Aaron Curry's future and other Seahawks news and notes

[travisduncan]

Seahawks linebacker Aaron Curry Photo by ICON Sports Media

By Travis Duncan

The identity of the 2011 Seattle Seahawks will likely be that of a defensive team which is fast and and wants to create turnovers-add a running game and we see the formula for winning the NFC West.

After Week 2 the Seahawks had a Top 10 defense in terms of overall yardage allowed among NFL teams. After three games, the Seahawks are still ranked No. 10 in that category.

1. Tennessee 261.0
2. Pittsburgh 263.3
3. Cincinnati 276.3
4. Jacksonville 280.0
5. Dallas 288.0
6. Detroit 301.0
7. San Francisco 306.3
8. San Diego 314.3
9. Cleveland 316.0
10. Seattle 318.0

Seattle has faced the 32nd (San Francisco) 14th (Pittsburgh) and 18th (Arizona) ranked offenses through its first three games. The Atlanta Falcons are ranked 19th in total yards gained. The Falcons have struggled mightily with protecting Matt Ryan, but their Week 2 win against the Eagles shows that the offense can be as explosive as any in the league.

Curry's future

Aaron Curry was blindsided by the news last week that he would lose his starting job at strong-side linebacker to a rookie, K.J.Wright, who was selected in the fourth-round of this year's draft.

A wakeup call for Curry, a former Top 5 overall draft pick?

Right now, Curry is more reflective than angry, he told the media Wednesday, "I have complete peach of mind right now."

Curry who often tweets about his faith, further explained "I'm feeling blessed, I'm taking this trial and just capitalizing on it. Frustration last week, I was caught off guard, so naturally my response was to just be frustrated, but I am so at peace right."

The idea that Curry could be available was bought to the fore by national media, not local Seattle writers/media. The size of Curry's contract will prevent that from happening.

The decision to bench a veteran may have been more calculated than simply benching a talented player for a more talented rookie. It took Curry one week to make an adjustment and deal with the demotion, that may not be true of any other veteran on the team, allowing Carroll and defensive coordinator Casey Bradley and Carroll to make a decision, in the spirit of "competition" Carroll's philosophical motif which he believes will bring out diamonds in the rough over high priced superstar players. Carroll also believes that rookies should and can play.

Carroll says, Curry is "ready to battle" but "frustrated".

The coach says that Curry will get a chance to "fix the things" he needs to. Carroll also insists that this will not be disruptive. Carroll says that the team is so close that they can't help but notice when a player is frustrated.

Curry will be a free-agent at the end of the season, after he agreed to cut his rookie deal from six to four years, a significant pay cut, in lieu of testing the waters during this off'season frenzied post-lockout free-agent signing period.

The Seahawks and Curry have confirmed there are no plans to trade the linebacker, and so for all intents and purposes Curry is playing for his next contract.

Curry played just one series during Sunday's win over Arizona. Wright did not record a tackle but the instinctive 6-foot-4 rookie did tip the pass which led to an Earl Thomas interception.

Like any coach, Carroll loves guys who can create turnovers.

Carroll said he was impressed with how quickly Wright could learn the defensive scheme.

“We put him inside to see his instincts behind the football and he showed all of that,” Carroll said Wednesday.

“He played stout, he got off blocks well, he didn’t get knocked around at all. He’s a physical kid at the point of attack and he’s good in pass coverage. So that all showed up.”
On Earl Thomas
Thomas is getting as much praise as anyone on the Seahawks defense. FOX analyst and former Bronco safety John Lynch will provide color commentary for the TV broadcast on Sunday. Lynch told reporters this week that he has not "seen a safety with this much range since Sean Taylor."

Green and Blue with a Touch of Pink

-Pink will return to the Seahawks uniforms and to Century Link Stadium as the NFL promotes breast cancer awareness. A team press release states pink will be displayed via on-field ribbon stencils, pink goal post padding in both end zones, pink sideline caps for coaches and team sideline personnel and pink caps and pins for game officials. Some players will wear pink elements including shoes, pin cleats, wristbands, gloves, chin cups, eye shield decals, helmet decals, Captains' Patches, sideline towels and quarterback towels. The referees will also use a special pink coin for the coin toss.

Cable on the mend

Coach Tom Cable underwent back surgery and will temporarily be away from his coaching duties as the offensive line coach. The team used Skype to transmit this week's practice so Cable could watch as he recovers in a hospital.

Historically Speaking

This will be the 13th meeting between the Falcons and Seahawkss, with Seattle holding an 8-4 advantage. The Seahawks opened the series winning the first four meetings, then dropping two, followed by a four-game winning streak before losing the last two meetings to Atlanta since 2007.

Running the Ball

Marshawn Lynch finally found some running room in Sunday's win over Arizona, carrying the ball 19 times for 73 yards.

The Falcons are ranked in the middle of the pack in total rushing yards allowed this season, at 20th, averaging 112.0 yards allowed per game and three rushing touchdowns.

The Falcons limited a pass-happy Chicago offense to 88 yards in a Week 1 loss. Michael Vick, LeSean McCoy and the Eagles gained 133 yards on the Falcons in Week 2, and last week the Falcons surrendered 115 yards to the Buccaneers.

On the flip side the Falcons can't get their run game going. In their loss to the Bucs' they managed just 30 yards on 15 carries.

Getting the ball to Mike Williams

With five receptions in three games, everyone know that Mr. Mike Williams needs to get more passes thrown his way.

Williams had just one pass thrown his way in Sunday's win over Arizona.

"I don’t want my lack of targets to be a distraction for us, especially the offense," Williams said this week. "I feel like we’re going the right direction, last week kind of finding our groove, finding our personnel.

Falcons' offensive line problems

If the Seahawks have an offensive line problem, the Falcons do equally as much. QB Matt Ryan has been sacked 14 times this season. The only two quarterbacks who have been sacked more: Tarvaris Jackson and Jay Cutler who each have been sacked 14 times.

While Seattle has not relied exclusively on the blitz, we could so more of that Sunday against a Falcons pass protection scheme which has failed up to this point in the season.

Dropping the Ball

ESPN's Mike Sando writes that the Seahawks are the best in the league with the fewest dropped passes this season. Just one dropped passes on 93 passing attempts.

Tofflemire Passes Away

Former Seattle Seahawks center Joe Tofflemire has died of heart failure at the age of 46, The Spokesman-Review reports.

Clean Hit?

Kam Chancellor was flagged 15-yards for unnecessary roughness for the hit on Cardinals tight end Todd Heap (shown in the video below). Carroll said Monday it was a clean hit. What do you think?