Seattle Times: LT Walter Jones out after second knee surgery

[tomahawk247]

Show me 14 teams with better talent at WR. You won't, because you can't.

And Hasselbeck will embarass the Rams in week 1. He is healthy, and out to quiet the critics.

Bills
Patriots
Bengals
Steelers
Texans
Colts
Broncos
Chargers
Cowboys
Eagles
Lions
Packers
Vikings
Falcons
Panthers
Saints
Cardinals

In my opinion. Most of those are definite, some are iffy.

[galen96]

Lol, Better than Houshmandzadeh, Burleson, Branch, and Butler? I'd say MOST of that list is Iffy. I wish I had the stats at hand, but you can look back at all of preseason with starters in, and you won't find many drops. Hell, I don't recall a single drop off the top of my head, but I'm sure there was one or two in there somewhere.

It is besides the point. The collective talent pool at WR in SEA is easily in the top half of the league, probably narrow it down into the top 10 if it stays as potent as it has been throughout PS.. who knows, who cares.

[Nick]

Lol, Better than Houshmandzadeh, Burleson, Branch, and Butler? I'd say MOST of that list is Iffy.

And I'd say you're another fan, like many across the country, who overrates the talent on their team. My personal opinion...

Definitely Better: Eagles, Cardinals, Packers, Falcons, Saints, Bills, Patriots, Broncos, Steelers, Texans, Colts

Arguably Better: Redskins, Lions, Vikings, Panthers, Bengals

It's not as if this is some wild and biased opinion held only by Rams fans. Fox Sports did WR/TE position rankings back in August, which should have boosted Seattle even more given their young productive tight end John Carlson, and still they ranked Seattle out of the top 15.

[tomahawk247]

Lol, Better than Houshmandzadeh, Burleson, Branch, and Butler? I'd say MOST of that list is Iffy. I wish I had the stats at hand, but you can look back at all of preseason with starters in, and you won't find many drops. Hell, I don't recall a single drop off the top of my head, but I'm sure there was one or two in there somewhere.

It is besides the point. The collective talent pool at WR in SEA is easily in the top half of the league, probably narrow it down into the top 10 if it stays as potent as it has been throughout PS.. who knows, who cares.

Yes. Houshmandzadeh isnt as great as you seem to think. Sure, he is a decent No. 1 WR, but its not like he is Andre Johnson or Larry Fitzgerald. Burleson has never lived up to his billing, and was only signed by the Seahawks to try and get back at the Vikings for signing away Steve Hutchinson. He has also only had one good year, in 2004. Branch is on the decline, to the point where it was thought he was on the roster bubble. Butler is a rookie, who while he might turn out to be a good NFL WR, he hasnt proved himself, and he certainly isnt adding tons of talent to the Seahawks WR corps.

I still stand by the fact that a large amount of the teams i gave have a better WR corps than the Seahawks


And if you want to go by looking at pre season stats, then you can add the New York Giants, Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Jets to the list of teams with WR Corps better than Seattle, because Hakeem Nicks, Troy Williamson and David Clowney led the league in receiving yards in the pre season. Preseason isnt a way to judge anything, so i wouldnt recommend using it.

[kegger56]

bias definately plays a part in who is the best and who isn't as good as they think. I will say this though, the Seattle passing game will be very good regardless if we have a top 15 WR core or not. We will actually have RB catching passes and a very good TE. We may see Hass end up top 10 but not have 1 single WR end up with top 15 stats as the ball will be spread around, plus a new commitment to the running game. All in all it's a total wait and see thing as of now.

[Nick]

It is highly unlikely Walter Jones will be out for more than 2 weeks

Just to follow up on this, it's been over two weeks (three weeks exactly since the original story, actually) and Jones is not going to be playing in the Seahawks/Rams game this weekend, and his status for the following week's game is questionable. According to Mora:

"There is a chance that both of those guys could be ready to come back next week," Mora said of Jones and Spencer. "So we'll just see where we are next week."

Will Jones practice this week? "The best thing for Walt is still rehab, some running on the side," Mora said.

[JPPT1974]

Well Hasselbeck will have a lot to prove coming back from an awful and injured 2008 season!

[galen96]

Man, the WR core did absolutely NOTHING *smirk* They really suck..

Do you still think that the Seattle WR group is still bottom 15? I mean, I'm not trying to be a dick or anything... Just that you guys made a deal about how nobody on the seahawks was worth a damn except Walter Jones.

How bout that Carlson?

[DistantRam]

Carlson's a TE, in case you hadn't noticed. Housh aside, your WRs are still rubbish.

[galen96]

I had noticed, I was asking seperately... How about that Carlson?

I think Burleson did as good as Housh out there.

[Nick]

Man, the WR core did absolutely NOTHING *smirk* They really suck..

Do you still think that the Seattle WR group is still bottom 15? I mean, I'm not trying to be a dick or anything... Just that you guys made a deal about how nobody on the seahawks was worth a damn except Walter Jones.

How bout that Carlson?

I don't think anyone "made a deal" about no one but Jones being worth a damn. Rather, some people questioned the talent on the roster and said there were question marks, at which point you barged in and claimed the unit was top fifteen. That was the first time anyone made that specific a claim about the WRs one way or another.

Regardless, what did the Seattle WRs do last weekend to definitively prove they're a Top 15 unit? Housh averaged eight yards a catch and didn't make a reception over nine yards, Burleson's numbers were good but not great (not even top 20 of Week 1 performances by WRs), and Obomanu and Butler each only had one catch. The Rams' pass defense isn't exactly amazing either, so I'm not sure what we're supposed to be floored by.

Carlson was the best pass catcher of the day, but he's not a receiver. And again, even when including Carlson's presence in their evaluation, Fox Sports did not rank the Seahawks as one of the top fifteen WR/TE units earlier this year. So again, it's not as if this is some crazy opinion held only by Rams fans.

This debate will be better settled at the end of the season, not after one week. But if you're going to come back and toot your own horn about this, you may want to wait for a week when your tight end isn't the team's best receiver.

[Nick]

It is highly unlikely Walter Jones will be out for more than 2 weeks

Another follow-up: Jones, who has yet to play at all this year, has been ruled out for Week 4, according to the Buffalo News. In fact...

Mora said he doesn't know for sure if the 35-year-old anchor to Seattle's offensive line for the last decade will play at all this season.

"I can't tell you that the thought (he won't) doesn't cross your mind," Mora said. "We have to give him some time. I think he's earned that."

Also, in terms of the debate about the Seahawk receiving corps, here are some numbers through three weeks of play.

-Seattle ranks 12th in the league in passing yards and ypg.
-They rank 21st in yards per attempt and QB rating.
-Seattle has one receiver among the NFL's Top 15 in receiving yards, Nate Burleson.
-Burleson has 20 receptions for 229 yards and 1 TD.
-The only other Seahawk among the league's top 40 in receiving yards is tight end John Carlson, who has 169 yards and two touchdowns.
-TJ Houshmandzadeh ranks 51st in the league with 145 yards. He has yet to score a touchdown.
-No other Seahawk is among the Top 130 players in receiving yards.