Posted by Josh Katzowitz

Each Saturday, we’ll take the best -- and most clever -- odds collected by bodog.com for the upcoming week and give our take. This is important stuff, perhaps the most important post you’ll read all week. Because if you can’t lose money while watching a game in which you have absolutely no effect, what’s the point of watching sports at all?

Will a quarterback throw for 500 or more yards from Week 2 on in the 2011 regular season?
   
Yes +400    

No -700    

Let’s see, who is Tom Brady (517 yards last week) and the Patriots playing this week? The Chargers? Hmm, ok. Who are the Chargers cornerbacks? Quentin Jammer and Antoine Cason? Hmm. Um, no. Nobody is going to throw for more than 500 yards this week. Not Brady. Not anybody. What about for the rest of the season? Probably, but I'd still go with the longshot and say no.

Will Peyton Manning play in a game in the 2011 regular or postseason? 
     
Yes +250    

No -400

I just don’t see it, because by the time Manning is ready to return (maybe in late December at best?), there’s no chance that Indianapolis will be in the running for a playoff spot. So, there will be no point to play him. Therefore, Colts owner Jim Irsay will forbid Manning from playing. And it will be the right call.

How many times will Michael Vick be shown in a Falcons uniform during the live broadcast of the Eagles/Falcons game Week 2?
    
Over 1½ (-150)

Under 1½ (+110)

When you count all the video highlights they’ll show and the still photos, it’s got to be at least five times, right? Go with the over.

Who will be the next team to sign David Garrard? 
      
Indianapolis Colts 3/2       

Cincinnati Bengals 5/2       

Seattle Seahawks 5/1
      
Miami Dolphins 5/1 
     
San Francisco 49ers 6/1

Oakland Raiders 7/1

Pittsburgh Steelers 15/2  
  
New York Jets 10/1  
  
There were reports this week that Garrard was approached by several teams and that he’s waiting to make a decision to whichever squad will be the best fit. Looking at the above teams, the only squad I see as a real possibility is the Seahawks. For one, they’ve got Tarvaris Jackson as the starter. For two, they’ve got Charlie Whitehurst as a backup. For three, coach Pete Carroll certainly isn’t afraid of turning over his roster. All those factors make Garrard an obvious choice to go to Seattle.

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Posted by Ryan Wilson

This Rapid Report from Saturday night's Minnesota-Seattle game by our Seahawks correspondent, John Boyle, also serves as a microcosm for Tarvaris Jackson's career: "Jackson played the entire first half, but it was hard to get a read on the Seahawks’ new quarterback. He was under near-constant pressure, and also had a well-thrown ball turn into an interception because WR Golden Tate couldn’t make the catch."

Jackson has shown glimpses of what it takes to be an NFL quarterback, but his efforts are often overshadowed by poor timing and bad luck. Also not helping his cause: Backup Charlie Whitehurst outplayed him in the Seahawks' 20-7 loss to the Vikings.

By the time Jackson made his way to the bench he was 11 of 21 for 75 yards and an interception. Whitehurst, after playing well last week, ended his night 14 of 19 for 97 yards and a touchdown.

After the game, Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll stood by Jackson, who he has already named the regular-season starter. “He was fighting for his life a little bit," Carroll said. "I thought he did some very good things, showed he could get out of trouble and save a play. I’m not in any way disappointed with what he did.”

Carroll added that “We need to help [Jackson], we need to protect him better.” And he reiterated that there is no quarterback controversy. “I’m not in that mindset at all,” said Carroll, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. “I love that Charlie played well, and I think we need to give Tarvaris a chance to play well, too, with the guys around him. I felt like he was out there fighting for it and did a good job of competing.”

Clearly, not everyone is of that opinion, including former Seahawks safety Lawyer Milloy, who took to Twitter early Sunday morning to voice his thoughts on the matter.


When asked about Milloy's tweets, Carroll said any response would be made to Milloy personally.

Whitehurst said: “[Milloy's] a good friend. He’s a heck of a player. Like I said, I’m just trying to do whatever I can. Whatever happens, hopefully it’ll be a successful year for the Seahawks.”

We've previously mentioned Whitehurst and where he fit into the Seahawks' long-term QB plans. In July there were rumors the team might be willing to part with a first- and third-round pick for Kevin Kolb.

But Seattle had acquired Whitehurst last offseason when they swapped 2010 second-round picks with San Diego, and threw in a third-rounder for good measure. They then signed him to a two-year, $8 million deal. Last month we wrote: "No one really knows what Whitehurst can do. He was uneven in two starts last season, but that doesn't means much. Along those lines, do we have any idea what type of starter Kolb will be?"

More germane to this conversation now that Kolb's in Arizona and Jackson's in Seattle: do we have any idea what type of starter Tarvaris will be? More to the point: is Tarvaris clearly an upgrade over Whitehurst?

It doesn't look like it through two preseason games. But for now, Jackson is Carroll's guy.

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Posted by Ryan Wilson

• It's with a heavy heart that Steelers Lounge suggests the team should extend linebacker Lawrence Timmons' contract now and wait until after the 2011 season to revisit safety Troy Polamalu.

• Field Gulls talks about Tarvaris Jackson's second chance with Pete Carroll and the Seahawks.

• Colts blog 18to88.com busts out the abacus to support the notion that Randy Moss was, in fact, The Quarterback Maker. (And no, this doesn't mean that Moss might be headed to Indy. We think.)

• PFT's Michael David Smith, Lions fan and friend of the Eye-on-Sports blog, must be having flashbacks: Detroit is bringing in Matt Millen's son-in-law for a workout.

• Cam Newton may still be struggling with the Panthers playbook, but he made time to shoot an Under Armour commercial with Tom Brady's hairpiece.

• Related: just in case it wasn't obvious, new Panthers head coach Ron Rivera has a message for you, Carolina supporters: “Our fans, we owe them after being 2-14 last season which was not acceptable.”

• More evidence that the NFL and Arena League are completely different games (in case you couldn't make that out by the shorter field, padded sidelines, and funny-looking football): video of an Arena League fan keeping a player from returning a kick and then getting high-fives from the other team. James Harrison body slams these people.

• Shutdown Corner's Chris Chase pretty much captures the essence of this story with the very first sentence of his post: "Dallas Cowboys rookie Phillip Tanner is trying to make the leap from the concession stand to the locker room."

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Posted by Will Brinson

Tarvaris Jackson is Pete Carroll's new "guy" in Seattle.

As such, it's not surprising to hear him defend Jackson and the quarterback's struggles in Minnesota. But it is surprising to hear him basically rip the Vikings front office and coaching staff for their way of handling Jackson.

“He has not been in a good situation," Carroll told Yahoo! Sports' Mike Silver. "He’s been jerked around. We wanted to put him in a stable situation."

Boom. Roasted. But wait -- Carroll's comment wasn't even the spiciest one in Silver's article. Seahawks GM John Schneider kept things straight real when discussing Jackson's situation.

"He's 28 years old, and quite frankly was [expletive] on for four years," Schneider said.

Look, I'll give Schneider and Carroll credit for having a point here, because Jackson's been pushed back on the depth chart by a different crusty veteran nearly every single year since the Vikings drafted him in the first round. Brad Johnson, Gus Frerotte, and Brett Favre all started ahead of Jackson at one point, and obviously a situation involving Favre is going to play out like a yo-yo.

But having said all that, if Jackson was truly good enough to flourish and/or a clear-cut, starter-level quarterback at the NFL level, would the Vikings have been going out and chasing veteran quarterbacks in the first place? Or would they have simply allowed Jackson to walk after 2010 even though they were desperate enough for a quarterback that they a) reached for Christian Ponder in the first round and b) traded for Donovan McNabb?

It sure seems unlikely.

So it'll be quite interesting to see whether or not Carroll is more patient in Seattle if Jackson struggles to produce in the same offense that he was running in Minnesota. Seattle sure does appear to be a good situation for him, because he's got the same offensive coordinator (Darrell Bevell) and top offensive weapon (Sidney Rice).

And the Seahawks not only put their confidence firmly behind him, having named him the starter already, but they went out and got him a nice little bonus weapon in tight end Zach Miller.

So Jackson can succeed. Or he can struggle, again.

If it's the latter, however, we'll probably have to add Charlie Whitehurst's name to an already unassuming list of veterans who have hopped Jackson on the depth chart.

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Posted by Ryan Wilson

It's sometimes easy to get lost in the maelstrom that is Oakland Raiders football, but tight end Zach Miller was one of the most underrated players at his position during his four-year NFL career. And now he'll take his game some 800 miles north to Seattle where the Seahawks have reached an agreement with the former second-round pick out of Arizona State, the Associated Press is reporting.

ESPN's Adam Schefter tweets that the deal is for five years, worth $34 million, and includes $17 million in guarantees.

Miller joins Tarvaris Jackson and Sidney Rice as the newest faces on Seattle's offense, and he'll team up with another young tight end with unlimited potential: John Carlson who, because of injuries, changing schemes and quarterbacks, has seen his reception totals decline in each of his three NFL seasons.

On Monday before Miller had agreed to terms but after it was announced he was visiting Seattle, ESPN.com's Mike Sando detailed the plan for Carlson and the Seahawks' tight ends in 2011: "[New offensive coordinator Darrell] Bevell is implementing an offense similar to the one Mike Holmgren ran in Seattle when Holmgren pushed the team to make Carlson a second-round draft choice. That angle still might come into play, but Carlson isn't the only receiving tight end the Seahawks are considering as they move through the early stages of training camp."

In terms of raw numbers, Miller has 226 career receptions for 2,712 yards and 12 touchdowns, and he hauled in 60 catches for 685 yards (5 TDs) in 2010. Carlson, meanwhile, has 137 receptions for 1,519 yards and 13 touchdowns, including 31 catches for 318 yards (1 TD) a season ago.

Miller will be reunited with Tom Cable, the new Seattle assistant head coach/offensive line and former Raiders head coach.

In other Seahawks personnel news (via the AP): Defensive end Jimmy Wilkerson has also signed with the team. He spent last season with New Orleans, but his best seasons came in 2008 and 2009 with Tampa Bay when he worked with new Seattle defensive line coach Todd Wash. Wilkerson started a career-high 15 games in 2009 and had career bests in tackles (46) and sacks (6). Wilkerson was the second defensive free agent to reach a deal with Seattle in as many days. The Seahawks brought back cornerback Kelly Jennings on Monday.

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Posted by Josh Katzowitz

When the Seahawks lost touch with QB Matt Hasselbeck and decided instead to bring in Tarvaris Jackson, it made sense that he would battle with backup Charlie Whitehurst and then eventually beat him out for the starting spot.

Except Jackson doesn’t have to worry about the competition any more. At least for now. Seattle coach Pete Carroll announced Saturday morning that the No. 1 job belongs to Jackson.

Considering Jackson is well-versed with former Minnesota offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell, who now runs the Seahawks offense, that’s a big advantage Jackson holds over Whitehurst (there’s also the matter that Jackson has started 20 games in his career, as opposed to Whitehurst’s two).

"In this situation, to make it the most competitive for our team, Tarvaris needs to be our starter right now," Carroll told reporters, via Rapid Reporter John Boyle, writing for the Everett Daily Herald. "He comes in as our starter, he’s going to own that position until Charlie and the next couple of fellows at that spot get a chance to catch up, and then the competition will begin from their end.

“Things changed during this offseason ... The more we saw it coming, the more we realized we needed continuity and we needed continuity we could generate in a very short amount of time, and without question as a staff across the board, we realized that because of our background in our offense with Tom and Darrell coming together, if we could capture Tarvaris into this thing, who has been with Darrell for five years, we could hit it running full speed.”

That’s not to say, though, that Whitehurst couldn’t compete and then take the starting job away from Jackson.

“This is just a competitive decision because of the timeframe that we’re dealing with,” Carroll said. “It’s strictly that. This is not the purely competitive situation I would like it to be, but the other side of it, I think that to compete for our team, this is the right thing to do. So that overrides the individual. Charlie, as soon as he can get caught up, then I can say, ‘Charlie, the competition is dead on, let’s go. Let’s see where you sit with us.’”

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Posted by Will Brinson

Friday night was "official signing" night for the NFL, what with free agency beginning at 6 p.m. and all, so not every single Seattle Seahawk signing was necessarily newsworthy. Certainly though, the fact that Brandon Mebane was re-signed is pretty big.

"That’s a cool thing," GM John Schneider said. "Being able to re-sign one of our own guys who was a hot commodity in free agency was huge for us. He wanted to stay here. We wanted him to stay here."

The 26-year-old, who Pete Prisco listed as his eighth-best available free agent, re-signed with Seattle on a five-year, $25 million deal that features $5 million in guarantees.

"He has been a good starter for the Seahawks the past four seasons," Prisco wrote at the time. "He is a perfect 4-3 defensive tackle. Seattle would love to have him back."

So it's obvious that they're pretty thrilled at landing Mebane in the offseason, especially considering the division-rival Rams were also interested in chasing after Mebane and reportedly made him an offer earlier on Friday.

His ability to stuff the run is a huge plus, especially in a division that has second-year starter Sam Bradford and/or unknown "franchise" guy Kevin Kolb as its best quarterback. (Seriously -- think about how bad the quarterbacking is in the NFC West relative to other divisions. Although I guess that says something about the general competitiveness of the division.)

Mebane wasn't the only big signing the Seahawks dropped, though. They also announced that Tarvaris Jackson and Sidney Rice (hello, Vikings west!) had signed.

"Obviously we knew firsthand from [offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell] about all the research we did on [Jackson’s] leadership skills, his football intelligence, his swagger and all that," Schneider said. "We were very comfortable with him."

And, as we noted earlier in the week, inking Jackson didn't exactly stop the team from bringing in Rice.

"Once we were able to come to an agreement with T-Jack, it helped us with Sidney, obviously, in terms of recruiting," Schneider said.

It'll provide for an interesting mix -- if Jackson can produce at the level that people expected of him in Minnesota, Seattle's made stupendous progress in Pete Carroll's short time with the franchise.

And if not, there's always Andrew Luck.

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Posted by Will Brinson

With the exception of Rex Ryan's crew making a big-time, big-money play for Santonio Holmes, the high-profile wideout market's been a little quiet. Not anymore -- according to a report, Sidney Rice has agreed to terms with the Seattle Seahawks and will be goin' out west on a five-year deal.

Jay Glazer of Fox Sports, who initially reported the news, did not provide immediate information on the financials of the deal.

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reporte that Rice will receive $41 million over the course of the deal with $18.5 million guaranteed.

Free Agent Frenzy

2011 NFL Free Agency Tracker Free Agency Experience: Live updates, chat Judge: Good move for 'Hawks, bad for Rice Prisco: Why Seattle? It's all about the money Brinson: Assessing 2011 FA QB options Eye on Football: Latest free agency updates

One very interesting point: Rice is probably going to have to pass a physical before that deal is consummated. That's no surprise for any free agent, but most of the players we're discussing aren't coming off a year where they struggled with a hip injury.

Another interesting point: as we mentioned when discussing the recent signing of Tarvaris Jackson, the Seahawks were very much in the market for Rice thanks to the presence of Jackson and offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell, formerly of the Vikings.

The reunion might not necessarily guarantee on-field offensive success for the Seahawks, but Seattle's ability to put up points looks improved over 2010. And if they can land a franchise quarterback in 2012, they might actually have a nice little thing going on up there.

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