NFL GridIron Gab Daily Digest

Tuesday Seattle traded for former Buffalo Bills running back Marshawn Lynch. While the move means that the team's ground game will take on a new look this season, the ramifications are deeper.

With the 24-year-old Lynch presumably leading the pack of Seattle running backs for the foreseeable future, Seattle can now reshuffle its priorities for April's National Football League Draft. Atop that freshly reconstructed wish list will most likely be the team's quarterback of the future.

Current starter Matt Hasselbeck is in the final year of his current contract and resigning the 12-year veteran isn't certain. The 6-foot-4, 225-pound signal caller has thrown 16 interceptions in the past eight games going back to last year and his current quarterback rating (70.7) ranks as his second-worst of his career, with the worst (57.8) coming two years ago when an injury limited his season to just seven games.

Seattle paid a pretty penny for Hasselbeck's backup, Charlie Whitehurst, but the return hasn't materialized yet. The Seahawks exchanged 2010 second-round draft picks with San Diego and also gave the Chargers the team's third rounder for a quarterback that to this day hasn't thrown a regular-season pass in the NFL. It's not that Whitehurst is some young gun just waiting for his chance to shine in his new surroundings. As I noted during the team's training camp, his mechanics aren't right despite this being his fifth year as a professional and reports from those close to the situation indicate that Seattle's coaching staff still lacks confidence in the first-year Seahawk's capacity to execute the throws necessary to quarterback the offense.

Unlike Hasselbeck, Whitehurst has one year remaining on his current contract after this season.

With the team's quarterback situation mired in poor play and uncertainty for the future, trying to creatively fill the needs of the team at other positions prior to April's Draft became a necessity.

Initially lacking a weapon to compliment rookie Golden Tate at wide receiver, Seattle brought in Mike Williams. The 6-foot-5 Williams is a red zone threat and has shown moments of brilliance in a Seattle uniform, mostly during the team's preseason contests because injuries have slowed the productivity of the fourth-year veteran. Williams' contract with the Seahawks expires after the season, but that doesn't mean his time in the Emerald City will necessarily be up.

Other areas of need, including a slot receiver and players along the offensive and defensive lines, have similarly been taken care of by bringing in veterans that might have been overlooked by other teams.

These moves left the running back and quarterback positions as the glaring weaknesses that needed long-term solutions prior to Tuesday. Thanks to the acquisition of Lynch – who has a mere 687 attempts for an average of 4.02 yards per carry in his four-year professional career – Seattle can now focus its resources leading up to April's Draft on finding the perfect person to hand him the football.

Can't get enough NFLGridironGab?  Follow SeahawksGab Editor Devon Heinen on Twitter at http://twitter.com/DevonHeinen.

Red, White and Blue in exchange for Purple and Gold?

(2:25 AM ET) UPDATE: The New England Patriots and the Minnesota Vikings are working out the details that will finalize a “blockbuster” trade on Wednesday that will ship All-Pro wideout Randy Moss to Minnesota, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

This report was put out earlier this morning, just 45 minutes ago (1:40 AM) from WEEI.com Sports Radio Network in Boston.

Jclombardi reviews and grades Packers win over Lions.

Summary: This afternoon, the Packers held on to beat the Lions 28-26 at Lambeau Field. Building on a 21-14, the Packers increased their led to 28-14 after CB Woodson's interception return for a score. The Packers turned their three forced turnovers into 14 points prevailing when they forced a Detroit punt and running the final 6 minutes 32 seconds off the clock. While the Lions rallied with four straight K Hanson field goals to cut the lead to two points, the Packers used a killing-the-clock final drive.  The Packers committed fewer penalties with 3 for 31 yards, but they had four key turnovers to keep the Lions in the game.

Game Balls: QB Rodgers. FB Kuhn. CB Woodson. CB Williams.

Report Card Grades–Good, Bad, & Ugly (LA vs. SE):

Pass Offense—C+ vs B-. With solid protection, QB Rodgers still had a game of two halves. In the first half, he had a perfect 158.3 pass rating going 8 for 9 completions for 131 yards and three touchdowns.  In the second half, in the first two of three rare offensive series, these drives ended with bad interceptions. Yet, in the twelve plays final drive to run out the clock, Rodgers regained his composure completing plays of 12 and 15 yards to WR Driver and TE Lee respectively. Also, he scrambled for 16 yards on second-and-13.

Rush Offense—B- vs B. The Packers got 92 yards averaging 4.4 yards. FB Kuhn rushed 9 carries for 39 yards.  Running back Jackson had 9 carries for 33 with several good runs. The run blocking was generally steady throughout the game, especially the last drive as the offensive line produced outstanding blocks using guard-center-guard combinations and fullback picking up the linebackers.

Pass Defense—D+ vs C-. The Packers defense had an awful day in coverage. Using a clever anticipation game plan, backup quarterback Hill threw for 331 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Throughout the game, the Lions effectively countered the Packer blitz schemes using tight ends Pettigrew (eight catches, 91 yards) and Scheffler (six catches, 63 yards) exposing the slower Packers linebackers in downfield coverage and making four big third-down plays. LB Hawk simply lacks the complete coverage skills. Meanwhile, LB Barnett blitzes were ineffective. CB Williams was simply awesome in coverage. While CB Woodson's big interception return for a touchdown was the difference in the game, he missed tackles and allowed several crucial catches including WR Calvin Johnson's touchdown. Nickel back Bush got beat by Scheffler on a 25 yards pass, but otherwise he did a good job in coverage and special teams. DE Raji, DE Jenkins, and OLB Matthews had a sack each in a hit-and-miss pass rush.

Rush defense—B- vs B-. Again, the Packers rush defense was good excluding the quarterback's scrambling yardage. QB Hill rushed for a team high 53 yards accounting for a huge chunk of the 123 yards by the Lions. RB Best was limited to 50 yards on 12 carries. Neither LB Hawk nor LB Barnett pressed the line consistently enough or got over the top well enough on outside runs. In addition, Hawk needs to finish better. Rookie DE Neal had a nice impressive debut for a rookie. One was the forced fumble where he knifed through the A-gap and got to RB Best at the mesh point, the point where the quarterback hands the ball to the running back. He used his hands well to keep blockers away. The biggest thing he needs to work on is a counter-move off his bull rush.

Special teams—D- vs D. Excluding the first bad punt, P Masthay had two booming punts of 52 and 50 yards. Meanwhile, the coverage units did their jobs limiting the returners. The problem was KR Nelson who averaged a poor 17.7 yards on seven kickoffs and two key fumbles.

Coaching—D+ vs C-. Head coach/play caller McCarthy went with two head-scratching play calls in third-and-short situations in back-to-back series in the first half. They both fizzled. The first was the run of the plodding Kuhn to the outside on third-and-2. The second was having Rodgers roll out on third-and-1 for a pass to a well-covered Nelson, the only receiver in the formation. Defensive coordinator Capers was simply outcoached, although injuries took away key personnel including LB Chillar, CB Shields, and S Burnett and crippling the defense.

Overall Game—D- vs CBS Sportsline Overall Grade–D-. The Packers nearly lost to a Lions team that was playing its backup QB, committed 13 penalties for 101 yards, threw two INTs (one for a TD) and had a fumble which was converted into a TD. It was not a good day for a defense that gave up 422 yards (299 passing).

It was a good day for the Steelers franchise QB, as Ben Roethlisberger from all accounts was sharp and in sync with his wide outs in his first practice with the Steelers Tuesday.

As far as coming back as the starting QB, Mike Tomlin made it official right away that Roethlisberger is the man.

“He’s going to get his normal reps in terms of preparing for the game that he’s gotten since I’ve been here in terms of preparing a starter to play,” Tomlin told Sirius NFL Radio. “And, of course, he’s going to start next Sunday.”

On his first pass Roethlisberger hit Mike Wallace deep, and continued to be sharp after that. “It was a good step, and I don’t think it’ll take as long as I thought,” Roethlisberger said.

The team should have more than enough time to get their QB and others on the same page, and they will have the bye this week and not have another game till Oct. 17th at home vs Cleveland.

The Patriots have responded to the flurry of rumors that hit the web tonight about them moving WR Randy Moss to the team he first started with – the Vikings.

Ian Rapoport of the Boston Herald has tweeted that the Pats have done nothing with Moss, at least not yet. The Patriots are saying, “there is no trade.”

The question now is – can a deal be made? The rumor mill has the Vikings sending a 3rd round pick next year and conditional pick the year after. Also there are rumors about a contract extension, which Moss would probably want considering he is a free agent after this year.

So while there’s no deal in place now – stay tuned.

Linebacker Robert James, who was suspended for the first four games of the season for violating the NFL’s substance-abuse policy, has been waived by the Falcons.

James, a fifth-round pick in 2008 from Arizona State, was eligible to return from his suspension for this week’s game at Cleveland. James played in only one game and did not record a tackle last season.

The Falcons were off on Tuesday and did not issue a comment from coach Mike Smith or general manager Thomas Dimitroff when announcing James’ release.

Would Vikings fans welcome back Randy Moss? Well, it’s a longshot, but Bill Simmons threw out the following Tweet earlier, which as you can read was intended to be a Direct Message.

Sorry that last tweet was supposed to be a DM. Rumors swirling about a Pats-Minny trade for Randy Moss.

Moss last night against the Fins was invisible, as he didn’t catch a pass, and dropped a would be TD on a fake spike by Tom Brady late in the first half.

For the season, Moss has 9 catches in four games for 134 yards with three TD’s. He is averaging just 34.8 yards per game, and of course will be a free agent at the end of the season.

Would the Vikings actually have interest? That remains to be seen.

Chris Mortensen on the Seahawks trading for RB Marshawn Lynch.

The Panthers have said so long to former 2nd round WR Dwayne Jarrett, just hours after his second arrest on a charge of driving while impaired in less than three years.

Tuesday’s move ends a bust of a four-year career for Jarrett in Carolina after being a second-round pick in 2007. The Panthers replaced him with receiver David Clowney, who was claimed off waivers from the Jets

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police spokesman Bob Fey says Jarrett was pulled over on Interstate 77 in Charlotte for speeding shortly before 2 a.m. Tuesday, a day off for the team. Fey says Jarrett declined to take a breath test to determined his blood-alcohol level and results of the ensuing blood tests may not be known for several weeks.

Jarrett pleaded guilty to a DWI charge in 2008.

Jarrett in four seasons that has had just 35 catches and one touchdown.

The Panthers chose the Southern California star in the second round of the 2007 draft and released Keyshawn Johnson days later, convinced the 6-foot-4 Jarrett would become a starter opposite Steve Smith after setting a Pac-10 career record with 41 touchdown catches.

Jarrett played in just nine games in 2008 and caught 10 passes. Last year, he caught a career-best 17 catches and scored his first NFL touchdown in the season finale.

He came to training camp this year with a starting job his to lose after Carolina decided against re-signing Muhsin Muhammad. But Jarrett was beaten out by rookies Brandon LaFell and David Gettis.

Despite Justin Forsett’s 4.2 yards per carry average this season, the Seattle Seahawks aren’t pleased.

This just coming into SeahawksGab Editor Devon Heinen via Jay Glazer of FOX Sports, the Seahawks have traded draft picks to the Buffalo Bills for running back Marshawn Lynch.  The picks are a fourth-rounder in 2011 and a conditional one in 2012.

It’s unknown when Lynch will join the team.  Seattle is on a bye this week and faces Chicago on the road in Week Six.

UPDATE at 2:41 p.m. Eastern/11:41 a.m. Pacific: To make room for Lynch on the active 53-man roster, the Seahawks have released veteran running back Julius Jones – this according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Can't get enough NFLGridironGab?  Follow SeahawksGab Editor Devon Heinen on Twitter at http://twitter.com/DevonHeinen.