Joe Seahawk
10-12-2005, 08:58 AM
I gotta go with big Walt..
Locked On Sports: For a real kick, watch Big Walt instead of ball
By DAVID LOCKE
SPECIAL TO THE POST-INTELLIGENCER
He dominates so dramatically it makes you giggle. He's like a puppeteer, pulling strings on the 300-pound men opposing him.
Watching Seahawks offensive tackle Walter Jones is watching pure, unadulterated supremacy. Every game, every snap, No. 71 toys with the man on the other side of the line of scrimmage.
The greatest compliment you can bestow on an athlete is that he changes the way you watch the game. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird made fans of all of us in the NBA. Ichiro brought us a new ballgame in the summer of 2001.
Jones has exposed me to a brand new game of football. Compared to watching Jones, watching the ball is so boring.
Spotlight Jones and you will be in awe. He will pull and drive a guy 15 yards down the field. He will flatten him on a crack-back block.
If he weren't on your side it would be unfair. Remember when your older brother would hold the cookie just out of your reach and make you reach and flail. That's how opposing linemen must feel.
Jones gets paid to do that every Sunday.
"No matter who Walt is playing, it really looks like he is a man playing with little kids," Seahawks fullback Mack Strong said. "It doesn't matter if a guy is a Pro Bowler. Walt just has superior strength, size and athletic ability. He is a freak of nature."
Take some time this Sunday night and watch Jones. If you have TiVo, make your own replays. It is astounding what Jones does to opponents.
Do it for one series and you will do it again to see if he can really dominate that much all the time. The answer is yes, he can.
Atlanta Falcons Pro Bowler Patrick Kerney was conquered so badly he left the game. On a play late in the fourth quarter, Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck scrambled back toward the end zone, and Kerney lunged slightly toward him. Jones, with one paw, swiped at Kerney, sending him into a backward somersault and out of the play.
Bert Berry of the Arizona Cardinals is second in the NFL with five sacks. In his past 15 games against anyone other than Jones, Berry has 19 sacks. Against the Hawks and Jones, he has been shut out.
Watch Jones on a run play: He takes the left defensive end and pushes him to the outside of the right defensive end. On a pass play, he knocks his opponent off the TV screen and out of the cameraman's frame.
For teammates, every Monday film session becomes, "What did Walt do this week?"
"We get to see it Mondays. It is weird watching a guy block another player -- a great player -- and knock him backwards," Strong said. "You see as the game goes along that the guys are trying to get as far away from Walt as they can."
Seahawks defensive coordinator Ray Rhodes has had to coach against Jones.
"Whoever lined up in front of him, he kicked the crap out of them. I am in the coaches' room with some of the guys who I coached with on other teams, and I said, 'You know, I am embarrassed for you.' If we could play this game over tomorrow, then he would be embarrassed again."
"One of the old coaches I used to work with said, 'When Walter goes up against the majority of the guys in league, it's like you put the guy in a paper bag and carry him around and hold him up for game day and whip his butt and put him back in there."
The offensive line is the hidden game inside all the highlights. For the Hawks, it is the reason their offense is ranked first in the NFL.
Every Sunday the Hawks enter the game with an overriding advantage on the left side of the offensive line.
Put your focus on the left side of the line and No. 71. Watching Jones is watching Tiger Woods hit a golf ball, Michael Jordan stroke a jump shot, Roger Clemens throw a fastball.
When Jones is done making people eat field turf, his career will end with him wearing a yellow jacket in Canton, Ohio. Make sure you take some time to watch the brilliance.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/football/244243_locke12.html
Locked On Sports: For a real kick, watch Big Walt instead of ball
By DAVID LOCKE
SPECIAL TO THE POST-INTELLIGENCER
He dominates so dramatically it makes you giggle. He's like a puppeteer, pulling strings on the 300-pound men opposing him.
Watching Seahawks offensive tackle Walter Jones is watching pure, unadulterated supremacy. Every game, every snap, No. 71 toys with the man on the other side of the line of scrimmage.
The greatest compliment you can bestow on an athlete is that he changes the way you watch the game. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird made fans of all of us in the NBA. Ichiro brought us a new ballgame in the summer of 2001.
Jones has exposed me to a brand new game of football. Compared to watching Jones, watching the ball is so boring.
Spotlight Jones and you will be in awe. He will pull and drive a guy 15 yards down the field. He will flatten him on a crack-back block.
If he weren't on your side it would be unfair. Remember when your older brother would hold the cookie just out of your reach and make you reach and flail. That's how opposing linemen must feel.
Jones gets paid to do that every Sunday.
"No matter who Walt is playing, it really looks like he is a man playing with little kids," Seahawks fullback Mack Strong said. "It doesn't matter if a guy is a Pro Bowler. Walt just has superior strength, size and athletic ability. He is a freak of nature."
Take some time this Sunday night and watch Jones. If you have TiVo, make your own replays. It is astounding what Jones does to opponents.
Do it for one series and you will do it again to see if he can really dominate that much all the time. The answer is yes, he can.
Atlanta Falcons Pro Bowler Patrick Kerney was conquered so badly he left the game. On a play late in the fourth quarter, Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck scrambled back toward the end zone, and Kerney lunged slightly toward him. Jones, with one paw, swiped at Kerney, sending him into a backward somersault and out of the play.
Bert Berry of the Arizona Cardinals is second in the NFL with five sacks. In his past 15 games against anyone other than Jones, Berry has 19 sacks. Against the Hawks and Jones, he has been shut out.
Watch Jones on a run play: He takes the left defensive end and pushes him to the outside of the right defensive end. On a pass play, he knocks his opponent off the TV screen and out of the cameraman's frame.
For teammates, every Monday film session becomes, "What did Walt do this week?"
"We get to see it Mondays. It is weird watching a guy block another player -- a great player -- and knock him backwards," Strong said. "You see as the game goes along that the guys are trying to get as far away from Walt as they can."
Seahawks defensive coordinator Ray Rhodes has had to coach against Jones.
"Whoever lined up in front of him, he kicked the crap out of them. I am in the coaches' room with some of the guys who I coached with on other teams, and I said, 'You know, I am embarrassed for you.' If we could play this game over tomorrow, then he would be embarrassed again."
"One of the old coaches I used to work with said, 'When Walter goes up against the majority of the guys in league, it's like you put the guy in a paper bag and carry him around and hold him up for game day and whip his butt and put him back in there."
The offensive line is the hidden game inside all the highlights. For the Hawks, it is the reason their offense is ranked first in the NFL.
Every Sunday the Hawks enter the game with an overriding advantage on the left side of the offensive line.
Put your focus on the left side of the line and No. 71. Watching Jones is watching Tiger Woods hit a golf ball, Michael Jordan stroke a jump shot, Roger Clemens throw a fastball.
When Jones is done making people eat field turf, his career will end with him wearing a yellow jacket in Canton, Ohio. Make sure you take some time to watch the brilliance.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/football/244243_locke12.html