QUARTERBACK MADNESS

Now that Andrew Luck has decided to return to Stanford and not enter this years draft, if the Seattle Seahawks lose their first game next year, Seahawk fans can rejoice knowing they are that much closer to getting the #1 draft pick for 2012.

Once the season gets going, getting those wins back will be impossible, and so we will need to get right to losing from game one!
 
Since it is universally acknowledged that the QB position is the most critical position on the team, and having a great one is deemed necessary for routine success, getting that no.1 draft choice in 2012 may be the key to the near and mid-term success for the Seahawks. Or at least that is the view of plenty of Seahawks fans prior to beating New Orleans. Their thinking was that is was better to lose to the Rams and get the 8th overall draft spot rather than lose embarrassingly to New Orleans, which they saw as inevitable and then only have the 21st pick overall. Well, that could be a whole other post I suppose....

Here is another prescription for success.

Sign Hasselbeck to another two or three year contract and then trade him to Arizona (arguably the worst team in our division) for as high a draft pick as possible for the 2012 year. That way, if Hasselbeck is as bad as his detractors say, Arizona will tank the season and that pick will really be worth something.
 
In the meantime, use our coaching geniuses (I really hope I am serious) to devise an offense that makes the absolute most out of Charlie Whitehurst's skill set and make him look as good as possible. If he works out, we are set. If not, he looks like a pro QB worth something so trade him away for more draft picks.

The entire NFL seems to be a little QB crazy these days. Benching them inexplicably the way SF did, firing them or trading them at the end of the season by the dozens according to the prognosticators, and intending to draft them by the handful in the first round according to most Mock drafts going around these days - which are so plentiful one would think interest in the upcoming NFL draft has displaced porn as the primary purpose of the internet.
 
We are told multiple teams have shown an interest in our own Matt Hasselbeck while, seemingly, the vast majority of fans want to dump him retroactively if at all possible. Starting him against NO, who he threw against earlier in the season for 360 yards with an even stronger OL, this time around might give him and the Seahawks the opportunity to shine him up for the soon to be QB auction. Duct tape him together long enough to get a nice draft choice out of him. If he wins the game - all the better. [Editors note: this was written before the game vs. N.O...duh]

I think the Seahawks can use this QB madness throughout the league to their advantage. We gave up a second (or was it a third?) round draft choice to get CW (which many fans were crying crocodile tears over just a few weeks ago as a total waste, but who now see some possibilities they  had previously overlooked) and I think we could re-trade him right now for considerably more than that. Teams seem desperate to get rid of their old crop of QB's and try someone else's backups for a while. At the same time, most teams will be drafting new QB's as well. Hoping to hit the lottery. That means there will probably be a glut on the market and a few possible gems in the rough could get released for nothing. Sort of like how we acquired Mike Williams.
 
I have no doubt there must be a few geniuses in the ranks of the NFL coaches, but I am even more sure that not all of them are geniuses. Or even necessarily competent to evaluate QB talent. The skill sets most coaches bring to the table probably do not include this particular genius. Overlooking hidden talent in the draft or on your own team is not only possible but almost a time honored tradition.

 When a team needs a quarterback it behooves them to draft a couple, get a couple of rejects, and as many un-drafted free agents with a hunger bigger than Hoover Dam  - then throw them all out to compete and hope for the best. Statistically speaking, a team needs to draft four QB's in the first round to get one probowl QB, but they do not need all that many more un-drafted QB's to get the same results. Economically speaking you get a lot more for your money with un-drafted QB's by the bunch then you get from a couple of first round draft choices. That might be some kind of statistical wizardry that I read delineating all of that, nevertheless it feels correct to me. That does not mean I would snub Andrew Luck with ANY draft pick my team ever might get lucky enough to possess where he was available. I'd take my chances on his being a bust.
 
The day of specialization seems to have reached the NFL when what is needed is an entire department for QB EVALUATION to achieve the goals of producing a winning football franchise. Complete with a big budget, President in charge of, and lots of various professionals including but not limited to psychologists, MD's, forensic accountants, and a huge covertly run spy ring. Both domestic and foreign divisions with need to know clearances. Such divisions in the corporation would undoubtedly be able to justify their jobs if they can just avoid a single incident such as the ongoing Farve and his privates scandal. Or the Vick thing. Such due diligence almost seems appropriate from a PR standpoint, but honestly I have no idea what the economic ramifications are to a team by a scandal such as the M Vick dog thing. Maybe all the PR, while socially negative, has a positive affect on the bottom line? If that's the case, and here I might add is where the forensic accountants might come in handy, the domestic covert operatives might want to CREATE a scandal. All in the name of business, mind you.
 
Need to know, and plausible deniability goes without saying.

I'm sorry folks, but I just saw "QUIZ SHOW" and I guess it got to me.....go Seahawks.