Dear Seattle Seahawks Fan,

I really hope that our Seahawks are able to beat these dreaded Los Angeles Rams this weekend. I need this. I’m going to guess you might need it, too.

This has been kind of a sucky year for our team. It started in the off-season with Russell Wilson grumbling about the team’s failure to sufficiently put together a decent offense line for him over the years, which that led to a weird list of teams he would be willing to waive his no trade clause for. It followed by the team inexplicably not finding him a better center either through free agency or the draft. Then the defense started the season on a historically bad pace again, Russ got injured, Chris Carson got injured (again), and Jamal Adams played well under expectations before he got injured and done for the season.

The result of all this, of course, is the Seahawks sitting at 5-8 with only the faintest of hopes of post season play if they win out, and enough teams in front of them lose enough games. Not an ideal spot to be in when it was said that Seattle and Russ were going to put any notion of trade talk on the back burner to see how the season would go for him and the team with Shane Waldron as the new offensive coach.

Thus anytime we fire up an internet search for our team, we have to sift through all the trade speculation articles that are coming out more and more and more now. Not a lot of fun for the likes of me.

So, gosh darn it all, wouldn’t it be fun if we could just sit down in front of the tube, and witness our Seahawks beating the Rams on the road this Sunday?

Can we just have this gift?

It feels like Mother Nature is practically gifting it to us with Covid running rampant in all the LA strip clubs where now over 20 members of the Rams roster have contracted the virus. The Rams could be without such prominent players as Jalen Ramsey, Odell Beckham Junior, Von Miller, defensive tackle Sebastian Joseph-Day, running back Darrell Henderson, tackle Rob Havenstein, and safety Jordan Fuller. That’s a lot of A-list talent that might not suit up for them.

Given this status down there, can these Seahawks get the W this Sunday? Is it possible?

I really want to say that they can. I want to say that they can gut and scrap and claw themselves to a victory that puts them at 6-8 and on a three game win streak in December. I’m dying to type it out. I’m beyond tempted to do it. I think it’s possible that they could, but it’s not likely going to be easy in any way.

Not going to lie, with Seattle suddenly having Covid now impact their own roster with Tyler Lockett and Alex Collins on the list, that’s not going to make things any easier for Seattle’s offense in this one. This is a bummer.

Lockett, in particular, has been Russell Wilson’s main security blanket in his resurgent play as of late. I’ve personally gotten the vibe while watching the last couple games the Russ has gotten back to where he once belonged by leaning into his mild melding magic with Lockett. I don’t think he has that chemistry with DK Metcalf nearly as much, and I suspect with Lockett out, the Rams are going to shift extra attention towards taking DK out of the picture and force Russ into beating them by throwing to Dee Eskridge and others who the mind melding thingy probably isn’t there yet.

And alas, these are the mother flipping Rams we are talking about, here. Even with all the Covid spreading about their roster, they still have two very big things that work in their favor to secure victory over Seattle this Sunday. Head coach Sean McVay has a comfortable blue print to beating Pete Carroll’s defense, and defensive tackle Aaron Donald makes his living by living well inside the head of Russell Wilson.

Without a consistent pass rush from Seattle, I see it being a very hard time slowing down Matthew Stafford and the Rams offense, and with a gimpy offensive line, I see Donald getting to Russ enough to make his chore of playing catch up in the points column a daunting one. I also see that even though Covid is trying to maybe help Seattle out in this one, the Rams have one of the deepest rosters in the league, and they have one of the very best offensive minded head coaches in the game.

So, I have to put my gut over my heart in this one. My heart really needs to see Seattle sneak out the win this Sunday, but my gut says that they are going to come out short. I think they narrowly lose, though, and I’m going to project a 30-27 loss with possibly Matthew Stafford leading a drive that puts LA on top in the final seconds.

I see a bitter sweet finish, and that feels fitting. There will be some moral victories to take away from this one, but it won’t take the sting out of being 5-9, and firmly out of the playoff picture.

When that happens, you can bet your bottom dollar that all the speculation talk over the futures of Russ and Pete are going to ramp up bigly. The Los Angeles Rams will be all to happy to usher that in for them. They will be on a mission to bury Seattle, possibly end an era, and solidify themselves into the playoffs once again.

Poo.

Go Hawks.

Dear Seahawks Fan,

Do you feel weird about these 2021 Seattle Seahawks?

I know I do!

I think this game is a microcosm of all the weirdness I see with this team. They struggle on defense against a truly bad offense out the gates, then play better, then poop themselves for a bit on offense when Russell starts chasing deep passes too much again, then they pick themselves up to look good again by getting back to the short pass game, and the win decisively with a handful of explosive plays.. against probably the worst professional football team on the planet.

Offensively, I can never understand what the plan is, and I saw it again with this one. The short passing game starts to click, and they start taking deep shot after deep shot down field. Rashaad Penny looked great running, and they try to work in a gimpy Alex Collins who maybe shouldn’t have played.

They play passive in zone coverage and then tighten up.

Al Woods plays like a beast in the interior of the defensive line and then gets another stupid penalty on a field goal kick that gave Houston new life (How many times has he done this in a Seahawk uniform? I feel like it’s lots). Why, Al? Why?

On the plus side, Russell Wilson to Tyler Lockett remains probably the prettiest thing in all of football, which, of course, makes the idea of trading away Russell Wilson probably one of the stupidest things (I don’t think that’s gonna happen, by the by, but that’s a topic for another time).

I was quite pleased to see that the offensive line didn’t surrender one sack on Wilson, but then again, this was against Houston. They will have Aaron Donald to contend with next week. Color me unconvinced they will have a repeated performance against that monster.

If I am to give some game balls out, Rashaad Penny most definitely gets it on offense, and defensive end Darrell Taylor probably gets it on defense for being the steady disruptive force that he was. Without the efforts of these two, Russell might have had been forced to win a shootout against rookie quarterback Davis Mills that little of us were expecting.

Speaking of Mills, I thought that dude looked pretty good. I can’t tell if it is his growth as a passer, or the state of the Seattle defense without Jamal Adams, but he largely looked like a poised vet who was unfortunately stuck on a horrendous team. Should Seattle do the ridiculous and be in need of a quarterback next Spring, I’d honestly put in a call to down there to see what it would take to pry him out. I kinda think he might turn out to be a decent one in a Derek Carr like way.

That’s why this game, and it’s final score, was so damn weird. It wasn’t the beat down that the score suggested, but yet, maybe it sorta was. Mills made it more competitive than one would have thought it should have been, and it took a long explosive touchdown run by Penny late in the game against the worst run defense in the league to pad the final points and stats.

And if you are like me, you aren’t looking at this win, and likely to be filled with hope that Seattle is somehow going to manage to become spoiler to a playoff hopeful Rams team down in LA next Sunday. I think that’s okay. I don’t think Seattle is a very good team this year.

My goals for this team is to get into the off-season as quickly as possible and fix all that needs fixing without doing the extreme act of trading away their franchise quarterback who, despite struggles coming back from a gruesome finger injury, is still the foundational player on this team. What moves are likely to happen is probably anyone’s guess, but if I were Jody Allen, I would pretty much demand that the offensive line becomes the biggest priority, followed by the defensive line, running back, and maybe corner (although DJ Reed and Sidney Jones have been play fairly well lately). I would probably look to shake some things up with the coaching staff, as well, and maybe the front office, or at least reset the power structure of how it all runs.

That’s my hope, and in this win, I see Darrell Taylor, Tyler Lockett, DK Metcalf, and a few others as nice pieces to hang onto and build around in that process. But make no mistake, to fix what I see ails this team, it’s a big extensive list of tasks to do in one off-season.

I suppose if only we could have just held onto the lead against Tennessee, and managed to pull off a win against the Saints, we would be 7-6 right now, and feeling like the playoffs are still possible, and maybe that list doesn’t feel so daunting. Those two losses sting mightily more so now than this win against a pitiful team feels good.

5-8 is just a tough thing to get excited about these days. A win against the Rams would get the juices of excitement flowing more, but suddenly, the Chicago Bears don’t feel like an easy out, and there’s still the Cardinals to contend with at the season’s end.

Dreaming of a 9-8 finish feels a stretch, to put it mildly. So, I’m not holding out for that.

I’m in with this team for the long run, and what I see right now is a team that needs a reset. Even if we did miraculously squeak out 9-8, that wouldn’t change my perspective.

I’m going to enjoy these remaining games because this is my team, and I love them. Win or lose, I’m good. I just want Santa Claus to bring them a better plan for fixing their offensive and defensive lines, and maybe a better coaching approach that will help them play each game with better consistency.

I don’t think it’s too unreasonable to want these things, either.

So, come on, Santa! Do a dedicated Twelve a solid for Christmas!

Go Hawks.

Dear Seahawk Fan,

Don’t worry about your Seahawks losing this weekend to the Houston Texans. They are as bad of a team as it gets in the realms of professional sports.

They are a terrible offensive team, and they cannot stop the run on defense if it was my preschooler was lining up at running back against their defensive tackles. They are a miserable team, owned by an idiot who couldn’t see the value of positive culture, even if he was soaking in a jacuzzi full of yogurt with Ted Lasso.

I feel bad for their players and fans.

But even though Seattle will travel down there and comfortably handle this sad team, prepare to be underwhelmed by the Seahawks getting this win. Doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the moments, but this will not be the beat down that you are craving.

Pete Carroll will see how bad their run defense is, and how bad their offense is at scoring, and he will instruct Shane Waldron to dial back the passing in favor of a conservative ground game to drain clock and score enough points to walk away comfortably with 5-8 record, and a slim playoffs chance remaining. I think this is the most certain thing to expect from the Seahawks in this one.

So all that fancy quick tempo and variety of pass plays that you saw Russell Wilson do against a tough 49er defense last Sunday probably isn’t going to happen. If this is true, it will be a shame, in my view, because I think there would be a lot to be gained for this offense to further work out the kinks of their hurry up, and show the fans how exciting it can be, and also gain further momentum with it as they travel to Los Angeles next week for a do or die rematch against the Rams.

If the Seahawks were coached by an offensive mind like Mike Holmgren was, I think this is the mode that they would travel with to face this inferior opponent. He would see the value of allowing his star quarterback to gain as much confidence as possible by throwing four or five touchdowns.

But Pete Carroll will see it much differently. Having his future with this team in a wee bit of doubt with team owner Jody Allen apparently not thrilled about how this season has gone, and having lost his star safety Jamal Adams to season ending shoulder injury, all signs point to Pete going the safe route in this one, and I get it.

He should have left guard Damien Lewis back and that will work to further fix a run game that now features geriatric Adrian Peterson and injury prone Rashaad Penny. He will probably feel more the urge to allow Penny to have a big “get right” game over Russell Wilson padding his passing stats and finding further rhythm with his receivers.

Not that Russ won’t have a good outing. I’m sure there’s going to be some pretty deep shots to Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf that will happen off of his play action passing. He might even throw for two scores or more in that process, but I think the end result of this game is going to leave you wanting more, especially if you had him starting on your fantasy team based on this match.

I’m going to say at the final whistle blow this game ends in a 24-13 victory. It will feel like a decent enough win, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the score is 21-6 midway through the third quarter before Carroll dials it back on offense to drain out, but I think this final score won’t be reflect how easily Seattle handled this team.

I think it will also have a lot of us going “meh” afterwards, and maybe a little extra annoyed that Seattle couldn’t preserve the win against Tennessee at home early in the season, couldn’t find a way to beat a struggling Saints team (or that team in Washington), and have a record of 8-5 instead of 5-8 with a very slim chance at scrapping it out for the final playoff spot in the NFC.

This is how I am likely to feel, and I won’t fault you if you feel the same. I’m here for you in that.

Go Hawks.

Dear San Francisco 49er Fan,

I’m sorry that you spent hundreds of dollars on airfare, hotel accommodations, and tickets to watch your team play my Seahawks in Seattle on a crisp cold day in December. I’m sure you thought this was going to be the season your team was finally going to stick it to the struggling Seahawks at home with a good ol’ fashioned beat down in front of all those blue and green screaming Twelves that always get under your skin.

Judging by the amount of red jerseys I saw in the stands, you came together in the masses. Much respect to all these Faithful fans making the trek with you.

I don’t blame y’all for making the trip up here to the Emerald City, either. My Seatttle Seahawks have sucked wet butt this year. It’s a statement of fact.

They got no offensive line, no running backs, they got very little pass rush mixed with leaky coverage, and they have had to deal with their banged up star quarterback coming back from major injury while trying to understand this new offense, and he’s been an abject mess.

If your shoes were on my feet, I would have dropped two grand to travel up and see this match live and in person, as well.

In fact, I predicted a blow out in favor of your beloved 49ers. I felt, for certain, that was going to happen, and I wanted to prepare my readers for it. I felt duty bound.

And, by golly, for the first quarter and a half, it looked like your team was going to pull off this royal ass whooping. I’ve seen a lot of bad football in my time, I cannot remember ever seeing a 2nd and 42 play happen. Yikes.

But then your quarterback realized that he isn’t nearly as good as my quarterback, and he threw some stupid interceptions because Seattle’s suspect defense always seems to get inside his head.

And, of course, then my quarterback, Russell Carrington Wilson, decided that he might as well return to the pro bowl standard as he has been for years, and he found ways to play efficiently (with a few stellar throws mixed around) where good old Jimmy G couldn’t see to do that nearly enough.

What’s really weird to me about the whole Russ playing pretty darn good is that he had to go against your defense, which is much better than Seattle’s. I mean, for a while, I was worried he might die on the field, especially when left tackle Duane Brown forgot how to block your third string edge rusher.

Speaking of which, I didn’t really love seeing your guys putting extra mustard on their hits on my Russ, but I was happy that the refs agreed, and threw flags that kept my team in it.

And Good Lord in Heaven, Seattle tight end Gerald Everett was practically handing you the stinking game several times, like he owed you money, or something. I felt terrible for him because he had been playing so darn well lately in losing efforts, I’ve been thinking that maybe he’s been Seattle’s best player on offense, but I almost feel worse for you. He gave you gift after gift with his bad ball handling, and your team couldn’t seize the moments enough.

Gosh, it must really suck knowing that this banged up and tattered 4-8 Seahawk team basically had their way with your playoff hopeful team yet again. I mean, this final score could have been 40-23 if not for Everett’s off game at the goal line.

Now that I think about it, I’m not sure you’re making the playoffs now. That must agitate.

And goodness gracious me, speaking of agitation, having now lost 16 of the last 20 games to Seattle since Russell Wilson came into the league must really be annoying (17 of 21 if we include the NFC Championship game, sorry to bring that one up). I mean, I would completely hate that, if I were you, and now that I think about it, Seattle owning the all time record between these two clubs 30-17 must be kind of annoying, as well.

But I hope you had fun in Seattle. It’s beautiful up here! I hope you enjoyed Pike Place Market, ate some salmon, and bought some nice Native art. I hope the garlic fries in the stands didn’t give you too much gas after witnessing yet another demoralizing loss to my Seahawks.

Like I say, I really thought your team was going to big time beat up on mine. They seemed poised for it, even without Deebo and Fred Warner. I mean, my team’s offensive line couldn’t block an obnoxious tweeter on the Twitter. How in the world was I to expect then to block Nick Bosa and Arik Armstead?

Off topic for a second. Is Kyle Shanahan a good coach?

I think he is, but whenever I watch Seahawk vs 49er games, I can never truly tell. He seems to have a genuine problem beating Pete Carroll who continues to throw away time outs like they were chicken feed on a farm.

Well, it all is what it is. My team owns yours.

It’s not the end of the world, though. There are worse things, like mayonnaise, and TikTok dancing, and not getting herd control over a virus during a pandemic.

Just know, every year of your life, my team is likely to sweep yours, and make peace with it. Trust me, it’s the healthiest path moving forward.

I should know. I have made peace with the fact that my Seahawks can never seem to beat those rotten stinking gawd awful LA Rams whenever it fudging matters. It’s not an easy pill to swallow, but we can do this together.

Peace and love,

Curtis

PS; you have to admit it, though, that fake punt that Travis Homer housed seventy five yards for a touchdown was a pretty sweet trick play to throw at you in the first possession of the game. What a gutsy play call! It makes me think that Seattle’s offense purposefully sucked in that opening series just to set up that play!

Maybe Pete Carroll hasn’t lost it as a coach as some seem overly eager to suggest these days. Hmmmmmm.. interesting.

Go Hawks!

Dear Seattle Seahawk Fan,

You have read the San Fransisco 49er injury reports and I know what you’re thinking. With Deebo Samuel and Fred Warner out with injuries for this Sunday’s donnybrook, you are thinking this gives your struggling Seahawks a chance to sweep this club, and finally start getting things right for Russell Wilson and the offense.

There’s an old saying that dates back to the Trojan War. Beware of any Greeks offering gifts.

Brace yourself for what is about to be unleashed upon your eyes this Sunday. The resurgent and blood thirsting San Francisco 49ers are coming into Seattle to make sacrificial lambs out of the busted up Seattle Seahawks, and the outcome isn’t likely to be pretty.

You might likely rolling your eyes at what you assume to be hyperbole that you are reading. I get it, I feel like I’ve been a Cassandra about these Seahawks for much of this season, but the truths as I see them to be with this team do not lie, and therefor, neither do I.

This Seattle team is a hot garbage mess right now, and are in position to get their butts kicked by a superior San Francisco club that hates them with the same bloody fervor that the ancient Greek soldiers hated each and every being that lived behind the fabled Walls of Troy. If you are unaware of that Bronze Age bit of history, things didn’t go particularly well for the folks of Troy once the Greeks got inside the city, and opened up the gates.

To quickly recount, as legend would have it, virtually every male Trojan, from infant to geezer, was slaughtered, and thrown off the walls. Their wailing wives, mothers, daughters, and sisters were beaten, savaged, and forced into slavery.

It’s not too extreme in my mind, that these 49ers are coming into town with similar intentions of inflicting brutal pain and humiliation on Russell Wilson and company right in front of six thousand home town fans. For years, these Seahawks have been the kryptonite that has been around their necks, bleeding into their skin.

They have one emotional connection to Seattle. They hate them a trillion times more than I hate mayonnaise, and mayo makes me vomit.

Now is their opportunity to send Pete Carroll, who hasn’t been able to solve the puzzles of what has been plaguing his team, into retirement. It’s also the time to destroy any remaining will of Russell Wilson wanting to remain in Seattle.

They know the opportunity that is starring right in front of them. They are one good beat down performance away from ending a profound era of football in Seattle, and forcing this struggling team into a massive rebuild. This is what is likely at stake for them.

So, I’m predicting that these hot blooded 49ers will decisively win this game, 35-13, and the final score won’t reflect the accuracy of how humiliating this beat down will be. I wish I could see it differently, but I can’t.

I think this idea of an improved Seattle’s defense is absolutely fool’s gold. I think they are playing a style of defense that is fully committed to a bend don’t break approach that can hold a marginal offense down in the box score points, and that can seem fine to the eyes of many, but I see them differently.

They aren’t a good pass rush squad, and against a good offense, like San Francisco has, they are apt to keep that type of offense in third and short situations for easy conversions, just like what happened against career backup quarterback Colt McCoy when he led the Cardinals into town a couple weeks back.

When I look at this style of defense for the Seahawks and the absolute mess of an offense that they have right now, I just want to look away and pretend that the awfulness isn’t there. There is no way for Seattle to play connected football between what the offense and defense are in their present states.

A bend but don’t break defense only works for you if your own offense can sustain drives and score points. Seattle’s offense can’t do this right now, and given how bad they are up front with the offensive line, and how scary good San Francisco is up front with their defensive line, this has the makings of a blood bath to happen.

How desperate is the situation for Seattle’s offense right now?

Well, they just signed 80 year old Adrian Peterson in a desperate attempt for Pete Carroll to get back to what he knows best by getting back to the run game. And while I admire Carroll’s conviction of circling back to what he knows best on offense, I feel compelled to say “good luck with that” and just watch the Beatles doc Get Back on Disney+ this Sunday afternoon instead of this forty mile a hour car collision into a concrete wall of a game that is all but certain to happen.

But alas, I will watch this disaster, instead. I have been with this club as a fan, through all the good times and bad, from the early 1980’s on. I will be that Trojan Princess Cassandra watching from the safety of my television set, shouting each and every miserable play, “I told y’all so!”

I’m just writing this to you as a fan to let you know that it’s okay not to get your hopes up that Seattle is somehow going to stick it to the 49ers once again in this one. You can choose to watch, like I will, but I hear that Beatles doc is very good, and I’m genuinely excited to watch it. I won’t blame you if you decide to do it instead of dial into this game. There is no judging here at 12th Life whenever someone doesn’t want to smell the rotten milk container sitting in the fridge.

At least we got the Texans next week.

Go Hawks

PS; I should note that it is entirely possible I’m completely wrong on all of this, and the Seahawks manage to win this game, and sweep San Francisco because, you know, Seattle absolutely owns this bitch ass team.

Go Hawks!

Dear Seattle Seahawks,

You are what your now 3-8 record says you are. You are a bad football team.

I don’t even recognize you, and I literally do not understand how you are trying to win any ball games.

You are as far removed from being a Pete Carroll coached team as I have ever seen Pete Carroll coach. You can’t run the ball. Your defense doesn’t intimidate. The one player who has carried you in recent years off play action plays is an injured, and out of sorts shadow of himself.

You are asking this injured sub six foot tall quarterback to be a pocket passer with no threat of a run game, and you aren’t trying anything creative to manufacture runs out of spread out formations, or up tempo, or motion sweeps, or any else that might give the ground game any chance against a good defensive front.

My goodness, what in the world is wrong with you?

You are not giving any defenses any wrinkles to be concerned with, and they are hammering your backs and this riddled quarterback. I just don’t understand your thinking.

Also, speaking of your quarterback, it’s hard to watch him being such an indecisive mess. Clearly, he’s not comfortable in your offense, and possibly he’s concerned with his throwing hand in the thick of a rush. Having him try to beat defenses with the quick pass in a collapsing pocket with a sea of rushers heading towards him is a tough watch.

So, why not adjust it to what he is comfortable doing right now?

He seems to like and function much better in hurry up mode, and he looked better in this game throwing outside the pocket than in it in this one. Isn’t it logical that this is should be what this offense should be doing right now?

After all, it is said that good coaching is all about putting players in a position to succeed instead of fail.

Russ is clearly failing to function as a quick game pocket passer. Alex Collins is failing to be the hammering bell cow running back that you are asking him to be. The biggest issue, in my mind, is that you are asking these guys to do the wrong things, and it is killing your team.

Let me be clear with you on this right now. You are a poorly coached team right now. You can’t hide from that fact.

How bad you ask?

If I have to watch nose tackles Brian Mone and Al Woods drop into zone coverage instead of trying to disrupt the pocket, I am going to scream loud noises that will make my next door neighbors call 911.

What, in all things stupid, are you thinking when you are imagining will happen by asking 350 pound men be coverage linebackers?

Your hubris is hard to watch. This has been an issue all season but you insist on still doing this stuff.

Does Ken Norton Junior have pictures of you or your spouse with a farm animal or something?

You should have beaten this Washington Football Team. You had opportunities. They gave you multiple opportunities, but you couldn’t stop crapping yourself with bad play calling, bad execution, and just generally incredibly bad officiating calls from the refs.

Clearly, these refs wanted you to lose because, well, you stink.

Watching you hang in this game against this team from the other Washington was like watching someone being slowly munched to death by a gigantic crocodile. Just when you think this person will maybe get away, the big dumb animal munches half their head off, and then drags their flailing body into the murky deep.

It’s a gross encounter for any viewer.

I’m going to tell you straight up, you are going to absolutely get your ass kicked by the San Francisco 49ers next week, if you do not clean this crap up. They are salivating for it right now.

Of course there were nice efforts like Rasheem Green returning a blocked extra point for a safety score (addmittedly, that was fun), and Russell Wilson hitting Tyler Lockett on some sweet ass deep balls (always pretty to watch), but my goodness, what a waste of good efforts and plays.

How god awful are you?

You are so incompetent that you cannot devise ways of getting your young superstar receiver the stinking ball until late in the final minutes of the fourth quarter. That’s stinking awful bad.

Stop stinking. Win a few games in a row to make us think there is one single reason why you shouldn’t simply blow up this entire organization from top to bottom. Right now, I see very little reason why this shouldn’t happen as soon as the final whistle blows in the last game of this wasted season.

You are too old in too many spots, and not talented enough in others. That’s a bad combo to have going on with your roster, and I get it, but it is no excuse for bad coaching.

This is the roster you put to together. So, coach the bloody stinking awful thing up.

Stop stinking!

Peace and love, as always.

Go Hawks!

I’m going to start this preview off by saying that I think the Seattle Seahawks are going to lose this game on Monday Night Football. It’s not just a logic based conclusion in my mind.

I’m picking them to lose because I am being emotionally protective as a fan maybe even more than being objective when I look at these two clubs. For my own sanity as a Twelve, I can’t get my hopes up for a win, even though I still believe Russell Wilson is a premiere quarterback in this league, and against a mediocre club like Washington, that should be enough on any field.

But the facts are the facts. WFT has a premiere defensive line that probably features the best defensive tackle rotation in the league, and Seattle’s guards haven’t had a great year against quality interior pass rushers. When you put that together with the fact that Russell doesn’t seem fully comfortable in this Shane Waldron offensive scheme yet, and Seattle’s depth at running back is in trouble, this puts a knot in my stomach as if I swallowed a shot glass.

Also, while I ultimately don’t think the Washington is a serious contender this season, I can’t deny that the club has a magic air about them, and Seattle clearly does not. Just look at the quarterbacks, as they compare.

Tyler Heinicke hasn’t produced an overly impressive stat line as a starting NFL quarterback this season. He has thrown for almost 2400 yards with 15 TDs and 9 picks for a very pedestrian QB rating of 87.6. Yet there is a scrappiness to his play. It’s like he’s playing with house money in Vegas, and he’s just going for it.

On the other hand, Russell Wilson, through seven starts, has thrown for over 1500 yards with 10 TDs and only 3 picks with a healthy 101.2 rating that, on paper, implies an elite NFL franchise QB. Yet anyone watching Russ play through his last three starts will struggle to say that he is playing anywhere close to elite.

Through this stretch against quality NFL defenses, Russ has looked tentative, indecisive, and skittish inside the pocket. In fact, the only stretches in these games where he has played the part of a premiere passer is when Waldron and Pete Carroll have allowed him to go into a hurry up mode with the offense.

Here in line lays the real issue that I see with this new offense with Russell Wilson quarterbacking it this year. Don’t kid yourselves, it’s a massive problem that Shane Waldron needs to sort out soon, if he wants to remain an offensive coordinator in this league.

In a nut shell, I think Russell Wilson would love to score a hundred points a game, scoring as early and as often as possible. He wants to go up tempo not just because it’s a flashy trend to do these days. He likely knows that the best way to take away what NFL defenses have been doing against him is to get the defenders and defensive coordinators on their heels.

Getting the calls in quickly, getting up to the line of scrimmage quickly, getting his play-makers in motion, and making adjustments, puts Russ in more of an aggressive attack mode. He led Seattle to victory in Santa Clara against the 49ers by switching to this style, and he had Arizona’s defense more on its heels during the second half of that pitiful game last week.

Conversely, Pete Carroll would be perfectly fine winning a close game against a club with a good defense 9 to 6, if he had to. He would applaud his defense for giving great effort, he would look at the time of position between the two clubs and note how it favored his team, he would compliment his quarterback for playing smart protective football against a great defense. For him, this would be a great win.

Shane Waldron feels caught in a weird nowhere land as a play-caller between what Russ and Pete both want. This is the big underlining problem.

He was supposed to install in innovative Rams style offense that would feature all these pre snap motion looks, and be an aggressive up tempo offense like Sean McVay runs, and for the most part, it has the look of the same offense we have seen in Seattle for the last few years with only sprinklings of Rams style window dressing.

Defenses are doing the same thing against Russ as they did last year by showing one look pre-snap and then shifting into something else after the ball is snapped. This is the league memo on how to beat Seattle’s short quarterback these days.

Until Waldron starts to be more aggressive with Russ with tempo and window dressing, I think Russ is poised to continue struggling in this offense. In a conventional NFL offense, Russ’s big strength is deep play action passing off of an functional run game.

It’s easy to say that Seattle should revert back to that, but look what they currently have at running back. They got squat all. Running up the gut on first and second downs with Alex Collins and Travis Homer against this WFT defensive line rotation is an insane thought, yet I fear that will be the likely plan.

Looking at the advanced data of that defense, Washington plays the run exceptionally well. However, the one area where they struggle is giving up red zone passing touchdowns. They are near bottom of the league there.

Guess what Russell Wilson is? He’s a red zone touchdown throwing machine.

Seattle can win this game by going aggressive and up tempo with Russ. I’m fully convinced of that.

The problem is that Pete Carroll won’t want to do that on the road on national television in front of a jacked up WFT crowd. He’s likely going to try for some type of 9-6 win.

This is why I have Seattle losing this one, 24-21.

Heinicke will play with house money against a Seattle defense that could be struggling again, and Russ will get some pretty stats while Seattle shifts to a more hurry up mode when they have to chase after points in the fourth quarter. We’ve seen this scenario play out way too much over recent years.

Hope I am wrong. I really do.

I would love nothing more that seeing Seattle pull off this win, any way they can. I just feel like I’ve purchased a ticket to see a movie that I’ve seen a hundred times over in various forms and plot, but with the same predictable outcome. Zoiks.

Go Hawks.

It’s official. The 2021 Seattle Seahawks suck.

They are an endurance test to watch.

For another year in a row, and with two different teams, career NFL backup quarterback Colt McCoy has looked better than Russell Wilson in a start against them, too. I cannot shake that gross reality.

It sucks. Colt was accurate, athletic, and decisive. Russ was still rusty, indecisive, and had scatter-gun accuracy with his short throws.

People are going to now take more shots at Russell Wilson and be more vocal about trading him next off-season. They will say Seattle can win with any old quarterback, if we can build this team up enough. It will be faulty logic, unless you want to see this team become the Chicago Bears for the last several decades; a team that occasionally makes a playoff appearance because it’s “built up” enough with talent but never advances far because it doesn’t have a franchise quarterback.

If the Seahawks had a fraction of the talent across their roster as the Arizona Cardinals have, Russell Wilson would have out dueled McCoy in this one, even with all the rust. The problem is that this team isn’t very good, and it isn’t coached very well, either.

Also, if a healthy Kyler Murray had played in this game, it would have been a beat down, and the game would have been over with early. I can’t honestly tell if that would have been worse than what we all watched this Sunday.

After a hand full of games of playing better ball, the Seahawk defense underwhelmed mightily with its lack of quality pass rush and coverage. McCoy was able to successfully game manage a simple plan with the host of weapons that Seattle didn’t have enough answers to slow down.

The Cardinals are a well oiled system on both side of the ball. The Seahawks are still trying to figure out theirs, after ten games. I put that on the coaches.

It was frustrating to watch Ken Norton Junior send two pass rushers at McCoy and drop nine into coverage and see McCoy still find easy completions. When Seattle was able to disrupt, they sent extra defenders, and it looked effective, but then Norton would back off.

Norton’s defense has reverted back to being confusing to the eyes.

What are they as a defense anyways?

I can’t tell if they are a 4-3, or a 3-4, or a Bear front, or what. It looks like the defenders have problems figuring it out, as well.

I miss the days when this defense was coached by Dan Quinn and even Kris Richard. It was a basic tilted 4-3 that could rush effectively with four and drop seven into coverage. They weren’t ever trying to reinvent the wheel with anything, and were mostly a tough out for many teams, even after the Super Bowl years.

And another thing. I’m far from a Russell Wilson apologist, but I don’t know if Geno Smith would have fared against this Arizona defense much better. Yes, Russ was sporadic with his short throws again, but he also made beautiful deep passes that would have been unlikely for Smith to make, and in all three of his starts, Smith never seemed to evade pressure very well and took his share of unfortunate sacks. I actually believe starting him could have made this game uglier watch, and then how does that sit with Russ?

But I fully understand the sentiment with some fans asking for Geno Smith. Russ wasn’t good enough for the second week in a row. He came back from injury earlier than I thought he should have, but I also think that can of worms had already opened, and you might as well keep rolling with him until he’s able to shake off all the cobwebs to his game.

The Ghosts Of The 2008 Seahawks Are Haunting Me

I will say it as simply as this. These Seattle Seahawks this year remind me of the Seahawks in Mike Holmgren’s last year coaching in 2008. They look old, slow, injured, not talented enough, and largely overwhelmed.

In 2008, the Seahawks were a battered old team that finished 4-12, and their legendary coach was cooked. Then owner Paul Allen knew this, and likely ushered Holmgren to step down, at least that was my feelings on the situation.

I now think if these 2021 finish 6-11, that would be a minor miracle. They look that bad.

Pete Carroll looks tired and stressed, and Russell Wilson looks confused and frustrated, and Jamal Adams looks..

.. I don’t even know how to finish that thought. I guess the best way to put it is that I think Jamal Adams has the makings of being a really good run and chase linebacker for a defensive coordinator who wants to use him that way.

On the whole, I think this Seahawks team is a loss at Washington on MNF next week away from needing to play the young guys on the roster to see what they have to work with next year on a major overhaul of the roster. I would start Deejay Dallas at running back, and use Alton Robinson ahead of Carlos Dunlap and Benson Mayowa, and LJ Collier over Kerry Hyder. I would consider playing Colby Parkinson more at tight end, and I would even consider playing the rookie offensive tackles more if I thought it wouldn’t put the health of the quarterbacks in further jeopardy.

I’m not convinced Pete Carroll will see it that way. I think he will favor his veterans and try to win every meaningless game he can. If will want to fight it out to the very end, and I suppose he deserves to do that, but I cannot shake the following thought.

I feel Pete Carroll is well past done in Seattle as a head coach.

I don’t anticipate owner Jody Allen will be willing to trade Russell Wilson for a bunch of first round picks, either. I suspect she is a couple more losses away from beginning the coaching search to find the next head coach with fresh eyes to reset set this whole team around Russ. For all we know, she and her group is working on that now.

However this season goes, I am here for this team. I am with them in all games, good and bad.

This is a tough stretch right now, but I think they are one off-season reset away from being a strong contender again sooner than some will think.

Despite his recent play, Russell Wilson is still an elite quarterback, and DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett are still top end receivers. There is young talent on the roster that can be starting fixtures on their defense in Darrell Taylor, Jordyn Brooks, Jamal Adams, Tre Brown, Poona Ford, and Alton Robinson. The cupboard is not bare on this team. They just need more, and they probably need fresh eyes to lead it.

That’s how I see it, anyways.

Go Hawks.

The conclusion of this piece is going to be illogical, and maybe stating that isn’t this best way to start a football game preview, but I feel compelled. After all, the NFL has not been kind to logic this year.

Many fibers that make my brain function tell me that the Arizona Cardinals should come into Seattle, and absolutely smoke this struggling Seahawks team. Even though they got beat up soundly by a struggling Carolina Panthers team last week, up until that game, I’ve been thinking that these Cardinals have been the best team in football.

This is year three for Kliff Kingsbury’s system down in the desert, and I completely underestimated what that could mean for the Cardinals heading into this season. In a nutshell, it means that his core players know that system inside and out, and they can all function together at a fast and furious style of play on both sides of the ball. They are potent, and they know it.

Think of year three for Pete Carroll in Seattle which was Russell Wilson’s rookie year in 2012. In that season, Russ was not the straw that stirred the drink for this club, it was Pete’s defense that had officially evolved into the Legion of Boom, and it was complimented by a power run offense that featured Marshawn Lynch and Russ’s play-making style. Out of nowhere, those Seahawks surprised the masses by beating a handful of good teams, and they became a tough out in the playoffs.

2019 was also year three for Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco and that club completely shocked and dominated the football world, narrowly losing to the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. In that season, I thought, without a doubt, they were the best overall team in football.

This year, I look at the Cardinals, and I see a team that has a very 2019 49er feel about them. They are young, talented, well coached, and they are playing in their systems offensively and defensively with a ton of confidence. They sense this is the year for them.

Conversely, the Seahawks feel like they are on the opposite side of the spectrum. While, they have some nice parts in Russell Wilson, DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett, and their defense has turned around towards playing good ball lately, on the whole, this team has a bit of a worn out vibe to them.

Duane Brown no longer looks like a top tier left tackle. Damien Lewis has struggled to pick up playing at left guard and probably feels more comfortable at his natural right guard spot. Chris Carson appears broken at running back. Carlos Dunlap has disappeared as a pass rusher. These are players that, at the start of the season, were thought to be impact players Seattle could ride with, and they simply haven’t been.

When you put that together with the fact that GM John Schneider neglected to upgrade their weakness at center, the fact that their top pick in slot receiver Dee Eskridge got injured early and missed a ton of games, the fact that Ken Norton Junior failed to start his defense with a scheme that made sense to the players, and Russell Wilson finally got injured to the point of missing games (and his probably still figuring out the offense with his new coordinator), these Seattle Seahawks appear to the a team that is old, injured, not super talented, and not playing well together in any complimentary way.

They are what their 3-6 record says that they are. They aren’t a good club right now.

Even if Colt McCoy plays this game in place of superstar QB Kyler Murray, these Seahawks are a team that these Cardinals are probably pretty poised to beat. After all, McCoy led a much less talented NY Giants team into Seattle last year, and soundly outplayed Russell Wilson and beat him, when Seattle was the much better team. This year, he is a backup on a team that is a clear Super Bowl contender, and Seattle is a shadow of the team it was last year.

It makes all the sense in the world to predict that not only will these Cardinals beat Seattle this weekend, it also makes sense to predict that they will bury this team. They are the vastly better team and they are probably coming into Lumen Field pissed off from their own disappointing loss over the weekend.

Make no mistake, this game is the Arizona Cardinals’ “get right game.” They are in a tight battle for the NFC West title with the LA Rams, and if they beat this struggling Seahawks team this weekend, they extend their lead in the division. A loss to Seattle would drop them to only having a half game lead over a very talented Rams team that traded their entire 2022 draft to go all-in this year.

These Arizona Cardinals, with or without Murray, are looking at putting Seattle away in this one. Pete Carroll knows this, too.

I watched his press conference this Wednesday, and I don’t know if I’ve ever seen him so testy with reporters and nervous when talking about the strengths of an opponent. It wouldn’t shock me if he looked at the tape of AZ and thought to himself afterwards that perhaps Seattle had a better chance of winning in Green Bay than they have against this Cardinal club when now Duane Brown has a tender groin, Chris Carson is still in doubt, and Russell Wilson is probably still trying to shake off the rust after missing a month of football.

Carroll knows that this is a game where these Cardinals can take advantage of his struggling club. That coupled with the fact that his star quarterback put unprecedented pressure on his club to win this year, yeah, I get why Carroll might have been testy in his response to the reporter question of dealing with pressures to turn this thing around.

So, as I add all these things up in my mind, I feel like I have reached a very illogical conclusion when I say that I predict that Seattle will win this game on Sunday, 28-23, over the soaring Cardinals.

I’m not going to go into any great depths as to why because, truthfully, I don’t think that there are any great depths to it. There’s just so much weirdness in the world right now.

This 2021 NFL season is incredibly weird. The woeful 49ers steamrolled what should be a dominant Rams team on the most recent MNF game. A horrible Jaguar team embarrassed the Super Bowl contending Buffalo Bills, and a bad Dolphin team beat a good Ravens one.

This is as weird of a football season as I can remember, and in a league that prides itself in parity, yes, absolutely these Seahawks can beat these Cardinals.

If Shane Waldron can dip into his Rams offensive playbook a bit more by scheming creative uptempo run with pass combos, Russ might have shaken just enough of the cobwebs off in Green Bay to have a decent bounce back game in this one. This could be a game where Seattle uses AZ’s aggression against them. They love to blitz, and generally, Russ is good against the blitz.

If Seattle can simply get this W, their schedule softens up to where a four game win streak is not out of the realm of possibility, and if that happens, sitting at 7-6 would make it feel like perhaps that seventh playoff spot is there to go get. So, as much as Arizona has every incentive to win this game, Seattle has more.

I think, as hobbled and distorted of a club as they are right now, Seattle has just enough talent to catch Arizona off guard in this one. Thus keeping all the weirdness of the 2021 NFL season alive.

Whenever my team isn’t doing very well, I always take joy in rooting for chaos. I see a lot of chaos happening in this one. I don’t know how Seattle manages to get to 28 points scored, it might take a defensive score to get there, but I sorta feel it happening.

I think this is gonna be a fun one, and I’m here for it.

Go Hawks!

In the dark depths of Mordor, Aaron Rodgers prays to his dead Sith grandfather, Darth Magneto.

“Grandfather, I didn’t take that stupid vaccine, just as you would have refused, and the woke mafia has made fun of me for ten days because I lied about my status, just as you would have done, too. Please let me beat that woke ass wuss, Russell Wilson, and his bleeding heart senile coach. I fucking hate those guys. Grant me this victory, and I will kick a puppy dog for you afterwards.”

And gosh darn it all if Darth Magento didn’t listen to his miserable grandchild. Fucking Aaron Rodgers has beaten Russell Wilson once again in Green Bay, and in the final moments of the game, his arrogant smirk was a mile wide for all the cameras to catch.

This was as ugly of a game for Russell Wilson as I’ve ever seen. It’s a reality that you can’t side step.

It’s probably mostly due to the fact that he rushed to come back from injury. I’ve said it on a podcast a few weeks back, I thought coming back for the Green Bay game felt too early. He and Pete Carroll claimed that he didn’t have a problem throwing with his finger, but to my eyes, he didn’t look sharp enough, and at times, looked way too hesitant. But then again, there have been other games in Lambeau where he’s looked like that, as well.

This was a game that I was anticipating would be a loss before his injury, so I’m not overly upset. Healthy Russell Wilson have yet to have a good game in Green Bay.

Still, this felt like a game Seattle could have won, especially had it not been for his two interceptions in the end zone that felt ridiculously forced.

I love Russ as much as the next Seahawk fan, but I gotta be honest, this is a loss that felt like it was mostly on him. I can’t see it otherwise.

There will be takes about this loss that it was Pete Carroll’s fault and/or Shane Waldron’s fault, but Russ again chased after deep passes instead of taking other options that were wide open to him, like Freddie Swain was wide open when he threw into deep couple coverage to Tyler Lockett in the end zone. Maybe it was out of frustration in how Green Bay’s defense had been stymieing him, and some of his throws were out off wack, but Russ has been a starting quarterback in this league for ten years now, and these are throws he shouldn’t be forcing at this point of his career, and good luck arguing against that fact.

When Russ is struggling, these sort of bad decision throws tend to creep up on him. Given the fact that he has always struggled in Green Bay, and he was likely going to be rusty due to his time away from the game and figuring out how to throw with a taped up finger, this game was not a soft landing for his return. I personally saw this coming a mile away.

Part of me thinks Geno Smith might have given them a better shot at winning this, and that’s a really weird thing for me to type. Honestly, I’m not convinced playing him instead would have made that much of a difference. Some of his throws might have been crisper, but I doubt he would have scrambled to extend out of Green Bay’s pass rush as well as Russ did at times. It could have been a really ugly one for Geno, as well, or even worse.

Here’s some other notes.

The Good

Jamal Adams had, by far, his best game of the season, and he was impactful against the run, pass, and as a pass rusher. It seems like during the bye week, Seattle decided to allow him to do what he does best and they unleashed him as a pass rusher. It was nice to see this, and it was really nice to see him pick off Aaron Rodgers in the end zone. When that happened, it gave me a temporary feeling like Seattle could pull this game out in the second half when the score was still only 0-3.

Up through the third quarter, the Seattle defense, as a whole, played a pretty darn solid game. It’s unfortunate that the box score won’t reflect that enough, but because Seattle’s offense was so inept, this defense was forced to play waaaaaaaaaaaay too many minutes of action in this one. They weren’t the reason Seattle lost this game, however.

I thought tight end Gerald Everett had a very strong game, and Will Dissly got into the action on a nice run after catch chunk yardage play, as well.

The Bad

If I were the coach of this team, I probably would have held Russell Wilson back for another week. By all accounts of how long it takes someone to recover from this type of finger injury, Russ probably came back two weeks early. I admire his dedication to get back from injury and rehab, but for my money, it wasn’t worth the risk of him getting it hurt again or struggling to gut out a game that he might have felt better about in another week or two.

Seattle isn’t likely a playoff team this year, and Russell Wilson is the team’s best asset. I would have been more protective and rolled with Geno, and if Russ were to be unhappy about that, I’d deal with that.

The result is Russ having probably his worst performance as a pro in a hostile house that he has always struggled in, and his teammates clearly showing their frustrations as the game wore on. We can argue as fans who would have given this team the better chance at winning, Russ or Geno, but that matters very little in the bigger picture. What matters more is what the players on the field with Russ felt, or the players on Seattle’s defense, who fought valiantly, felt.

I’m telling you all right now, if there exists players on this Seattle roster who felt Geno would have given them a better chance in this one, that’s a bit of a problem, and Russ probably shouldn’t have been starting.

The other thing that, of course, sucked royally was all of the officials being either huge Packer fans, or part of the Anti-Vaccine Movement in America, and thus feeling solidarity with Aaron Rodgers. I’m not even going to list all the fucked up calls in this game that went against Seattle because they all did.

The Ugly

I’m officially starting to worry about what is going on with DK Metcalf. His grabbing the face masks of Chatty Cathy defenders and shoving them in the final moments of the offense being on the field was a very weird melt down to watch unfold. His lack of composure in certain games is starting to become more and more unsettling. Perhaps there is frustrations mounting for him with the play calling, or the quarterbacking, but something doesn’t seem right with him right now.

It’s entirely understandable that he would be upset about this outcome, but he’s got to lay off mixing it up with defenders when the going gets tough because the league has the memo out on him now. He loves to talk trash on the field, but can be gotten to when he is struggling. Defenders are looking for that opportunity with him now. He might want to start slowing some of trash talk down a bit for a while, and just focus on being the best receiver and teammate he can be.

Moving forward

I wasn’t expecting Seattle to win this one. I also had tempered expectations about Russ returning against Green Bay, and I was skeptical how the defense would hold up against Rodgers. I was actually pleasantly surprised about the defense hanging in as tough as they did.

But I gotta be honest. I look at this team right now, and I don’t see playoffs. I don’t even see them climbing much beyond eight wins, even if they do play better ball down the stretch. Even if they are able to beat Arizona next week, those feelings aren’t likely to change, either.

Part of me wants to see Carroll starting to go more with the young players on this roster. Maybe start Alton Robinson and Darrell Taylor more at defensive ends. Start looking at Cody Barton more again. Mixing in DeeJay Dallas more at running back. Starting Tre Brown at corner.

Carlos Dunlap, Benson Mayowa, Al Woods and others aren’t the future of Seattle Seahawk football right now. Tre Brown, Robinson and Taylor, and maybe Barton are. I honestly don’t understand why we didn’t see more Dee Eskridge in this one, either.

But I don’t see Carroll doing that, and I don’t know if I blame him. Even thought this team is now sitting at 3-6, Carroll won’t abandon his optimism that his team can quickly turn it around and make some magical playoff run. He will see that if they can just beat Arizona, the schedule suddenly gets much softer, and perhaps a winning streak awaits.

I can’t honestly fault him for that, but my goals for this team are likely more different than his right now. I see an team that needs a major reset this off-season.

But beating Arizona this Sunday will make things feel better. Maybe, right now, that’s all we need to feel as fans.

Just beat those damn Cardinals.

Go Hawks.