What a wild game to watch.

All day, as I went about my work, I completely envisioned Seattle getting smoked by the Dallas Cowboys. I thought the Cowboys would be sharks smelling blood in the water, and I was positive that a Pete Carroll coached team was about to get steam rolled two weeks in a row.

I was wrong. Dead wrong.

Then, by the third quarter, I started believing that Seattle was going to win this game handily in Dallas, and our season was going to be salvaged.

I was wrong. Dead wrong.

The refs came in to make sure that would not happen. It would appear that Seattle cannot have nice things because there is a conspiracy against them.

I don’t know how much money Jerry Jones paid these refs, but that show they put on was absolutely comical. At one point in the second half when Dallas had the ball, it actually became shocking whenever an official didn’t throw a flag against a Seahawk defender.

Now, I know what you are probably thinking as you read this. You’re thinking I’m delusional to think the NFL was actually trying to prevent Seattle from winning this game, or Jerry offered the refs a night out with the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders and free drinks at Jerry World for life.

I’m just going to say that is was really fucking weird seeing those flags flying out like that at a machine gun clip against the Seahawk defense right after Seattle jumped comfortably ahead in the game and only occasionally against the Dallas one. You are free to draw whatever conclusion you would like in result. I, however, smell something rotten in Dallas.

Whatev’s.

Seattle put up a great fight on the road. Not a perfect fight. There was still points of bad tackling on the defense, and spotty coverage. The defense still found ways to get gashed by the run, too. Shane Waldron finally started to cook as a play caller only to crap his bed in the end.

But they fought hard. You could feel that fight.

Offensively, it was nice to see blocking finally, and it was a pleasure to see Shane Waldron actually call a functional game plan, and utilize all the nice pieces on offense that Geno Smith gets to play with. DK Metcalf proved once again that he is the most dynamic player on offense when you can scheme the ball into his hands. Ditto for Jaxon Smith Njigba and Zach Charbonett, and how about that spectacular catch by Noah Fant on a deep play action crosser?

Wasn’t it also nice to see the run game going enough so that Geno could play action off of it? Where was this play calling over the past month and a half?! Is it just because we finally have Abe Lucas back at right tackle?

Is Abe Lucas the key to unlocking this offense? A right tackle Abe Lucas??!!

It was exciting to think that Seattle now maybe has a functional offensive coordinator again, but then that weird fourth and one play happened where Charbonnet got stuffed on a decidedly uncreative attempt at a first down, but that wasn’t the real killer for Seattle’s offense. Nay. Waldron saved his best stinker for the end of the game on fourth and short when he decided to not to have anyone block the best pass rusher in football while calling for a dump off to a backup running back who was tasked to get to the other side of this monster speed rusher for a catch, and decidedly didn’t.

For all the creativity that Waldron finally showed us in the game, he called a play that had next to no chance of working against Micah Parsons who’s forty yard dash is as fast as DK Metcalf’s. What. The. Fudge.

As you can probably tell, I’m still not so high on Waldron, but he has five games left to maybe win me over. We shall see.

As for Geno Smith, I think he had a decent rebound game. Not perfect. A few throws got away from him, and he threw yet another bad pick. I forgive him for those though. He battled hard, and played well enough that had Tyler Lockett would have caught a deep seam pass from him, we may have easily went on to win the game.

This was a weird game for Tyler Lockett. He felt third fiddle to JSN and DK. I thought Quandre Diggs and Bobby Wagner and Jamal Adams had weird moments as well.

I think the reason why I am bringing these older veterans up like this is because even though Seattle is still in a fight for the playoffs, at 6-6 now, I also feel like Seattle is officially entering an evaluation phase for this franchise moving forward. How much should these high paid guys be considered the future of the franchise at this point if Seattle is to ultimately have a down year?

Right now, this doesn’t feel like a 6-6 team that will end up 9-8 and in the playoffs again this year like they were last year. If I am to be honest, I think this feels like a 6-6 team on a path to finish an annoying 8-9, not good enough to be in the playoffs, but not sucking enough to have a super high draft pick, either.

This feels like a mediocre team who will now put up good fights because they are in a corner, and Pete Carroll tends to motivate his teams to fight hard whenever the world is against them. He’s a really good coach that way.

I feel like, through twelve games now, we know who they are. They have talent, but they maybe aren’t schemed up to the level their talent needs, and they lack discipline and fundamentals to take the next step. This game against Dallas is a microcosm of all of that.

So, I kinda think that through these last five remaining games, everything and everyone should be scrutinized. Players, coaches, and front office should all be under Jody Allen’s microscope.

Is Geno Smith worth over $30 million APY to stick around? Or should the team move on and perhaps pursue a different quarterback perhaps through the draft (cough cough Michael Penix Junior and or Bo Nix)?

Is Shane Waldron an offensive coordinator who can maximize the talents on this offense consistently? I have severe doubts.

Is Clint Hurtt a good enough defensive coordinator who has a scheme that everyone understands and will play disciplined ball in? I have questions.

Who are the young players who can be the building blocks of a championship? This is perhaps the most important question.

Right now, I feel great about Devon Witherspoon, JSN, K9, Woolen, Boye Mafe, Abe Lucas, Charles Cross, Zach Charbonnet, Tre Brown, and Anthony Bradford. My jury is out on Derick Hall, Coby Bryant, Cameron Young, Dee Eskridge, and Oli Oluwatimi, and maybe it is these younger guys we should start seeing more of moving forward.

As for the older vets, I don’t know how much longer Bobby Wagner can/will go. I’m not really digging on Quandre Diggs and Jamal Adams with their big contracts at safety, and I think Adams should just be a linebacker, anyways. I feel good about Tyler Lockett, but I am unsure how much longer he’s planning to play.

I’m not sure how much Seattle needs to pay big dollars towards Noah Fant, Jordyn Brooks, Evan Brown, and Damien Lewis coming back. I think if I had my druthers, I would spend big in free agency on high quality guard over Lewis, and I would look to the draft for tight end and linebacker and I would start playing Oluwatimi more to see if he can be the starting center.

Leonard Williams is a tricky one. On one had because Seattle dealt a second and fifth round pick to acquire him mid season, I think he should be the top priority to bring back. On the other hand, should John Schneider be scrutinized more now for making that bold move when it is clear that Seattle is probably another draft away from building into a true contender? Was it even his call or was it a directive from Pete Carroll?

Then of course, there is the big elephant in the room with Geno Smith and how smart it is for Seattle to pay him next year like he’s a pro bowl quarterback when maybe he is just kind of a middling one. These last five games will loom incredibly large for Geno Smith now. In a way I feel bad about that, but football is very much a what have you done for me lately.

Lastly, at 6-6, with games against San Francisco, Philly, and Pittsburgh, how much should Jody Allen now be evaluating Pete Carroll as the head coach moving forward into next year?

If they lose out or only win one more game, will she feel the sting of maybe a fanbase growing more frustrated and apathetic and disinterested?

After all, it took Pete Carroll twelve games into the season to get Shane Waldron to kick it in the ass with better play calling. It feels to me that this should have happened a month ago.

This is perhaps the most frustrating thing about this season. It took twelve games for this offense to feel like a Pete Carroll style offense with some sort of identity.

I am hoping that through these last five games, Carroll can work his magic on this young team and they win at least three out of the five. However, I fear is that we are going to see a lot of the same as we have seen over the past week, and that is losing in ugly ways against the 49ers and Eagles, and losing in a frustratingly close way against the Steelers.

However these games shake out, I hope that ownership is taking a good long look at it all, and everything is under evaluation.

I don’t want these Seahawks to dip into becoming the perpetually middling franchise. I want them to be great. I want Jody Allen to do whatever she thinks Paul would do to make sure it’s great again.

This is where I am at as a fan. Losing a close game on the round against a really good Dallas team doesn’t change this needle for me. I love this team, but I need them to be better.

Go Hawks.