Marshall and Ray Rhodes, who was back in the booth in an "observation" role. The defense seemed to be in the right place at the right time all game long, except for those two HUGE 3rd-and-forever pickups late in the game, and they were flying around hitting everything that moved, like they did in Philadelphia.

In addition to Lofa, mentioned above, Grant Wistrom was like a man on fire, and completely blew up Clinton Portis whose feable attempt to block Grant only seemed to inspire him more. If this were a regular season game, strong relief efforts from Joe Tafoya and Craig Terrill may have been enough to win them some iron.

And while most people will fault Joe Tafoya for the off sides penalty which negated the sack by Craig Terrill, upon reviewing the game tape it's obvious that Joe asked the refs to make that call to take attention away from the lame Denny Terrio/Arthur Fonzerelli "two thumbs up" sack dance that Craig broke out with after the play.

Other defenders worth noting were Kelly Herndon, Andre Dyson, Marquand Manuel and Jordan Babineux, not so much for what they did, but for what they didn't do, which was get costly penalties, get burnt, or leave the field injured. A healthy secondary is going to be a huge asset against the Pussys, err, I mean Panthers next week.

So if you're still reading this somewhat rambling post at this point, you're probably going through the roster and asking yourself, "hey Alba, who is left to give this freaking award to?", and when you read the answer below, you'll see that there is still a player or two on our roster toiling in relative obscurity.

After Shaun fumbled away our best scoring opportunity, and then left the game with a concussion, the rest of the first half became a close-to-the-vest chess match between the two coaches, and an intense battle for field position. Our best weapon throughout this skirmish was none other than punter Tom Rouen, the Divisional Round Playoff MGA winner.

I'm ashamed to admit that my source and inspiration for this award was none other than Peter King of SI, who pointed out the following in naming Tom Rouen his Special Teams Player of the Week in his MMQB article:

Seattle P Tom Rouen, whose first four punts of the NFC divisional game at Qwest Field (48, 42, 53 and a poochy 29 yards) had Washington drives start at its 12-, 15-, 8- and 15-yard lines. You saw the game. You know in a game like this one that field position is everything. Rouen was Seattle's biggest weapon in the first half.

So in a day when most people are pointing to our special teams as a unit that very nearly cost us this victory, we're reminded that we have a very solid kicking game, led by Josh "Money" Brown and the latest recipient of the East Coast Bias Blogger Award, MGA winner Tom Rouen.

We've got our proverbial foot in the hypothetical door to Superbowl XL, and with the help of these two guys, we should kick the damned thing down next week.

EDIT: I forgot to give an honorable mention to a sometimes contributor and Knock Out pool participate Ghost of Knox aka Ghost Rider aka GOX, who deserves MGA mention for redeeming himself by attending this game. He was at the opener in Jacksonville and couldn't muster the karma to reverse the poor play by the offense, but in true Seahawks style, he got redemption when the opportunity presented itself and shed that monkey off his back.

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W17: Moonlight Graham Awarld

[Continued...]

Once Matt handed the ball over to Seneca, after the first team finally wrapped up the Rushing and TD titles for Shaun, it look as though he was going to run away with the ugliest trophy on the blog. He lead the team on an 8-play, 71-yard drive culminating in the first TD pass of his career, a 5-yard pass to free-agent pick-up extrodinaire, Joe Jurivicius. As if it was possible to like and respect the "unlucky hooker" any more, he once again proved his tremendous character by giving the ball to Seneca to commemorate the moment.

However, I didn't get to witness that drive personally, as I was playing Madden on my son's new GameCube during halftime, and Seneca looked dazed and confused for the remainder of the game, so that left me looking for other MGA candidates.

The two other pre-game favorites for this award didn't do much better. MoMo managed just 25 yards on 9 carries, 16 yards coming on a single run. Most of this was due to most of the starting offense line also resting, but some has to do with the eratic play calling of Gil Haskell. Both better hope the Seahawks have room for them next season, because neither did themselves a big favor to showcase their talents.

I didn't pay too close attention to how Chris Spencer played while in the game, but a first round selection is probably automatically excluded from this award. I was also surprised that Leonard "Stiffy" Weaver did not get much playing time in this exhibition, which ruled him out as well, so on to the defensive side of the ball we go.

Craig Terrill seemed to be everywhere on the field, and recovered a fumble for the second week in a row, but didn't really show up in the stat sheet, and let's face it, he's no Joe Tafoya! Kaz and Koots got quality playing time, but didn't really make the most of it, but Rodney Bailey proved to be another good Ruskell pick up.

No, this week's Moonlight Graham award goes to Jimmy Williams, who continued the good work filling in for our injury depleted secondary. Sure, the second teamers got torched enough to make the Packers look like contenders, and Brett Favre an MVP candidate, but Williams was second on the team with 8 tackles, and picked off a pass at a critical point in the game. Actually, it's that interception that locked up the award for him, since it seemed to be the first ball he's pulled in this season without first calling for a fair catch!

So, to the man with an old soul, who started the season on the 49-ers, a team just barely good enough to lose out on Reggie Bush, and ended it on the team with the best record in NFC, enjoy two weeks in the glow of the Moonlight Jimmy Williams!


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