St. Louis is not even a good team. At all.



Definitely got screwed by the refs on that non-fumble, but they never should have been in such a desperate situation anyway against a crap team.



My favorite part was when they got completely fooled by that punt return misdirection play and good ol' Cheatin' Pete tried to claim that the returner called for a fair catch when nothing close to that happend. When the chips are down, Pete Carrol will always try to cheat, or at least be incredibly dishonest.

Very realistic pellet gun.

I don't care what the Shutterstock label says; that is not a fedora.

Definition per dictionary.com: A soft felt hat with a fairly low crown creased lengthwise and a brim that can be turned up or down.

Like this: http://dictionary.reference.com/illus/il…

Faking a punt on your own 18, up by two and with two minutes left is the BALLSIEST play call I've ever seen in the NFL.

If it fails, it could get a coach fired. But it's genius if it works...and it worked.

@2,

Is that a Magnum PI?

@1

You act like dishonesty isn't cool. Dave Segal proved we can be a cheater AND cool.

The Percy Harvin trade shows how far they are from having their heads in the game. He wasn't the problem. He was allowed to become a problem and a distraction. It's pure arrogance to trade a guy you need for nothing when you're 3-2 and fighting to make the playoffs. And then they show up totally unprepared and take, blow it on special teams and take 10 penalties on the road. Sucks.

@3 that hat shown is a Trilby

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trilby

@7: they take 10 penalties on the road every week. but the pre-snap penalties are killing drives. okung and carpenter are jittery - they really miss giacomini.

the idea of an armed holdup outside the sand point grill is hilarious and sad.

The secondary is woefully depleted and the O line is Swiss cheese.



Hold on to your hats, sportsfans, this might get worse before it gets better.

Also, the Sleater-Kinney tour dates link is actually a link to purchase the box set.

Anyone who's done with the Seahawks bandwagon... the Sounders are playing for the Supporter's Shield this saturday :D

@10, I wouldn't say that. When they get healthy and are playing meaningful games in November, then we'll see if they are pretenders. To me, the Harvin trade shows the arrogance, and Sunday was another example of not respecting their opponents enough to prepare properly. Cheatin' Pete thinks he knows all now that he has a ring, but playing below your potential is not respected. When they win one instead the two or three expected, they will be remembered as disappointing.

Part of Seattle's issue is that the officials are no longer letting DBs hold and grab like they have in the last few years, which was Seattle's bread and butter defensively.



The defensive coordinator stated clearly in 2012 that the gameplan was to more or less hold on every play knowing the refs would not call it every time even if they saw it. Richard Sherman was recorded teaching other players the best ways to hold and get away with it.



They started calling it more often, and suddenly the secondary is not nearly as effective. It just worked too well in the Super Bowl.

So how did Sherman play yesterday?

@5,
It could break the skin and cause a very serious infection.

@17: The secondary is not as effective as last year because Lane and Maxwell are out, Chancellor is hurt and Browner is gone. And the Hawks' pass rush isn't very good. It has almost nothing to do with the rule changes.

@20: The PPG have almost doubled since last year. If losing a few guys to the market/injury does that, you have a serious institutional failure on your hands, and it also begs the question, why pay the remaining guys so much money if they are ineffective without an elite pass rush and elite players around them?

Also, ask the Cards how they are doing with much, much worse injuries on their defense, which is averaging almost 4 fewer points per game, and only allowing roughly twenty more yards per game.

"...you have a serious institutional failure on your hands..."

Ha! You're aware that the Seahawks won the Super Bowl in February, right?

Gah! No Sleater-Kinney tour dates in Puget Sound? How is that even possible?

Lead poisoning at gun ranges: Now we know the root cause of NRA members' derangement.

@21 you've been screaming about the Seahawks cheating since last year and it is getting old. Your analysis has proven consistently wrong. The Seahawks are not racking up pass interference penalties and calling aggressive play in the secondary cheating is/was ridiculous. Your broken record bullshit was hilariously off base last year when you attempted to predict the Super Bowl and this year it's the same old bullet points and it's just tiresome. You know shit about football and even if you did, the slog is hardly the right forum for this discussion.

@25, I don't see the appeal to find another forum. I like Spike's one post per week, and debating opinions is the point of the comments.

@1: He's also a 9-11 truther. FUN FACTS

@25: False. The Seahawks were holding on every play, and not getting called on it. Why do you think a) the NFL declared "flag 'em all" this year, and b) the Seahawks pass defense has thereafter dropped from best to average? I'll give you that it's not cheating, it's just taking advantage of unwillingness to flag every play, but the accusation of full time holding is correct. This isn't something that just gets mentioned here and there, it's been covered everywhere.

@27: The Seahawks pass defense has declined because the line is not pressuring the QB like it did last year. The loss of Clemons and Bryant has way more to do with the "average" ranking of this year's pass defense than the inability to hold does.

I think Slog is a fantastic forum for talking/debating sports. So refreshing to do so with people capable of forming complete, articulate sentences. I don't know that it really gets much more depressing than reading through the comment threads at espn.com or any of the major dailies sites. And Spike's posts (where this discussion should really be happening) are freaking great. I loved last week when he mentioned how weird the concept of holding is when viewed within context.

I only wish we could get some regular baseball threads going.

The fact that Seattle has so many more penalties than any other team always leads me back to the conclusion that Seattle gets called more for the same shit that every other team does. They simply DO NOT hold that much more than other teams do. This game was a blatant example of the officials unfairly over-penalizing Seattle and under-penalizing the opponents, not quite as bad as the Steelers Super Bowl but pretty close.



That said, they lost the game because they sucked so bad in the first half, mostly. Still, that fumble not being reviewed secured the loss. Thanks NFL!!!

@22: That is exactly my point. Read closer. I am claiming it is not to be blamed on an institutional failure.

@25: So why aren't you upset about other people sullying the sanctity of Slog with such a boorish topic such as football? Also, I know a lot about football, and the style of Seattle's secondary was a big topic last year. I am not making up these claims. Dan Quinn has stated as much. I can not find the exact quote anymore put this sums it up:

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10…

For a coach to be that candid says a lot, in a league where coaches never say anything as a matter of principle. It is not accident Seattle led the league in these penalties last year, and the NFL made them the officiating focus of this year.

As for my football IQ, here are some little rundowns I posted last season, so you be the judge on how knowledgeable I am about the game:

http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Comme…

http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Comme…

http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Comme…

Ha Ha! SUCKIT.

The hat pictured is *not* a fedora. It is a trilby.

@32



Left of the Dial