The he was an RFA, which means that the Seahawks need to meet matching offers exactly. The Vikings put a stipulation into the contract that by 2007, Hutchinson would have to be the highest paid lineman on the team. The Seahawkshave Walter Jones at left tackle, who is paid very well and plays very well. Had they signed the contract, they would have been contractually obligated to either rework Jones's contract or cut him, and if Jones didn't want less money, he could have gone to some other team and gotten a lot on the open market. Hence they had to let him go.

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you could see in the reverse angle sharper was just floating there, watching and waiting to see where orton went with that ball. whether it is orton or lloyd at fault, sharper was ready for it.

They could- a lot depends on that final game with a possibly apathetic New York team. It'll be interesting to see if this defense can do anything against the run without Williams and Williams, who will be suspeded after today.

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Right, but that's the case whenever you see one of those "man in zone" catches; there's always a safety waiting there over he top. The only difference is that there's a WR running onto the screen in front of him. That's how that play worked, minus the WR part. I know it looks really bad, because by the time you see the secondary on the TV screen, you see a WR streaking open down the field and no one but a safety in the zone. But run correctly, Orton throws that ball just as or immediately before Lloyd makes the read, Lloyd gets position inside the safety, and it's about a 15 yard gain. Had Sharper not been further towards the middle of the field, the read would be go and Lloyd would have been correct. But Sharper had position on the outside pass.

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[/quote]

Yeah, but Jones is 3 years older and you could have kept him for one more year to make another super bowl run. Jones who was once great is now good and I trust Holmgrens judgement more then Ruskells.

You might be right. The common wisdom has been that guards are more replacable than tackles and that so much money shouldn't go towards any guard. I'm not saying that's right, but it is the common wisdom.

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yeah, i agree with all of that, im just saying that even if lloyd and orton had been on the right page, and lloyd had stopped short, that likely is going to be an incomplete pass at best, but it would have also prevented the int. i thought it looked dangerous because the reverse angle gave a clear shot of sharper just camping out, looking right at orton, reading his actions all the way.

I'll have to watch it again. You could be right.

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Thoughts:

Despite what Nas may have you believe (boy do you look even sillier now, Nas:lol: ) AP is the real deal. Anybody that says otherwise is not a meatball, they're a fucking moron.

The coaching on this team is still terrible. Forte did ok, but my god how many times did he need to get stuffed up the middle before Turner realized that running into the Williams fattys was not going to work.

Piggy backing on the coaching, if Lovie had any balls he would have marched into Turner's office and ripped that quick handoff to the fullback play out of the playbook weeks ago. Also, anybody catch what Andrea Kramer said at halftime? Lovie apparently said "we dominated the first half." Yeah, but you should have been up 14-3 and instead were down by 10 at half. Quite the domination, Lovie.

This team really needs help at WR because there were way too many drops out there today. Rasheid Davis, I'm looking at you specifically.

As has been pointed out here, especially by IrishBoy, John St Clair is awful. In fact, I make a motion that the "Qassim Mitchell Turnstyle Award" hereby be changed to the "John St. Clair Turnstyle Award." I don't know if Chris Williams is the answer this year, but they cannot keep marching St Clair out there. He is going to get somebody really hurt.

The Bears are Medicore at best, and of the 2 Wild Card teams today (Carolina, Atlanta) they would be underdogs in the playoffs (or maybe 3 point favorites becuase they are at home, which is essentially a "pick 'em" game anyway) and rightly so. They have gotten blown out in back to back division games now. This team drives me mad, so frustrating.

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Larry is on the post game show.

They have a live chat on NBC 5. I set up a thread in the Larry/Hampton section.

I have no real desire to rehash all that, but:

Adrian Peterson: 28 carries, 131 yards (4.7 average)

Had dumbass Kevin Payne not decided to knock three of his own players off Peterson and that 59 yard gain been, say, for 10 yards:

28 carries, 82 yards (2.9 yards a carry)

AP owes Kevin Payne a fruit basket.

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I could be wrong about it. I'll look at it again tomorrow. Orton may feel differently when he looks at the tape tomorrow though. He may also not want to say "my WR fucked up" during a press conference.

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I guess I don't have a huge problem with that, because there were three of them, and he wasn't going anywhere unless, say, a safety was going to fly in and throw a shoulder directly into the backs of his own players. They say the second guy should go for the ball, and AP is prone to fumbles. Maybe you should forget that when you have a guy like AP that could break open a game. But, once again, you should also be able to count on your safety to not be a fuck-up.

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Let me see if I can find the play on youtube to look at it.

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NFL videos has it from both the sideline angle and the backfield angle. I'm still convinced it was Lloyd that missed the read. When Orton puts the ball into the air, Lloyd is at the Bears 40. Sharper is at about the 45 or so. Sharper is just starting to bail out backwards when the ball goes into the air. Lloyd gets behind Sharper, but not until after the ball went into the air and Sharper broke in. Lloyd's cut is supposed to come as soon as Sharper begins to bail.

Like I said, I could be wrong about all that. But Lloyd certainly wasn't going to be open deep; Sharper had five yards on him and plenty of time to get over the top. Orton may have said it was his fault. His first reaction might even have been "my bad". But I think that's just being a good teammate. The last two INTs were on him.

The video, if anyone is interested, is marked "Chi vs. Min: 3rd Qtr"; the int comes around the 1:18 mark. http://www.nfl.com/videos

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Perhaps you missed the stat they flashed up tonite on AP. Thru the first 25 games of thier careers, only 3 guys have had more yards- Eric Dickerson, Jim Brown, Edgerrin James.

I stand by my statement. If you still do not believe AP is the real deal, you are a fucking moron.

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Can't argue with the facts, mr moron.

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Does anyone think Edgerrin James is great?

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At one time, yes.

I dunno, I guess I just see a very good running back who happened to be in a very favorable situation.

Number five on that list is George Rogers. Does anyone thing George Rogers is great? Sometimes where you draw those lines is very important.

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This loss really stings. Not cuz we lost. I knew that could happen. Cuz it was there for the taking when we had it 1st and goal on the 1 yard line.

We could have broke their spirit and killed the crowd right there. Fuck!!!!

Who the fuck is George Waters?

Not saying Peterson will be a Hall of Famer but the guys is special. Who would you rather have at RB? Portis? Westbrook? Jacobs? Turner? Those guys are all great and if he were healthy I might take Westbrook. Hell, Hester was brilliant for two years. If the Vikes had a QB they would have run away with the North 2-3 weeks ago.

No. And so long as those lines exclude Emmitt Smith, Franco Harris, Marshall Faulk, Thurman Thomas...and Curtis Martin( ), we will agree.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

And Favre was on the big stage when? 2005? 1999? Earlier?

Or am I blinded by the glare from Favre's multiple SB rings

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

For all the glass half full guys out there, a question. Since the Super Bowl loss, what have you seen from the Bears that makes you think they can win 4 games in a row to make the playoffs? So far this season, the Bears have 6 wins, and 3 of those against horrible teams (Lions and Rams).

Don't get me wrong, I hope somehow the Bears make the playoffs. Cuz they get a home playoff game, and thats not too bad all things considered. But I had this team pegged for 5 wins. They are who we thought they were.

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I'm sort of w/ Frank on this one. But I'm not comparing him to any all-time greats, because I'm pretty sure we would all take AP right now over Brown, Payton, Sayers, or EVEN Forsey.

AP is a great RB in today's NFL, without a doubt in my mind. R&B asked who would I rather have instead of AP:

NFC:
B. Westbrook: No (too "hurty" all the time)
B. Jacobs: No (too one dimensional)
M. Forte: No (not yet, kool-aid fans)
R. Grant:
R. Bush: No. see R. Grant
C. Portis: No. see B. Westbrook and a add a 1/2 cup of D. Rodman
S. Jackson: maybe oft-injured, maybe the shadow of Faulk doesn't help, but no.
F. Gore: very good RB on a crap team. I like Gore, but would rather have AP.
M. Turner: I saved him for last, because he is the one NFC RB I would have to pause and consider. But let me see more...

AFC:
L. Tomlinson: Yes - way too versatile and quick to pass up.
W. Parker: No. too "hurty"
W. McGahee: No. WAY too "hurty"
J. Lewis: No - too old and felonius.
J. Addai: No. WTF has happened to him?
AFC rookie star RB's: None yet.
L. Johnson:

I could keep going, but I think you get my drift. AP is a great RB in today's NFL. Top 2, possibly 3. Yes, he has great line, but almost always faces stacked lines against him. No passing threat to speak of. He's real good.

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only borderline great? cmon

seriously cmooooonnn

I'm a fan, but I'm also a realist. I did not expect them to beat the Titans or win last nite, and picked accordingly.

But I guess that makes me a meatball

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No more meatball references PLEASE! Moron, idiot, dumb fuck, jack ass, meat head, etc.

I'm pretty sure you're wrong on this one.

Otherwise, I agree with your point. And in regards to my last post, I'm not blaming Orton for the loss...he had a bad game, he's allowed to have one, as he's been quite good this year...but to say that he DIDNT have a bad game (as Irish Boy is) is ridiculous.