Tag Archives: football

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.