Sean Payton is learning a painful truth in Denver. Without Drew Brees, he sucks as a coach. In fact, he sucks hard.

Payton was assumed to have been brought into Denver to fix Russell Wilson, a one time great quarterback of the Seattle Seahawks. Instead, maybe it is Wilson who needs to fix Payton.

Through five games, Russell Wilson has actually played okay-ish, but Payton has been a hot mess of a head coach spewing out bulletin material for opposing teams (go Jets), throwing players under the bus (RW3), and generally sucking donkey turds at fielding a competent team on Sundays. Maybe was needs to sit down with him now in his office and explain to him how things were done in Seattle.

Maybe Payton should have also just stayed with the network television gig. Spewing his “get off my lawn” half-time gibberish had to have been a lot easier than what he’s tasked to do now, which is maybe no longer about salvaging Russell Wilson, but saving his legacy as a head coach of NFL football.

If I were a betting man in Vegas, I would lay cheddar on this being the last year of Russ as the starting quarterback of the Broncos. I can see them cutting him outright (along with a number of other veterans to fix what will probably be a salary cap nightmare), drafting his replacement, and in a couple years moving on from Payton for a younger more chiseled offensive minded coach to fix said drafted quarterback.

Sean Payton isn’t the only geezer with a whistle who appears on the ropes in this unforgiving league. Bill Belichick looks cooked in New England.

Without Tom Brady, and with the personality of a dried up drunk who’s doctor has forced him to give up caffeine, Belichick finally looks done. He has probably wrecked Mac Jones as a quarterback by forcing him to play under Matt Patricia as the offensive coordinator last year. As you might recall, Patricia had been New England’s defensive coordinator before he accepted the role of head coach of the Detroit Lions, and then chased away all of the Detroits best players.

Playing for Belichick now has to feel like wearing a prom dress and being stuck in a car with Biff from Back To The Future. You just want to get the fuck out of that situation is quickly as possible.

He’s an entitled bully who’s ego has gotten so large that he can’t see simple logic, and there’s nobody around him to question and challenge him. Sounds very 2016 to 2020, frankly, and if this continues to trend poorly, Bob Kraft is going to have a big decision to make at the end of this season.

On the opposite side of the States, here in Seattle, Washington, things are very different. 72 year old Pete Carroll appears of have gotten his groove back. Of these three legendary Super Bowl winning coaches, Carroll is the one who is shining right now.

With all the draft capital Seattle received out of the Russell Wilson trade, Carroll has a young built up roster. While it is not at the level of San Francisco or Philadelphia yet, it’s trending positively.

They have bright young stars such as Devon Witherspoon, Riq Woolen, Ken Walker III, and DK Metcalf. They have talented young players who could blossom into stars such as Boye Mafe, Charles Cross, Abe Lucas, and Jaxon Smith Njigba. They have solid productive veterans who can lead the pups in Bobby Wagner, Tyler Lockett, Quandre Diggs, and Jarran Reed.

They found a veteran quarterback in Geno Smith who fits the offensive scheme well, and maybe more importantly, is willing to play the game the way Pete Carroll wants is played. Geno is on pace to throw over 3500 yards, 20 plus touchdowns, and 4-ish interceptions this year, while completing close to 70% of his passes. With Ken Walker on pace to have 20 rushing touchdowns and 1200 yards on the ground, those high efficiency numbers from Geno are probably exactly what Seattle wants.

Carroll has always talked about his ideal quarterback as being like a point guard. He wants that guy to be a really good distributor of the football, who will read the defense correctly, and make good decisions and accurate passes. By and large, Geno is going exactly that. There was a time when Russ did that, as well.

With Seattle’s defense looking like it is maybe turning the corner in the envisioned way Carroll has wanted it, and the offense staying efficient and explosive enough, Pete Carroll football looks like is starting to take shape again in the PNW, and this is a fun thing. So long is 2023 remains about playing younger guys and getting them developed, the future outlook for the Seattle Seahawks remains bright.

Maybe they don’t take back the division this year from the 49ers. Nobody in their right mind is going to fault Seattle if they do not.

Right now, San Francisco has the look of a team that is the top dog in football. Their talent is deep, they appear to have finally found the right quarterback, and they have next to no flaws in terms of talent, coaching, or scheme.

The 49ers are exactly what Seattle should be striving to become. If Seattle manages to split the series with them this year, I think that would be a pretty big feather in their cap, but I think Seattle’s best chance at catching them, and ultimately overtaking them is to continue drafting and developing, and making good choices in free agency like they have with signing Uchenna Nwosu, Julian Love, and Dre’Mont Jones.

Having Pete Carroll remain as the head coach feels like the smart choice. Not the safe choice, but the smart choice. I know that flies in the face of bloggers and fans who want a bright young magical offensive minded head coach in the mystical form of Sean McVay. Two years ago there were those on Seahawks Twitter who thought Nathaniel Hackett should be the guy to replace Pete and coach up Russ. Thank God, ownership didn’t listen to those folks.

In my gut, I think Carroll is in a great place to continue succeeding in Seattle. I think he’s got many of the right players in place with maintaining an outstanding team culture. I think he has an offensive coordinator that he trusts and likes, and I think Clint Hurtt is starting to perhaps blossom as a defensive coordinator now. Pete can focus in on managing the troops, and being a CEO type coach like Nick Sabin has become in Alabama for the Crimson Tide.

I think the ultimate advantage for Carroll over other old school coaches like Payton and Belichick is his coaching style. Carroll understands today’s younger athletes better than most head coaches in the pros. During his long tenure at USC, he went well out of his way to go into the urban areas to meet with young athletes and their families. To this day, he maintains a foundation in Los Angeles that supports inner city kids.

In all of these efforts, I believe Carroll understands that today’s young athletes are not like yesterday’s, and yesterday’s hard ass drill sergeant “my way or the highway” style isn’t going to win them over. In public schools today, students are taught empathy, mood meters, and teachers work to develop their emotional IQs at an early age. Safe to say it that when I was a kid, we didn’t have that going on.

So when you see all this hubbub about how Gen Z and Gen X and Boomers are all going back and forth with each other, I think it all stems out of how the generations are and have been reared in school. Gen Z isn’t going to stand for the old ways being talked down to in disparaging ways. You can’t be John Gruden-like calling them homophobic names if they aren’t blocking hard enough in practice. You got to find other ways to inspire them to be pissed off for greatness.

Bill Belichick hasn’t done jack shit since Brady has left New England. Players see that now, and he has lost his mystic as a Sith Lord coach. I think he’s toast and we are seeing it played out now.

Sean Payton has already lost the locker room in Denver. I am calling it now. You can’t blast into the star quarterback who has spent a decade in the league being coached in a specific way in Seattle, and tear him down to build him new. He is what he is. You also can’t go into the press and blast the former head coach, and you can’t throw current players under the bus.

I am tell you folks now, Denver is going to become an absolute shit show for the long time because of what they gave up in the Russell Wilson trade and then hiring this guy to be the savior to fix everything. Do you think Caleb Williams wants to be drafted there, and be coached by Payton? I do not.

I think Williams wouldn’t mind going to Seattle, though, and playing for an older head coach who would let him be himself with all those shiny pieces on the offense, but that’s not happening. Seattle isn’t going to be anyone close enough in the draft next year to take him, or trade up for him.

What Seattle is in position to do is to continue getting further back into Pete Carroll football now. They have the tools on offensive to be a dominant running team that is explosive in play action passes. They have gone back to elements of their prior defensive schemes to better snuff out the run again, and they are more loaded up front to pass rush. They also appear to have two bright young shutdown cornerbacks.

All Pete Carroll needs to do is coach them up, love them up, and preach his mantra of it being “all about the ball.” You try to take the ball away from the other team on defense, and you keep it away from them on offense.

I’m here for it. I’m excited. I think the future looks bright.

Go Hawks.