• Kyle Williams made his case for the continued presence of Porkchop, blowing four blocks against competition as good as Dan Bazuin and as bad as Nick Osborn. Recent free agent signee Osborn had just 7 sacks in a 46 game career at San Diego State. He's so new he's not listed on the official roster. Osborn, who saw only limited action with Chicago's second string, is 6'4", 250-260. He's Chicago's Dallas Sartz: tall, a good employee and as likely to make the roster as, well, as Kyle Williams.

  The blown block that blew up came one play after a hold by John Carlson backed Seattle to its own 5.

  It's 2^nd and 10 on the Seattle 5. Seattle breaks in 2 WR, TE, Rb. Bears are in a base 4-3. At the snap, Bazuin runs right around Williams, before even fullback David Kirtman reaches the line of scrimmage. In fact, Charlie Frye is still in his backpedal. Whatever wily decision Frye should have, could have but didn't make, this play is FUBAR. Frye does, as Warren Moon put it, the "thing he can do" and scrambles right avoiding Bazuin. In the confusion, Williams has not only permitted Bazuin near unimpeded to the ball carrier, but stupidly vacated right containment attempting to make up for his mistake. Making another mistake.

  In the scrum, Steve Vallos has lost his man, tackle Matt Toeaina. Kirtman puts a block on Toeaina, but rightly continues his route left. Right not because it positively affects the play, moving towards the left flat whilst Frye is rolling right renders Kirtman dead, but right because that was Kirtman's assignment. Toeaina grabs Frye, Frye attempts to dish the ball to T.J. Duckett and you know the rest.

• Mansfield Wrotto was the man ducking defenders on Frye's first interception of the quarter - second of the game. Wrotto has quick feet and can dominate a defender, but against a blitz he makes terrible reads, too often hustling forward to engage one man while obliviously allowing defenders to storm in around him. That was the case on this play, Wrotto quixotically charging Rod Wilson while Ricky Manning, Jr. sprinted untouched just right of Wrotto. I'm not sure Wilson was even blitzing, and Wrotto certainly should have held the line rather than volunteer a pass rush lane.
• Duckett can be picky but he does pick up blitzes well.
• One thing Logan Payne can do, to repeat a theme, is snatch the ball away from his body.
• Michael Bumpus and new long snapper Tim Lindsey missed tackles on Earl Bennett's punt return touchdown. Bumpus, a gunner, struggled to break Chicago's press and was very late to reach Bennett. Lindsey was nearly the last line of defense and was forced into a bad angle.

That's it. Both teams went vanilla and interesting play took a quarter off. Frye may not be long for this league, but his line didn't help him. We'll complete the 4th quarter and overtime tomorrow.

Charlie Frye is a failed quarterback. Seattle moved a sixth round pick for Frye hoping to rectify a botched start to his career. Frye, always a project, never a plug and play quarterback, cut his teeth behind some miserable offensive lines. His style inflates sacks and he struggled mightily in Cleveland, suffering 66 sacks over 557 pass attempts. Adjusted for opponent and down and distance, Frye recorded Kriegian adjusted sack rates of 10.7% (2005) and 9.8% (2006). For comparison, his tackle dummies in arms Trent Dilfer and Derek Anderson suffered but 6.4% (2005) and 6.0% (2006) adjusted sack rates, respectively. After a five sack slip and slide in week one, Cleveland cut bait, shipping Frye to Seattle for a sixth round pick. Behind a revamped offensive line, Anderson's rate improved from good to excellent: 3.5%.

Anderson, inaccurate but big, mobile and with a quick release, could survive if not thrive behind a worm-eaten line. Frye became a worse quarterback by the snap. Seattle has attempted to decondition Frye's sack induced spasms by teaching him to make quicker reads, check down to his tight end and running backs and fit him with the red shirt aegis. If only the latter worked during the season. They also, theoretically, assembled a line that could give him the kind of time to remain plumb. That's out the window on Saturday, as the white rat's back and the boom returns.

The goal of the preseason is not to win, but to develop. To assess talent and execute plays against unfriendly opposition. If Mike Holmgren expects execution and an accurate display of skills on Saturday, he's not only mistaken, he may be making one of the fundamental mistakes of management: overmatching new employees and positioning them to fail.

The Bears will play their starters into the third quarter. Seattle will not reciprocate. Seneca Wallace or Frye will start, but, either way, Frye will see extensive action. Should he start, Frye may be bookended briefly by starting tackles Walter Jones and Sean Locklear. That'll be nice for Charlie. The cheery arrival before the turn of the screw, because after those ten snaps or so, Jones and Lock get to squat and the Kyle Williams/Ray Willis Happy-Birthday-of-Death B unit are scheduled to escort Mark Anderson, Adawale Ogunleye and Mike Brown about Frye's head and shoulders. Clench that mouthguard, Frye Guy, Tommie Harris is swooping in with a cape shaped like Steve Vallos. But Chicago's front six are no children and Frye no innocent, in fact, he's about to be downright violated.

So "double-u tee ef?" as my wife would say. Why put Frye in the fryer? Why take a battered quarterback and marry him to Rocky? Holmgren seems like the old school type that demands accountability in a tornado. In that sense, he doesn't expect Frye to beat the disaster, just keep his head. And if he can't, at least lick his wounds and build up from the breakdown. It's not a sure-failure strategy. Some thrive on adversity. Sometimes nothing can be a pretty cool hand, just probably not for Frye, who's had his share of nothing and not too many cold drinks.

Before we delve into the 3^rd quarter, I wanted to talk briefly about Howard Green. Some may know that I don't much like Green. That is, I don't think he's a particularly good defensive tackle. Against Minnesota, Green forced a fumble, recorded two sacks and caught the improbable interception of the preseason. Just an awesome statistical showing. Green can do that. He's a playmaker. What he needs to be is a run stuffer and I don't think he can. At 6'2", 320, Green has the size of a solid 1-tech run stopper. That impression, that he could hold the point and clog rush lanes, is why Green bounced around the league, disappeared for a couple seasons before resurfacing in 2007. See, Green is not a run stuffer. He's overmatched against double teams and isn't even really reliable against single blocks. He's a single gap defensive tackle trapped in the body and athleticism of a two gap tackle. Paired with Craig Terrill, the two, Seattle's little man unit, watched on for the Cedric Benson careen, the DeAngelo Williams cutback and Ryan Grant reading Seattle its last rights. He's also never recorded a regular season sack in 24 games.

With Tubbs out, this team badly needs a healthy Red Bryant to create some semblance of sturdiness on its second team tackle rotation. Not to consciously run against the grain, but - that was a hell of a game for Green and I'd just rather he didn't play too much when it matters.

• Josh Wilson blew coverage in a familiar site for Seattle DBs. He slipped attempting to breaking on a simple curl route.
• David Hawthorne has some serious pop. That pop, power, explosiveness, tackling, whatever, has a lot to do with his forced fumble on the play of the third quarter, but I'd give equal credit to Terrill.
• It's 2^nd and 7. Minnesota aligns with 3 WR, TE, Rb. Seattle is in a base 4-3. At the snap, the Vikings attempt to pull the right tackle and center, with the two guards collapsing the middle. Babin, who had a very good game, stalemates the guards, but this is incidental. D.D. Lewis targets pulling right tackle Marcus Johnson. Johnson responds with a somewhat premature and somewhat misguided cut block. That leaves Albert Young exposed. Hawthorne annihilates Young. Young's collapsing limbs squirt the ball high into the air. But it is what happens first, why Hawthorne has a five yard freeway to the ball carrier, without a blocker in sight, that makes this play.
• Let's start again. At the snap, the Vikings attempt to pull the right tackle and center, with two guards collapsing the middle. The center, the man who would have sealed off the inside and prevented Hawthorne from an open path to the ball carrier, is retarded by Terrill's almost instantaneous penetration. Terrill's presence in the backfield, two yards deep before the center can even fully pull, is what forces John Sullivan to readjust and take on Terrill. Without him, Hawthorne tees off. Without Terrill, Hawthorne doesn't force a fumble.
• Directions for a Lawrence Jackson sack: Explode off the snap, maintain perfect spacing against the tackle, shove said tackle into next week, enter trail position on quarterback, hit that second gear like a Boxster, and, oh yeah, be so damn smart you poke the ball away before sacking your former teammate. I'm gettin' a jersey.
• Bumpus looked good. Real good. And quick. But let's be clear. Minnesota had the 23^rd ranked pass defense last season. Minus McCauley, their defensive back depth is atrocious. As sure as Seneca Wallace's pass to Joe Filani was a nice show of arm strength if not accuracy, it was doubly proof that the Vikings' DBs are completely clueless. Speaking of Bumpus, clueless and Filani, quitting on your route is bad Joel. Quitting on the route so that you are seen jogging past - almost shielding - the targeted receiver, one Michael Bumpus on a crisp deep out route, is why you can start packing your bags.
• Guess what? Emotion is stupid. T.J. Duckett didn't play poorly. For one, he didn't actually fumble. Well, he did kind of fumble on the play negated by a Letroy Guion facemask, but Tyrell Johnson sunk his helmet right into the ball. Duckett didn't do anything particularly careless. The second non-fumble fumble, was just a non-fumble. As in, a player is allowed to let go of the ball when he's clearly down. The officials overturned it and the play shouldn't be held against Duckett. Actually, I'll get back to that play in a second, because a funny thing happens...
• I watched Duckett make good decisions. I watched Duckett fight through trash for an additional two yards on 3^rd and 2 on the Minnesota 14. And I watched Duckett take the brunt of Seattle's bad blocking.
• Flash ahead. Seattle's second drive, fourth play, 3^rd and 6 on the Seattle 42. Mansfield Wrotto misreads the blitz, or is misdirected by Steve Vallos' line call, and two Vikings shoot into the pocket, chase Seneca Wallace and "force" an intentional grounding. Three plays later, Seattle with the ball again after Jamar Adams and Hawthorne team up for another forced fumble. Seattle's in 2 WR, I, TE formation. Vikings, base 4-3. It's 1^st and 10 on the Minnesota 18. At the snap, Wrotto again badly blows a block allowing Erin Henderson and half of Minnesota's defense through the proverbial crack in the dam. Duckett isn't Barry Sanders and he's not football agile and he's not going to put a move on everyone or bounce the ball outside when a geyser of purple bodies are bearing down on him. The worst we can say about Duckett is he didn't accept the failed block and do his best to minimize lost yards. That's bad, but not Wrotador bad.
• Moving along. First play, Seattle's final drive of the quarter. 3 WR, I against a Minny Nickel D. Kyle Williams is swam over, putting Duckett headlong into a free defensive end before he even hits the hole.
• Finally, to our non-fumble. 1^st, 10, Seattle 46. The Hawks again break 3 wide, I against a Nickel D. The play involves a trap block from Ray Willis, who must cut across the line and seal the outside left. Willis is slow on the draw, or slow to recognition or just slow, and begins moving left only after seeing a free defender circling the left side. That's bad. Duckett, nearing the line of scrimmage perpendicularly intersects Willis' path, y'know running the ball, forcing Willis not to hold up, but rather to attempt a cut block that lowbridges Duckett and sends him tumbling head and ball first into the turf. Der.
• Duckett can be picky and slow in his first gear, but I think we can put the shovels away. He certainly didn't do anything on Friday to warrant murmurs of cutting him.

Seahawks Insider is first in with, uh, well...

There is another new player on the field, though this one is an old player. With Chris Gray announcing his retirement (officially he was placed on the IR) -- which must make Ben Claxton feel a bit more secure...

Chris Gray: Ben Claxton, come over here man. Doctors told me I have to retire. Said I have a spine injury; that if I play any more it could lead to paralysis. When they told me Saturday, it hit me like a ton of bricks. Playing football has been my life. Anyway, kid, sounds like you've got a good chance to make the club. That's my spot you're taking. Do me proud.

Ben Claxton: You're debilitating injury makes me feel a bit more secure about my job.

Gray:

Claxton: Sorry about the spine.

Howard Green had another nice play, slipping a block and getting into the backfield to stop Maurice Morris.

I'm not wild about Green, but without Red Bryant, he's the team's best backup 1 tech tackle. That is, assuming nothing from Marcus Tubbs. At 29, and with better quicks than strength, for a right DT anyway, Green could enjoy a late career peak as his strength and speed hit an optimum equilibrium: being strong enough to make his speed count and not having lost enough speed to suffer.

D. D. Lewis quickly showed why Justin Forsett’s size is a liability: After Forsett caught a pass and tried to sprint away from Lewis, Lewis took his jersey with just one arm and flung him to the ground with a look of disdain.

Being tackled by the jersey, even decisively, does not make a player a liability.

I have to say, Jason Babin is having a pretty good training camp. Babin bullrushed Joe Newton on one play and pushed him into the backfield, right into Owen Schmitt, who was coming up to the line for a block. The play fell apart. It is the one concern with Newton: he is a very good receiver but his lower body is too small to sustain blocks. Later, Babin beat Kyle Williams to the quarterback.

In other words, Babin schooled a tight end that can't block and a developmental tackle that's hanging on by his fingernails. As much as I want Babin to produce, this is all but meaningless. Good God I can't wait for Friday.

Talkin Hawks

WORD OF THE DAY
Defense. As in, the pads came back on, and the defense came out pounding.

After two practices in shells and shorts Sunday, the players worked this morning for 1 hour, 45 minutes in full pads – and defensive players were popping theirs, and then popping off.

"Guys were just making plays," Pro Bowl middle linebacker Lofa Tatupu said. "And you get to jawing a little more when you're making plays."

That the defense was doing, to the rumbling displeasure of coach Mike Holmgren – whose practice barometer is an indication of well the offense performs.

Seattle's defense is clearly more talented than its offense. Especially the offense it assembles for practice. Full of holes on the line and largely without its top quarterback. So, though the story has been about how the defense has dominated the offense throughout training camp, it's really no reason to panic. The defense is playing at or near full strength. It should be dominating Seattle's patchwork offense.