This last Tuesday was a rough one for me, I won’t lie. The news of Ozzy Osbourne passing away hit me, quite unexpectedly, like a runaway locomotive. People who know me well, know how much of an old school metalhead I am, and how much this guy meant to me. Therefore, I had a hard time holding back emotion when folks reached out to me, and after a few different back and forths, I didn’t really want to talk much with folks.

Ozzy was such a unique soul, and heavy metal is still such a polarizing genre of music that I feel when I am forced to share my views on the music to people who are not fans of it, it puts me in a very defensive position to which I derive very little enjoyment out of, if I am being perfectly honest. I feel the same way when talking about football to people who don’t much like American football, and feel it is too barbaric, and beneath them to understand it.

“You don’t like football.. cool.. please, there is absolutely no need on my end to have a discussion with you about why you don’t like it.”

“Okay, you don’t get the fanfare of Ozzy Osbourne.. cool, cool.. cool.”

Yeah, the passing of Ozzy put me in a spot, but instead of wallowing in mourning, I very much wanted to spend Tuesday evening with my family at Climate Pledge Arena watching some quality Summertime WNBA basketball with the upstart Seattle Storm hosting the inferior Dallas Wings. A quality Storm win was exactly what my soul yearned for that night.

Well, the Storm laid an absolute egg in front of me, woefully losing in a blowout, and as I walked out of the arena, out about $350 dollars, having to reassure a young grade schooler that the Storm have beaten the Wings before, many times over, I had an overwhelming thought in my head that had become my singular beacon of hope in this sea of darkness.

Thank God that the Seattle Seahawks are starting training camp.

For many months now, I think the news cycle has been a continual masterclass shit show in global and national news. This is not a blog that weighs into social issues and politics, but if I ever needed sports and entertainment to provide pleasant distractions, this would definitely be the time, and the place for it.

The Seattle Mariners have proved to be a fun story this year, and more than a pleasant distraction for even for the more skeptical M’s fans. How can one not get wrapped up in the Cal Raleigh magic, and the thought that if this team makes the postseason, they would be poised to make perhaps historic damage?

That said, heart of hearts, I am a pure football fella, and this is a pure football blog devoted to the Seattle Seahawks, the team that I love in almost unnatural and in very irrational ways. So, let’s fucking go with this training camp, preseason games, and the 2025 season. I need it like I need a water fountain in the desert in late July.

I have no idea how 2025 will go for the Seahawks, but I am more excited about them this year than I have been in quite some time. It is not so much an excitement built on the belief that Seattle can be a top contender this year, but a gleeful excitement in seeing how well they can transform into being a quality team with a clear identity that will prove to be a very tough out on Sundays.

It is more than fair to be skeptical about them this year, and I don’t get bent up about any pessimistic national takes. Nobody knows how good (or bad) Sam Darnold will be as the new QB1, and we don’t know how quickly new coordinator Klint Kubiak will positively transform the offensive line, and get this offense moving in the right steadfast direction that head coach Mike Macdonald would like to see it become as a compliment to his defense. If you are skeptical that Seattle doesn’t have enough at receiver after trading away DK Metcalf, I am not going to waste any breath trying to convince you they will be fine. Let’s just see where all this goes.

I have genuine optimism that Macdonald’s defense will be elite this year, and history shows that if an offense can crack near the top ten in rushing yards and it is matched with a top five defense, that is generally good for 10 or 11 wins, regardless of who the quarterback is on the team.

So the mission for the Seattle Seahawks in 2025 is clear as daylight on a mid Summer day. Run the snot out of the ball in a “fuck the pass game” sorta offensive scheme, and play great defense. Sounds like something pleasantly familiar in the Pacific Northwest. I’m ready for it. I need it.

Here are a few things that I am really excited to see this preseason.

General Sam Darnold And Commando Jalen Milroe

I get it that many fans are nervous about how things will go for the Seattle Seahawks at quarterback this year. However, I am not one of them.

I am genuinely more excited about Seattle’s quarterback room than I have been since peak Russell Wilson, and I say this knowing full well that it is a total mystery how well this room will be in 2025. I like the vibe of Darnold, Milroe, and Drew Lock, though. They are young, athletic, and they all appear to be genuinely good dudes who are going to be working hard to push each other, and make a potentially good room a great one.

The guy that I think most fans are nervous about appears to be QB1. That’s fine, I guess. Personally, I don’t get why, and I have heard all the narratives around Darnold about how he handles pressure (or doesn’t). In my opinion, I think a lot of that is overblown, and the people who are the loudest about it are also self professed huge Geno Smith fans, which I have no problem with, but it does paint a picture of how dug in people can be with their prior views.

In the world of social media darlings, content creators on YouTube, and people who get paid handsomely on sports media platforms, it becomes harder to back down off of takes, I believe. I can easily see a reality where Darnold guides Seattle into the playoffs, and there will be people saying that had they stuck with Geno Smith, they would have gone even farther, or done better. I would be willing to lay sizable cheddar on that being a thing.

For me, however, being a Geno Smith fan, I find the decision to not pay Geno and move onto Darnard a very interesting one, and have stated so on this blog multiple times over. What is the gamble really?

Do diehard Geno Smith fans honestly believe that he is going to out duel Patrick Mahomes and the the Kansas City Chiefs for the AFC West division this year, or next?

Even if you are a big time Sam Darnold skeptic, it is not like Seattle has committed anything long term to him, at all, and I think his mostly solid play of 2024 more than warrants a good long look to see if he can be the franchise quarterback here. I am not going to say one way or the other whether Darnold will be a hit, but if he does prove this year that his campaign last season wasn’t a fluke, you would have to feel pretty damn good about that moving forward, wouldn’t you? I know I would.

I would also just simply say that everything Klint Kubiak wants this offense to be fits the things Darnold has shown to do very well. It’s playing under center, mixing run plays with play action, and motion. If you were to dig into the metrics of how well Darnold plays under center, throwing out of play action, you would be pleasantly surprised, and this isn’t just isolated by his one solid year last year with the Vikings.

During the second half of a lost season in Carolina back in 2022, when their coach got fired and their interim coach took over, Darnold was reinserted into the starting lineup over none other than one Baker Mayfield, and they went on a nice stretch of winning football running the piss out of the ball with Darnold during what he does best; play action passing. You might remember the Panthers coming to Seattle and running the snot out of the football against Pete Carroll’s defense and Darnold handily game managing them to victory. I remember it well.

So, yeah, I do have confidence in Darnold this year, and possibly beyond. The style of offense that they will be going after is probably only going to ask him (or any other quarterback) to throw 25 times a game, and out of those 25 passes, the vast bulk will ideally be play action. This is what Brock Purdy does for San Francisco, and this is what Jared Goff does for the Lions. That’s it.

But neither the Lions nor the 49ers have an intriguing ace up their sleeve that Seattle appears to have with Jalen Milroe, and it is this ace that Seattle could play in each and every game that has me most excited. I have said it before, and I will say it again, Jalen Milroe was one of two QBs in last year’s draft that I was interested in them drafting. I liked Jaxson Dart, and I liked Milroe. Of the two, Milroe had me the most excited because of his immense upside as a runner and deep ball passer.

Every time Milroe steps onto the field for the Seattle Seahawks this year, he will potentially be a nightmare inducing runner on third and short, fourth and short, and in goal line situations. It isn’t just his freakish athleticism and speed, either.

His running instincts feel on par with Lamar Jackson, and I can see scenarios, as the season advances, where Kubiak just randomly throws him into games midfield when it isn’t third and short, but first down, just to fuck with defensive coordinators. I can also see scenarios where he badly beats defenses with his arm rather than legs when everyone is sucking up to stop his running prowess.

The single most exciting news that came out of June mini camp was the last two days of practices where Jalen Milroe looked noticeably improved as a passer to all media eyes watching. So much so that, by some reports, he looked like the best player practicing on both of those days.

Jalen Milroe has always had a good deep ball to his game, and he has shown through college an ability to go through progressions from the pocket, but if he successfully improves his footwork mechanics as a passer, and thus improves his short to intermediate accuracy, then I do believe that Darnold’s tenure in Seattle could be a short one even if he play well in this scheme.

Milroe has superstar potential, that is his upside. It is not franchise quarterback upside, it is superstar quarterback upside, and it is not a crazy thought to think he couldn’t develop into a franchise quarterback in the quality of a Lamar Jackson, or a slight notch below, if his accuracy improves and it sounds like he is working his ass of to improve it.

So, yeah. I am excited about Seattle’s QB room. This is top of my list of intrigue.

Young talented offensive linemen emerging with proper NFL coaching, finally

I will push back on any suggestions that Seattle didn’t do enough this offseason to fix their offseason line, even with drafting Grey Zabel in the first round. Zabel was the right player to pick in round one, no question, but I don’t think this was a great free agent class to throw money at guards and center outside of one center who seemed determined to sign elsewhere and one guard with a questionable knee injury who balked at coming to Seattle for a physical before signing with the Vikings.

I am going to take a contrarian view that says Seattle did more than enough to address their offensive line by bringing in veteran offensive line coaches John Benton and Rick Dennison in addition to drafting Zabel. There is talent on Seattle’s offensive line that has not been fully tapped, I strongly believe that. Most of this issue has to do with prior coordinators not committing enough to the run, and not committing enough to specific blocking scheme.

You do not improve an offensive line by throwing big money at marginal veteran talent just because they are out there and you have a need at the position. You improve your offensive line by drafting well and coaching the talent up in ways that fit what they do best. This is what I think Seattle is now set to do this year. They hired really good veteran offensive line coaches, and they are committing to a scheme that will better serve the talent that they drafted the past few years. I am excited to see how it comes together, and I say that knowing that it might take until the midway point in the season where we see it all gelling.

Seattle has offensive tackles perfectly built to run outside zone concepts, and last year, they drafted a guard in Christian Haynes who was one of the best pure zone blocking guards in college football. What did former coordinator Ryan Grubb do? He passed the fuck out of the ball instead of running it, and then he adopted gap scheme concepts to mix in with zone, never really letting his young as original sin offensive linemen to gain confidence and chemistry together.

Those horseshit days of offensive coaching are over with in Seattle. Kubiak may not win personality contests, but he will make damn sure that his offensive line wins with a fuck ton of run blocking down the stretch of the 2025 season. I am all about it. I could print a blue and green t-shirt that reads “run the damn ball” and wear it every Sunday this Fall.

This offensive line may not be tops in the league this year, but they sure as shit won’t be bottom. Bank on it.

A Heavy Metal headbangingly fun ground attack

“Run to the hills. Run for your lives!”

Ah, the sweet sounds of Bruce Dickinson’s voice souring high above Steve Harris’s galloping bass line of the epic 1982 heavy metal classic Run To The Hills by Iron Maiden. This song should firmly be in my brain every time Seattle is on offense this year. Run early, run often, hit some easy play action gimmes, and fucking run it some more, gosh darn dang it all.

I could give two flying fucks if whether Ken Walker has the big breakout year fans have been pining for out of him. It would be awesome if he did, and he finally lives up to his superstar potential, but Seattle feels especially loaded up at running back this year, and that is what landing Damien Martinez late in the draft does to my thoughts and feels. I think Martinez is legit RB1 potential in the league, and most definitely Zach Charbonnet is that already. I am also very high on Kenny McIntosh and feel like this zone blocking scheme is really going to fit his style well.

Seattle is going to keep all four of these talented backs. I expect them all to play, and play well. If K9 finally puts together a full healthy season, awesome, but if not, I don’t have a lot of worries here. Just an overwhelming dose of optimism for this unit that will also feature rookie fullback Robbie Outz who played with Milroe at Alabama, and would know immediately how to play with his unique skillset. Keep that in mind as you watch these preseason games unfold.

I need that Run The Damn Ball t-shirt printed. I might need several of them for every other day of the week this Fall.

Mike Macdonald’s Seal Team Six Defense

You fair weathers want to know what the difference is between Pete Carroll’s legendary Legion Of Boom defense, and the one that Mike Macdonald has designs on building here is?

Pete put together a very simple scheme but he collected smart, talented badass men to pull it off who were a fascinating combination of bigger, stronger, and faster at different spots. Offenses knew what to expect, but they still had to face it, and it was like a legion of jacked up berserkers coming at them with every snap of the ball. It was truly terrifying with terrifyingly bad intentioned players, but it had a shelf life. The league changed its rules that prohibited much of its style, and its star players eventually started to breakdown physically from all the years of ultra violence that it played with.

Mike Macdonald doesn’t ask his players to play with the same reckless abandon. He wants them to be physical, but he insists upon them to be schematically very smart and versatile. He wants every player to know what every other player does on every play so that they can also fill those roles if called upon with a given play to do so. His defense is all about disguise and confusion for quarterbacks. He wants his guys to play fast, and forceful, and smart, and completely connected together. He doesn’t want marines, or viking berserker warriors, he wants his players to be elite special forces on the football field. He wants delta force guys, navy seals.

This style of defense takes time to mold. It took him two years to mold it in Baltimore before it became the best unit in the league without a bunch of big named players.

We got a good glimpse of this defense turning the corner during the second half of the season last year. I am excited to see it fully take hold this season.

There is a lot of national buzz and expectation that we finally see the return of a great NFL defense in Seattle, Washington this year, even with those who are reluctant to buy into Darnold, and Kubiak, and the state of the offensive line. I guess that the old adage of defense winning championships isn’t what it used to be.

It will be fun watching Seattle remind the world that without a great defense, offensive stats are for losers, and fantasy football owners. Ask Joe Burrow his thoughts and feels about having a good defense. Joe knows.

Of all the things that I am most ready and excited for in 2025, it is this defense in Seattle to come in an ruin Sundays for quarterbacks and receivers. That’s heavy metal.

In closing..

It is preseason. Fans in 32 markets across America are excited and optimistic.

There will inevitably be disappointment when the regular comes along and concludes. There will be teams that were in the playoffs last year that will not make it back this year. There will be teams nobody is taking seriously right now that will surprise. There will be at least one serious contender who will fall disappointingly flat, probably due to injuries, and maybe even age.

The AFC is, by far, the harder conference to play through than the NFC is. It is not a given that Pete Carroll and Geno Smith will fair well together in Vegas. The team is not devoid of talent, but that is going to be a tough division that they will be in, and it’s inside a tough conference. This is why I don’t totally understand the Raider fanfare and hype is seemingly this big this year, but if it does work out for them, it would be pretty cool. I would enjoy seeing them do well.

Seattle, on the other hand, gets much less fanfare, and I actually kinda like that. There is not a lot of flash with these Seahawks right now. There is no big chiseled x receiver, there is no quarterback who is going to provide juicy soundbites and be active online, there is no big named pass rusher, or superstar middle linebacker.

Still, there is talent, and more importantly, there seems to be a connectedness with the players unlike anything we have seen here in a long time. Everyone showed up to mini camp, and I cannot remember the last time that ever happened here in Seattle, even at the height of Carroll, or Mike Holmgren.

I think these guys really dig Macdonald, they believe, and they want to put in the work. This is why I think this is the real year one for Macdonald here. Last year, it wasn’t his preferred offensive coordinator, and there were guys here that proved to be more Carroll holdovers that fellas buying in. They are gone, and what remains are solely Macdonald dudes.

The Macdonald commandos and seal team sixes. That is what we are about it see unfold.

I am very excited for that.

Go Hawks!