Almost skipped this article, thanks for the shoutout! This is one of the few places I dedicate time reading. It’s because of the amazing content that comes via your hard work and honesty.
JSN is going to be a stud WR, I don't think there is really any question on that. We have a lot of guys at CB, and what we need most IMHO is someone that can play the Nickle great! So we'll see how it all shakes out-
FWIW, the "multi-sport" things sounds right to me: cross-training stresses the ligaments and tendons in radically different directions and loads with each added discipline. It makes the body more durable when things go cattywumpus (a technical term usually pronounced "oh crap"). It also pressures the balance to be more robust (greater "control margin", in Engineer-speak), important again when cattywumpus comes along.
I continue to worry about Witherspoon's size, given the position(s) he's likely to play & the aggressiveness that was plain on the videos you pointed to. The lighter body in any collision sees the fastest deceleration, so the highest inertial loading. The impulse (time rate of change in acceleration) is even more out of whack. In younger days, I used to regularly spar with guys who out-weighed me by 50 - 75 pounds; that mismatch can get pretty rough. If he can learn to distribute the load internally (a matter of flexibility and reactive re-assertion of control) he'll be ok. If not...well, November 9, 2017 still haunts me. Maybe he can find a good ju-jitsu or aikido instructor to help with that.
As for Clark...well, "Clark" is an outstanding name for a dog. "Tanner", not so much. Dogs do best (IMHO, FWIW, EIEIO) with a 1-syllable name that starts and ends with hard consonants, having a long (open-throat) vowel sound in the middle. By the second syllable, most of them have stopped paying attention.
Here in the House of Idiot, we were slow to catch on, name-wise:
"Sasha" (Cocker/Chow, 17 years, became "Sahsh" in the Deep South; smartest dog so far, by far)
"Solomon" (Golden Retriever, 9 1/2 years, "Solly"; happiest living thing I ever met)
"Shilo" (Beagle mix, 10 years, "Shi"; always made sure everybody got a turn to play)
"Spike" (runt Cocker, 7 1/2 years & counting, in Southern comes out more like "Spack"; a Very Nice Guy & a very clever kicker)
Clark looks like a Very Good Boy. In other pictures, I noticed many shoes arrayed neatly...NEATLY, I say!...on the floor, none of which appear to have been chewed. Also, bikes by the door with un-chewed tires. These are very good signs!
No, I did not mean to imply that the door had tires.
I could be misremembering but I became a fan of Tyler Lockett before the Seahawks grabbed him and I recall reading that he was a very productive WR in high school and college, so those notes are very encouraging.
Playing multiple sports out of college and being good at them usually indicates a high degree of athleticism, competitiveness, and grit. It also indicates a player who can likely take coaching and understands team work. These are all very good qualities in a pro athlete and all "Pete Carroll" qualities if you ask me.
Well earned Subscription and worth every Penny. I would happily recommend you to every Seahawks Fan i know but sadly i really don't know anyone by Person. I enjoy reading every Article and i check your side daily multiple times.
OMG, I forgot about Superman, I mean Clark Kent. I knew that was his name a long time ago. I must have read someone's mind. Any other explanation would have seemed feeble. LOL.
Oh, I got some good laughs out louds as I read the big REVEAL.
I enjoyed this. I wrote a thing on Field Gulls about the "character" issues that Pete and John talk about. It seems everyone has a different emphasis on what they mean. You have certainly hit on the competitive drive that Pete talks about. Pete notes that none of these athletes would have gotten even this far if they didn't have a competitive drive in them. He's looking for something he calls "grit" but that term is almost meaningless to me. I guess it includes toughness, and they said most of the players they selected this year "checked that box" which John said they symbolize with a hammer.
So we know they have a list of characteristics. To sum them up, if one must, "fire in the belly" seems to me to sum it up better than "grit" even though I don't even know what else is on the list. I am not an insider, but I try to put two plus two together much like SSJ does. I've watched the interviews and stuff. Maturity figures into this equation, though we know they understand peoples maturity grows over time, in most cases. I'm even all but certain they have consulted psychologists and have asked for guidance on avoiding destructive personality types.
Irvin is an example of a player who grew up while in football. But less mature players still get drafted and maybe Penny is an example. He came to camp over weight and out of shape is what I heard. It slowed his learning curve, and yet over time he became valuable as a RB, but it took longer than it did for Kenneth Walker who came into the league ready to learn and compete. He wants to be the best, and to me that is included in "fire in the belly". That fire can burn because of a chip on the shoulder, or just being driven to be the best. It's all part of "grit".
Well, I wrote essentially this same thing for Field Gulls, and when I hit "post" some alogorythm decided something was wrong and wouldn't post it. I lost it, had no way to retrieve it, and sighed a long sigh and went about my business.
How was JSN still around at #20?!?! How many GMs did John have to hang up on trying to trade up for him? I can't decide which first round pick is more exciting, and I don't have to, because they're both Seahawks! Yay!
I had never heard any of the background you gave us today but for Witherspoon being competitive and Njigba greatness in short area running. Njigbas high-school numbers blew my mind. Those are the numbers of a player who if he wants to be a Hall of Famer he probably will be. Much has been made of the time he missed because of his hamstring injury. I did the same thing in University. I had a bad hamstring pull at the end of September. It was a significant pull and hurt like hell in the shower. It hurt because the doctor says there is a lot of internal bleeding. Six weeks later I came back. I had done two weeks of practice and tons of physio. It was free through the University. First game back I tore the hamstring again. No matter how hard you run in practice you go way harder when I guy is chasing you in a game. I finally made it back in February but had lost my starting position for good reason. Eventually I won the job back but conservatively I missed four and a half months, but never did it again. I never played in another tournament.
I had not heard what Lovey Smith had said about Witherspoon. This is a real feather 🪶 in his cap, because it came from a coach who got his team to the Super Bowl through defense and special teams.
The more I think of Woolen and Witherspoon manning the corners, then Love, Diggs, and Adams on the field at the same time, I think our defense will be 10 spots better.
Side note I like the YouTube channel Top Billing. We'll Rob Stanton had some bad things to say about Murph. I know he probably did it to get more people to watch him. I doubt it worked. Murph ripped Stabton a new one , using his winning style, knowledge, and humor. Funniest thing was he never pronounced Stantons name correctly, not even once in 15 minutes, making Stanton look even more out of touch.
Also, I was thinking that since you're getting so many new subscribers that we should all change our names to Seaside John/Jane and wear identical jumpsuits with matching haircuts. Of course we'd need to find a large house (or "compound" as I like to call it) where we can have our daily Seaside Seances and end each night with a reading from the Book of Joe.
It's funny that I still see analysts calling the Seahawks a "run-first offense" even though last year was around 58% pass plays and 42% rushing plays. It makes me wonder what other things people still think the Seahawks and Pete do...
Almost skipped this article, thanks for the shoutout! This is one of the few places I dedicate time reading. It’s because of the amazing content that comes via your hard work and honesty.
JSN is going to be a stud WR, I don't think there is really any question on that. We have a lot of guys at CB, and what we need most IMHO is someone that can play the Nickle great! So we'll see how it all shakes out-
Clark sure is super!
FWIW, the "multi-sport" things sounds right to me: cross-training stresses the ligaments and tendons in radically different directions and loads with each added discipline. It makes the body more durable when things go cattywumpus (a technical term usually pronounced "oh crap"). It also pressures the balance to be more robust (greater "control margin", in Engineer-speak), important again when cattywumpus comes along.
I continue to worry about Witherspoon's size, given the position(s) he's likely to play & the aggressiveness that was plain on the videos you pointed to. The lighter body in any collision sees the fastest deceleration, so the highest inertial loading. The impulse (time rate of change in acceleration) is even more out of whack. In younger days, I used to regularly spar with guys who out-weighed me by 50 - 75 pounds; that mismatch can get pretty rough. If he can learn to distribute the load internally (a matter of flexibility and reactive re-assertion of control) he'll be ok. If not...well, November 9, 2017 still haunts me. Maybe he can find a good ju-jitsu or aikido instructor to help with that.
As for Clark...well, "Clark" is an outstanding name for a dog. "Tanner", not so much. Dogs do best (IMHO, FWIW, EIEIO) with a 1-syllable name that starts and ends with hard consonants, having a long (open-throat) vowel sound in the middle. By the second syllable, most of them have stopped paying attention.
Here in the House of Idiot, we were slow to catch on, name-wise:
"Sasha" (Cocker/Chow, 17 years, became "Sahsh" in the Deep South; smartest dog so far, by far)
"Solomon" (Golden Retriever, 9 1/2 years, "Solly"; happiest living thing I ever met)
"Shilo" (Beagle mix, 10 years, "Shi"; always made sure everybody got a turn to play)
"Spike" (runt Cocker, 7 1/2 years & counting, in Southern comes out more like "Spack"; a Very Nice Guy & a very clever kicker)
Clark looks like a Very Good Boy. In other pictures, I noticed many shoes arrayed neatly...NEATLY, I say!...on the floor, none of which appear to have been chewed. Also, bikes by the door with un-chewed tires. These are very good signs!
No, I did not mean to imply that the door had tires.
I could be misremembering but I became a fan of Tyler Lockett before the Seahawks grabbed him and I recall reading that he was a very productive WR in high school and college, so those notes are very encouraging.
Playing multiple sports out of college and being good at them usually indicates a high degree of athleticism, competitiveness, and grit. It also indicates a player who can likely take coaching and understands team work. These are all very good qualities in a pro athlete and all "Pete Carroll" qualities if you ask me.
Clark fits his name perfectly! He’s much more of a character than C Kent, though.
Well earned Subscription and worth every Penny. I would happily recommend you to every Seahawks Fan i know but sadly i really don't know anyone by Person. I enjoy reading every Article and i check your side daily multiple times.
Thank YOU!
OMG, I forgot about Superman, I mean Clark Kent. I knew that was his name a long time ago. I must have read someone's mind. Any other explanation would have seemed feeble. LOL.
Oh, I got some good laughs out louds as I read the big REVEAL.
I enjoyed this. I wrote a thing on Field Gulls about the "character" issues that Pete and John talk about. It seems everyone has a different emphasis on what they mean. You have certainly hit on the competitive drive that Pete talks about. Pete notes that none of these athletes would have gotten even this far if they didn't have a competitive drive in them. He's looking for something he calls "grit" but that term is almost meaningless to me. I guess it includes toughness, and they said most of the players they selected this year "checked that box" which John said they symbolize with a hammer.
So we know they have a list of characteristics. To sum them up, if one must, "fire in the belly" seems to me to sum it up better than "grit" even though I don't even know what else is on the list. I am not an insider, but I try to put two plus two together much like SSJ does. I've watched the interviews and stuff. Maturity figures into this equation, though we know they understand peoples maturity grows over time, in most cases. I'm even all but certain they have consulted psychologists and have asked for guidance on avoiding destructive personality types.
Irvin is an example of a player who grew up while in football. But less mature players still get drafted and maybe Penny is an example. He came to camp over weight and out of shape is what I heard. It slowed his learning curve, and yet over time he became valuable as a RB, but it took longer than it did for Kenneth Walker who came into the league ready to learn and compete. He wants to be the best, and to me that is included in "fire in the belly". That fire can burn because of a chip on the shoulder, or just being driven to be the best. It's all part of "grit".
Well, I wrote essentially this same thing for Field Gulls, and when I hit "post" some alogorythm decided something was wrong and wouldn't post it. I lost it, had no way to retrieve it, and sighed a long sigh and went about my business.
Anyways,
How was JSN still around at #20?!?! How many GMs did John have to hang up on trying to trade up for him? I can't decide which first round pick is more exciting, and I don't have to, because they're both Seahawks! Yay!
I had never heard any of the background you gave us today but for Witherspoon being competitive and Njigba greatness in short area running. Njigbas high-school numbers blew my mind. Those are the numbers of a player who if he wants to be a Hall of Famer he probably will be. Much has been made of the time he missed because of his hamstring injury. I did the same thing in University. I had a bad hamstring pull at the end of September. It was a significant pull and hurt like hell in the shower. It hurt because the doctor says there is a lot of internal bleeding. Six weeks later I came back. I had done two weeks of practice and tons of physio. It was free through the University. First game back I tore the hamstring again. No matter how hard you run in practice you go way harder when I guy is chasing you in a game. I finally made it back in February but had lost my starting position for good reason. Eventually I won the job back but conservatively I missed four and a half months, but never did it again. I never played in another tournament.
I had not heard what Lovey Smith had said about Witherspoon. This is a real feather 🪶 in his cap, because it came from a coach who got his team to the Super Bowl through defense and special teams.
The more I think of Woolen and Witherspoon manning the corners, then Love, Diggs, and Adams on the field at the same time, I think our defense will be 10 spots better.
Side note I like the YouTube channel Top Billing. We'll Rob Stanton had some bad things to say about Murph. I know he probably did it to get more people to watch him. I doubt it worked. Murph ripped Stabton a new one , using his winning style, knowledge, and humor. Funniest thing was he never pronounced Stantons name correctly, not even once in 15 minutes, making Stanton look even more out of touch.
Also, I was thinking that since you're getting so many new subscribers that we should all change our names to Seaside John/Jane and wear identical jumpsuits with matching haircuts. Of course we'd need to find a large house (or "compound" as I like to call it) where we can have our daily Seaside Seances and end each night with a reading from the Book of Joe.
It's funny that I still see analysts calling the Seahawks a "run-first offense" even though last year was around 58% pass plays and 42% rushing plays. It makes me wonder what other things people still think the Seahawks and Pete do...