I must say I'm rather confused when I read the surprising amount of anti-Ruskell sentiment that seems to be popular opinion from many 'hawk fans this offseason.
It’s easier to notice all this in the offseason, of course, when there aren’t any games happening to distract the masses from the red tape and the politics of the sport. Personally, I just think a lot of the bitching has to do with the fact that we’re all suffering from Acute Football Withdrawal Syndrome right now. Hell, it’s March, and all the fuss is about baseball season, which is currently five minutes away from officially beginning in our fair city of Seattle as I’m typing this.
If anyone who’s been paying attention to what’s been going on with the Seahawks in the offseason still says Ruskell is a bad GM, I’m going to be bold and casually come up behind you with a copy of the PI’s Seahawks issue from last September and generously swat you upside the head with it. Trust me, we’ll both feel better afterwards.
You might be formulating counterarguments to what I’m saying already, especially seeing that I haven’t provided any examples as to why Ruskell deserves a celebratory drink in his honor at Slugger’s by now. Think about this for a second. Some excerpts from his resume:
-Built a team notorious for nonstop failure into a 13-3 powerhouse that went to the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history;
-Had a running back set the then-record for most rushing touchdowns in a single season;
-Took a chance on an undersized middle linebacker from USC who everyone said was too small and too slow for the job – the same guy who’s now revered as one of the best in the league at the position. His name is Lofa. Maybe you’ve heard of him?
-Drafted another guy named Marcus in 2003 who emerged as the best cornerback in the league last year;
-Locked both above guys into contracts until roughly the end of modern civilization;
-Helped to ensure the Seahawks were successful in the 2006 season, when nearly everything went straight to hell from start to finish;
-Has tirelessly worked to fix the team’s anemic running game, and then some.
And speaking of the running game, I know that subject with this team is nothing less than the giant pink elephant in the living room knocking over the furniture during a New Year’s Eve party. I was prepared for a hailstorm of bitching when TJ Duckett was signed to a multiyear contract; and lo and behold, I only had to wait about two hours after that news broke to hear a swarm of fans scream “JESUS CHRIST WHAT THE HELL IS RUSKELL THINKING?!” It was genuinely ugly.
But Duckett wasn’t ever meant to be The Answer to the run game. He was brought onboard to do what the Seahawks haven’t been able to get done very well in the past two years with Shaun Alexander being ineffective at best – break for short yardage on third-and-one. (And, really, third-and-anything.)
Duckett is built like an Abrahams tank, and has the potential to be a real pain in the ass to take down. He also had his first 100-yard game with the Lions last year, which tells me he’s developing and probably still has his best years ahead of him.
But what really shocked the hell out of me was when Julius Jones was signed. The fact that we actually signed him didn’t surprise me nearly as much as the fans’ reactions of “oh, great, Jones sucks, we’re doomed” etc etc. Last time I checked, Shaun Alexander can’t rush for more than five yards without falling down, and made a routine habit of being manhandled to hell by defensive lines last year, some of whom had looked completely comatose until taking him on. Is there some kind of prize for “Biggest Morale Boost for Other Teams’ Defensive Lines” that I’m not aware of here?
I don’t want the Seahawks to be that team again, and I’m sure no other fan wants to see that either. Alexander had a good run in this town, but it’s time to make room for some new blood that’s hopefully not so injury-prone. From what I can tell, Jones didn’t play much last year because Marion Barber lit up like a Christmas tree and became a top-5 back. It’s hard to compete with that, especially when Jones was already vying for a starting job to begin with.
So maybe he’s found a good home in Seattle, with a team that’s definitely in somewhat dire need of what he could bring to the table. How awesome would it be to have a quartet of Jones and Maurice Morris for general running duties with Duckett and Leonard Weaver adding the short-yardage muscle? I can almost read Ruskell’s mind when it comes to that stuff. The running game is broken, he says, and they’re not even done repairing it yet, according to a recent report of the Seahawks possibly shopping for yet another running back in this year’s draft.
Anyone seeing a parallel to the Giants’ strategy they put into use last year of Ahmad Bradshaw, Brandon Jacobs, Derrick Ward and Rueben Droughns? Is it just me? And more importantly, don’t we all know where that strategy got the Giants last year, don’t we?
Keywords: draft, jones, running backs, ruskell
