“Tell us, Curtis. What is best in life?”

“To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their fans.”

If you are a fan of the 1982 cinematic masterpiece, Conan The Barbarian, you understand my slight alteration of that iconic bit of dialogue. Young Conan overcame horrific hardships to be shaped into a well made revenge filled killing machine.

To a much lesser extent, so has the 2020 Seattle Seahawk defense. They went for a league wide laughing stock to a unit that now even the brightest offensive minds in the NFL are likely, at the very least, a wee bit nervous to face. They will come into this game with a mantra similar to Conan’s.

On the flip side, the San Francisco 49ers are a good football team. They are extremely well coached on both sides of the ball, and it is remarkable how well they continued playing despite an incredibly long list of injuries they endured.

They are also a very proud team, and they want nothing more than to upset the playoff bound and NFC West divisional winner Seattle Seahawks. It’s a cliche to say this, in this instance, the cliche fits: this is their Super Bowl. They will show up to play in this one. Bank on it.

This season ending game will be extremely personal for them. The Seattle Seahawks have largely dominated this club for well over a decade. That is a fact that does not sit well with a fan-base that enjoyed five Super Bowl wins through the eighties and nineties. Therefore, the 49ers hate no team in football more than they do the Seattle Seahawks.

Beating the Seahawks would be the one cherry on the top of a very frustrating season for San Francisco. It would build positive momentum for them heading into their 2021 off-season, and in a deeper sense, it would also send a message that had they been healthier, they would have likely remained the top dog in the hyper competitive NFC West division.

Therefore, the 2020 Seattle Seahawks must destroy them on the battlefield down in Arizona this weekend. The Seahawks must show them and the world who the real top dog is as they head into the playoffs. This is what a championship level team would do.

Ideally, this would be a brutal take down of a wounded opponent that would shake the psyche of Kyle Shanahan a bit (who was hired as the head coach specifically to take down the Seahawks), and the psyche of the players that play for him, and the fans that root for this team. This is the opportunity for Seattle for further bury themselves deeply under their skins for seasons to come.

If given the opportunity, the 49ers would gladly do the same to Seattle. They would relish that moment, and so would their fans.

Therefore, Seattle has one job to do in this, and that is to show no mercy.

Seahawks win this game by..

Staying true to the balanced approach that they have adjusted to offensively over the past month. No, it isn’t as pretty as the Let Russ Cook offense that was humming in September, but truthfully, it is harder to defend against for four quarters, especially if you have a quality defense (which San Fran still has). Properly mixing enough run with pass forces defenses to play Seattle more honestly. More specifically, it allows Russell to do what he has done best throughout his entire career dating way back to his college days, and that is to play efficiently with the ball with both his arm and his legs. This is the best way to allow Russell to cook, and when he hums with it, it is really difficult to defend.

Showing no mercy on defense. The 49er offense is severely wounded. They will be down to their third string quarterback. They will be without their starting left tackle. They will be without their top receivers and they will be down to their third string running back. All-World Tight End George Kittle and multi-purpose fullback Kyle Juszczyk are their only legitimate offensive threats going into this game, and Jamal Adams was likely brought into Seattle to help provide an answer to defending against them, and to an extent, so was first round pick Jordyn Brooks at WILL linebacker. KJ Wright moving to SAM ‘backer likely provides a solution to those equations.

Seattle must take away San Francisco’s best weapons, and force them to beat this defense with backups. They did a fairly good job of this the first time around when Adams was not playing in that game, and neither was newly acquired pass rusher, Carlos Dunlap. There is a lot of reason to believe that they will do it again in this one, and if they do, that could make for an especially ugly outing for the San Fran offense.

Seahawks lose this game by..

Not taking this opponent seriously enough, and making just enough mistakes to keep the 49ers hanging around just like they did against the Giants a month ago. If Seattle loses this one, it will most likely be more about Seattle beating themselves with mistakes, and then a well coached San Francisco team taking advantage of that.

Russell needs to remain careful with the ball and not force the ball into bad coverage. He almost threw a critical pick against the Rams during the first offensive series last Sunday, and he was lucky the Ram DB wasn’t able to snag it, as it might have ended up a pick six. He needs to be better with the ball in this one.

Receivers and runners also cannot be putting the ball on the ground, and the offense can’t get snake bit by false starts and such. This is still a really good San Fran defense they will be playing against. They need to be mindful of that. If not, it could become a frustrating game.

They also need to play with the same level of discipline on defense as they did against the Rams. Shanahan is still a very crafty play-caller with his run game, and he loves to get defenses in a position of over committing, and then taking advantage of that. Seattle needs to not bite. If they do, this could be trouble, especially if Russ and crew aren’t playing at their best.

My Prediction

Seahawks will crush their enemy, see them driven before them, and they will hear the lamentation of their fans on Twitter and social media. Seahawks win this one, 30-16.

I see about three touchdowns and three field goals scored by Seattle (I think it is possible that one of those TDs might end up being scored by the defense, just a vibe I got). It will have the look and feel of a very balanced ball control attack that won’t feel like a blow out, but it will feel like an efficient take down of a lesser opponent.

With a hot kicker, Pete Carroll will feel less compelled to go for it on fourth downs in the red zone. It will have a conservative feel. With a defense staying hot, he will settle for the field goals.

I also think the defense might walk out of this one a bit annoyed that they didn’t hold this opponent down more. It feels like a game where we could see the defensive play-calls lighten up enough in the remaining minutes of the game to give San Francisco the opportunity for a late score that pads stats a bit. The final score will not be indicative of just how well this defense will have played.

San Francisco is really well coached club, and that will likely show up in this one. They will give this one a fight, and it might not be pretty in the beginning. So, be ready for that.

But also be ready for Russell Wilson and company to “stay the course” and do enough to walk away with a quality win, and a 12-4 record heading towards the playoffs. That’s the safe bet.

It would extra special should both Green Bay and New Orleans both lose their games, as well. As we know, that would gift Seattle the top overall NFC seeding, and a first round bye week.

But first thing is first. Crush your enemy, and then let the chips fall where they may.

Go Hawks!

You said that the Seattle Seahawks had the worst defensive line in the league, and you can suck it.

You said that Ken Norton Junior couldn’t coach a defense, and you can suck it.

You said that Pete Carroll should be fired, and you can suck it.

You said that John Schneider can’t draft, and you can suck it.

You said that defensive linemen LJ Collier was a bust, and you can suck it.

You said that Jacob Hollister wasn’t worth a $3 million restricted tender, and you can suck it.

You said that the team over spent to retain DT Jarran Reed, and you can suck it.

You said that the team should not have traded two first round picks and a third for Jamal Adams, and you can suck it.

You said that the team shouldn’t have drafted Jordyn Brooks in the first round, and you can suck it.

You said that Bobby Wagner and KJ Wright were too old and too slow, and you can suck it.

You said that Russell Wilson was broken because he was no longer cooking like he was in September, and you can suck it.

If you doubted the construction of this team, if you doubted Pete Carroll’s ability to coach up talent and figure out his defense with Ken Norton Junior, and if you doubted Russell Wilson’s ability to still be able figure out ways to beat a top defense, you officially now can suck it like you owe back rent. You can.

The Seahawks have soundly beat the Rams, and they won the NFC West by beating a worthy opponent that was battling them for that divisional title. Seattle’s defense dominated a potent offense filled with play-makers, and their own offense outlasted and outperformed a dominating Rams defense. That is championship level football. Make no mistake.

And you can stop doubting Pete Carroll, John Schneider, and Russell Wilson now. All these three gentlemen ever do is win. Period. That is Seattle’s new power trio now that Nirvana has long been no more.

Here are my notes about the game.

The Good

Fortunately, team owner Jody Allen extended Pete Carroll’s contract through to 2025, and he isn’t going anywhere anytime soon because all this dude does as a head coach is win. No, he isn’t perfect with time outs and such, but make no mistake, this dude knows how to motivate, build culture, and coach up talent. For example, many of my favorite Seahawks these days are players that weren’t high round picks (or even drafted at all), and they are excelling at a high level right now. That, my friends, is all Pete Carroll recognizing talent and uncorking it. That is a head coach having conviction to acknowledge that Poona Ford is a more athletic play-making nose tackle than former all-pro Damon Snacks Harrison is, that Jacob Hollister is perhaps now a better pass catching option than the bigger tight end names on this roster, and even though DJ Reed is shorter than what he might like at outside corner, he is simply perhaps now the best coverage player he has in the secondary and needs to stay on the field. Pete knows football pretty darn well, folks. I’m glad we got him here in Seattle.

Fortunately, it also appears that Ken Norton Junior can coach up a defense after all. I can suck it hard because I doubted him big time this year, but according to Carroll, it was Norton that led a critical defensive team accountability meeting mid season that helped the defense turn the corner. It was also Norton that looked at the talent Seattle had on its defensive line, and shifted it to a Bear front (away for Carroll’s more traditional 4-3 under). For folks unfamiliar to what that is, a Bear front is essentially using three defensive tackles and a rush end and a stretched out SAM linebacker. This shift has allowed LJ Collier to play more of a defensive tackle type role with Jarran Reed and Poona Ford, and it puts Seattle’s best edge rusher, Carlos Dunlap, in a wide position to rush and contain. It cannot be overstated how big of an impact it has been on this defense that Norton made this shift. Norton deserves major props for this, and I will gladly suck it now. I was entirely wrong about him.

Fortunately for us, John Schneider seems to have a pretty good eye for talent and knows how to draft and acquire it. LJ Collier now looks like someone who can legitimately play as a strong side end and pass rushing defensive tackle in this league. Folks be dumping on Schneider for drafting pass rusher Darrell Taylor in round two because he has remained injured from college, but they don’t seem to be paying Schneider a ton of credit for finding Alton Robinson in round five who now looks better as a pass rusher as a rookie than perhaps Frank Clark did his rookie season. Why is that? Is it because they have a narrative stuck in their head that Schneider doesn’t know how to draft because Germaine Ifedi didn’t end up being a great right tackle for the club? If so, I’d let that go, folks. Schneider has found Robinson in round five, KJ Wright in round five, Poona Ford as an un-drafted rookie free agent, and he claimed DJ Reed off waivers from division rival San Fransisco. Oh, yeah, he also had to convince Pete Carroll that drafting Russell Wilson in round three back in 2012 was a good idea. I think Schneider has done fairly well.

It’s also fortunate for us that John Schneider and Pete Carroll prioritized signing defensive tackle Jarran Reed over flashier edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney last off-season, even though $11 million might be a bit over-spendy for a DT. Clowney has continued to prove to be injury prone, and didn’t even acquire a single sack for Tennessee before being lost for the season in November. On the other had, Jarran Reed has proven to remain a quality interior pass rusher with 6.5 sacks on the season so far with one game left to go. Suddenly now that deal looks a bit more like a bargain. Good job yet again, John Schneider.

And speaking of good job John Schneider, good job having the conviction of placing an expensive second round tender on Jacob Hollister last off-season even though you signed Greg Olsen and had Will Dissly. I know you had those bigger tight end names on the roster, but it is obvious by now that Russell Wilson simply trusts Hollister during critical portions of games to be his primary pass catching tight end. In fact, during the touchdown play that sealed this victory in the fourth quarter, it was a design rub route to Hollister. Maybe it is time to admit that Jacob Hollister is a bigger factor for this offense many give credit. Is it because he is an un-drafted player from Wyoming who grew up in Bend, Oregon? Does that just sound weird? Is that why some of us blow him off? Hmm. Maybe we should stop doing that.

Gosh, now that I think about it, really, really good job John Schneider having the conviction to draft Jordyn Brooks in the first round last Spring even though you already have KJ Wright and Bobby Wagner already on the roster, and you needed to add a pass rusher. Drafting Darryl Taylor there, instead, and passing over Brooks would have looked silly in hind sight. Brooks looks like an explosive stud, and his fourth and goal run stop might have been the defensive play of the game if not for that impressive chase down of the ball carrier from Jamal Adams just moments before that play. In fact, I would even say that the move to have Brooks start at WILL backer thus moving KJ to SAM might be the single most underrated facet of this impressive defensive turnaround in 2020.

And golly, speaking of Jamal Adams, thank you, John Schneider for trading what will most likely be two late first round picks and a third to the Jets for Jamal Adams. That’s basically Rashaad Penny, Germaine Ifedi, and Lano Hill for an all-pro safety who plays multiple positions on this revamped aggressive defense. He was everywhere on the field against these Rams and you could feel Jared Goff’s discomfort because of that in this one. I would one hundred percent made that deal again. Bravo.

(Now, that I really, really, really think about it. I think we are just pretty darn lucky to have John Schneider as a GM paired with Pete Carroll. We’re like, CRAZY lucky when I think about it now. For realsies. )

Finally, it must not go unsaid just how fortunate we are as Seattle Seahawk fans to have Russell Wilson in Seattle. Yeah, he hasn’t cooked nearly as much through the last month as many would probably like, but he remains the best player on this team, and I honestly believe, without a doubt, he was the difference in this here game against the Rams. The stat line won’t show it, but Russell had a great game against a highly impressive Rams defense. He stood gutsy in the pocket against Aaron Donald who is, by far and away, not only the best interior pass rusher, but the defensive player in the entire game of football. Russ took that abuse, and as the game went on, he found ways to win it with his arm and legs. It’s debatable whether Russell Wilson is currently the best quarterback in the game these days, but there is no debate who the best quarterback was in this game, and who the best quarterback is in the NFC West. Russell Wilson was the player of the game for me in this one. Best player by far. Go Hawks.

The Ugly

Jared Goff pulling on his broken thumb on national television for all to see. OUCHY MOMMA!

Moving Forward

I would like to say that Seattle will be playing a meaningless Covid era football game against San Francisco next Sunday down in Arizona, but because Seattle is still in contention for the top NFC seeding in the playoffs, that game is very much going to matter. I have mixed feelings about that to be honest.

Generally, I want them to go down to Arizona and smoke the 49ers, but how much is playing on the road during the playoffs a disadvantage during Covid when there isn’t any fans in the stands? Really, you’re playing for the top seed just to get a bye week for rest. While that is a huge benefit, I can’t help to think that Seattle already squandered that a bit away a few weeks ago with they played down to the Giants and lost, sorta.

Part of me wants to see them rest key starters against the 49ers, and not risk injury to vital players such as Duane Brown, Jamal Adams, Carlos Dunlap, Chris Carson, DK Metcalf, and of course Russell Wilson. That’s probably me being overly protective about all the nice shiny parts this team has, and that is ultimately probably the wrong headed approach.

Pete Carroll would probably be the first to say that, and he would never want his team to shy away from a challenge of winning another game. His culture is not one based on fear even if his preferences on offense can get a bit conservative from time to time.

Therefore, I expect Seattle to go down into the desert to further stretch out their wins and possibly grab the top seed. They will need to beat the 49ers who will be gearing to play spoiler, and they will need both the Saints and the Green Bay to lose their games. We will need to be fans of the Bears and Panthers next week.

Can all this happen? Certainly.

Will it? I dunno.

The 49ers will be revved for revenge and they will be in full spoiler mode with George Kittle back. This might prove to be a tougher out for Seattle than some might think, and the general overall football fan in me is kind of excited about that. I want to see how Kittle matches with Jamal Adams and Jordyn Brooks, two players that I’m pretty convinced Seattle brought in to combat Kittle’s otherworldly play-making abilities at tight end.

If Seattle continues with it’s A-game, and it determined to sweep this bitter divisional opponent, I think they handle the Niners pretty well when the final whistle blows and that would be a truly great finish to this season. Even if one or both of the Saints and Packers win and Seattle doesn’t earn the top seed, it will feel like a special season for this club with back to back NFC West victories over the Rams and 49ers. Sign me up for that right now.

So, screw the fears of injury. Go out and beat these 49ers. Sweep them. Mop them up. Nothing feels better than beating the 49ers yet again. Go get this done, Seahawks.

Just do it.

Go Hawks.

Make no mistake about it. This game is likely not going to be a match for the squeamish. If you like your Russell Wilson cooking up 300 plus yards and 4 touchdowns with deep moon balls to DK Metcalf, you might want to look away, at times, during this one.

If you are like me, however, and you like your football to be the equivalent of a hard fought medieval battle with armor clanking loudly in the muck and mire, and with bones crunching from dulled out broadswords, well then, this is likely going to be the game for you. There will be blood in this one.

Don’t expect pretty. Don’t expect Madden numbers. These are two bitter divisional foes who will be battling for all the marbles in the NFC West. The Rams are coming into Seattle angry about being punked by the New York Jets, and the Seattle Seahawks will be smelling blood in the water like a swarm of hungry tiger sharks starving for revenge and the opportunity to clinch the division.

This game is what football was meant for. Anger. Aggression. Pain.

Beautiful.

Seahawks win this game by..

Not cowering to Aaron Donald and the fierce pack of Ram defenders. Seahawks go right at them with the power run, and the quick passes, play action, and tempo. Seahawks make these Rams earn the right to rush the passer much like they did against the Washington defenders. The first time around, they didn’t was Chris Carson, Carlos Hyde, and Rashaad Penny. This time they will, and they will likely have Greg Olsen back. This could look like a strategy of playing it safe, but I would test this defense with smash mouth. Seattle has a massive offensive line, and they have a host of power runners. If they stay with the run and quick game, opportunities for DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett down field could become much more of the thing as the game progresses this time around than last time.

Going after Jared Goff. Screw it. Normally, I’m not in favor of being blitz happy, but in this one, I say be aggressive and go after the struggling Rams quarterback who has been able to pick your defense apart in the past. Go after him, but be smart about it. The Rams will be without their best running back. There is a decent chance the Sean McVay will be forced to lean into his quarterback more he normally has wanted to this season. Time to mess with Goff. Send Jamal. Send Bobby. Send KJ. Send Ugo Amadi. Send Brooks. Just be varied, and give opportunities to rush with only four. Be aggressive. Be smart.

Seahawks lose this game by..

Turning the ball over, staying in third and long too often, and too many penalties to overcome. Simply, they play stupid football during what is likely the most important game of the season. This offense needs to be crisp. They need to find ways to take whatever this defense will give however they can. They can’t have Russell Wilson playing hesitant all game. There will be moments where he will be flustered even in a good outing, but this Ram defense is one that you do not want to find yourself in third and long often.

Lack of discipline on defense for Seattle could also be a killer. There is no excuse for this to happen. Seattle’s defense has been coming around at the right time over the past month, and some younger cream has started to rise to the top in DJ Reed, LJ Collier, Poona Ford, and Jordyn Brooks. Seattle needs these younger players to continue to step up playing with KJ Wright, Bobby Wagner, and Jamal Adams. McVay loves to scheme mismatches to exploit against defenses and he has done well scheming against Pete Carroll’s. Seattle must balance aggression with discipline. If they do that just enough, Seattle is more than capable of beating the Rams. If they don’t, this could become another nail biter or worse.

My Prediction.

Pain. Both clubs will be hard charging in this one. I see extra hot sauce on hits and tackles. I see turnovers. I see busted plays. I see broken fingers.

I see the Seattle Seahawks enacting revenge against the Los Angeles Rams, and winning this one 30-24.

This is a homer pick. I know, but I have picked the Seahawks in every game this year, and have been right ten times out of fourteen. So, laugh all you want, but who is the real dummy, really?

Seahawks clinch the division in this one. I’m more than ready to watch that happen. I can’t wait.

Go Hawks

Fans of the Seattle Seahawks are becoming increasingly fickle over recent years. Winning no longer appears to be enough. Sad.

You know, chasing highs is a classic sign of addiction, and addiction needs to not be about sex, or drugs, or the bottle. For some, it’s simply about football, and in that, Seahawk football.

Many of these Seahawk high chasers seem to be expressing a deep dissatisfaction in the Seattle coaching staff, and much of that dissatisfaction seems to be directed towards the head coach. That’s a clear sign that maybe you need to make that phone call.

Never mind that this head coach has brought his team to the playoffs nine out of eleven seasons since taking over the franchise in 2010. Presently, that is not enough for many. Style points are now needed. If the $35 Million a year quarterback is not allowed to cook in every game like Patrick Mahomes is, then Pete Carroll is outdated. If a vastly improving defense gives up a long drive in the middle of the second half of the game, suddenly the defensive guru of a head coach is out to pasture.

You could feel this sentiment spill into Pete Carroll’s press conference when asked about his offense by a couple of the younger beat reporters. The questions were fairly loaded, essentially asking “were you happy with how your offense played?” and “how do you feel about your offense only managing 39 yards in the fourth quarter?”

To no surprise, Carroll defended his offense’s effort stating that against this particular club, this was exactly how they wanted to play against them. He wanted Russell Wilson to get the ball out quickly and not take sacks, and he wanted them to establish the run. Seattle’s offense did exactly that and managed 20 points against a defense that hasn’t given up a lot of points in over a month of football. It was enough to win, and Carroll was, in my opinion, understandably a bit chippy about the questioning, especially in a season when “Let Russ Cook” has been the constant chatter.

When I looked at this Washington Football Team as I put together my modest preview, I came to the conclusion that Seattle should win this game, and I predicted a final score of 23-16. Seattle won this match 20-15, and I can pat myself on the back because I wasn’t far off in my prediction. The final outcome of this game felt right to me.

WTF is a decent football team. They have a really good defense, like REALLY GOOD. They also have enough play-makers on offense that if you turn the ball over, they can strike at any time. I honestly believe that they are one franchise quarterback away from probably being a fairly dominant club, like if they can manage to pry Matt Ryan out of Atlanta next off-season, watch out.

So forgive me if I defend the style points or the lack thereof in this Seattle win over this club. I agree with the strategy of the coach. Seattle did what it needed to do to beat this club. They took what the defense was willing to concede, and they dinked and dunked, and ran to an important road victory. I honestly think that had they used this offensive approach against the Giants a couple weeks ago instead of arrogantly trying to air it out down field against unfavorable coverage, this team would handsomely be sitting at 11-3 right now and in even more command of the NFC West division than sitting at 10-4 and in narrow command.

Style points is fool’s gold in the NFL. I get that fans want Russ to cook, but I don’t believe that this roster is fully constructed to have a cooking Russ right now, and I will be more than happy to expand upon that in future pieces on this blog. For right now, however, I just want Seattle to win, and if that is without ideal style points against the occasional match-up, so be it.

Here are my notes about this game.

The Good

Pardon me for saying this, Carroll haters, but I dug the offensive game plan, and most of the execution. Seattle decided to test the linebackers and coverage with quick passes, and they decided to run straight at a highly aggressive defensive line that boasts five first round picks in its rotation. The result of the outcome is essentially that Seattle bullied the bully in this match, and they did it with a patched up offensive line. That was impressive, in my view. Up until the fourth quarter when Russell threw a pass that was tipped for an interception, Seattle’s offense largely controlled tempo and this game. No, it wasn’t always pretty. It featured check downs, and quick dump offs for small gains, but it mixed in well with a run game that controlled clock and lead to enough scoring drives to win. Bravo.

The defense continued to make positive strides and it made enough plays to seal this victory. Yes, there was that long ninety plus yard drive that it conceded in the second half. Yes, there were a couple times that they got burned by dialing up the blitz, but with that back to back to back sack effort in that final drive that stopped Washington, I will more than forgive all that. Watching rookie Alton Robinson bend past the right tackle for an explosive strip sack to then watch LJ Collier (who for the most part is an interior rusher) bend past the left tackle for a powerful sack, and then to watch Carlos Dunlap absolutely destroy the right tackle for another yet explosive sack was absolutely Madden-esque. Oh, what joy.

In terms of individual efforts, I thought KJ Wright had as dominant of a game as one could have at SAM ‘backer, and I thought DJ Reed was the star of the defense at right outside corner. I loved seeing the continued impactful effort of Poona Ford at defensive tackle, and the constant hustle of Jamal Adams at safety. I thought Chris Carson, and Carlos Hyde, and the entire offensive line were the stars on the offensive side, and I think Russ had another solid efficient game at quarterback. Jason Meyers and Michael Dickson were beasts in the kicking games.

Finally, the LA Rams lost to the Jets. Wow.

The Bad

Me seeking out the tweets from the couple reporters that were drilling Coach Carroll about the offense, and reading the comments that followed.

I am not active on Twitter, and at times whenever I snoop, I am reminded why. Twitter has become the road rage outlet on the internet, and I really shouldn’t read the comments.

Look, I get it that Carroll is not everyone’s flavor as a head coach. He is questionable at times with using timeouts, and he isn’t as inherently aggressive in some situations on offense as some want him to be. No, he isn’t Andy Reid, but let’s be real, the dude can coach, and he can coach up talent.

I saw mentioned on Seahawk Twitter an assertion that Seattle should be doing more with the talent that it has on the roster, but honestly, I question that level of talent. I don’t see great talent on the defensive line. I see the potential of talent starting to develop in Poona Ford, LJ Collier, and Alton Robinson. I don’t see an offensive line loaded with talent. I see a great left tackle and a young guard who looks like he might develop into an eventual pro bowler. I don’t see great depth at receiver behind DK and Tyler. I don’t see much in the way of anything dynamic at tight end. I see some good running backs.

I’m sorry, but I just don’t see all this great underused talent. On the contrary, I think Carroll is getting the most out of most of the players that he has, and I think were are seeing some talent emerge like DJ Reed and a few others.

I also think he is using Russ the best way to use him against really good defenses right now, and that is to put him in situations where Russ can be most efficient with the ball. The league has gotten the MO with his deep ball, and Seattle is finally adjusting to that. Bravo.

So my bad for seeking out comments on the Twitter handles of Seahawk beat reporters who might not be fans of the way Carroll is coaching this team. Maybe I need to adjust my game as a fan, and just ignore the noise a bit more.

I sure there was a contingent of fans that wanted Carroll gone after they won the Super Bowl against the Broncos because they didn’t like the way the offensive line pass blocked. Haters gonna hate.

The Ugly

That stupid targeting call against KJ Wright late in the fourth quarter. It was clear on replay that KJ was pulling up on the receiver and trying to avoid a helmet blow on a bang bang play. What exactly was he suppose to do? Let the receiver catch and run and allow Washington a game winning drive?

I get that player safety is critically important, but the league is sucking the fun out of playing defense, and for those of us that enjoy good defense, it is increasingly becomes a soul sucking experience to watch it unfold.

I have a suggestion for the league. Instead of constantly punishing the defenders on these levels of bang bang plays, how about throwing a flag on the quarterback to throwing a ball that would lead to this sort of collision? Maybe, just maybe that is a way to certify more player safety that is more evened out between offense and defense.

Oh, my bad. I forgot that the league is addicted to scoring and they want basketball with cleats and helmets instead of this thing called tackle football. Mea culpa. Mea culpa.

Moving Forward

Thanks to the NY Jets, the Seahawks can now clinch the NFC West with a win against the LA Rams next Sunday. That game is going to be HUGE, and it will be a special victory for Seattle should they take care of business.

The Rams are the team that gets under the skin of Seattle like no other team in football. A win against them, style points or no style points, will have layers of satisfaction for this here Twelve.

If Seattle stays with this current formula of mixing run with quick passes, I really like Seattle’s chances against them next week. I like it a lot.

An interesting thing to keep in mind is that Seattle will finally be getting Josh Gordon back in that match. In my opinion, that is likely going to be a huge benefit to Russell Wilson moving forward should Seattle need to win any shootouts.

One of the things that I’ve been sensing from Russell and the Seattle offense is that there hasn’t been much behind Tyler Lockett and DK in the passing game. Giving Russell a third option the defenses have to think about might be the thing that will satisfy the Let Russ Cook crowd a bit more.

We shall see.

Go Hawks.

The Washington Football Team has reached two major milestones in 2020. Firstly, they finally changed their gawd awful name, and secondly, they managed to hire a pretty darn good football coach to run things right, finally. The latter move is what should concern Seahawk fans most right now.

A Ron Rivera coached team should be something that most Seahawk fans will quickly recognize, as the Seahawks have played his former team, the Carolina Panthers, on a regular basis throughout the last decade. His mark as a head coach is also fairly similar to the one who coaches in Seattle. His teams generally play with an aggressive 4-3 scheme that features top end talent throughout the defensive line, and they play with a ball control offense that likes to mix power run with explosive passing.

If you like your American football to resemble a car accident, this will likely be the game for you. Both coaches want to play this game similarly. They like to hammer with the ball, and they want to hammer the quarterback. As the game progresses, they look for the explosive plays to break the dam open. Many of the matches between Pete Carroll’s team and Ron Rivera’s team have felt like grueling heavy weight matches throughout the years. I would expect this one to be no different.

This game will be a good test for both clubs as they battle for their respective divisions. The Washington Football Team has a top end defense, and an offense that has been finding it’s way through the savvy veteran quarterback play of Alex Smith (a remarkable story-line, coming back from a life threatening leg injury a few years ago). Contrasting to that, the Seahawks maintain one of the best offenses in the league, and they have an improving defense now that Jamal Adams has settled in with his mates.

This game might come down to which is greater, Seattle’s offense or Washington’s defense. It equally could come down to which is more improved, Seattle’s defense or Washington’s offense. It should be a great lab test in finding the results. It’s just likely to be a bit of a bloody mess throughout that process. So get ready for that.

Seahawks win this one by..

Not cowering on offense and playing too safe against a Washington defense that features five former first round picks on the defensive line. It’s understandable that Carroll will want his offense to play it a bit safe in this one, especially considering that their right tackle has been nursing a lower leg injury and depth behind him as been hobbled as well. Personally, I think that is a trap that they don’t want to retreat into. The teams that have played well against this defense maintaining a degree of aggression during their matches. The Cardinals, Rams, Browns, Ravens, and even the Lions all found success on the ground and through the air. The common denominator for each of these teams is having a quarterback capable of dynamic play. This is a game for Seattle to continue mixing it up offensively with Russell Wilson like they did against the Jets, Cardinals, Patriots, and 49ers. In those games, Seattle took whatever the defenses were giving with quick passes, run, and deep shots. They also varied tempo and used plenty of pre-snap motion. They didn’t allow aggressive defenses to dictate. They dictated to them.

Continuing the aggressive surge on defense. Alex Smith is a remarkable story. His comeback from a life threatening leg injury is a Disney movie in the making. It makes it easy to root for him, and his team. That said, Seattle has got to get after him and his sore calf, if he should play in this one. Ken Norton Junior needs to find balance between how to pressure Smith, and be varied with how he uses Jamal Adams as a pass rusher and cover safety. It appears that Seattle can find a pass rush with four now, especially when playing with Carlos Dunlap. It also appears like Norton Junior has settled on how to best use the talent his has on the defensive line. Snacks Harrison is really, really good against the run. LJ Collier is better as a pass rushing defensive tackle than an edge rusher. Poona Ford is just really good. If Seattle continues this positive trend with it’s defensive line rotation, it’s going to continue allowing the linebackers to make plays, and the DBs to play better. It all starts up front, and they need to be on it.

Seahawks lose this one by..

Playing in a manner, offensively, that doesn’t allow them to play with any rhythm or variation. False starts, fumbled snaps, unnecessary sacks by hanging onto the ball too long, holding calls, and forcing throws into unfavorable coverage have all plagued Seattle offensively in each of their four losses to the season. It’s kept them from staying on schedule and finding rhythm. Sometimes, you have to know when to throw the ball away instead of forcing a throw that isn’t really there. You should take whatever a defense is willing to concede, always. Seattle’s offense has too much talent for a defense to defend everything. It is up to Seattle to find what to exploit against Washington’s defense, and if they don’t, this could be a brutally long day for them.

Blowing assignments, and playing with poor fundamentals on defense. When this defense was playing at a historically bad pace earlier in the year, this was the formula for them. They were often confused in coverage, they were missing tackles in space, and their pass rushers weren’t able to win often one on one against their blocks. A lot has changed since then, but it is up to this defense to avoid regression against a Washington offense that statistically isn’t very good. Pass rush needs to effect the quarterback, linebackers need to tackle, and DBs need to cover. Simple as that.

Prediction

Seahawks will tough out a hard fought victory in this one, winning 23-16.

It will be a final score that will resemble many of the outcomes in matches that a Pete Carroll coached team played a Ron Rivera coached team. This game will also have a very similar feel to many of those games.

There will be times that Russell Wilson will be harassed into sacks and negative plays, and bad looking throws. Their will be moments where Chris Carson carrying up the middle will look like a heinous head on car collision. Seattle will endure this moments like a heavy weight does against a solid blow. It will be part of the process for setting up a worthy opponent for the haymaker coming later.

The important thing is for Russell and company to play smart and do the thing needed to stay more on schedule than not. I would be more nervous about this game if Seattle had somehow managed to sneak win against the New York Giants a couple weeks ago by still playing down to them. That result could lull them into thinking that if mistakes happen in this one, they will still find a way to pull it out of their buttocks somehow.

I’m embracing the belief that the embarrassing loss to the Giants is a blessing in disguise for the Seattle Seahawks. I’m going to wager that they will no longer take a lessor opponent lightly in this remaining portion of their schedule.

Even with a really good defense, Washington, on paper, is the lessor team. If Seattle plays with enough focus on both sides of the ball, they should win this one. I think they will.

It still might not be pretty, though. Don’t expect many style points.

Go Hawks.

Sometimes, in life, you need a good blowout. You need the release of all that bad stuff that you’ve been carrying around. Most often, it has a very positive and immediate carryover effect. This is especially true in the sport of American football.

So, I was quite happy to have sat in front of my television set to witness my beloved Seattle Seahawks finally have a good old fashioned blowout. They needed it, and frankly, so did all of us fans.

Now there, of course, will be those Seahawk skeptics out there saying “so what.. it was against the Jets.” While I get much of that, it is fair to note that these lowly Jets managed to put together a good enough game to nearly beat the playoff contending Las Vegas Raiders the week before (and would have had it not been for probably the worst defensive call imaginable at the end of the game). Last week, when the Seahawk offense was playing like garbage against the Giants, I was monitoring that game between the Jets and Raiders, and to be honest, the Jets were more than making me a little bit nervous.

So, in my opinion, this was a good blowout win. The Seattle Seahawks did what they needed to do against a team that was clearly an inferior opponent. They soundly beat them down offensively, and defensively. It was a complete beat down. Bravo.

Here are my notes.

The Good

Seattle’s overall offensive game plan, and execution was the star for me. Seattle’s offense was a perfect example of balance between the run and pass in this match. When Pete Carroll talks of the need for balance, this is what he means. It’s not about being a running team. It’s about mixing the run enough with the pass so that a defense cannot fully key off of either, and that frees Russell Wilson up to truly play efficient ball, and to make key plays throughout the game. In my opinion, this is how you want to let Russ cook, and one could make the easy argument that had they played with a similar offensive game plan against the Giants as they did in this one against the Jets, the Seahawks would comfortably be 10-3 right now instead of 9-4 and going into a tough stretch of games against Washington and the LA Rams (and maybe even the 49ers).

Russell Wilson was a big reason why Seattle lost last week against the Giants, and he was a huge reason why they beat down the Jets in this one. Outside of one badly forced throw towards the end zone that led to his twelfth interception (now most in a season for him), Russ was on point. He found the check downs when hurried, and he made numerous pin point passes both from the pocket and on the run. Getting Russell moving around a bit more and throwing on the run was a big benefit in this one. Last week against the Giants, he felt tied to the pocket, but in this one, he was moving. I’ve said this before many times, and am happy to say this again; Russell Wilson throwing on the run is one of the single most difficult things to defend in all of football. I hope Seattle finds more ways to do this heading down this final stretch of games.

One great way of finding the ability to have Russ throw on the run is to establish the run game, and Seattle did a great job staying committed to the run in this one. It was great to see both Chris Carson and Carlos Hyde have productive outings against a defense that statistically does its best work against the run. Yes there were a few negative plays, but just because that happens does not mean that you abandon it for the pass. Seattle stayed committed to hammering with Carson and Hyde enough for the dam to start breaking, and they ran often in the times when the box was most favorable to do so. That’s smarter football.

I loved the speed that this defense played with, and the general connection they seemed to have. Sam Darnold did not have the luxury of a comfortable pocket, and without their best pass rusher in Carlos Dunlap, Seattle’s defense often found pressure rushing with four. Credit some youngsters in this one. LJ Collier got good pressure rushing at defensive tackle (and a near explosive sack that Darnold somehow spun out of). Rookie Alton Robinson brought nice pressure rushing at end. Third year rush linebacker Shaquem Griffin made a splashy sack. And, of course, Jamal Adams notched yet another sack (8.5 for the season and a new league record for a safety). This was a solid defensive effort, overall, and it could have been a tremendous one had they not dropped three would be interceptions and had one blown coverage, but I will take it.

When the game was long decided in fourth quarter, it was great to see the reserves get time. It was nice to see what Geno Smith could do replacing Russell Wilson, and it was great to see some of the younger players buried in the depth charts. In particular, I thought Ben Burr-Kirven (BBK to Husky fans) looked flashy at WILL linebacker, and I thought rookie tight end Colby Parkinson looked really interesting catching a couple passes from Smith. Both are younger players that I have been particularly interested in as developmental players for Seattle with some possible starter potential down the road. BBK displayed some of the decisive play-making quickness he showed in college playing for Washington, and Parkinson showed nice hands and run after catch ability as a taller outlet receiver that Smith was clearly taking advantage of with a couple of tosses. Parkinson, in particular, could be one to watch for next year should Seattle continue down this whole Let Russ Cook road (expect that they will).

The Bad

For as good as Russ was going 21/27 for 206 yards and four TD passes and a pick, that pick was another really stupid interception. Russ had immediate pressure on him, he rolled out of it, but didn’t have enough time to properly set his feat and he lofted up a pass that the Jet safety had better position on the ball than DK Metcalf did. What made it worse for me is that it was yet another red zone interception that Russ threw. Simply, it was another throw that shouldn’t over happened, and I don’t like this trend.

Look, I love Russell Wilson, he has been my favorite Seahawk since his rookie year, and still is, but it absolutely is driving me nuts this year with the amount of times that he has forced bad throws into unfavorable coverage. I think it is most likely a direct effect of the Let Russ Cook volume passing, and this needy feeling he has developed to make hero throws out of it. He doesn’t need to do this, and I’m now thinking this might need to be the big off-season fix for him.

For as good as the defense played, it could have been way better had Jamal Adams, KJ Wright/Poona Ford, and Ugo Amadi been able to haul in easy interceptions. This defense should have had three picks, and the drops by Adams and Amadi both had pick-six written all over them. Had those pick-sixes happened, this blowout win would have likely been significantly greater. Ken Norton Junior might want to put his DBs and linebackers through some extra jugs drills this week.

The Ugly

The New York Football Jets.

Moving Forward

The Seattle Seahawks control their own destiny for the playoffs. If they win the next three games, that would earn them not only the NFC West title, but the top overall seed in the playoffs. They will have two very likely tough back to back matches playing in Washington DC and then playing home against the Rams, and they will be playing against a San Francisco team that will be chomping at the bit to play spoiler against them.

Let the chips now fall where they may. If Seattle should play any of these games like they did against the Giants, it will be very tough for them to win any of these matches, but if they should play like they did against the Jets, it is conceivable that they win out.

For Seattle to be anything this year that resembles a true championship contending team, they need to play against the Washington Team, the Rams, and the 49ers like they played against the Jets. They need to play with enough balance offensively to allow Russell to play to his best, and they need the defense to continue playing fast and connected ball. If they stay closer to this formula, I like their chances to still make this a special season, but they have got to do that.

Russell Wilson feeling like he needs to play hero ball is not what we want, and a defense not on the same page is not what can happen. Fortunately, I think Seattle can fully avoid both of these scenarios. They completely control their own destiny, and the formula to their success is clear.

Now, go out, and go that, Seattle Seahawks. Go take it. It’s there for you.

Go Hawks.

Last Sunday’s game against the Giants was abysmal. I can accept losses to the Rams, and the Bills when my quarterback isn’t at his best and the defense is playing bad. Losing to the Colt McCoy led Giants last Sunday was unacceptable.

The Giants played a good overall game, but make not a mistake about it, the Seattle Seahawks beat themselves. Starting corner Shaquill Griffin even admitted that they did not take the Giants seriously. That was evident by Russell Wilson and offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer both stubbornly attacking a Giant defense with deep patterns weren’t there. The Giant defense did everything to take them away but Russ and Schotty kept going over them, anyways. That’s flat out stupid. That cannot happen again.

This game against these lowly 0-12 NY Jets must be a get right game for Seattle. Just winning against this team probably will not be enough as now Seattle has kinda needlessly put themselves in a dog fight for the NFC West division with the Rams. Seattle needs to soundly beat these Jets, and it all starts with Russell Wilson, and getting this offense right for the rest of the way through December.

Getting it right might just simply mean taking whatever the defense is willing to give up, and staying with that until they adjust, and then you adjust to something else they will concede. It’s a basic football 101 approach that somehow escaped Seattle’s $35 million quarterback and his offensive coordinator last Sunday. I cannot overstate the level of importance that this needs to not happen again this year. There is no reason for it to, and there can be no excuses for it should it happen again.

Seahawk win this game by..

Playing smart ball, offensively. This is not rocket science, and the Jet defense is not a difficult thing to figure out. It’s a bad unit. If the Jets are going to play coverage and rush with four, then you probably want to establish the run because they won’t be concerning themselves with Chris Carson and Carlos Hyde, and you probably want to draw up some sort of short passing attack. If they are going to be aggressive with the blitz, then you look to beat them the same way you did against the Cardinals a few weeks ago. Seattle has enough pieces on their offense to beat a team numerous ways. They can win by playing power run, they can win by playing quick passing, and they can win with the long ball. They just need to attack whatever the defense is conceding, and if they do this against the Jets, this game could be a cake walk.

Defensively, they just need to play assignment sound ball all four quarters. They did this for three quarters against the Giants, but that third quarter proved costly when they lost containment on a critical outside run play. This unit should be fired up to host the Jets. You know Jamal Adams will be, but others should be also. They just need to continue to improve and play connected ball together and in that, show no mercy against a bad Jet offense. This will be an important match up for them to further their improved efforts.

Seahawks lose by..

Playing stupid.

My Prediction

Seahawks get it right in this one, and they soundly beat the Jets, 34-17.

This will be a get right game for Russell Wilson and the offense as they look to take what the Jet defense gives them. I think we see at least four touchdowns scored in this one. We will likely feel more points could have been had, but I suspect that when the game is well at hand going into the fourth quarter, Pete Carroll is going to want to see an offense more willing to drain time than score more points.

Defensively, they will look to terrorize Sam Darnold. I see sacks happening, I see turnovers happening, I see Bobby Wagner and Jamal Adams happening, and ultimately, I see this side of the ball looking to take frustrations of last Sunday’s loss out in a fairly decisive way. The final score might not be a true indication how lopsided this match will be, as I expect the Jets to score most of their points in what will be garbage time.

Seahawks will get this one right. Bank on it.

Go Hawks

Last week against the Philadelphia Eagles on MNF, a thought started to occur in my mind midway through the fourth quarter when the Seattle Seahawk offense was trying to ice the game with runs that were being blown up. The thought in my mind is that these Seahawks are facing a growing identity crisis on offense. That thought was solidified for me during the dreadful outing against the Giants.

What are these Seattle Seahawks these days? Are they a finesse pass team that runs out of what the pass sets up? Are they back to a power run team that builds the pass out of the run?

The answer appears to be neither, and because of that, it feels like they are continuing to drift towards a team that is in the midst of an offensive identity crisis. That’s not a good thing heading into this final stretch of games where they are looking to win their division.

The other NFC West teams all appear to know what they are. The Rams and 49ers are running teams that use play action and are built to play stout defense. The Cardinals are a spread team that runs and passes out of that spread. In Seattle’s recent quest to find more balance on the offense, it honestly feels like they have found themselves caught in a no man’s land, and in this game against a really well coached NY Giant defense, it caught up to them.

It would be good for this offensive unit to huddle up this week for a team meeting to help them define who they are. They need to hang their hat on something, make defenses have to defend that, and then have solid counters in their back pocket. It has become now time for that to happen.

Off-season player acquisitions are not available and this team needs to adjust

I fully believe that general manager had a plan to acquire talent to help Russ cook. Let’s look through some of them.

During the earliest stages of the off-season, he signed veteran tight end Greg Olsen to help contribute to the pass game, and mentor the youngsters tight ends. He placed a second round tender on Jacob Hollister, who was the team’s third leading pass catcher, and he tripled down in the draft by selecting lengthy pass catching tight end Cody Parkinson (who some thought he had second round talent coming out of Stanford). It’s clear that Seattle wanted to find more receivers at tight end, especially with the way Will Dissly has faced serious injuries in back to back seasons.

In terms of wide receiver, they brought back David Moore, and signed speedster Phillip Dorsett to help take the top off of defenses (as well as add vital depth behind slot receiver Tyler Lockett). They remained interested in signing back Josh Gordon to add depth behind DK Metcalf and did. It’s clear that they were actively looking to surround Russell Wilson with as many pass catching options as possible.

Now, it’s fair to criticize these moves because Olsen, Dorsett and Jordan are all not available to the team. When something isn’t working, pointing fingers is the natural reaction, and it is fair to criticize Seattle for rolling the dice on players with injury and substance abuse histories, but honestly, I remain okay with Seattle’s decision to take a chance on these players. Where I have a problem is with what they are now doing without these men on the roster.

Is it smart to stretch defenses with a tight end that is more of an in-line blocker? Is it smart to not fully utilize backs that are both good runners and pass catchers? Hmm.. I don’t think so.

Seattle is not taking advantage of what they can do well

Even though Seattle is presently without Josh Gordon, and Greg Olsen, I think there is still enough ingredients on the offense to allow Russ to cook. They have backs that are all good pass catchers, they have decent pass catching tight ends, and they have DK and Tyler for goodness sake. They have talent. They just need to figure out how to allow Russ to cook better with what he has, and I think that is on Brian Schottenhiemer.

Against the Giants and the Rams, Schotty and Russ continued to chase after long developing pass plays rather than attack the defenses with the short pass game like they did early in the season against the Patriots. Weirdly, they started the game against the Giants with short passes that were working, but went away from them. Why?

It was clear throughout the game that the Giant defense was doing everything to take away the deep routes, that underneath patterns were being invited and so was the run, but inexplicably, Seattle chose to continue chasing deep patterns. That is not smart football. That is not using the best players on your offense in the best ways.

Take Will Dissly, for example. I like Dissly a lot for an offense built to be a down hill power running team that uses play action. I loved Dissly in the 2018-2019 Seattle offenses where he can chip on a defender coming in to play the run, and then sneak out in the open seams for a splashy caught. His comp for me is what Jason Witten was for years in Dallas and their power running offense. But if you are trying to be an up tempo offense, though, and you are often passing to set up the run, and you are dialing up deep routes to do that, Dissly doesn’t offer much straight line speed to stretch linebackers and safeties. At best, he is an outlet in the flat that can haul in a short gain. If Seattle would have went more run against the Giants, and used play action off of it, Dissly is a strong candidate to have had a big day. But Seattle did not do that.

If Pete Carroll is going to continue to demand balance throughout these final four games, I am fine with that. I even think that this can be the team’s offensive identity, and Russ can cook with that, but they got to do it smartly. They need to be varied. I think for Pete, being balanced nees to be about doing all things well enough that an offense can lean into whatever they need to depending on how a defense is playing them. Against the Giants, they should have ran more, and they should have continued more with short passes because that was what the defense was giving them.

As bad as things looked against the Giants, this season is not lost

This is where I am going to offer some optimism. As bad as things got against the Giants, with Russ making poor decisions, and Schotty being stubborn with some bad play calling, this season is not lost. Schotty can adjust. Russell can reset to play better ball.

Seattle does not have to continue down this path. Staring in front of them is a home game against the 0-12 Jets that they can use to get things right and reset themselves on offense. I believe Seattle will do this.

One undervalued thing about Russell Wilson is that he usually follows a poor outing with a much more sharper one. What I think needs to happen this week if for Russ, and Schotty, and the rest of the offense to sit down and have a solid accountability meeting. This needs to happen, and I am sure that it will. Too much is on the line for them now not to do that.

A decisive win against the Jets and a hard fought road win against the improving Washington Team the following week will put this team at 10-4 as they head into their home game against the Rams (who have had their own issues of ups and downs). That game against the Rams would suddenly feel like the game of the season to watch. That is everything you want in football.

As bad as things feel coming off this loss to the Giants, I fully believe that Seattle can rebound to make that a special late December game for the division. I am not giving up hope and I am looking for to it. Let the chips fall where they may.

2021 is the season they must truly let Russ cook

Finally, in terms of letting Russ cook, if Seattle wants to do this, they need to go all in on it in 2021. They need to be way more aggressive in player acquisition, player retention, and player development on both sides of the ball. They also need to be smarter with play calling on both sides.

This could mean some coaching changes if they don’t work out the kinks in the remaining 2020 games. This good also mean moving on from some high priced and or popular players if they do not fit the schemes needed to let this be a true Let Russ Cook team.

For example, if Seattle wants to be an aggressive up tempo offense that allows them to grab early leads, they need to build a defense that can really cause havoc when the opposing offense is trying to climb out of a hole. In doing that, Seattle probably can’t have its best pass rushing option be its starting strong safety. They are going to have to get twitchier and quicker on the defensive line. Run stuffing defensive tackles being asked to pass rush isn’t going to cut it. Relying on one quality Leo end is also not going to be enough. This defense will need an injection of speed on the front lines big time.

Letting Russ Cook needs to be a thing that this whole team is connected to, and in 2020 it hasn’t been that way nearly enough. But it can in 2021, and Seattle needs to aggressively figure it out. They need to be aggressive in bringing in more explosive weapons on the offense. They need to be aggressive in continuing to build back a top level pass rush. They need to be aggressive in being better at play calling.

2021 is going to be a huge off-season for general manager John Schneider and head coach Pete Carroll to figure these things out. Russell Wilson will not be content to go through a repeat season of the same sort of issues that have plagued them at times in 2020. These are his prime years to win a championship, and you don’t pay a player $35 million a year to game manage.

Again, I want to remind that despite their poor effort against the Giants, all is not lost for 2020. Seattle can still turn the corner and finish their season on a strong note. I think they can, but either way, they need to carry this through into 2021.

The Let Russ Cook Pandora box is wide open. Shutting it could have a devastating effect through out this organization. Russell Wilson is still your best player even if he hasn’t been lately playing his best. They need to see this thing through, and I think that they will.

It just might be a two year process for it to reach its peak. At least, that’s what I am thinking.

Go Hawks.

Well, this wasn’t the game I had envisioned all week, but if I were to pick any Seahawk game this season to define 2020 in a nutshell, I would nominate this one. I mean, could it get any weirder than Colt McCoy out dueling Russell Wilson?

I’m going to keep this piece short because, frankly, I can’t get the taste of puke out of my mouth, and I wanna go eat a quart of ice cream while binge watching Clone Wars to more fully understand the last few episodes of the Mandalorian.

Here are my suck suck sucky suck notes.

The Good

The defense continued to play with an inspired effort, most notably, the high octane effort by Jamal Adams, the steady play by the starting linebackers, and some timely plays by the starting corners and other safeties. It was hard to see the Giants break those big runs at the midway through the second half, but at least Seattle was able to adjust enough to give their offense a chance.

Special teams continued to be a positive factor.

The Bad

I don’t know where to begin with the issues on offense.

Russell Wilson wasn’t as sharp throughout the game as he needed to be, the offensive line didn’t block well enough, but I would argue that they weren’t helped, and I’m not fully sure what all the issues are, so I am just going to blame play calling. I hate blaming the play calls because it’s the easiest thing to do when things break down, but the following is where I am feeling a potential underlined issue is brewing.

I started to sense this last week against the Eagles on Monday night, and I feel like there has been a carry over effect into this one. What I sense is an identity crisis brewing on the offense. They have dialed back a lot of the up-tempo passing aggression that they played with in September in an effort to find more balance between the run and pass.

In that, it feels like Russell his often being more tentative with his throws instead of being decisive. Essentially, he’s playing to “not throw interceptions.” That would be fine if they are to be a committed running team (like the Giants are), and Russ is reverted back to a play action game manager, but they aren’t doing that. They still have the passing playbook open and it feels like they are chasing balance for the sake of it.

In this game against the Giants, it caught up to them. A great example of this is that they would find success with the run, and then get away from it instead sticking with it enough to build play action off of it. They would also get cute with stuff to the perimeter when running down hill and throwing vertical was working.

What is the Seahawk offense right now? Are they a finesse passing team? Or are they a power run? If they are not either, then what could they possibly be?

While it sucks that they lost to the Giants that were led by Colt McCoy, maybe this is what needs to happen right now. Maybe they need to lose to a lessor team that knows who and what they are (a team committed to running and playing smart defense).

Offensively, maybe Seattle should just commit to being really good at one thing, and then build off of that. They can either be a passing team that uses the run to keep defenses honest, or they should be a run team that builds it’s pass game off of that (like in years past).

Balance for the sake of balance feels like a trap that they are presently finding themselves in. In this match, with an offensive line that was dealing with injury, maybe they just should have committed to Chris Carson more in this one and at least let the reserve right tackles be aggressors.

Instead of sneaking out with another close victory, they lost to an inferior team, and maybe that is the bill that the players and coaches need to swallow to make the adjustments needed.

The Ugly

Cut away shots of Pete Carroll looking stressed and confused, and Russell Wilson spinning himself into sacks like he did often towards the end of 2017 when Seattle narrowly missed the playoffs, finishing with a 9-7 record. I don’t think this is how Seattle’s 2020 season is trending towards, but this game also doesn’t give me confidence that 12-4 and the NFC West division title is at hand either.

Moving forward

Fix the offense. The defense is trending enough positively that it would be a shame that the offense continues to slip.

For my money, if I had my choice, I would let Russ cook a bit more. Let that be the signature of the offense this year. If the defense is giving opportunities to run, go with it, but let Russ lose. Let him be the threat and build the run off of him.

But that is just me.

Go Hawks!

Don’t be surprised that you find yourself rubbing your eyes in some disbelief during the Seahawks vs Giants because your feeling like you just watched the same game on Monday night. The New York Giants have an offense that isn’t very good, and they have a defense that is playing pretty darn good ball.

Don’t stress out about this. Seattle has already played three other teams this year in 2020 that have that same imbalance, and Seattle has won all three, and two of them pretty comfortably in the 49ers and Eagles. The third one was early in the season against the Patriots when the Patriots looked like a team that could do damage and Seattle’s defense couldn’t find its pass rush nor could they do much else. A lot has changed since then.

As tough as this game might be fought with the Giants playing for the lowly NFC East division title, this is a game that Seattle should win, even if their starting quarterback Daniel Jones were to play in this one. Much has been made about these Giants and their three game winning schedule but those wins have come against Washington, the Eagles, and the Bengals, but all three of these teams had various struggling situations at quarterback. When they played the Steelers earlier in the year, they faced a quarterback closer to that of Russell Wilson, and they were beaten pretty soundly.

With the likelihood that Jones won’t be playing, and long time NFL backup Colt McCoy will, Seattle should win this one fairly comfortably if they continue playing with balance on offense that is smart balance like it was against San Francisco, Arizona, and through much of the game against the Eagles (until they got midway through the fourth quarter and they decided to shut Russell Wilson down and had Carlos Hyde running into a brick wall that was trying to stop the run). Smart balance in this one might likely mean passing a bit more to set up the run game.

Going back to that game against Pittsburgh, Big Ben was able to efficiently carve them up with a stat line that reads 21/32 passes, 229 yards, 3 TDs and 0 INTs. That is a vintage Russell Wilson stat line when Seattle plays with balance. Expect Seattle to continue down this offensive pathway that head coach Pete Carroll prefers. For Pete, balance is the way.

Seahawks win this game by..

Playing smart balanced football, and the operative word here is “smart.” New York general manager Dave Gettleman has done a good job building up an impressively stout defensive line for the Giants that features a rotation of massive and powerful men such as Leonard Williams, Dexter Lawrence, Dalvin Tomlinson, BJ Hill, and Austin Johnson. All of these guys are either first or second round picks and are quality starters in this league. If for some reason, in their quest for balance, Pete Carroll and Brian Schottenheimer were to elect to run the ball in tight offensive formations against this front, you will likely see these Giant defenders destroy Seattle’s running backs in the backfield, especially with these gigantic (pun intended) interior defenders. For Seattle to have smarter balance, they are probably going to want to design runs out of spread formations. Seattle’s best runs against the Eagles (who also have an imposing defensive line) came out of their three receiver sets that forced the Eagles into more nickel. Expect them to do the same against the Giants.

Seattle sets up the run more by passing. This will slightly please the Let Russ Cook crowd that is likely lamenting the fact Carroll is now preaching balance as much as he is. I expect Russ to put on a bit more of a show against these Giant defenders. The strength of the Giant defense is their ability to play the run. They aren’t as strong against the pass. This could be a game that Tyler Lockett gets back on track with more attention on DK Metcalf’s rising star. I have a sneaking suspicion that this could be a bit of a break out game for rookie Freddie Swain if David Moore is still gimpy in this one. The Giants have one quality corner and he is likely to draw DK. There is likely going to be opportunities there for whoever lines up for Seattle in the slot. I could see the tight ends also factoring in a bit more. Once the Giants start adjusting to the pass (should Russell find early success), this is where Chris Carson and Carlos Hyde could do damage. Pittsburgh’s big physical back Bennie Shell had a game against these Giants, grinding out 113 yards on 19 carries in their balanced attack. It would be wise for Seattle to study that game.

The defense continues to play connected football together. There is a decent possibility that Seattle will play this game without Carlos Dunlap. It a bit unnerving because it appears that Dunlap has been the key that has unlocked Seattle’s surging pass rush. Even if Dunlap should rest this one out, I expect Seattle’s defense to stay connected enough to handle this Giant offense, especially if the Giants are forced to go with McCoy under center. The strength of the Giant offense is their run game, and they haven’t been very a good red zone scoring team. The strength of Seattle’s defense remains their ability to defend the run, and they have been improving significantly lately against the pass and defending the red zone. The Giants are vulnerable enough with their offensive line that, even without Dunlap, Seattle could still find ample success with their pass rush.

Seahawks lose this by..

Somehow collapsing on defense. It’s hard for me to imagine that, even without Dunlap, this actually happens for Seattle. It feels like they are catching the Giants at the right time, especially if Jones can’t go at quarterback, and even if the Giants try to roll him out, he’s going to likely be hindered by that hamstring. That’s the dilemma that the Giants are facing. While a defensive collapse is unlikely for Seattle in this one, they don’t have tape on how McCoy will look in this Giant offense, they will have to go off of what he has done in the past (not much). If the Giant offense has any edge, it is in the unknown about how they would use McCoy. They will be surely looking for anyway to catch the Seattle defenders off guard. The trick play could factor in this one. Seattle must stay connected on defense and be ready for anything.

Seattle turns the ball over too much on offense and gives the Giants easy scoring positions. Like the chance of a defensive collapse, I have a hard time seeing Seattle turning over the ball much in this one (if at all), especially with how protective Russ has been throwing lately, and the balance that they have been playing with. Turnovers don’t have to come with interceptions, though. Fumbles can happen with receivers getting hit, running backs not being protective enough, and exchanges not being secure enough. For the Giants to win, they need to create turnovers in this one. Seattle must protect the ball and not let this happen. Seattle also has to play to the strengths of their best players, and offensively, that might mean not having Russ stay in the pocket and expect him to deliver quick hitting pass against a Giant defensive line that feature 6-5 300 pound plus players that will be looking to swat down passes from the short passer.

My Prediction

It will be a good day for Seattle Seahawk fans. The Seahawks win this one handily, 24-13, even if there won’t be tons of style points.

Even if Dunlap isn’t a go in this one, and Daniel Jones is for the Giants at quarterback, I see this game playing out pretty similarly like the game over a month ago against the 49ers. If Jones plays, he will probably play protectively with that hamstring like Jimmy Garoppolo did while he was nursing injury against the Seahawks. Seattle didn’t have Dunlap yet then, and they didn’t even have Jamal Adams in that game, yet they found ways to rattle Jimmy G and get him well out of his game. If Dunlap doesn’t go, the Giants still need to contend with a Seattle defense that has Adams.

I also expect Russell Wilson to play a similarly efficient game like he has done recently over the last couple games. It just might not always be pretty, especially if Seattle misses Brandon Shell at right tackle for a second straight game.

I expect the Giant defense will likely put up a pretty good fight in this one, and that might mean it takes a bit of time for Russ to get going. In that, however, I suspect Seattle will continue staying more balanced, and that will help keep the Giant defenders playing honest enough for Russell to make the right decisions, and his signature plays will come in time. He will check to the run when it is right to check to the run, he won’t force throws that aren’t there, he will find his open guys, and that will be enough for another efficient outing, and a Seattle Seahawk win.

This is how I see it, anyways.

Go Hawks!