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

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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

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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

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Associated Press

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.

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

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(AP Photo/John Amis)

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!

The Seahawks Stun Philly And Me!

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 (Jane Gershovich/Getty Images)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Go Hawks!

Good God, I Hate The 49ers

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Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

Dear 49er Fan,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Go Hawks.

And, also, fuck the Niners.