Aw shit, here we go. Admit it, you know it was one of the first things to cross your mind when you heard the news. You don't have to be a "hater" for it to have popped into your head for a fleeting second. I'm not suggesting that you like the idea. In fact, you might very well have recoiled in horror at the thought.
But whatever your feelings on the matter, you might oughta think about going ahead and strapping yourselves in. Because it's only a matter of time, about a month or so, before this thing becomes a big, BIG deal. I'm not saying that it's going to ultimately happen. But I can just about guarantee this: there will be drama. Big, huge, crazy ass drama. The only question is who'll be the first "legitimate media" type to get the ball rolling. I'm gonna go with Jason Cole. Heh.
Let me start off by saving you the trouble on a few things. I know that the Saints have a playoff game coming up next weekend. I know that Reggie is a New Orleans Saint, and ALL the Saints deserve our full support during this here playoff run. Now is not the time to be a "hater" and I hereby pledge that there won't be any "hating" coming from this guy until they're finished playing. So don't even start. I'm not trying to ride the Reg out of town on a rail before the season's even over.
There will be plenty of time for that once this thing grows its legs. And grow legs it will. That's all I'm saying, for now. And I'm fully prepared for the likelihood that for many of you, just that will qualify as "hating" and deserving of the highest level of scorn. As always, if you just can't deal, nobody's forcing you to keep reading.
But prepare yourselves. This situation just sets up too perfectly for it not to blow up into one of the biggest headlines of the early offseason. Again, I'm not saying it's going to end up happening. (I'm not saying it's not gonna happen either, in fact I'd set the early odds at 50/50.) But the stars are aligned just too perfectly for it not to turn into a thing. A big, BIG thing.
Let's start at the beginning. On what planet does it make sense for Seattle to fire a 48 year old head coach who was 26-22 in his first stint as a head coach, and who was the hand-picked successor to a guy they consider a "legend" there, after one year in a bad situation, and replace him with a 58 year old head coach who was 33-31 as an NFL head coach and last coached in the NFL a decade ago? A guy who was 6-10 in one season with the Jets and was replaced by RICH KOTITE(!!!) for crying out loud, and who later took an 11-5 Bill Parcells team and in 3 years had them at 8-8. Why would they do that?
Because Pete's decade at Southern Cal turned him into a rock star, that's why. And that's what Paul Allen is going for here. This is a "keep asses in seats" move. 4-12 and 5-11 don't go over too well after 5 straight playoff seasons and a Super Bowl appearance. I don't think there were any dire attendance issues or anything like that. Not yet, anyway. But it doesn't take long. My guess is that Allen needed to give the fans something to get excited about again.
Problem is, early indications are that the initial reaction isn't quite what they'd hoped it would be. Which shouldn't be too big a surprise. It's not that Pete was a terrible NFL head coach, but most people seem to remember him that way. In reality, he was a mediocre NFL head coach. But mediocre retread head coaches don't exactly energize fanbases either. Rock star or not, Pete alone probably isn't gonna bring about the desired result.
They're gonna need another rock star.
Or, at least, a future reality tee vee star. (Sorry, was that "hating?" My fault. I take it back.)
Fortunately, Pete just happens to know a few. Problem is, Arizona isn't gonna trade Matt Leinart to a division rival, and he's probably still their quarterback of the near future anyway. Matt Cassel, Carson Palmer and Mark Sanchez aren't going anywhere of course. LenDale White isn't a rock star, no matter how much his physique resembles that of Meatloaf.
Michael Vick? Something tells me he wouldn't go over very well in the Pacific Northwest. Just a hunch. And I suspect that there won't be an immediate change at quarterback anyway. Hasselbeck is still a perfectly serviceable quarterback, long in the tooth though he may be. And he's a Seattle legend. The Seahawks were 15th in the NFL in passing yards in 2009 (though they were 1st in passing attempts.)
Which isn't great, but there's just not a whole lot out there to work with to make any kind of big splash at the quarterback position. I mean, what are you gonna do? Jason Campbell? Kyle Boller? David Carr? Brodie Croyle? Teh Sex Cannon? Josh McCown? Sage Rosenfels?
But you sure could make a splash at the tailback position. We'll use the term "tailback" loosely. In fact, let's not use it at all. After all, Reggie really plays the "playmaker" position, right? I'm pretty sure that the league is about to start officially recognizing the position. I hear they're even gonna let them start wearing numbers like pi and Avogadro's Number.
Seattle was 26th in rushing attempts and 26th in rushing yards in 2009. They only had 7 rushing touchdowns, and one of those was by Seneca Wallace. Reggie, on the other hand, is a touchdown MACHINE!
And he's a rock star. Pete's rock star, no less.
If you're of the opinion that Reggie needs to be "fixed" then who better to "fix" him? If you think he just needs to be used "properly" then who knows better how to "properly" use him than Pete? If you think he just needs more touches (and I'm sure that Reggie would agree) then who's gonna give him more touches than Pete would?
Seattle currently owns the 6th and 14th picks in the 2010 draft.
2010 is probably gonna be an uncapped year. Paul Allen has more money than God.
Pete's calling the shots. It's the west coast. Kim loves her Starbucks. If only Oregon didn't exist….
Surely Reggie wants more than 5-10 touches per game, and it's become increasingly evident that it ain't gonna happen here. In Seattle, with Pete, he'd be "The Man." Finally. For a little while, anyway. And surely he'd get a new contract in the process.
And if you don't think that Mickey Loomis and Sean Payton would be extremely receptive to a mid 1st round pick offer for the Reg, especially now, then you either haven't been paying attention or you're still terminally starstruck. Still.
Either that, or Reggie's career-low number of touches this year was all part of Sean Payton's master plan to make sure that his most dangerous weapon was both healthy and all-but-forgotten so that he could unleash it for the Super Bowl run. Yeah, it was probably that. Must have been, right?
WalterFootball.com currently has Seattle taking S Eric Berry at 6 and DE Derrick Morgan at 14. Think the Saints could use one of those guys more than they do use Reggie? Think Paul Allen figures Reggie would put more asses in seats than either of those guys? Think Pete would be on board?
Yeah. Me too.
And so will a lot of other people in the not-too-distant future. (Might be a little more distant than next Sunday A.D., but not by much.)
It's just too perfect an offseason storyline. Theoretically, everybody wins.
Which is why, regardless of whether or not it actually ends up going down, (and I can't believe how much more sure I am now that it actually will end up happening than I was when I started typing) one thing is for sure. The media is gonna eat this shit up like you wouldn't believe.
And it's gonna be big fun. Huge fun. High five!
And if you want to replace him through the draft, I hear Joe McKnight is coming out (ducks).
So is Charles Scott.
LMAO – Introducing number 6.022 X 1023 in your program, but Number One in your hear…Reggie Buuuuuuuush
dammit, the superscript formatting didn’t work on that 10<sup>23</sup>. Fix that for me, Huang, and delete this here post
Where’s your defibrilator now?
testing again for future TM opportunities 1023
1023
Can we go formulas as well for these “playmakers” Wang? I call (Y=MX+B). And yes, the thought DID cross my mind when Petey agreed to return to the NFL. SO I guess that makes me a bad guy, too.
:yes: That’s one more for the bad guys.
:scotthall:
I have believed since the end of ’07 that if they aren’t going to turn Reggie into a WR, then lets just use him as leverage to get some defenders. Really, he ought to buy us something, right?
Wang, I would trade Mrs Bush in 5 seconds but Pete Carrol isn’ dumb enough to give the Saints a #1 pick. Dream on. Although feel free to enjoy Pete’s medioce NFL coaching, especially when they face the Saints.
Teams don’t trade high picks for RBs anymore. Although if it happens it would be fabulous!
If anybody else–and I mean ANYBODY–posted this at this point in the season, I’d ignore it or maybe even make a snarky comment.
But through sheer excellence over time, I’m willing to read it on your blog.
Now, let’s get back to talking playoffs. PLAYOFFS? PLAYOFFS? I’m just trying to win a game. PLAYOFFS?
Let me rephrase that horrible sentence: Because of your sheer excellence over time, I’m willing to read it on your blog.
Its a thought that i had not thought of… if that makes sense.
I dont see it happening for a 1st round tho. Reggies knee is a known issue and as much as Pete might have a mancrush on ol Reggie, there will be someone saying ” now waitaminute there Pete lets not be hasty here”.
A 2nd maybe a 3rd maybe but not one of their precious 1sts.
I think your position is more reasonable than mine under normal circumstances, and I’ll concede that you’re more likely to end up being right than I am, even under these circumstances.
But I think this situation qualifies as a statistical outlier. This isn’t nearly a “normal” set of circumstances. It’s an incredibly serendipitous set of circumstances. For all parties.
Some people will be trying to talk Pete out of it, sure. Just as I’m sure there were some people trying to talk Loomis & Payton out of it. But it appears that Pete isn’t gonna be answering to anybody. Except for Paul Allen of course, but my position is that he’ll probably be all gung ho about it too.
I agree that under normal circumstances, you don’t get a 1st for Reggie. But the fact that they have two is yet another reason that this is an unusually favorable situation in my opinion, because I think a team is far more likely to deal away a second 1st than they are to deal their only 1st.
Mueller got two 1sts for Ricky Williams. I’m not sure that getting one 1st for Reggie would be any more of a feat than that. Especially given all the other favorable circumstances (uncapped year, Pete with carte blanche, etc.)
Ok, I see your logic a bit better. While I am not 100% agreeable with it, I am also not prone to being right at all the time, no matter how hard I try, so we wait.
For the record. I hope your right :)
Looks like we can look forward to a weekly series of “Who To Trade With” pieces. Awesome.
Probably a 3rd rounder, maybee a low 2nd rounder for Reggie. Hes got the “bust” stigma and you have to look at what other fans say of Reggie, and its overall not good.
It also depends on what Reggie does in the playoffs. It might work out that everyone starts calling him “clutch” or something, which doesn’t hurt trade value any. He might also break one of his glass knees again too. I wouldn’t be opposed to a trade like this, although I’m also skeptical of a first round return. I trust Payton and Loomis to find a serviceable replacement at halfback in later rounds of the draft, where they’ve been able to get good value at the “skill” positions.
Also, I made bacon jam, based loosely on your recipe. Actually, I stuck pretty close to your recipe, and I almost never follow a recipe all that closely. I’m still drooling over it. I’m making an effort to save it for the game on Saturday.
Eeeeeexcellent.
People in Seattle are already pissed and on the ledge. Pete better make the big splash. Why not give a first round pick to our beloved Saints? Listening to sports radio on the drive into work, there wasn’t a shred of optimism anywhere (it’s also raining, go figure) and the hosts were cutting people off to get the madness to stop. I warned all of my ‘Hawks loving buddies that the Mora experiment was doomed from the start, but I never thought it would get this comical. The NFC West just became that much easier.
Favorite line from this morning: “We’re going from the SeaHawks to the SeaLions!”
So once the NFL recognizes the Playmaker position, do you think they’ll recognize Tebow’s Jesusback position?
/thanksksk
I don’t know about anything you said.. maybe it will happen and maybe it won’t, but I just realized that reading anything is made 5x more enjoyable when Jane’s Addiction is blaring
Now that is something i can agree with 100%!
This website blows.
Are you gonna cry about it?
Not any more than I already have.
Cry more, I am sure Wang will get really sad and stop posting if it truly upsets you.
Reggie will blow up and be the difference maker in the playoffs. We win the Superbowl. We get the higher first round pick from Seattle because they are so impressed with his playoff awesomeness. Heads explode. Message boards explode. Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria!
Didya see that? This post is all I could think about while Reggie turned it on. I think last night’s performance made Reggie worth at least a second round pick. One more week like that and he’s up to first round value.
Or is Reggie becoming REGGIE and now he’s too valuable to trade?
As Finney would say: “We’ll just have to wait and see.”
I have to admit that last night, I turned to one of the guys watching the game with me (while he was giving me shit about “How ya like Reggie NOW?!?” ) and replied that I think it would be just f’n great if he’d have the best 3 games of his life, singlehandedly carry us to a championship, then net us one of those firsts from Seattle.
But (for once) I’m in no mood to take that position this morning. There will be time for that later. Right now, I think I need to hit the emergency room and see about this priapism. Nothing but love for the Reg for at least the next month. He deserves it after that performance. Reggie: 1, Wang: 0 and I’m just fine with that. And if I’m an asshole for “hating” on him all year, and “jumping on the bandwagon” now, well, I’m just fine with that too. Small price to pay.
REG-GIE! REG-GIE! REG-GIE!
Now what a minute Wang.
We pay ol Reggie how much a year to do his job?
He does his job 1 game and you all want to jump back on his bandwagon?
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut ever now and then.
Give him the game ball but please don’t re-anoint him as the second coming yet.
Sheesh, I can’t win for losing on this issue.
I’m not anointing him as anything. Just giving him his well-deserved game ball is all. I’ve got two more with his name on ‘em if he wants to go ahead and earn ‘em. Beyond that, I promise nothing.
Reggie earned some respect from me last night. He really did shoulder down, and ram the Cards, like I’ve never seen him do. I’m wary though, because it’s a lot like my son, who has tons of brains and potential, but only aces a test when he knows he’s REALLY in trouble for screwing up.