Posts tagged CharlieFrye at FanHouse

The Seattle Seahawks have not had a lot going for them lately -- but hey, they won this week! And, of course, they're in the putrid NFC West, so really, anything can happen.

Of course, for something to actually work out well for them, they're probably going to need Matt Hasselbeck to be healthy. Problem: He's not. And he won't be able to play this week either.

Hasselbeck told KIRO Radio on Tuesday that he does not need surgery.

The quarterback says he failed tests in Los Angeles and was unable to walk on his heels. He says there's no pain in his back or right leg, just a "dead leg" feeling. He plans to keep working on strength and conditioning and take another round of tests soon.

But, hey, in good news, Seneca Wallace is still hanging around! Yay. No more Charlie Frye. Woo.

Each week in the NFL, there are players that impress and players that distress. One week a certain quarterback might toss four touchdowns and run around with his finger in the air while the next he's laying on his back, holding his facemask as the other team returns one of his three interceptions for the game-winning score. With that in mind, here's Studs and Duds.

Here's Week 7 at a glance, where we point out the horses destined for the Kentucky Derby and jeer those headed to the glue factory.

Studs

Steven Jackson, RB St. Louis (25 carries, 160 yards, 3 TDs) -- The problems in Dallas are apparent, and they deal a lot more with a porous defense than with a questionable trade deal and an injured starting quarterback. Jackson is basically the St. Louis offense, accounting for more than half of the Rams' offense in his breakout performance of 2008. His day was highlighted by a 56-yard dash through diving Dallas defenders and was the crème brûlée on an already exquisite feast. Left for dead two weeks ago, the Rams have reeled off two straight against tough NFC East opponents and are in the only division they might have a shot at winning, thanks in large part to Jackson's incredible performance.

We have all been waiting years for this. And now that Matt Hasselbeck has gotten his pesky back out of the way, Seneca Wallace can finally start at quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks.

Okay, not really. Well, yes really. (That's right. I have successfully confused myself.) Anywho, the point is that Seneca is healthy enough to start for the Seahawks, Hasselbeck is already ruled out and Charlie Frye is still Charlie Frye. So Wallace gets the nod.

Seneca Wallace will start at quarterback, coach Mike Holmgren said, as long as nothing happens with regard to Wallace's injury before Sunday's game at Tampa Bay.

"He looked OK," Holmgren said. "But more importantly, probably, is that he feels OK. It's going to be his ball game I believe unless something happens in the next two games days. And I've got confidence in him."

Yeah, as you can see, everyone is really enthused. As they should be -- Wallace isn't exactly Hasselbeck in his health and/or prime, but he's definitely not Charlie Frye. And that, immediately, is a tremendous plus for the Seahawks.

I've personally always thought that Seattle should have used Seneca at wideout, even if it didn't work out well when they finally did, but this is his best role. At least considering that he'll give the 'Hawks a better chance to win than Frye. And yes, the Mike Holmgren Farewell Tour just keeps getting more exciting and enjoyable for the old feller.

There's a buzz growing around this year's trade deadline. After the busiest offseason of trade activity ever, there were still a lot of long-lingering rumors that have been growing on the vine through six weeks of the season. Now, with the trade deadline upon us, there seems to be a genuine feeling (or is it just hope?) that this deadline will be unlike the many dormant ones that have come before. Well, it's not going to happen. As far as movement is concerned, this deadline will be less Phil being taken out at a gas station and more Tony enjoying Journey over onion rings.

Regardless, here's a look at which players have the most trade-deadline buzz:

Tony Gonzalez: The new Jason Taylor (active Hall-of-Famer seeks new team with legitimate championship hopes) wants to be a veteran leader on a Lombardi team instead of a veteran leader teaching kids how to play pro football. The Chiefs claim that they're willing to oblige for the right price, but is the right price really the third-rounder they're reportedly asking for? I take it the answer is no, since the Giants, the team most heavily in pursuit of Gonzo, are offering a sixth-rounder. This seems like the perfect opportunity to employ conditional picks to protect both sides, but Carl Peterson has never been a GM really willing to play ball, and at this point I think the "willingness" to do what's right for Gonzalez is conjecture.

Did you know that Matt Hasselbeck, once upon a time, backed up Brett Favre? It's true -- he drafted by Green Bay and learned under the Great One and Mike Holmgren for two years before heading to Seattle with his coach.

So there was something oddly bizarre about not seeing the 'Beck sit this one out, while his would-be successor for holding Favre's clipboard -- Aaron Rodgers -- fought through several injuries for the second straight week to attempt and lead the Packers to victory. Which, as you can see from the title, he did.

And it was one of those MUST WIN-wins (a phrase that needs to die, and quickly, unless we're speaking of elimination games), and Rodgers did what he needed to, "rushing" for a touchdown and throwing for two more. Both were Favre-like, in that they were, individually, a long bomb to Greg Jennings and a one yarder to John Kuhn. (Who? Exactly.)

Meanwhile, Charles Lester Frye wasn't much like anyone worthwhile, completing 12 passes for 83 yards, even though it included two touchdowns. Koren Robinson was his leading receiver with 23 yards and Keary Colbert pulled in a five yard catch in the end zone, his only of the day. So, yeah, you could say everything's coming up Seattle these days.

The news continues to get worse for the Seahawks. Currently 1-3 and fresh off a 44-6 throttling at the hands of the Giants, they'll host the Packers on Sunday and there's a good chance they'll do it without Matt Hasselbeck.

The Seattle quarterback missed part of the preseason with a sore back, and he'll be a game-time decision against Green Bay after injuring his knee last weekend. Which means Charlie Frye could get his first start since that forgettable season-opening effort 13 months ago in Cleveland, when he was still considered the Browns' quarterback of the future. Sort of. (Here are the gory details, just in case you, um, forgot.)

Probability suggests Frye would fare better against the Packers than he did against the Steelers last year, but, well, I'm still skeptical. Unfortunately, Seneca Wallace, who started four games in 2006, isn't available, either; he's nursing a sore calf.

On the upside, head coach Mike Holmgren thinks Koren Robinson and Bobby Engram will start. But -- and this probably goes without saying, even though he made a cameo last week -- Deion Branch is listed as questionable. Typically, this means a player has a 50 percent chance of suiting up for the game, but this is Branch we're talking about. He might as well be on injured reserve.

If at any point last week you sat around thinking Brady Quinn would be making his first NFL start against the Bengals in a must win game, you my friend are a fool.

According to general manager Phil Savage, the thought was completely spurious, even though Jim Brown, the Browns executive adviser, did everything but put out a bounty on Derek Anderson last week.

''I've talked to people around the league, people who have been in this business for a long time, and you don't go blowing things up after a couple games,'' Savage said. ''You're not going to be successful in this league doing that.

''It's not been any thought of changing quarterbacks, changing the coach, or any of that. That's not the thing to do at this juncture of the season. You've got to give the people a chance to pull themselves out of the situation. We all put ourselves in this spot and we're the ones who have got to pull us out of it.''

As Marla Ridenour of the Beacon Journal points out, this whole statement is ironic since the Browns, just a season ago, traded Charlie Frye to Seattle after Week 1, the only time a starting quarterback has been traded after the first week in the history of the NFL.

The last thing the Seattle Seahawks need is another injured starter. But, well, they've got one. Marcus Trufant, their All-Pro cornerback, might (not?) have to miss time with what sounds like a pretty painful hand injury.

Seahawks defensive back suffered a cracked bone in his hand in yesterday's practice and was wearing a cast on his hand today. Mike Holmgren said they are going to try to affix something smaller to his hand for Sunday's game to make it more workable. Trufant said he has played with an injured hand before, against both UCLA and the Apple Cup one season at Washington State, though it was on his right hand not his left and it was his thumb not his hand.

The Hawks Insider also mentioned that Lofa Tatupu is sporting a cast on his finger right now, although he's apparently making plays anyway, intercepting a Charlie Frye pass during practice. So yeah, Seahawks = dinged.

So dinged, in fact, that Seneca Wallace, who will not likely play cornerback, will probably see some time at wide receiver.

"I'm confident," Wallace said. "I've just got to go out there and be able to make sure everything is correct. No busted routes. And after that, you're just out there playing football. You've got to catch the ball."

Well, it all does come back to fundamentals I guess. Still, just the fact that Wallace -- their backup quarterback -- is being pressed into duties is proof my above mathematical equation which clearly shows that this could be a rough week for the Seahawks. Certainly too rough to stake them seven points anyway.

The Steelers got off to a great start with a 38-17 win over the Texans, in a game where the final score is almost a little misleading--the Steelers led 35-3 in the third quarter before bringing in the backups.

But what does a dominating debut mean for the rest of the season? Actually it's a very good sign apparently. I picked out the five best season-opening wins since Chuck Noll took over the team. Of those five wins, four of them came from playoff teams, including two Super Bowl champs and another team that made the AFC Championship.

Here's the five most dominating opening game performances for the Steelers before today.

Good news for Seattle Seahawks fans: Matt Hasselbeck will start on Sunday. Bad news: he's a little concerned about things like "rust" and his "back".

The Pro Bowl quarterback will start Sunday in Buffalo and he says he will likely be rusty. He's played just two series of a preseason game since last January's playoff loss at Green Bay.

Hasselbeck revealed his back was in pain and spasms for weeks following a practice incident days before the first preseason game Aug. 8 at Minnesota. He said Monday he isn't anxious over how he will feel getting hit Sunday for the first time in almost nine months. He says that's an all-too-familiar feeling.

I'm not the only one who knows that "weeks" is several weeks, and that August 8 was like "several weeks" ago, right? I mean, not to be pessimistic, but if I'm a Seahawks fan, I'm not particularly confident with that.

Of course, the other options are Charlie Frye and Seneca Wallace, so I guess I'd probably be willing to ignore the possibility that the 'Back wasn't going to be healthy and just hope for the best.