Wednesday, February 8, 2012 @ 1:13pm

Cards could give Seahawks competition for Manning

The Cardinals were already one of the teams assumed to be interested in acquiring Peyton Manning should the Colts cut their longtime quarterback.

That was before Arizona announced Wednesday the hiring of Frank Reich, who was at one point Manning's quarterbacks coach in Indianapolis. Reich, who spent 14 seasons in the NFL as a quarterback, will be the Cardinals wide receivers coach, the same position he held last season with the Colts.

In Wednesday's Wrap Up video, Brock and Salk say this development is another reason why the Cardinals could give the Seahawks competition should each team pursue Manning.

You can download Wednesday's podcast here.

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Tuesday, February 7, 2012 @ 8:56am

An open letter to Peyton Manning on coming to Seattle

Dear Peyton,

In the coming days or weeks your run in Indy will likely come to an end. Your incredible investment to that organization and the success you brought to the "Horseshoe" and city won't soon be forgotten. Yet, the Colts will draft Andrew Luck and you'll be left to weigh your options. Knowing how maniacal and task-oriented you are, I am sure you and agent Tom Condon have already begun the preparations and the process of game planning the next stop.

Let me help.

It wasn't all that long ago that as a backup I would watch film and break down opponents, too, and on occasion you would even ask for a little input. So in case you are interested, here's my two cents on just what might be the best fit for your game, your intensity level and your will to win another championship.

Peyton Manning should know what it's like to play in front of the 12th Man, having played at Qwest Field in 2005.

Clearly, you are not headed back to Indy and there will be another 13 teams off the list because of established younger quarterbacks in place with contract and/or draft pick situations that would make bringing you in unrealistic. Those 13 are: the Giants, Eagles, Packers, Lions, Falcons, Rams, Patriots, Steelers, Chargers, Raiders, Texans, Panthers and Saints as soon as the ink dries on Brees' new deal.

Further, since winning -- and winning now -- is the ultimate goal, it is my opinion that avoiding massive rebuilding projects with new coaches must be accounted for and thus eliminates Jacksonville and Tampa Bay from the equation.

Brutal weather conditions and brutal divisional play clearly eliminates Buffalo, Cincinnati and Cleveland.

All of a sudden, 31 teams has turned into 13 worth taking a closer look at.

Realistically, Peyton, knowing the way you limit distractions (remember telling Polian the team will not be staying at the same hotel as families during the Super Bowl?) and like order and a sense of control, the Jets with Rex, the Cowboys with Jerry Jones and Romo, San Francisco with the guy you replaced in Indy, Denver with Tebow and an aging Bears team with the floppy-haired Cutler make little sense. Further, the Ravens are really Ray Lewis' team and more than likely will commit to Flacco.

That leaves us just seven: Washington, Minnesota, Miami, Kansas City, Tennessee, Seattle and Arizona.

Miami is fond of Matt Flynn and the addition of Mike Sherman as offensive coordinator means a return to old-school West Coast system philosophy. Minnesota is on the downside of their winning cycle with age and injuries, and they may play in the toughest division in football.

As I see it, we are down to five, and with assets committed to Matt Cassel in Kansas City, Kevin Kolb in Arizona and Jake Locker in Tennessee, those situations are at least entangled. That leaves just Seattle and Washington.

So here's the deal -- I think Seattle may just be the best fit of all and when you weigh the final grouping, simply consider this:

1. After your Irsay experience, ownership matters. Paul Allen is the best in the business. He won't meddle, he has unlimited resources and wants to win a championship in the worst way.

2. Seattle is the most removed geographical outpost in the league. The perception is that you need the masses and crave attention; the reality is that you want to win and winning will bring the only attention at this stage of your career that you really desire.

3. Pete Carroll is as committed to football as you are, and he is willing to cut anyone not as demanding and dedicated to that task.

4. You loved the dome in Indy because of the home field advantage. The 12th Man is in the Seahawks' Ring of Honor for a reason, and I challenge anyone to find an equal in the league when it comes to the advantage gained at CenturyLink. Heck, even bad Seahawks teams still won in this venue.

5. Seattle plays in a very winnable division and will face a third-place schedule in 2012.

6. Pete is in Year 3 of his building process and five Pro Bowlers are an indicator of improved talent. The team has drafted well, turns over every stone in its effort to improve the roster and you can win big with Sidney Rice, Zach Miller, Marshawn Lynch and an offensive line that made major improvement in 2011.

7. Lastly, put in a call to Brett Favre. Ask him what working with Darrell Bevell was like in Minnesota. In fact, this set-up is eerily similar to the one you thrived in with the Colts, where Tom Cable acts in much the same capacity as Howard Mudd did for you in installing the run game and pass protections while Bevell, like Tom Moore, puts in the passing packages.

So there you have it, Peyton, there should be plenty of suitors and if you decide to take Mr. Allen up on his offer of a seaplane trip into Seattle you will find the finest football complex in the league and a head coach as driven as you are to win a world championship. Wishing you a speedy recovery, and I promise not to bother you as much as I did back in the day.

Sincerely,

Brock

Monday, February 6, 2012 @ 9:53am

Report: Seahawks interested in hosting Super Bowl

By Michael Simeona

As the hangover resides after another intriguing Super Bowl, could Seattle host the big game soon?

According to a report from Aaron Levine of Q13 Fox, the Seahawks have submitted paperwork to the NFL expressing their interest in hosting a future Super Bowl at CenturyLink Field. The Super Bowl Advisory Committee must invite the Seahawks to submit an official bid to be considered for the NFL's championship game.

Although future Super Bowl host cities are set through 2015 -- New Orleans (2013), New York/New Jersey (2014), Glendale (2015) -- owners are expected to vote on the 2016 Super Bowl in October.

The minimum requirements for potential host stadiums include a 70,000 seat capacity (CenturyLink Field can be expanded to a capacity of 72,000), an average high temperature of at least 50 degrees in the month of February (Seattle's average temperature is 44 degrees), and must include enough hotel rooms within a one-hour drive for 35 percent of the stadium's capacity (approximately 25,000 hotel rooms).

Owners could potentially waive the weather rule considering the 2014 Super Bowl will be played at MetLife Stadium, an outdoor venue in New Jersey.

Los Angeles and London are considered the favorites to land Super Bowl L in 2016.

Friday, February 3, 2012 @ 7:05pm

Audio: A former teammate's take on Cortez Kennedy

For three seasons, Dave Wyman had a front-row view of Cortez Kennedy's dominance.

Wyman, a former Seahawks linebacker who was teammates with Kennedy from 1990-92, watched as Kennedy got to the quarterback at a rate uncommon for a defensive tackle.

As Wyman and John Clayton discussed during Friday's editon of Cold Hard Facts, Kennedy racked up 58 sacks in 11 seasons despite playing in a defense that often called for Kennedy to take on multiple blockers.

"He wasn't lining up in gaps. He wasn't hiding. They were triple-teaming him," Wyman said. "It was just amazing to watch."

Clayton noted that Kennedy has more sacks than any other defensive tackle in the Hall of Fame (though some HOF defensive tackles predate the NFL's recognition of sacks as an official stat).

Clayton is among the selectors who will decide this weekend whether or not Kennedy and 16 other finalists will make the Hall of Fame.

You can listen to the conversation here.

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Friday, February 3, 2012 @ 10:42am

The Go 2 Guy's Super Bowl gambling manifesto

By Jim Moore

If you've ever tuned into "The Kevin Calabro Show," I'm sure I've mentioned pointspreads and betting on football from time to time.

I don't bring it up all that often because it still strikes me as a "taboo" topic even though it's a multi-million-dollar industry in Las Vegas and on the Internet. Part of the mega-interest in the NFL comes from fans who love to bet on the games.

The Super Bowl is the biggest sports-betting event of the year. Most everyone knows the line on the game -- the Patriots are favored by 3. The "smart" money will be on the Giants. I'm calling it "smart" money because that's where my money will be. If the Patriots win by 4 or more, my wager on the Giants will henceforth be called "dumb" money or money that has completely disappeared.

Others who follow this stuff are also aware that the over-under on the game is 55. I plan to take the over, anticipating that the Giants will win 30-27. I like the fact that we're dealing with two relatively high-powered offenses that will battle it out in a climate-controlled domed stadium.

I also plan to bet that the game will be decided in overtime. Why? Geez, I don't know, I just do. At Bodog, you can get 6.5-1 odds on the game going to OT. If you wager $10 on it going to OT, you'll win $65 if it does.

These look like two evenly matched teams to me. The pointspread suggests as much. I'm also counting on the game going into overtime because NO SUPER BOWL HAS EVER GONE INTO OVERTIME.

I know what you're thinking -- if they've played 45 Super Bowls and none of them have gone to OT, why in the world would the Go 2 Guy think this one will when history says that it won't.

One minute, 34 seconds is the over-under for the time it will take Kelly Clarkson to sing the national anthem. John Clayton says take the over. (AP)

If the Cougs don't win that day, Scott believes that they're due to win in their next game, and so on.

Using the Scott Sutton logic, I will put 10 bucks or 20 bucks on the Super Bowl going to OT, and if the game ends in regulation time like all of the other Super Bowls, I will shrug, laugh and tell myself "boy, that was a stupid bet" and wager on next year's Super Bowl to go to OT, too. Sooner or later, according to Scott anyway, it will happen.

Here's one for you: I bet $25 on the Baltimore-New England AFC Championship Game going to OT two weeks ago. I think the odds were 9-1 on that one, meaning I would have won $225 if the game had gone to OT.

As you'll recall, the game did not go to OT because of Billy Cundiff, the Ravens' kicker who whiffed on a field goal that would have tied the game with 12 seconds remaining. Before he kicked the ball, I knew he'd miss because I never win those kinds of bets.

You would think I would have wanted to strangle Cundiff for missing, but I didn't. I felt worse for him and for Ravens' fans than I did for me and my cockamamie wager. When you bet on this stuff, you have to learn to expect the unexpected.

Which brings me to other crazy bets you can make on the Super Bowl. They're called propositional bets, and they're really, really stupid because you have to get really, really lucky to win them. More than anything else, you have to be really, really sick to wager on a "prop" bet, and I guess you could say I'm ICU sick because I probably will.

At Bodog.com, where you can find all of the crazy bets that I'm mentioning here, you can actually bet on how long it will take Kelly Clarkson to sing the national anthem. The over-under is one minute, 34 seconds, and John Clayton has already advised gamblers to take the over, saying that Clarkson will stretch it out, milking every second of the spotlight.

You can also bet on whether the coin flip will be heads or tails. What better way to get things rolling than to bet on the coin flip, sitting on the edge of your chair, the drama, the excitement as the referee shows each captain the head of the coin and the tail of the coin before flipping it into the air. And then when everyone looks down to the field to get the result, Wow!!! You can't beat that with a stick!

Other interesting bets include:

• Whether Madonna will wear a hat during her halftime show.

• The result of the first replay challenge: ruling on the field stands or ruling overturned.

• 10-1 odds on a missed PAT

• Over-under at 1/2 -- the number of times Tom Brady's wife, Gisele Bundchen, is shown on the NBC telecast. (Let's all hope for the over whether we bet on it or not.)

• Who will the Super Bowl MVP thank first? The favorite is teammates at 5-4. God is 4-1, the team owner is 5-1, family is 15-2 and the coach is 12-1. The second-favorite? "He won't thank anyone" at 5-2. So basically if you think the MVP will be an ungrateful, narcissistic jerk, you can get 5-2 odds that he'll talk about himself and no one else.

• And then there's my personal favorite -- which color the Gatorade that's dumped on the winning coach will be: Clear's the favorite at 3-2, followed by orange and yellow at 5-2, red at 13-2, green at 15-2 and blue at 10-1. (Go 2 Guy prediction: This feels like betting on the hydro race at Safeco Field -- go with the green at 15-2!)

Jim Moore also writes for his website, www.jimmoorethego2guy.com, and the Kitsap Sun. You can reach him at jimmoorethego2guy@yahoo.com. Follow Jim on Twitter @cougsgo.

Thursday, February 2, 2012 @ 6:00pm

Checking in with Seahawks wide receiver Mike Williams

Mike Williams' plan for improving upon a disappointing 2011 season includes playing at a lower weight.

"I've got to get better, I've got to get faster, I've got to get more explosive. I won't be playing at 240 [pounds] this year. I'm going to go down and go a lot lower than that just to give myself the best chance," the Seahawks wide receiver told "Brock and Salk" on Wednesday.

Weight issues were part of the reason Williams was out of football for two seasons prior to joining the Seahawks in 2010. The contract extension he signed later that season includes a weight clause.

Williams suggested that he has played at 240 pounds in the past -- he's been listed at 235 the past two seasons -- but added, "I've got to take a different step and really give myself a chance to be the player that I can be and that I know I am."

Williams was that player in 2010. With Matt Hasselbeck at quarterback, Williams was a focal point of the Seahawks' offense, catching 65 passes for 751 yards and two scores in 14 regular-season games. He had just 18 catches last season, dogged by injuries and dropped passes. He missed two games early in the season -- one with a concussion and another with a hamstring injury -- before he was placed on injured reserve following an ankle and leg injury he sustained in a Dec. 18 game against Chicago.

Williams said he is off crutches and rehabbing at the team's headquarters. He indicated that he might not be ready to take part in OTAs and minicamps, which begin in mid-April.

"I'm just really focused on having a great offseason and getting back to form," he said. "This past season I came into camp and [within] a couple of days I had a foot [injury], and then I had a hamstring, then I had a back. I just never really got going. I was always fighting something along the way.

"My focus this year is to come in really healthy and go from there. So whenever I'm ready to go I'm just going to do whatever I can."

Follow Brady Henderson on Twitter @BradyHenderson

Thursday, February 2, 2012 @ 1:10pm

Which Giant or Pat would you like on the Seahawks?

A completely hypothetical question was the basis for Thursday's Wrap Up video.

Excluding quarterbacks Tom Brady and Eli Manning, which player on either Super Bowl team would Brock Huard like to see on the Seahawks?

His answer wasn't all that surprising given the Seahawks' pass-rush issues last season.

You can download Thursday's Wrap Up video here.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012 @ 4:04pm

Cortez Kennedy worthy of Hall of Fame nod

Former Seahawks defensive tackle Cortez Kennedy is a finalist for the 2012 Pro Football Hall of Fame class.

ESPN.com's Mike Sando, a Hall of Fame selector, told "Bob and Groz" on Tuesday that the absence of a "slam dunk" candidate on this year's ballot works in Kennedy's favor.

Kennedy will find out Saturday whether or not he's a Hall of Famer. Bob and Groz say in the video below that regardless of how the voting goes, he deserves to be one.

You can download Tuesday's podcast here.

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Former Seahawks DT Cortez Kennedy awaiting the Hall's call