FanHouse Walter Jones

Walter Jones has been a staple for the Seattle Seahawks since 1997, but the Seahawks are going to have to play the entire 2009 season without him. Wednesday, during a press conference, it was announced that Jones has been placed on injured reserve, ending his season. Jones hasn't been able to shake the pain in his knee, which stemmed from microfracture surgery in December and then another scope on the same left knee in training camp.

The venerable left tackle has started 180 games on his quarterback's blind side, racking up an impressive resume in the process. The future Hall of Famer has made nine Pro Bowls and been elected as a first-team All-NFL player four times in his illustrious career.

When an offensive linemen gets injured, very few fans notice. But if you want a good explanation for why the Seahawks laid an egg this week against the Cardinals you can point the finger at Kyle Williams. The Seahawks sure did, as Williams went from starting on Sunday to out of work on Tuesday.

Williams had been battlefield promoted from the practice squad to the starting lineup when a desperate Seahawks team lost its third starting left tackle of the season. Pro Bowler Walter Jones has yet to play this season because of a knee injury. Seattle was actually well prepared for his injury, as replacement Sean Locklear has been prepped as a left tackle of the future.

So much of sports can be chalked up to luck -- a fortunate bounce here, an untimely injury there, and an entire season can be altered. Turns out sports journalists have to deal with fickle fate as well.

Take beat writer Danny O'Neill of The Seattle Times. When O'Neill wrote an article on Wednesday afternoon telling Seahawks fans to avoid panicking over injuries to Walter Jones and Marcus Trufant, he had no idea that Seattle head coach Jim Mora would include in his Wednesday night press conference an update on both players.

Even those Seattle fans who were managing to stay calm before might be sweating just a bit after hearing Mora's announcements.

The AFC and NFC Pro Bowlers were announced a short while ago, and why make some pointless comment you are sure not to laugh at when we can just give you the rosters instead? Here goes.

Every week we look at some aspect of line play. Click here to read past Between The Lines.

For the entire decade, there's been no question who is the best left tackle in the NFL. Just give the All-Pro award to Seattle's Walter Jones and move on.

Since 2001, Jones has headed to Hawaii at the end of the season as the NFC's Pro Bowl left tackle. He's been an All-Pro for six of the past seven years. If you're looking for the definition of a dominating left tackle, the standard for years has been Jones.

But if Jones doesn't make it back to Hawaii this year, he can blame Cowboys outside linebacker DeMarcus Ware for ruining his reputation. With a national TV audience on Thanksgiving Day, Ware beat Jones for a pair of sacks and an additional quarterback hurry. In addition to Ware's two sacks against Jones, he also recorded a tackle for a loss on a running play when Jones struggled to get any push on Ware. Greg Ellis got a quarterback hurry late in the game against Jones after Ware left the game with an injury. And Chris Canty beat Jones on a running play to make a tackle.

Training camps are underway, the NFL season is right around the corner, and to get you ready for 2008, FanHouse previews all 32 teams, "heat index" style. We'll rate each club in 10 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

Quarterback:One of the consistencies of Mike Holmgren's regimes has been strong quarterback play. Maybe Matt Hasselback never became the "next Brett Favre", but maybe, on a number of levels, that's actually a good thing. What Hassyback has become, though, is one of the most consistently underrated and, um, consistent signal callers in the league. He's not flashy but he doesn't need big name wideouts to post big stats either. He's got a bad back early this year though, and I'm automatically docking the Seahawks one "heat point" for refusing to use Seneca Wallace at wideout. Also: Charlie Frye. Heat Index: 7

Running Back: There's something to be said of your running back situation when neither Julius Jones nor Maurice Morris can perform at a high enough level in training camp or preseason to make Mike Holmgren name a starter. T.J. Duckett could still be cut, although with the recent Ben Obomanu injury, it looks like both he and Justin Forsett could be on the roster, with Duckett manning goal line carries and Forsett returning kicks. It's not a really attractive situation either way you slice it. Heat Index: 5

Welcome to another successful installment of Five Questions with an Enemy Blogger, where each week, via email, I will be exchanging hot questions and [sometimes] answers with a rival blogger about their team and the upcoming matchup.

This week I sat down with albaNY Hawker of 12 Seahawks Street, an independent column that covers the Seattle Seahawks.

Dan Benton: "Hawker, as always, it's an absolute pleasure to chat with you again. We had so much fun last year, I decided we should do it again.

The first question is very simple, but I've been waiting a year to hear you answer it. Who was the best team (according to divisional record) in the NFC West last year? (Oh yea, it's going to sting slightly.)"

albaNY Hawker: "It must be very difficult to be an Arizona Cardinal fan and have to cling to little statistical triumphs such as this. Why not ask which team in the division ranks first alphabetically by name of State? You'll kick our [butts] at that one every freaking year! Sure, the Arizona Cardinals were what, 4-2 within the division last year? Good for you, did they give you a banner to hang in your fancy new stadium for that, or just a gold start to put on those pitful paint-by-numbers helmets? Of course, this is not kindegarten, it's the NFL, where teams are ranked by overall record and divisional championships. So to paraphrase your former coach, "The Cardinal were who we THOUGHT they were, and if you want to crown their asses, then crown 'em!" I'm sure the NFC West Champion Seattle Seahawks with let you borrow one of their crowns, they've gotten one each of the past three seasons!"

Taking into account that it's the preseason, many of the players sitting on the sidelines tonight would normally be on the field if it was a meaningful game. With that said, I'm sure most fans would like to know who they should expect to see this evening. For that reason, I've done by best to create an accurate injury report -- official reports are not posted until week one of the regular season.

Green Bay Packers:

Out: Running back Vernand Morency (knee), running back P.J. Pope (knee), running back DeShawn Wynn (quad) and fullback Brandon Miree (stinger).

Questionable: Cornerback Al Harris (back), guard Tony Palmer (undisclosed), defensive end Devon Hicks (groin), tackle Orrin Thompson (back) and cornerback Charles Woodson (hamstring)

Probable: Safety Marviel Underwood (knee), defensive end Aaron Kampman (knee), linebacker Abdul Hodge (knee), wide receiver Greg Jennings (hip), tackle Chad Clifton (knees), tight end Bubba Franks (cornea) and linebacker Nick Barnett (back).