What a glorious day Wednesday last week was. It has taken me a week to process the Super Bowl victory parade, and it’s taken ten days to fully digest the Super Bowl, itself.

A week ago today, I took off work, popped onto a packed metro bus, and I headed to Lumen Field as quickly as I could have. Once on the metro, I was met with dozens upon dozens of similarly motivated souls on the same exact mission that I was on.

I was decked in Seahawks swag that was intentionally sorted out. I wore a standard navy blue Sam Darnold home jersey with a newly purchased Super Bowl Championship hat, and I wore my classic royal blue Seahawks jacket that one would have seen Chuck Knox wear on Kingdome sidelines back in the glorious eighties. As a life long diehard Twelve, that jacket means so much to me that I only bust it out on the special occasion. The victory ceremony at Lumen Field followed by the 4th Avenue victory parade was that kinda special.

I loved this team so damn much this past season, I could bear hug every single player, even Riq Woolen with the stupid thing he did against the Rams in the NFC Championship game. I have stated this recently before, but these guys are my favorites of all the Super Bowl iterations of the Seattle Seahawks.

I love the way they played for each other, the lack of attention seeking and noise, the soundness they generally played with, and I love the domination they showed the world in all three phases of the game throughout the season and into the playoffs. Perhaps most of all, I found myself caught up in the redemptive storyline of Sam Darnold and the way so many of the players rallied around him.

The only downer thought in my mind, now after the conclusion of Super Bowl LX and the beautiful beat down of the over matched New England Patriots, is that not all these players are coming back to us. Even though Seattle has the fourth best overall cap space in the league this year, it will be tough to expect that GM John Schneider will be able to retain all or even most of Super Bowl MVP Ken Walker, returner/receiver Rashid Shaheed, cornerback Riq Woolen, cornerback Josh Jobe, safety Coby Bryant, edge rusher Boye Mafe, and other important players. I think it is reasonable to expect maybe three of those guys return to the team in 2026, but Seattle will lose good players out of this group in free agency, and then it will probably be up to the draft and development from within to replace them. Maybe they will find value in a key free agent move, as well, or by trade, but regardless, not all of these fellas will be Hawks next season, and that does bum me out a tad. I wish we could keep them all.

That said, let us not kid ourselves of the state of this football team. The Seattle Seahawks have a good young quarterback, a good young offensive line, they have talented tight ends, a great receiver, they are well schemed on both sides of the football, and they possess the best defense in the league that should be returning most of its key players. This team is rostered the way you want a premier football team to be, and they are coached the way you want them to be coached.

Despite the move of Klint Kubiak to Vegas, they are keeping their offensive scheme intact with a guy from San Francisco who has been coaching in it for years, and most of the main offensive assistants will remain here. While I get that there are unknowns about how well Brian Fleury will transition into a first time coordinator role, I don’t think Mike Macdonald pulled this hire out of thin air. He came in, and won this job over other internal candidates that Macdonald knew pretty well, and I find that intriguing.

Here is a breakdown of why I think Seattle is in a fantastic window to win more Super Bowl titles over the next three to five years, and what I think probably happens this offseason to build off of what was an incredible run in 2025.

The Seahawks QB1 Situation Is Really Good

The Seattle Seahawks are set up very well at quarterback. People are free to carry forth with whatever views that they want to have about Sam Darnold, but I think after this Super Bowl, here are some definitive statements of fact that we cannot deny about him.

You can win a Super Bowl with Sam Darnold. He is good enough to get you a title. If you have great schemes and good talent around him, he is good enough to properly game manage or win a shootout match against Matthew Stafford in the playoffs as we all just witnessed over this past month of football.

Secondly, and perhaps maybe even more importantly, Sam Darnold’s teammates adore him, they believe in him, and they see him as their Guy. Coach Mike Macdonald loves him, believes in him, and also sees him as his Guy. You can feel it with GM John Schneider, as well. This organization loves Sam Darnold.

For all the intangibles a quarterback needs to be successful, the relatability/ likability factor is a massive advantage for a quarterback to succeed long term. In the eighties, the 49ers players loved Joe Montana because he was a Dude. In the nineties, Packer players adored Brett Farve, and through the 2000’s into the 2010’s, New Orleans players loved Drew Brees. In terms of Seahawks history, Dave Krieg and Matthew Hasslebeck enjoyed years of success in part because of their talents, but also because they had the entire locker room of Seahawk players behind them.

The Seattle Seahawks, again, as an entire organization adore Sam Darnold, and now he has the massive pelt on his wall of being a Super Bowl winning quarterback. That’s not a terrible thing to have when you are commanding a huddle of alphas heading into future seasons.

There is sound reason to believe that he will only get better as a quarterback in seasons to come. The fact that Seattle has chosen to keep this offensive scheme intact probably indicates that they feel like they have their QB to build around.

What is Sam Darnold at this stage of his career?

Personally, I think he is a top ten quarterback. When you look at what he has done these past two seasons leading the Minnosota Vikings and the Seattle Seahawks to 14 wins, and the playoffs, and Seattle, specifically, to a Super Bowl win, these back to back years of success need to be properly weighted. The Vikings and Seahawks had these levels of success because of Sam Darnold, and his numbers over the past two seasons back up that he is top ten caliber.

Over the past two years, here is how Darnold ranks among NFL starting quarterbacks. He ranks 1st in win totals, 7th in QB rating, 9th in completion percentage, 5th in TD passes, 3rd in passing yards, and 7th in yards per pass. Bitter 49er fan can say that he was carried by a great defense last season, but his numbers say otherwise.

There are five quarterbacks in this league that you can call truly elite, and Sam is now firmly in the tier just behind them probably along with Justin Herbert, Dak Prescott, Drake Maye, and Jared Goff. Right now, I would take him over Trevor Lawrence, Brock Purdy, Jordan Love, Jayden Daniels, and Jalen Hurts. I know people can quibble back and forth between all of these quarterbacks, but I don’t see any of those fellas decidedly better than what Darnold is right now.

For this system here, which is an outside zone orientated running attack, give me a quarterback who is tall, athletic, strong armed, accurate, and naturally a great play action passer. This is who and what Sam Darnold is. He has a more explosive arm than what Purdy has, he sees the middle of the field better than Hurts, and he’s significantly more athletic than Goff. He now has a better resume of wins in big time games than what Love, Daniels, Prescott, Lawrence, and Herbert have.

On top of this, he enters the 2026 NFL season having killed all the ghosts of his past. At 28 years of age, he is now at a stage in his career where the game should slow down for him more. He’s been around long enough to see what various defenses will try to do against him. He knows when he can win games conservatively game managing, and he also knows how to win shootouts whenever needed, as well.

There will be those within this fanbase who will be eager to see Jalen Milroe develop behind the scenes, but the reality of the QB situation in Seattle is that Sam is in the driver’s seat of this car, and if he continues to only get better, it is more likely that Milroe is dealt to a QB needy team than it is that he will be taking over in a few years. Right now, I put much more stock in Sam continually getting better over Jalen developing to the point of taking over, eventually. If Jalen does, in fact, develop that way, then that is a very good thing for Seattle, indeed, one way, or the other, but for now, I think we can all take comfort in Sam Darnold.

The Seahawks Offensive Line Is Becoming A Strength And Should Get Better

Perhaps one of the best bits of news coming out of this past week is that offensive line coach John Benton is staying a Seahawk, and not following Kubiak to Vegas. He knows these young offensive linemen on this team better than anyone, and his knowledge of the outside zone blocking scheme is maybe tops in the league in terms of offensive line coaches.

He got a great year out of rookie left guard Grey Zabel, and he is instrumental in the development of center Jalen Sundell, and right guard Anthony Bradford. For the first time since Mike Holmgren was the head coach, the Seattle Seahawks had a very functional sound offensive line throughout the season, and this was as big of a reason as any to why they went out and won a Super Bowl this year.

Seattle could go out and look to add a player in free agency or the draft. Anthony Bradford is in his final year of his contract, and perhaps they want to look towards the draft of a player who will take his place on a cheap rookie contract, or maybe they see someone on the market who will be a better long term fit, but with Benton here, I am not too worried about it. For all we know, he sees someone in the depth chart who he is developing to take over.

What I love about this group is that they are young, and they have time to continue growing together. Seattle has their offensive tackles and left guard locked into contracts for years, and they have Sundell emerging as a capable affordable young center for at least two more seasons.

I think this team can be better this coming season because this offensive line can continue improving together.

When is the last time you thought this about a Seahawks offensive line? Many Seahawk fans weren’t even born the last time Seattle had a line like this one. That is how long this has been.

The Defense Is Here To Stay And Can Only Get Better

I realize that the Seahawks are set to potentially lose Riq Woolen, Josh Jobe, Coby Bryant, and Boye Mafe in free agency. I suspect two of these players come back to this team, however, but we shall see. Personally, I think Josh Jobe is a safe bet to return, and I think the team will make Coby Bryant a bigger priority signing that some people think.

I believe Bryant is going to see that his role in Seattle’s defense is a strong one despite the presence of Nick Emmanwori. While both players are listed as safeties, the truth of the matter is that they play very different positions in this defense with Emmanwori in more a hybrid linebacker/nickel cornerback role.

If you are Bryant, do you want to follow the money and cash in by going to a team that might not ever sniff a Super Bowl while you are there, or would you rather be paid well enough to stay in Seattle for a chance at more titles, and a bigger legacy as a player in the league? This is the question he will be faced.

Either way, I think the Seahawks will be fine, defensively, for many years to come, whatever shakes out of this offseason. After the way Drake Thomas and Ty Okada rose out of the depth charts to play big in this scheme at linebacker and safety, it is hard not to think that even if some key talent leaves, Mike Macdonald doesn’t have other players in the depth charts waiting to step up.

This coming season, Seattle will return its deep defensive tackle rotation, it’s starting middle linebackers, three of their top edge rushers, and a secondary that includes Emmanwori, Deon Witherspoon, and Julian Love. Even if they lose Coby Bryant and others in free agency, there is resources available in salary cap space, trades, and the draft to restock the shelves.

At the end of the day, Mike Macdonald’s genus at defensive play calling and pinpointing players who fit his culture and scheme give me oodles upon oodles of confidence with this side of the ball. In Mike, I trust this defense. The expectation for every single Seattle Seahawk fan is that Seattle will be, traditionally, a win with defense first football team. This is why Macdonald was hired, and I see no reason why this defense will drop off at all in 2025.

This Core Group Of Players Is Bright With Talent And Ripe With Character

Here are a list of a few characters on this team that I adore.

I have mad love for Sam Darnold, AJ Barner, Ernest Jones, JSN, Cooper Kupp, Big Cat Williams, Devon Witherspoon, Grey Zabel, Byron Murphy, DeMarcus Lawrence, Jarran Reed, Nick Emmanwori, and Drake Thomas. Some of it is the dynamic nature of how they play, but a lot of it is character.

I have already said what I have said about Darnold. I think he’s top ten caliber, and he has a personality that makes him very relatable, and easy to root for. Here are my thoughts on other guys I could buy jerseys of.

Grey Zabel came in as a rookie and carried himself and played like a ten year vet at left guard. He’s a throwback to yesteryear when offensive guards drank beer, wore cheesy mustaches and kicked ass while being one of the smartest individuals on the team. it is impossible to not love Zabel.

Emmanwori was such a no-nonsense badass X factor as a rookie defender that it is impossible not to be overly hyped about his immense potential in the future. He can play linebacker, cornerback, safety, and probably defensive end, as well. It is impossible not to think about him as a fan favorite for the next decade.

Devon Witherspoon plays cornerback with a linebacker mentality and an infectious child like laugh and grin. He is living proof that you cannot quantify top end cornerback play by looking at stat sheets. At 6-0 185 pounds, Spoon does a ton of heavy lifting on this defense.

Ernest Jones feels like the heartbeat player of this team, and undeniable leader. He is the closest the team has to a Marshawn Lynch character that unifies the team.

Cooper Kupp feels like a sage presence. What he provides this offense goes beyond the stats he produces. He operates like a coach on the football field, and he became massively clutch this postseason, and is a big reason why this team is the Super Bowl champion.

JSN is pure class matched with all world skill, and he’s as cool of a cucumber as it comes. He’s the true superstar of the team, but unlike so many receivers in the league, he does not possess an ounce of diva energy in his soul. He is the face of this franchise moving forward.

D Law, Big Cat, Murphy, J Reed are a badass collection of defensive lineman who can own games every week. I am grouping these guys together to save on space for this post, but also because of the way they collectively play together as the best defensive line in football.

Drake Thomas is a feisty underdog who makes plays on defense on pure instincts and smarts. I had serious doubts about him as a starter when the season began, but all this dude did was makes plays against the run and pass all season long. He has won me over as much as any player on this team this year.

Last but not least, AJ Barner not only plays the tight end position in the full well rounded manner in which God himself intended the position to be played, but he is becoming a strong leader of this team with a swagger that is undoubtedly making him a fan favorite. He is most definitely a favorite of mine.

I could list many other players on this team to be excited about. Tackles Charles Cross and Abe Lucas are foundational pieces. Derek Hall is a bright young pass rusher. Julian Love is as solid of a safety as there is in this league. Michael Dickson and Jason Myers are perhaps the best kicking duo in the league.

This team is loaded with talent. Next season, a healthy Tory Horton could emerge in a big way as a receiver, and Rylie Mills (who had that incredible bull rush sack in the Super Bowl) could take a huge step forward as a defensive tackle. Sam Darnold should get even more settled in at quarterback, and Emmanwori might tale massive leaps and bounds on the defense which is a terrifying thought for NFC West foes.

There is so much reason to believe that the Seahawks are only going to get better in the next few years, potentially earning more titles, and these guys are a massive reason why that belief is a grounded one.

Mike Macdonald Is That Guy

In Mike I will always trust.

If he loves Sam Darnold and the quarterback is extended in the next year or two, I am going to trust that. If he believes that someone buried in the back of the depth chart is ready to step in and play big for Seattle this coming season, I won’t question it like I sorta did early this season with Drake Thomas and center Jalen Sundell.

Mike Macdonald has more than earned our trust. He’s as bright of a mind in football as it comes in the league. He doesn’t get caught up in narratives of players that national media hot take artists put out there, nor does he get caught up in draft status, or big salaries.

He doesn’t like the noise, and he won’t tolerate individual drama. His messaging to his players is a simple one. Trust in the process, believe in each other, do things the right way, and, of course, put the mission of the team over bullshit.

Mike Macdonald is a sort who places high expectations on himself, and if he doesn’t place those same expectations on his coaching staff, and players, he would be hypocritical. On top of being the premier defensive tactical mind in professional football coaching, I think this quality about himself will continue to carry him, and this team far.

Seattle is incredibly lucky that John Schneider made this coaching hire. This roster will change year to year, but I don’t think the overall style of play, the tenacity, the connectedness will change. With Mike Macdonald coaching, I think the Seattle Seahawks are probably going to be routinely a difficult team for the opposition to line up against, and play.

These are my thoughts on Mike.

A Quick Thought On The Brian Fleury Offensive Coordinator Hire and Why I Dig It

The first thing Seattle did this post Super Bowl was to move quickly to replace Klint Kubiak at OC with former 49er tight ends coach and run game coordinator Brian Fleury. This was a surprise for me because I was certain the new hire would come from within the team’s coaching ranks. The more I process this hire, however, the more I get excited about it.

Fleury comes to Seattle basically knowing the same offense that Kubiak ran which is essentially the same offense in San Francisco. He’s a former college quarterback, so he will coordinate from the perspective of knowing that position. In his time in the league, he has coached offensively, and also defensively so he will be able to communicate well with the defensive minded Mike Macdonald. He has worked with Sam Darnold before when both were in San Francisco, and also with offensive line coach John Benton.

Finally, it is worth noting that many quality offensive coordinators in the NFL started off by coaching tight ends in the league. Andy Reid, Ben Johnson, and Arthur Smith were former tight end coaches. As a tight ends coach, because it is such a unique hybrid position, you have to know the details of the run game, the pass game, and offensive line play. It has been noted on multiple occasions in the Bay Area that Fleury is an extremely detail oriented guy, and that fits with Macdonald’s traits as a coach.

From this perspective, it is easy to imagine that Fleury came to Seattle, met with Schneider and Macdonald, and he won over the interview talking about the offensive scheme they want to maintain, with all the facets of it, and also successfully fielding questions from Macdonald’s defensive perspective. Macdonald could have simply promoted from within, but he chose this guy, instead, and I don’t find Macdonald to be a whimsically risky sort. Fleury likely, maybe even astoundingly, won him over in that interview process.

Could there be bumps for him initially as a first time NFL play caller? Absolutely, but it is worth noting the Mike McDaniel went to Miami from the 49ers having never called plays in the league, and he played called down their brilliantly as their head coach right off the bat. Any hire Seattle was going to make at this late stage post Super Bowl was going to come with risk. I like the risk they are taking with Fleury.

My Initial Thoughts About This Offseason and What Comes Next

In terms of free agency, and extensions handed out to players heading towards the end of their deals, here is what the crystal ball is telling me. Of the free agents, I think Rashid Shaheed, Ken Walker, Josh Jobe, and Coby Bryant will be the priority signings for John Schneider. In fact, I am projecting that at least three of these deals get done.

Right now, if I had to choose the players who most likely return, I am saying Sheed, Jobe, and Bryant are probably near locks, and K9 is the big question mark, but he could return, as well. Here is why.

Shaheed has openly stated that he sees Seattle as his long term home in the NFL, and Seahawks beat reporter Gregg Bell stated on Sports Radio KJR that parameters of a contract were discussed between the player and team before Seattle traded for him mid season. While it is certainly true that Shaheed could have a change of heart and want to follow Kubiak to Vegas, I just have a hunch that Seattle will work out a deal with him, and he will be signed.

For one, it is the value he brings as an elite returner, but the other is the value as a potential second receiver in this offense. We don’t know if Tory Horton, while promising, is going to be an injury prone player, and we have to imagine that Cooper Kupp is probably eying retirement sooner rather than later. Personally, I don’t think Shaheed is going to have an outrageous market. He’s not a number one receiver, and some teams may not even view him as a number two. Therefore, he might have more value here than elsewhere, unless the Raiders want to break the bank for him, but will shall see. Right now, I am projecting a deal gets done here before free agency even begins.

Then there is Ken Walker and things get significantly trickier. There is reporting that Seattle intends to retain him, but they will not use the franchise tag on him in the process. I read this as meaning that they want him back, but not at the high number of $14 million a year that the tag would cost, and they are hoping that his market might be colder than what K9 and his agent are hoping it to be.

This is, at best, an educated risk that the team is willing to take with him. He does have an injury history that might make front offices nervous about offering him a big contract, but I can think of a few teams out there who might love to excite their fanbases by making a splash signing of the Super Bowl MVP.

K9 is from Tennessee and I would imagine that the Titan front office might love to make a big splash to excite fans about bringing in the hometown kid. Robert Saleh is the coach there now, and he is very familiar with Walker having just coached against him this year within the divsion. It is not hard seeing a defensive minded coaching wanting to bring him in and make him the focus of his running offense to pair with young QB Cam Ward.

Sticking with defensive coaches, I can see the Houston Texans easily being another team that might look to pay him big, and pair him with CJ Stroud. This would be another team to watch as I sorta have Stroud as a QB similar to Darnold in that he’s best as a play action passer in a run centric offense. Houston might look at the Seattle model, draft further with the offensive line, and then bring this guy in to help get them over the hump.

K9 reportedly lives in Dallas during the offseason, and maybe Jerry Jones does a very crazy Jerry Jones thing by making him one of the richest running backs in the league to play in Brian Schottenhiemer’s run centric offense. I can see this happening, as well.

As much as I now want K9 back, I fear he’s going to have a market that Seattle might choose not to compete with. The Shanahan scheme is one that produces a lot of productive running backs, and I just have a hunch that, at the end of the day, Seattle is going to pivot on from K9 for another back in free agency who will come in with a value they are more comfortable with, and then maybe also look towards the draft.

If K9 returns, it will be because his market was colder than expected, but here are a few interesting names of players who might be available for Seattle, if they need to be shoppers on the open market for his replacement. Travis Etienne, Rico Dowdle, Javonte Williams, and Breece Hall. If Seattle loses out on K9 and ends up with Travis Etienne on a more affordable deal, I won’t be hating on that. We shall see what happens, but right now, I am emotionally preparing for life without our Super Bowl MVP.

Out of the remaining free agents, as stated above, it feels like Cody Bryant is the other one they will work hard to get a long term contract done with. It was reported that they tried to do this during training camp last Summer, but they couldn’t reach a deal. Mike Macdonald loves him in his defense, and I think he wants to have Nick Emmanwori stay in that nickel corner/linebacker hybrid role in their 4-2-5 defense. Having Bryant continually playing deep safety with Julian Love feels too critical to let him slip away in free agency. He might be more of a priority than many expect. We shall see.

I think Riq Woolen is going to get much bigger money elsewhere than what will be offered by Seattle. It would be a splashy move for Kubiak to bring him to Vegas as their new starting corner with shutdown potential. He will have many suitors.

Instead, I think there is a much stronger chance that Seattle will bring back Josh Jobe on a moderate contract. He feels like the other pending free agent that is clearly a Mike Macdonald guy, and I don’t think he’s a player who will command a big contract.

I also think corner could be the one position most strongly looked at in this coming draft. The team is going to pay Witherspoon, eventually, and that contract is going to be massive. It would make sense to have the CB2 in a couple years on an affordable rookie contract. I wouldn’t be surprised if Seattle goes cornerback a couple times in this coming draft just to stock the shelves.

Like Woolen, I think Boye Mafe is going to find bigger dollars elsewhere and probably a better opportunity to be a regular starter as opposed to a rotational player he was reduced to being this last season here. That said, I think Macdonald is going to further attract veteran pass rushers on the free agent market to come out this way.

Quality vets are going to see what DeMarcus Lawrence was able to accomplish in this scheme, and earning a ring. I can see a scenario with Macdonald where Seattle goes year to year adding quality veterans are short term deals.

Finally, I think there are a few veteran players on contracts that could be extended this Summer or into the season, and perhaps likely will be.

First, I think it is likely that the team looks to extend Leonard Williams in the Summer time. A week ago, I had thought that if the Seahawks win the Super Bowl, Big Cat would look to step away, but the way he was talking during the victory parade, it very much sounded like he intends to stick around.

Defensive tackle is a position where guys can play longer in their careers, and for all the time he spent in New York playing on bad teams, there could be a feeling of renewed life in Big Cat now that he got his first ring. He might be looking to now catch up on lost time, and he is aiming for more rings and a chance at the Hall of Fame someday. Big Cat, in my estimation, is the best player on Macdonald’s defense, slightly ahead of Emmanwori and Witherspoon. The team might well see it this way, too, and a simple two year extension might be reached before they kickoff the start of the regular season.

Another player the team might look to extend this Summer might be edge rusher Derick Hall who played his ass off in the Super Bowl and can easily have been the MVP of that game, as well. I get the sense that Macdonald likes Hall quite a bit. He’s really good against the run, and he produces as a pass rusher. He’s also young enough to think that there is more meat on the bone for him to still be an ascending player.

Then there has also been this slight chatter that Seattle may look to rework Sam Darnold’s contract this offseason now that he is a Super Bowl winning quarterback. As much as I can understand why that’s being talked about, I think it is important to state that Seattle has a long standing policy to not enter extension talks with players with multiple years remaining on this contracts. I get it that there will be a strong view that Sam will be a vastly underpaid veteran QB this year, but I don’t really see Schneider bending his principals here. If he were to do that, that would open up too much of a Pandora’s box of other vets looking to rework deals. Therefore, I don’t see a deal getting done with Super Bowl Sam just yet. I think that happens in 2027.

Finally, I think we are going to see this team pickup fifth year options on Jaxon Smith Njigba and Witherspoon this Springtime. They did this with Charles Cross last year, and then reached a contract extension with him last December. I strongly suspect that they will take the same approach with JSN and Spoon. I don’t know if that gets them deals done with these players this year, but it buys the team time to work something out with each by 2027. Personally, I do not see John Schneider doing anything less than making each guy a long term Seattle Seahawk.

Now For Final Thoughts On The Big Elephant In The Room Regarding A Seahawks Sale

My final crystal ball thought for 2026 thought is that we are most definitely going to see the Seattle Seahawks sold. I am not so sure that it will simply be Jeff Bezos stepping in and buying the franchise as it has long been predicted for a number of years now. In fact, I don’t think that will happen at all, anymore.

It has been reported by Mike Florio, and others that the league doesn’t expect Bezos to be in play as a buyer for the Seahawks. He no longer resides in Seattle, and there is rumored language in Paul Allen’s Trust that a local ownership solution must be sought out by the Estate first, and if one cannot be found, an outside buyer must promise to not move the team elsewhere.

There is so much money tied into the greater Seattle area that it is very easy to imagine very wealthy person, or a group of wealthy people will put a successful bid together to make a purchase of this team. There are eight billionaires who reside in the area. Four of them have enough money to purchase the team outright, but it probably only takes small view of them to form an equitable ownership group.

Steve Ballmer has said in the past that he has no interest in buying the Seahawks even though he owns the LA Clippers basketball team, but does he still feel this way? It was interesting that he was spotted in Santa Clara at the Super Bowl in attendance saying “go Seahawks” to a bystander filming him. Maybe his position has changed and he’s comfortable being part of a group of owners instead of sole individually owning them.

Bill Gates is said to be a fan of the Seahawks, and might feel inclined to step in as an owner, or co owner. He is very close to the Allen family, and while his modus is to be more philanthropic than business, perhaps he is at a stage in his life where being an NFL owner is something that he is considering.

Then there is kinda my personal favorite, McKenzie Scott. It would be fun irony, with all the years of Bezos speculation around the Seahawks and an eventual sale, that it is his ex wife, in the end, who steps up, and purchases the team either by herself or as the big name in an ownership group with local ties. It would be double fun if Jody Allen held onto a small ownership stake, as well, and one of the most successful sports franchises in the last 25 years is a football team owned by women in the PNW.

I kinda have a bit of a rooting interest in this one, if I am being perfectly honest. It would be a very Seattle move to buck league trends, and it was Florio, himself, in a podcast last week that said a man or woman with a very large bag of cash would be able to step up and by this team quickly once it is placed on the market.

Florio didn’t have to use genders when talking about potential Seahawk buyers. Does he know something that he was playfully giving a hint towards? We shall see.

Whatever happens, everything about a potential sale is very speculative so I am not going to get too much in the weeds of discussing it beyond this. My only hope is that when Jody does sell, she picks the right person or group and the future ownership will conduct themselves in a manner very akin to how the Allens handled this team. This is my one big ask.

I think she will.

Go Hawks!

In case you haven’t been following the storyline of the Seattle Seahawks this year, let me offer a quick summary. It is a fun one.

Last offseason, Seattle traded away disgruntled Geno Smith to the Raiders and replaced him with Sam Darnold, and they also traded away disgruntled DK Metcalf and replaced him with Cooper Kupp. This offended a bunch of online cool kids and media members so much so that they spouted off very loudly about how terrible the Seahawks would be this year because they thought Kupp and Darnold were trash. All the Seahawks did was go 14-3 in the regular season, win their division, get a first round bye, and then they beat the rival 49ers and rival Rams on their way to Super Bowl LX for which they systematically took down wonder-kid QB Drake Maye and the New England Patriots.

Sam Darnold, who seemingly everyone not connected to Seattle thought would fold once inside the playoffs, never turned the ball over in three games a single time, and threw five touchdowns while out dueling Brock Purdy, Matthew Stafford, and said Drake Maye. Instead, he made his legion of loud doubters look like the biggest bunch of knuckleheads and nitwits, collectively.

So, after last night’s Super Bowl LX conclusion, the question as to whether you can win a Super Bowl with Sam Darnold is a very definitive “fuck yes, you most certainly can.”

Put 28 year old Sam Darnold on a good team with a great defense, and the right coaching, and yes, Ginger Cuz can get you the Lombardi Trophy. This is an absolute resounding indisputable statement of fact today.

There is a reason why he was taken third overall by the New York in the 2018 NFL draft. He’s a great athlete with a big arm, and he just needed time in this league to properly develop. Period. End of story.

That is the definitive accurate and truthful narrative about Slinging Sammy D. The Jets massively f’d up by moving on from him, but so did the Carolina Panthers, and Minnesota Vikings. This is the history that fans of these teams now have to live with.

Now, Sammy was not the big reason why Seattle beat the living piss out of the Patriots, 29-13, yesterday. Not at all. It was mostly the Seahawks defense that easily found themselves way deep inside of the head of young Drake Maye who overly confident Patriot fans felt for sure would out duel Darnold on the day.

“Just you wait, the Patriots defense is going to make Darnold see ghosts again, and he will throw five interceptions… that guy is trash.”

This was the common language I saw Patriot fans using on social media platforms when conversing with Seattle Seahawks fans all the past couple weeks. Tons of bravado and boasting, but backed by nothing more than sawdust between the ears.

I have spent a little time in the New England area back in the day, and I will say this. Each fanbase has their share of meatheads doofuses, but the meatheads doofuses in and around the parts of Boston feel, well… extra.

So, with that in mind, this win over the Patriots genuinely feels extra special for myself. In fact, I think Hollywood could not have scripted this better.

Not only did the Seahawks avenge Super Bowl XLIX, and the stupid fucking way we lost that game at the one yard line, but they did it in a way that Drake Maye, the young QB that everyone is excited about, looked overwhelmed, distraught, and generally awful on the night because of the way Seattle’s defense confused him in coverage, and got constant pressure on him. They not only made Maye see ghosts, they got inside his head and demonically possessed the poor soul of his.

For goodness sake, they made the poor kid cry in his press conference. That is how badly he played, and how much Mike Macdonald’s defenders got inside is brain, and physically put him through a blender.

For all the loud overly cocky Patriot fans I sensed out there all last week (including Marky Mark, and former Patriot Julian Edelman on podcasts), I say good. Enjoy the reality of knowing your team was in no way a match against the Seattle Seahawks, and good luck winning the division next season against Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills again while playing a much tougher first place schedule.

The Seahawk defense made Drake Maye see ghosts all game long, they scared him into numerous terrible throws clear up until the final moments of garbage time when they softened coverage to allow easy underneath completions to kill clock, and he could therefore walk off the field with some padded stats. The irony that the Seahawks did this with former Jet QB Sam Darnold should not be lost on a single Patriot fan. Blessed be this fact.

Sometimes, if you stay in the game long enough, and keep grinding, life can circle around in interesting ways. I think Sam Darnold’s arch in professional football is a fascinating one that should make any bright minded analyst rethink thoughts on how easy it is to pin a negative label on a player and stay married to it.

After this remarkable season of the Seattle Seahawks and Darnold, I do not want to hear the term pressure sensitive quarterback ever applied to him again. It was a lazy narrative used against him all offseason, and it was brought up at the mid point of the schedule when he had that one bad afternoon against the Rams in LA on November 16th.

Darnold did not have a great stat line for the night. He was off on a few throws, and he was hurried a ton against heavy pressure that the impressive Patriot defenders were cooking up, but he was the way better quarterback in the game, and it simply was not close.

He handled the pressure better. He was more decisive. He played turnover free and facilitated like a good game manager should reasonably do against a stellar defense. He did not see ghosts nor did he turn into a pumpkin. He was ready to win this Super Bowl and New England’s quarterback was not.

Simply put, Sam knew better the type of game he was in than what Drake Maye understood, and this is the vital bit of NFL quarterbacking that the stat lines don’t often reveal. It is imperative as an NFL quarterback to really understand the game that you are in, and play patiently, and ego free, and be willing to punt when you know you have a great defense which both teams clearly had in this game. Maye did not stay calm against the heavy under pressure, and Sam Darnold did.

In fact, as I have watched Darnold in this last month of football playing pretty mistake free, I can see a growth happening, and feel the potential of him blossoming into a really quality game managing quarterback for the next several years down the road. As a fan of the Seahawks, I am pretty excited about that potential, honestly. I see this as the beginning of a long sustained run with him in Seattle. I just do.

I am also very excited about the idea of Seattle hanging onto Ken Walker after this Super Bowl showing, and the way he has settled into the primary running back role for the past several games. There was a point early on in the season where I deeply questioned his fit in a Klint Kubiak scheme, but like Darnold, I think he has more than answered a ton of questions about his game lately in very positive ways.

Is he as good of a pass blocker and outlet receiver as Zach Charbonnet is? No, he is not, but he is young enough to feel like he can get better in these facets, and in these past couple months of football, I have never seen him run more decisive and stronger than he has shown through these games. He is very much a reason why Seattle ran through this gauntlet of games, making it to the Super Bowl, and winning it.

Without K9’s performance in this Super Bowl, Seattle may still have pulled off the win, but it would not have looked nearly so dominant in the scoreboard. K9 was the one explosive playmaker on offense that stepped up huge in this game both as a runner, and a receiver, which is something I projected out of him on the blog in a piece I wrote the other day.

Heading into this game, I felt New England would do whatever they had to do to limit Jaxon Smith Njigba, and they were resoundingly successful at that. I also felt that if enough attention was on JSN, there stood reason to believe that K9, Cooper Kupp, and AJ Barner were going to have opportunities to make crucial plays. That is exactly how this game played out for the Seattle offense plus some nice contributions out of Rashid Shaheed, as well. On a day that JSN was heavily held in check, Seattle found enough success from other players on offense to comfortably out pace the overwhelmed Patriot offense.

This is a sign of good game management by Darnold, but in that, K9 was undoubtedly the star of the game. He is rightfully the Super Bowl MVP even though Seattle predominantly won this game with stellar defense.

But now, let us again talk about the Seahawks masterclass performance on defense. What an incredible display they put on in this Super Bowl. It felt like they were inside the head of Maye all game long, and really, inside the head of Patriots’ play caller Josh McDaniels who is the coach many were giving an edge to the Patriots in terms of coaching advantages in this game.

Where were all these big trick plays analysts were saying would come from McDaniels and his masterful coaching savvy? The game is long over, and I am still waiting for them to materialize.

Before the ball would snap, linebackers and DBs would run to the line of scrimmage almost predicting a run play happening, and they would absolutely blow up the ball carrier at, or behind the line of scrimmage. They knew exactly when to blitz Maye and either get him into a hurried off target throw or a sack. Many times they could get to him with four rushers while changing coverage post snap, and when they did send extra at him, they almost certainly knew where he was going to throw the football and there would be a defender in the vicinity waiting to make the instant stop, or pass breakup.

To his credit, Maye made a few beautiful throws downfield (including a gorgeous late touchdown), and he made some impressive plays as a runner. He is a great physical talent at quarterback who kind of reminds me of a young John Elway a bit, but Seattle’s entire defense just had him way too overwhelmed to have the New England offense stand much of a chance.

There in lies the reason why I believe Seahawk fans can be legitimately hopeful for more Super Bowl victories in future seasons. Give head coach Mike Macdonald two weeks to scout out an opponent’s offense, and he has the intelligence to tweak his scheme in order to properly attack.

Heading into this match, I don’t think Mike Vrabel and Josh McDaniels were likely expecting Seattle to blitz much because that wasn’t something they did a lot in games this year. It is apparent, however, that Macdonald saw stuff on tape with the New England offense that he felt extra pressure would exploit, and the Seahawks felt very ready to attack what New England was prepared to do.

So in that, I say kudos to K9 for winning the Super Bowl MVP honor. It was well earned by his efforts, but the real MVP of the game is none other than Mike Macdonald, in my opinion.

His defensive scheme has a long list of badass players such as Leonard Williams, Devon Witherspoon, Nick Emmanwori, Byron Murphy, and so on, and so forth, but the way this guy gets these dudes playing together like what we just witnessed in this Super Bowl is next level. I know I might be accused for recency bias when I say this, but I think this Super Bowl version of the Seahawk defense is better than that of the LOB defense of 2013. It is way more exotic in totality, and that is one hundred percent due to Mike Macdonald.

This was just year two of Macdonald, and it was year one of the Kubiak offensive system with Darnold and company. Kubiak will leave to now take the coaching job with the Raiders, but I strongly suspect Macdonald will look to keep this system in place with his new offensive play caller to be named at a later date.

There is every reason of optimism for Seahawk fans to feel like this team is just getting started with a long sustained era of championship runs over the next few years or more. In fact, I don’t think it is a stretch to imagine that, at all.

With that said, let me leave you with these closing thought to wrap of this incredible season of Seahawks football. Let me paint you a tapestry of what these Seahawks accomplished in a tough division that NFL analyst Chris Simms picked them to finish fourth place in at the start of the season on his podcast with Mike Florio.

The Seattle Seahawks won their division but winning 14 games and losing 3 games by a point total of 9 points all together. They hosted playoff games against the dreaded 49ers and Rams, two NFC West rivals who Seahawk fans have feared for a number of years now, and took both division rival teams down, sending them to Cancun. They then flew down to Santa Clara and beat the Patriots in Super Bowl LX on 49er turf where thousands of Seahawk fans took over that Stadium, and the area.

They avenged Super Bowl XLIX from a decade ago, and they did it with a quarterback who three years ago was Brock Purdy’s backup in San Francisco. They beat the Patriots with the quarterback who their whole entire fanbase from the Northeast thought was a joke in the league for years, and they made their beloved Drake Maye look overwhelmed and out classed all game long.

Effectively, for the past four games, the Seahawks have punked the 49ers twice, they psychologically damaged Sean McVay and the Rams, and beat down the Patriots in the stadium for which 49er fans go to watch their team play. This is what they have accomplished.

The entire psychological trauma that is has likely placed on the 49er Faithful in the wake of this is probably a lot more than most of them would be willing to admit at this point, but it will be there nonetheless. As a Seahawks fan who still views the 49ers as the main rival within the division, I find this reality a precious one.

I would also say that there is probably a few million people in the Northeast who are, in the back of their minds, left wondering if their team is really all that after this game. They can deny this notion all they choose, but somewhere in the back of their minds, there will exist a dark cloud of doubt.

NFL seasons are fleeting. The league is perfectly set up to promote parity. Next season, the Patriots will be playing a much tougher first place schedule over the ridiculously easy last place schedule that they were awarded this year. Teams inside their division will certainly be studying this Super Bowl and looking for ways to incorporate Seattle’s game play against Drake Maye. Given these facts, it should not be shocking at all if New England has a down season in 2026, and miss the playoffs altogether.

As a Seahawk fan, I love all of this tremendously. I feel like I will be pinching myself daily for months just to make sure that this isn’t an elaborate dream I have been having. The Seahawks are rightfully back inside the minds of the 49ers, and they have now messed with the minds of the hoards of loud obnoxious Chowderheads of New England.

This here reality is really pretty awesome, and this victory parade cannot come soon enough in downtown sunny and scenic Seattle, Washington.

Go Hawks, and God Bless America, and keep her well protected from tyranny.

Go Hawks!

It has been long over a week since I have last took to writing on this blog. After a thrilling NFC championship victory over the talented Los Angeles Rams, I wanted to let things breathe a bit, and bask in the delight that the victorious Seattle Seahawks would be facing off against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX. What a joy this week has been with Seattle so much in the national spotlight.

The news of the Seahawks potentially being sold after the Super Bowl didn’t affect me much. We will see what comes out of it down the road if a sale in 2026 does happen, but generally, I am not concerned about it in the slightest.

I didn’t even find the news of Klint Kubiak looking like he’s going to get hired by the Raiders that upsetting, as much as I have wanted to see him remain here as offensive coordinator. If he does leave for that organization to be their new head coach, I will wish him well.

As the years go by, I feel less inclined to post about every news related thing in the Seahawks orbit, and I have gotten to a point where after writing a piece about a game played (which is customary on this blog), I feel little pull towards coming up with something mid week before the next one is to be played. The older I get, the more lazy I feel inclined to be, and in that, I try to limit time to this blog for only writing this that are really at the forefront of my mind.

Well, this Super Bowl LX certainly is very much on the forefront of my mind, and so is some other Seahawks related biz that I am happy to share some thoughts and feelings about. Let me just free flow these overriding feelings I got about the Hawks, this game, and some other things out there that have made some big news.

These 2025 Seahawks are my favorite iteration of all the Seattle Super Bowl Teams

I understand it if someone wants to accuse me of recency bias, and I mean absolutely no disrespect to the Legion Of Boom, Marshawn Lynch, Pete Carroll, or Mike Holmgren, Shaun Alexander, and Matthew Hasslebeck, but I deeply vibe on this present day Seahawks. This is my favorite Seahawks Super Bowl team, and it may not be close.

Part of it might be due to my vigilant defense of Mike Macdonald when many Twelves seemed reluctant about his hire, and lukewarm warm on his stamp on the team up until the past month or so. Another reason is probably also my strong defense of the front office moves John Schneider made this past offseason, and seeing that his actions were right ones, after all, in the face of so much national and local criticism.

Another much deeper part of it has to do with redemption storylines of players that few in the national media believed in once they became Seattle Seahawks in 2025. This is probably the greatest reason why I love this iteration of the team this year.

I have a long list of receipts from high profile NFL experts and insiders to trashed all over John Schneider for trading away Geno Smith, and replacing him with a much younger Sam Darnold last offseason. Mina Kimes, Ben Solak, Nick Wright, Sheil Kapadia, and many others all get paid handsomely wax on about their thoughts and feels about NFL players and front office moves, and when they all parrot off of each other by saying that they “aren’t sure what the plan is in Seattle” it pretty much directly implies that at they all seem to feel that they know more about football than John Schneider does, and by that very nature, it can make a person such as myself root harder to see them all proven wrong, which is exactly what this team, and these players have done this year. All of them.

It turns out that Sam Darnold is quite a bit better of a NFL QB than Geno Smith is, and his 2024 year with the Vikings wasn’t a fluky outlier one, after all, as many of these sorts suggested that it was. It also turns out that he seems to be one of the nicest dudes in the league who is very easy to like, and all the players on the Seahawks seem to genuinely have love for the guy. I don’t know if that could’ve ever been fully said about Geno Smith in his time here, or Russell Wilson and his. Personally, I like the quarterback of the Seahawks to be this type of person.

It also turns out the DeMarcus Lawerence, at age 32, still has quite a bit of juice left in his tank to be a badass edge rusher, and tone setter against the run. It seems to be that Cooper Kupp, despite what critics have said about him, still provides a lot of critical value to an offense even if he isn’t quite the same player he was a few years ago.

It appears, also, that Byron Murphy isn’t a bust at defensive tackle, that AJ Barner is a talent at tight end, that Ty Okada is more than a depth player, Drake Thomas is actually a pretty good linebacker, and that Seattle has finally found a decent center in Jalen Sundell.

It also seems true that Jaxon Smith Njibga is a bit more than just a slot receiver, and the Seahawks were fine to move away from DK Metcalf, after all. Congrats, JSN for winning Offensive Player of the Year last night!

These Seattle Seahawks are not a team loaded with big names and superstars. They have some recognizable names of players who have been in the league for a minute. They have Leonard Williams, Julian Love, and Sam Darnold who New York fans know well. They have Cooper Kupp who folks remember as an MVP some years back. They got DeMarcus Lawrence who Cowboy fans know very well. Now, NFL fans know JSN pretty well thanks to his massive breakout season.

But this team is loaded up with so much good smart talent across the board. They have athletic smart offensive linemen like rookie Grey Zabel, and tackles Abe Lucas, and Charles Cross. They have a badass inspirational linebacker in Ernest Jones. Their secondary is loaded at safety and cornerback. Their running back is an explosive playmaker. Their defensive line is fierce and comes at offenses in waves.

Despite what so many doubters and critics were saying about them back in August, this a badass roster, undeniably so. So, excuse me if I feel like dunking on all these experts who dumped on Schneider months ago.

This team is talented, they are ego free, they play together for each other, and.. wait for it..

They do not care.

I love this. I absolutely do.

I have watched Seahawks football religiously for four decades of my life. This is my favorite group of guys to represent the Seahawks in a Super Bowl. Win or lose come Sunday, that feeling I have for them will not change a bit.

I am not much concerned about Nick Emmanwori’s ankle situation

Nick Emmanwori is going to play in this Super Bowl. I was sure of this when news broke late Wednesday that he hurt his ankle in practice, and Mike Macdonald confirmed it that he’ll play in his presser yesterday.

When it gets to the week of the Super Bowl, unless you really do have some sort of significant break on something, you’re suiting up and playing. Days before the last time the Seahawks played in the Super Bowl, Kam Chancellor tore his MCL in practice, and they put a big fat brace on that thing, and he played through it.

Emmanwori is too valuable to this Seahawk defense to not play in this game. In my opinion, outside of Leonard Williams, I think he’s the best player on the defense, and his presence in the hybrid nickel/safety/linebacker role he plays is the straw the stirs the whole drink. They will tape up that ankle, and he will be lining up to limit run plays, cover tight ends, and potentially rush Drake Maye.

There is a legit question to how well he holds in there, and what their backup plan will be if he has to come off the field, but my expectation for him is that he will be good to go, and he will play well enough in this game to potentially garnish MVP considerations should Seattle hold off the Patriots. I’m not really worried about him.

What I expect in this game on Sunday

I expect it to feel like a dog fight, but I feel that if Seattle does how they have done for most of this season, they will do enough to win this game. I know that there are narratives brewing about Mike Vrabel making sure his defense makes Sam Darnold see ghosts, but I think a lot of that is fueled by overly confident Patriot fans who only really remember Darnold from several years ago when he was a young QB on the dysfunctional Jets team playing against peak Bill Belichick and Tom Brady.

Darnold is a different quarterback now with good built up scar tissue, and a much deeper stronger understanding of what NFL defenses will try to do against him. I suspect that Vrabel will very much try to send pressure at Darnold early and often, but I do not know if the results are going to be what Patriot fans are going to want to see.

I think this happens with blitzes and man coverage. In that, I suspect that Klint Kubiak and Darnold are also aware this is likely coming, and much of the prep this week is coming up with proper beaters against man coverage blitzing.

The last time a team really tried this approach against Seattle was the Atlanta Falcons, who at the time late in the season, were league leaders in sacks and pressures. Sam had one of his best games of the year on that day in early December throwing for 250 yards, three touchdowns with a passer rating of 111.7. The Rams tried to do more of this against him somewhat in the NFC Championship game, and he was able to out duel Matthew Stafford in that fateful match.

I respect that New England’s defense is likely better than the Rams or Falcons defense, but according to Pro Football Focus, Sam Darnold was one of the best quarterbacks this season throwing against blitzes. So, while I think we could see him getting got a few times by the Patriot defenders this Sunday, I think it is likely that he is going to get his, as well. The tape and analytics suggest that he will.

So what does this mean for others in the Seahawks offense?

I think we are going to have to need Seattle’s offensive line to show up big in this one, and they have been playing well enough as of late to think that they will be up for the task. I suspect that we are apt to see a big game out of Ken Walker as a receiver, and runner, and I think we could see big contributions from Cooper Kupp, and AJ Barner, as well.

My feeling is that if New England opts to use a lot of man with blitzes, it will be with the design to take JSN away as much as possible (questionable how effective that will be), and the result of sending DBs and linebackers is that K9, Kupp, and Barner could be left available for easy dump offs. K9, Kupp, and Barner all have skillsets to get the ball in their hands and get up field for YAC, and K9 has the ability to house the thing if one guy misses him in space. I wouldn’t be surprised if Kubiak devises ways to get JSN the ball against pressure blitzes, as well.

All of this is contingent on the offensive line holding strong, and Darnold staying strong in the face of pressure. I think the QB and line are going to be up for this task in this one very vital game. That’s not my heart talking. That is my gut vibe.

Defensively, I think Seattle will be tasked to contain Drake Maye and not let him beat defenders with his legs. I suspect that we will see the Kyler Murray and Brock Prudy rush plans. Don’t let him get outside, and force him to stay in the pocket, and if he tries to step up against Leonard Williams, and Byron Murphy to pass or escape up field with his legs, have linebackers there to meet him.

I trust that Mike Macdonald will have his defenders ready for this, on top of covering downfield which New England will obviously try to use Maye’s arm to target after seeing what the Rams did with Matthew Stafford, and his receivers. The thing of it is, though, I don’t see Maye having the same degree of success Stafford had.

I respect that Drake Maye has taken massive steps forward this year, and clearly looks like he is on his way to being an elite NFL quarterback. I get that he sees coverages well, and doesn’t turn the ball over a ton, and is a strong armed accurate playmaker. I also see that there are two rookie offensive linemen on the left side of the Patriots offensive line, and the Seattle Seahawks have the best defensive line in football right now. You cannot tell me that a high caliber defensive minded coach such as Macdonald isn’t going to be looking for ways to exploit New England’s offensive line deficiencies in this one, and get to Maye early and often, if Vrabel decides the path to victory is Maye throwing a lot.

For as much talk as there is about how Sam Darnold can hold up against New England’s pass rush and blitzes, I think there could be more chatter about how Maye and his rookie offensive linemen hold up against Seattle’s wave of pass rushers. Based on what has happened in the playoffs, I am anticipating that Seattle is going to get sacks in this game, and I think we are going see them get some turnovers off of pressures, as well.

In fact, I do sorta see this game rounding into a bit more of a defensive battle. I know both offensives are explosive, but I don’t see this super high scoring like some suggest it will become. I think both QBs are likely to make plays and also get gotten at times.

This feels like a game that could go down to special teams, and what offensive line holds in better. Right now, I feel better about Seattle on both fronts. I really think that if Seattle does what they have done throughout this year, they should do enough to win.

But we shall see.

Quick thought about Klint Kubiak leaving for Vegas

I didn’t want to see him go, and I was hoping for him to stick it out as OC a bit longer in Seattle, but I am used to not getting everything that I want. Barring some sort of change of heart or breakdown in negotiations, I think he’s as good as gone right after the Super Bowl.

I really hope that the Seattle offensive players rally in the game against a good New England defense and send him out of Seattle a Super Bowl winning play caller. I am sure he has every intention of going out this way. It will matter to him greatly for his legacy as an NFL coach, but also having that pelt on the wall in Vegas once he is in charge of that ship and commanding a locker room that is starved to win.

What I suspect will happen next for Seattle is to maybe not cast as wide of a net as possible like they did last year when they fired Ryan Grubb to eventually land on Kubiak as the replacement. In hiring Kubiak, I think it is pretty clear that Macdonald has chosen the Kubiak/Shanahan offensive system as his preferred way to operate with the football. There are coaches throughout the league who are versed in this system. They run shades of it in Green Bay, Minnesota, Jacksonville, Los Angeles, and of course it is run in San Francisco.

I am guessing that Macdonald and John Schneider are quite happy with Sam Darnold and will look to build further around him. It makes sense to look in Minnesota at his old QB coach, but I suspect that they will look more internally this time around, and I would think that pass game coordinator Jake Peetz, who was a valuable remember of Sean McVay’s staff in LA, who knows Cooper Kupp very well, has spent two years building a relationship with Macdonald here, and has soaked in a year working with Kubiak designing plays for Sam Darnold, possibly has the inside track on the gig.

It could go to run game specialist Justin Outten who is credited with the second half of the season surge of the run game. It could also be given to QB coach Andrew Janocko who has followed Kubiak around to multiple stops, and probably knows his system well. I just have a vibe that Peetz might be the guy Macdonald feels most comfortable with, and they will try to hang onto Outten to become the official run game coordinator.

They could, of course, try to lure Arthur Smith away from the Ohio State gig that he just accepted. There was a rumor that Macdonald wanted to bring him to Seattle when he was going through the interview process, but Smith chose to not wait it out, and took the Pittsburgh gig, instead. Smith runs a wide zone scheme very similar to Kubiak’s. I just don’t know if he’s the right personality fit for what Macdonald has built here with his present staff, and I think there will be a feeling maybe that there is just as good of a solution from within the staff, but we shall see.

Whatever happens, I don’t see Macdonald drifting away from this scheme that paired so well with his defense this year. I think he will look for someone to best carry the thing forward. This would make most sense to me.

Thoughts about the Seahawks potentially being sold in 2026

Anyone who regularly follows this team knows that eventually Jody Allen is going to have to sell this team. The trust of her late brother Paul demands it to happen and the proceeds to be put forth into his various charities.

In 2024, a provision in the team’s lease with the stadium ran its course that would have charged that ten percent of any sale of the team go to the State of Washington. This was a protective measure that local government put in to prevent the team to be sold to some ass wipe who would look to relocate the team like Ken Behring tried to do in the nineties.

Now that this provision is almost two years up, I think the league is putting some pressure on Jody to put the team up for sale. The league is run by billionaires and they want to see the value of their own assets go up. A sale of the Seattle Seahawks will most certainly do that.

There is suggestion out there that the Paul Allen Trust states that Jody must prioritize finding some local buyer solution, and if one cannot step up, an out of town owner must commit to keeping the Seahawks in Seattle. This is partly why I am not personally concerned about someone buying the team in order to move them out of the region. The other part is that I simply do no see her as the sort of would sell this team off to just anyone, especially in the wake of what happened with the SuperSonics, and Behring with team way back when.

There is tons of big money in Seattle and the PNW. It doesn’t even have to be one person stepping up and buying the team like some suggest Jeff Bezos is angling to eventually do. Jody could find a local ownership group, and this is a growing trend in professional sports. It could be a combination of Bill Gates, McKenzie Scott, and a couple of former players and Jody herself that comprise the ownership group all fulfilling the local angle.

It could even just as simply be as easy as Bezos buying the team outright, and maybe also being the one who brings an expansion Sonics team back to Seattle in the process, as well. I know that he is a polarizing figure, and feathers would be ruffled for some if he owned them, but he does not strike me as the type who would be a meddlesome owner. With all of his vast wealth, and enterprises that he is ambitious about, it sorta stands to reason that he wouldn’t be so clingy as to spend much day to days around a team, but want good football people running it for him. That would be my hunch with a Bezos ownership, if he has heavy designs on the team, and this was just the worst kept secret for a number of years now. We shall see.

My simple ask for any future owner (or ownership group) of this team is to not be a know it all impatient asshole, to not think you know more about football than good football people do, and to not be an embarrassment owner like the one in Cleveland, or a tight wad one like the one in Cincinnati. Be humble, and smart, be supportive and enthusiastic, and trust the minds of sharp football types like John Schneider and Mike Macdonald.

In short, be like the Allens.

Go Hawks!

First off, let me congratulate Mike Macdonald for an incredible second season as the Seattle Seahawks head coach, and earning his first playoff win in a shocking and decisive manner last night against a bitter divisional foe. It is no easy task to come all the way up the PNW, and replace a legendary head coach in Pete Carroll who was massively well liked by many inside this fanbase.

Many people deepened their fandom of the Seahawks because of Carroll, and the success he had here building up a winner, and cultivating an incredibly positive culture within this organization, and community. Kudos to Macdonald for taking the baton, and not only running with it, but flying past the competition in this NFC West division that has grown in recent years to really outclass Seattle and Carroll in many regards.

If you are a fair-weathered Seattle sports fan who has been reluctant to jump on the Seahawks bandwagon because of your unsureness of Macdonald, and perhaps his new quarterback, and other new faces, I invite you now to climb back onboard. This team and their head coach is special.

Now for the real meat of this piece. I have something that I would like to very publicly get off of my chest right here, and right now. I want to address my immense dislike and disdain for the San Francisco 49ers and many of those inside their fanbase that has grown increasingly more and more toxic over the years.

There are teams that I have strongly disliked over the years, and because of that, I will likely never ever root for them. This is no different than virtually almost every other diehard sports fan.

Growing up in the eighties a huge Seattle SuperSonics fan, I could not stand the LA Lakers and their flashy Show Time bull crap, and I still strongly dislike them to this day. I also have a strong dislike for the Yankees and the pure arrogance of their fanbase. I have a huge dislike for the Denver Broncos and the Raiders because of old ties to the AFC West when Seattle used to play inside that division.

Back in the nineties, I had a massive dislike for the Dallas Cowboys and their players who famously rented mansion a stone’s toss from their practice facility especially to do lines of cocaine off of the ass cheeks of pornstars and strippers and then gang bang them while their wives breastfed their kids at home. Every time I see Michael Irvin popup on my television screen, I want to turn the channel, and I detest Troy Aikman more than any other game analyst out there because of his Cowboy-ness.

This all said, let me be perfectly clear and unambiguous about my thoughts and feels about the San Francisco 49ers, and their fanbase. I absolutely, positively despise them with every single fiber of my being. There is not a cell or an atom that exists within my psychical being that doesn’t find the 49ers and their Faithful utterly repugnant.

I say this having some friends and family who are devote 49er Fans, and simply put, I do not like that side of them as much as I love everything else about them as people. This is the facts jack.

If you are a fan of the Niners because you grew up in Northern California, I will gladly give you that. However, I know people who grew up in this region way up North here, close to my age, that jumped on the 49er bandwagon back in the eighties when Joe Montana was maybe the most likable guy in football, and they were winning Super Bowls, and the Seahawks simply were not. It is one thing to like a team because you like a player on them, but it is something else to choose to continue liking them over the team that is within your own region.

The San Francisco 49ers have not had the Joe Montana and then Steve Young magic in over thirty years, now. On top of that, they are no longer a team filled with likable players such was the case in the eighties and nineties. In fact, for almost a decade now, this is an organization that chooses to cultivate a culture of players who act like arrogant trash talking thugs on the football field.

I respect that Brock Purdy is probably a pretty good dude, but this is not a team that lets their quality of play do the talking. Instead, they want to play the game doing underhanded shit on the field hoping to win a psychological warfare game against opponents. So, fuck them.

They now present utter joy whenever they lose a game to all viewers who are not San Francisco fans. As Jesus famously said, live by the sword, die by the sword, motherf*ckers. You play the game in a toxic way, and root in a toxic manner, eventually, it is going to come back around, and chew up your asshole on big national stages.

It is clear from the results of last night’s game that the Seattle Seahawks were ready to chew off the butts of 49ers, and embarrass them in front of the world. From my perspective, and every Seahawks fan who hates this team as much as I do, and I suspect that is well in the millions, this was absolutely a glorious sight to see all game long last night.

I hate this team so much that would rather drink out of a carton of rotten milk, and then look inside a toilet bowl at a massive un-flushed turd filled with corn chunks and pieces of under chewed carrots sticking out of it than see the 49ers win a ball game against the Seattle Seahawks. This is not an exaggeration at all. I have a degree of healthy hatred towards the Rams because of our divisional rivalry, and I suppose if the Cardinals got really good, I would feel it with them, as well, but my level of hate towards all things 49ers is just extra-extra.

Fortunately for myself, the Seahawks own the overall series record between these two teams 33-24 with the divisional round playoff fought and won by Hawks last night in Seattle. So, for the most part, when these two teams have played over the years, I have been a happy camper more times than not.

Now you might think this is a bit overkill sharing with you all of my deep dark thoughts about this certain Bay Area team, and their horrendous hoard of fans who like to think of themselves as some thuggish Bang Bang Gang, but I think it is actually quite apropos to be this honest about it all. After all, since the Seahawks refer to their defense as The Dark Side, I suppose it is a bit fitting that I harness my inner Sith, and reveal all my 49er hatred as vividly as possible.

I think my full unabashed hatred of the San Francisco 49ers all starts (and maybe even ends) with Kyle Shanahan, himself. I generally think that the 49er fanbase is a massive collection of thugs, and punks, and dimwitted wannabe instagram models who will be eventually working at Target once their sugar daddy tech bro boyfriends leave them for someone else younger and cuter, but that is either here, or there. Shanahan is the chief reason why I think the 49ers can collectively suck lightbulb sockets together.

I am sure that there is a side of himself that is a decent human being who doesn’t backhand his kids when they don’t do their homework right, but for me, I just see Shanahan coming across too much like a massive twisted up arrogant prick on Sundays for my likings. In fact, I believe the exact words that I used to describe him to friends in a recent thread is that he’s a punk ass bitch chump motherf*cking dill weed douche face, and because of that, watching him lose games is a joy almost greater than shower sex.

Under Shanahan, the San Francisco 49ers have gotten by in this league for about nine seasons now playing the game like a bunch of jerk faces. San Francisco players like Deommodore Lenoir, Fred Warner, and Juaun Jennings have been allowed to play dirty physical games on the field trying to stir up shit against opposing players, and it often feels like they are perhaps filling out mandates from the head coach, himself. Sure enough, out of this game last night, there is a viral clip of Lenoir head butting Seattle receiver Jaxon Smith Njigba after a play, and no whistle was ever blown. Classy.

In team sports, players are almost certainly reflections of their head coach in charge. For years in New England, the Patriots were very blue color no-nonsense emotionless cerebral guys, like Bill Belichick. The Seahawks under Pete Carroll were a collection of oddballs free to speak their minds, and played with tons of infectious passion, but had a lack of discipline that could leave you pulling your hairs out.

The 49ers under Shanahan are a collection of arrogant cocky assed pricks who think they are better than everyone else, and then they whine and bitch whenever games don’t go their way in result. That is all. That is it. You tell me what is worse to be as a collective.

Now, I know they have Brock Purdy, and George Kittle, and they are certainly fine fellas, and players. Belichick had Gronk in New England, so every teams has exceptions to their overall vibes. I just look at this 49er collective, though, and I am glad that they got their assed kicked by Seattle in this manner.

The only thing that will be annoying coming out of this total 41-6 beatdown by the Seattle Seahawks is the excuses that 49ers players, coaches, and fans will land on as to why they fell short. “Oh, we didn’t have Bosa and Warner, we didn’t have George Kittle.”

Please. Like Warner and Bosa pass block or run routes for Brock Purdy.

The Seattle Seahawks own the San Francisco 49ers right now, and I suspect that they will continue owning them for a while, even with Warner and Bosa coming back next year. The Seahawks are young, fast, strong, and talented. The 49ers are old and expensive and are becoming increasingly more injury prone.

Because of their draft position this Spring, the 49ers won’t pick high enough to take a left tackle to groom behind the very old Trent Williams, and because they have paid Brock Purdy a massive contract, they will no longer be significant players in free agency. They will have to cut expensive players to manage their camp. This is the reality of being good for a number of years, and having to pay your young talented quarterback.

What is worse for them is that the Seattle Seahawks have hired a head coach in Mike Macdonald that seems to know specifically how to successfully handle Kyle Shanahan’s vaunted offense, and make it struggle mightily. It is not unimaginable that if the 49ers have a down year next year, or a year of mediocrity against the Seahawks and Rams, Shanahan could find himself on a very hot seat if he cannot properly figure out how to score on Macdonald’s defenses that get thrown at him and Brock Purdy.

And let us talk about Purdy for a moment, shall we?

He is not a great athlete. He’s not got much of an arm, and he isn’t tall. It could be as simple as a situation for the 49ers and their delusional toxic fanbase that Macdonald was hired by Seattle because he knows exactly how to play and limit Purdy into being a very average to sub average quarterback whenever these two teams face up, and Seattle will always have that advantage over him, regardless.

This would be an ironic painful reality pill to swallow for the 49er Faithful because of all the 49er fans that want to trash talk about Sam Darnold being with the Seahawks, but at least Darnold is capable of making big time throws downfield that could test a high end defense in the league. I don’t think Purdy is necessarily physically capable of it. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Sean McVay in LA studies more of Macdonald’s defense to gain further insight on how his defense can play against San Francisco next year.

As for Sam Darnold and the Seahawks?

Yeah, I guess that oblique muscle of his was perfectly fine in this game. Sam managed well when he threw, but because the 49er defense was so piss poor at stopping Seattle’s run game, it really didn’t matter. Ken Walker had the game of the ages for himself carrying the rock and terrorizing 49er tacklers who looked like they were ready to give up with five minutes left to go in the third quarter. What an epic night for K9!

Nice to see Darnold win a big playoff game, though, so that stupid narration led by the likes of Mike Florio and others can now be stamped down a bit. I have said it before, and I will gladly say it again, the narration of Darnold in big games and the playoffs was the dumbest thing in NFL coverage this year. Sam Darnold has now played in two playoff games in his career, and is now 1-1 in both those two games. So, please, pretty please, shut the holy F up about Darnold in the playoffs.

Now, as it stands, a whole lotta shit talking 49er fans have to deal with the fact that Sam Darnold, the one time backup to Brock Purdy, played better football in the divisional round playoff matchup between these two teams than their prized overpaid quarterback. He played clean, efficient, turnover free football against this 49er defense that was supposedly going to make life miserable for him all game long, according to dimwitted Niner fans online all last week. Kudos for him for that.

In fact, Darnold did the opposite of what Purdy did. He took the check downs when needed. He moved the ball downfield, and successfully tested Robert Saleh’s defense. Yeah, kudos to Sammy D. Can’t wait for what Colin Cowherd has to say about that.

These Seattle Seahawks, though. Man, this is a badass team to be excited about. This defense is EXCITING STUFF! These special teams led by the return game of Rashid Shaheed is simply spectacular. This offense, whether by running the ball, or Darnold’s explosive downfield passing, is impressively explosive.

This is, without a doubt, the most dangerous and complete team Seattle has had since it last played in a Super Bowl a decade ago. I wrote a whole entire piece this last week about all the reasons why this team can win a Super Bowl this year, and I think we saw it on display against the 49ers last night.

There was all this pumped up narration about the 49ers heading into this game based on their win in Philadelphia against a dysfunctional Eagles team that blew that game as much as the 49ers won it. All this talk this week was about how close of a game this was going to be in Seattle and whether Sam Darnold wouldn’t crap his pants against Robert Saleh’s defense.

What a load of shit coming out of the mouths of Skip Bayless and his podcast crew about how Darnold couldn’t be trusted, and Seattle were frauds. What a bunch of horse shit from the experts elsewhere who said they favored San Francisco simply because of Shanahan’s experience over Macdonald.

How many Seahawk games did any of these guys actually sit down in watch?

The Seahawks have been beating the crap out of good teams all year long. They beat Jacksonville on the road, they beat the Texans, the Rams, the 49ers, Colts, and Panthers.

Whole lotta jackasses have egg on their faces after this one, and this is a statement of fact. There is egg on Florio’s face, on Eisen’s, on Skip Bayless, and on Stephen A Smith.

Even Richard Sherman, himself, didn’t foresee on his prediction podcast this Seattle beatdown over the 49ers. How the fuck did he, himself, not look at these two rosters and not see this outcome coming? Was he just trying to play nice to the 49er section of his fanbase? Was he just not that trusting in Mike Macdonald and Darnold over douche face Shanahan and his little Brock Purdy?

My goodness.

Great day to be a Seahawks fan, though. Hope they can keep this going next week whether it is the Rams or Bears we face.

This biggest single cherry on top of the Seahawks going to the Super Bowl and winning it this year would be for them to do it in Santa Clara at the Stadium that the 49ers play in. This would be the absolute final icing applied on the cake for this team this year.

Imagine what that would do for the psyche of the Bang Bang Nine Gang and that fanbase. Imagine their shame. Imagine the pressure placed on Kyle Shanahan next season to beat Seattle.

Imagine it all, indeed.

Go Hawks!

It is okay to start buying into the Seattle Seahawks. I give you permission. I know the head coach doesn’t sport a legendary name, and you may have bought into some lazy narratives about the team, and some of their players, but they have closed the season finishing 14-3, they won the NFC West division, and they will host every playoff game they play along with having a first round playoff bye to get healthier and better prepared. It is okay to buy some stock in them.

By beating the San Francisco 49ers last night, the Seahawks now have the best path in the NFC towards earning a Super Bowl appearance. This is a statement of fact.

They have a defense that is built to win a championship, they have great special teams, they run the ball pretty well now with two explosive backs, and they have a quarterback who knows how to lead them to wins late in games, if needed. These are things you want to have heading into the playoffs.

So much hype went into this game all week long, and in that hype, there was an absurd amount of it built up around Sam Darnold. Whether it was on Youtube, the radio, or television, or in print, seemingly everyone wanted to make this game in Santa Clara about whether or not Darnold was going to collapse against a division opponent in the last regular season game of the year, with the division on the line, much like he did last year in Detroit when he was a Minnesota Viking. All week long, this was the storyline that almost all wanted to make this game about.

Personally, I found this whole forced narrative about Darnold beyond annoying, and I spent the entire week hating it almost more than I hate seeing mayonnaise on my hamburger after I specifically asked for it to be held off. Ever since that one bad game of his against the Rams in mid November, it feels like people have constantly wanted to dumb on this guy, and with every interception or fumble he might have, it would just get further magnified.

This dude threw for over 4000 yards this year. In that, he completed 67 percent of his passes, and he threw 25 touchdowns against 14 interceptions. You take away that one bad game against the Rams when he threw those 4 picks, and all these passing numbers look pretty damn impressive on the year.

He was also voted into the Pro Bowl largely by players and coaches, but still there were those who just wanted to dumb on the guy, and throw doubt upon of him whenever opportunities came up. My goodness, what a bunch of mindless nonsense that constantly got spewed out about him this last week, and for nearly two months now.

And what has Sam Darnold done since that one gawd awful game of his in LA on November 16th? He’s bloody well guided the Seattle Seahawks to wins the entire rest of the way through the remaining season. That is what he did, and in that incredible TNF game against the Rams late in the fourth quarter and overtime, it was all Darnold leading the charge with his arm in the end.

Now, I know that last night’s win against the 49ers was largely due to the stellar play of Mike Macdonald’s defense now formally known as the Dark Side Defense of the Seattle Seahawks, but Darnold was a guiding force on the offense passing for the efficient numbers of 20 for 26 passes, 198 yards, and no turnovers while they ran the living snot out of the football right down the bang-bang-less 49er defense’s throat. Not the sexiest passing numbers, one might say, but this was not a night where Seattle needed sexy QB play. They needed quarterback efficiency most of all as they controlled the line of scrimmage and clock.

I am not here to say that Sam Darnold is some super elite quarterback, and deserves to be thought of that way, far from it, but I am here to say that he is a good quarterback, and that some of these narratives centered around whether he can win in big moments have been largely overblown. I think with these late season wins against the Rams and the 49ers, with everything on the line in both of these games, we can say that now.

Do turnovers tend to follow him around? Sure, but turnovers have also followed Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Drew Brees, Joes Flacco, and notoriously Brett Farve, all Super Bowl winning quarterbacks that were able to lead their team to wins despite their turnovers.

Some QBs just have this trait, and the question then becomes around them whether they have other traits for which help them overcome these mistakes. Personally, I think it is very possible that Sam will ultimately fall into this class that includes these particular QBs listed above. Shoot, Matthew Hasslebeck, back in the day, falls exactly into this group. So maybe chillax some about Sammy’s turnovers, mmmmkaaaay?

Minnesota won 14 games with Sam last year, and Seattle just picked up their 14 win of this season with him last night. There is no flukiness inside any of this, and while some lazy dipstick on ESPN might say that Seattle is winning despite Slinging Sammy D, I say horse crap to that, they are winning because of him paired with this defense, and ground game, and special teams. Fuck it, though. Enough on Sam.

Heading into this matchup in Santa Clara, I was not convinced in the slightest that the 49ers were a better team than Seattle. I recognized that their quarterback had been playing very hot the past few games, and their head coach is a great offensive play caller, but I was also aware that the Niners had been playing the easiest schedule in the league, and well, their defense minus their star players, just wasn’t very good.

I had a ton of confidence about the Seahawks matching up against San Fransisco, and I did not have that level of confidence a few weeks ago when the Seahawks faced Los Angeles for the second time. In truth, the Rams still make me a bit nervous, but these 49ers do not.

I had a feeling all week that all Seattle had to do to win the division on Saturday was to simply play their defense as they are capable of playing it, run the football, and not turn the ball over, and they would likely win. All this total horseshit hype about whether Darnold could win a shootout battle against Brock Purdy, I felt was largely a gigantic pile of mindlessness spewed out on ESPN, and other airwaves, and this game proved it to be just that, emphatically so.

There was no way that San Francisco was going to put up points against this Seahawk defense like they did last Sunday against the Chicago Bears. It just was never going to be that sort of game. I felt this to the pit of my stomach as I watched what this defense did to Bryce Young in Carolina last Sunday, holding him to under 60 yard passing while taking away the run.

The Seattle Seahawk defense has too much speed, power, and talent at all three levels of it, and they are playing with supreme confidence and discipline. I think they possess the best overall defensive line in football, and their secondary and linebackers are not too far off from that, either.

In two weeks time, when they play in the divisional round of the playoffs at home, they defense will also likely be healthy and more ready to whoop ass on whomever shows up to that game. I think this game of theirs down in Santa Clara in front of a bunch of shocked 49er fans was just a mere preview of what will be around the corner.

These are not the end of his regime Pete Carroll Seahawk defenders who are unsure and under prepared that Kyle Shanahan can easily exploit and punk in any sorta matchup. These are Mike Macdonald defenders, and it feels like they are still scratching the surface of what they can be together which leads me to this other thought coming out of this game.

I don’t know if the Seahawks make it to the Super Bowl this year, they might, but I can tell you with a lot more confidence that I think we are witnessing the beginning of the end of the San Fransisco 49ers being a special team in the NFC under Shanahan. This is just a real strong hunch I got, especially coming out of this game.

Yes, I know that the Niners were without their starting left tackle, they were down a receiver, and without two big name players on defense, but I think under Shanahan, the 49ers are trending towards old, expensive, and brittle much like the Seahawks started to trend under Carroll in 2017. On top of that, they paid Brock Purdy a ton of money, and I do not think he’s that much better of a quarterback than Darnold, truthfully.

In fact, in some ways, I think Purdy is more limited than Darnold, especially in the arm talent it takes to stay tough in the pocket and push the ball downfield, and believe you me, Mike Macdonald has intentionally designed his defense to keep Purdy inside the pocket where he is a much different quarterback than he is passing off of boot legs. The 49er Faithful probably doesn’t want to face this fact right now, but neither did the Seattle Twelves want to face facts about the limited nature of Russell Wilson back in the day as he started to age, and the league started to catch up to him.

In fact, if I were a 49er fan, I would actually be quite nervous about Mike Macdonald being the head coach of the Seahawks moving forward with Purdy at quarterback. Macdonald’s defense knows how to play him, and his players are only going to continue to get better in this scheme.

The Seahawks won by a low scoring 13-3 victory, but if Jason Myers had hit two manageable field goals, the Hawks would have come out of this game in a very lopsided AFC North 19-3 type looking victory. What would it have looked like if a couple of those field goal attempt drives turned into touchdown drives? It would have been an epically ugly blowout loss for the Niners at home with the division title on the line.

This week will consist of a pushed out narrative that the 49ers can bounce back from this game, and really, the Seahawks didn’t beat them that soundly. There will almost certainly be this type of campaign for them on ESPN and other outlets heading into wildcard weekend, but what if we just saw a teaser trailer last night for what matchups between these two teams will be like in the future moving forward? I don’t think it is an unrealistic reality to imagine, personally.

Moving into these playoffs, and beyond this year, it is also now entirely possible that Macdonald has even sent out a league wide blue print on how to play Purdy moving forward. This is just a statement of fact about football and the copycat nature of the sport.

In this fact, eventually, this Seahawk offense is going to gel together more under Klint Kubiak, and in that, we will likely see much better consistency next season. I think this is just another nature of the sport. Some offensive schemes take time to master, and the Kubiak-Shanahan scheme is very much one of those.

The Seahawks might win the Super Bowl this year, it could happen in a wide open league where it is debatable who the true dominant favorites are, but I truly suspect that the 2026 Seahawks will be a better team. In fact, I am certain of it based on the overall youth and talent on this roster.

In contrast, what happens to the 49ers when they have to start shaving high priced contracts off their roster to make Purdy’s large cap dollars work? How much longer can they go with Trent Williams, George Kittle, CMC, and Fred Warner? What happens when Darnold can go more toe to toe in a shootout against Brock after further maturity in Seattle’s offensive scheme?

The San Francisco 49ers might win a playoff game this year, they are a good team with tons of playoff experience, but I do not expect them to go far, and if they do meet up against the Seahawks in the playoffs, I suspect that they could face an even uglier butt kicking that they received from the Hawks last night. They just do not feel like a team that can match Seattle’s speed and strength, and you could see it all over their faces last night in the television broadcast. I don’t think a return of Trent Williams and Fred Warner changes the scenario much for them in a second matchup should both veterans be ready to play.

The 49er fanbase might be filled with a bunch of delusional toxic glue sniffers, but I suspect a lot of players inside that 49er locker room probably now sense, deep down inside, that Seattle is just going to now be a really difficult out for them moving forward. When that doubt starts to trickle through, Kyle Shanahan is going to really start to have his work cut out for him.

Think of it this way. Mike Macdonald was hired in Seattle to beat his offense with a defense that can take away what he wants to do, and Macdonald has hired an offensive coordinator who has insight on how Shanahan runs his offense.

What insight does Shanahan have on Macdonald? How is he going to beat a defense that is versatile, and complex, that is discipline, and plays fast and strong, and is deep on talent?

At least the Rams, with Matthew Stafford, have a quarterback with the experience, size and arm talent that can test a defense downfield from the pocket. Brock Purdy just is not that guy, and he never will be, ever. In fact, Sam Darnold might become that more that type of QB in Seattle over time than Purdy ever will in San Francisco, and this is just a fact based on his physical traits as a player.

So, yeah. I do think this game for the division title does potentially feel like a divisional passing of the torch. I am fully on board with that view.

As demonstrated in this game, all Seattle needs to do in these playoffs is run the football like they did, don’t turn the ball over, and just play their brand of Dark Side defense. They are fully capable of doing these things against a Rams, Bears and 49ers team that aren’t great right now on defense, an Eagles team that has issues on offense, and a Packers team that doesn’t feel particularly special.

I fully believe that it is not an insane thought, at all, that Sam Darnold, this year, could game manage Seattle to a Super Bowl victory inside a month’s time. I think it is entirely possible, and he has already pretty much done this week in and week out since that one mid November loss to the Rams.

This is what winning the division last night and earning the best record in the NFC has gifted me with. A strong sense that a Super Bowl is within Seattle’s grasp as much as any other team’s this year heading into the playoffs.

Whether that happens, of course, remains to be seen, but I do know very much believe that it can happen. What a delight. It it fun being a Seahawks fan right now.

Go Hawks.

Far be it from me to tell anyone how to be a fan. We all come in different sizes, shapes, and we all have different ideals about how we want our football team to play, and ultimately win football games.

Personally, as I watched the Bears and 49ers battle it out on SNF last night, I wanted to puke in my mouth a bit by the eye-poppingly lack of any semblance of defense being played on the football field in Santa Clara. I get it that the NFL is deemed a quarterback driven league, and it is is largely fueled by fantasy football, but if the Seattle Seahawks were a team this year that was mostly driven by their offense and they had a win a bunch of shootouts because their defense couldn’t reliably, oh, I don’t know, stop the run, cover, rush the quarterback, I think you would get a whole bunch of F bombs out of me on this blog, and live in person during games.

I know that the Seahawk offense has had its issues during the last six games after that narrow loss to the Rams in LA, I am aware of the Sam Darnold turnover moments, the slow first half starts, and the odd play calling from Klint Kubiak from time to time. I would also add that, despite these warts, Seattle has remained one of the more explosive scoring offenses in the league, and generally speaking, whenever you pair this level of explosiveness on offense with a top tier defense and special teams, good things happen, and you have a proper contending football team, overall. Hence, Seattle’s six game winning streak since Darnold threw four picks in a loss in LA in early November,

So, I guess, for myself, I don’t mind if Seattle is living with some warts on offense this year when they are playing defense like this heading into the playoffs. I am a fan who adores defensive minded winningness. Give me playoff teams that have Steel Curtain, 86 Bears, LOB style defenses every single time over Dan Marino Dolphin stuff I watched on the set as a kid. For me, Championship Football should always include a defense that scares the crap out of opposing fans.

So, that said, I don’t know what kind of world we live in where the Seattle Seahawks win 13 games in Mike Macdonald’s second year as head coach, and still it feels not enough for many fans, and those who work high profile jobs in the media. Vegas had the Seahawks penciled in for about seven wins this year, and to finish fourth in the NFC West division. There was little belief in Sam Darnold, JSN, Macdonald, and the host of many others on and around this team.

Yet here we are, with one game left to go on the season, Seattle has beaten every team on its schedule that they should have handled, they earned a few quality wins against playoff bound teams to boot, they picked up their 13th win yesterday, and still so much talk has to be around whether they can get their shit together on offense enough for the playoffs, especially regarding Sam Darnold (a dude who has earned himself pro bowl recognition by way of votes from players and coaches, and has led one of the most explosive downfield passing attacks on the year). Good Lord in Heaven. I don’t know if this is millennial or Gen Z Seahawk fan entitlement, or what, but I can only imagine what social media would have been saying during the days of Matt Hasselbeck and Dave Krieg, if it were in existence back when.

I am to the point to where I no longer give a shit about whether you have issues or concerns about Sam Darnold and this offense. I just don’t, and I find the narratives around him both lazy and somewhat pointless, frankly. This is year one of a brand new offensive scheme that takes time to master. The Rams and 49ers have been playing in their variants of this scheme for years, and all their coaches and players know it inside and out. It is futile to compare the Seahawk offense to theirs.

If Sam Darnold’s back to back 13 regular season wins in a row with two do nothing to impress you, nor does his pro bowl nod, or anything else about him, then fine. I can tell you this, though. I think the team really likes him.. a lot, and because of that, I don’t think he’s going anywhere anytime soon. In fact, if I were to guess anything, I would put my money on the likelihood that we are in the infancy of the Darnold era in Seattle more than anything else.

So instead beating some dead horse about him, perhaps it is time to warm up to him a bit more, in general. You know, maybe get past some of the turn overs that have happened, and think a little more on the critical fourth quarter drives he’s made for this team this year. In 16 games he’s played this year, he has shown a nice knack for that, and one that I fully think can carry forth into the playoffs.

Yet, I have to say, in all honesty, it is disappointing that after yet another quality road win for the Seahawks this year, I see and hear stuff on the internet that forces me into taking a defensive position regarding this team, and this quarterback. It even went so far as finding myself in a Threads exchange with Mina Kimes after I saw her posting the famous three headed kiju dragon meme where she took a shot at the Seattle offense that, in the end, did put up 27 points on the road against a team fighting for their division title.

It seems like it is not enough anymore that your team scores enough points to get the win. For today’s NFL fans and those who cover the game, it has to be style points. God forbid your quarterback fumbles the ball in wet conditions, or throws a pick trying to take an aggressive shot at a touchdown. Nah. Badass stellar defense and a strong run game just isn’t sexy enough to get that all important W. The QB has to be at peak Joe Burrow levels, of else it just isn’t good enough.

So instead of celebrating how good Seattle’s defense played (which was absolutely badass in every way), and how fantastic Zach Charbonnet ran the ball (which was superb), we need to hear analysts talk about how much they don’t trust Sam Darnold who has put up numbers this season very similar to Josh Allen, and Justin Herbert. Well, fine. Maybe they can trust Big Cat Williams and a Seahawk defense a bit more.

After all, it wasn’t that long ago when your dad sat you in front of a Seahawks game about a dozen years ago and said to you that defense wins championships, and if memory stands correct, I believe that he also said that it is important to run the ball, as well. So maybe hang your hat on that after this game in Carolina, if Darnold’s Herbert-esque numbers aren’t impressing you enough.

For myself, these Seahawks have exceeded my expectations this year. At the start of the season, I had them pegged for about eleven wins if things broke well, and a wild card spot, and they have done better than that. With one game left to go, they will meet the 49ers in Santa Clara for the division title next Saturday.

You can lament all that you want to about how much better that 49er offense looks over Seattle’s. You can have all the fear and concern you feel you need to have about Darnold in that matchup, as well. You do you.

For my part, I would much rather have the Seahawk defense over the 49er one, and I am a big believer in defenses winning titles. We shall see soon enough what comes out of that matchup. WE. SHALL. SEE,

Personally, I am both excited about this game and a bit nervous. With a concussion injury to Rashid Shaheed, it does feel like the 49ers will have caught a key break in terms of Sheed’s impact on Seattle’s offense and special teams. That said, there is very little about the 49er defense that I find impressive, and I do think that Seattle’s defense matches up against Brock Purdy significantly better than anything else he’s played against this year.

Of course, I would love nothing more than this team winning the division on the road in Santa Clara this Saturday, but if that does not happen, and they are a wildcard team, I really like how this team is built this year to win on the road in the playoffs. This is a road warrior team that has only lost on the road twice in Macdonald’s two years of coaching them, They win with defense, special teams, and an explosive offense that features a quarterback who has played his better ball this year in the fourth quarter of games with everything on the line.

So there is that, too.

In the meantime.. Go Hawks.

What. A. Game.

Bad night for the for the Sam Darnold Can’t Win A Big Game Crowd, right?

Sammy wasn’t perfect in this game. Of course, it didn’t help that he was without his starting left tackle, Grey Zabel was weirdly giving up easy sacks and false starting, and Cooper Kupp coughed up the football running towards the end zone that took points off the board, but to say Sam had an up and down game would be understating his night, slightly.

The two picks he threw had fans frustrated and wondering if ghosts were appearing again. By the time the second one happened, my text thread was blowing up, and I was about to put my phone in the freezer to get away from the fray of angst and frustration, and the dumb narratives about him that I was surely going to hear all Christmas week.

Fortunately, when the Seattle Seahawks needed him most to make the plays in the fourth quarter, and especially at the end of overtime with a high powered touchdown throw to Jaxon Smith Njigba in the back of the end zone, and then a gigantic knock off two point conversation throw to Eric Saubert for the shocking win, he delivered.. big time. This delivery in clutch time can never be taken away from him, and because of it, this will be a Seattle Seahawk football game that I will remember for a very long time.

The Seahawks beat the Rams, and they are 12-3. They clinched the playoffs in Mike Macdonald’s second season as head coach, and control their own destiny towards winning the NFC West division, and having a first round bye in the playoffs with an opportunity to host two playoff games before the Super Bowl. That is how big this win was for them last night.

So, yeah. Bad night for the Darnold Doubters. I am sure that they will hang onto their priors, though, and bide their time. People can stay devoted to lazy narratives.

My other overriding thought coming out of this game is just the sheer outstanding showing of utter, unrelenting, resilience the entire Seahawks team showed after they went down big, 30-14, against the Rams midway during the second half. By the time the Rams went up 30-14, the chances of Seattle winning that game was next to nothing, but the way the Seahawks fought, and clawed back into this game to get it into overtime was nothing short of incredible.

The dynamic punt return for a touchdown by Rashid Shaheed after Darnold threw his second INT of the game, and Seattle’s defense valiantly forced a Rams punt, in retrospect, was the spark that lit the fire. When Darnold hit Cooper Kupp for a two point conversion, thus making the score 30-22, the game felt mildly more interesting.

Then the defense held Matthew Stafford and company at bay, again, got Seattle the ball, Shaheed contributed, big time, with yet another dynamic play, this time an end around run, and then Darnold brilliantly hit a wide open AJ Barner for a touchdown to make it 30-28. Then the wildest, weirdest two point conversion ever happened when Darnold threw a backwards pass to Zach Charbonnet that was tipped and initially called incomplete, but was recovered by Charbs in the end zone, and by rule of a backwards pass equalling a fumble, was a live ball, and thus ruled a successful conversion attempt tying the game up 30-30. Wow.

In that moment, it felt like the entire Mount Olympus of Football Gods looked upon the stadium full of sad sack Seahawk fans and said “there you go, Puka Nacua is a bonafide punk ass bitch, and here is a chance given for your team to beat his ass.”

Eventually, the teams found themselves in overtime after neither offense could take advantage of scoring the go ahead points in the final moments of the fourth quarter to put the game away with a win. This is why I started this piece off talking about Sam Darnold playing big in the big moments of overtime, and why it needs proper reflection of what actually happened in overtime.

The Rams got the ball first with an opportunity for Seattle to match points. This was by Seattle’s design when they won the toss. Mike Macdonald wanted to put faith in his banged up defense that found themselves minus safety Coby Bryant, cornerback Riq Woolen, and DB sensation Nick Emmanwori, but really, he wanted his offense to have final possession with four down territory should Matt Stafford and company score a touchdown, which they did when the back end reserve defenders couldn’t hang with Puka.

Seattle needed Sam Darnold to not only lead a touchdown drive, but also to successfully pull off their third two point conversion to win it instead of going for the tie. Sam could not have picked a better time to show ice in his veins against a defense that sacked him multiple times and picked him off twice in regulation. So, yeah. Let me say it again. Bad night for the Sam Can’t Win The Big Game Crowd.

This wasn’t a playoff game, but it was a vital game for the Seahawks to clinch the playoffs and be in the driver’s seat for the division title. There is still, obviously, two game left, and anything can happen, but I would have to think that this sort of dramatic victory is likely going to infuse this team with loads of confidence heading into these last two matchups against Carolina, and San Francisco on the road.

In fact, I would think this result for the Seahawks puts significantly more pressure on the 49ers to now find wins against good Colts and Bears teams before their season finale matchup against Seattle in Santa Clara in two weeks. It is an assumption that the game in Santa Clara would be for the division but the reality is that if Seattle beats Carolina, and the Niners lose one of the next two games, the division could already be sowed up for Seattle, especially if the Rams drop their MNF game against the Falcons, and the NFL has been weird like that this year.

For the Seahawks to win this game, though, I felt like they needed to run the ball effectively, and be explosive downfield with passes off of it on top of making life hard for Stafford. Well, I would have liked to have seen a lot more hardship placed on Stafford, but Seattle ran the ball for 171 yards in this one against a pretty good defense, and the downfield passing eventually found itself off of that. So, this is a good sign for the team moving forward regardless of how the defense played.

I think this was the quieter story of the game why Seattle came out on top in this one, and the hero in all those rushing yards? Ken Walker, who I blasted days ago for looking inept against the Colts, but my K9 enthusiast friend Matt assured me would have a big game.

I don’t know what to make of K9, to be honest. He has the rare explosiveness to be one of the very best backs in the league, but he can also be wildly inconsistent, but let me give proper credit when full credit is due. If truth be told, his running and catching in this game might have been the biggest key to this whole entire dramatic Seattle Seahawk victory. Klint Kubiak stayed very patient with the run, even in crucial moments when they needed multiple scores late to tie it up. The Rams defenders couldn’t tee off on Darnold like they were able last time around because of the danger of K9 and his 100 yards and a TD on 11 carries. This was felt in overtime when Seattle had the ball, in particular.

For Seattle to be a factor in the playoffs, they are going to have to be better at running the football, and more consistent at it. Right now, I feel like Charbonnet is the more consistent runner, but the allure of making sure you mix in plenty of K9 is entirely understandable, especially in the wake of what he did in this game. Let us hope as Seahawk fans there is more of it. They will need it, if they want to make a run at a title this year.

For now, let’s enjoy this epic Thursday Night Football win. What a glorious holiday present to behold for the Twelves.

It has been ages since I have seen a better game played in the regular season for the Seattle Seahawks. I am not just thinking of the LOB years. I am thinking all the way back to 1990, when Dave Krieg was playing, and he was sacked seven times in Kansas City by Derrick Thomas, and yet threw the game winner in the final moments when Thomas was trying to haul him down for his eighth sack. That was 35 years ago, and yes, I am old as fuck to remember it, vividly. That was an epic win for the Seahawks then, and this was an epic win now.

Oh, yeah. One other thing final thing worth mentioning.

I think those wolf gray rival jerseys that the Seahawks were wearing with those sparkling green helmets looked absolutely DOPE, and I could give a rat’s flying ass if they are somewhat Oregon Ducky looking. Get over it Husky fans. Let’s keep ’em.

Go Hawks!

This was a weird game. I won’t belabor all the weirdness involved with my favorite team facing off against a 44 year old formerly retired future Hall Of Fame QB who hasn’t played in five years, but this was a weird ass game.

Before I comment on the officiating, let me first say that Seattle seemed very unfocused on offense throughout most of that first half, and even the defense felt a little be like they were maybe going through some motions. It is not hard to imagine that the huge divisional matchup against the Rams on Thursday Night Football had perhaps been filtering into the minds of some of the players throughout this week, and into this game. They played like it, anyways.

When a wide open JSN dropped an on target pass that Sam Darnold hits him with in stride, you could sense that maybe this was going to be one of those games. Seeing fullback Brady Russell also drop a Darnold pass that hit him in the mitts later in the game was also eye rolling, and so was AJ Barner lining in the neutral zone negating his own big first down catch.

This game felt sloppy and unfocused, unnecessarily so for Seattle, and that is how you lose a game to a struggling team in December that is playing for their season. Darnold looked hesitant, at times, but I don’t think he was always helped with Klint Kubiak’s play calling. Seattle was passing with ease against Indy’s backup cornerbacks, yet Kubiak chose to stay with a run game that, frankly, wasn’t working.

The Seattle offense looked surprisingly bad running the football, and they looked flustered not getting any rhythm going. At times, the blocking didn’t look great, but I thought K9, in particular, ran hesitant, and uninspired. He continues to be one of the more frustrating players for me to watch, and this was, again, a game where the less dynamic Zach Charbonnet felt like the better, more dependable runner.

I also don’t know if going back to Jalen Sundell at center over Olu Oluwatimi was a factor in how bad Seattle ran the ball, but it is interesting that when Olu had been starting, Seattle tended to run better. I suspect that the reality at center this year for the Seahawks might be that while Sundell offers the better pass blocking, Olu is the more effective run blocker. What they might need moving forward into next offseason is to find a center who does both really well.

As it stands now, Seattle found ways at the end of this game to win it 16-18 in the final moments, and they have now won 11 games, the number of wins I projected for them at the beginning of the season. While watching them play like this yesterday won’t inspire tons of fan faith in them, there is every chance that they finish the year with more wins than this, and at this point, I would think it’s still probably a safe bet. That said, I believe that all this loud recent chatter over them being a potential Super Bowl favorite is, in my opinion, premature, and I say this being as big of an optimist as you will find when it comes to the Hawks.

They are a better team than they were last year, I have no doubts about that. They are better at offensive coordinator, and quarterback, and they are even more improved on defense. They still are the little brother in the NFC West division to the LA Rams and the San Francisco 49ers, and until they best those two teams in this regular season, and in the playoffs, that will not change.

The good news is that when they are on their A game, I think they can now do it. I didn’t think that much over the past few years, so improvement feels like it is genuinely happening under Mike Macdonald, and that is something to feel good about.

It is just that this game against the Colts kinda left me resetting in my mind that, despite all the DVOA stats that suggest this is a Super Bowl contending team, the reality is that there is a lot of young players on this team trying to figure out to be consistent NFL winners, and this Kubiak offense is still very new, therefore, is still working out the kinks and growing pains. In contrast, the offenses of the Rams and 49ers are fine tuned machines, and for as much of a Sam Darnold enthusiast as I tend to be, the Niners and Rams both have starting quarterbacks who have actually won in the playoffs and found themselves in Super Bowls. That is a clear advantage for them.

In this game, I think that the proof was in the details. If you want to be a top shelf tight end option for an NFL quarterback, you have got to know where to line up before the ball is snapped. If you are going to pull on a tricky athletic run block, you can got be able to be precise as a blocker on the move, or the play will look stupid. If the ball touches you hands, you have to catch it. All this must be automatic.

Fortunately for Seattle, their top level defense held in enough in this game against the wise old sage in Phillip Rivers, and Rivers really did show is where he is at as a passer. He’s got an A+ game between his ears, but his arm is a pop gun now, and he never was a threat to move to begin with. As the game wore on, this reality caught up to Indy fans, and Rivers.

They will be lucky if he can get them to nine wins with this remaining schedule, I’m afraid. He is a Hall of Fame level QB, has seen many things that an NFL defense can throw at him, but asking him to step on the field for the first time in five years, and deal with Nick Emmanwori blanketing his best target option, and snuffing out the run is an ENORMOUS request.

If fact, I think it definitely took the help of the NFL refs to keep this game competitive for them. It has been a long time since I have watched an NFL football game, and genuinely wondered if there was a fix in on it, but this game had me thinking it, LOUDLY, and that is not good for this league to have games like that. Not with online betting, and FBI investigations going on in the NBA, and other sports.

The numerous blatant PI no calls on Colts defenders that happened against Seattle receivers prevented the Seahawks from scoring touchdowns, and the late fourth quarter PI call that gave Rivers, and the Colts new life for a potential game winning drive were all eyebrow raising in the week that was filled with Rivers love and hype. I will just leave it all at that, and let you come to your own conclusion, but for me, I think everyone in sports media last week was recognizing the Disney level feel good story of Old Man Rivers coming out of retirement to save the Colts season.

Would it be great for the league to have this storyline in late December? Absolutely, it would. There is no debating its value in generating viewers and interest.

There is also no way anyone can prove that the NFL illuminati told the refs how to call this game, but it felt very clear to me that Seattle was not just fighting to overcome their own occasional screwups, it felt like the officiating was also very clearly working against them, as well, and objectively, there is no way anyone can argue against that. There was undeniably that at play, and that will be a talking point about the game this week.

But great on Seattle’s MOB defense for holding Jonathan Taylor at bay, and forcing Rivers into a number of hurried off target throws. Also credit Darnold and the offense for playing better in the second half to get critical field goal scoring drives to go up twice in the fourth quarter, and most of all, huge credit goes to Jason Myers for being most stellar when Seattle needed to win this game by getting six field goals. He was, unquestionably, the player of the game for Seattle.

I hope someone out there bought Myers drinks and maybe even a lap dance after the game. He earned it.

As it stands now, the game this Thursday against the Rams will be enormously hyped and it should be. Whichever team wins it will most likely win the division. I have a feeling like Seattle will be more ready and focused for that one than this one yesterday.

My biggest most optimistic view coming out of this game against the Colts is that perhaps this is the game a young Seahawk roster needed to feel before Thursday Night Football. Yesterday, the played down to an inferior opponent, and almost blew it. On Thursday, I look forward to them playing up to a very worthy one.

Go Hawks.