The Seahawks new QB!

Seattle Seahawks helmet

Seattle needs a quarterback

Lets start this blog with the most obvious statement I have ever typed…the Seahawks need a new quarterback if they are going to ever be a Super Bowl contender. Tarvaris Jackson served as this year’s stop-gap between an aging and increasingly fragile Matt Hasselback and the young untested quarterback the Seahawks will pick in this upcoming NFL Draft. At least that’s what we’ve been led to believe.

The fact that Jackson was a stop-gap is hardly a question. General Manager John Schneider signed Jackson for a fraction of what Hasselback was asking. And the length of the deal is only two years. So what’s the risk?…they asked themselves. They have a 4 year veteran with a moderate career QB rating of 79.1 and they aren’t committing a lot of dough in the process.

What I think is more in debate is where that next quarterback of the future is going to come from. Given that Seattle is so good that they won’t pick any higher than 11th in the coming allocation of college talent all the best quarterbacks that you could possibly bank on may be off the board. Yes, I know Tom Brady was a 7th round draft pick. But I’m talking about someone you can plan to be good nearly from the start. Everyone knows Brady is the exception to the norm.

The 15-1 Green Bay Packers didn’t play this year’s MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers in their last game against the 10-6 playoff bound Detroit Lions. You may have missed this because Green Bay scored 48 points against the Lion’s formidable defense. And Green Bay’s quarterback threw for six touchdowns and 480 yards; both Packer records. And …to repeat…it wasn’t Aaron Rodgers.

English: Green Bay Packers back-up quarterback...

Packer's back up QB Matt Flynn

Talk of Matt Flynn as a quality quarterback existed long before his record day against the Detroit Lions. Someone is going to make this 26-year old a very rich man.  And it’s not as if Flynn has no history of success behind him.

LSU QB Matt Flynn drops back to pass against T...

Flynn won a National Title at LSU

His relative anonymity comes from four years in the NFL as Rodgers backup and only one year as a starter at Louisiana State University where he backed up eventual Number 1 NFL Draft pick JaMarcus Russell. So…what did he do in his one year as a starter at LSU? He led the Bayou Bengals to a National Title, beating Ohio State in the BCS National Title game.

Here is the best news about acquiring Flynn to be next year’s quarterback…he is an unrestricted free agent. So Seattle wouldn’t need to trade anything for him and they wouldn’t need to spend a relatively high draft pick. The only thing that could stand in the way of this free exercise of football capitalism is if the Green Bay Packers tag Flynn with the franchise tag. Doing so would require them to promise a contract to their backup quarterback of $14-million dollars, making trading him very difficult.

Picture of Seahawks Practice Scrimage at Easte...

Mike Holmgren

Plus I like the history. Hasselback was a Green Bay backup to Brett Favre when Mike Holmgren plucked him out of obscurity and turned him into a Pro Bowl quarterback who led Seattle to our only Super Bowl appearance. And they’re both named Matt. And acquiring someone else’s backup as your starter is at least as successful as drafting a quarterback in the first round. Houston’s Matt Schaab, former Husky Mark Brunnel, the aforementioned Favre, Kansas City’s Matt Castel, and Arizona’s Kevin Kolb have all been successful as starters after having apprenticed as an NFL backup to a Pro Bowler. Flynn could be the next guy; the next Matt to be a star quarterback in the NFL.

So scuttle plans to scour over all those useless college statistics for quarterbacks you aren’t going to get anyway. Schneider and Pete Carroll need to fork over the bucks necessary to bring the latest Green Bay Matt to the Puget Sound.

Thanks for visiting. Comments are welcome.

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January 3, 2012
Categories: Sports, Washington State . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Author: Michael Schuett . Comments: 3 Comments

Do YOU listen to Non-parents giving parenting advice?

The Seattle Times Editorial offered a printed hand slap to Washington State Senator Mike Baumgartner that I didn’t feel was appropriate, but got me thinking about parenting and non-parents. See what YOU think.

Official portrait of Senator (D-WA).

Washington U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell

In the Editorial “Cantwell challenger makes rookie mistake in commenting on marital status” it is written: In a fundraising letter (attacking Senator Maria Cantwell‘s position on availability of “Plan B” contraceptive pills to teens without parental consent), Baumgartner mentioned that Cantwell is unmarried and “has frequently voted to undermine the role of parents in child rearing.”

Baumgartner is a declared Republican candidate to challenge Cantwell for her Senate seat in 2012. Good luck with that, Mike. :-\

The Times goes on to ask what Cantwell’s marital status has to do with her views on the Plan B contraceptive and its availability to teens without that teens parental consent. To which I respond, it has a whole lot to do with her views. If you don’t have children you can’t possibly imagine the responsibilities, the weight of each and every day decisions, and the day-to-day challenges a parent faces.

I have had several friends over the course of the years who have chosen to go through life without kids. A couple of them come to mind on this subject. My old friend Deborah, (really a co-worker more than a friend) would never hesitate counseling my wife and I on what SHE thought should be done with any of my three kids. My kids range in age by a full 12 years youngest to oldest. So the unsolicited advice ranged from what to do about a crying baby, to how to deal with a rebellious teen. Now Deborah is a smart person but completely full of herself. And the fact that she had a college degree in “Early childhood development” was something she never failed to mention. But when Deborah or anyone else offered parenting advice I would listen, because you never know when you might luckily stumble upon a gem of a good idea. But usually I would be a little offended that a non-parent felt knowledgable enough to offer such thoughts, and I would take the advice with a grain of salt, or with the knowledge that it came from a person without a clue.

I’m a sports fan. I played football in high school. I believe myself very knowledgable about the game. But despite the fact that I had my “bell” rung a few times and had the wind knocked out of me by 150-180 pound high school opponents I can’t relate in any way to what Tom Brady goes through. Did you see the hit he took in the Denver game last week? He got blasted by Broncos D-lineman Elvis Dumervil.

English: Elvis Dumervil, a player on the Natio...

Elvis Dumervil

Dumervil is 6-foot and 260 pounds. And he runs a 4.5 second 40 yard dash. I’m almost as big as he is but if he hit me I might not get up. I can’t possibly imagine.

Most non-parents are smart enough not to offer parenting advice. It’s quite arrogant to do so and to think you can relate. Trust me, you absolutely have no idea. So I think it’s perfectly appropriate for Baumgartner to question Cantwell’s marital status and childless status when Cantwell takes political positions that take away the rights of parents.

What do you think?

Thanks for visiting. Comments are welcome.

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December 21, 2011
Categories: National Politics, Uncategorized, Washington State . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , . Author: Michael Schuett . Comments: Comments Off on Do YOU listen to Non-parents giving parenting advice?