Dear Seattle Seahawks Fan,

I’m here for you, if these two gigantic breaking bits of news are still hitting you hard.

I’m also here for you if you’re glad that these sweeping changes are happening, and are excited about this team now conducting what you believe is a much needed reboot.

I’m even here for you if you are somewhere weirdly in between. In truth, I’m kind of in that weird in between state. I suspect I will stay well within this weird state for sometime.

I didn’t want Russell Wilson to not be a Seattle Seahawk, but at the same time, I feel like I have spent a year bracing for this reality. For me, I wasn’t dismissive of last year’s drama about Russ complaining about the offensive line, and then saying he didn’t want to be traded, but then putting out a short list of four teams he would be willing to be dealt to. I didn’t consider that media inspired fake news, as some Seahawk beat writers, and Pete Carroll, and even Russ himself tried to spin it as such.

My alarm bells shot off. I believed the reports that Russ wasn’t happy being Pete’s game manager, and Pete remained unwilling to bend his offense towards the high tempo Andy Reid style attack Russ craved. I saw writings on the wall that others would gladly shoot down.

I thought Russ wanted out if Pete Carroll was to be left in charge as head coach and team vice president. It was that simple of a fact for me.

I felt that this was going to be a year in which team owner Jody Allen would have to choose either the quarterback or the coach, but both would likely not be coming back. That’s the vibe that stayed with me all this past year. That’s what I predicted on a podcast that I am a regular part of.

I had actually reached a point mid season, even with Russ’s struggles, where I had hoped that Jody would chose Russ over Carroll, and had written those thoughts on this blog. It felt very logical, in my mind, to choose the thirty something franchise quarterback over the aging coach, even though I still really liked and believed in the geezer coach.

But when it became clear the week after the season had ended that Jody Allen was going to stand by Pete Carroll and John Schneider, in all honesty, my thoughts slowly started to drift the other way with it all. I began making peace with the thought that Russell Wilson was likely no longer going to be the quarterback of my favorite team.

For several weeks now, it felt with each passing day, I have been waiting for this sort of news to break. I’ve ran through the scenarios many of times. I thought about Vegas and whether Seattle would swing a deal to send Russ there for Derek Carr. I’ve thought long and hard about the New York Giants as a destination. Lately, I started warming to Philadelphia and getting two of their first round picks this year along with Jalen Hurts.

I have talked myself into liking Hurts and Carr, and Gardner Minshew, too. I even talked myself up into liking Kirk Cousins and Baker Mayfield, as well.

Because the simple fact is that I just wanted this drama between Russ and the team to end, and I gotta say it; now that it officially has ended, I’m glad. I’m personally ready to move on.

I just didn’t see this division between Pete and Russ being anything sustainable. Nor did I think it would be healthy to carry it into another season only to watch it fester more through the Mark Rodgers fed media, creating even further division between fans.

Even as I type this out, I refuse to look at the current Seattle Seahawk situation in a glass half empty sort of way. Maybe that is my way of dealing with being a fan of this team, and I just have to remain optimistic.

Maybe it’s also that I feel like now is a true opportunity for this Pete Carroll coached team to get back to it’s previous identity of being a physical running team with a built up defense, and explosive perimeter players for a functional game manager quarterback to step in and.. manage.

Who and what that quarterback is, I believe is very much yet to be determined, but I don’t think it is going to be Drew Lock. I think he’s a hedge for another quarterback that they have in mind.

Word had it over the scouting combine weekend that Seattle was showing strong interest in Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral. If it is true that they like him, then it proves Seattle still values a scrambling playmaking style of passer.

They could have interest in Jalen Hurts, or Gardner Minshew, if either are made available through trade. They might fancy Marcus Mariota as a free agent signing.

Aside from Corral, Malik Willis and Desmond Ridder also possess the physical traits of being playmaking quarterbacks in this coming draft. It is possible that Seattle likes them, as well.

If Deshaun Watson is cleared of all his legal troubles, Seattle might have their sights set on him. Duane Brown (presuming he’s back) would have intel on Watson, and could sell Watson on Pete Carroll’s culture like he did Jadeveon Clowney. I believe Brown and Watson are also fairly tight friends.

If Watson is cleared (like some think he’s going to be), I wouldn’t be all together opposed to the idea. He’s young, and clearly capable of being a top five quarterback. If he wants to be up here, and is sold on Pete, I think it’s something to strongly consider, but at the same time, that feels like a lot of ifs.

My bigger point is that while, initial reactions to this blockbuster trade make it seem like Seattle is surrendering to a rebuild, I’m not so sure that they are.

In exchange for Russ, along with the five draft picks Seattle gets over the next two years (Denver’s 2022 first and second rounds picks, 2023 first and second round picks, and a fifth rounder), they receive athletic starting tight end Noah Fant, and pass rushing defensive tackle Shelby Harris along with journeymen quarterback Drew Lock. Again, I think Lock was a throw in hedge for their targeted next starter, but Harris and Fant are two quality veterans at positions of need for Seattle. Those aren’t rebuilding pieces. Those are guys you look to reload with.

As I look at this move, I suspect more splash moves to come, and with news breaking of Bobby Wagner being released, I suspect Seattle to be an aggressive shopper in free agency and possibly trades. Between Russ and Bobby, Seattle as now freed up $28 million to go along with it’s projected $38 million of 2022 cap space. They are going to be major buyers, and that is exciting to me.

Carroll wants to fix his pass rush, but he wants to bring back star safety Quandre Diggs, and DJ Reed at corner, as well. Those moves won’t be cheap. They now have more than enough money to do that, and still spend on the offensive line.

This Bobby Wagner move doesn’t hit as hard for me, but I understand if it does you. He’s a well loved player and a great leader. I’ve always enjoyed him as a player to watch and root for, but at the same time, I’ve never viewed linebacker as an area where large amounts of money should be spent. I would have rather seen that kinda money reserved for premier defensive linemen.

I have also noticed a bit of a decline in his game recent years, and I felt this day was coming. Yes, he continued to make a boat load of tackles, but they always seemed more downfield and less towards the line of scrimmage where you want those tackles to occur. That has been troubling to me.

What I really need now to get through these dramatic moves is for Seattle to be aggressive shoppers through free agency to strengthen their trenches on both sides of the ball. If in a week’s time, Chandler Jones is a Seahawk, Rams center Brian Allen is a Seahawk, Trent Brown is a Seahawk, and Sebastian Joseph-Day is a Seahawk, I’m feeling a heck of a lot better, especially if they get Duane Brown back.

Because, for me, at the end of the day, football is still a game that is won and lost in the trenches, and Seattle has gotten further and further away from that with each passing year, and because of that, they’ve been harder for me to watch. All three of their division opponents are better than they are at the line of scrimmage, and that desperately needs to be reversed, in my view.

When Seattle won the Super Bowl several years back, they had one of the most expensive offensive lines in football and while they were so-so as pass protectors, they were monster run blockers, and as games wore on, they exhausted good defensive lines. Their defensive line was loaded with pass rushers and run stuffers. They also had a cheap game managing playmaker quarterback on a rookie contract interestingly enough, as well.

I think it’s entirely possible that Pete and John want to get back to that exact formula.

In the meantime, would I take Marcus Mariota over Russell Wilson? No way, but if I had built up lines, I could roll way more easily with it.

So I really hope this is the direction Pete and John take. Fix the lines first. Then deal with getting your next quarterback.

But get that next quarterback right, too!

As for Russ and Bobby, I’m going to miss them.

I loved Russ’s dynamic play, and I was able to roll with some of the more frustrating elements of his game because of those unique dynamics. I even loved the dorky stuff he would say in press conferences that kinda drove others a bit bonkers.

Honestly, Russ has been my favorite Seahawk player since Cortez Kennedy, and it’s weird for me to also kinda be glad that he’s been dealt. I will store his jersey away and gift it down to my son when he’s old enough to fit into it, and appreciate it.

With Bobby, I just really liked the dude. He felt genuine and real. In some ways, I think I might miss him more.

With all the volatility that has festered this team at various times between Percy Harvin, Richard Sherman and Earl Thomas, and then this recent Russ stuff, Bobby has always remained a Steady Eddy leader for this team. Despite what I believe is some declining play, that’s a very tough thing to say goodbye to. He’s a first ballot hall of famer to me, and he’s a guy that I will tell my own son to be like.

“Be like Bobby.”

Yeah, I will root for both these guys as they move on. It will be a very easy thing to do.

But just not against my Seahawks. Because my blue and green colors don’t run. They stay true to form. They always have.

When the Seahawks meet the Broncos this Fall, I hope Shelby Harris sacks Russ five times and Quandre picks him off twice, and the Seahawks win. Then I will root for Russ to have a signature game the following week.

And I’m very much ready for this next chapter of Seahawk football to begin. I’m looking forward to this off-season. I’m really ready for it now.

Go get it done.

Go Hawks

Dear Los Angeles Sports Fan,

Congratulations on your seventh favorite team in town (behind the Lakers, Dodgers, Trojans, Bruins, Kings, and the Sparks) for winning the Super Bowl that your town just hosted. I’m sure that was a big deal for you!

I know that it was probably, most certainly, highly important for the National Football League to have your seventh favorite team in town win this big show. After all, the league needs the Rams to jump ahead of the Sparks and Kings to at least be the fifth most popular LA team among fans. After all, there is millions if not billions of dollars at stake for the revenue to be generated down there, and spread among all these billionaire owners that need more money.

In fact, I would venture to say that having professional football not become successful in a second attempt inside your market would be an incredibly embarrassing look for a league that loves to think of itself as King Of All Sports In America. So, I guess I should be really happy for the league, as well.

Good job, NFL!

And look, I get your eye rolls that might be rolling right now, if you think I am suggesting that there was shenanigans happening with the refs and the flags in the final minutes of the game that may or may not have involved a call from the league offices. Don’t worry. I am nowhere going to suggest that there was any sort of NFL Deep State involvement at that final juncture of an ever so close ball game for, you know.. the title.

I’m just going to suggest that, in a way where it seemed like the refs were good to let players play through contact that looked like maybe holds on defense (and even facemasks on offense), it was more than a bit interesting that flags started to fly when your team got into the red zone for a go ahead score. Yeah, that was quite interesting.

I mean, I have looked at the replay of that supposed Logan Wilson interference inside the ten over and over again, and I just don’t see it. What I do see on that play is the right side of your line false starting in front of the line judge and no penalty being called for that offensive infraction.

So, I guess that whole thing is all sorta curious for me, but you know.. no harm no foul, right?

Good thing that I’m not a Bengals fan. Otherwise, I think I would be mightily pissed right now and I would have to shopping online for a new television set.

But that is neither here nor there. Congratulations, again, on winning that Super Bowl.

As a life long Washingtonian, I’m really happy for Cooper Kupp. Dude’s a legit baller and I’m annoyed my Seahawks didn’t think to draft him when they could have.

Now, you have to blow the whole thing up down there. I’m not saying that to be mischievous either. I’m saying it in very pragmatic terms.

Your team is projected to be nearly $11 million dollars over the salary cap in 2022, and you have a boat load of starters poised to hit free agency. Even if your superstar defensive tackle Aaron Donald retires, his expensive contract off the books isn’t going to get your team under the salary cap in order to retain any of your free agents. Therefor, your team’s general manager is going to have to cut some other talents to make that happen, and the likelihood of being able to retain Von Miller, Darious Willliams, OBJ, Sebastian Joseph-Day, Brian Allen, Austin Corbett, Sony Michel, and others is going to prove quite difficult.

And with my man Cooper Kupp’s contract coming up around the corner, as well, that’s going to cost your team a fortune, as well.

This is not going to be easy waters to get through by any stretch, and I would say that you would be able to find some relief through the NFL draft this Spring to replace some of this talent, but your team traded most of their picks away to acquire Matthew Stafford and Von Miller.

Because of these bold moves to go all in on winning the whole enchilada this year, your team won’t be picking until the very end of round three where immediate impact cheap rookie talent will be long gone, and probably drafted by like, say, Seattle.

Your team might have to trade expensive prime talent just to get further under the cap and to get higher picks in order to fill out your roster. That’s a pickle.

When I look at all of this, I can see why Sean McVay, at a young age, might want to walk away and start a family with a much easier job of doing broadcasting for some major network. I mean, he certainly has the look for it, and he’s in the right market. It would be a super easy transition, and he will avoid the shame of maybe being beaten by Pete Carroll twice in a season for the first time in his coaching career while working with a gutted roster.

Never fear on your next head coaching search, though. I hear Brian Flores is looking for a gig, and so is Eric Bieniemy. As far as I can tell, those are two outstanding coaching men of color that would satisfy the Rooney rule. Go get one of those dudes, if McVay decides to bolt like a frat kid leaving a crime scene.

But you got to blow that thing up now, right?

Yeah, you gotta.

You can trade Leonard Floyd, and save about $7 million. You might get a high third round pick for him, or a late second rounder.

If you want to go bolder, you can bite the bullet and trade Stafford to a quarterback hungry team like Denver. That would save you $23 million and give you the ability to sign some of your players back, and a first round pick to draft and develop an inexpensive quarterback. That actually might be the way to go about it all.

But you got to blow it up, and since this team is only your seventh favorite team in town, I’m sure that there won’t be that much heartache involved.

Either way, I’m here for you. I gotcha.

But big congrats!

Go Hawks.

Dear Seattle Sports Fan,

Anyone who knows me well knows that my first and foremost sports love is the Seattle Seahawks. It has been that way since 1983 when the Seahawks came out of nowhere in Chuck Knox’s first year as head coach, and they made the playoffs for the first time in their young history, making it all the way to the AFC Championship Game before losing to the LA Raiders.

When that happened, I fell in love, and haven’t looked back. I’m as devoted of a Twelve as you will ever find, and I ride with them through thick and thin.

But that said, sports offers a wonderful opportunity to have many loves. In fact, it’s the one scenario where I see polyamory as something that works out quite well for me.

You see, the Seattle Seahawks weren’t my first sports love. That title belongs to the Seattle SuperSonics. They were the team that first won me over in early elementary when they won the NBA Championship in 1979, when I was playing basketball in the little leagues.

They have always been a team near and dear to me, and to this date, rarely will I sit down to enjoy an NBA game with them no longer a part of that league. I just can’t do it.

The only NBA series I watched since the Sonics were robbed from me was Toronto vs Golden State in the Finals a couple years back. The only reason why I watched that series will make more sense in this piece later on.

Other than that, the NBA, as a league can collectively fudge off inside their pants for all I care until Seattle gets the Sonics back. Until then, I won’t follow.

The Sonics were to Seattle what Nirvana and Pearl Jam were, and anyone who was in Seattle in the 1990’s knows exactly what I am talking about. There was a distinct symbiotic relationship between the iconic Seattle music scene and the iconic basketball team. And you can blame Starbucks all you want, but the Seattle city counsel and the NBA commissioner at the time, equally, if not more, screwed us out of our regional professional men’s basketball team.

To this day, I remain largely bitter about Seattle politics and the NBA as I do about the bitterness I feel towards Howard F’ing Schultz. Those are constants in my life, actually.

In fact, my blood still boils as I type that out, and my Apple watch is telling my to “take a moment of mindfulness.” So, I guess that this is a great place to segue into the newer sports love I’ve found in the WNBA and the Seattle Storm.

I love the WNBA and specifically the Seattle Storm. I love them deeply.

I fell in love with Sue Bird and the Seattle Storm shortly after I met and I fell in love with my wife over a decade ago. She was about as big of a Storm fan as I was a Seahawks fan.

I had never gone to the Storm game before I met her, and truthfully, I had little interest. But meeting my wife, and falling in love with her opened my eyes to the joy of women’s professional basketball, and it didn’t take me long to get hooked and invested.

Truthfully, with no NBA team any longer in Seattle, Sue and the girls filled the big basketball void in my heart. They were fun to watch, and I genuinely marveled at them.

So a few years back, in the fateful Spring of 2018, when my wife and myself sat in on a Seattle Storm draft party that was hosted by Storm broadcast analyst Elise Woodward, and she announced and then talked about the Storm’s first pick in that draft, UCLA point guard Jordin Canada, after the dust settled a bit, I felt a new tug at my heart, and excitement about my WNBA team in an unexpected sorta way. This is when I knew that the Seattle Storm were big time gonna be My Team, and not just my wife’s team that I was pulling for.

Sitting in that draft party, I was a basketball fan that was hoping Seattle would draft another “Big.” Myself having played power forward as a kid, I’ve always held the belief that basketball was a game to be won with big players, even with the modern trends. I wanted Seattle to draft a mate to pair up with superstar forward Breanna Stewart.

But when Seattle made their selection, it wasn’t that sort of player. I felt a bit dejected, initially (kinda like whenever the Seahawks don’t draft a defensive linemen with their first pick). It didn’t take me long, however, once hearing Elise Woodward describe this little gal from Southern California, that I got super pumped for the season.

In fact, I turned to my wife and promptly said that I thought the Seattle Storm were gonna win the WNBA championship later that year. The Seattle Storm did, in fact, do just that.

I’m not going to pretend that Jordin Canada was the main reason why the Storm took over the league that year, and got Sue another title. There was impact talent across that roster.

Breanna Stewart was clearly the best player on their roster, and was league MVP that year. Sue Bird had perhaps the single most impressive basketball playoff performance I have ever seen in my life playing in that series against the Phoenix Mercury, and Seattle made a trade for the highly athletic forward/center Natasha Howard who seemed like the missing piece to go along with shooting guard Jewell Lloyd, and swing player Alysha Clark.

But my girl Canada just had a special something-something whenever her sneakers hit the floor. As described by Woodward at the draft party, Jordin just seemed quicker than everyone else on the floor, and considerably more agile. She was a world class athlete playing basketball. Her outside shot might’ve been not be nearly the same as Bird’s, but her quickness driving through much larger players to the basket was dynamic to watch. There’s few in the league like her, in that particular way.

This smallish girl with the quicks quickly became a bit of a sports crush, and I’m not ashamed to admit it. I root hard for her. I’m dug in.

As she has now left Seattle via free agency for the LA Sparks, I’m pulling for her to do well, and continue to blossom as a player who might now have an expanded role on a roster without Bird and Lloyd in front of her.

There’s many things to like about Jordin Canada. Some of it is skill, and a lot of it is also personality.

She’s not demonstrative, she’s not a superstar in her league, and she isn’t at a stage in her career where you would expect her to take over games (although it’s been a joy watching her whenever she’s been the hot hand). What she is, though, is a player who can create a spark on the floor with her athleticism, and she has an air about her that is just down right likable, kinda like Tyler Lockett. You naturally dig who she is.

If Tyler Lockett were to ever leave the Seattle Seahawks for another organization, I think the vast majority of Seahawk fans would continue rooting for the dude, even if it were for a team in the same division. That speaks to his character. That’s how I feel about Jordin.

On a whole other level, I’m deeply a sentimentalist, too. I was there at the Storm draft party when she was taken 6th overall in the league that year. I heard her player evaluation breakdown and the logic behind drafting her. I anticipated her impact on the Seattle roster, and felt invested when it unfolded as planned.

Maybe more deeply, her last name being Canada was instantly symbolic for me. My mother was Canadian, and I a large portion of my childhood years with my mother visiting relatives in the western provinces any chance we got.

Even though I am proudly American, I feel a deep connection to Canada, and my mother’s nationalistic pride of that country rubbed off on me. I root for that country’s success during the Olympics and in other international sporting events.

In the states, when I discover that someone down here is from the Great White North, I will feel compelled to latch onto them. In my time as a working actor in the Seattle theater scene, I’ve come across many, and my bonds with them almost always became immediate. They were gonna be my friends whether they wanted to or not.

Canadians are very much my kinda people.

My dear, sweet, goofy Canadian mother passed away a few years prior to Jordin becoming a Storm. Therefore, emotionally, I was still in a place of missing her greatly in my life on that fateful day of that WNBA draft in 2018.

So when this pretty little gal from Southern Cal was drafted, and I heard that name called, and I saw her short and plucky stature racing up and down the court in the highlights shown, as saw an immediate connection to my mom. I heard the name, and saw a resemblance from a physical perspective.

Simply put, in an unexpected way, I immediately projected a lot onto this player. I’m glad I never met here because I probably would have gawked, and then geeked her out.

In truth, if I were to ever purchase and wear any jersey of a Storm player, it would be hers, even though she is now an LA Spark. That would make sense to me.

It’s funny how we project things onto our favorite athletes, and even the ones we despise, for that matter.

I love Marshawn Lynch largely because of what I project him to be and think of him as. My sense of him is strengthened by what I so often hear others say of him that know him. I think I’d love to hang with that dude. By every account, he genuinely seems a truly remarkable and enlightened human being. Therefore, I’m one of his biggest fans.

Conversely, I strongly dislike Aaron Rodgers because of what I perceive is his hyper arrogance and ego to be, but the reality of it is that I don’t know if that would change if we spent the day digging a french drain pit together in heavy clay soil, and we chew the shit on topic after topic trying to get a lot of grueling work done. In my experience, that is how I better get to know someone. I might hate his position on the vaccine, but I might dig his takes on classic rock and comedies from the 1980s.

I might also want to take a shovel to his head by late morning. I don’t know.

All I know is that it is a blessing to get to follow these rare athletes, and attach ourselves to them however we feel compelled, however long standing or shortly lived, depending on how fluid things evolve (“cough, cough.. please stop talking about your legacy Russ” ).

At the end of the day, Jordin Canada is a fun basketball player to watch, and I will miss her not being up here. I wish Seattle would have given her another shot, but I get that in pro sports, you can’t keep every player, and there are others ahead of her on this roster that are more impactful and had to be prioritized.

I also get it that she had a bit of a down year in 2021 filling in for Bird more expansively when the superstar living legend was injured. Still, a large part of me wonders if my Seattle WNBA franchise gave up on her too soon.

There’s big roles in basketball for high energy players coming in off the bench. It’s like a player in football who is solely a pass rush specialist who comes in only on obvious passing downs. You stack those players on your roster and value them even if they on not three down players.

The two WNBA championships that Seattle won in Jordin’s four seasons here were dominating stretches of basketball by any measure, and I believe the strategy of using Jordin’s speed and kinetic energy off the bench for long stretches of time, more than effectively gassed opponents of their energy by the mid point of many third periods. That was a huge advantage for Seattle in those seasons, and that’s when you often saw them take over ball games.

I know that this show is still all about Sue, and Breanna, and Jewell, but I genuinely dug me some Canada, and I will root for her success. I will also somewhat question not bringing her back for a fifth year, and wonder who the Storm will have in 2022 to provide that similar sorta high energy spark off the bench that proved so vital.

I have a sense that I will miss her here greatly. I just hope the Storm has a very good plan moving forward without her.

Go Storm.

Dear Seattle Seahawks Fan,

I’m not going to pretend that I have any great knowledge or insight into how good of a defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt is going to be for the Seahawks. I’m not going to promise you a rose garden resurrection of the Legion Of Boom defense, but I’m not going to slam this move either, and label Hurtt as another Pete Carroll “yes man.”

Truthfully, as I routinely listen to Dave Wyman on ESPN 710 on many of my afternoon commutes (and others that closely cover the team), everything that I sense about Hurtt is that he is a strong voice who Carroll has likely been grooming as an eventual head coach, he’s on the extreme end of being detail oriented, and players respect this dude; he has their attention. That’s a lot to like here, especially if the goal is for this defense to stop the slop play and get back to getting after quarterbacks.

Given how he molded a pure run stuffing defensive tackle in Jarran Reed into a productive interior pass rusher, developed un-drafted Poona Ford into an impactful player, turned geriatric Al Woods into a run stuffing force of nature last year, and the fact that Frank Clark enjoyed his best seasons under his tutelage, I’m buying that Hurtt’s detailed orientations. I think he’s gotten the most of what he’s been dealt in Seattle, and even the most pessimistic Seahawk fans will have a hard time arguing against that.

And if you are doubting this move, I get it. There’s a growing amount of Seahawk fans who are absolutely done with Pete Carroll, and there’s voices on Seahawk blogs much more established than mine who have been begging Jody Allen to fire him. They’re dug into their positions, and I suspect anything being written about from these sorts will be that Hurtt is simply another Pete Carroll yes man.

I’m just not so sure about that.

Wyman opined on his radio show last Friday that he felt Carroll stepped away from his usual involvement over his defense over the last few years, and the narrative that he’s been the “real defensive coordinator” during that time is inaccurate. I’m sure anti Carroll folk will state that since Wyman works for 710, he’s essentially a Seahawk employee and is covering for Carroll, but I don’t think Wyman is likely that type of guy, personally.

I suspect Wyman is more in the tell it like it is camp, and it’s been interesting to hear him say things about the defense this last year like “I watch them in coverage and I don’t get what the plan is” and “I know Bobby is a really good linebacker but I wish they would have him do _____ more.”

If Wyman’s a Carroll stan, I don’t think he volunteers stuff on air like this. In fact, I’ve always gotten the sense from him over the past couple years that he’s been growing as done with the Ken Norton Junior defense as I’ve been, and for those who will insist that it has really been Carroll’s defense and not Norton’s, Wyman has made the point that all the weirdly negative characteristics of this defense also showed up in Oakland when Norton was the coordinator there.

Given that, it’s tough to definitively state that Norton was Carroll’s yes man in charge. If anything, I suspect the truth of the whole dynamic between these two men lays somewhere in the weeds of Norton being a person that Carroll had tremendous respect for and valued highly as a friend, and wanted to give him the opportunity to succeed out of that place. As a small business owner, I can attest that might not be the best reasons to elevate someone, if optimum output is the goal.

So, when Wyman, an ex starting NFL middle linebacker, who’s there at every practice during training camp, watching, says Clint Hurtt has a special commanding air about him, and he’s a hyper detailed oriented guy, I’m on board with that. I’m good.

Because the truth of the matter is that, under Norton’s eyes, the Seahawk defense had become sloppy in coverage, and in tackling, and worst of all, there’s been a growing theme of lack of communication between the defenders as to what to do in coverage. For four straight years, they have increasingly become as far away from the legendary LOB as you could get.

Clint Hurtt probably knows all this, and if he is the detail oriented task master with a commanding voice that many think he is, I suspect tackling gets better, communication gets better, pass rush becomes more of a focus because his former trade is that of a DL coach, and I bet coverage gets better, too.

Enter Ed Donatell and possibly even Sean Desai.

The fact that Carroll is bringing in long time NFL defensive coordinator and defensive back guru Ed Donatell in a senior advisory role, that actually tells me that Pete Carroll isn’t going to let Hurtt hang out to dry figuring out how to be a coordinator for the first time in his career. Carroll’s going to surround Hurtt with the best voices he can. I don’t think he did this for Norton, and it feels like Carroll’s not going to make that mistake again.

The fact that Seattle is still pursuing former Bears DC Sean Desai, presumably to become the new passing game coordinator, tells me that Carroll is hyper determined to make his defense the strength of this team again, as well as he should. In my opinion, I feel Carroll has drifted too far away from his DNA as a coach in order to appease a quarterback determined to cook more.

The result of this has been a team caught in a weird in-between. They aren’t the LOB, but they aren’t exactly anything the resembles something out of the Andy Reid coaching tree either.

Therefore, I say, as long as Pete Carroll is sticking as head coach, the Seahawks might as well embrace everything that Pete Carroll represents, and the first and foremost thing that he represents is a great defense.

I trust elevating Clint Hurtt is the first step towards that. I might not be the quickest whip when it comes to blogging about my Seahawks, but one thing I feel very certain about is that, with this dude coordinating, pass rushers on the defensive line are going to pass rush, and not be dropping off into coverage with the weird frequency that they did under Norton. Under Hurtt, Carolos Dunlap is going at the quarterback and not dropping into the flats. I feel comfy cashing that check.

Bringing in the Donatell (and possibly Desai) suggests to me more about figuring out what to do with Jamal Adams and how to mix up coverages more than anything else. I suspect the defense built around a cover three concept will be further phased out. I think we see more quarter coverages, two deep looks, and I suspect a special role in this defense will be finally carved out for Adams. I’m here for all of that.

I have no way of knowing this, but it wouldn’t surprise me if these potential shifts in philosophy are actually Hurtt’s suggestion to Carroll, and he’s been the one lobbying for Donatell and Desai, given all their histories together under Vic Fangio in Chicago. It makes sense if the rumors are true that this opening was really Hurtt’s gig the whole time.

It’s very possible, at least in my mind, that Clint Hurtt is the one who wants to embrace more of the Fangio style of defense, and has convinced Carroll to climb on board. This could be his vision, and if that’s the case, I think that’s a further reason to celebrate the promotion of Hurtt,

At any rate, I’m on board. I’m in.

I want to see this defense a strength of the this team again. I want to see Seattle being able to consistently rush, and disrupt with four, and be able to competently cover with seven.

I hope they are hyper aggressive in free agency and the draft landing more pass rush talent from the interior and the perimeters. Go get some of those former Bronco and Bear defenders who played under Fangio. Draft a big beastly interior pass rushing nightmare of a player.

Give Russell Wilson a quality center, for once, post Max Unger, and walk it all back.

With a fifth place schedule in their favor, Seattle has every reason to go from worst to first in their division in 2022, if they can just get further back to Pete ball, and get the right players on this roster doing it, and have coaches putting them in better positions to be successful on the fields. None of this feels like rocket science to make it all work, either.

Russ might not love cooking the way he wants, but I think he would love having a much improved defense, a better solution at center, and the ability to win back his division, and get back to the playoffs after a down year. If they go further in the playoffs than in the last several attempts, he might like it even more.

The dude loves winning, and if the design is to win with Pete Carroll as the head coach, then fix that flipping defense, finally. Let Russ cook by the league’s leader in quarterback efficiency again.

It certainly can’t be any worse that staying put in that weird in-between.

I like this move. I’m ready for the Hurtt.

Go Hawks!

Dear Seattle Seahawks,

Thank you for this joyous closing act effort in what has been a frustrating 2021 season in football.

Beating a division rival is always a fun treat for your fans, especially when that division rival had everything on the line in terms of winning the division and hosting a playoff game.

Thank you for making Kyler Murray’s day a nightmare, and sucking the soul out of his eyeballs. I’m sure the images of Carlos Dunlap bull rushing his left tackle into his tiny frame stayed with him all night (and also gave Sean McVay some pretty tape to watch as to how the Rams deal with him in their wildcard game).

Thank you ever so much for undrafted, rookie right tackle sensation, Jake Curhan opening up holes a country mile for Rashaad Penny to run through. What an incredible find he was for general manager John Schneider.

Thank you for Rashaad Penny!

Thank you for a vintage, determined, performance by Russell Wilson. Despite coughing up two turnovers that led to 14 points for the Cardinals, it was fun seeing Russ make beautiful throws all over the field, including three TDs, and that rambling ten yard run for a score. Hopefully, this wasn’t his last game for our team, but if it was, he gave us a show. It was fun to see it!

Thank you for Cody Barton filling in admirably for Bobby Wagner at middle linebacker. He looked like he belonged there, collecting 12 tackles overall. At one point, I thought I saw shades of Dave Wyman playing the spot from the early 1990’s. Wyman should be proud.

THANK YOU FOR JORDYN BROOKS!!!!!!

Thank you for Sidney Jones and DJ Reed playing solid coverage and not giving easy throws for Murray.

Thank you for giving us vintage Pete Carroll football, and reminding us that this formula, establishing the run, staying with it, working play action passes off of it, playing strong defense and special teams, is still a solid way to go about business in the NFL. For as much as the rules of the game encourage teams to pepper the ball around with the pass, this core philosophy of Pete Carroll’s, despite the continual criticisms of some ageist fans, is and always will be a winning brand of football. Plenty of teams play with style with success and are going to enjoy playoff football because of it.

What I feel you must do in 2022, assuming you are going to run it back with Pete and Russ, is commit further to this core philosophy of his. Do not be something that you are not with this coach and quarterback. Be what you are.

With all your free agent money, keep the players on your defense that have earned their paydays in Sidney Jones, DJ Reed, and especially Quandre Diggs, but then go get some monsters on the offensive and defensive lines.

We need more Jake Curhans on this team. Go get Russell Wilson the best center that money can buy so that inside pressure, which is his bugaboo, is no longer a lingering issue. If Duane Brown retires, do not go cheap finding his replacement. Spend on a quality LT.

Go get another edge rushing force to go along with Darrell Taylor and Carlos Dunlap, and by all means necessary and convenient, go get an interior pass rushing beast to make your pass rush a force of nature that it hasn’t been since 2015-ish.

Go get dogs on that defensive line and invest in quality not quantity. Kerry Hyder’s lone sack of the season came in this finale, and you paid him $5 million for that lone sack. That’s not a good return on the dollar. In fact, it stinks. Stop doing things like that!

Really, in my humblest opinion, you need to get Pete Carroll out of the front office dealings, and just allow John Schneider to cook by himself. Pete’s eternal optimism leads him (and the team) to a natural state of hubris. That’s a bad thing when it comes to throwing free agent dollars around, and making splash trades. This eternal beacon of optimism that shines out of him is much better served for coaching players up whenever their backs on in a bind.

Don’t trade Russ just to trade him and go cheaper at quarterback, unless that cheaper quarterback is just as good, and if he is, it begs the question as to why that other team would actually give him up.

Hang onto Russ and make it work. Guarantee him a strong offensive line with a center better equipped to handle Aaron Donald. Allow him the ability to go up tempo in the times that he feels like he needs to, if he feels that gives the offense an advantage against a particular defense that day. Just make it work.

If he demands a trade, and forces your hands, get the max value for him, and consider whether or not a 70 year old head coach is the right person to lead a rebuilding team. Ask yourselves that very question, and then answer it with all honestly.

Because there is A LOT on the line for the future of this club if you choose to enter into that rebuild. So be smart about that. Paul Allen would want you to do that.

These are my big asks for you in 2022.

And bring back Rashaad Penny.

Thank you, and go Hawks!

Dear Seattle Seahawk Fan,

This is the fourth and final installment in my series that has made different cases for what the Seahawks organization should do in this off-season that many view as one that could see dramatic changes to this team we love. I’ve made my case for Pete Carroll, I made a strong case for Russell Wilson, and I think I made a very nuanced case in favor of GM John Schneider.

Here is my argument for bringing them all back in 2022.

Let’s bring them all back.

Pete is a good football coach, one of the best culture builders in professional sports, and despite the down year, these Seahawk players have continued to play hard for him. Many of his former players such as Marshawn Lynch, Cliff Avril, and Matt Hasselbeck have all voiced their support of him returning. My hunch is that they know more about football and the dealings of Pete Carroll than any hardcore keyboard jockey fan does, and for all he has done for this club, one would think he deserves at least one mulligan season.

Russell Wilson, despite a down year, is still regarded as a top quarterback in this league by those who make a lot of money running NFL front offices. If he is placed on the trade market this off-season, it is expected that there will be a pretty significant bidding war for his services. I ask you to pump your breaks on salivating about the first round picks Seattle could get for him, and the unproven talent they could draft to fill the roster. If there is a bidding war for Russ, it means he’s still really, really good, and teams believe that he will stay good for a very long time. Let’s bring him back, and just draft better with the picks we have.

John Schneider is viewed as a top general manager in this league. Both Michael Silver and Peter King have said so much in recent days and weeks. Both writers aren’t hack jobs looking to generate click bait material, either. They have long standing connections through out the league, and they hear that Schneider is highly regarded. If anything, Schneider should stay and be granted full autonomy from what is likely an overbearing input from Pete Carroll with is VP status. Jody Allen should take the VP duties away from Pete and give them to John. That, in my opinion, would solve a lot of issues with this club.

At the end of the day, for all this civil war on Seahawks Twitter as to who should go and how should stay with this power trio in Seattle, as far as I can tell, all three of these dudes are pretty good at their jobs, so why not just run it all back with them in 2022?

In my very humble opinion, Jody Allen should hold a lengthy sit down meeting with Pete, Russ, and John in short order after this Arizona game. Don’t even waste a minute waiting. Just get all three figureheads in the same room and lay it out for each of them in front of the other, just like my hard nosed Korean War veteran dad would have done.

Jody should point to Pete first and say “I’ve been watching this bull hockey for a few years now after my brother has passed, and you have no idea how to build an offensive line, and your front office impulses aren’t much better than a preschoolers.. I could make a preschooler vice president of this club and pay ’em in apple slices to do the same job you’ve done, and I would likely get the same results.. I pay you a fortune in to be the coach and vice president, but I am taking the VP title away and giving it to John.. I just want you to coach and I am going to pay you handsomely to do it.. don’t do anything else.. just coach, coach.”

She should then turn to Russ and say “If you want your legacy goals to happen, we are going to build up that offensive line and commit to a run game that your can play action off of all day long and you are going lead the NFL in efficiency again, and lead us back into the playoffs.. what you are going to do is tell your agent to stop leaking all the bull crap to Colin Cowherd about how we don’t do enough for you.. we gave you Jimmy Graham, Duane Brown, Percy Harvin, and DK Metcalf.. now that Pete’s staying out of the front office, John’s going to go get you a smashingly good offensive line, finally.. trust that process.”

Final, she must turn to John and say “with my beloved brother’s fortune, you go get the best offensive linemen available on the market and bring them in here.. do not go cheap.. do not give us quantity, I want quality.. and while your at it, go get an interior pass rusher and one more rusher on the edge.. do not go cheap.. and bring Quandre Diggs back and DJ Reed.. and please shave.”

Jody Allen needs to square this situation up. It’s that simple.

Don’t let Pete and John mess around with trading Russ and bringing in Baker Mayfield and thinking somehow the team will be better, because it likely won’t be.

Don’t replace Pete with some thirty three year old analytic dork who’s going to go for it more on fourth downs because that’s what Russ wants. Russ’s impulses should not rule anything. This is the dude who wanted to team to bring in Antonio Brown, and thinks sleeping for only four hours a night is a great idea to give him a competitive edge. All of Russ’s needs and wants aren’t likely what’s best for this team, and I think even his most ardent supporters should agree with that.

What this team needs more than anything else is a reasoned mind to steer the ship in the right way, and I think part of that is managing both Pete and Russ.

Pete needs to be managed because his eternal optimism on players leads to a very natural hubris, and that’s a huge problem when it comes to front office decisions. I know there’s people that want to blame John there, but because of Pete’s veto power over John, we can’t be certain much if any of it actually lands on John. We know Pete has final say though. Just take that final say away from him, and pay him the same. Simple solution.

I love Russ. He’s been my favorite Seahawk since Cortez Kennedy, and I strongly support not trading him. But Russ needs to check his ego at the door some, and come to terms that the best offensive strategy for him is one that features a strong enough run game that defenses have to account for, and he throws off of in play action. This is how is led the nation in efficiency play in college at Wisconsin, and this is how he’s put up all the pretty efficiency stats in the pros that everyone loves to point to and say he’s an eventual Hall Of Famer. Give him a strong ground game with a physical offensive line and this dude is going to quarterback for a high level in this league for a long time. Give him a little up tempo here and there, give him more motion stuff, but build it all off of the run. That’s the only offense he should be clamoring for.

Finally, let’s let John cook without Pete’s influence in the front office side of the organization first before judging if he’s the guy at fault. He’s never been offered that opportunity. We know he has a sharp eye for picking quarterbacks, and legend has it that in 2011, he went on a hard campaign to bring in Doug Baldwin as an un-drafted free agent, and wrote letters to Doug to convince him to sign, even though the team was fairly stacked at receiver and Doug was reluctant. This is what I think a good GM does, they keep going after hidden gems. People want to knock John for the first round misses like LJ Collier and Germaine Ifedi, and that’s fine, but then they should give him mad props for unearthing Doug Baldwin, Jermaine Kearse, Poona Ford, and Jake Curhan as un-drafted starter talents. Letting John finally cook by himself makes sense. This should happen.

This is the reasonable path for running all three back. This is what should be considered before blowing it all up.

If Pete won’t relinquish his front office power to John, and/or Russ won’t see that light that his unique talents require him to be in a very specific style of offense that doesn’t involve peppering the ball all over the place instead of establishing the run, then decide to act differently, if need be.

But have this meeting first. Try to make this scenario happen first.

If they can’t all agree to come to these places, that’s fine. Then move on and make the necessary changes

It would be weirdly ironic that Seattle’s offensive line is finally good with Derek Carr under center, and/or they hit more with their higher draft picks suddenly with Dan Quinn as their head coach, but weird ironic shit happens in life.

But let’s try it first with Pete, and Russ, and John, if we can.. even if that’s a lot of ifs.

Also, Book of Bobo Fett is a cool watch. Don’t let anyone else tell you, otherwise.

Go Hawks!

Dear Seattle Seahawk Fan,

Enjoy watching this last game of the 2021 Seattle Seahawks, however it unfolds. With big changes anticipated by some in a murky 2022 off-season forecast, let’s soak in these players one last time.

They are playing this game for us, to give us the joy of watching them upset the playoff bound Cardinals and spoil their seeding, and to give us some positive thoughts heading into next season. I’m there for their efforts, however slim their chances are.

With Al Woods, Ryan Neal, and Alton Robinson all out on the Covid list, I’m personally not super hopeful Seattle will slow down a Kyler Murray led offense (determined to win their division and host a playoff game). I think it’s most likely that Russell Wilson will be forced into a shootout and I don’t love his chances of winning that with the way the Cardinals send pressure and Chandler Jones liked matched up against rookie right tackle Jake Curhan (who I actually like a lot for the Seahawks right now).

As much as I want to have these Seahawks win, I think it would be a cardinal sin for me to predict that they will. As much as I want to, I just don’t see it in the cards for them.

What I do see is me sitting on the couch rooting these fellas on for one last game. For as hard as it has been for me to stomach a lot of the losses this year (those recent ones against the Bears and Rams were especially tough), I’m ready to watch what I see likely as a losing effort this Sunday.

For me, I want to see who has the fight for 2022.

I expect Quandre Diggs and DJ Reed to give it good fights. Both are scrappy dudes, anyways, and both are looking for be free agent paydays.

I want to see Jake Curhan not back down from a fight against Chandler Jones and company. I want to see him continue to open up huge holes for Rashaad Penny to run through and to show GM John Schneider that maybe they got a solid starter type there at right tackle for the future.

If Bobby Wagner isn’t a healthy go, I want Cody Barton to play a great game and give me hope that he is able to finally look like a starter going into his final year of his rookie contract next year (especially if Seattle moves off of Wagner’s contract).

I want Dee Eskridge to have an explosive play-making game and look like the player worthy of being their high pick last year in the draft.

I want to see DJ Metcalf give a beastly effort against the Cardinal DBs.

I want to see Rashaad Penny continue to play great and play up to his lofty draft status to close out the year.

I want Darrell Taylor to make Kyler Murray’s game a difficult one by constantly getting pressure on him, and making it look more and more like he’s a building block piece for Seattle’s pass rush next season.

Finally, I want to see Russell Wilson come out of gates fiery, and playing with passion to close out this difficult season for him. Who knows how things will shake out between him and the team this off-season. I’ve let my thoughts be known on multiple occasions on this blog that I want him back, but I can’t write with any certainty that will happen.

What I can write with certainty is that I’ve noticed over the past month, that he has started out these games with a very un-energized vibe more times than not. I noticed it against the Rams, the Bears, and at the start of this last one against the Lions. No energy in and out of the huddle. No enthusiastic hand clapping to get his troops fired up. No usual “let’s go take on the world” juice from this plucky passer. Just a somber air about him, sans any usual Russ-like enthuiasm.

We can all speculate why that might be. I won’t. I will just say that it will be a huge cardinal sin for him to start out that way in this finale in Arizona.

He owes it to the fans to put forth a signature effort. He’s owes it to his teammates to have them fired up to play spoilers. Mostly, he owes it to himself.

If this is to be his last game in Seattle, he owes himself the legacy of outplaying the upstart quarterback in the division looking to take over the mantle as the best passer in the NFC West. He owes himself the history of this ending this season that sort of way, and to prove to those on Seahawks Twitter who believe he is on the downward side of his career that he’s still very much the man.

If he is to remain the starting quarterback of the Seattle Seahawks in 2022, then he owes it to himself to end this season on a high note, and he especially owes it to the team and fans to put positive vibes into the off-season that will some decent free agent spending on the offensive and defensive lines, he and the team will be back with a vengeance next year to take back the division on a softer fourth place schedule.

This is what I most want to see in this last game. I want to see Russ coming out of the gates playing with his hair on fire, determined to beat Murray and stick it to AZ.

If this happens, maybe the Seahawks do sneak this one out.

And won’t that be a fun one to watch.

Go Hawks!

Dear Seahawks Fan,

The 2021 NFL season is almost at its finish, and the Seattle Seahawks will have it’s first losing season under Pete Carroll and Russell Wilson. There is ample belief that there will be some changes with this team in 2022. Some believe that the quarterback might be gone. Other believe that it could/should be the coaches. There’s a fair amount who blame general manager John Schneider for the issues that ail this team, and want to see him riding out of town.

We don’t know what will ultimately happen. What we do know is that is has been reported that team owner Jody Allen isn’t happy with how things have been playing out over recent years, and doesn’t consider this losing season a one off.

We also know that Russ has expressed his unhappiness with the direction of the team and put together a list of four teams that he would be willing to be traded to last Spring after the team came off of a 12-4 season. There is wide spread belief around league circles that he and his agent are preparing to take things much farther this off-season.

Personally, I think it’s now fair to say something’s likely to give in a few short weeks. I’ve made a strong argument for keeping Pete Carroll, and I made a very strong pitch to keep Russell Wilson. This is my argument in favor of John Schneider to remain as commander and chief of the front office for the 2022 Seattle Seahawks.

A very interesting article broke the other week on CBS Sports written by Jason La Confora. The title of the piece revealed that Russell Wilson has little to no intention to sign another contract with Seattle once his third contract ends in 2023. That reveal wasn’t new news for me, as I’ve heard it mentioned before on a Mike Florio podcast.

For me, La Confora’s article got much more interesting when he revealed that there is a significant disconnect between those in the front office and Pete Carroll in seeing that the team needs a roster rebuild to compete with the other younger and more talented teams in the NFC West. That caught my eye significantly more that the usual unhappy Russ stuff did.

Apparently, there are those who see the fact the Russ remains the best chip to use in getting draft picks and players to start the needed process of this rebuild. Carroll, apparently, wants none of it, and said so as much in a press conference last week. It should be worth noting that it appears La Confora has a source within the Seahawks and has broke stories in the past before others. My hunch is that source is John Schneider.

Here is what I believe is truly going on inside the Seattle Seahawks organization. I believe John was told when Russ signed his last deal that he wouldn’t sign another one in Seattle, and there was some pressure from Russ’s agent to get this team into a more win now mode with him.

Things obviously didn’t go well with the moves to jump start the team, and Russ got quite bent by it all. My guess is that he really didn’t like seeing his team trade two first round picks and a third rounder and a starting safety for a box safety out of New York who doesn’t cover very well. My hunch is that Russ would have preferred those resources put into the offensive line in front of him.

Oddly, my Spidey-Sense feels that John Schneider probably would agree with Russ on that. I believe the Adams trade had Pete Carroll’s finger print demands all over it. John can disagree with Pete all he wants to, but at the end of the work day, Pete is VP of the team, and John works for Pete. That’s the pickle of this whole situation.

Now, as all these desperate attempts to kick start this team (Pete’s defense) have failed, the check is due, and big decisions need to be made by Jody Allen as to what to do next. Some feel like she won’t do anything. I suspect the opposite.

Recently, she’s shown us a willingness to act swiftly as owner of the Portland Trailblazers by firing their GM when an investigation showed ample workplace misconduct by said former GM. Although the situation with her Seahawks is very different, the sense of dysfunction feels ample enough to draw some action out of her. We shall see shortly.

Through this all, if I am to be perfectly honest, if it is true that John Schneider sees the desperate need for a rebuild, I see why. I see it as plain as day. I can see Jody Allen seeing it similarly.

If we were to take a deep look at all the rosters in the NFC West, we would see younger, deeper, and more talented rosters in San Francisco, Arizona, and Los Angeles than what is in Seattle, and the marginal of separation is not close. This is what Schneider is likely seeing.

Now I am sure that many will say that Schneider is responsible for this situation, but I think the fact that Pete Carroll has more power than Schneider muddies that considerably. The truth is that it is impossible to know all of which draft picks were John’s guys and which picks were the ones that Pete was insisting on.

Here’s a few players over the years that I think we can all say are John Schneider dudes.

Aaron Rodgers is a John Schneider guy. In 2005, while working for the Packers’ front office. Rodgers was the player John Schneider had rated as his top player on his draft board, and he pounded the table hard for him when the team already had Brett Farve well in his prime. Even though Rodgers put up some pretty passing numbers at Cal, the league viewed him as not big enough, not athletic enough, and not in possession of a live enough of an arm. When he fell to the 24th pick, John screamed at GM Ted Thompson to take him, and they did. The rest is pretty good history for the Packers.

Russell Wilson is a John Schneider guy. In the 2012 draft, John Schneider was the only NFL GM that had a first round grade on Russ. He badly wanted to take him in the second round, but Pete Carroll wanted Bobby Wagner more, and he overruled John’s wishes. Legend has it that John was sweating bullets at the way to the 75th pick before they were able to draft him. Legend also has it that Pete actually preferred Kirk Cousins more than Russ, but was willing to throw John a bone with the 75th pick when Russ and Kirk were still there. The rest is history, and I think it’s safe to say that John’s preferred quarterback out of the 2012 class turned out better than Pete’s.

Patrick Mahomes is a John Schneider guy. In 2017, rumors surfaced that days before the draft that Seattle really liked Mahomes, and would be tempted to take him if he fell to their pick. It created a stir among Seahawk fans. I think those rumors led to the Chiefs jumping up to get him with he 10th pick. Mahomes was viewed as a raw athletic passer with a strong arm who would need seasoning in the league before being ready, and he was taken nine picks after Mitchell Trubisky.

Josh Allen is a John Schneider guy. It is rumored that in 2018, Schneider had discussions with Cleveland about trading Russ for the top overall pick to take Josh Allen, but Cleveland turned the offer down to take Baker Mayfield instead (ouch). John was at Allen’s pro day workout and was captured on camera gawking at his throws. Like Mahomes, Allen was thought to be an athletic big armed cat who was really raw, and would need time to develop. That’s why the Browns took Mayfield tops, and the Jets took Sam Darnold after, and the Cardinals took Josh Rosen right before the Bills finally took Allen at 12 overall. Thus far, seems like Schneider’s guy proved the best quarterback out of that class, and it’s not even close.

What do all of these quarterbacks who are John Schneider guys have in common? Every single one of them have Hall of Fame trajectories, and each were passed over in their draft classes by quarterbacks not nearly as good, and John Schneider was deeply infatuated with their potentials.

Simply put, when it comes to judging quarterback talent, Seattle Seahawk GM John Schneider knows that side of NFL business exceptionally well. Now, I don’t know about you all, but for me, I want that kinda guy running the front office ship of my team, period.

Further more, I believe, if this Jason La Confora report is accurate, that Russell Wilson has little intentions of signing another contract with Seattle, and whether or not they make a coaching change won’t effect his position, one can easily argue that it is vital for Jody Allen to lean into John Schneider moving forward now more than ever.

Whether they chose to hang onto Russ a bit longer or trade him now to start the rebuild, having John around makes sense. It just does.

If there’s some bad blood between John and Russ’s agent, and Jody still wants to hang onto Russ a bit more, so what? Smooth it out. Sit down, have a few beers, and watch Ted Lasso together. Josh about Josh Allen together.

Still, aside from all this Russ stuff, there is a deeper lingering feeling I have about the long term health of this club that I can not shake off. It’s the feeling much like that one you carry around with you that eventually forces you to call the nurse-line to see if you need to see a doctor.

Who knows how much longer Jody Allen intends to hang onto this club. There’s a belief she is looking to eventually sell to fulfill the will of her late brother, but now is not nearly the time. In that belief, there was a report a year or so go, that she viewed that the health of the club was in a good place with its leadership, and its star quarterback, and she wanted it maintained that way in order to get max value as an eventual seller.

If she is unhappy with the situation now, and if she and her advisors are seeing the overall talent gap between her team and the rest of the division widening further and further, like perhaps John is, then there’s gotta be some pretty frank discussions being had with all parties very shortly.

I’ve seen strong arguments out there that are emphatic that this team move on from both Pete and John in favor of keeping Russell Wilson and “trying to make it work out with him” with a different coach and GM with a fresh perspective. I think those arguments are laid out pretty well, and I can be extremely tempted to go along with them.

But if I am to be ruled by my own logic, and not my emotional attachment to Russ as a Seattle Seahawk, I see a roster with a lot of holes on the offensive and defensive lines, no cornerbacks beyond Tre Brown on any contracts for 2022, and I see questions at a lot of other positions, as well, and I have a very unnerving concern. I’m not sure that keeping Russ and throwing a bunch of money at veterans in free agency this Spring is the best laid plan, to be honest.

This rings louder in my ears especially if I pair it all with a potential unwillingness from Russ to commit to being here long term even with a coaching change.

As I weigh all of this, if I am de facto the team owner eventually looking to sell, I’m might be leaning towards the feelings that now is the time to act decisively towards a major rebuild. That might be the right call, in my mind.

If now is the time to max out all you can get for Russ, I think I can be persuaded to rip that band-aid off with John tasked to eventually find the next franchise quarterback, and to get the long term health of this club right so that I can squeeze as much of Jeff Bezo’s billions out of his grips that I possibly can further down the road. After all, in the game of making billions, rarely is the short term success looked at. It’s almost always the long game that matters most.

And I will be honest in this, I don’t want to trade Russell Wilson as much as the next fan. I’ve shared my beliefs on this blog that align with others that you should try giving it a go with him with another coach, if need be. Even if he chooses not to sign another contract, the club can franchise tag him for a few years to buy more time to find his replacement, and maybe with a new coach, he moves off of his idea of eventually leaving, if that La Confora report is accurate.

But I also feel, intuitively, that it is very smart for Jody Allen to retain John Schneider as the GM of this team. My intuitions are that between Pete, John, and Russ, the truest adult in the room between this power trio is most likely John.

He’s the one who is most likely looking at the long term landscape of the league and health of this team. Not a 70 year old head coach who wants to lean into short term veteran plug in fixes like Benson Mayowa and Carlos Dunlap instead of committing to playing younger talents more, and certainly not a legacy obsessed 33 year old QB who has had one foot out the door for a couple seasons now.

In relationships with those we love, the truth is often the very thing we least want to hear when all is not well. I have known, from personal experiences in my life, that you can share amazing chemistries with people that lead you to believe that they are who you are meant to be with, and over time, other things reveal themselves and prove, long term, that’s not the right match for you. It can be painful when faced with that, and it’s very easy to want to brush it off and pretend it’s not there.

It’s easy to be in love with Russell Wilson. I think that is also very true with Pete Carroll. Each are not perfect at their crafts, but they are both extremely lovable dudes, and they are good enough at what they do where one wants to think that it is best to keep it going with them more. It’s an easy conclusion to land on.

The harder place to get to is acknowledging that the foundation underneath Pete and Russ is not likely a solid one, and there are extreme liability concerns for this organization, if that foundation is not addressed. Personally, I don’t think the foundation of this club is very sturdy right now.

I see an older head coach who isn’t nearly as into the “draft and develop” as he was ten years ago and because he has power over the GM, he has the ability to squander draft picks for plug and play veterans that other teams no longer want. That’s a shame.

I also see a quarterback who sees himself on the same par as Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady, and the truth is that he isn’t, but he won’t see it differently, and because of that, he will refuse work function on the play field within his own limitations, and I think that’s a problem. Time and time again, we see him chase after big plays instead of tossing to the easy short stuff available, and then run circles into sacks. Then his agent feels the need to drop narratives to Colin Cowherd that Pete Carroll is holding him back, and John Schneider hasn’t given him a better offensive line. Wash, rinse, and repeat.

I love Russ as much as any Seahawk fan, but I think that he is so blinded by his legacy goals that he can’t see a decent thing in front of him, and I suspect if he goes elsewhere, that other team will realize the same thing Seattle does. He needs to be in a run centered offense to be at his best. I think it’s also true that, while he might not like that reality in Alaska South, he might be more wiling to accept it in New York City with all the glamor and attention that comes with being the Giants quarterback.

These are the cold, hard, honest truths that I think are all, quite possibly, very likely. It’s probably not the most pleasant truths for many Seahawk fans to read.

I think a strong argument why Jody Allen needs to lean into John Schneider is that he has an undeniable eye for quarterback talent, and that is huge for finding the next great one for Seattle, if and when Russ leaves.

But I think maybe even a stronger argument for John is that he might be the one figurehead in this organization who is looking at, and is championing for, the longer term health of this club.

I think if John is the one who is feeling the biggest need for a rebuild, it’s wise to look at that. He’s the one who is signed through 2027. He’s the one who is studying this roster, and the players coming out of college, and what is on the horizon in free agency, and the trade markets.

Long time NFL journalist Michael Silver has recently (and repeatedly over the years) described John Schneider as one of the most respected, and one of the sharpest front office minds in the league, on a Colin Cowherd podcast. A cynical Seahawk fan could say that this is lazy reporting by Silver and they would point to recent drafts and fee agent moves, but I’d push back on that. Again, we don’t know which of those moves were done out of Pete’s insistence, and which were done out of John’s beliefs.

What we do know this that Silver is a deeply connected NFL writer and has been for years. What he reports are the thoughts and feelings he hears from sources throughout the league. He hears that people believe highly in John. That might not be nearly the same as he hears about Pete, or maybe even Russ, possibly.

If I am Jody Allen, I’m gathering my top advisors and we’re having good long discussions with John Schneider these days. I’m listening to his words. I’m asking all the tough questions as to why we traded for Adams and such, and I am looking for his honest answers.

If I trust those responses, I’m trusting John Schneider. I’m moving forward with him to get this Seahawk ship sailing right. Russ and Pete can stay, or they can go, but I’m putting my stock in John. I will ride it out with him.

Go Hawks.

Dear Seahawk Fan,

Yesterday’s game against the pitiful Detroit Lions was the game for you. Russell Wilson finally looked like vintage Russ, Rashaad Penny looked like vintage Shaun Alexander, and DK Metcalf looked happy (finally).

True, the defense didn’t dominate an inferior opponent like many of us would have enjoyed to see. They surrendered yards, and points, and they failed to generate a sack, but they managed to snag three interceptions which lead to Seahawk points, and that was fun.

Who knows what is in store for this Seahawks team once this season meets it’s conclusion next week. Reports are starting to swirl from Adam Schefter that it is a league wide belief that Russell Wilson and Pete Carroll will not continue their working relationship together in 2022. There is also some chatter from Jason La Confora that John Schneider and Pete Carroll are not seeing eye to eye on this roster needing an overhaul (John apparently wants a rebuild and Pete doesn’t).

We cannot know what will come out of all of this, but I suspect that Jody Allen is taking a very measured look at the bigger picture, and she is preparing to act in the best spirit of her brother, Paul. I suspect there could be some big changes brewing shortly. Paul Allen was never shy about acting swiftly whenever he felt it was needed, and I don’t anticipate Jody will be any different, if she feels all is not well.

With that in mind, I will say that if this was the last Seattle home game coached by Pete Carroll, the Seattle Seahawks dominated by playing it almost perfect Pete Ball, especially on offense. This was so fitting that I almost wonder if Hollywood had scripted this game.

The Seahawks ran for a pornographic about of 265 yards on the ground and two touchdowns. That opened up the opportunity for play action to function, and, oh, guess what? Russell Wilson is still really, really good at play action, as he hit on 20 of his 29 passes for 236 yards and four touchdown passes and zero INTs.

For as great as it was to see Penny run like an All Pro, it was better for me to see Russ throw like this. It was also bittersweet.

I’m not going to pretend to know everything that is going on inside Russ’s head, but I feel very confident in saying that I believe that he believes that Pete Carroll is holding him back, and if Pete is going to remain in Seattle, then Russ feels he needs to be somewhere else in 2022. Personally, I think this is misguided (if true), and I wish Russ had someone in his corner telling him that.

I think Pete Ball fits Russ like a glove and this game showed us why. If Russ is in an offense that is dedicated to the run, Russell Wilson is absolutely one of the very best quarterbacks in this league. Having a run game allows him to take advantage of what he does on an elite level, which is play action, throwing on the run, throwing intermediate to deep down field, and doing it all by being efficient with the football.

This, in my opinion, is what Russell Wilson best gives any offense. Like, this is what a solid football coach would do with him. In legal terms, this is the conclusion a reasonable mind would make.

But if you put him in a system that is throw first, that doesn’t stress the importance of the run enough, defenses know how to get after him, and he is a much different quarterback (which isn’t very good). We saw that a lot this year, and the second half of last year when Seattle continued to favor the passing numbers over the run (and Schotty was driving Pete Carroll nuts with it all).

Russ needs to be in an offense that features the run. It’s that simple.

Furthermore, if he is dealt this off-season, I believe the team that acquires him will eventually reach that conclusion with him. The New York Giants might try an up tempo, Andy Reid style offense with him, but I suspect that in two years further down the road, they will run an offense with Russ that would make Pete Carroll proud.

Ditto if Seattle moves on from Pete, and keeps Russ with a new coach. I think it would take Doug Pederson one season with Russ to see what he needs to do the following year, if the plan in 2022 is to let Russ cook.

I wish that Russ would see all of this, but I don’t think he wants to, and I don’t think anyone around him will tell him that. I think that he surrounds himself only by those who will tell him everything that he wants to hear, and mainly that is Pete is holding him back. I think that’s unfortunate for many parties.

As for Pete, I wouldn’t hold my breath his future is certain in Seattle in all of this, either. If Jody Allen does believe this team needs a rebuild, and Pete doesn’t see it that way, I can see this being Pete’s last home game, as well. We will see soon enough.

What I do know is that this game was vintage Pete Carroll football, and even if it was against an inferior team, that was fun to watch. The Seattle Seahawks dominated at the line of scrimmage with their run game, and they took the run away on defense. They took the ball away, and they scored a lot of points off of those turnovers. This is all Pete’s core philosophy as a coach, and say what you want to about how he manages times outs, I think that philosophy is a pretty sound one, even in today’s analytic inspired game.

If Pete Carroll is afforded the opportunity to stay, I think every effort needs to go into the off-season to return back to this style of play. Get more Jake Curhans opening up holes for running backs, and less Cedrick Ogbuehi reclamation projects. Go get a tough SOB center like Max Unger was, and an interior pass rusher to be a disrupting force like Michael Bennett was.

If Russell Wilson must go, go get a quarterback who would be happy and capable being a quality game manager in a system that has been proven time and time again. Let him rack up the efficient numbers and enjoy winning football. I’m sure Derek Carr would love to see himself routinely in the post season after years of missing the opportunity with the Raiders.

If Pete must go, and Russ stays, then someone needs to tell Russ that the run game is his very best friend, and is going to preserve his playing career so that he can achieve those lofty legacy goals. Otherwise, whoever that next head coach is will be dealing with all the same media leaked nonsense from Russ’s agent to Colin Cowherd as Pete has been dealt (“It’s never Russ’s fault, it’s always the coach and the GM, yada, yada, yada, yada.. blah, blah, blah.”).

Russ is a good quarterback who can be great with a run game, and Pete Carroll is a good coach who can be great for Russ. That’s what I see coming out of this one. Prove me wrong. I seriously doubt you will.

That’s the fitting irony that I see, and where this all goes next is anyone’s guess.

I just know this. I enjoyed watching this game. If this was to be the final home game for Pete or Russ, or both, it was Hollywood fitting. Which was nice.

Go Hawks!

Dear Seahawk Fan,

Buck up, Sugar Pie!

We got two more Seahawk football games to watch over the next two weeks. Now, we separate the goats from the sheep as to who the true Twelves are and who are the bandwagon jumping off hipsters that are going to start becoming LA Charger fans because something called analytics means more to them than all the blood and guts grid iron stuff morons like myself get into.

Alright, I know this match up against the pitiful Lions team isn’t going to light any spark under many bottoms. So I am here to offer a guide of things to root for in this game that “could be Russ’s last home game” in Seahawks blue.

Here we go.

If you want Russ out of Seattle and traded to the Giants for their two top ten first round picks and Saquon Barkley and Daniel Jones, root for Russ to have a great game to increase trade value. Pull your head out of your jaded butt for one hateful second and just root for the guy.

If you want Pete Carroll gone but Russ to stay, root for Russ to play great, but Pete’s defense to suck turds and lose the game against this horrendous Detroit team because of it so that it will make Jody Allen’s decision at the end of the season an easy one.

If you want both Pete and Russ gone, the same rooting interest mentioned above applies here, as well, most likely.

If you don’t want Rashaad Penny to be re-signed in the off-season to a big second contract, root for his injury. I know that’s gross, but football is a brutal reality for all involved.

If you want Penny back, root for him to run for 300 yards like he routinely did in college.

If chaos is the thing you are rooting for now because you are a sick bastard, root for Pete Carroll to put in Stone Forsythe to play left tackle instead of Duane Brown and watch Russell Wilson spin himself into ten sacks during the game because of all the ghost pressure he feels.

If you want to see the team move on from Bobby Wagner’s contract to sign a pro bowl center this Spring, just watch him continue to do what he’s been doing all season by making fourteen tackles ten yards down field and not being super impactful at the line of scrimmage.

If you want Wagz back, you’re not being a smart salary-cap-ologist, and you need to refer to the Over The Cap website so that you can become a more neurotic know-it-all Seahawks fan like ones seen all over Twitter.

If you want to see Seattle make major improvements to the pass rush, don’t root for sacks to happen against whoever plays quarterback for the Lions.

If you want to root for another snow game, pray to God that Mother Nature will hold off the rain projected to come in on Sunday. Honestly, though, snow turning to slush during the game might be a lot of chaotic fun, I might root for that one, personally.

If you’re a goofy Husky fan who thinks Jacob Eason should be the starting quarterback next season, root for a Seahawk blowout that has the big tall fella come in during a garbage fourth quarter and for him to throw five touchdowns on five passes, all deep shots to DK that Russ can’t seem to hit anymore because of his “finger.”

If you are finding yourself angry every time Russ is inaccurate, make loud fart noises after every throw. I do. It’s fun.

If you want to see Seattle bring back Quandre Diggs (so do I), let’s root for him to have two interceptions and maybe they will trade Jamal Adams for a nose tackle with upside and a future seventh round pick, and keep 6 instead.

If you want General Manager John Schneider gone, this is a really easy one. You root for Seattle to get blown out at home by these terrible Lions and every single Seahawk player stinks it up bigly.

If you want John back, root for every Seahawk to play well.

If you enjoy comedy, root for Lions coach Dan Campbell to do or say something funny that the cameras pick up.

If you want Seattle to have a higher pick at the top of round two in the draft this Spring, root for Seattle to lose this game and the one against the Cardinals next week.

if you are a sentimentalist like me, and you would like to see all the big names back next year, root for Russ to have a great signature game, for Bobby to make big plays, and for Pete to have a fun time high fiving his players as the come off the field after doing good things to put Detroit away early. Who know what is going to happen in a couple weeks time, but maybe two decisive wins to finish the season affords Pete and Russ a path to discover that they are better off with each other here, and they just need some group therapy sessions led by Marshawn Lynch and Kam Chancellor to sort through their “philosophical differences.”

In the end, I don’t know how this game will go down. After the debacle against the Bears, I’ve given up trying to predict. As I said on the most recent Dorks On Sports podcast, I predict one team will score 23 and the other will score 20. Who knows which one does what or how much it even really matters.

I know for me, this is a game that I get to watch Russ and Bobby play as Seahawks and for Pete to coach them, and I’m going to savor it. Who knows who comes back next year. I just know that the run these guys have had with each other is the greatest run in Seattle team sports and one of the best runs in the NFL. That matters to me, and I’m there for them.

Happy New Years, Everyone!

Go Hawks!

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