Graham May Play

There is a good possibility that Jimmy Graham will play Sunday against the Miami Dolphins. How much he will play is anyone’s guess and it will be a day game decision. He has been practicing the last week though he hasn’t been in any of the pre-season games.

I expect that Graham will be coming in on specialty downs especially third down. I am sure the Seahawks have some plays especially set for him. I expect throughout the season he will be playing some at tight end and some at receiver. In fact I have to say that he will be played a lot at receiver. He is meant to be a receiver instead of a tight end. The Seahawks are pretty stocked at tight end so there is no need for him to play there very often. When he does play tight end he will either be a decoy or a special play will be made for him.

The Seahawks do have some pretty good receivers but I am sure he will be in the game when they go with three receiver group. Most likely he will be on the outside with Doug Baldwin in the inside. I really like to see what they do with Graham for his height and with Tyler Lockett with his speed.

I know that some have questioned why the Seahawks traded for him in the first place but I think if they use him in special places he can be a very good access for the team since he is a tall player. He can be used a lot when throwing the ball high. This season we will see if these questions will be answered. I believe the Seahawks offense will be very strong this season with all the different looks they have along with the strengths. Christine Michael is expected to start against Miami at running back however Thomas Rawls should make some good runs as well. I believe that Rawls will start by game three if not beforehand. Rawls should be the main featured back by then with Michael and Collins playing some in the backfield as well. C.J. Prosise is expected to be the primary running back on third downs either passing or running the ball. He has been hurt so hard to know when he will be fully ready to play. I believe we will see him against Miami however how successful he will be we still have to see. If he isn’t totally ready to go I would not be surprised to see Alex Collins come in on third downs.

We pretty know how the defense will play against the Dolphins but it still is nice to see them on the field. There will be questions on the one outside linebacker and how the ends will rush the quarterback. We hope that they give the qb havoc in the game. It will be nice to see several three and outs for the Dolphins and get the Seahawks offense back on the field. My predication for the game is Seahawks 31-13 win. Go Hawks!  

University of Washington Ranked #8

After last week’s win over Rutgers the Huskies are now ranked #8. Since it was the first game Head Coach Chris Peterson was not taking it seriously. I would not either since Rutgers is not that great of a team. If the Huskies are still ranked #8 at Halloween than we really have something to say and cheer about.

The Huskies looked pretty good in the game especially on the offensive side of the ball and special teams. John Ross scored two touchdowns on passes along with kickoff return. Pettis also scored a touchdown on a punt return.

This Saturday the Huskies will take on Idaho so we will where things go then. Idaho is not expected to be a real good team either so the Huskies should be heavy favorites once again. What I hope is that the running game will be better this week so that the passing game will open up even more so. If Gaskin can run for hundred yards with a couple touchdowns along with Ross scoring at least one touchdown then the Huskie world will be in a good place. A few sacks and an interception by the defense would be nice as well.

If you are a Cougar fan I am sure you are hoping they will rebound and win against Boise State. I know that will be a tall order for them. The Cougars play Idaho themselves in their third week they may be 1-2 after that. The important thing that the Cougars improve this Saturday whether they win or not. Everyone knows that they have a good offense the key is that the defense starts to get things together. If not this could be a long season. Something forgotten in Cougar Land is that you have to stop the other team as much as scoring yourself. You may have to learn that from your counterpart in Seattle. If the Huskies end the season in the top ten it will be for the defense more than the offense. I am sure everyone likes watching a lot of scoring but in the end the defense has to stop the other team at some point. We hope both teams will go through this Saturday by having no key injuries either. So right now let’s go Huskies and Cougars!!

Adam Lind Grand Slam Leads Mariners Over Rangers!

The Seattle Mariners decided at least for one game they were going to let the Texas Rangers have it and it took place on Wednesday Night. Actually the series so far has been a lot of offense happening in all three games. At least in this one they had some good pitching especially with starter Miranda who pitched into the seventh inning before going to the bullpen. Adam Lind had a grand slam to help the Mariners take a commanding lead in the first inning 5-0. He hit another home run in his next at bat along with one by Seth Smith which allowed the Mariners a comfortable lead. A.J. Griffin the starter for the Rangers lasted only four innings which was somewhat amazing when he had trouble giving up hits.

Miranda sailed along pretty good until the sixth inning with two outs Marte had a ball hit to him that went over his glove for an error. After another hit with two runners on base Carlos Beltran hit a home run. Miranda pitched to one batter in the seventh inning and walked him. At that point he was taken out of the game. I am not sure why no one was warming up in the bullpen when the sixth inning started even though they had a comfortable lead because in his other starts he has had trouble in that inning. He should have been taken out when the hitter reached base after the error. With all the stats and everything else to their disposal the coaching staff should know that Miranda starts getting in trouble in the sixth inning. On the fortunate side the bullpen did an excellent job not letting the lead get out of hand! I know that they want to rest the bullpen much as possible however the history of the starting pitchers should count for something. I hate to lose a game that gets out of hand just because they had a so called large lead.

Thursday night TaiJuan Walker takes the mound for the Mariners. There is a possibility that the Mariners could use the bullpen a lot with what Walker has been going thru the last few starts especially the last one where he did not make it through the 1^st inning. Stottlemyre worked with Walker on his mechanics so we will see Thursday how that works out. We hope that the problem is not just in his head like some think. Depending on how he does this could be his last start of the season. It looks like Wade LeBlanc will be back with the Mariners in a few days so he could take Walker’s spot if needed. Although the Mariners chances are slim now to make the playoffs as a wild card it is important that the team plays like they are in the playoffs and not just going through the motions. They are looking at guys like Gamel and Heredia to see where they fit in the equation for next year. We look forward to see what the team does the remaining of the season. It will be interesting to see what Dipoto does in the off-season. Regardless we do know that some changes will occur. Go M’s.

Mariners Take Game One Against Rangers

The Seattle Mariners have decided to keep us in suspense by beating up on the Rangers on Monday night 14-6. It was fortunate because Felix had another poor game pitching giving up five runs. We hope that he will be able to correct things and get back to his pitching like he did a couple weeks ago.

The offense started off with a great home run that Robinson Cano hit into the right field bleachers to make the score 2-0. Before Felix had some trouble the Mariner were up to 8-0. Besides the hitting it allowed the Mariners to keeping the bullpen pitching at a minimum. Other words the key relievers did not pitch in the game.

We have seen the Mariners this season where they score a lot of runs like this and then go in a hitting slump. I just hope this doesn’t happen and the hitting can keep on going. It would be nice to score at least six runs a game especially with a starting rotation that continues to struggle. I am sure though that Felix will recover and figure things out not like TaiJuan Walker.

Tuesday night James Paxton is back on the mound after having finger issues. It will be real nice if he is recovered from that and he can pitch at least six innings in the game. I hope that the game is not close but Edwin Diaz needs some action to keep him sharp.

It will be interesting to see who the Mariners will keep in the bullpen for next season. Outside of Nunez every other spot seems to be open. It would be nice that someone takes up the setup role in the seventh and eighth innings like what was going on about a month ago.

The starting rotation seems to be an area of concern going into next season as well. The Mariners may need to go out and get themselves a number one starter. I am not saying that Felix is no longer capable of being the number one starter but they do show they are vulnerable there. James Paxton does show he could be the number three or four starter depending on where Iwakuma is put in. TaiJuan Walker needs to get his head back into the game. He has the potential but that goes only so far; going out and getting another starter would be a good idea as well.

Last week Dipoto going out and getting Ben Gamel was a good idea. He plays good defense along with looking like a leadoff hitter the Mariners can use however no one knows at this point where he is the long term solution as a regular outfielder. He certainly has the speed and defense to be a part of next year’s team. Shawn O’Malley still looks to be the guy as the backup infielder. Depending on Marte he could play regularly at shortstop too. He answered it when Marte was on the disabled list.

The Mariners are planning to bring up Aoki Tuesday. How much he plays depends on him and the other guys in the outfield. Gamel will be playing a lot and we will see Heredia in games against lefties. Aoki and Smith most likely alternate in the outfield against right handers. One will be used as a left handed pinch hitter when not starting against right handers while they both can come in to pinch hit when they face a lefty. In fact Tuesday night the Mariners face Perez who is another lefty so both will be available off the bench.

I still have questions at the catching position. It was nice to see Jesus Sucre contribute by starting on Monday night getting three hits and driving three runs. He had the history of hitting well off of Hamels so a good choice by Servais in starting him. If he can stay healthy I could see Sucre being the backup catcher next year. Iannetta is showing that he can’t do it after playing in so many games. Mike Zunino has been in a slump so hard to know if the Mariners will think about keeping him around or go after another catcher to start in the off-season. We do see the potential in Zunino just like in Walker but how long can the Mariners stick with both guys. They could be involved in a blockbuster trade especially for a number one starter. Another team could look at the potential in both of them and take a gamble. In the meantime whether the Mariners continue toward the playoffs or not it will be nice to see some parts that could be on the team next season. Go M’s.

 

 

 

Huskie Blow Out

The University of Washington Huskies took care of Rutgers on Saturday. I am not sure how good that Rutgers are supposed to be though they are in the Big Ten.

The Huskies passing attack was real good especially in the first quarter. John Ross who was out last year caught two passes for touchdowns in the first quarter and then after a field goal by Rutgers he ran back a kickoff for a touchdown. Although the Huskies scored more points he did all that they needed to win the game.

Pettis the Huskies punt returner also returned one for a touchdown as well. I believe the Huskies running game will be better than how it looked on Saturday. They ran for ninety-one yards on thirty carries. I expect they will improve next week against Idaho. Being the first game things do not always work out the way they should even in a big win like this one.

The Huskies defense was Ok and Rutgers scored ten of their thirteen points in the fourth quarter against the Huskies backup players.

In other Pac-12 action the Washington Cougars lost to Eastern Washington 45-42. The game was close in the first half however EW got ahead by ten points in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter each team had a touchdown until with seventeen seconds left the Cougars scored another touchdown to make it the three point difference. EW has been a tough team playing University of Washington and Oregon pretty close the last two years. It would be smart if Cougars or anyone else in the Pac-12 not play EW at the beginning of the season because they are very tough team though they are a lower level team. EW are very similar to the Cougars where they like scoring a lot of points. The Cougars need to look at improving their defense. They have a good passing attack but do not run the ball nearly as often. The Cougars passed forty-one times in the game for over four hundred yards while running the ball twenty-five times for 97 yards. EW ran the ball the same amount of times as the Cougars but ran for one hundred and ten yards. Not a large difference while they passed the ball thirty-five times for four hundred and ninety-six yards. For the amount of times both starting quarterbacks threw the ball each only had one interception in the game.

The Cougars take on Boise State next Saturday who should be favored in the game. The defense will need to play a better game to win because Boise State put up forty-five points in the game they played on Saturday.

Next week we will see how both the Huskies and Cougars do. The Huskies should be 2-0 after next week while the Cougars likely will be 0-2.  

Local College Football Starts Saturday

 The University of Washington Huskies and Washington State Cougars start their football seasons on Saturday. It will be exciting to report about them over the next three months.

Both of the teams are expected to do well this season. The media projected that the Huskies would finish second in the north division of the Pac-West 12 and the Cougars picked to finish 4 behind the Oregon Ducks.

I see both teams compete for the division lead. Either team could win the division. The Apple Cup at the end of the season on Black Friday the winner of the game could win the division. Whether that happens or not the winner of the game could make a major bowl while the loser may go to a smaller bowl.

The Huskies take on Rutgers in Seattle for the first time. The Huskies are favored to win by twenty-four points but you never know what happens in the first game of the season. Sophomore   Jake Browning will begin his second season as the starting quarterback. I am sure Coach Chris Peterson will let him go to throw longer passes and open up the offense more this season. The strength of the offense still is the running game. The starting tailback is Myles Gaskin who had a fantastic season last year as a freshman. He ran for over thirteen hundred yards and scored fourteen touchdowns. It would be another great year if he could match the same this season. His backup is another sophomore Jomon Dotson who only carried the ball eighteen times last year. He is expected to carry the ball more this year and take advantage of his speed. If both Gaskin and Dotson can run a lot of yardage this will leave open a good passing game though the wide receivers lack experience.  The top returning receiver will be John Ross who missed all of last season with ACL tear. He is back and healthy along with his speed. He is one of the fastest guys in the Pac-12 if not the nation. Another returning receiver is Dante Pettis who is a fellow junior with Ross. Another thing you will see both of them on kick offs and punt returns. You could see both guys return kickoffs or punt returns for touchdowns. The major thing though they will put the team in a good position to start off an offense series.

The big key to the Huskies will still be their defense. They were one of the top teams in the Pac-12 last year and this season should be no different. They are especially strong in the backfield beginning with free safety Bubba Baker and cornerback Sidney Jones who were both all-Pac-12 selections and could be top draft picks next year. They will especially good if the defensive line and linebackers do their jobs. So if the offense goes out and does a great job then the Huskies will be hard to beat.

The Cougars will start their season Saturday night against Eastern Washington. Although Eastern Washington play at a lower division than the Cougars they have always have given teams in the Pac-12 trouble when they play and I expect this matchup will not be any difference.

Like most years the Cougars will be going with a good powerful offense behind the passing of junior quarterback Luke Falk. The key for Falk is to keep him healthy. Last year he missed some action because of concussions. For the Cougar faithful everyone hopes that he will not have the same trouble this season. He could be the best Cougar quarterback they have ever had and that says a lot.

The big question like most years is where the Cougars defense will be. The only way the Cougars can win the Pac-12 is to have a large improvement on the defensive side of the ball unless the offense is the best in the country.

As long as Luke Falk stays healthy the Cougars will be one of the most entertaining teams in the country especially with the style of offense they play. Coach Mike Leach always likes having his offense opened up and a lot of passing will be happening for sure. We will see very little running the ball. It will only happen as a change up to the passing game but that doesn’t happen very often either. Now that all the Pac-12 game are on television we will have the opportunity to see them play.

Eastern Washington plays a style of football similar to the Cougars so a lot of footballs will be thrown around. Look forward to being entertained Saturday night.

Both the local teams should give us some really good football this season after having some down years the past decade especially in the Huskies. Besides the Seahawks we can use a lot of good football. Go Huskies and Cougars!!!!

Mariners Swept Badly

There is not much to say when the Mariners get swept and it ends with a 14-1 crushing by the team you are chasing in your division along with the fact that your best pitcher gives up five runs in the fourth and final inning he pitches including a grand slam homer.

I would expect that at some point Felix would be taken advantage by another team giving up a lot of runs having been doing well after coming off the disabled list. The problem is though it came at a poor time for this to happen when the team could use another good outing after winning only one game on the current road trip.

It is amazing that the Mariners had such a good road record and a terrible home record through May and now things have been reversed. The Mariners have a record of 4-11 against the Texas Rangers with four remaining in the season happening in Seattle next week. We hope that they can rebound starting Friday in Seattle against the Los Angeles Angels. The Angels along with the A’s who they play against later in the month are two teams in the division they have done well against while the Rangers and the Astros they have done badly against. It would be nice if the Mariners could have had at least two or three wins go their way against the Rangers. Though they would still be a losing record at least it would be more presentable.

 It would have nice if the bullpen could have kept the Mariners in the game but sometimes that happens too. At least only three relievers used in the game and Thursday is an off day so helps the bullpen to be rested. The Mariners did have eight hits but nothing was accomplished except the one run homer by Kyle Seager.

On Wednesday during the game the Mariners picked up a left handed bat in the outfield from the New York Yankees in Ben Gamel for a couple young minor league pitchers. Whether he is an everyday player to be or not at least Dipoto is looking to upgrade in the outfield. He did say he wanted to get more athletic in the outfield and Gamel fits the bill. It will be interesting to see what he will do this month of September for the Mariners. It will give Dipoto more of an idea what he will have to do during the off-season to upgrade the outfield. It is tough when your outfield is made up of a very good defensive centerfielder who is still looking to improve in his hitting while the two corner outfields need improvement for sure. Seth Smith and Franklin Gutierrez are adequate but the other position is far from being good.  I am sure Scott Servais will look at platooning Gamel and Heredia in left or right field for September. This will give them a good idea for next season whether to go out and get a regular outfielder.

I am sure the Mariners will be looking at several relievers bringing up as well in September to showcase themselves for next season. I still have a little hope that the Mariners will make the playoffs but they will have to start winning the rest of the way. They have twenty-nine games to go in the season and they have to win close to twenty of them to make the playoff which is hard to do but they are capable of doing so. It is a team that has shortcomings which has led to going on some losing streaks. At least these shortcomings can be fixed during the off-season to be contenders next season. So Friday night they go against the Angels and it has to be a game that must be won or you could say it is all over this season. Go M’s.