The NFL's Crisis on Domestic Violence

I wanted to write about Week 1, and how it was great that football was back after what felt like a lifetime of waiting, even longer for those who are not Seahawks fans, but I found that I can't write about Week 1 and that season opener win against the Packers, because the league has bigger issues that need to be attended to.

Instead of writing about Week 1, and reading about all the interesting things that happened, I watched a video of Ravens running back Ray Rice punch his then-fiancee in the face in an elevator with such force that she was knocked unconscious. This was the act that he was suspended for a mere 2 games for. Roger Goodell, the out of touch commissioner, claims that he and the NFL had not had access to that video when they investigated in May, however, there are now reports to the contrary on that, and Goodell himself admitted in a letter to the owners on August 28th that they didn't investigate enough. Of course you didn't investigate enough, you waited until TMZ released video that allegedly you had access to but didn't care to look at? That first press conference with Ray Rice, who decided that it was a great idea to put Janay Palmer up there too? He's not there to talk about how he cheated on her, he was there to answer questions about how he allegedly (although now with the video I'm not sure if the "allegedly" is needed) hit her. With the video public knowledge, then the Ravens and the NFL acted, by cutting him from the team and banning him indefinitely, but leaving many fans and players wondering "Too little, too late?"

If only that was the only case that came up this week, next was the indictment of Adrian Peterson hitting his child with a switch, leaving bruises and cuts that were still bleeding on the child when the 4-year old little boy was returned to his mother. I will not engage on a spanking vs. not spanking argument here. I will say that there is a line between discipline and abuse, when there are marks and there is blood that is abuse, plain and simple. Cris Carter, a man that sometimes I am not a big fan of, may have put it best. It couldn't have been easy for him to say and talk about this, but it needs to be said in the midst of all the people who are defending Adrian Peterson and his actions. The following is the video that Cris Carter talks about the abuse.

If you think that's all, and that is every story that has to do with the NFL domestic violence crisis, you are sadly mistaken. Greg Hardy of the Carolina Panthers was deactivated today because of the guilty verdict he received on domestic assault in JULY, you read that right, JULY, but just because he's not playing doesn't mean he won't get paid his reported weekly pay check of $770,588. He's not the only player that is dealing with a domestic violence charge. Ray McDonald of the San Francisco 49ers will probably take the field, even though he is accused of assaulting his pregnant girlfriend.

The league is asking us not to be too quick to judge, but do they only have extremely short-term memories? It's only been 2 years since Kansas City Chiefs play Jovan Blecher murdered his girlfriend and then killed himself at the Kansas City Chiefs training facility. THAT was when Goodell should have made it a six-game suspension, not when there was backlash from the two-game suspension he gave Rice.

The league still wants to act on each domestic violence case on a case by case manner, so yes, the league is still moving too slow, and now the whole nation is watching. Where is Goodell in the midst of all this? He's suddenly gone silent. What kind of message are you sending to your female fans, the ones whose dollars you desperately want and the ones you want in the stadium?

Seahawks First Franchise Super Bowl Win Recap

Hello ladies, and some gentlemen!

How about those Seahawks? Here in Seattle, I am still basking in the warm afterglow of what was a Seahawks domination over the Broncos. That was something that I wasn't expecting, nor was the rest of the nation. With ESPN, and every other sports caster in the nation weighing in on how this was what the Super Bowl is all about the number 1 offense in the league facing off against the number 1 defense of the league.

The so-called insiders had spent the week leading up to Super Bowl Sunday talking about how this Seattle team was too green to win the Super Bowl, and they were talking about how with Manning on the Broncos, there's no way that Seattle's defense would be able to keep the Broncos from scoring less than 21 points (3 touchdowns + 3 extra points, a TD is 6 points and then the team has an option to kick for an extra point or do a 2 point conversion for 8 total points). In addition to doubting the Seahawks defense, the offensive side was also subject to criticism. Hall of Fame wide receiver, Cris Carter, called the Seahawks receiving corps average, pedestrian, and appetizers. In addition to criticisms on both sides of the ball the media was so fixated on both Richard Sherman, because of his rant after the NFC Championship game against the 49ers, and Marshawn Lynch, because he was fined by the league for not speaking to the media. This fine was subsequently reversed provided that Lynch show up to Super Bowl Media Day and talk to reporters, which spawned the new internet meme "I'm about that action, boss." So from here on out I will refer to BeastMode affectionately as BossMode. Everyone wondered if this media frenzy coupled with the biggest game in football would spook this group of no-name football players. They wondered if this green team would buckle under the pressure.

The tone of this game would be set in the first 12 seconds of the first half. With the Broncos snapping the ball way over Manning's head and causing a safety. What is a safety? A safety is when the football ends up in the defending team's endzone, after the team with the ball (offense) is tackled in the endzone, the defending team will score 2 points because they are responsible for it being there. The exception to this rule is, if the ball had forward motion, this means that the ball was moving in a forward pass by the quarterback, in that case the pass is called incomplete and neither team scores points. Manning would later say that sound did play a factor in that miscue. The 12th Man brought it loud and proud, it may not have sounded as loud as it does in the CLink, but it was louder than the Broncos were expecting. The rumor was that for every 1 Broncos fan that was in the stadium, there were 3 Seahawks fans.

From that safety, the Seahawks would go on to stun the Broncos, playing well on all sides of the ball. The Broncos kept the Seahawks to just two field goals. The Broncos' defense was feeling the pressure to keep the Seattle offense from scoring, Champ Bailey, the one of the best cornerbacks of all time could be heard saying, "We need to do something about their quarterback. He's not going to make any mistakes." It was true, Russell Wilson, the quarterback that was part of the failing draft class of 2012, the quarterback that was "too short" to play quarterback effectively did not make any mistakes, however, the same could not be said about the legendary Peyton Manning. After holding Seattle to only two field goals, Manning feeling the pressure from Seattle's front 4 closing in on him, he quickly threw the ball and it was intercepted by Seattle's big strong safety Kam Chancellor. The rattled Broncos then fell into the trap that Seattle had set up for them. The trap's name? Percy Harvin, who was running routes and making small plays into huge plays. How many doubters out there were laughing along with the Minnesota Vikings when Harvin was injured during the preseason and was on the PUP list (the PUP list is physically unable to participate), and then he was activated late in the season only to be taken out because of his hip surgery that landed him on the PUP list. I wonder if those doubters are still laughing now, thank you for fueling the hunger in Harvin. With Harvin in the game and throwing off the Broncos defense, the Seahawks were able to give the ball to BossMode and he was able to hammer his way through the Broncos defense and score the first touchdown of the game. The game was so reminiscent of the games played in Seattle, with the Seattle fans (the 12th Man) raining Skittles down on the field after BossMode's touchdown. 

After this touchdown, Wes Welker, the Broncos' wide receiver, is heard giving the Broncos' offense a pep talk about how they are the best offense in the league and that they just need to keep their heads up and keep playing like it. At this point in the game the score was 15-0 Seahawks. After this pep talk the Broncos finally got their first first down, 19 minutes into the game. This would be the beginning of a 15 play drive, suddenly the Broncos started to look alive and playing some what like what the team that boasts the number 1 offense would play like. However, that work was all undone when Manning threw a pick 6 (a pick 6 is an interception, which is sometimes called a pick, that scores a touchdown, which as stated above is 6 points) straight to Seahawks linebacker Malcolm Smith. This would be Malcolm Smith's second pick 6 of the season, leaving the Broncos stunned and going into halftime shutout and down 22 points.

Russell Wilson, the ever calm and poised sophomore quarterback, can be heard calming his amped players, reminding them that they still had a second half of the game to play, telling them to keep their minds tuned in so that they can be world champions.

The start of the second half was supposed to be a fresh start for the Broncos. This was a team that has played back from a 24 point deficit and went onto win that game. However, this was not in the cards for the Broncos. The Seahawks had won the coin toss and deferred to the Broncos, meaning that the Seahawks would be the team that would be receiving the football at the beginning of the second half. Armed with the knowledge that they would be kicking off towards Percy Harvin, who had already proved himself in the previous half with his strong legs and ability to extend plays, the Broncos were going to try a short kick, designed to keep Percy Harvin from returning the ball. However, that plan would backfire, the kick bounced right into the arms of Percy Harvin, and as if it were written in the stars the Seahawks would score a kick return touchdown within the first 12 seconds of the second half extending their lead to 29-0.

The Broncos then had a break, it was their longest distance from scrimmage, a mere 23 yards, however, even that wouldn't be enough because Byron Maxwell would punch the football out of Broncos' wide receiver, Demaryius Thomas's hands causing a fumble, which was recovered by man of the hour Malcolm Smith. If you're keeping count this is the third turnover for the Broncos. The next play by the Seahawks would be made by a local boy done good. Jermaine Kearse, a player from Lakewood, WA, who went to play ball at the University of Washington. Wilson threw the pass at Kearse, who spun one way to break the first tackle and another way to break a second tackle and thus scoring the next touchdown of the game. Putting Seattle up to 36-0 with 2 minutes and 58 seconds left in the 3rd quarter.

2 minutes and 58 seconds doesn't sound like a lot of time, however, football is a very fast moving game, if you ever had a chance to see it live, that is still enough time for the other team to score. With that being said the number 1 offense of the NFL, who held the record of scoring 606 points during the regular season, averaging 38 points per game had put up nothing. Until the last play of the 3rd quarter, Peyton Manning would connect with Demaryius Thomas to score a touchdown, and the Broncos would successfully score a 2 point conversion. That play would finally erase the 0 and replace it with an 8, and the teams would go into the 4th quarter of the game 36-8. Pete Carroll said it best, "Funny how one touchdown can be so freaking sobering." Even with that kind of lead, the Seahawks would need to keep focused on the game because across from them was still the team known as the best offense of the league. Let's not forget that Manning had just set the Super Bowl record of completions with 34 completions, and Thomas had just set the record of Super Bowl catches with 13, however, even with those big numbers all they had to show for it was an 8. This speaks volumes about just how deep the Seattle defense is.

Russell Wilson ever mindful of the team they were playing would remind the Seahawks to keep in attack mode. Wilson would then connect with Doug Baldwin who'd work his way passed 2 missed tackles and score the next touchdown. Doug Baldwin, affectionately known as "Angry Doug Baldwin," by teammates and fans because of the serious nature he takes playing football is captured coming back to the sidelines and saying to a camera, "Google that Cris Carter," with Coach Carroll good-naturedly grabbing Baldwin and chastising him saying "No, no, no," while guiding his amped up player away from the media. With Baldwin's touchdown, the Seahawks extended their lead to 43-8.

From this point on, Seattle's defense would continue to shine, keeping the Broncos out of the redzone, leaving Manning to wonder, "What happened?" The Legion of Boom is the nickname for Seattle's secondary, and they more than earned their name that night. People for get that 3 of the 4 members of the LOB are all-pro. Wes Welker had said on Super Bowl Media Day that he'd take anyone one-on-one in the slot. That of course is going to fuel the LOB. Richard Sherman declined to comment on Welker's comment on Media Day, instead he left it for the field, calling out Welker when he was eye-to-eye with him. In true Sherman fashion he let Welker have it after Bam Bam Kam hit Thomas with such force it was heard all over MetLife and across TVs nationwide, stating, "Don’t you ever say you want one-on-ones with us. Don’t you ever say that."

The defense was on display and continued to do so, even after Sherman had to be taken to the locker room with a high ankle sprain. You would think that losing their all-pro cornerback that Seattle would suffer, however, that was not the case, once again proving just how deep Seattle's defense is. They continued to dominate over the Broncos' offense causing yet another turnover in the game when the Broncos were trying to go for it on a 4th down and 2. At this point in the game, so much time had elapsed that the Broncos knew they were not going to win this game. Champ Bailey, arguably one of the best cornerbacks to have played the game, although he is past his prime now, can be heard telling Malcolm Smith that he's going to get MVP. Even on his sideline, Champ Bailey was talking about how Malcolm Smith should get MVP, and how he wanted to see a defensive player get the glory they deserved. Bailey could also be heard saying how well he thought the Seattle defense was playing. In fact the direct quote was, "The way they play, their whole team is getting it." "It" was referring to the MVP award. It goes to show just how close this team of misfits is. Ultimately, Champ was right, Malcolm Smith did get the MVP, however with how well the team played as a whole it really is hard to pick just one MVP.

So bask in the glory Seattle, we finally brought a championship back to Seattle. It's okay to be proud of your team, and it's okay to keep talking about it. If we had to listen to 49er fans telling us about their 5 Lombardis, the last one that was won in 1994, they can listen to you talk about a Super Bowl win that is a week and a half old, because at least this win is more recent. There's no other way to end this post than with what Russell Wilson would say, Go Hawks!