Outside The Press Box
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Huskies are in striking distance, but they have to win on the road
By: Chris In: NCAA hoops
23 Jan 2012
As we approach the halfway mark of the Pac-12 season, the conference is a predictable jumble at the top and the Huskies – thanks to some help from the Cougars last weekend — are sitting in decent position to make a run the rest of the way. If they can win on the road.
The Cougars helped UW a lot last week. First, they blew a 10-point lead against the Huskies on Jan. 15. Then WSU swept Cal and Stanford while the Huskies split the weekend series.
The result: The Huskies (5-2) are just half a game behind Cal and Oregon, and they seem to be finding a little chemistry. The addition of Husky tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins provided some added toughness inside against Stanford and could help them as they hit the road for most of the rest of the season. They are 1-5 away from Seattle this season, and they finish with seven of their final 11 on the road, starting this week in Arizona
Washington is one of six conference teams that seem to have a chance of making the NCAA tournament, and it’s going to be a tight race to the finish.
The conference put four teams into the tourney last year, if you count the silly expanded play-in round that included USC. The Trojans had the worst RPI (67) of all NCAA at-large teams. Going by that, the Pac-12 might qualify three teams at this point – Cal (6-2, 35 RPI) and surprises Oregon (6-2, 57) and Colorado (5-2, 62).
So Washington (5-2, 83), Stanford (5-3, 81) and Arizona (4-3, 68) all have work to do.
The Huskies have what it takes to catch Cal (or Oregon), but they have to figure out how to win on the road.
Sphere: Related ContentWas WSU’s sweep of Bay schools a sign of things to come?
By: Chris In: NCAA hoops|wsu
22 Jan 2012
Just as WSU fans – and even coach Ken Bone – had resigned themselves to the fact that the basketball team would not be any good this year, the Cougars stunned everyone by pulling off two comeback victories over the Pac-12’s top teams.
And you have to wonder: Does this forebode good things the rest of the way? Or was it just a double dose of lightning in a bottle?
Even after the Cougars rallied from 11 down Thursday to knock off Stanford, Bone seemed to think his team just got a little lucky.
“Like anybody, I wish we were better this year,” he told Bud Withers of The Seattle Times. “But we are who we are. We’re trying, and I appreciate that.”
You get the feeling Bone is marking time with this senior class – Faisal Aden, Abe Lodwick, Marcus Capers, Charlie Enquist – until he can get some more of his own recruits on the court next season.
But suddenly, these Cougars are more than just trying; they are doing. After rallying from 11 down in the second half to beat Stanford, they pulled off a similar victory against Cal on Saturday.
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- Tags: faisal aden, ken bone, pac-12
Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez have become the best tight end tandem in the league, something they proved once again in New England’s 45-10 blowout of the Broncos last weekend.
As Bill Belichick’s Patriots prepared to play the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC title game, Jason Cole of Yahoo Sports took a look at the genesis of Belichick’s use of two tight ends.
A handful of teams in recent years have proven that defenses can be exploited by two tight ends. Before Belichick put this plan in motion by drafting Gronkowski and Hernandez in 2010, Chicago was using it with Greg Olsen and Desmond Clark (they were the best TE tandem in 2008). Denver did it with Tony Scheffler and Daniel Graham, San Francisco has done it with Vernon Davis and Delanie Walker, and Detroit is now doing it with Scheffler and Brandon Pettigrew.
It all reinforces what we have been preaching for about three years now: The Seahawks need to do this.
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- Tags: john carlson, patriots, zach miller
For those thinking Matt Flynn would look good in a Seahawks uniform, it’s starting to look a lot like the Hawks are not even close to “in like Flynn.”
Just days after a Pro Football Weekly report indicated the Seahawks were unlikely to be interested in Green Bay’s record-setting backup quarterback, the news that the Miami Dolphins have hired Green Bay offensive coordinator Joe Philbin as their coach probably makes it even longer odds.
If you believe PFW, the Seahawks aren’t interested in Flynn anyway.
“It just doesn’t seem that’s the way they want to go,” a team insider (likely a beat reporter) told PFW. “I think they’d really rather raise their own guy from the ground floor up.”
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As the Mariners close in on finishing the mini-blockbuster trade that will send young pitcher Michael Pineda to the Yankees for young slugger Jesus Montero, the obvious question is: Is Jesus the Mariners’ savior?
As with life, it obviously remains to be seen, but we have faith in the way Jack Zduriencik is approaching the building of Seattle’s offense.
(Fortunately he also does not seem inclined to sign Prince Fielder to some outlandish, Pujolsy and A-Rodesque contract. Here’s a very good read about why Fielder is still unsigned at this late date.)
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Before the Green Bay Packers were upset at home by the New York Giants on Sunday, word came out that the Packers are not likely to place the franchise tag on backup quarterback Matt Flynn.
Some have thought the Packers would use the franchise tag in hopes of getting something for Flynn via trade, as the Patriots did with Matt Cassel in 2009, but the Packers reportedly are leaning against using the tag.
There are plenty of reasons:
**The $14.5 million tag value would be $6.5 million more than starting QB Aaron Rodgers is making;
**If Flynn signed the offer, the Packers would be stuck having to pay it if they could not find a trade partner;
**Teams would be unlikely to want to give much in draft picks for a largely untested guy they also would have to pay a big contract;
**The Packers would be better off using that money to fix their horrible defense;
**And, last but not least, the Packers are expected to use the tag on tight end Jermichael Finley anyway.
Since his record-setting start for Green Bay a couple of weeks ago, Flynn has generated plenty of buzz in QB-needy cities like Seattle, Cleveland, Washington and Miami, and the questions will be: Which of those teams will pursue Flynn? And how much will they be willing to pay him?
Sphere: Related ContentBone & lowly, hopeless Cougars fall down vs. superior Huskies
By: Chris In: NCAA hoops|wsu
15 Jan 2012
When Ken Bone fell down trying to call a timeout to stop the Husky onslaught, it was the perfect image for the Cougars’ bumbling futility.
Washington State came out with a lot of energy on both sides of the ball and outplayed Washington in the first half, but Terrence Ross and the Huskies tripled that energy output in the second half to get the expected result in the Apple Basket, winning 75-65.
The Cougars’ lack of talent has become incredibly apparent early in this Pac-12 season, and their accompanying chemistry deficit means they have almost no chance on the road, let alone against talented squads like the Huskies.
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- Tags: apple basket, huskies, terrence ross
Even in the unlikely event that the Indianapolis Colts cut ties with Peyton Manning, let’s eliminate one team from any possible courtship right now.
We can tell you there is a 100 percent chance that the Seahawks will have zero interest in Manning if he is let go by the Colts. And we would 100 percent agree with them.
Shall we count the reasons?
No. 1: If the Colts let Manning go after 13 years as the face of the franchise, it will mean he is not healthy enough for the team that loves him best to gamble $28 million that he even has a chance to play in 2012. Why would any other team gamble on him?
No. 2: If the Hawks wanted a capable veteran QB, they simply would have re-signed Matt Hasselbeck last year. (In fact, had they done that, they might have made the playoffs again this year.) But they didn’t want to spend the money on an injury-prone 36-year-old QB then, so why would they now?
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Peyton Manning’s future is completely unknown right now, but the possibility that the Colts will cut him rather than pay a $28 million bonus on March 8 has spawned all kinds of speculation about other teams trying to acquire him.
One thing seems quite clear: Manning will not be traded.
Not because Colts owner Jim Irsay says he won’t trade Manning (owners change their minds all the time; see the Bengals and Carson Palmer) but because it would kill the Colts’ salary cap to trade their longtime franchise player.
The Cardinals and Jets have been mentioned as possible landing spots for Manning, who ostensibly would replace Kevin Kolb in Arizona or Mark Sanchez in New York.
But the Colts can’t trade Manning until March 13, so to do it would require them to pick up the $28 million bonus on March 8 and then take a $38 million hit against their salary cap to trade him. They reportedly have less than $10 million in projected space (with Manning counting $17 million), so trading him would push them about $11 million over and make it even harder to sign some of their 19 free agents.
The Colts could try to get Manning to agree to a lesser bonus or a completely revamped contract before March 8; but he has little reason to do that other than loyalty. And the quarterback probably would require a no-trade clause in return; Manning certainly would prefer to find a contending team he likes rather than be foisted upon a club without having any input.
Even if the Colts were thinking of paying Manning the $28 million in order to trade him, what kind of market would there be for a 36-year-old with a creaky neck? They would be lucky to get a team to pony up a second-rounder (the Jets ended up with a third-round pick for a 38-year-old Brett Favre in 2008).
Sphere: Related ContentBone needs to figure it out fast
By: Chris In: NCAA hoops|wsu
8 Jan 2012
No offense. No defense. No chemistry. No chance.
That about sums up the Cougar basketball team right now. And fans are becoming disenchanted with third-year coach Ken Bone, who seems to be struggling to figure out a direction for his team.
After being blown out by Oregon in the Pac-12 opener, Bone said he started to have doubts about whether his team and coaching staff were any good. The Cougars rebounded to beat Oregon State, but two losses at Utah (62-60 in overtime) and Colorado (71-60) this weekend make his concerns look very valid.
The Cougars figured to start slow this year, but this is worse than many fans might have imagined. The worst fear is that this team is just not talented enough to compete and will be every bit as bad as the clubs run by Kevin Eastman in his final three years (33-55 from 1996 to 1999) and Paul Graham (31-79 from 2000 to 2003).
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- Tags: brock motum, Colorado, ken bone, utah
About this blog
Two former sports reporters freed from the constraints of traditional print media write about the hot topics on both the Seattle and national sports scene. No deadlines, no word count, no press box decorum — we're Outside The Press Box.
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- C Hawk 12th Man: Hate on Jackson much? I was willing to let some of the comments go, like blaming him for all the "wh [...]
- The Dink: Hypocritical? Let's ask Bill Moos and Ken Bone. [...]
- The Dink: Holt fired. Yay! [...]
- The Dink: Last night the defense completely gave up in the second half. It's totally inexcusable and Holt mus [...]
- Alejandro: I agree! He’s (Tjack) just a bridge from Hasselback to a new franchise QB; we can see clearly how [...]
- Huskies are in striking distance, but they have to win on the road
- Was WSU’s sweep of Bay schools a sign of things to come?
- Patriots’ tight ends are what Hawks’ Miller & Carlson should be
- Looks like Hawks may draft a QB rather than pursue Flynn
- Is Jesus the savior? Who knows? But we have faith in Jackie Z
- Who wants Matt Flynn and what should Hawks be willing to pay?
- Bone & lowly, hopeless Cougars fall down vs. superior Huskies
- Hawks will have no interest in Manning, so forget that dumb idea
- Colts can’t afford to trade Manning, but it might be time to let him go
- Bone needs to figure it out fast
