Seahawks Land Mike Macdonald As Their Head Coach And This Is Freaking Awesome

Posted on February 1, 2024 by curtiseastwood

Let the Doobie Brother jokes begin. The Seattle Seahawks drafted my guy, and I don’t care if he looks like a gym rat version of Doogie Howser, either.

Over a month ago, I wrote about my deep desire to see the Seattle Seahawks become the Baltimore Ravens. It was on the heels of that embarrassing debacle at home against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

In that game, Seattle got thoroughly pushed around by a mediocre Steelers team, players looked disinterested in tackling with playoffs on the line, and I had enough. I typed a long, rambling, semi deranged, and toxically fueled piece about needing sweeping change, and needing to see Seattle become an organization comprised of blood thirsty orcs and Tyrannosaurs.

The only team model out there that I saw as a beacon of hope, that if Seattle could just commit to emulating, was the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens had recently dismantled the San Francisco 49ers on their home turf, harassing and picking off Brock Purdy five times, and physically matching them toe to toe in the trenches. Weeks prior to that game, Seattle ventured into Baltimore and they put a thorough ass whooping on the Hawks.

With the Ravens, I saw a team comprised of strength in the trenches, speed on the outside, speed at linebacker, a dynamic playmaker at quarterback, but ultimately, I saw a team that played smart, fundamentally sound, and disciplined football. In short, I saw a team very opposite of Seattle.

So, you can image my delight when this news broke that the Seattle Seahawks have made sprite 36 year old Baltimore defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald the ninth head coach in their franchise history. Bravo!

I had been keeping a very open mind though this coaching search, but he was the guy I really wanted, and not just because he was the guy Mina Kimes was banging the drums for (although I respect the hell out of everything she says). In my gut, I felt he was the best candidate, and if Seattle chose someone else, we would likely regret it for years.

Deep down, I needed a clean break from Pete Carroll, and while I wasn’t as down on the idea of Dan Quinn potentially returning as many others were, I feared a return to Quinn would have him unfairly judged by fans as being Pete Carroll-lite, and he would just never fully get out of Carroll’s shadow in his return here. I appreciate that former Legion Of Boom players were lobbying for Quinn, but if John Schneider allowed players to influence his decision making, that would frankly be pretty flawed decision making.

I will admit that I liked the idea of Mike Vrabel, but I wasn’t nearly as convinced of the greatness of Detroit OC Ben Johnson as many other fans were. I was sorta interested in Bobby Slowick for five minutes. I was also open to Mike Kafka, but the guy I kept circling back to was always Mike Macdonald. I just didn’t know if he would be interested, or if the team would seriously pursue him.

Turns out that he might have been their top choice all along based on some reports, and it was just a matter of John Schneider staying patient and waiting him out. Sometimes, things work out pretty well in the end.

I AM SO DAMN EXICTED!

I need this team to have a fresh break from Pete Carroll, and I am not completely sold on the narrative that to be successful in today’s NFL, your organization needs an offensive mind coach at the helm. Call me crazy, but I think you just need the best coach available. In my view, I felt Macdonald was most likely that guy.

You need a dude who’s vision is strong, who communicates clearly, is good with players, and it helps greatly if his Xs and Os are Grade A level stuff. In recent days, Macdonald has been described in the NFL media as a “defensive minded Sean McVay” – a guy who will adjust his scheme to attack his opponents weaknesses, week by week, and through the duration of game.

Yeah, sign me up for that.

Want to get excited about what Macdonald can bring to Seattle? In 2023, without any major investments on defensive personnel, the Baltimore Ravens had the top NFL defense in points allowed, sacks, and turnovers. First time that has ever been done, I believe.

I fully believe that Seattle is getting a bright young coach, and the cream of this coaching crop. Given the fact that they signed him to a six year contract, that tells me that they believe they have the guy who can win us titles. That should excite every fan.

Now they just need to pair him with a sharp offensive coordinator. We will see where that goes, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they are able to lure Mike Kafka out of New York with the toxic work environment of the Brian Daboll, and the Giants. Kafka was actually my dark horse candidate to win this Seahawk HC job, and it is rumored that he is so unhappy in NY under Daboll that he would be willing to make a rare lateral move.

Once I started reading up more about him, I actually grew to like Kafka a lot through this process. He’s an Andy Reid disciple who Reid and Patrick Mahomes think very highly about. I thought in 2022, he did a very serviceable job fixing Daniel Jones in New York, but things fell apart in 2023 due to the huge rash of injuries. Personally, I would love a potential pairing of him and Macdonald in Seattle, but we will see if that’s the direction they go.

What I am most excited about is Seattle pulling a guy brought up in the strong Baltimore culture to come out here. I need this team to become Baltimore Ravens West. Even more, I love the idea of pairing him with general manager John Schneider who now has full control of this team, and the freedom to lean further into his Ron Wolf Green Bay Packer background. I’m a believer in these two joined together.

I believe with John in charge for football operations, we are going to see a much strong investment in the trenches on both sides of the ball. Under Wolf, Green Bay valued the line of scrimmage players highly. In Seattle, it’s long been my hunch that Pete Carroll had always felt they could get away with going cheaper there, and John has just had to deal with that.

I also suspect that John is also itching to draft a quarterback soon, but we can get more into that another time. For now, I am just really curious and excited to see how the Green Bay philosophy melds with the Baltimore one out here.

Both organizations value offensive and defensive linemen, and both are primarily draft and develop teams. So, I don’t know if we now see Seattle slash a bunch of salaries in order to be big spenders in free agency. They might make a splash on the offensive line just because it badly needs it, but I can see them shopping for value on the other side of the ball.

The true beauty of what Macdonald has done in Baltimore is taking the 28th ranked defense a couple of years ago, and turning it into a top one, immediately, without the team spending big on talent. There are players on this Seahawk defense who would very much fit into what Macdonald did in Baltimore.

They have promising young edge rushers in Boye Mafe, Uchenna Nwosu, and Derrick Hall, and they have good young corners in Devon Witherspoon, Riq Woolen, and Tre Brown. If they can sign Big Cat Williams back at DT, their interior defensive line would be pretty similar to Baltimore’s. If they can bring back Jordyn Brooks and pair him with another fast young linebacker, I don’t think this defense would necessarily be that far off.

We will see how this coaching staff now fills out, who the OC is, if there will now be any QB change, and how free agency and the draft goes, but I have supreme optimism that with Macdonald, they can now be a true threat within the division against San Francisco and Los Angeles. Macdonald seems to match up very well against Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay.

He makes things confusing in coverage and how he sends pressures. In that MNF game in San Francisco, Brock Purdy looked genuinely unsure what to do.. like he was anticipating one thing and then seeing stuff that was surprising him. I think that shows the quality of Xs and Os from Macdonald.

We don’t know tons about him because he has only been a coordinator for a few years, but he is said to be a man of high intelligence, and a clear communicator. Players praise his ability to coach up the small details and explain why it’s done the way it is. It was said somewhere recently that he’s so sharp that there was a future for him in high finance on Wall Street that he actually turned down for coaching.

While he is said to be a players’ coach, in many ways, I think we are also going to find Macdonald an antithesis of Pete Carroll in terms of personality. He’s more reserved, and buttoned down, and he’s a bit of an introverted personality. That doesn’t scare me. Abraham Lincoln was a famous introvert.

I’m introverted, damn it!

Macdonald does not need to get up in front of 53 players and give fiery speeches. Don James wasn’t that type, and he did alright. He just needs to show his players that he knows football inside and out, that he’s a strong communicator, and he’s got a great plan. He can let a top lieutenant on his staff give hype speeches.

He just needs to be himself, stay true to himself, and everything that got him here.

I am absolutely stoked beyond my mind about this hire. At the very least, I can dare to dream big again.

I want this team to become the thorn in the side of the San Francisco 49ers again. I don’t ever want to see Shanahan smirky smile again whenever we play them. I want that dude stressed out the whole freaking time.

Mike Macdonald wasn’t the hire to get this team more competitive against San Francisco and Los Angeles. He was the hire to eventually bury both franchises back into the cellar of the NFC West.

I’m here for that.

Go Hawks.

The Seattle Seahawks Are John Schneider’s Ship Now And What It Means Moving Forward

Posted on January 17, 2024 by curtiseastwood

For the first time in his 14 year career as a Seattle Seahawk, General Manager sat by himself yesterday to talk with reports about his search for the next head coach. I listened to the press conference in traffic and watched it later in the evening. Some have nitpicked his emotions when discussing Pete Carroll, and called his opening statement “rehearsed” because he read from a script, but I found his presser both fascinating, and highly encouraging.

First off, John is no Pete when it comes to charisma with the media. He’s likable in sort of a midwest Chris Farley-light sorta way, in moments, but I don’t think he should be criticized for bumbling a bit reading what he wrote down in his opening statement, nor should he be made fun of getting caught up in emotions when talking about his co-worker and friend for the last 14 years after he was let go last week.

It is safe to say that John and Pete probably did not see eye to eye on a lot of things over the years, but I believe it when both have said how tight they are with each other. I don’t think John did any Game Of Thrones or Succession styled back stabbing of Pete to get him fired and gain further power over the team. When ownership asked him what he saw as the issues holding this team back, I think John most likely gave a very honest and candid answer that was probably very different than Pete’s. That is how I would read all of these tea leaves.

When fielding questions, John made a big point about this team becoming stagnant over the years, and not really moving forward. This has been the same complaint most Seahawk fans have had for many years now.

He also talked about the need to keep up with the current landscape of the league, which has become more offensive and analytic driven with the top winning teams. Many of the cool kid fans of Seahawks Twitter X, for years now, have implored this team to move off of Pete Carroll’s old school-ness in favor of a coaching staff who would embrace such trends. Well, listening to John, it feels as though they are about to get their wish.

Having gone through this presser a couple times now, I believe, in his ideal world, John Schneider would love to find a bright offensive minded coach to lead this team into the future. Schneider comes from the Green Bay model, his biggest mentor is the legendary Packer GM Ron Wolf (who he spent a lengthy amount of time with on Friday chatting with), and steeped in the model is the tradition of having offensive minded head coaches who develop young quarterbacks.

There are enough tea leaves out of this press conference to conclude that Schneider wants to draft a bright young quarterback around the corner, and pair him with a Green Bay style coach. People will read into his comments of Mike McCarthy, and draw a conclusion that Schneider wants him here in Seattle should Jerry Jones cut him loose, but wouldn’t read too much into that, just as I am not reading into the idea that Dan Quinn is his top candidate.

John talked at lengths about following the current trends, analytics, and sports science. He said his one directive from Jody Allen was to find a coach who will maintain the built in positive culture of this team, but the rest of the time, he talked about keeping up with the Joneses within the division. I think it would be an INCREDIBLY hard sell on this fanbase to replace the legend of Pete Carroll with Mike McCarthy or Dan Quinn after that playoff debacle in Dallas. John is probably smart enough to see that.

Therefore, I suspect that, of the long list of candidates who Seattle has formally requested interviews with, Detroit OC Ben Johnson, Houston OC Bobby Slowick, and Miami OC Frank Smith are probably sitting top on his list to this date. I bet John would love to meet with one of these guys and be wowed with their plan for this team, and their plan to put together a great staff.

Right now, Ben Johnson feels like the hottest name with Seahawk fans, but for my money, I would circle the name of Bobby Slowick perhaps being the dude for this gig. It has been widely rumored that Johnson has a back channeled handshake deal with the new GM for the Washington Commanders to follow him there, and I am going to buy those rumors. Slowick, however, doesn’t have such rumors swirling around him.

What Slowick does have is a history that sorta ties him to the Green Bay Packers when John Schneider was the assistant GM there, and Slowick’s dad was on the staff in the early 2000’s. It is safe to assume that Schneider knew of a teen age Bobby Slowick then, and tracked his coaching career over the years. Last year, Slowick left his position of pass game coordinator on Kyle Shanahan’s staff in San Francisco to follow DeMeco Ryans to Houston, and be the guy running his offense. In the past, Shanahan has raved about Slowick, and their connection started in Washington when Kyle’s dad Mike ran that team.

Slowick’s career is very interesting as it connects to Schneider’s likely needs and wants. He started out in 2010 with Washington as a film analyst, and eventually a defensive assistant (what his dad was in Green Bay), but then after the older Shanahan was fired, he went to work at Pro Football Focus, the leading football analytic company as a Senior Analyst. When Kyle got the job in San Francisco in 2017, Slowick followed him, and has worked for Kyle as a defensive assistant, an offensive assistant, and eventually Kyle’s pass game coordinator.

Never mind the fact that, last season, Bobby Slowick took over the sad sack Houston Texan offense, made it an explosive unit, and coached rookie quarterback CJ Stroud into a star. That’s all dandy on the surface, but looking deeper into his career, it is clear that Slowick knows offensive AND defensive football, well, and he is steeped in football analytics.

I am not writing this piece to predict that Bobby Slowick is going to be the next Seattle Seahawk head coach in the next week or two. What I will say, however, is that Slowick ticks A LOT of John Schneider’s boxes, especially if Schneider wants to draft a QB this Spring (I think he does). Therefore, he is the guy that I am willing to put pretty decent odds on. If he interviews for this gig, and truly impresses with his vision on what staff he would put together, and he feels like a good culture guy, I think this gig might be his.

The other guy who I think might have a bigger shot at this job than people are expecting his none other than Mike Vrabel. A lot of the top NFL insiders are connecting the former Patriot legend to Seattle, and it has been noted, repeatedly, that he is friends with Schneider. It has been so much so lately, that I am starting to believe the idea of “where there is smoke there is fire” just as I bought into it about Carroll maybe moving on, and Russell Wilson being traded a few years ago.

People will scoff at the idea of Vrabel taking over for Pete Carroll in Seattle, but a deeper dive into him kinda shows that he is much more than a defensive minded head coach. Over the years, Vrabel has been one of the leagues more forward thinking analytic driven head coaches in the league, and he put together one of the best offensive staffs when he got to Tennessee. Green Bay head coach Matt LaFleur was his initial offensive coordinator and that immediately landed him the Packer gig. Arthur Smith then took over, and guided Tennessee’s offense into a top five DVOA unit, and that landed him the Atlanta job.

It is not too far out of the realm of possibility to image that, if given the opportunity in Seattle, Vrabel would bring Arthur Smith along with him, and because things didn’t go great for Smith in Atlanta, Smith could have an extensive stay in Seattle bringing along a young quarterback.

Arthur Smith might be thought of as a great coordinator who just really isn’t head coaching material. The league is full of these coaches, and while most fans probably prefer Schneider to land Ben Johnson, or Bobby Slowick, who is to say that both guys won’t end up more on the side of Arthur Smith’s fate than that of Matt LaFleur’s storyline?

If we really spend enough thinking about Vrabel as the next Seahawk coach, I don’t think he can be as simply written off as a Dan Quinn (who will be interviewed) or a Mike McCarthy (if he gets fired). Vrabel is highly respected across the league, and his firing came as a genuine shock across the NFL landscape. Personally, I think he is a strong CEO type of coach like Dan Campbell in Detroit and Dan Lanning in Oregon, as much as anything, and he is young enough, with enough pelts on his wall as both a player and coach, that my hunch is good people would follow him here, and players would buy in quickly.

If Mike Vrabel interviews for this job, all I think he would have to do is convince his friend John that he will have no problem with John calling all the shots with personnel, and he would have no issue with bringing along a young quarterback. I get that people believe that a rookie QB needs to be paired with an offensive head coach, but look where Vrabel came from. It was defensive minded head coach Bill Belichick who embraced a young Tom Brady over veteran Drew Bledsoe, and then embarked upon a long historic campaign of Super Bowls with the young gun.

I am saying it now, I think Mike Vrabel in Seattle is a real possibility, at the very least, and I would not be shocked at all if he ends up the dude. If John isn’t a hundred percent sure on any of these younger offensive coordinators, or Baltimore DC Mike McDonald (who I like, by the way), or Dan Quinn, I think that opens that door for Vrabel to bust through it.

And no, I do not think Jim Harbaugh will be a candidate. Not that I don’t think he is a great coach or a good culture guy. It is more so that I think he would want more control over personnel than Seattle would be willing to give. It is iron clad in Schneider’s contract with the team that he now has full control over all personnel decision making, and he has full control over coaching hiring and firing. Harbaugh isn’t going to want to work under those parameters.

In the end, given what John Schneider revealed in his presser, I am highly encouraged about this team moving forward. I think his search for the new coach will be broad, and that is right to do. I love that he is willing to look at all these bright young assistant coaches instead of going for whatever previous head coaches are and might end up on the market. I dig that he used terms like “evolving” and “current trends” frequently in his press conference.

I thought he might have dropped a few interesting nuggets in this press conference that made me believe drafting a quarterback this Spring is a very real possibility, and it should be. This year’s draft class appears quite loaded with them with as many as eight being discussed has potential franchise starters.

I am not going to predict who this guy will be. I have strong hunches on Slowick and Vrabel, but I am also very prepared to be surprised.

I just feel like Seattle is now on a path to get more modern with this this league, and I am excited for that. I believe that this team had gotten too stagnant over the years, and now I am looking forward to them breaking out of it.

John is right. This roster has bright young talent. Seattle is a great destination. The facilities are world class, and the fan base is super built in.

He has every reason to believe that he will attract a really good coach. I am looking forward to this process.

Go Hawks.

The Greatness Of Pete Carroll Deserves A Statue

Posted on January 11, 2024 by curtiseastwood

Pete Carroll was My Guy. I don’t know any other way I can characterize him for myself.

I vividly remember the day when it was announced that he was taking over as head coach of the Seattle Seahawks. I was so excited, that almost created a wreck in traffic. I listening to Sports Radio KJR, heard the news, screamed, and swerved, and course corrected. Then once I heard all the horse crap out of the station’s blowhards complaining about the hire, that is when I decided I was going to be a KIRO 710 listener from then on.

It all happened just like that, and the minute they started talking shit about Carroll, I was done as a regular listener. They couldn’t even give the hire a single benefit of doubt. Why should I give them another listen?

You see, to further set up context, back in the Mike Holmgren era, I was a film believer that the next head coach should be Pete Carroll. I once said that to my brother, and he looked at me as he so often did when I was a kid eating crayons and dog food, and he thought I was an absolute knucklehead for even entertaining the idea.

“Pom Pom Pete?!”

“That shit will never fly in this league.. fuck, I don’t ever want to see that here.”

My rational was simple. The Seahawks were a fun little kick ass team for a while in the 1980s with a defensive minded head coach who was all about great defense and running the football. I was tired of the more finesse pass happy approach of Holmgren, and I wanted more smash mouth to go along with the cold wet blustery Sundays in Seattle in the Fall and Winter.

“Dude, look what he’s going in USC.. they are running the shit out of the ball, throwing darts off play action, running up scores, and they are killing it on defense.. that is what I want up here.”

Pete Carroll was my guy long before Pete Carroll became my coach, so you can imagine my excitement that almost forced my Ford Ranger into a ditch over the news of his hiring. I wasn’t certain about much in life, but I was pretty certain we were going back to a Super Bowl, and actually winning the motherfucker this time.

Pete Carroll is the greatest thing that has ever happened to Seattle Sports. He is by far the greatest coach this region has ever seen, and I say that in complete respect to Don James, and Lenny Wilkins.

This is not my opinion. It is a statement of fact, and I will not have any debate on it.

In 14 years, Pete Carroll has guided the Seahawks into the playoffs 71 percent of the time. This team went to back to back Super Bowls, winning one, and almost winning another. They won five division titles, and were a wild card team five other times.

Without Pete Carroll, we never would has experienced the Beast Quake that galvanized us as a fanbase. Marshawn Lynch was a troubled third string running back in Buffalo, and Carroll took a chance on him. Lynch would not have likely been a fit on a Mike Holmgren coached team.

Without Pete Carroll, I highly doubt Russell Wilson would have become a long term starter in this league. Philly might have drafted him, and he would have played for Andy Reid, but I doubt they would stayed with him long term in Reid’s high volume passing system that requires a taller quarterback. He would have more likely been a bridge to the next guy, and then likely would have had a Gardner Minshew type impact on the league, but Carroll gave him a shot, grew to love him, and tried to make it work as long as he could.

Without Pete Carroll, Geno Smith would probably still be a second or third string backup, or out of the league.

Without Pete Carroll, Richard Sherman may have not ever gotten a fair shot as a starter.

Without Pete Carroll, Red Bryant may have been out of the league by his fourth year.

Without Pete Carroll, I don’t know if Kam Chancellor would have been a starter in this league when everyone was playing Tampa two stuff.

Haters are always going to hate on this dude, but Pete Carroll gave us so damn much, and I think a lot of us got really spoiled in the process. When your team goes to back to back Super Bowls, just making the playoffs is no longer enough. That’s the expectation before the first kick of the season happens.

Nah, these kids who were eight years old when Pete first got here are in their twenties now, and they don’t know football life without him. Well, get ready for it.

A lot of them want the next 33 year old Sean McVay type, but they might find themselves missing Pete a lot over the next few years. I’m not saying this to be cryptic about the future. I am just saying that Hall of Fame level coaches typically do not grow on trees, and Carroll is most definitely a Hall of Famer.

The team could hire Jim Harbaugh, or Kalen DeBoer and either one of those guys isn’t likely to have the sustained success as Pete. That’s just the nature of the league.

Pete Carroll’s greatest attribute as a head coach was not his Xs and Os, or his schemes. Pete Carroll’s strength was and always will be his heart, and his willingness to believe in others, to give opportunities, and to stay steadfast in his belief in others. That is a thing easier said than done, and this is what gave the breeding ground to his culture being the best in the NFL for nearly a decade in a half.

Pete Carroll is a great leader of men because he leads with his heart. You could feel that in his very raw and authentic way he allowed himself to be in his final press conference to announce with the team. Leaders who are willing to lay it on the line, to be real, and present, and caring, can inspire a collective to move mountains. That is what he did here in Seattle.

My dad was a combat war veteran, and he was as badass as badass could be. Like, old school Lee Marvin badass. He always used to rave about General Omar Bradley, and he hated high ranking officers because of his experience dealing with them as a squad leader in Korea.

In his booming voice, Dad would say that the only person to wear stars who was ever worth a damn was Bradley. He loved Bradley because the general always insisted on marching with his troops and carrying a rifle. If he was going to ask a man to lay down his life, he wanted that dude to know that he was willing to lay his own life on the line with him. The US troops fucking loved Omar Nelson Bradley.

I think Pete Carroll is a lot like Bradley. He’s thoughtful. He cares. He wants others to care. He is very much a servant leader.

That’s what Pete Carroll was at USC for many years, and that is how he rolled up here in Seattle. I wanted him to be the head coach of my team because I thought his style of ball was kick ass, but once I grew to know of him more after he got here, I pretty much wanted him to coach here for life.

Football is a funny fluid thing, though. In recent years, I grew tired of the dramas that crept up like the Jamal Adams stuff this year, and the odd coaching hires that led to the offenses and defenses getting worse instead of better, and I started to entertain more the idea of Carroll moving on. He had been here much longer than Holmgren or Chuck Knox ever were, I felt that maybe hubris filtered in more, and I just thought maybe it was time.

This season, I really started to feel it, and I found it creeping into my writings in ways that made me feel very Get Off My Lawn Dude. I didn’t particularly enjoy writing with that type of energy, but I couldn’t ignore my frustrations as a fan, either.

I actually started this blog as an attempt to create a space for Seahawk fans to visit that wouldn’t be so hypercritical over every little spending decision, or coaching decision, or bad play that happened in a game. I wanted my writing to have some fun, and celebrate all the highs, and joke around with the lows, and maybe share an insight or two, if ever I felt one.

I think subconsciously, I wanted my writing to reflect the goofy nutball nature of my favorite coach. That is how much Pete Carroll has impacted me as a fan, and person. I will always deeply appreciate him, and hold him in the highest regard.

I won’t deny that it’s a bit weird that I wrote about my ideas of moving on from him, and then seeing the team actually do it. I find myself in a very strange, split place with this whole thing, now.

Emotionally, I am very attached to Carroll the person, and I am really going to miss this dude as my team’s head coach. Logically, though, I believe this was the right time to move on, and give another coach a shot.

As stated, chances are significant that the next head coach won’t be nearly as good. That’s not saying this next dude is going to suck, and they won’t have success. This is just acknowledging that Pete Carroll is a Hall Of Fame head coach, and those coaches do not grow on trees.

That said, Carroll is 72 years old and was heading into his final year. I suspect ownership wanted significant changes on his staff. I wouldn’t be surprised if they also wanted a bit more of a roster overhaul with some of the older players. It is entirely possible that they do want to draft a quarterback this Spring, and Carroll isn’t super down.

In any case, I think Carroll is very attached to his guys, and I am just guessing here, but I think he maybe didn’t want to fire a bunch of dudes, or cut a few players that he is very close with and still believes in. This is where being in your seventies might impact proper decisions. You might feel less likely to want to overhaul things once again even if it is clearly needed.

Coaching at this level has got to be an exhausting practice. Mike Holmgren was a superb coach for many years, and he knew he was done much younger than Carroll is today. I think it is incredibly difficult to find sustained success such as Pete has had along with Belichick, Tomlin, and the sane Harbaugh brother. These dudes are coaching rarities.

This team has been underachieving, though, and it has been this way for many years now. They have become perpetually mediocre to good but not great. Something needed to give.

I think Jody Allen wants greatness again, and I think she probably wants a good younger coach to come in who will probably not be as attached to players on this roster. It is very possible she wants someone who will be more of a disciplinarian that maybe Pete has it in him to be at this juncture, and will push his coaches and players more in the details of the game.

Frankly, I think this is what this team needs. It kinda needs a fresh new kick in the pants, and this is what I have been feeling greatly this year.

That does not take anything away from who Pete Carroll is as a coach and leader. In my mind, this just means that all things come to their natural ends, and this was the time for the Carroll era to close, and as I wrote the other day after the win against the Cardinals, if his final game as coach of this team is a nail biting victory, it would be very fitting.

I will never forget this era, though, and all the wild ass shit that went down on the football fields. I will never forget Beast Quake, the Richard Sherman tip in the NFC Championship game against San Fran, the insanity that took place in the come from behind win against the Packers in the following NFC Championship, Michael Bennett riding the cop bike, the Kam Chancellor hits, all the Russell Wilson ridiculous Jedi shit, Geno beating Russ as a Bronco, the insane Jermaine Kearse catch against the Pats in the Super Bowl, all the wild Doug Baldwin grabs, and the Tyler Lockett ones, and that crazy touchdown pass Jon Ryan threw to a backup offensive tackle in that wild championship game against the Pack. This list could go on, and on, and on again.

Pete Carroll gave us all this stuff. He gave us a decade and a half of crazy ass adventure. It was fun. It was stressful. It was annoying at times, and exhilarating.

There is absolutely no debate in my mind who the greatest Seattle Sports icon is. It is Pete Carroll, and it is not even close.

And my brother was dead fucking wrong about him, and so were all of those loud blowhard radio personalities on KJR. I am not right about a lot of things, but I was spot on correct about Pete Carroll.

So please, Jody Allen. Build the Pete Carroll statue in front of Lumen Field. Hire us a good new coach, but build us that statue.

Seattle owes Pete Carroll everything. Period.

Go Hawks.

Tough Loss For the Washington Huskies But Michael Penix Junior Is Still My Guy

Posted on January 9, 2024 by curtiseastwood

First off, I just want to congratulate the entire Washington Husky Football Program for an outstanding year of college football in 2023. It was as fun of a ride as I can remember while following this program. I enjoyed them every single bit as much the the 1991 Steve Emtman National Champ Huskies, and in some ways more.

I have a few impressions that I am left with watching them go down in defeat against the mighty Michigan Wolverines. Most of them circle around Michael Penix Junior.

I cannot remember a Husky player I have more gravitated around than Penix, and I have followed this team for over four decades. He is the best player I have ever seen wear a Husky uniform, and I remember Emtman well, and Vita Vea not that long ago.

I was pretty young when Warren Moon was guiding the Huskies to Rose Bowls, but I remember Moon very well as a pro I rooted for because my dad absolutely loved him. To me, Michael Penix feels like a left handed Warren Moon. His stature, the way he moves off of play action, and through the pocket, and the effortless way he throws perfect ropes down the field. One bad game against a dominant defense with his run game severely hampered, and defenders holding his receivers downfield isn’t going to deter my opinion of Michael Penix Junior, and how he can potentially translate as a pro quarterback.

There are multiple players on this Husky team that I would love to see drafted by the Seattle Seahawks, but none more so than Michael Penix Junior. I get that he picked a bad time to have an off night at quarterback, but I firmly believe in his traits, and his inner fortitude to find success in the NFL.

People are polarized by Penix. They are either overly enamored with his A+ arm talent, or they are scared of his injury history, his age, and, right or wrong, they feel like he is destined to wilt in big moments.

Draft sites and national media members are wildly all over the place with him, too. Some say he’s a top ten pick, while others think of him as a third rounder. Pro Football Focus currently grades him as their 19th best draft prospect, and that puts him right in rage for Seattle picking at 16 in the first round, if they love him.

Personally, I will be pretty crushed if Seattle passes on Penix. If they do this, and he does find success elsewhere, I will likely hold this against the organization for many years. I think he is the perfect fit for what this team has been trying to do offensively. Selecting him in the upcoming draft would be a no brainer pick for them, in my opinion, even if they continue to ride with Geno Smith.

His arm talent is so special that Kalen DeBoer and Ryan Grubbs asked him to do things as a college quarterback that most other programs don’t ask their passer to do. He threw difficult sideline and deep ball passes at high volume, and I think that is how the coaches saw their best chance at making the playoffs. They road Penix’s arm for two solid years and it finally got them to the championship game. That says something to me.

Chances are that in the pros, he will be asked to play a simpler game, especially as a rookie. If by chance Seattle were to draft him and Carroll is still around, he would probably be tasked to quarterback in a more game managerial role to start out, much like Russell Wilson did. With all the volume passing he has done over the last two years in college, he honestly might welcome not having to initially be The Guy.

In an offensive system like Sean McVay runs, where it is a very balanced attack with a lot of play action passes to the intermediate and deeper middle portions of the field, Michael Penix is perfectly suited to play that sort of game. I think he is closer to Matthew Stafford than he is to Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen, and that is cool with me.

The key for Penix moving forward is to get with a strong coach in a good program who will hammer into him that he doesn’t need to be the hero on every single play, and he can just take whatever is in front of him against a stronger defense. In many ways, Seattle would be his ideal landing place because I can totally envision Carroll being this guy for him (Or a coach like Dan Quinn down the road if Seattle makes a coaching change).

With Pete Carroll, though, I just don’t know if Seattle would draft him if he fell to their pick. Carroll is already stressing to the media that their quarterback position is strong with Geno Smith, and I suspect that he would prefer to just continue on with Geno and use their first three picks of the draft at other positions. I honestly expect him to walk into the meeting with Jody Allen and pitch that all is good with this team, and they just need to hit on one more draft class to further fill things out with Geno at quarterback and maybe bringing Drew Lock back for another round as QB2. That feels very Pete Carroll to me.

So, as things stand right now, I do not expect Michael Penix Junior to be a Seahawk this Spring. I just pray he won’t end up a Ram, instead.

As for the other Huskies who played in this game, I think defensive end Bralen Trice and offensive lineman Troy Fautanu are prime candidates to be potential Seahawks maybe with Seattle’s first pick in the draft. Trice as all the makings of a perfect bookend to Boye Mafe, especially should Seattle return to more of a 4-3 defense again, and I think Fautanu is perfectly built to be a foundational left guard playing next to Charles Cross for years to come. Seattle desperately needs to improve it’s defensive front and offensive line in 2024, and if they aren’t big free agent spenders to get it done, then drafting either one of these two Huskies makes a ton of sense.

Honorable Husky mentions as potential Seahawks, I kinda dig on wide receiver Jalen McMillian in the third round range. I love me some Dillion Johnson at running back, too.

As for the Wolverines, fuck those asshats. They are cheaters, they held on offense and defense all throughout the game, but gosh darn it if I don’t really love how they play ball, anyways. They are physical, and they are as fundamentally sound of a football team as you will see in college.

As for potential Seahawks down the road after the draft who wore blue and maze in this game, give me defensive tackle Kris Jenkins, linebacker Junior Colson, either one of their running backs, and I guess I kinda like that JJ McCarthy kid as a draft and develop quarterback. Some people are very “meh” on McCarthy, but I like his toolsy traits as a game managing play action quarterback at the next level.

I also think Jim Harbaugh is destined to coach the Los Angeles Chargers. Give him Justin Herbert, and I can see the Chargers in the Super Bowl in two years. I can also see him fired by year four because Harbaugh is going to ultimately Harbaugh.

As for UW, the next step is to make Kalen DeBoer the richest college coach in the land, and also get better running back depth than what they had going into this game. Had Washington had a healthier situation at running back, it would have taken more pressure off of Penix to be perfect, and maybe they could have squeezed off this win.

But make no mistake about it, Michael Penix Junior is going to be a good one at the next level. I suspect that he will be unfairly bashed on social media for a while after this game, but I just look at him, and his makeup, and I would be willing to wager that this sort of loss is going to be a really big motivator for him for a long time.

I can see him going into the league pissed off and determined for greatness as a pro. I just pray that it is with the Seahawks, even though I am supremely reluctant to get my hopes up. We can always hope, though.

Go Dawgs.

Seahawks Finish Season 9-8, Miss Playoffs, And Change Is Needed

Posted on January 8, 2024 by curtiseastwood

Watching this game against the Seahawks and Cardinals, I found myself caught up in bi polar emotional states. While this is true for many Seahawk games I view, this one felt very different. I felt hope that the Seahawks and Bears would pull off wins that would make Seattle playoff bound, but then I also felt a comfortable acceptance in losing when it looked like that was going to happen.

I cannot remember watching a season ending game with playoff implications on the line for the Seattle Seahawks, and ever feeling a smidgen of indifference to it in the waning moments. Last year, I needed them to be in the playoffs as the fended off the beaten up Rams, and had to wait to if the Lions would be the Packers. I had stakes then. This Sunday, my stakes were much smaller.

If Seattle had handled business against the Steelers last week, my mood probably would be been different, but having watched this Seattle getting hammered by the Steelers took too much of the wind out of my sail. I just didn’t have much left for this bitter interdivisional matchup against a bad Arizona Cardinals team.

Honestly, I didn’t think Seattle was going to win this one, and if Matt Prater had made two routine field goals, they would have lost. So, color me unimpressed Seattle avoided a losing record, too. It is a nice feather in the cap for the players who fought hard to say that they avoided a losing record, and it provides a better winning record to the legacy of Pete Carroll, but this has to be one of the worst nine win Seahawk teams I have ever watched.

I still see them as mediocre as mediocre can be, and the fact that a bunch of players were smoking cigars in the locker room afterwards, after missing the playoffs, leaves me questioning how strong the leadership is on this team. I mean, seriously. Why?

This leads me to the Pete Carroll question that everyone is asking about with reports that he is set to meet with Jody Allen in the next few days to discuss his future with this team. It was noted in these reports that Carroll will be entering the final year of his contract this year instead of 2025, as previously believed.

I am not in a predicting mood, but I would just say that if Jody Allen has felt the same frustration that I have felt this year with the defense, and inconsistencies with the offense, I wouldn’t be so sure that Carroll coming back in a lame duck year is going to be a given. It will be interesting to see what comes out of the next 72 hours.

In my opinion, Carroll needs to get himself a significantly better defensive coordinator, but if he is going to continue into a lame duck year with no guarantees of continuing in 2025, is that going to entice a solid DC to sign on here? I have big doubts about that.

Coaches want stability. It is an incredible grind, they spend hours away from family, and I think a big payoff is knowing they won’t be moving in twelve months across the country and uprooting family, again. A high in demand defensive coach is going to want to go where he thinks he will have a decent tenure. He will want stability for himself and his love ones who endure his absence.

That’s the rub with continuing with Carroll in 2024 with nothing guaranteed beyond it. We are could be stuck with Clint Hurtt again coaching a defense that is now 30th worst at stopping the run for two seasons in a row.

How does that make you feel? I wanted to puke as I wrote that.

Maybe he does move on from Hurtt, but who is he going to find to replace him in what could be his final year of coaching in 2024? A move away from Hurtt could ultimately be just a very lateral move, and then we would just have to keep our fingers crossed that the new guy is better.

Truthfully, if Carroll returns this year, I want new coordinators on both sides of the ball. The defense has been putrid with Hurtt running that ship, and is probably 90 percent the reason why this team did not make it into the playoffs, but I would also say that an offense that has Tyler Lockett, DK Metcalf, Jaxon Smith Ngijba, Ken Walker, Zach Charbonnet, Noah Fant, and Geno Smith should be more dynamic than it was in 2023. In fact, it should be significantly more dynamic.

Clint Hurtt’s run at DC as been maybe the worst I have ever seen in Seattle and I have religiously followed this team since 1983, but Shane Waldron hasn’t exactly lit my world on fire as an offensive play caller, either. Some will say that Geno isn’t dynamic enough, and if they want to make that argument, I will let them have their moment, but I just don’t think this offense had a Geno problem this year.

Offensively, I think they had a clear lack of identity problem. They were in the bottom in the league in rush attempts with a big offensive line, three quality tight ends, and two high quality running backs. They were bad on third downs often. They were sloppy way too often. When certain things would start to work, Waldron would abandon them for something else in the bag.

While this defense was gut wrenchingly bad, this offense was far too often hair pulling out frustrating. I think this team eeked out 9 wins with a lot of luck and by having just enough talent to not be truly god awful.

I think the problem with this team is mainly coaching. While I don’t think this roster is oozing in talent, this team had three pro bowlers on defense and eight pro bowl alternatives. In short, the league sees talent on this roster.

In fact, I think they had enough talent to get to eleven wins. I think they should have split the series with the LA Rams, and they should have been able to beat the very mediocre Steelers.

Geno Smith just set an NFL record for most come from behind wins in a season with this win in Phoenix. While his numbers are down from 2022 (he did miss two games), he still showed enough efficiency to be a more than capable veteran starter moving forward. Give him an offensive play caller who will make life easier for him with a stronger run game, and there is no reason why I would think he couldn’t have sustained success here for a while, if they continue to run with him. He’s got great options to work with in this offense, he’s smart, he’s accurate, and he’s a decent leader.

That’s not to say that I wouldn’t prefer this team to draft a quarterback high (I do), but it just means that they don’t need to throw a rookie into the fire right away. With Geno, they can ease the young gun into this offense, and make the transition happen when he is more ready.. if they get the scheme better hammered out.

With Waldron, after three seasons now, it still feels like a work in progress. This is why I am ready to move on. Year three with Waldron should have gone way better than it did.

So, I guess with that, I would say that if this team continues with Pete Carroll in a lame duck year, I don’t all together think it’s a great idea to spend pick 16 this Spring on a quarterback even should a guy like Michael Penix Junior be there. It pains me to write that because I have been all aboard the Michael Penix Junior to Seattle Bandwagon for months now, but I fear not having a longer termed answer at head coach and maybe a lame duck coordinator would just hamper his development.

Don’t get me wrong, if the team does draft Penix this Spring with Carroll, I would lose my noodle with excitement, but realistically, I kinda think taking the best available offensive or defensive lineman might be the better play, and then wait for the later rounds on a more developmental quarterback prospect. If Seattle moves away from Carroll, however, that changes this equation for me, significantly.

The guy who is set to be the next long term head coach should be the guy to ultimately pick the next franchise quarterback. That feels more proper. I don’t personally think it’s great when a new guy inherits a quarterback that he didn’t chose himself.

Look in Cleveland. Kevin Stefanski was hired to “fix” Baker Mayfield, and in his first year as head coach, they both did pretty well together, and led the Browns to the playoffs for the first time in over two decades. Then the next year, Baker gets injured, struggles to play through his injury, regresses, whines, and then is replaced by creepozoid Deshaun Watson. This year in Tampa, Baker has proven to be pretty good again, but he wasn’t Stefanski’s guy (I don’t know if Watson is either, but I digress, and you get my point, anyways).

Now look at Houston with newly hired DeMeco Ryans as their head coach, and them aggressively maneuvering in the draft to take CJ Stroud. They are playoff bound, and defensive minded Ryans and Stroud feel joined together for years to come. Houston, as big of a league wide laughing stock as they were, did it absolutely right with the bright young coach and quarterback coming in together. I think that sort of partnership matters for a franchise.

That kinda circles back to this meeting with Jody Allen that Pete is set to have. If she has fallen smitten with a few of these quarterbacks set to enter the draft, and so has General Manager John Schneider, maybe they sense it is time to move on from Pete. She might feel that way regardless, but if she feels like having a young bright talent at QB will up the price on an eventual sale of the team, that could really put Pete Carroll in the corner, especially if he’s not super down for that. There are reasons to think he wouldn’t be.

Carroll is unapologetic in his belief in Geno Smith, and Seattle frankly, could have drafted Will Levis twice last Spring, and no analyst would have batted an eye about it, if they did. Carroll chose not to even though Levis had all the physical traits you would think Seattle would crave for a young quarterback in this offense. Why would anyone think it would be different this Spring under Carroll should Penix or Bo Nix be available at pick 16?

It is going to be an interesting few days. I’m not totally certain how things will shake up, but however it goes, I think it is going to tell us a lot about the direction they move in free agency and the draft.

At either rate, I just know that change on this staff is deeply needed. Yes, they need to get stouter up front on defense and the offensive line, some upgrades at linebacker, but this staff did not get the job done on any level with this team this year. I think they coached this team into an underperforming season, and I am not the only one who likely feels this way.

Bobby Wagner watched these young fellas in the locker smoking stogies and celebrating, and he wasn’t into it. In fact, he said so much in his press conference, and then added that these younger players need to learn how to win. He also sounded like a player who is not necessarily going to be back with this team next Fall even though he said he intends to keep playing. Can he be blamed?

Dudes are allowed to act like clowns on this team too often. Jamal Adams behaved like a buffoon on multiple occasions. Players on defense looked like they quit last week against the Steelers with their entire season on the line. Perhaps things are just too much fun and games.

If the Legion Of Boom players missed the playoffs, I guarantee they wouldn’t be smoking cigars after their season finale closer just because they avoided a losing record. I don’t see Kam Chancellor or Richard Sherman doing that at all. Ditto for Michael Bennett and KJ Wright. Those were proud veteran pro bowlers and Super Bowl champs who knew what it took to win.

This young roster doesn’t know it yet, and I don’t know if they have the coaching staff to help them figure it out. If Chuck Knox or Mike Holmgren had see them lighting up cigars, I think both legendary Seahawk coaches would have blown their tops. In fact, I don’t think the players would have had the space to entertain such a notion in their minds. Carroll gives them such loose license.

Therefore, I think it is entirely reasonable to assume that with Pete Carroll, at age 72 now, has just spent so much time here, and is so close to the situation that he just cannot step far enough away to see it for what it has become. Seattle is a soft cultured club right now. They lack fire, and hunger, and toughness, and it shows. Smoking victory cigars after a meaningless win is proof of that.

Maybe it is just a reflection on Pete Carroll. He has been at this for a LONG TIME. He has had a ton of success and has made boat loads of money for himself. Maybe his hunger, and fight isn’t what it once was, and this is why things are what they now are, and I say this being one of his biggest supporters over the years.

Maybe it is time to just finally move on, just rip the bandaids off, and start fresh. Maybe this is what Jody Allen and her right hand man Bert Kolde are feeling.

If so, then I really am glad they got this win to close out the season. If Carroll has coached his last game in Seattle (big if), then it is proper that they win a nail biter at the end. That feels right.

Go Hawks.

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.

12th Life

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

Seahawks Land Mike Macdonald As Their Head Coach And This Is Freaking Awesome

The Seattle Seahawks Are John Schneider’s Ship Now And What It Means Moving Forward

The Greatness Of Pete Carroll Deserves A Statue

Tough Loss For the Washington Huskies But Michael Penix Junior Is Still My Guy

Seahawks Finish Season 9-8, Miss Playoffs, And Change Is Needed

I Need The Seattle Seahawks To Become The Baltimore Ravens

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

Russell Wilson And The Denver Bronco Clown Show

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

Seahawk Quarterback Good Vibes Are Worth Celebrating