I Need The Seattle Seahawks To Become The Baltimore Ravens

Posted on January 3, 2024 by curtiseastwood

As you might have guessed by my reactions to the Seahawks getting bullied by the mediocre Pittsburgh Steelers last Sunday, I am about done with this club, and how Pete Carroll and John Schneider have put it together. They lack toughness. I can’t handle that.

Football, at its core, is a game about toughness. Fundamentally, it is the teams that block better, and tackle better that make the playoffs, and advance. Even the pass happy attacks we have seen get Super Bowl rings have generally gotten them because of great offensive lines and good to great defenses.

The Seattle Seahawks have a defense that sucks. Some will argue that it is the players while others will say it is the scheme. I think it is both. Schematically, I think it is stuck somewhere between a 4-3 and a 3-4, and many players are tasked to be jacks of all trades and masters of none. Personnel wise, I think they too often struggle to defeat blocks, set edges, fill gabs, and play decent coverage in the middle of the field. I don’t think these fellas are coached up enough to be fundamentally sound football players, either.

It is as bad of a look as it gets for a defensive minded coach such as Pete Carroll, and the fact that his offense no longer dictates any sort of run game also doesn’t help his image, either. Fans have grown exhausted over his team’s mediocrity. You see it all over social media, you hear it all over the airwaves, and where you really feel it is in the stands where season ticket holders now prefer to sell their tix to opposing team fans instead of attending games themselves.

If Jody Allen allows Pete Carroll to walk everything back next year with his current coordinators, and high priced underwhelming players on this club like Jamal Adams, I fear she will alienate the Twelves to such a point that Lumen Field will become an advantage for visiting clubs next Fall. That is not hyperbole.

Therefore, I need this team to take a radical shift in coarse this offseason that is perhaps starting next week. Some will say that Seattle needs a young bright offensive minded head coach to lead them to some new age hipster brand of football. I respectfully say “fuck that shit.”

I need Seattle to become the biggest baddest bully team in America. I need them to become a mixture of Cobra Kai, and Orc Berserkers on Sundays. I need whatever coach is out there and GM who is willing to make that happen above anything else.

I need them to be the Baltimore Ravens. I don’t care what actions are taken to get there, either. Pete Carroll can stay if he is willing to do whatever it takes to get this team to that goal, but if he’s not, he needs to leave. Either way, I need aggressive actions taken towards achieving it this offseason.

Any expensive player who is not dynamic enough, or does not play on the line of scrimmage can be cut, or dealt for all I care. Seattle doesn’t need $48 million dollars tied up into their safeties. They need that money going to their offensive and defensive lines.

They don’t need the expensive salary of Will Dissly. This will read as blasphemy to many, but I am not so sure they need Tyler Lockett when they have JSN and DK Metcalf, either.

It’s debatable whether they should continue on with Geno Smith and his salary, or if they should bring in a cheaper bridge quarterback and draft a quarterback in the Spring. Either way, I firmly believe they need to draft a quarterback next Spring, and I would prefer them to select one of the six that are most often thought to be first round material. Of the bowl games I watched on New Year’s, I salivated all over my TV set watching Bo Nix, JJ McCarthy, and of course, Michael Penix Junior.

I appreciate Geno as much as the next fan, but the move that makes most sense to me is to cut Geno lose and let him go play for another team that can contend for the playoffs elsewhere while they bring in a cheaper bridge QB, and they draft one of these guys. Ultimately, that frees up the most money to go sign some badasses in free agency. I perfectly willing to trade decent veteran QB for more big, nasty, bruising badasses, and take my lumps with a rookie passer.

My youngster is really super into dinosaurs these days. Specifically, he loves the big meat eaters, T Rex, Giganotosaurus, Spinosaurus, etc.. and he could give two squats about the gigantic sauropods like Brachiosaurus. He is also really deep into Godzilla.

Little dude is attracted to all things that kick mother fucking ass, if I am being perfectly honest.

I get it. So, am I. I think that is what has attracted me so much to football in the first place. It is not a contact sport. It is a game built on violence, a blood sport like boxing and martial arts, and I think it speaks to our hard wiring.

Yes, it is joyous to watch Michael Penix Junior throw perfect rainbow bombs in the Sugar Bowl, but on many levels, it is more satisfying for sorts like myself to watch Bralen Trice absolutely dump the Texas quarterback hard on his ass bone. The latter speaks more closely to my soul, if I am being perfectly honest.

That is football for me. It is Tyrannosaurus Fucking Rex when it is working at its best. I will take Penix (or Bo Nix) in a heartbeat to be a part of that equation, but I want that rookie quarterback surrounded by absolute monsters. In my mind, the surest way to get as many monsters as possible is to have a talented quarterback on a cheap rookie deal. That is the golden ticket in this league.

So, yeah. Count me in on the Gimme Penix To The Seahawks Bandwagon Club. I have been on that ride for months now. However, what I truly appreciate, what most speaks to my twisted mind, and warped soul, is all the dudes who can walk into a phone booth with any other dude and duke it out until the other guy has lost the ability to continue and collapses in near death until medics arrive.

That may sound graphic, and unpleasant, and you might think I am boiling over in toxic masculinity while reading this, but fuck it, that is how I am hard wired. Maybe it comes from somewhere deeply embedded into my DNA where ancestors hundreds of years ago fought in close quarters constantly, and there was value in those skills, or maybe it is just simply because I am total asshole, but that is the way it is, and I am perfectly willing to own it.

In that wiring, nothing annoys me more than watching my favorite football team get kicked around like it did against the Steelers last Sunday. I can stomach my quarterback throwing five interceptions in a game as long as the rest of the team is battling like warriors like they did in that NFC championship game against Green Bay almost a decade ago.

I cannot handle my team being physically owned by another. I cannot have that any longer.

The Seahawks need to get back to the team they once were when they physically bullied others with defense, an intensely tough ground attack, and playmaking quarterback on a rookie contract. I need dudes who are horses and elephants and grizzly bears up front. I need Dan Campbell knee biters.

I also need coaches who will mandate physical dominance. I need that staff to demand excellence at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, and a physical style from all the skill position players equally, as well. I need fundamentally sound football drilled into these dudes so much that they dream about tackling grannies at grocery stores just for sickly dark humor.

I do not feel that from this coaching staff on any level. Maybe it starts and stops with Carroll, and it is time for him to walk away, or maybe he just hasn’t surrounded himself with the right coordinators. Either way, something has got to give. Realistically, I don’t know if Jody Allen fires Carroll after year two of the post Russell Wilson rebuild, but perhaps I underestimate that.

Watching this defense lose its will to fight against an average Steeler team last Sunday was beyond damning, in my mind. It looked like they plainly stopped fighting for Carroll, and it was an absolute embarrassment. If they bring the same flat performance to Phoenix against the Cardinals, then perhaps it is time for Jody to act in a sweeping manner.

On one hand, it feels unfair to fire Carroll during an injury plagued year with a tough schedule, but on the other hand, teams like the Bengals and Browns have lost all kinds of starters (including their quarterbacks), and are competing better for the playoffs. These Seahawks have lost games due to inept coaching, bad scheming, and embarrassing fundamentals more than lack of talent on the field, in my opinion. Now it feels like perhaps players aren’t even playing hard.

If players aren’t fighting for their coach, then something has to give. Either change the players or change the coach. This is what Jody Allen needs to decide if Seattle lays another egg this Sunday. For me, I think it’s easier to change the coaching.

I could go on and on about the things I want for this team. I want better coaching and I am actually fantasying about nutcase Jim Harbaugh taking over, if Carroll can no longer cut it. I want a bright young playmaking quarterback to build around. I need a powerful offensive line. I need an intimidating defense. What I really circle back to is that I just need this team to be exactly like the Ravens.

The Ravens had Joe Flacco at QB, and decided to spend a late first round pick on the raw but talented Lamar Jackson, anyways. The Ravens constantly draft offensive and defensive linemen in abundance. The Ravens pay good money for top free agents offensive and defensive linemen, as well. The Ravens also do not spend second round picks on running backs in back to back years. The Ravens change coordinators when they are stuck in ruts to where the team just isn’t advancing far enough with the talent it has.

This is what I crave. I don’t just want greatness. I need greatness born out of total physical domination. I want to break the wills of players, not watch the will of my defense fly out the window because Mike Tomlin simply decides to stay with his run game.

Yeah. How could you not want this for the Seahawks?

Why not just do whatever to be the biggest and baddest ever? Is this not what football is about????

Or are we just going to give out orange slices every time Tyler Lockett catches a pretty pass from Geno Smith that temporarily elevates our hopes. If this is what we have become as a fanbase, then yeah, sell your tickets off to 49er fans when their team comes up to play because we have all totally lost our edge, and the Seahawks have clearly become a joke again.

For my part, I want the edge back. I need nasty. I need to feel a team that I can be really proud to root for.

This year, I have really struggled to find that sort of pride for the Hawks. Deep down, I punted on this season the moment we got swept by the mediocre Rams and had to then face the dominating 49ers twice. I am positive many other fans did, as well.

If these Seahawks were more like the Ravens, however, I would deeply feel pride. I think most other fans would, as well, and perhaps Lumen Field would be better packed with Seahawk fans instead of traveling ones. This whole enchilada would be fun again, instead of an exercise of constant, unrelenting frustration of bad football fundamentals, bad clock management, and bad schematics.

It is just a thought, anyways.

Go Hawks.

Seahawks Lack Toughness Against Steelers And In General And It Needs To Change

Posted on January 1, 2024 by curtiseastwood

Last week, I was prepared to write about Seattle adopting the model of the Baltimore Ravens in order to become a true contender again, but when the news broke about Russell Wilson being benched in Denver, I felt more compelled to write about that shit show, instead. Leave it to Seattle’s next level horrific defensive effort against the Pittsburgh Steelers to force me to revisit this idea.

The Seattle Seahawks lack toughness. That’s why they lost to the Steelers at home in Lumen Field. That’s why the sit at 8-8 this season with now maybe a 40 percent chance of making the playoffs with one game left against the Cardinals in Phoenix that will be no gimme.

With the way this defense played against the Steelers, do you even want to see them in the playoffs?

I think that is a fair question to ask.

For me, I don’t know. On one hand, I would like to see the youth on the roster to get more playoff experience, but on the other hand, I think I would be fine if Seattle skips out. I don’t know if I have the fortitude of watching them getting slaughtered because they cannot stop an adequate run game.

Pete Carroll’s calling card is that of a defensive minded head coach who likes to run the ball. His defense sucks, and it has sucked for years now. He also no longer seems to desire the run game to be the foundation of his offensive philosophy.

I will be frank. I don’t have a lot of faith in Carroll right now. After the dismantling of his LOB defense, he has had years to build a new defense back up again, and he has failed to deliver. Ever since he shifted to a 3-4 with Clint Hurtt as defensive coordinator, his defense has gone from low end middling to now being truly god awful bad.

Make no mistake, this defense is bad. It gave a good effort against an Eagles team that is now floundering, and it played decently against a puke bad Titans offense last week, but against the Steelers, it felt like it fell apart simply because Mike Tomlin stayed with his run game. If the Eagles had stayed with their run game two weeks ago, Seattle would probably be 7-9 right now.

This team needs a TON of work. I don’t need to see Riq Woolen get trucked over by another running back like Najee Harris did to him in this game ever again. I don’t need to see middle linebackers routinely making tackles eight to ten yards down field on running backs. I don’t need to see Seattle defensive linemen unable to fight off of blocks like they were in this one ever.

Defensively, this team is fundamentally unsound, and it is too late in the season for excuses. I think it is all because of piss poor coaching. Roster construction-wise, though, they have not been helped nearly enough, either. They play poorly, and they are built poorly.

For a team that wanted to shift more into a 3-4 defense, it’s been more than a bit odd that they have chosen to make middle linebacker the thinnest area of their team. I honestly think that had Jordyn Brooks played in this game, Seattle could have won it. He has been their best ‘backer, but what is behind him is next to nothing, just an aging Bobby Wagner and scabs. That’s it. That’s maybe fine depth if you are running more 4-3, but that doesn’t seem to be what defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt wants this defense to be.

Honestly, I still question what this defense even is. They shift so much between 3-4 and 4-3 that I wonder if there is anything their front seven is ever mastering.

I am about done with this defense. – Strike that! I am more than done with it

I think they have some decent young players and a couple good defensive tackles, but they are woefully lacking in speed, strength, and talent. I need something else next year. I need a better scheme and better talent. The only players I currently see worth hanging around to build off of is Devon Witherspoon, Boye Mafe, Uchenna Nwosu, and then Leonard Williams and Jordyn Brooks if they can both be retained. That’s it.

At this rate, though, I am not so sure Big Cat Williams will want to come back. It may take new coaching to attract him and other quality veteran free agents to sign here.

As for the rest of these defenders, I think Bobby Wagner is too old, I think Jamal Adams needs to be gone, and Quandre Diggs is too expensive for what he is. I also think they overpaid Dre’Mont Jones for what he is, and I haven’t seen enough of the rookie defensive linemen to really get a feel of anything. Don’t get me started on my mood about Riq Woolen right now.

Offensively, Geno Smith is not the problem for this team. I don’t know if he is the solution either, though. He’s not likely the quarterback that is going to carry this team far into any playoff push, that’s my vibe, and I think there is now a case that, in order for Seattle to properly build themselves in the Baltimore Ravens West, they may need to relieve themselves of his salary next offseason to properly spend on the offensive line, and maybe go get some linebackers who can truly fill gaps, shed, tackle, and cover.

I can nitpick this roster until the cows come home at sunset, though, and it will still not truly address the biggest issue this team. Harry Truman was the only democrat president that my father ever liked. He liked Truman simply because he had a sign on the Oval Office desk that read “the buck stops here.”

When things are not working, and they haven’t worked in the long while, and solutions just have not been found, I think you have to look to the very top of who is in charge, and scrutinize them. At this point, I think you know where I am going with this.

If this team loses next weekend against the Cardinals, which they very well might, I think Pete Carroll should step aside. Even if they win, I still sorta think he should.

I am as big of a fan of his as any, but it has just gotten to a point where, season after season, there is just no sign of progress being made, and maybe it is time for a new head coach with fresh eyes to look at this roster and how it has been utilized, and bring in a fresh plan. This is my present mood today.

Also, I think the fact that Carroll has more control over the roster construction of this team than GM John Schneider has is more than a bit ass backwards over the years, and I would like to see Schneider have final say over the coaching staff in order to see if things have been a Carroll issue, or a Schneider one. There are things this team has done with their spending that make me think it’s more Carroll’s desires that Schneider’s.

Putting $48 million dollars into the safety position is terrible roster management, and it has caught up to this team. I don’t know if the money paid out to Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf is great, either, or for tight end Will Dissly, or reserve nose tackle Brian Mone who hasn’t played in seemingly ages now. The have overpaid good players, and they have overpaid middling ones, too. WHY?

Seattle has spent on the defensive line, but not nearly squat all on the offensive line. They never seem to value guard of center like other playoff contending teams. Just look at what the Ravens do!

They are jacked up at guard, center, and defensive tackle year after year. They value the interior of their lines and want to dominate there.

The Ravens each and every year routinely spend second and third round picks on their offensive and defensive lines, and they invest in quality veterans there, too. They want to beat you in the trenches. They have a playmaking quarterback, yes, but they still want to hit you in the mouth over, and over, and over again until you are toothless.

Look what they have done in the last week to the power house 49ers and the upstart Dolphins. They beat the holy crap out of both clubs.

This used to be Seattle a decade ago. I need this to be Seattle again.

This game against the Steelers has put this in center focus for me at the New Year. I am absolutely done with all of this mediocre crap I see in Seahawk uniforms on Sundays. A win against the Cardinals next week, and maybe slipping into the playoffs will not change my view.

KJR’s on air personality Dick Fain posted a poll on Seahawks Twitter X asking if people even care whether they make the playoffs now next week. 60% responded that they do not care.

That is how over it fans are with this team right now. After so many years of being good-not-great to becoming not-so-good, it has all worn thin on even the biggest diehards. I am actually very indifferent about them even making the playoffs this year, and I cannot remember the last time I have felt that way.

That’s how deflating it was to watch this defense against the Steelers. It feels like it has all come to a head. Maybe this is exactly where we need to be.

I cannot watch Riq Woolen get punked by a running back like that again. I cannot watch defensive linemen not be able to get off blocks and make a play. I can’t watch linebackers and safeties miss tackles and play without aggression.

I cannot hear Pete Carroll say one more time that his team wasn’t prepared well enough to play. I just can’t with that anymore.

No more excuses.

All of this needs to change. This is what I hope for in 2024.

Go Hawks.

Russell Wilson And The Denver Bronco Clown Show

Posted on December 28, 2023 by curtiseastwood

As I am sure it is with a lot of Seattle fans, I have a fairly complex view on Russell Wilson. Throughout most of his tenure in Seattle, he was my favorite Seahawk player since Cortez Kennedy. In fact, he and Kennedy are the only Seahawks who’s jerseys I have ever purchased and worn.

I became a huge fan of Russell Wilson in his rookie year when sports radio sorts laughed about him, and fans wanted Pete Carroll fired for starting him over Matt Flynn. When I watched him throw a go ahead game winning bomb to Sidney Rice against the Patriots, I decided, come hell or high water, Russ was going to be my guy.

The last two years of him in Seattle were rough on me as a fan, though. I felt myself in a weird place of defending his diminished play, and then sort of gutted with disappointment that he wanted Pete Carroll and John Schneider fired in order to stay in Seattle. When I got wind of that, my thought was simply “trade his ass.” I was ready to move on.

I just don’t want any player on the team I root for to have that kind of power and control. I don’t think that works in football like it can work in the smaller rostered teams of the NBA. In fact, I think that’s pretty poisonous, and look what it did for Denver in Russ’s first year.

Players on that team started tuning him out and quit on him. They saw through the ego and the weird entourage. It became a total laughing stock situation across the league.

I don’t believe Sean Payton was hired to “fix” Russell Wilson. I think he was hired to push back on him and his agent. I think the new ownership group in Denver that wasn’t involved with the trade probably decided last offseason that they needed to move on from Russell Wilson, and they needed a forceful proven head coach who would put him in his place, and set a new standard for the team.

You can love that, or hate it, be impressed with it, or disgusted with it, but I believe that was everything going on there. I also think that organizationally, they have no fucking idea what they are doing in this process.

Why on Earth would they go to Russell Wilson to attempt to get him to rescind his injury guarantees in his contract weeks ago, and then still have him play meaningful games risking injury? It doesn’t make sense, and what were they expecting his response was going to be?

If this is all true about what they asked him to do last month, then they have no idea how to run a professional football team, and if they had any sense of how Russ’s agent operates, they had to know all of this was going to get leaked after his benching, and then turn into an absolute PR shit show for them to deal with. So, yeah, I think the Denver Broncos are the perfect clown show organization of the league right now.

But I also understand why they want to move away from Russell Wilson. They should have never have traded for him and gave away that sort of haul to Seattle in the first place. They should have never granted him and his agent that sort of initial control. They never asked the question as to why Seattle would ever be willing to deal him in the first place, and that was their fatal flaw from their previous ownership.

The new ownership just decided to crap all over themselves asking him to rescind the details of his current contract. That’s their fatal flaw and it is going to take them a long time to publicly live that down. They better draft a great quarterback next Spring.

Seattle fans may not want to hear this, but I honestly think Michael Penix Junior would be an ideal fit for what Sean Payton wants to do. He might be their QB1, and they will be in better position to draft him than Seattle will.

From a Seattle point of view, benching Russ likely helps us get a higher third round pick from Denver next Spring that could turn into a starting guard or linebacker, and that’s a nice plus. It also unanimously shows the World which team ultimately won the blockbuster trade. The Seahawks destroyed the Broncos in that deal. It was stealing candy from a special needs child.

Moving forward, Russ will be released in March and will be a free agent. I don’t suspect he will have a big market. This is a deep quarterback draft class coming up, and teams are finding ways to win with guys who have been largely backup quarterbacks, and or marginal starters.

Why pay over $30 Million annually for a 35 year old short quarterback who is going to force your offense into a run first approach in order to maximize his abilities?

Yes, he absolutely has had a bounce back year in 2023, but that only occurred once Sean Payton accepted the fact that he had to adopt the old Pete Carroll Seahawk run on first and second down offense in order to get efficient production out of him. Pete Carroll now runs a more opened up offense in Seattle than he ever did with Russ. He actually trusts Geno Smith more than he did Russell Wilson.

What this all tells the league is that Russ is a very good play action quarterback in a run heavy offense, and that is it. A lot of quarterbacks in this league are good at play action in run heavy attacks. Geno Smith is very good at it. Derek Carr can be good at it. So can Baker Mayfield, and so forth, and so on. This is the group that Russell Wilson falls under, nice 2023 stats not withstanding.

I know some fans are going to wonder about whether a return to Seattle could happen for him. I do not see a future where Russell Wilson comes back to Seattle to play again. I know former players have returned to this organization to play for Pete Carroll again, but I don’t think this one will. I think too much damage was done.

I think that his future with the team ended after he stepped into Jody Allen’s office and requested that she either fire Pete Carroll and John Schneider or trade him away. Even if Carroll and Schneider move on, I think that act of Russ and his agent has probably left an extremely soured taste in Jody’s mouth. As acting owner, I don’t suspect that she would want to work with them again, and if she should sell to Jeff Bezos, I don’t suspect he would want to entertain that, either.

That is the truly sad thing about Russ that stays with me all through this. His willingness to back stab his bosses because of the entitlement that bore out of his lofty status as Seattle’s franchise quarterback. He wanted so much to be Tom Brady and Lebron James that he lost sight of the plucky Dudley Do Right he was when he first got here and just wanted to do everything right.

With Super Bowls came celebrity and a celebrity wife and crazy ambitions on and off the field, and then a hyper unrealistic view of who and what he is as a player. That’s his story in Seattle. That’s his legacy along with Super Bowls and playoffs and pro bowls. It is all wrapped up into one incredibly complicated package, and I am not so sure I would want this team to entertain a reunion with him if they even did (they won’t).

What I expect is that after getting cut in March, he will have some teams probably sniff around. His stats were good again this year, and he proved he can play in a very run centric approach.

Atlanta with their spendy owner might sniff around. The Raiders could show interest. Maybe Carolina to help groom Bryce Young, or maybe Tampa, but I suspect they would rather stay with Baker Mayfield. Maybe Minnesota if they move on from Cousins, but why wouldn’t they just stay with Cousins?

I also see a lot of things potentially working against him on the market. A lot of teams are going to be interested in one of the many talented quarterbacks who could be in this draft. Other teams will have their own middling starter or a franchise guy in place. Why make a lateral move for Russell Wilson?

It’s possible that Russ could sit a long time on the open market before he signs somewhere like it was for Cam Newton a few years back when he was released by Carolina. We might get into training camp and when it is clear a team doesn’t have a good starter then he gets an offer he will accept.

I think either a team gets desperate in free agency early with him and offers him a short term deal with a decent amount of money up front, or the market is cold, and he will be forced to wait it out into training camp and accept a low ball deal to come in and compete in a bad quarterback situation. I don’t think there will be middle ground. Either way, I don’t think he will see another big time contract again. Those days are over, and recent history is too damning.

Whenever he ends up, I wish the best for him. I would like to see him have some success again. As someone who used to be one of his biggest fans, I don’t want to see his storyline falter further.

However, also as a Seattle Seahawk fan, I don’t really want to see him back here. I would rather hang with Geno Smith a bit longer, and see this team draft the next franchise quarterback to take over.

For me the gold ticket is to get a young talented passer on a salary cap friendly contract to beef the roster up around. Russell Wilson gave me this model, after all.

Go Hawks.

Seahawks’s Narrow Win Over Titans Is The Christmas Gift I Needed

Posted on December 25, 2023 by curtiseastwood

Ah, what’s a matter, Twelves? Santa didn’t give your team a blowout win on the road over the Tennessee Titans? Just got another nail biter victory, instead?

Well, what on Sweet Baby Jesus’s Earth did you think was going to happen? Have you not learned a solitary thing about these 2023 Seahawks, yet?

Wins are not going to be easy. No fricking way. These Seahawks aren’t talented enough to bury a lot of inferior opponents right now, and I am not so sure they are always schemed the right way, either. Because of this, I think they can make games harder than they need to be.

They are showing some interesting late season resiliency, though, with late scoring come from behind victories against a good Eagles team, and then a not so good Titans team. With this latest win against Tennessee, I feel it is increasingly likely that they will secure a playoff spot, but they have two games left to stress all of us out in the process.

So, buckle yo’ selves ups, Buttercups. These Seahawk games are not going to be for the queasy.

I know what a lot of reactions and mood meters are for a lot of Seahawk fans. I suspect many aren’t impressed that they are climbing out of the four game losing streak hole they dug for themselves. Never you mind that two of those losses came against San Francisco, who are playing above and beyond any other team in football right now, and then narrow losses on the road against Dallas and the LA Rams, who are both in the playoff picture, as well.

Nah, I think many Seahawk fans need those style points. I’m sure many thought this game in Tennessee was supposed to be easy even though Tennessee has one of the best defensive lines in football and a run game that can pose a problem to Seattle’s spotty hybrid defensive scheme.

It is easy for folks to look at records of opponents and chalk up wins before games are even played, but they often fail to respect the truth of a seemingly weaker opponent. The truth of the Titans is that two weeks ago they traveled to Miami and beat the Dolphins on the road. The Dolphins might be the third best team in football right now behind the 49ers and Ravens.

So, I for one, did not think this was going to be an easy game for Seattle. I thought the Titans would be playing with something to prove. I felt a trap game, and Seattle has given me little reason to think they wouldn’t potentially fall victim to it. They narrowly did, but then they showed resilience for the second game in the row.

In doing that, it amuses me how much the outcome mirrored last Monday Night Football’s against the Eagles, but this time around, it was Geno Smith leading the team for a late go ahead touchdown. I could feel the hoards of fans laboring through most of the game that Drew Lock should have been the starter, but Geno stepped up and delivered two big time fourth quarter touchdown passes that put his team up twice.

For all the Geno haters out there on social media, forums, and sports radio, Geno Smith now leads the league in game winning drives this year. He has four of them, and he had done this while missing two games as a starter.

I revel in this fact. I soak in its bath water.

Gee, I thought the whole big argument from Geno Smith haters is that he is not capable of such feats on the field. Turns out that he very much is, and is currently best in the league at it this year. Guess they are going to have to find another reason why Pete Carroll is a moron for starting him over Drew Lock.

Seattle may have numerous issues preventing them from being a true Super Bowl contender this year, but I do not think quarterback is one of them. If Geno Smith had the offensive line that Lamar Jackson has in Baltimore, or Brock Purdy does in San Francisco, I think we would be celebrating this offense A LOT MORE. If Geno Smith was on a team that truly had a defense capable of making a good offense one dimensional, I think this team would be better at fighting San Francisco for this division. He has neither of these things.

If Seattle is going to fight their way into the playoffs, they will be doing it with a journeyman center, a raw rookie right guard, and a defensive scheme that perhaps plays too varied with an aging middle linebacker who is not the player he once way in coverage. They will be doing it playing more out of shotgun than perhaps they should in order to best utilize Jaxon Smith Njigba, Type Lockett, and DK Metcalf over a potentially potent run game with Ken Walker and Zach Charbonnet.

Therefore, each game is going to be an adventure. I don’t expect the Steelers to be easy next week at Lumen Field, and I don’t imagine the Cardinals are going to lay down in Arizona afterwards. While it is possible Seattle wins out, it’s far from a given.

So, I am just going to enjoy these final couple games and hope for the best for Seattle. I would love to see them back in the playoffs, but I’m not punching any ticket anytime soon.

That said, I sense a vibe with this team that does make me increasingly hopeful they will find themselves in the post season. I sense a resiliency vibe brewing now.

I think they are getting timely play from key starters. I get frustrated with Shane Waldron’s play calling still, but I can see some light at the end of the tunnel for the offense when all I saw a few weeks ago was darkness. I don’t love the varied scheme Clint Hurtt runs with this defense, but I can see positive trends there, as well. I think a lot of this is the players responding positively on both sides of the ball recently.

I think DK Metcalf is stepping up more when he needs to do it. As is Tyler Lockett, and K9, and JSN. These are the top playmakers for this offense, and I sense them all coming on together.

I think Julian Love is becoming an interesting playmaker on defense, and Qunadre Diggs seems to be coming around. I think Seattle’s defensive line is finally gelling better now with Leonard Williams, Jarran Reed, Boye Mafe, and Dre’Mont Jones all coming on together. I think this defense has a chance to get better these last two games if they get Devon Witherspoon back.

On Christmas Day, I have optimism for my Seattle Seahawks. I will take that gift.

If it is not universally shared with all Seahawk fans, I get it. Some need style points. Some are exhausted of a 14 year run by Pete Carroll where all they see is trends of inconsistencies, lack of discipline, and lack of prior dominance.

I think it’s fair game to criticize this team, and I, for one, do not believe in holding back on it, myself. I just look at this whole landscape of the NFC, and I wonder who the class of the division is outside of San Francisco.

For as much as you want to bemoan how difficult these wins are for Seattle, and how disappointing some of the losses have been, Seattle has beaten the NFC North leading Detroit Lions, the playoff bound Philadelphia Eagles, the likely playoff bound Cleveland Browns, and they narrowly lost to the Cowboys, Rams, and Bengals who are all in the playoff mixes. I think that is worth keeping in mind.

I mean, is Seattle really that much different than most of the top competition?

I would argue that they are not, and there is only one or two teams in the entirety of football that is dominant, and those would be San Francisco and Baltimore.

Seattle won this game in Tennessee without their best player on defense in Witherspoon, and without their best linebacker in Jordyn Brooks. They won it with a spotty offensive line going up against one of the better defensive fronts in football.

I will take this victory, absolutely. Stats are for losers, and style points are for whiners. Just give me the W. I will take that every single time.

Merry Christmas!

Seahawk Quarterback Good Vibes Are Worth Celebrating

Posted on December 22, 2023 by curtiseastwood

I don’t know what is in store for the Seattle Seahawks for the rest of this season, and I have no idea what is going to happen next year. I think there is a little cloud of mystery hovering over this team on many levels.

For the remainder of this season, I can see them winning out these last three games, and finding themselves in the playoffs. I can also see them losing out. I can see something in between.

I also have no idea if Carroll is back next year, or not. Nor am I certain Jody Allen will be owning the team when they kick off next Fall, or someone like Jeff Bezos will.

As I look at these Seattle quarterbacks, I have no idea if Geno Smith, or Drew Lock, or some other quarterback will be the starter next year. The only thing I know is that Geno Smith, barring injury, is going to start these final three games, and the chips will then fall where they may.

It was as fun of an experience as I have had in a long while as seeing Drew Lock engineer that improbable game winning drive on Monday Night Football against the Philadelphia Eagles. I was so much in the after glow of that moment, that I wrote the next morning that, as a fan, I wanted to see more of Lock moving forward these last few games.

Pete Carroll stepped all over that idea immediately, though. Geno Smith is his starting quarterback.

Pete Carroll is not presently in the mood to see what untapped potential there is with Drew Lock. If that was his deep interest all along, he would have made Lock the starter last year, and he would have been willing to take the lumps that go along with bringing along a raw quarterback.

I think after the Seahawks made the deal with Denver that included Lock, Carroll had it in his mind that he needed to get Geno Smith back into the program. I suspect that Geno had shown Carroll and Shane Waldron enough in his fill in duty for Russell Wilson in 2021 for them to believe he had a pretty good grasp on this offense. Therefore, I don’t believe there was ever any fair quarterback competition during the training camp of 2022, and all along, it was going to be Geno Smith’s job to lose, and so far, he has not lost it.

You can say that this quarterback handling by Carroll hasn’t been fair to Drew Lock, and I get it. Initially, I had it in my own mind that they should give the gig to Drew in order to see what’s there, but that didn’t happen, and I chose to move off of it.

Pamela Anderson should have dated me instead of Tommy Lee in the nineties, but that didn’t happen. No use crying over spilled milk.

Folks need to be realistic here when it comes to Pete Carroll and these quarterbacks. Pete Carroll wants to win ball games.

When he dealt away pouting Russell Wilson, I think he took it personally. He didn’t want 2022 to be a losing season while watching Russ potentially win in Denver just to see what’s there with Drew Lock. He wanted to go with the quarterback who he believed gave Seattle the best chance to win games. In the midst of that season, I think Geno Smith legitimately surprised him with his play, and further won him over.

As much as I think it is interesting to see what is there with Lock in these last handful of games, I think the quarterback who gives Seattle the best chance as winning out these last three games is Geno Smith. I think that had we had a healthy Geno Smith playing against a bad Philadelphia secondary on Monday night, Seattle would have likely walked away with a more comfortable win and a big night out of Geno Smith. That’s what my gut tells me.

I think Seattle’s game plan for Drew Lock was a simplified one. I think they asked him to take the safe stuff and to not chase after anything big that wasn’t there. I think they really wanted to get the run game going to help him out. I think Carroll was probably just hoping for the game to stay close enough in the fourth that maybe they could pull something off at the end.

I think Drew did an incredible job pulling off that final drive when he did, and I was so impressed by what had happened that he instantaneously forced me to rethink my ideas about him as a quarterback. I had previously written him off as any potential starter. I don’t feel that way about him now.

But I also think that the reality of the Seahawk situation right now is that Geno Smith gives Seattle the best chance at winning games, and I think that salvaging this up and down season and making the playoffs is the number one goal in Pete Carroll’s mind. Therefore, I think it’s time to bury the idea of starting Drew Lock more because it just isn’t going to happen.

The only way Lock starts again is if Geno gets injured again, or if they drop the next two games, and are eliminated from the playoffs by the time they close out the season in Arizona, and Carroll just decides to give Drew Lock a final look. Maybe in that latter scenario, Carroll acquiesces to the front office’s desires to look at Lock further before deciding what to do at quarterback in the soon to be offseason.

So, there we have it with these two quarterbacks. You might like it, or you might hate it, but this is what it is.

Instead of choosing a side of any quarterback argument here in Seattle, I just want to wrap my big ole arms around both of these passers, and love them up some. Both of these guys deserve to be embraced by the fans here, I think.

What I like most about these two quarterbacks is their relationship to each other. I believe Drew Lock when he says Geno Smith is one of his closest friends and strongest supporters.

We saw that on Monday Night Football when Drew threw the game winning touchdown and did his little signature celebration, and Geno did it back to him on the sidelines. The whole moment is a clip that has now gone very viral and it is by far my favorite thing surrounding the Seattle Seahawks this year.

In those short moments captured by cameras, we bore witness to their brotherly love that is probably pretty rare in quarterback rooms, if we are all being honest. I don’t recall Joe Montana doing that with Steve Young thirty years ago, or Brett Farve sharing a moment like that with Aaron Rodgers, either.

I’m not saying that Geno Smith and Drew Lock are those type of Hall of Fame guys, either, so pipe down if you were thinking that. In fact, I still think it’s unlikely that either of these two quarterbacks are going to end up as a long term solution to the quarterback situation here in Seattle, but that is just me.

I am just saying that these are our guys right now, and I think their vibe with each other is special. In fact, I think it is so special that I feel like it is a vibe this locker room can ride with.

The players on this team should now know they have two quarterbacks capable of starting and winning some games. That can breed some confidence. That can have you playing looser and with a little extra swag on the field.

I am going to dare to say that I think these Seattle Seahawks needed Monday Night to happen, and needed to see Drew Lock throw that perfect dart to Jaxon Smith Ngijba for the go ahead score. Further more, I think they really needed to see how both of these quarterbacks shared the moment with each other.

There has been a weird dark cloud hovering over this team for some weeks now. I think the whole weirdness with Jamal Adams has been symptomatic of a problem of some players being out for themselves and not their team mates. I don’t think Jamal has necessarily been the only player acting selfishly, either. He’s just been the most visible.

But with Drew Lock and Geno Smith, I think we have leaders showing the team how to set shit aside and support each other. I am positive that both players feel like they should be the starter. They should.

Geno was practically begging Carroll to start him even though team doctors were saying he should sit it out. I am sure Drew Lock feels like he has more than shown the team that he can be the guy moving forward, if they need him to do it.

Only one of these guys gets to start, though, and Carroll has made is clear to the world who his QB1 is. I think maybe one of the most valuable things that Drew Lock can offer this team for the remainder of the year is to continue throwing his full support behind Geno Smith. I think if the shoe was on the other foot, he would want Geno doing that for him. I suspect Geno would.

I think their friendship is that legit. People can doubt it, if they want, but I think they share so much commonality that I would suspect that it is very likely they will be closely bonded for life.

I think probably what has galvanized their bonds is that they have been in this very odd position together of being quarterbacks tasked to replace the legend of Russell Wilson, and in that process, having the entire world doubting them from the get go. Both players were high second round picks quickly cast off by their teams early in their careers without ever giving any real chance to develop as starters, and by fate, they found themselves here duking it out for the starter gig with everyone laughing at them on sports radio and social media, and saying Seattle needed to go after Baker Mayfield, instead. I think it is fair to say that they have both been put through a blender together.

Now they comprise of a quarterback room that has an opportunity to see Seattle in the playoffs for a second straight year post Russell Wilson. You can be up or down on the Seahawks right now, if you want to be, but you have to tip the hat to these guys for carrying through under an extremely tough microscope.

I think there can be something galvanizing in that, and special in its own way. As I sit days before the Christmas holiday, I think it’s cool to reflect on Drew Lock and Geno Smith some.

When I started writing this piece, I had it in my mind to touch on the Jamal Adams horse crap, and the recent speculations by way of Albert Breer as to whether Pete Carroll might retire after the season, but I just kept playing that viral clip of Drew and Geno celebrating together on MNF over and over again, and well, sometimes something just feels so damn good that I cannot shake it off. Today, I am just here to celebrate Drew Lock and Geno Smith.

I like these two quarterbacks for Seattle. Who knows if they will both be back next year. I’m not going to future trip on that right now, though.

I like these guys for Seattle right now, and I am excited if this win against the Eagles will spark something special to close this season out right, and see this team back into the playoffs.

Whatever happens, I will future trip later, and probably spend the whole offseason doing it. For now, I am eager to see if this team is ready to ride some really good vibes right now, and I am grateful for Geno and Drew showing us the way.

Go Hawks.

The Seahawks Stun Philly And Me!

Posted on December 19, 2023 by curtiseastwood

Being a Seattle Seahawk fan over the past several years can be a bipolar experience. Ever since the dismantling of the Legion Of Boom defense, they have never been able to build a competent defense back up again, and their offense this year has been such the issue that I have been constantly ramming my head into a brick wall in lamentation. These Seahawks of today rarely win easily, and when they lose lately, it can look pretty ugly.

Yesterday morning, I was all but done with them for the year. I was ready to get into the offseason to fire coaches, cut players, and reboot the whole program. Then Monday Night Football against the Philadelphia Eagles happened.

To say that a surprising 20-17 victory over a more talented Eagles team has changed my perspective on the Seahawks is an understatement. Now sitting at 7-7, Seattle has three games left on their schedule that appear a lot more winnable than the last four games they played.

Will they run the table, win four games in a row to finish this season 10-7, and see themselves back into playoffs again? I dunno, but I am now officially daring to dream.

Yesterday, I wanted to break the team apart and start from scratch with new coaches and players. Now I am sucked back into thinking that firing Pete Carroll would be the stupidest thing that Jody Allen could possibly do.

This is my bipolar existence as a Seattle Seahawk fan. Fourteen years of Pete Carroll has been a long haul for me as a Twelve, and at times I entertain the idea of change, but then a game like this one comes up, and I am reminded how spoiled I have been for about a decade and a half as a fan.

I was fortunate to see this MNF match in person, and up close behind the Seattle bench. Lumen Field was ELECTRIC, and the loudest I have felt it in years. Here are my overriding thoughts from this fantastic experience.

As someone who moonlights writing about the Seattle Seahawks, I owe an enormous apology to Drew Lock. I have been hyper critical of him in his fill in duty at quarterback this year. Part of it has to do with pushing back against the anti Geno crowd of the Seattle fanbase who have been laboring for Pete Carroll to play Lock, instead. Another reason is that I have felt that Lock just isn’t as good of a QB as Geno, and Seattle would be better served to draft and develop a long term starter who will be on a cheap rookie contract to beef up the roster around, and I still lean this way.

Here is what I will say about Drew Lock after this MNF game, and the game last week in San Francisco. I think Drew has qualities that make me see why Seattle’s front office has been intrigued by him. The ball comes easily out of his hands and he gets it out quickly. He effortlessly throws it downfield. He has pretty good mobility. He’s tall and likely sees the field well. I think he still does things that can put the ball in harms way, and that makes me nervous, but he has played two games in a row much better than anything I was anticipating. Bravo.

In this game against the Eagles, I think he played the style of game Pete Carroll wanted him to play. He got the ball out fast, and he was efficient. He didn’t try to make something out of nothing. Most importantly, when the team needed him at the end to win it, he led the team down the field for a ninety yard go ahead touchdown scoring drive, and he did the whole thing with his arm.

Make no mistake, this fourth quarter come from behind game winning scoring drive by Drew Lock is a super big deal. He is now officially back in the conversation for what Seattle does at the quarterback position in the future.

People will talk all week about the gorgeous touchdown winning throw to Jaxon Smith Ngijba, but my favorite Drew Lock moment of the night might have been the lead block he threw for Ken Walker’s touchdown in the third quarter. It is plays like that where a quarterback will win me over, and show me that he is willing to do whatever he can to help his teammates win a ball game. In that moment, Drew Lock captured me as a fan. I’m in his corner now.

Honestly, after this performance against the Eagles, I wouldn’t mind seeing Lock again next week in Tennessee, and if things continue to trend well with another win, maybe just ride him out the rest of the way. I say that being a Geno Smith fan, but I just sense maybe an interesting momentum with Lock that I would like to see where it leads. I think I know what we have with Geno. Lock is now a more of an intriguing mystery in my mind.

This will not be the case, however. Pete Carroll made it clear in his post game press conference that Geno Smith is the starter for the Seahawks, and when he is healthy enough, he will be the guy they ride with to finish out the season. I would be lying if I said that part of me isn’t a bit disappointed in that, but I get why Carroll is firm in this position.

I think Carroll is going to see Tennessee, Pittsburgh, and Arizona as games they can win, and I just think he’s going to trust Geno more than he will Drew Lock. After all, Geno played a pretty good game a few weeks ago against a good Dallas Cowboy defense, and almost got Seattle the W on the road. I think with Geno, Seattle is more willing to open up the offensive playbook, and who knows how many how many points they would have scored against Philly if a healthy Geno was playing.

Still there is something about Lock that just intrigues me more now. It is rumored that John Schneider had a very high opinion about him coming out of college and the reason Seattle made the trade with Denver is that they specifically wanted Lock in the package. I think it is possible that there might even be a divide between Pete and John regarding Lock, but that is just my own loosey goosey speculation.

I dunno, as I type this out this morning, I just wouldn’t mind it if Seattle rested Geno one more week against a struggling Titans team to see what more can Lock do, but I think it’s all moot. If Carroll thinks Geno is good enough to go, Drew Lock will be the backup again. I fully expect Geno to be the guy the rest of the way starting next weekend.

My other big overriding thought on this epic MNF match between the Seahawks and Eagles is that Julian Love is a WAY better safety for the Seattle Seahawks than Jamal Adams presently is. Even though they held Philly to 17 points, I still sense that Seattle’s defense is a mixed bag of some good, and some not so goods, but I at least believe now that Love mixed with Quandre Diggs gives Seattle two legitimately good coverage safeties.

Therefore, I do not see how Adams can come back and take that spot away from Love. Once he is healthy enough, I think you use Adams as a linebacker in situations, and you have the starting safeties be Quandre Diggs and Julian Love. Drew Lock might have won the game for Seattle in the end, but Julian Love saved the game for Seattle by intercepting Jalen Hurts twice.

Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention this. Drew Lock outplayed Jalen Hurts. Let that sink in, America.

Also, here is my bonus overriding thought. Offensively, I saw the return of Pete Carroll football with Ken Walker and Zach Charbonnet running the rock and it was glorious. For the first time this season, I felt I saw an identity to this offense that just made sense. With players like Anthony Bradford at guard and Abe Lucas at tackle, Seattle has ability to be a big powerful run blocking offensive line that can wear into defensive linemen and linebackers but they haven’t committed to it enough, and it drives me absolutely bonkers.

Maybe with Lock at quarterback and the stakes high, Shane Waldron felt the need to dial into the run more. Maybe this is yet another reason why to ride with Lock; it forces Waldron to choose an offensively identity. Yes, you read that right.

Jesus H Crispy! What a novel idea! Running the ball to wear down an opponent and compliment a defense more, and make the job of the quarterback an easier one.

Football need not be so complicated. The best Pete Carroll coached teams have always been centered on very basic formulas, and in doing this, they have won national championships, and a Super Bowl.

I would love to see more Pete Carroll football in Seattle again. I feel like I have been waiting for it for a long time. This game against the Eagles has given me a sliver of hope.

Can this team run the table and win out and get back to the playoffs again? I think they can but they have to lean into the formula that got them this win against the Eagles.

Run the fricking ball. Play smarter and better on defense. Make the big plays when you need to make them. These three things and get them to 10-7, and I would be all for that.

Will they? Well, we are about to find out. Right now, I am daring again to believe in them. God help me.

Go Hawks!

The Undeniably Hard Truth About The Seattle Seahawks

Posted on December 13, 2023 by curtiseastwood

San Francisco 49er beat reporter Michael Silver recently came out with an interesting little article detailing what 49er head coach Kyle Shanahan had planned for the Seahawks last Sunday. Essentially, he placed a bounty out to get DK Metcalf tossed from the game. He showed his defense a highlights of all the times DK had lost his shit, and he said there would be a nice present from Santa for any player who got under his skin enough for him get ejected.

It doesn’t take a genius mind to imagine 49er defenders had spent most of the game trying to incite DK Metcalf into a meltdown. So, I kinda credit DK for keeping his cool up until the last few minutes of the fourth quarter when after an interception, he used a relatively harmless suplex move to tackle Fred Warner, only to see Warner lateral the ball to a teammate, and then shove with his body weight on the back of his neck, the same neck he had broken in college. After that inciting incident, DK lost it, grabbed Warner’s face mask, and was ejected out of the game after it was clear that the 49ers were going to runaway with their decisive victory.

I hope Shanahan got Warner a really dope jet ski on Monday. I am sure the entire collective of the 49er Faithful shared the same euphoric joy watching all that go down. I wouldn’t be surprised if Silver had a big old shit eating grin spread across his face when he submitted his article.

You are free to react to this news however you want to as a Seahawk fan. You can be like me, and call Shanahan a chump coach, or you can be like others, and think that Shanahan is genius for doing it.

Personally, I don’t think he’s a genius at all for this. He didn’t need his defense to get DK Metcalf ejected in order to beat the Seattle Seahawks, not with the way Seattle’s defense has been matching up with his offense, nor the way his defense owned Seattle’s offense.

Nope. In my mind, this was a punk move by the coach. He didn’t just want his team to beat Seattle, he wanted them to have extra fun doing it, and they did.

As a Seattle Seahawk fan, how does that make you feel?

The head coach of your main division rival does not respect your team on any sort of level, at all. He has no fear matching his team up against them.

In fact, in order to make any contest fun, he’s now got to rub it in extra during the win. He’s got to make it a super fun spectacle for the 49er Faithful to bathe in kinda like the mean girl in Season Four of Stranger Things.

I am not a psychologist, but I have been around the block enough times to recognize certain things. When I look at these 49ers and their head coach, I see a smug arrogance that thinks they are way ahead of everyone else. That’s fine. They are playing on fire right now, and have kinda earned the right to be arrogant. That’s not what really bothers me, though.

What really gets under my skin is that they do not fear the Seattle Seahawks in any way, shape or form. If Kyle Shanahan did, I do not think he would have shown his team the DK meltdown highlights in order to create a bounty. If his present day team was facing the 2013 Seattle Seahawk squad on Sunday, he wouldn’t have thought to poke that bear. I guarantee that.

The Seattle Seahawks won Super Bowl XLVIII because Pete Carroll and John Schneider constructed a roster that was so mean, and nasty, and dominating, that Kirk Cousins could have been the quarterback they took 75th overall in 2012 instead of Russell Wilson, and he would have led Seattle to that Super Bowl victory. This is the undeniable truth of our Seattle Seahawk history.

Seattle’s entire identity was built around pissed off and hungry pit bulls and grizzly bears littered all throughout that roster a decade ago. They terrified opponents.

Defensive backs didn’t want to tackle Marshawn Lynch because he was intentionally looking to harm any dude who dared to do it. Receivers and tight ends didn’t want to catch balls thrown over the middle of this defense because Seattle had a strong safety built like a defensive end, and they had a freakishly fast free safety who shot out of his position like a canon ball towards anyone attempting a catch. Quarterbacks got nervous because defensive coordinator Dan Quinn devised a pass rush that made Michael Bennett almost unblockable inside and Cliff Avril too quick to handle outside, and they didn’t want to throw to their right because of Richard Sherman at cornerback. Tacklers got tired of tackling because Seattle had a huge and physical offensive line that wore their bodies down over time. Defensive backs and linebackers got stressed out because they weren’t sure when a play would break down for Seattle’s offense and Russell Wilson would use his legs to make a huge play.

A decade ago, the NFL had a Seattle Seahawk problem. They almost didn’t have an answer for it. This is sadly not the case anymore. It’s the opposite.

The undeniably hard truth about these Seattle Seahawks today is that there is not a team in this league that fears them. That upsets me way more any chump move the 49ers decided to do against a hot tempered DK Metcalf last Sunday.

Kyle Shanahan thought it would be fun to punk this team. He knew that his team wasn’t facing a defense with a fierce front seven that might try to put a little something extra on Brock Purdy if DK got ejected. He wasn’t at all concerned about how the Seattle secondary would hit his receivers. He saw these Seahawks as ducks in a barrel, and he just wanted some extra fun.

He allowed the information of what he was planning for DK Metcalf to reach Michael Silver for publication. He was more than happy to let the world in on his joke. That’s how much respect that he has for the Seattle Seahawks. That’s how much he fears any matchup against them in the future.

I am sure that not only does he believe he is winning the physical battle against Seattle, he now believes he is setting himself up to win the psychological one, as well. I think that is the true motivation behind all of this, why he planned it, and why he let it be known to a 49er beat reporter.

Pete Carroll has lost his way. I believe this now. For whatever reason, he has deviated too far away from the recipe that allowed him to win a Super Bowl in Seattle.

Perhaps it started in 2015 when he allowed for the trade of Jimmy Graham to perhaps appease Russell Wilson and his agent, and the team dealt away the leader of its offensive line in Max Unger as a part of that deal. Unger was a beloved member of Seattle’s locker room, and the stabilizing presence of their offensive line. Graham was an opponent Seattle defenders never respected because he played with a large ego and was soft.

It is perfectly natural to imagine the resentment that built up not only after that fateful transaction. Not only did Pete seemingly try to make Russ the hero at the one yard line during the Super Bowl against New England only to watch it fail in the worst way possible, now he was rewarding Russ with a tight end that did not match the mentality of the team that led them to back to back Super Bowls in the first place.

Pete Carroll chose to placate the quarterback over his core philosophy of how this team was built and operated. He weakened a clear strength of the roster, and he didn’t adjust his offense to play to the strength of its new shiny toy. The rest is history.

Seattle became a team good enough to make post season appearances, but not good enough to advance to the highest points. They never sucked enough to be in positions to draft players like Vita Vea, and to add insult to injury, they reached on players like LJ Collier. Eventually, their legacy driven quarterback had enough, and forced his way to Denver, and now here we have it.

Pete Carroll now has a team that does not feature any feared run game, and his defense is a sad dysfunctional shadow of itself that does not even know what it wants to be. They aren’t physical enough to compete with San Francisco, and they aren’t smart enough to be a good finesse team, either.

In the end, I think he is, in fact, the one to blame for all of this. I have been a Stan of his for many years, but even I cannot shake away this reality.

After all, he is not just the head coach, but he is also the Vice President with overriding powers over general manager John Schneider. Ultimately, the buck stops with him, not Schneider, and that is why I believe these next four games might be do or die for him.

In short, Pete Carroll has four games left in this season to find his way again. I hope he does it. Carroll could absolutely get his team up for a late season rally. I am just kinda pumping the breaks on that.

Presently, I see a Seattle team that is playing with too much dysfunction, and it is drawing up memories of Jim Mora Junior’s lone year as the head coach of this team in 2009. I see safeties and linebackers on defense perhaps now making business decisions on the field. I see a lack of adjusting schemes to better fit the talents that Seattle has to play with. I see players acting out in frustration.

I see a team that looks like it is on the verge of a dramatic free fall, and until Seattle starts to mount wins again, I have no reason to see it in any other way. Therefore, what I need more than anything else is that I need big time changes moving forward after this season has concluded.

As dire as this situation feels to me now, I actually do not necessarily need a change from Pete Carroll, per se. What I need most is actually a return to Seattle being a feared organization again, but if Pete Carroll cannot deliver that, for whatever reason, I need whoever it is out there who will.

I need Seattle to be the team who will get under the skin of Kyle Shanahan again. Even when Seattle was struggling to maintain dominance in the division in recent history, they always proved a tough out for San Francisco. They are not that anymore.

I need the 49er Faithful to feel anxiety and frustration again just like they have for most of the past two decades. If Carroll cannot commit to whatever it takes to bring that back, I need a new head coach who will.

Over the past year or more, I have seen fans cry out for a more innovative younger offensive minded head coach, and I totally get that. Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan and now Mike McDaniels have made former offensive coordinator to HC storylines the new sexy thing, and many now firmly believe that you need an offensive minded head coach to succeed this day and age in this league.

I won’t argue against the merits of transitioning from Carroll to an offensive minded head coach, but for me, that should not be the driving reasoning behind a new hire. Nay, more over, I just need that next guy to be a total bad ass who his players will love and bite off knees for.

If I can’t have Dan Campbell, I want a dude who will revel in coaching up a hard hitting, tough blocking, fierce fighting team that nobody will enjoy playing against on Sundays. I don’t care if that is an offensive minded coach, or a defensive minded one.

I want someone who will look at San Francisco with Kyle Shanahan, and will be willing to dig deep for ways in which he will his squad will piss off, annoy, and fluster them. It could be Ben Johnson, the hotshot OC at Detroit who a lot of people seem to love, or with fun irony, it could be Jim Harbaugh. It could even be the current OC of the Eagles.

In my mind, it could also be Dan Quinn or Robert Saleh who have coached with Shanahan and know his tendencies well. People can scoff at both defensive minded coaches, but I won’t write them off. Saleh is stuck in a shit situation with the highly dysfunctional Jets and yet his team still fights hard for him. With Quinn, I see a coach entirely worthy of a second chance and he is a guy who players will absolutely run through walls for.

Everywhere Quinn goes, players play hard for him, and love him. Some believe that the true demise of the Legion Of Boom wasn’t that the league caught up to them, but that Dan Quinn left them. That says something to me.

It could also be Dan Lanning down at Oregon who is as fiery and bad assed as it comes as a coach. If you have any doubts, go surf the web on some of his pregame speeches. He’s a foaming at the mouth pit bull who gets his guys playing hard, fast, and furious. I like that dude a lot.

And yes, it could absolutely be Kalen DeBoer at Washington with the way he coaches up the details and the resiliency his teams exude on the field.

I could even make a strong case for Kevin Stefanski in Cleveland with the way he continues to have the Browns fighting despite their shit quarterback situation.

Ultimately, though, at least in my mind, it could still be Carroll. Maybe he’s now grown tired of being a nice guy with his underperforming roster, and is ready to shake things up. Again, he has four games left to turn this around, and make it a season.

All I know is that I want a feared NFL team playing in Seattle again. That’s what I want from these Seahawks more than anything else.

I want a team that is going to give Kyle Shanahan a hand full when he’s preparing against it, and he isn’t going to have time to think about chump moves again. I want a team that will force him lose his own gasket in the late stages of a game.

This is what I want for these Seattle Seahawks. This is what I need.

Go Hawks.

Good God, I Hate The 49ers

Posted on December 11, 2023 by curtiseastwood

Dear 49er Fan,

There is nothing like watching my team getting thoroughly swept by your team two years in a row that will now turn me into a Sith Lord and an old school member of Cobra Kai. As the dust has settled on this latest overwhelming defeat to your San Fransisco 49ers, I have calmed myself down enough to find my clarity and balance again. Here are my Monday morning thoughts for your reading pleasure.

On one of your evening commutes home this week, I hope you slip on wet slimy leaves, and you do a face plant into fresh pile of dog shit that someone left in your parking strip. I hope when you get up, you hit your head on a heavy branch and it leaves a weird looking deep gash on your forehead that resembles the numbers 666.

When you get inside your home, I hope your spouse is hosting unexpected guests, and when you quickly dip into the bathroom to cleanup, you feel the overwhelming need take a huge shit first. I hope you discover you are out of toilet paper after you dropped your load.

I hope that, instead of yelling for help and drawing attention to the situation, you decide to use your hand to clean your ass. Then I hope when you get to the sink to wash your poopy hand and your poopy face, a giant black spider comes out of the water drain, and it scares you so much that you slip and fall backward and you hit your head on the way down to the floor. I hope after the loud crash, the door of the bathroom opens up, and the entire room full of guests sees you sprawled out on the floor, your junk on display along with your poopy face and poopy hand, and that weird bloody 666 shaped gash on your forehead.

This is my hope for you. It’s nothing person. I’m sure outside of rooting passionately for that vile organization down in Northern California, you are not so terrible. Outside of sports, we might even be friends, but this is just how I feel, especially after coming at me during and after the game yesterday.

So, revel all you want in sweeping my Seahawks again for another year. My one big hope for your team is that they make it all the way to the Super Bowl only to lose to the Chiefs again, but this time around with Brock Purdy throwing three interceptions, and Fred Warner breaking his leg.

Yeah. I can be petty, but I hate your team. I just do. It’s a hate that I am oh so happy to revel in.

I hate your show boating tight end, and your chump middle linebacker Fred Warner who pushed the back of DK Metcalf’s neck when he was on the ground which led DK into retaliating and getting ejected. I hate proud boy Nick Bosa who looks like a dude who would hang out with Homelander in his spare time. I hate your jerk of a left tackle, I hate your snot nosed head coach, and Deebo is welcomed to suck on my tale pipe in rush hour traffic anytime he wants.

The only person associated with your team that I don’t hate is your quarterback, but give it time. I’m sure I will get there.

As for my Seahawks, good freaking Christ what a mess. Where do I even start?

I hate their situation at guard and center, and I really hate that they never commit to acquiring top end talent on the interior of their offensive line. Tired of this. I need a new aggressive strategy for fixing this offensive line FOR ONCE.

I hate that they ridiculously overpaid two safeties who no longer tackle and their coverage is kinda shit too. People can complain all they want to about Jamal Adams but I don’t see Quandre Diggs making any big plays either, and I see a lot of ball carriers blowing right past him.

I hate that Bobby Wagner is slow. I love Bobby Wagner, but he is not the player he once was. He’s not great in coverage, and he got trucked so badly by Deebo in this game that I felt bad for him while watching. I need Bobby Wagner to retire now.

I hate that they are in some stupid hybrid defense that doesn’t seem to make great sense. It’s the ultimate feast or famine defense. They will make big plays and they will give up a ton of big plays. I need to see this team shift back to the 4-3. I BADLY NEED THIS TO HAPPEN.

I weekly hate the offensive play calling of my team, and it’s lack of commitment to the run. This has been a rinse and repeat topic for me on a weekly basis all season long. It is as oppressive to watch as it was probably oppressive to stand in a long line in communist Russia for toilet paper and vodka.

But, what I hate most about my team right now is that they do not, on any level, resemble a Pete Carroll coached team. They have shifted into this weird modified 3-4 scheme that sucks against the run and pass. They don’t commit to running the ball. They lack toughness in scheme and philosophy, and they really suck at being finesse. It’s sad to watch it unfold like this, but I feel like it has all finally caught up to Carroll. Maybe this is the natural conclusive place for this team to be at right now, but it sure as shit sucks.

My one hope that I am hanging onto is that, if they end up with a losing season, acting owner Jody Allen will have had enough of this, as well. I don’t know if they need a full shake up in the front office along with the head coach, but I am pretty sure that if Carroll stays, he needs better coordinators that come with way better schemes, and he needs a way better offensive line.

Shane Waldron and Clint Hurtt are not good enough. They are not getting the most out of the talent assembled on this roster. At the end of the day, maybe this is all on Carroll. After all, he brought these guys in when they were raw at coordinating and gave them autonomy.

The offense has been the bane of my existence as a Seahawk fan this season, but lately, I have really found myself hating on this defense more and more again. It’s becoming as painful watch as it was last year at this time.

Here is a shining example of just how much I think this defense sucks. On George Kittle’s second half touchdown, the Seattle coaches appeared to think that is was a good idea to put 5-11,195 pound, safety Juilian Love on him at the line of scrimmage like a SAM linebacker (?!) only to run with him in coverage to which Kittle caught the ball and shuck him off like he was ladybug who flew onto his shoulder. WTF was the logic behind that?

Good coaching is about putting players in positions to succeed, and not positions to fail. Bad coaching is forgetting this golden rule.

Offensively, it’s hard to judge Waldron in this one. He had to play call for Drew Lock, and he showed a bit more creativity, kinda like he did last week against the Cowboys, but there is just still nothing this offense really hangs its hat on, and I think that reflects on him. It is an offense without identity. I passionately hate this.

I don’t know, 49er Fan. I’m just venting now. I don’t even know why I’m talking to you. After all, I want you to do a face plant into fresh dog poop and receive a 666 scar on your forehead for life.

Maybe I am just tired of venting to Seahawk fans these days. Every Twelve has an opinion, and opinions are like assholes. We all got them. I just don’t want some goofball Twelve telling me that they think Drew Lock is the savior. I don’t need that asshole in my face, so I guess I am just taking this out on you.

So, enjoy this win. Who knows how long this will last for you. Your team probably has a two year window to win a Super Bowl before you have to pay Brock Purdy, and say goodbye some some of these annoyingly good pieces they have. Maybe one of them will become a Seahawk, and I will then like him.

After all, I surely didn’t think Richard Sherman would have ever have joined your wretched team. Sometimes, pay back is a cold hearted bitch.

As for my Seahawks, yeah.. fuck. It was a nice fight for a while in this game until it wasn’t.. again.

They got a lot of work to do to get competitive with your team again. I hope they have a really good plan brewing for that.

If they don’t, then I hope ownership steps up to find someone else who will.

Go Hawks.

And, also, fuck the Niners.

My Mood Meter On The Seattle Seahawks Is..

Posted on December 8, 2023 by curtiseastwood

At 6-6 with five crucial games in the season left to play, the Seattle Seahawks still have it within themselves to win three games or maybe more, and still make the playoffs. I don’t greatly care if they do, and that absolutely stuns me.

For the first time since I can ever remember, I find myself feeling this way. Every year up to this point, from Dave Krieg leading this team to the playoffs for the first time when I was a kid, it has always been about making it to the post season. Even in that horrid year of 1992, when they went 2-14, and some dude named Stan Gelbaugh was their starting quarterback, I was blindly thinking playoffs.

I’m not thinking playoffs right now. I’m thinking how to we get this team to become more than what it is, which is the epitome of NFL mediocrity.

Forget about the Super Bowl, how do we get them to become a team that is actually feared in this league like it was a decade ago?

People will say that we need better guards, a true franchise quarterback, linebackers and safeties who can cover and tackle, and play callers who are actually good at their jobs, etc.

Yeah, okay. I won’t argue against that.

I’m nervous, however, this present regime run by Pete Carroll won’t see it this way. I can fully envision Carroll saying at the end of this season that he likes the young nucleus on the offensive line, he loves his coordinators, still thinks Jamal Adams is the player on defense to build around, and he wants to bring a slowed down Bobby Wagner back.

I gotta tell you folks, if those words come out of Coach’s mouth after this team finishes 8-9 or worse in January, I am going to have a hard time wrapping any sort of optimistic embrace around them next year. Hello Darkness My Old Friend may very well be playing on a hellish loop inside my mind every time I reach for one of my many Seahawk hoodies.

Walking this team back next year is not good enough. It would be like the Seattle Seahawks colluding with the Seattle Mariner ownership to suck all the joy and hope out of a PNW fanbase.

My mood meter for the Seattle Seahawks right now is as “meh” as meh can possibly be. Instead of looking forward to games, I am looking at mock draft articles. I’m not fixated on the present, I am almost entirely looking ahead.

Here are the things that I hope this organization is preparing to do to build themselves into a true contender starting next offseason, and winning three out of the next five games and sneaking into the playoffs isn’t likely going to change this list for me.

Shake Up This Coaching Staff

When this team was dominating in 2013-2014, Pete Carroll had an outstanding defensive coordinator in Dan Quinn, and he had an underrated offensive coordinator in Darrel Bevell. Progressively over the years, his coordinators have gotten worse, and thus so have his defenses and offenses.

Pete Carroll is a great culture builder and a master motivator, but I think it’s fair to say that he is not the tactician as other coaches are in this division. He needs great coordinators on his staff. Right now, it appears as if Seattle has two young coordinators who may very well be in over their heads.

Nowadays, Seattle is neither a top offensive team, nor is it a top defensive team. They have become as mediocre as mediocre can be, and if the season ended today, Seattle would be picking 15th overall in the first round of the draft. It quite frankly doesn’t get any mediocre than that, and this needs to drastically change.

In my ideal world, I would have Pete Carroll remain as the head coach of the Seahawks and coach through his contract that expires in 2025. I would have him move off of Shane Waldron as the offensive coordinator, and do the same for Clint Hurtt as the defensive coach. Neither side of the ball is playing well enough for me to believe either coordinator has earned the right to be back next year. The defense is only marginally improved from the god awful mess that it was last year, and the offense has greatly regressed.

At the end of this season, three defensive minded NFL head coaches, who have all been very good defensive coordinators in the past, could be out of a gig. Robert Saleh with the Jets (who used to be on Carroll’s Super Bowl winning staff), Dennis Allen with the Saints, and Matt Eberflus with the Bears could all be available for Carroll to bring in. If I were Seattle, I would make one of these guys a handsomely paid coordinator. Incidentally, each one of these guys prefers the 4-3 defensive scheme which had be a trademark of the great Pete Carroll defenses in years past.

I have nothing personal against Clint Hurtt, but two years into this thing, I think this whole shift to a modified 3-4 has been a frustrating failure, and I would prefer it if Carroll just returned to the 4-3 defense he knows inside and out. Watching Seattle flirt in this 3-4 has been a frustrating mess and I think it’s a bad defense to throw at the San Francisco 49er offense.

As for the offensive coordinator, how about this crazy idea? Why not bring Darrel Bevell back who is now serving at the pass game coordinator for the high octane offense of the Miami Dolphins?

For me, this is not a crazy idea. In fact, I think it might actually be a really good one.

Under Bevell, Seattle had the most success in the Carroll era, offensively. They were a league leading unit in explosive plays, and he figured out a way to best utilize Russell Wilson as a duo threat quarterback that caught the league off guard.

With Bevell down in Miami today, I think it is fair to think that perhaps he has gained insight into how to operate Mike McDaniels exotic Shanahan-esque offense. Personally, I would very much like that offense here in Seattle.

Former players have come back to Pete over the years. Why not this former coach?

Whether Carroll sticks it out or not, the one thing I know is that I don’t know if I can handle another season next year of this team underperforming with the talent it has on this roster, especially on the offensive side of the ball. For me, I think the main issue has been Xs and Os over the Jimmies and Joes. We will see how this season plays out, but right now, I need changes on this staff.

Make The Tough Choices On Expensive Players Not Playing Up To Their Contracts

It’s not fun to write about player contracts and who is living up to them and who isn’t, but good teams do not pay top end dollars for middling results with players. Presently, Seattle has the most expensive starting safety tandem in the league and they do not play dominantly.

In fact, according to Pro Football Focus, Jamal Adams has been one of the worst starting safeties in the league this year, and he has been especially terrible against the run. I have thought for a while that the team should move permanently to a linebacker role, but would you trust him to stay discipline in his technique to make the routine tackle at or behind the line of scrimmage?

His partner, Quandre Diggs, has been a better performer, but he still whiffs a lot in the open field on tackles. Diggs is set to make over $21 million next year if he is still on the team. That is an absurd amount to pay a safety who is decent but not great.

Adams is set to make over $26 million, and that is an insane amount to pay a safety who PFF thinks is one of the worst starters in the league. Even moving him to linebacker where he might function better as a player, paying him this amount seems like a gross dereliction of salary cap management. He has not been nearly the impact player they thought they were getting when they traded for him.

There is no universe where I think it is a good idea for this Seahawk organization to bring both safeties back in 2024 at these high salary rates. If I were John Schneider, I would move off of both of these players, and look to have Julian Love play one safety spot with possibly Coby Bryant competing for the other. I would also look to the NFL draft to see what I can find. Personally, I really dig Washington State safety Jaden Hicks as a possible option in the third round.

Another expensive veteran who is not really living up to the high salary he is earning is tight end Will Dissly. I love Uncle Will as much as the next fan, but he is not a $10 million a year level tight end in the league. I do not see how this team can bring him back in 2024 at this cost.

The most complicated issue salary wise for the team in 2024 might be Geno Smith. In 2024, he is due to make over $31 million dollars, and even though he hasn’t been helped by Waldron as a play caller, even the biggest Geno Smith fan has to acknowledge his regression this year over where he was at this point last year. Most metrics have him ranked at about the 18th best passer in the league this year.

Is it good spending to pay Geno $31 million next year when 17 other quarterbacks have been outperforming him in 2023? Or is it wise to cut him loose and try your hand with Gardner Minshew or Jacoby Brissett and look to the draft that appears deeper than usual at the position?

Lastly, there is the issue with Tyler Lockett and his $26 million set to be due on the books in 2024 when the team has DK Metcalf, Jaxon Smith Njigba, Dee Eskridge and Jake Bobo on the roster who are all younger and less expensive. It sucks to think about moving on from a Mr Seahawk like Lockett, but is $26 million to an older receiver on a roster loaded up with good receivers good spending?

Here is the stark reality facing this team in 2024 that a lot of fans don’t want to think about right now, but I will share. This team is going to be tighter against the cap, and they don’t have a starting linebacker contracted in 2024, nor do they have a starting tight end, starting left guard, or a starting center. They also just traded a second round pick and fifth round pick to the Giants for starting defensive tackle Leonard Williams who is set to be a free agent. This is a grim outlook.

If I were the GM of this team, I would absolutely cut my losses with Jamal Adams, and I also would cut loose Quandre Diggs. Those two moves would free up about $13 million dollars, and that would be the money I would look to use for signing Leonard Williams to a multi year contract. Williams provides a stoutness up front on their defense line that is more important than middling safety play on the backend.

If I were the GM, I would move off of the Will Dissly contract and use that money to try to retain starting linebacker Jordyn Brooks who at this stage, is probably more impactful of a player than Bobby Wagner is. If I can’t keep him, I look to free agency to add a younger linebacker, and I look at the draft.

If I were the GM, I would begrudgingly move on from Geno Smith’s contract, and use that money to bring in a cheaper veteran solution at quarterback, and I would look to the draft. I have made my steadfast desires about this team drafting Michael Penix Junior well known, but there are others in this draft class who would also get me pretty excited.

Seattle can free themselves of the Geno contract, and open up nearly $30 million in cap space to go after a solid veteran guard and possibly a solid veteran center, as well, and finally fix this offensive line right, instead of continually shelling out one year prove it deals on journeymen players such as Phil Haynes and the countless players they’ve tried to plug at center over the years. They could add someone like Gardner Minshew who has been a somewhat decent starter, and they set themselves up to draft a player to be the next franchise passer.

If I were GM, I would move off of the weirdly big contract this team gave backup nose tackle Brian Mone, and I think they probably will. Someone needs a noogy on their head for even signing him to that deal in the first place.

If I were GM, I would hang onto Tyler Lockett even though he’s expensive. I like having one of the deepest wide receiver rooms in the league, and if I am drafting a quarterback, I want him to benefit from that.

Add To The Trenches In Free Agency

The only players set to be free agents that I would be greatly inclined to bring back would be Leonard Williams, Jordyn Brooks, and tight end Noah Fant.

As stated above, this team needs to quit toying around with their offensive and defensive lines. Teams like the Eagles and 49ers annually look to add to their lines, not subtract, and low and hold, they are annually NFC powerhouses. Football is not rocket science. The teams that run better and stop the run better generally do better at winning games.

Here is a short list of quality NFL guards set to be free agents in 2024. Robert Hunt of the Dolphins, Jonah Jackson of the Lions, Jon Runyan of the Packers are all probably big upgrades over Damien Lewis for the Seahawks. For my money, if Robert Hunt hits the open market, I would love to see Seattle pounce on him.

Here is a short list of pending free agent centers. Connor Williams of the Dolphins, and Lloyd Cushenberry of the Broncos, and Andre James of the Raiders. Getting Connor Williams to pair with Robert Hunt both from the Dolphins would be an ideal scenario for Seattle. Retaining Evan Brown actually wouldn’t be a terrible move for the team as a Plan B, as he has been the one consistent player on the unit all season, but I want greatness at that position, for once.

As for the defensive line, just work out a multi year deal with Leonard Williams, and develop DTs behind him. I like the players around him enough on this unit to feel like Seattle is building something if they can just retain him. So, do it.

Draft A Quarterback To Develop Into A Starter

This coming draft class could involve as many as ten quarterbacks who could be viewed as eventual starters in this league. I think it’s likely that six could easily be drafted in the first round. If the season ended today, Seattle would hold the 15th overall pick. If Seattle finishes at 8-9 or worse, that pick could easily climb closer to the top ten. This should put Seattle in position to draft one of these quarterbacks.

As already stated, I have been very outward in my belief that Seattle should have UW’s Michael Penix Junior high on their draft board. He has an elite arm, he can make every single NFL throw, he’s accurate, he’s big and athletic enough, and he has a pension for winning games. His age and injury history almost might make him the fourth or fifth quarterback on a lot of teams’ draft boards in a draft that could also include Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, Jayden Daniels, JJ McCarthy, and Bo Nix.

If Penix manages to land at whatever pick Seattle is selecting at in round one, I pray they do not overthink it, and take another player. Penix fits what Carroll wants to do as a big armed deep passer working off of play action, and he’s a high character dude. Even more so, he’s now firmly a local legend. Fans will likely be more patient with Penix than they are at this point with Geno Smith, or possibly a different drafted quarterback.

But like I said, there are others in this coming draft class who could present really interesting options. For my money, I would probably be just as excited if Seattle landed Jayden Daniels or Bo Nix. Just go get one of these guys, and look at other areas of need afterwards.

Final Thoughts

This team is not built to compete with the 49ers, and I don’t know if it’s even built to compete with the Rams. I fear that continuing the status quo will give Arizona an opportunity to surpass them in the division with their new coaching staff, and upcoming draft capital.

Last year, Arizona ownership said enough is enough with Kliff Kingsbury, and moved on when it was clear that mediocrity was about as far as Kingsbury would take them. It should be noted that they did this after gifting him a brand new contract extension the year before.

Would Jody Allen and her Vulcan crew do the same in Seattle if Carroll leads this team to a losing season?

I have my doubts, but she may insist on new coordinators, and she may grant general manager John Schneider more autonomy from Carroll’s overriding powers of the front office. This is my realistic hope for this team.

I’m not convinced it was Schneider who wanted Seattle to overspend for Jamal Adams in that trade with the Jets and then sink nearly $48 million dollars into two starting safeties. My gut tells me those were all of Carroll’s desires.

I think this team needs to move on from Jamal Adams this offseason. His play doesn’t warrant his salary, and fans are growing tired of him not living up to the billing.

Also, when I watch Adams play, and I don’t see a great team guy. I see a person who loves to celebrate with over the top antics whenever he makes a play, and I see a dude who misses too many tackles and isn’t a great cover safety. He also often behaves like a total jerk, and the way in which he most recently went after a NY Jet reporter on Twitter taking shots at his wife is a terrible look.

I don’t want a guy like this on the team I root for, and I don’t think he is doing this culture any favors. I think it would best for the team and the player if they parted ways after the season is done.

I like Quandre Diggs as a player but not at $20 million APY. I don’t see a safety in the league worth with this contract, to be honest.

Lastly, I don’t really want to see this team part ways with Geno Smith in the coming offseason, but given the fact that this roster is in no way shape or form ready to truly compete with San Francisco, I see logic in freeing up cap space to go out and truly land two high quality veteran additions to the interior of this offensive line. If Seattle hangs onto Geno in 2024, I don’t think they will be in a position to make these sort of moves even if they cut their safeties, Will Dissly, and Brian Mone, and also try to retain Leonard Williams, Noah Fant, and Jordyn Brooks.

The easiest way to properly build this roster up to win games against San Francisco might just be to release Geno Smith in February. If they did that and it landed them a stud guard, and a really good center, and they brought in Gardner Minshew or Marcus Mariota, or whoever else at a cheaper cost to compete with a rookie quarterback, I would get totally behind that.

This is where I oddly find myself with this team presently. I don’t have much faith in them over this final stretch of games. I have found myself more frustrated in the coaching of this team than I can ever remember beyond the brutal Mike Flores era of Seahawk football. That is saying something.

I love Pete Carroll, but I cannot handle this continual lack of discipline, and I really can’t handle frustrating play calling, and odd schemes that don’t appear to be working. I am long past tired of the antics of Jamal Adams paired with his underwhelming play. I am really super tired of the offensive line being a nonstop issue with this team.

I need change.

Frankly, I kinda think Geno Smith deserves better than this after winning Comeback Player Of The Year last year. I kinda think maybe playing for a team like Minnesota next year might be a really good thing for him while Seattle finally starts to sort all this shit out.. finally.

This is my mood meter. It is as “meh” as it can be for the team I love most. I would like it to change.

Go Hawks.

Seahawks Tease Against Dallas But Referees Put A Stop To It!

Posted on December 1, 2023 by curtiseastwood

What a wild game to watch.

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

I was wrong. Dead wrong.

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

I was wrong. Dead wrong.

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

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

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

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

Whatev’s.

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

But they fought hard. You could feel that fight.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Go Hawks.

12th Life

Intuitive takes on the Seattle Seahawks, Seattle area sports, and other cool stuff, with no analytics involved.

Category Archives: Uncategorized

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