Say Goodbye To the Big Russian.....

[savvyman]

For he has signed with the Jets.

http://www.newyorkjets.com/news/article-randylangeblogfb/Jets-Agree-to-Terms-with-Tackle-Breno-Giacomini/a23e81be-4715-4afc-9c78-2ac80a572f2d

[c_hawkbob]

I know everybody likes him, and I did too, but this is no great loss. Tough ass sum'b**** but Breno was no better than a journeyman NFL Tackle. He never woulda gotten on the field with Holmgren's bunch. Even Pork Chop was a far superior Tackle.

[HumanCockroach]

Bummer, The O-line and Receiver core starting to look a little thin to me at this point. Like both Bowie and Bailey, but if one of those guys slides into the RT spot, depth becomes a concern, as well as I am not sold that either is ready to be a solid 16 game starter there. I am sure they have a plan, but it is worrisome to see not just the players leave, but the depth taking hits.

[monkey]

I know everybody likes him, and I did too, but this is no great loss. Tough ass sum'b**** but Breno was no better than a journeyman NFL Tackle. He never woulda gotten on the field with Holmgren's bunch. Even Pork Chop was a far superior Tackle.

While on one level I completely agree, because clearly he just isn't that talented, what this means is, we are getting light in terms of depth...very light.
I'm not going to cry over him, far from it, but there just aren't that many serviceable tackles out there right now.
Meaning, unless John pulls something off that most fans and so called experts haven't even thought of, we'll have to fill in holes through the draft, which is the LAST thing I wanted to see the Seahawks do!

[Bird Droppings]

ChalkBob, he would have had trouble staying out of The Emperor's Dog House, but probably because he would have stood nose to nose with Holmgren, and holmie's ego would certainly now allow that ... he was the coach, after all, and proved he was unable to even draft a QB for the Hawks or Browns.

Giacomini was the guts of the OLine like Womack never even hinted at during his tenure.

I'll accept your "journeyman" tag, but a journeyman who affected the competition, even when it seemed to overmatch his skills.

I'm concerned about the "attitude" they've lost up front. Maybe Bowie, Bailey or Hauptman can pick it up. Jared Smith was showing a little of that in your face fire last year, but will he make the team this year?

Look for attitude to arrive on the OL in F/A, or early in the draft.

And for a guy that big, and that rugged, it didn't appear anyone had ever managed to break his nose.

Go, Big Fella

zoom

[Hawk Sista]

I'm starting to go all Henny Penny... And it's day 2, and we just won he Super Bowl. Ima blame chemotherapy. Sheesh!

[Zorn76]

We won't miss Breno one bit, IMO.

The bar was not raised by either his or Carps play, for that matter, and to replace both of them, even with rookies, is not a stretch. It was expected that he was gone, and now he is.

Next man up.

And we're gonna be fine.

[savvyman]

We will miss Breno's Toughness - No if or and's about that.

However I feel confident in Pete's and John decision to not overpay Breno for more than what he was worth.

Now back to what I said on the other thread - use some of this cap room get some qualified big uglies under contract - I think this is more important than spending $10 million on Jared Allen.

[monkey]

We won't miss Breno one bit, IMO.

The bar was not raised by either his or Carps play, for that matter, and to replace both of them, even with rookies, is not a stretch. It was expected that he was gone, and now he is.

Next man up.

And we're gonna be fine.

Again, I agree with the sentiment, I just worry about the dwindling depth...of course, Pete and John knew this was coming.
Meh, this worry is just my 30+ years of Seahawks fandom negative expectations kicking in. I'll get over it.
It's like Stockholm syndrome...cripes sakes.

[Hawk Sista]

I liked the brute! The Big Russian is one of the funniest nicknames in franchise history.

[Zorn76]

You guys are right about Breno's toughness - I called it his moxie - because he did have that. It's just that, in the end, the guy wasn't really all that talented.

I do appreciate what he did here, and the 2013 line did show Tons of Heart at times, particularly in Houston last season where they did just enough to help get that win. I mean, that game was Brutal in the first half. And despite giving up 5 sacks to the Texans, they held it together to assist RW, while helping Beast Mode get almost 100 yds rushing.

Anyway, I don't mean to belittle or question the character of our SB winning OL. The room for improvement is there, though, and it'll go a long way for our chances to play in AZ - in February:)

[Hawkstar]

Tough one for me. I hated the personal fouls, but loved his aggressiveness and seemed like the ultimate teammate. I think we'll have a much easier time replacing Tate than what Breno brought everyday.

Kind of a weird sensation to be the team being raided of players. Can't say I hate seeing other teams over pay for players the Hawks won with for much less.

[NorthHawk]

There's still a lot of time before the season starts and there will be cuts so the issue although concerning right now, isn't yet pressing. I suspect the draft will produce someone along the OL if not before in FA.

[briwas101]

I only like this move because I think it will force the Hawks to finally address the OL.

How many years can you keep relying on getting by with McQuistan and Breno?

OL has been neglected over the years and its time to do to our OL what we have done with basically every other unit: make it better and tougher.

[jshawaii22]

Let's not forget that Big B was picked up as a castoff of Green Bay, from their practice squad... and yes, this IS only the 2nd day of FA. We have months left to continue to sign FA's, build from within and sort out. We have the best talent evaluaters in the NFL right now in our FO.

I think we're setting our salary cap for next year, when ET and Shem have to be extended.


js

[Eaglehawk]

Technique not the best in the league. And he played well enough to get paid: ELSEWHERE.

Good for him, he has his ring. That is something no one can take away. Also gives the dude STATURE elsewhere. I hope he makes the cut with the Jets, that is one team that will compete next year provided they get their offense moving.

[monkey]

I only like this move because I think it will force the Hawks to finally address the OL.

How many years can you keep relying on getting by with McQuistan and Breno?

OL has been neglected over the years and its time to do to our OL what we have done with basically every other unit: make it better and tougher.

Not to be argumentative, but the O-line hasn't been ignored at all. Aside from all the fere agency moves on the O-Line, they also drafted Okung, Moffitt and Carpenter.
It's just that many of the players haven't worked out the way the Seahawks had hoped. But to say the line has been ignored just isn't true at all.
I personally would like ot see them stop letting Cable draft the guys on the line, he's not doing a very good job of it at all.

[RiverDog]

You can call him a journeyman if you like, but the fact is that our OL and our team in general played a lot better with him in there than when he wasn't. Breno made a lot of progress in cleaning up his act by avoiding USC penalties yet maintained his nastiness. Granted, he wasn't one of our core players that we could have counted on as filling a need for a decade or so, but he was a very serviceable RT that we don't have a ready-for-prime-time replacement for. His departure is going to be tougher to fill than losing Tate as unlike WR where we have Baldwin, Kearse, and Harvin all proven and fully capable players, I don't see anyone on our current roster that can step in and do even just an adequate job. Russell never ran for his life more often in his professional career than he did when Breno was out of the lineup. We're in the toughest division in the league that's not getting any weaker, especially the defenses we're going to be going up against.

As far as trusting our front office goes, best in the league, so on and so forth...Yea, I hear ya. I'm sure they have a plan. But the fact is that our front office has had much less success in procuring talent on the offensive side of the ball than they have on defense, particularly on the offensive line. They've taken a 'heal thyself' approach that has worked out well so far (how can we complain when we're hoisting a Lombardi?) by not dedicating any large amount of resources in terms of free agent signings or high draft picks to addressing our needs on the OL besides Carpenter and Moffitt 3 years ago, and either of those two could both be a poster child that represents our ineptness at identifying and developing talent on the offensive line. Even our Pro Bowlers, Okung and Unger, have been often injured and even when healthy, haven't always played up to their capabilities.

I worry that the chickens are about to come home and roost. We have less resources available to address needs now than we ever have had in the past 10 years as salary cap wise, we can't afford much due to our All Pro players that have to be resigned, nearly all of the FA's that represented an upgrade over Breno are already off the board, and we are picking from the very bottom of the heap in the draft and without a 3rd rounder.

[briwas101]

I only like this move because I think it will force the Hawks to finally address the OL.

How many years can you keep relying on getting by with McQuistan and Breno?

OL has been neglected over the years and its time to do to our OL what we have done with basically every other unit: make it better and tougher.

Not to be argumentative, but the O-line hasn't been ignored at all. Aside from all the fere agency moves on the O-Line, they also drafted Okung, Moffitt and Carpenter.
It's just that many of the players haven't worked out the way the Seahawks had hoped. But to say the line has been ignored just isn't true at all.
I personally would like ot see them stop letting Cable draft the guys on the line, he's not doing a very good job of it at all.

Since Moffitt and Carpenter they've only done a little late round stuff and checking the scrap heaps. Have they done ABSOLUTELY nothing? No, but they've done just about as close to nothing as can possibly be done. A 7th rounder here and there and deciding to try out a DL as a guard is what i would call "nothing".

They keep devoting more draft picks and EARLIER draft picks to our secondary despite us already having the best secondary in the NFL.

The offensive line has been the red-headed step child and I would truly like us to focus on it. It's never going to get better with just a 7th rounder here and there. Im sorry for complaining, but it's maddening how little attention has been paid to it. As you said, what few attempts they have made have been failures, but the only time they actually tried spending money to bring someone in was Gallery (also connected to cable)

If you look at the different things that could derail our 2014 season, taking a step back in one of our only weak areas is definitely one of them. I really really really don't want us all to be asking ourselves, "Why didn't they address the OL when we knew it was our biggest or second biggest weakness?"

If some freak accident occurs and we lose Thomas and Sherman to injuries and our secondary takes a big step (or two) back, then that's just the way things go sometimes. But if Wilson suffers an injury because we failed to upgrade our OL then it is 100% a failure on Pete and John to address the actual needs of the team.

[NorthHawk]

I've been saying for a couple of years that our FO really understands Defense but I'm not so sure they understand Offense to the same degree.
The OL has been a major issue since this regime started and it hasn't really progressed beyond acceptable.
The addition of Wilson covers a lot of problems, but he's getting too much pressure and hit too often for my liking and if he misses any time the season is over from a playoff PoV.

Our Defense had a season that probably won't be equaled by the Hawks this year or maybe for a long time. If they take a slight step back, the Offense will have to step forward to make up for it so in my mind it's imperative that the Offense and OL in particular be addressed. A better Offense will take some of the pressure off of the Defense.

How dominating would this team be if the Offense averaged 35 points a game - and not because the Defense put them in position to score 3 times?