How Steve Smith ended up being a ref at the Seahawks mock game
In the Seahawks mock game, former NFL receiver Steve Smith was part of the referee crew: Seaside Joe 1649
One of my favorite videos of the offseason is this special posted by the NFL (which means that I’m not allowed to embed it for some stupid reason) in which former Panthers receiver Steve Smith learns what it’s like to be a referee by following a crew at Seattle Seahawks training camp. Smith goes through practice reps, then actively participated with the referee crew during the Seahawks mock game last month.
The video not only shows a different side of Seattle’s mock game, but insight into the challenges of being a referee and never getting to be “the good guy”. I just wish that NFL let people embed YouTube videos because it looks better on the page that way and I think people click “PLAY” buttons more often than they click links like the one above.
The player who catches the most criticism from Smith is cornerback Chris Steele, which is probably a tougher pill to swallow because Steele didn’t even make the Seahawks practice squad. If playing football doesn’t workout, maybe Steele can learn how to be referee.
More Seahawks links below…
Last Chance: Survivor League, Fantasy Football League
One final reminder before the official Week 1 picks email goes out to Regular Joes: Sign-up for Seaside Joe’s Survivor League! Winner gets at least a lifetime membership into the Regular Joes club.
Seasider Dewhub was kind enough to create a Fantasy Football League for anyone who is interested in doing a last minute league with other Seahawks fans in this community. The league needs at least 9 sign-ups this morning to assure that it’s active enough for everyone to have a fun season. We know this is late notice, but let’s see if this community can string one together at the last minute because it would be fun to follow during the season. If not, no problem and I’ll plan ahead next season.
Seaside Joe community fantasy football league
12-team ESPN PPR Fantasy League has been created. The link to join is HERE. I tentatively set the draft for 8pm PST on 9/6/23 but it will not proceed if we do not have enough sign-ups one-hour before.
John Schneider talks offseason, secondary
See what I mean about embedding videos? Ain’t that better?
Something interesting in this video is that Schneider was asked which unit had improved the most and he said the defensive backfield. Schneider mentioned mentioned seven names. The only players he didn’t acknowledge by name were Jerrick Reed, Kyu Blu Kelly, and…Jamal Adams.
Steve Wyche and Mark Sanchez high on Geno Smith
Michael Penix Jr breakdown by The QB School
Both quarterbacks in Washington State—UW’s Michael Penix Jr and WSU’s Cameron Ward—could be special.
It’s going to be a fascinating year in college football for the 2024 and 2025 class of quarterbacks. The list will shrink considerably between now and April, but right now the number of intriguing quarterbacks for next year’s draft is at least a dozen, if not twice that many. If there are even five left for the first round in 2024, it’ll be a historic number. That doesn’t seem improbable right now.
Dan Viens talks depth chart
Something I didn’t cover on Seaside Joe, so might as well let Dan do some of the work around here for free.
Seaside? Say Side!
Don’t forget that if you see Seaside Joe mentioned on another Seahawks website, forum, or social media, please let me know. Even if it’s you doing the mentioning!
One final reminder before the official Week 1 picks email goes out to Regular Joes: Sign-up for Seaside Joe’s Survivor League! Winner gets at least a lifetime membership into the Regular Joes club.
Seahawks record predictions (not many believers)
NFC West bold prediction: Seahawks tumble back to earth. After watching the Seahawks make the playoffs last season, I'm predicting that things fall apart this year. I'm not saying things are going to completely fall apart like they did for the Cardinals, who went from making the playoffs in 2021 to being one of the worst teams in the NFL last season, but I am saying that I don't expect the Seahawks to get back to the playoffs. My biggest concern is Geno Smith and the fact that he started to fade down the stretch last season. Although Geno was spectacular early in the year, I think the Geno that we saw during the second half of the 2022 season is the one we're going to see in 2023.
ProFootballTalk
4 of 5 writers have the Seahawks making the playoffs as wild card, none have Seattle winning a playoff game.
SI.com
Betting the under on 9.5 wins.
NFL.com
Second-most popular pick for a wild card position.
ESPN FPI
27% chance to win NFC West, 54% to make playoffs, 8.7 projected wins
What do the Seahawks do the best?
Cover. This is a projection based more on how strong the Seahawks' secondary looks now than how that group played last season. It was solid in 2022. Seattle's defense finished with the third-lowest opponent Total QBR (49) but also allowed 53 pass plays of at least 20 yards, tied for eighth most. It should be better in 2023, especially at cornerback. Seattle drafted Devon Witherspoon at No. 5 and could see a jump from Riq Woolen, who made the Pro Bowl as a rookie last year in his third full season at the position. -- Brady Henderson
ESPN ran a simulation with the Seahawks finishing 10-7 and losing a tiebreaker in the NFC West to the 49ers, then beating the Panthers in the wild card round. Seattle then went on the road to face the top-seeded Vikings, but lost 23-16.
In Fake World.
Peter King
The Ringer Bold Predictions
The Seahawks win the NFC West. (Sheil Kapadia)
OK, the real elephant in the room: Are they really better than the 49ers? Maybe. San Francisco is favored to win the division and understandably so. The Niners are loaded with talent. But their quarterback two-deep is Brock Purdy and Sam Darnold—one guy with eight career starts coming off an elbow injury and another guy who’s been one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL over the past five seasons.
If Purdy stays healthy, and his performance last season wasn’t a mirage, the 49ers have a legitimate Super Bowl ceiling. But I think they’re a high-variance team, and I think the Seahawks have enough to challenge them for—and take—the NFC West crown.
Share Seaside Joe with other Seahawks fans to kick off the season. Can we reach 2,600 total subscribers by Sunday? We’re almost there!
I could do a minute-by-minute breakdown of that refereeing video, because it's really good! [Hey You! Yes you, the SSJ community member who's reading this comment saying "i don't wanna click a link, i'll pass on that video". No! Stop! Go to youtube, type 'NFL steve smith' and hit what is probably the first result. Now! Go, do it. I'll wait for you to finish and come back to read the rest of my comment]
~1:54 Carl gives Steve the marker beanbag and penalty flag, and he says about the flag "Be careful with this... make sure when you put this down it's a clean solid foul". This is Intro To Ref 101 stuff but really really good advice for any ref in any sport doing it early on. Only call when you know, really know, it's a foul. "Use with cuation", applies to the flag but you can expand to everything you do as a ref. The more you flag, shout, whistle, the less people pay attention to what you are doing.
~2:55 Steve says "I was scared of you, but not now" and they hug. Refs are humans too! Just doing their best, and fundamentally are good nice honest people. [Also, steve looks good in stripes]
~3:55 Putting the emphasis on communication. Establishing "you do this, look for this". Getting Steve to focus in on his area and assignments, just like a player would do. But making clear, you do that because the other Refs are doing their jobs. Every NFL game has three teams on the field!
~4:10 That 'Hawks fan is all of us deep down right now going into Wk 1 :p
~5:00 Just chatting about DB's, NFL Refs love football as much as anyone. But also, just talking through what's happening, running their own little internal commentary. It really highlights how much each ref is trying to cover on each play. So when something gets missed there's just that context. Watching Steve then going through the progression and trying to manage all the info I think is a great demonstration of the skill involved in being a ref. It's hard, really hard mentally.
~6:50 Flag on the play! Steve sticks to his call which is good, but i also like the hesitancy in his voice - to be expected from a rookie. All fun and games, but then it rolls through to Steve talking about what i just said - it's a lot of process and is really tough mentally. "ADD on steroids" is pretty apt, I remember doing my first Ref work (not American Football, but honestly the translation to Soccer & Rugby are real) and feeling so overwhelmed by it all. Such a great depiction of what it takes to be a Ref, and this was just practice!
Luckily i'm not going to minute-by-minute the rest here :p Just to say it's a great video, and take it and also apply it to other sports your follow - being a referee in other sports is incredibly similar. So, be kind to your Refs, as without them we wouldn't have sports.
Hmm... it is hard not to read something into JS not mentioning Adams when talking about the Seattle secondary. Oversight? I doubt it--the GM is only too aware of Adams and what he is costing against the cap. Superstition? Maybe they don't want to talk about Adams because it will jinx his recovery lol. I am sure that PCJS are feeling burned that they designed the 2022 D around Adams then lost him Game 1 last year, and maybe feel like they cannot count on him. Better maybe to be surprised by his contribution than disappointed in his unavailability.