There are things that the NFL media world does to hype up games that I think land firmly within the realms of ridiculous. The “revenge games” designated for discarded starting quarterbacks are a prime example.

Despite a really good breakthrough season last year, Sam Darnold was likely never going to be in the long term plans for the Minnesota Vikings. Not when they spent a top ten pick on JJ McCarthy after they signed him to a meager one year contract in free agency back in 2024. Perhaps they shoulda used the franchise tag on him for 2025, though, given how this year has gone for the Vikes, and McCarthy, but that is a whole other subject to consider, and waste time writing about.

The Seattle Seahawks took advantage of Darnold breaking out in Minnie last year as soon as they saw that he wasn’t going to get the franchise tag. I will never believe that trading 35 year old Geno Smith to the Raiders would have ever happened had they not seen the opportunity to get six years younger at quarterback for a player that was seen as comparable, at worst, and possibly even an upgrade, at best.

And for those who like to keep taps on Sam in Seattle, and Geno in Vegas, the Seattle Seahawks have very clearly won that slight gamble at quarterback. You can say what you want about Darnold’s performance against his former team yesterday, but he did not throw the five interceptions that Geno just did in a brutal loss against the Chargers.

So, that said, to get back onto my original point, I never really viewed this game at Lumen Field against the Vikings as Sam’s Revenge Game as others would label it. The Vikings had to see what they had in McCarthy, and Sam needed long term commitment from a franchise. I always viewed his move out of Minnie to the PNW as a very win win thing for him and his former club.

Another narrative that was pumped all throughout the NFL, the Vikings, and even the Seahawks media world last week was this idea that the Minnesota Vikings might have found their “Brock Purdy” in undrafted rookie quarterback Max Brosmer, who was going to make his first NFL start in place of concussed McCarthy. The truth of the matter is that media types were probably searching for ways to hype up what was set to be a very lopsided game in Seattle, and they saw an opportunity to pounce on some positive vibes the Minnesota coaches had on Brosmer during the preseason, and such. However, the levels that it was taken to all this past week was ridiculous, to say the least, though.

All last week, on various podcasts, on airwaves, and written throughout the press, there was this noise coming out of Minnie that Brosmer was this potential hidden gem as an intelligent, accurate, quick processor at quarterback and the Viking coaches felt great about his potential. Some were even trumpeting this match as a potential trap for the Seahawks with the Vikings knowing how to get to Darnold, and the Seahawks not knowing enough about Brosmer.

Dianna Russini of The Athletic was quick to cite quotes from scouts and coaches who were comparing Brosmer to Purdy. Hey, gotten get out on top of the news cycle in the slim chance Brosmer actually steps out onto Lumen Field and punks on of the best NFL defenses on the planet in Seattle on Sunday, amiright?

Even more outlandish, Steve Mariucci went onto the NFL Network and recklessly predicted that Brosmer would throw for a whopping 485 yards against the same Seahawks defense that gave all world Matt Stafford fits two weeks ago. Frankly, I don’t know what I am more offended with, the absurdity to pump up Brosmer to poor destitute Viking fans, but the total disregard for Seattle’s stellar defense. There was no F’ing way this poor kid was going to have this sort of game in Seattle. No F’ing way. What total utter horse crap.

Here are the stat lines for the “Minnesota Purdy” yesterday. He 19 of 30 passing attempts for 126 yards, no touchdowns, and he lofted up 4 interceptions, and was sacked 4 times by Seattle Seahawk defenders. His passer rating in his first NFL start was a whopping 32.8. JJ McCarthy may not ever be the answer at QB for the Vikings, but I am here to break anyone’s bubble who needs it that Max Brosmer very likely is not the answer, either.

While Darnold, himself, didn’t have a stellar outing, the truth of the matter is that he didn’t need to have one, he just had to game manage effectively enough against a talented defense, and he did just that. Some folks will criticize Darnold for struggling against the blitz pressure sent at him, but for the most part, I thought he handled it well enough, especially with the adjustment’s Klint Kubiak made in the second half of the game. My impression on the early sacks, including the sack fumble, is that the blockers in front of him were not handling it well, and some of the play calling wasn’t perhaps, either, but by the second half, everyone settled in better.

Sometimes, this is why you pay the big bucks to a mature, capable, veteran NFL quarterback. You expect him to understand the type of game that he is going to be in for, and if he has to game manage against a very tough defense, knowing that his defense is going to have a day against an inexperienced rookie QB, then you expect him to manage it well. Sam did just that, and Mike Macdonald said as much post game.

It was painfully obvious for the opening two offensive series that this was going to be a day of potentially an epic defensive battle. The game very clear from the onset after kickoff that it was going to be that type of game.

Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores calls the same level of defense in Minnesota that he did in New England when the Patriots punked the LA Rams and Jared Goff in a Super Bowl matchup a number of years ago. He calls fronts that make it tough to run on, and he loves to send blitz pressures early and often on quarterbacks. In the world of NFL defensive schemes and coordinators, he is his own unique beast to deal with as a defensive mind.

In fact, if I am the owner of the Vegas Raiders and I want to make my star pas rusher Maxx Crosby very happy, I am seriously considering making a move in 2026 to make Flores my next head coach over 74 year old Pete Carroll. Flores got a bum deal when he was head coach of the Dolphins, and if any defensive mind out there needs another shot at being a head coach again, it is this guy. If I need to restart a franchise from the ground up, I am definitely looking at him over a hall of fame level guy in his mid seventies.

Sam Darnold knew what was coming with Flores, and he knew he had to give up his impulses to play hero ball against it. For the most part, he did just that.

Brosmer, on the other hand, is an undrafted quarterback for a reason, and again, it was utterly ridiculous for NFL media minds to build him up the way they did. He stood absolutely no chance against a dominant Seattle Seahawk defense, and the times he tried to for big plays downfield were brutal for any Vikings fan to watch.

Here is the very easy storyline of this football game. The Vikings defense absolutely played its ass off, but the Seahawks defense played better, and the Vikings quarterback played significantly worse than the Seahawk QB did. This was the game in a nutshell.

It was total lopsided domination led primarily by the kick ass Seattle Seahawk defense that can send pass rushers in waves, dial key blitzes against the pass and run in ways that can be overwhelmingly successful, and they have linebackers, safeties, and corners who are all really, really good in coverage. They are a year and a half into Mike Macdonald’s unique 4-2-5 defense, and they are absolutely humming now. This would have been a tough matchup for a lot of experienced NFL QBs, let along an undrafted rookie.

The Seattle Seahawks beat down the Vikings 0-26 because their greatness on defense matched against a massive disadvantage Minnesota had at quarterback. Any team that has concerns at quarterback probably doesn’t stand much of a chance against Seattle’s pass rush, and coverage. It’s too bleeping kick ass to match up against it.

If I am Kirk Cousins in Atlanta studying the Seahawks defense this morning, I am seriously considering pulling a Caddyshack Rodney Dangerfield “oh, my arm, may arm” stunt to get out of playing them next Sunday.

But that is neither here, nor there in terms of yet another beat down win the Seahawks put on an inferior opponent yesterday against the Viking.

The heroes of this game are the entire Seattle Seahawk defense led by bad ass middle linebacker and heart and soul team leader Ernest Jones with two interceptions and a pick six, the badass defensive tackle duo of Leonard Williams and Byron Murphy, and defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence, especially. D Law had a game as a pass rusher and run stuffer that felt, single handily, game wrecking for the overmatched Vikes who were trying to give it their all in this one.

As it stands now, the Seahawks hold a 9-3 record, tied with the Rams for first place in the division. They are beating all the teams on their record that they should beat, thus far. This is the sign of a very good football team, and there is nothing to think that this won’t continue through the rest of their five games on the year.

They are also winning games with perhaps now the very best defense in the league. In truth, this is how I vastly prefer my team to win ballgames. I am not a fantasy guy. I don’t care about the stats my star receiver gets on my team, or running back. While it is fun to see my starting QB put up gaudy numbers whenever it happens, I don’t need it. I want to see the defense of the team I root for wreck games and players of the opposition, and the Seahawk defenders do just that.

This game against the Vikings, a shutout loss that Minnesota has not felt in two decades of football, should be a message to all teams the Seahawks face on their remaining schedule as they aim for the playoffs. Fear them. Be afraid.

They are coming for you. They are dialed into a complex playbook, they play fast, furious, and various. They hit, cover, and tackle, and they know how to pass rush.. a lot.

I also like how complimentary the offense is becoming in finding more success with their run game. As this game against a very strong Vikings defense went on, quietly the Seahawks offense had another positive day running the rock, and this is now our games in a row that the Seahawks have ran pretty well.

Great defense paired with a dependable run game is exactly what you want to see out of your team as it gets into December, and aims for the playoffs. For all the style points that Jaxon Smith Njigba gets as a pass catcher in this offense, and Darnold often gets throwing the rock, it is good to know that this team is looking more built to win defensive battles whenever needed.

I like that a lot. I will take that. If you are a fan of the Seattle Seahawks, you should be pretty darn happy to see this level of football materializing before your eyes.

Go Hawks.

The Seattle Seahawks are a good football team this year. Sitting at 8-3, we should all know this by now. They have beaten every team on their schedule that they clearly should have handled, they beat a couple good teams on the road (Jacksonville and Pittsburgh), and they lost three games to clubs that we knew were going to be tougher matchups. They have done this minus numerous key starters to their defense, at times, and that speaks to their depth on their roster, and coaches on their staff. So, we should know by now that this is a very good football team.

Yet, I sense that there is an anxiety out there amongst fans about them. Maybe it is the hangover for watching Sam Darnold throw 4 interceptions against a very tough Rams defense last week. Maybe it is simply still PTSD over the last handful of years of Pete Carroll era, but when rookie QB Cam Ward easily marched Tennessee’s offense down for a long time consuming opening score drive for a field goal, I wouldn’t blame you, at all, if you had a bit of doubt creep into your veins. In previous years, the Seattle Seahawks would drop games in a season that, on paper, they should have won.

I suspect there’s probably going to be many Seattle Seahawks fans who will look at this 30-24 victory on the road against what is now a 1-10 Tennessee Titans team, and not be very impressed with this outing. In previous outings against struggling teams this year, the Seahawks wrecked the New Orleans Saints 13-44, smothered the Commanders 38-14, and then pounded the Cardinals 22-44, and if you were expecting this level of beat down against the Titans, and didn’t get what you wanted to see, I get it. I kinda wanted that, too.

That said, I felt, overall, Seattle handily beat yet another bad this year that they were supposed to beat, and that is perfectly good enough for me. If the average fan peals back the layers on the Titans, they would see that Tennessee had been in many of the games they have played this year, and a lot of their losses were close ones against decent teams. If it wasn’t for a freaky Tennessee punt return for a touchdown, the final score out of this probably would have been more like 30-17, or such, and we would have felt more like this game was over by the third quarter, but the Titans, with their frisky rookie quarterback, gave it a good go in the fourth quarter.

I will say, for me, I felt heading into this game that Seattle caught a good schedule break with the injuries that came out of the Rams game with linebackers Ernest Jones, and Tyrice Knight, but in that, I was still nervous about how Seattle’s depth could get tested. I love what Drake Thomas has been doing at linebacker next to Jones, but having to call up Patrick O’Connell from the practice squad, and rely on him to play meaningful starting snaps at middle linebacker had me nervous.

In fact, the ease in which Cam Ward led the Titans to an extraordinarily long field goal scoring drive in the opening series of the game didn’t exactly settle these nerves for me. It was nice to see O’Connell step up, and make a number of impressive run stops and get himself a sack in this game, but Seattle seemed to give up a number of passes over the middle of the field where Jones would normally roam. Even having key reserve Knight in the game might have helped settle things, but in the end, Seattle’s dominant pass rush, and depth on the backend of their defense prevailed, yet again. I will take that.

As for the offense, I am happy they cleaned up the turnover issues, I am happy that they still found explosive passing plays, and they ran the ball well when they needed to do it. Like everyone else, I would love to see less procedural penalties, and I think there is still some work to be done limiting the turnover worthy plays at quarterback.

Still, scoring 30 points on the road, even against a bad team, is something that I would take every Sunday. After all, I have watched a peak Russell Wilson team with the LOB defense play to a 6-6 tie down in Arizona once, and will never forget that burning sensation in my eyeballs for it.

Here are some random musings on different aspects of this game, what I liked and what bothered me a bit. Mostly, I think there is a lot to like, and there are a few things that need a bit more cleaning up.

Sam Darnold had a solid bounce back game but there’s still a bit to clean up

On paper, Sam had a very solid bounce back game against the Titans. Going 16 for 26 in passing attempts, for 244 yards, 2 TDS and 0 INTs is a good day for any starting quarterback in the league. He didn’t turn the ball over, and he was much better at getting out of the pocket when he felt pressure. He largely looked like a solid starting NFL quarterback, and his explosive deep ball passing to JSN continued to be the big highlights of the day for Seattle.

On the whole, it felt like the good Sam Darnold was back in action, and if you can run the rock for over a hundred yards on the ground and a score, if your kicker also has a good day, and the defense holds in, you should win a lot of games, if you get this level of QB play. For this, I say bravo, and good job Sammy.

I will still say that there were probably about three plays out of Sam that were turnover worthy, and there were a couple of throws of his that he was off with to wide open targets. So, there’s that, as well.

He was going against one of the best pass rushing DTs in the league, though, in Jeffery Simmons, and that’s not a lot of fun for any guard or center to deal with for four quarters, so I can forgive him for a hurried throw, here and there. I would like for him to continue playing clearer, though.

I wrote extensively about Sam last week after the Rams debacle, and what he can do to get back on track afterwards, and take the next step as a passer. Essentially, I said he needs to shake the hero ball out of his game, and take the check down options when they are there. In this game, he demonstrated good examples of that when he felt the rush creeping in.

I also love that defensive minded HC Mike Macdonald isn’t hampering the playmaker qualities in Sam’s game as a deep ball passer. Sam’s deep ball should always be a threat in every game, and it most definitely was in this one.

I can recall a number of years ago when Russell Wilson was in an MVP campaign the team traveled to Buffalo, and he hit a wall throwing interceptions all game long. Afterwards, Pete Carroll put a clamp down on their explosive passing offense, and they went ultra conservative the rest of the way as they eeked into the playoffs. This was sorta the death nail in Russ’s tenure in Seattle. I am glad that Macdonald resisted such of an impulse on Darnold after that Rams game last week. Kuddos on the head coach for that.

Jaxon Smith Njigba cannot be stopped on Sundays and I am here for it

With eleven games played into this season, JSN has now officially broken DK Metcalf’s record in single season receiving yards. I wrote in my season primer that JSN would become a bonafide superstar in the league this year, and man, was I ever not blowing smoke up that.

JSN has a chance to break Calvin Johnson’s regular season record, he is the best receiver in the league, and I do not know how you can argue it otherwise. I knew he was going to have a big day against the Titans because they are so down on cornerbacks, but jeez Louise Swiss cheese, I honestly don’t know how he can be stopped on Sundays.

The mind meld he has with Sam Darnold is unlike anything I have seen between a quarterback and receiver in Seahawk uniforms, and I remember vividly Dave Krieg’s connection to Steve Largent in the 1980’s, and we all know Russell Wilson’s connections to Doug Baldwin and Tyler Lockett, and Matt Hasselbeck’s connection to Bobby Engram, as well, if you are an older millennial or Gen X or a boomer. This thing that Jaxon and Sam have together makes my Sundays, and I did not see this level of connection between them coming to this wild extent. Every Seattle Seahawk fan should savor this connection.

For my money, though, JSN needs to be considered in the MVP conversations. Should Seattle make a deep playoff run, I don’t know how you argue against it. There are no limits to his game. He can play inside at slot, and he can play the perimeters on all levels of the defense. He can route up any quality DB. He’s a bigger faster version of Doug Baldwin, and Largent, and he is ours. You should thank your stars every day for this, if you are a Seattle Seahawk fan.

Slowly but surely, Seattle is finding its run game and it is happening at the right time

A month ago, I sensed a lot of fans stressing out about Seattle’s run game, wondering how they could sustain their explosive passing offense without production out of the running backs. Yesterday, Seattle’s offensive line went up against one of the best defensive tackle rotations in the league and they ran it against them for 114 yards. That will do.

Last week, against a very dominant Rams defense, they ran it for 135 yards, and they lost a close game by merely two points because of those INTs that Darnold tossed. This is the same Rams defense that murdered Baker Mayfield and the Bucs on national television last night.

The week before that, the Seahawks ran on the good Cardinals defensive front for nearly 200 yards. The run game was a major reason why Seattle blew the doors off of the Cardinals along with their stellar defensive play.

This is a three game stretch where Seattle is running well against good defensive fronts. I suspect that their offensive line is gelling more together, the running backs are better understanding the nuances more of Klint Kubiak’s zone blocking attack, and the receivers and tight ends are also syncing up more with it all. It feels like it is really coming together now.

I suspect that by the end of the season, we are going to see the Seattle Seahawks as one of the better running teams in the league. This should come at the right time, and I am absolutely going to be here for that.

Grey Zabel is an absolute bad ass throwback

God bless John Schneider for listening to reason, and drafting left guard Grey Zabel in the first round this year. I love Nick Emmanwori, and I think JSN is probably the best player on the Seahawks this year, and I am excited about Bryon Murphy, and I think Sam Darnold has the stuff to be the franchise quarterback for the next several years, but Grey Zabel is absolutely the player Seattle needed this year for their football team.

The Dude twisted up his knee at the end of a tough loss to the Rams, and instead of taking a game off to rest up for the Vikings, he looked at all world defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons, and said “yeah, I think I can give it a go.”

How absolute bad ass is that?

Very. It is very old school bad ass offensive line mentality, and it is foolish to assume that his knee was a hundred percent in this game.

Football is life, man. It is not easy. There are people out there who will break your heart, there are jobs you will rely on that will evaporate, and if you work in the trades like I do, your body will physically break down, but you have got to keep plowing forward with it.

Grey Zabel is a plower. He is a tone setter, and an example maker. I cannot overstate the importance of having a roster full of players like him. I cannot stress enough why this matters in the violent blood sport of American football. It is a sport made for the mentality that Zabel possesses.

This team needs more Grey Zabels. They absolutely do. You win Super Bowls with Grey Zabels.

Go get me another one next year, Schneider. Do it!

The defense held in fine but they need to start getting healthier down this stretch

As stated above, for as much as the Seahawks defense put pressure on Cam Ward, I think the lack of Ernest Jones at middle linebacker was probably felt, and that is not knock on the fine play of Patty O’Connell, and Drake Thomas. They played fine, but Jones is the quarterback of this defense, and he’s a playmaker. I don’t want to go too many games down this final stretch without him.

Can Seattle fend off the Vikings next week without him? Yes, they certainly can, but I would feel better going into that matchup if 13 was on the field commandeering the defense.

It is worth noting that, during this game, reserve-safety-thrust-into-starter Ty Okada ended up with an oblique injury, and Seattle doesn’t seem to have much depth at safety past him. I think that contributed to passing yards given up in this game, as well.

So, it would be great to get Jones back, and starting safety Julian Love, as well, for the Vikings game, and the final six games of the year, but we will see. When Macdonald was asked about Love post game, however, he kinda pumped the breaks by saying “we will see” – calling his situation day to day and wanting to not rush him back too soon, if he needs to work through that hamstring longer.

It will be interesting to see what Seattle does next week at safety if Love isn’t ready and Okada isn’t able to go. Do they drop rookie hybrid sensation Nick Emmanwori into the deep safety role? Do they roll with D’Anthony Bell, who is more of a traditional box safety? Do they call up rookie Maxen Hook from the practice squad and plug him into the spot like they did this week with O’Connell this week at middle linebacker?

Personally, I don’t think Macdonald will want to take Emmanwori out of his specialized nickel roll in the 4-2-5 defense that he has Seattle largely operating out of. This defense is very much the staple characteristic of this team, and Emmanwori feels like their Sunday cheat code in that nickel role and all the disguising that Macdonald can have them do out of that.

Against the inexperience of JJ McCarthy, I think Macdonald will want to throw the sink at him much like he did with Ward yesterday, and Emmanwori at nickel feels too necessary to move him out of there, and risk taking away that dynamic. Therefore, I feel like we will have to hope Bell holds in if Love and Okada won’t be ready to go. The way this defense has played without starters, though, there is perhaps little reason to believe that with a week’s worth of prep, Bell can’t functionally do the job, however.

I will say that what Macdonald is doing with his reserves is one of the most impressive things I’ve even seen a coach do. Seattle plays very thin at linebacker and safety and they still manage to make opposing offenses look overwhelmed on Sundays.

I don’t know much, but I really, genuinely sense that Mike Macdonald is one of the absolute smartest minds in all of football, and I am glad he is the Seattle Seahawk coach for years to come.

But it will be good to see the projected starters return down this final stretch. I hope we get Ernest Jones back next Sunday, and I cannot wait to see Julian Love return to this defense, along with defensive badass tackle Jarran Reed.

Final thoughts

I thought at the beginning of this season, if all goes well enough for Seattle, that they would probably be a 11-6 team with a chance at the division title. They are now at 8-3, and this feels it was an accurate projection. With six games left in the year, it feels like eleven wins is very doable, and more wins than that is not unreasonable to consider. Here is why I feel this way.

I like how Seattle is running the ball now. In fact, I really like that a lot.

I think it is really important in these next six games for Sam Darnold to show how efficient he can continue to be, and also how much cleaner he can be with the football. If he is supported with a run game that is clicking more now, I like his chances a lot to do just that.

Sam should not feel like Seattle needs to win games because of his hero ball antics, but rather he should feel like he can manage games along, and look for his kill shots whenever they are clearly there. Knowing that the run game is gelling should go a long way towards that.

The LA Rams appear to be very real this year. They feel like the best team in football right now, but I also think that when Seattle gets a bit more of their pieces back on defense, they are as good of a football team as any to give them a run in the NFC.

The Bucs felt like the best team in the NFC over a month ago, but are struggling now. Green Bay and Detroit aren’t exactly impressing much, and while the 49ers have a favorable schedule, they don’t feel like world beaters this year, either. Then there is the Eagles who just lost to Dallas, and share the same 8-3 record as Seattle has. Do we believe in the 8-3 Bears who play perhaps the easiest schedule in the league next to the Niners?

The thing that I love about the Seahawks this year is that they are beating the teams that they objectively should beat. That hasn’t felt that case for the Seahawks in many years now. I like that for them moving forward in the Macdonald era of Seahawk football.

And for all the talk about how they and Darnold haven’t beaten good teams this year, they beat a good Jaguar team on the road that appears likely to be a playoff team, and they beat the Steelers on the road, as well, who are still in playoff contention.

The narrative that Darnold doesn’t play well in big games feels a bit overblown. I get why it is out there, and I am aware enough about myself to see that I will be one of the staunchest Darnold defenders you will find, but the simple fact is that he’s only played in the playoffs once in his career (last year), and during the regular season last year for Minnesota (and this year with the Hawks) he’s had his big moments. He beat a very good Green Bay and a good Seattle team on the road late in December last year for the Vikings, and I look forward to seeing more from him as a Seahawk this year, and beyond.

And I look forward to these Seahawks to continue kicking ass. This feels like a kick ass team chock full of kick ass players in the trenches, and that is exactly where you want to kick ass. There is kick-ass-ed-ness all throughout this team, in fact. They have kick ass corners, receivers, tight ends, and running backs, safeties, and linebackers. They have a kick ass kicker, in fact.

So, enjoy this time of Seahawk football. It is okay to buy some stock in it.

Go Hawks.

As we get further into Mike Macdonald’s tenure as the Seahawks head coach, we are starting to learn his ticks and phrasings. When he describes his ideal vision for this professional football team, he often using the term “shocking effort” when asked about what he wants them to be.

It is not just the traditional defensive minded head coach philosophy of wanting to establish the run, play strong defense, and limit turnovers, shrink the clock, flip field positioning, etc. It’s the spirit and character that he wants his players to embody that fuels it.

What he appears most interested in is fielding a ball club that will shock and awe the opposition each and every Sunday. He wants explosive plays on offense, whether they come through the air, or on the ground, and he wants to see a collective effort on defense that will overwhelm an opposing quarterback. This is what he means when he says he wants a team that plays with shocking effort.

The shocking effort we now see in throughout his defense feels different than the great Legion Of Boom defense. It’s faster on all three levels with more versatility, and the collective of defenders are molding into group of connected badasses who can do seemingly anything asked out of them. Guys who rush can cover, guys who cover can rush, and Macdonald can expose a different opponent’s offensive weakness differently week in and week out on Sundays, it now feels with them.

In terms of the shocking effort we see out of the offense, we see it led by an athletic veteran quarterback who can make everything throw with accuracy, and is unafraid of taking the kill shot with his superstar receiver at any point in the game. He plays with a young offensive line that pass blocks well, and is starting to round out together as a better run blocking unit. They added a piece to the offense at the trade deadline who can kill a defense as a receiver and runner. They have speed at running back, receiver, and tight end, and they have an offensive play caller who treats each down as an opportunity to move the chains for a first down. They, as much as the defense, have the stuff that can shock and awe opponents at any down in the ballgame.

For two Sundays in a row, we have bared witness to Seattle’s shocking effort taking down weaker opponents. They did this in Washington when pundits felt the Commanders would give it a good fight, and they did this yesterday against the Cardinals when there was a narrative that AZ would give it a strong go.

This should be a trend that continues against struggling teams, and gone should be the days of the Seahawks playing down to a weaker opponent. Mike Macdonald won’t stand for that happening. That is what my gut tells me based on what we have been seeing.

The 22-44 final score of the Seahawks dominating the Arizona Cardinals does not do this game much justice. Midway through the second quarter of the game, Seattle got ahead 0-35, and thus forced Arizona coach Jonathan Gannon into a rare decision making process of dictating that his offense needed to go for it on all four downs from there on out.

The result is that Seattle’s defense stayed on the field during this game for what felt like a century of football. In result, Seattle’s offense was twice backed up towards its own end zone after failed fourth down attempts near the goal line, and could not get out of it’s own way with fumbled center snaps between Sam Darnold and backup Olu Oluwatimi, and a tipped pass at the line of scrimmage for an interception in an inexplicable play action pass play that was called.

Some people will look at this game as an uneven one from Darnold, but nuance would show that he was barely had many opportunities in the second half to guide Seattle to more scores. Yet for the day, he was 10/12 in completions, he passed for 178 yards, a touchdown, and that funky assed interception from his own end zone when OC Klint Kubiak decided to dial a play action shot from the pocket against a strong defensive line.

The fumbled center exchange, the INT, and a second half strip sack fumble won’t make Darnold’s MVP hype rise much this week, but on the whole, I thought this was yet another solid day for the veteran passer. He impressively completed 90 percent of his passes, and the truth of the matter is that Seattle’s offense gashed a strong AZ defense on the ground for 200 yards, and he didn’t need to throw much in this one for Seattle to score points.

For as much as Seattle’s defense was yet again dominating, it was their offensive ground attack that most raised my eyebrows in a positive way on Sunday. I have been hearing all the past week that Seattle sucks at running the football.

In fact, Mina Kimes went on one of her podcasts and stated that if she were the Cardinals defensive coordinator, she would drop both safeties back in coverage and dare Seattle to run against a lighter box because they suck so much at running it. Well, I guess now maybe Kimes wants to revaluate that strategy, and assertion about Seattle’s running attack.

On Sunday, against a vaunted AZ defense that held a high scoring Dallas Cowboy offense to 17 points on Monday Night Football, Seattle’s offense ran wild, and scored 30 points. In fact, as the game wore on, it was Seattle’s offensive line and running backs took the game over as Darnold and Jaxon Smith Njigba took a backseat. That effort on the ground paired with a strong defense is most definitely a winning recipe moving forward.

I wrote about this as soon as the Seahawks made the trade for Rashid Shaheed. Shaheed’s presence in Seattle’s offense is likely going to open up their run game. Defensive coordinators will be apprehensive to load up the box to stop Seattle’s ground game when they know Seattle now has two receivers who can take the top off of a defense that isn’t playing coverage. If you play Seattle’s heavy offensive sets with two deep safeties, as Mina Kimes proposed, the ground game will then probably open up.

Arizona chose to play two deep safety looks in this game, they dared Seattle to run (as Kimes proposed), and when Mike Macdonald probably ordered Kubiak to not muck around anymore passing it in the second half, Zach Charbonnet, Ken Walker, and George Holani went off as runners. Shaheed, himself, saw action at running back once, and also ran on a jet sweep. He had two carries for 20 yards.

In one game, Seattle showed the league multiple ways that they can hit you with the run. How fun.

I believe what we saw out of Seattle’s run game yesterday is just the beginning of things we will most likely see from their offense during these final eight games. Seattle has always been committed to running the ball this year, but now I think we will see significantly more production on the ground catching up to that dedication of running it.

If defensive coordinators decide to load the box in order to stop the run, and dare Darnold to throw, he now has Shaheed with JSN to kill defenses deep with. So the question moving forward is what does a defensive play caller choose to try to limit and take away, and what do they choose to potentially be beaten with in result. This is why the Shaheed trade mattered for Seattle.

The Sam Darnold Jaxon Smith Njigba Connection has been a fun storyline to the Seahawks this year, but I think we start seeing the run game now catch up to it. This is one of my predictions for this team moving forward this year.

If defenses load the box against Seattle, they have too much fire power to torch them for it. I would rather play two high coverage against this offense, and hope my linebackers and defensive linemen do their jobs stopping Ken Walker, and company than watch Sam Darnold throw easy layup touchdowns to Tory Horton against me. I would rather choose death by a thousand paper cuts with the run game than instant evisceration with the deep ball.

My other prediction is that Seattle’s defense going to continue becoming the talk of the entire league. They have been playing without pro bowl safety Julian Love for weeks, and their secondary feels formidable. They played without their best linebacker in Ernest Jones yesterday, and Drake Thomas and Tyrice Knight played like pro bowlers in his place. The defensive line was without stud defensive tackle Jarran Reed, yet you couldn’t notice much of a difference. The Seattle Seahawks are showing the prowess of their defensive depth chart, and it is a glorious sight to behold.

Tyrice Knight, in particular, in place of Ernest Jones, might be my player of the entire game. He created not one, but two sack fumbles on Jacoby Brissett that were scoop and score touchdowns for edge rusher DeMarcus Lawerence. Okay, let us process that for a moment.

DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW RARE AND INSANE THAT IS?!

In all my years of watching football, of playing Madden while my family sleeps, I have never, ever, seen such a thing occur.

This. Just. Does. Not. Happen.

Yet it was beyond a thing of glory that it did in this game.

By the time that second sack fumble by Knight turned scoop and score by Lawrence happened in the first half, this game was over. There was no way AZ was coming back, yet Gannon kept insisting that Brissett keep throwing on fourth down. What else could he do as a coach?

It was valiant effort from Brissett that he held in strong against Seattle’s dominating pass rush, but my God, man, this poor soul of a journeyman was sacked five times, and he completed only fifty percent of his passes. With every missed pass or deflected pass, the clock of this game that was long over with before halftime painfully stopped. My goodness was that ever annoying to watch, but I get why Gannon would continue going for it on fourth downs.

Brissett was too savvy and strong in the pocket to look like the confused and wounded animals that CJ Stroud and Jayden Daniels were against this defense in recent weeks, but he also showed us why he’s always been a journeyman player. He doesn’t move that well, and hangs onto the ball too long. Because of that, we got a second half of football out of his that showed toughness and unflinching grit, but also saw his limitations.

If the Cardinals ever do find a quality franchise quarterback to replace Kyler Murray, they will be a very dangerous team with all the talent they have been drafting in recent years. The gritty tough guy play of Brissett showed us that, and I suspect they will be a team giving other teams fits as they battle forward this season. I will root for them when they play San Francisco next weekend, and I do not think that game with be a gimme for the 49ers.

But for them against the Seahawks this Sunday, it was just not a thing to be. Seattle is legitimately riding high right now, and this likely won’t be their last beat down victory we see out of them this season.

Game balls go to Knight for being the second coming of Mike Singletary in place of Ernest Jones, Jason Myers for kicking three field goals and breaking a franchise record of field goals made, reserve cornerback Nehemiah Pritchett for one of the best touchdown preventing four down pass breakups I’ve ever seen, Shaheed for providing a sneak peak spark on special teams and on the offense, and all the Seahawk running backs for being badass and awesome.

Special nods to Darnold for being ultra efficient again, Cooper Kupp for making a splashy run after catch play, and JSN for continuing to be JSN, and Leonard Williams for continuing to be Leonard Williams, and Riq Woolen for continuing to turn the corner towards being a special cornerback again.

Extra special nod for safety hybrid player Nick Emmanwori for being my new favorite member of the Seahawk defense. It is an incredibly exciting thought to think that he is just scratching the surface of what he will be for this franchise. Right now, he feels like the team’s biggest cheat code on that side of the ball.

Next week, the 7-2 Seahawks will travel to LA to face the 7-2 Rams. Both teams look and feel like clubs that can make deep playoff runs.

I will not be surprised if Seattle does not win that game, but I will also not be surprised they pull off a win, either. They are playing that good right now, and it is fun to watch, and next week’s game against the Rams should be a really good one. Objectively, as a fan of football, I am looking forward to this matchup.

Go Hawks!

Anyone who follows this blog knows that I had been suggesting, for a good while now, that perhaps the Seattle Seahawks would target one of two receivers who played for offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak last year in New Orleans. Chris Olave or Rashid Shaheed made too much sense for a 6-2 Seahawk team to not explore acquiring, and it makes sense for the dismal 1-8 Saints team to acquire as many draft picks as possible to finally do a proper rebuild of their roster that they have been putting off for a while now.

Seattle surrendering their 4th round and 5th round picks for Shaheed was fair compensation for a young number two receiver who is an electric deep threat, a run after catch artist, and a lethal returner on special teams. Think of all the value he adds to this offense and special teams, and consider what you will likely get in the back half of rounds four and five next April.

It doesn’t bother me in the slightest that he is on the last year of his contract, and will be set to hit free agency this March. He has nine games to make his mark in Seattle on a team that now leads the league in total DVOA as they push towards the playoffs. If he proves productive, if he fits in well with the coaches, and culture, John Schneider will likely work in the offseason to retain him, and Seattle will be set up to have one of the most dynamic receiving rooms in the league once again. They will have the cap space to pay him, JSN, Charles Cross, and Devon Witherspoon all within the next couple years.

What Shaheed brings to Seattle now is an explosive deep threat that they don’t presently have on offense, and he carries with him a familiarity of Kubiak’s offense. It might take him a few games to get the full playbook fully back in his body, and build chemistry with Darnold, but I think once we get into the later stages of November, we should see a connection forming.

The importance of his deep threat ability added to this offense is two fold. It will certainly help make a league leading explosive passing attack all the more lethal downfield, but it will also likely help the run game. Allow me to explain.

Seattle plays mostly out of heavy looks that either have two tight ends on the field, or a tight end and a fullback. Accompanied with them is two receivers. Through eight games, defensive coordinators have chosen to load the boxes against these looks, bringing safeties down to take away the run. They have been choosing to run the risk of getting beaten over the top by JSN and Cooper Kupp in order to snuff out the run, creating second and long scenarios that will hopefully lead to third and longs. Sometimes, they have paid for it, but other times, their loaded boxes have worked stalling out Seattle’s run game through stretches in games, and we have all felt these moments.

If Klint Kubiak decides to trot out Rashid Shaheed in these heavier personnel sets instead of a slower Cooper Kupp, theoretically, that could put a defensive play caller in a greater bind. Do you drop a safety down to stop Ken Walker, and risk a play action pass where a red hot Sam Darnold now has a quality target who can jet past corners and safeties downfield along with the deep route running prowess of JSN? Or do you lighten your box against this heavier look, and risk one of the most explosive running backs in the league gashing past slower second level defenders who are getting blocked up by tight ends or a fullback?

If you load the box with Shaheed on the field with JSN, you risk Darnold putting up even more absurd Madden numbers against your secondary, but if you play you safeties two deep, you run the risk of your defense getting gashed on the ground. Personally, I suspect Mike Macdonald would love nothing more than to see defenses shift to two deep looks against his offense’s heavier packages. While I am sure he loves what Darnold and JSN have been cooking together, seeing he run game further opening up to better compliment his defense would certainly be his chef’s kiss through the second half of the season.

Therefore, I believe this addition of Shaheed was made to put a further bind on defensive play callers, and it comes at the right time of the year when Seattle will continue to face some pretty formidable defenses. They will face one this weekend when Arizona comes to town, and they will face another one when they travel South to face the Rams in a week and a half.

This addition of Shaheed also provides an insurance should JSN get dinged up at any point in the remainder of the year. Some Seattle fans were probably more than a bit nervous to see Cooper Kupp show up on the injury report heading into the SNF matchup against a desperate Washington team playing for their season, and they were probably equally more than relieved to see rookie Tory Horton step up, and show out.

With Horton, Seattle Seahawk fans should feel hope for now and the future. Now, if something were to happen to JSN, and Seattle had to operate for a little while with Horton, Shaheed, and Cooper Kupp, with the way Sam Darnold is spinning it, I think a lot of fans would feel okay about it, and Kubiak would feel like he could stay within his full playbook. This matters, if you want to see this team in a deep playoff run this year.

This is why I wanted this trade to happen, and I’m not even spending much time discussing what Shaheed’s value will bring as a returner on special teams. We know Seattle is trending to be having one of the top defenses in the league, and we know their offense has been surprisingly explosive. Now they have a returner who can make their return game lethal each and every Sunday that they play.

If you enjoyed the way Seattle took care of business against the Commanders, and the way they made the game against the Saints over before halftime in back in September, you should be pumped that they added Shaheed to their offense and special teams. There are games on their schedule where we could easily now see similar outcomes in favor of Seattle where by the fourth quarter, we are watching Drew Lock throwing to Jake Bobo in garbage time minutes, and handing the ball off to George Holani to kill clock.

Yeah, for all these reasons, I love this trade.

I know most wanted to see Seattle trade for a right guard, but no team was going to trade away a player at the position who is better than Anthony Bradford. Good interior offensive linemen do not get traded mid season. It just doesn’t happen. The Browns, and Titans are miserable teams going nowhere this year with good veteran guards, and they held onto them.

I also allowed myself to have some pretty highly unrealistic hopes that Seattle would try to make a play for Maxx Crosby in Vegas, or Myles Garrett in Cleveland like some podcasters were suggesting that perhaps they would make a run at. Who knows if they tried, but I think the reality is that even though guys are getting a bit older on bad clubs, and perhaps cashing in on a major draft haul for them would be right for those organizations to do, it would be a brutally awful pill for any GM to force upon their tortured fanbase, and ask them to swallow it for the hope of a brighter future down the road.

Crosby and Garrett are generational talents, and they are superb leaders, and if you trade them away for capital that you hope will provide you your next franchise quarterback, and that player never materializes, you will become a league wide laughing stock for years. That is the risk.

If there was one position that I would have liked to have seen Seattle make a play for in a trade, it would have been linebacker, given the knee situation with Ernest Jones. The fact that this type of trade wasn’t made does give me hope that his injury suffered against the Commanders isn’t a bad one, and that Macdonald feels good about the depth behind him with Drake Thomas, and Tyrice Knight, and he also likes what he is seeing from his practice squad guys. It is very possible that Macdonald feels better about that position group than casual fans do, and I think we have to trust him on that given that linebacker coaching is his forte.

I will end this piece with a final thought about the trade deadline for the Seattle Seahawks. I am glad that they didn’t trade away Riq Woolen. I know he has been a subject of frustration for fans the last few years, and I, myself, have speculated on this blog whether he is a fit for Macdonald. I also know that there is a real chance that the team chooses to let him walk in free agency this Spring, but given the injury to Julian Love at safety, and the concussion to Josh Jobe last Sunday, I didn’t want to see Seattle thin out a deep cornerback room.

Woolen has played pretty well the past couple games. He still possesses a physical talent level profile that is incredibly rare in this league, and I get the sense that he is a good locker room fella. I think he has taken this trade speculation noise around him over the past couple months in good stride, and that says something about his character.

He now has an opportunity to really show his net worth in these final nine games. If he continues playing well, if that contributes to Seattle going on a deep playoff run, he will set himself up for a massive payday either here, or somewhere else next Spring. I like those intangibles being a factor for this defense moving forward this year. In fact, I like that a lot.

I like how Woolen is trending lately. I want him to be a part of this thing this year, and maybe even beyond. Through these last two games, I have come more around on Woolen from where I was with him over a month ago. I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do during this second half of the season push.

But I really do love this trade for Rashid Shaheed. This was the right thing for this team to do at the trade deadline. He is a luxury addition to this team that was worth making, and I think Seahawk fans are going to have a lot of fun watching him on Sundays. I am excited about that.

Go Hawks!

As we approached this NFC West battle in Desert on Thursday Night Football, I had a sinking feeling that we would be in for a fiercely fought defensive battle between two divisional rivals with strong defenses in desperate need of getting a win to keep up within a very tough division. The Arizona Cardinals lost a tough fought game against the 49ers, and I felt they’d be very determined to defend their home turf against a Seahawks team coming off of a huge blowout win against the Saints. Additionally. from their perspective, I felt it was likely that they would carry extra motivation in getting the monkey off their back with all the games in a row they’ve lost to Seattle in recent years. When a divisional rival has your number, you mark that home game against them on your calendar with the intention of taking it to them with extra pepper in your hot sauce.

So, I really didn’t feel that, in anyway, this game on TNF would be a gimme for Seattle even though they seem to have the Cardinals number. In fact, heading into the match, I felt that if Seattle was going to pull off their third win in a row, it would probably come with perhaps a 17-13 type of result.

Thursday Night games are typically very weird. Often times, they are very sloppy with slop coming from both teams. If the game is fairly evenly matched, the team that usually win these short week games is the one who commits the lesser about of mistakes, and gets the better play out of their quarterback.

We can lament the INT return fumble that Coby Bryant coughed up and gave the ball back to Kyler Murray and the Cardinals in good field position. We can also pull our hair out of the illegal blocking penalty called on Jaxon Smith Ngijba that took away a late TD from Zach Charbonnet that would have collectively put the game out of reach for the Cardinals, and forced us to settle for a field goal. I think both of these mishaps kept this game more within reach than I would have liked to have seen on the road against a decent Arizona club.

It also chopped my hide quite a bit seeing Ken Walker get drawn into a stupid taunting penalty by a defender that cost us points. It was also infuriating, as the game progressed, seeing him run backwards circles behind the line of scrimmage into tackle for losses. Just bang the bloody thing up towards the line of scrimmage as best as you can, for goodness sake. Not every run will be a success, just don’t turn the flipping thing into a worse play by trying to make chicken salad out of chicken shit.

And perhaps even more infuriating than K9’s needless collection of pirouettes into lost yardage was seeing Riq Woolen continue to draw penalties in coverage and give up explosive passes. After watching Seattle’s defense pretty much handle Murray for three quarters, seeing the plunky little passer purposefully target Woolen when the Cardinal offense went into desperation mode in the fourth and finding plenty of success gave me a full dosage of PTSD from opening weekend.

A couple weeks ago, I wrote a piece pondering whether the Seattle Seahawks had a K9 and Riq Woolen problem, and a lot of my concerns went away after a quality win on the road against the Pittsburgh Steelers when K9, in particular, had a great game. After watching this game against the Cardinals, however, my concerns about both players have returned. I think K9 is one of the most schizophrenic runners I have ever watched, fully capable of exciting runs that get you pumped up, and then within the same game, he’ll do things that make you want to see him pulled. With Woolen, I just find his lack of consistency too souring for my taste, especially when Seattle appears to have strong depth behind him.

Okay, these are all the negatives in this game that I have gotten off my chest. I could include a couple offensive play calls from Klint Kubiak that I didn’t love, and a missed field goal from the otherwise sensational night of Jason Meyers, but that really would be nitpicking.

The Seattle Seahawks won this game because they made less mistakes than the Arizona Cardinals did, and they won this game because Sam Darnold was a better QB than Kyler Murray was on Thursday Night. It is that simple.

I thought both teams fought very hard on defense, and both offenses showed out in their moments, but Seattle did what they needed to do better than what Arizona needed to get done. While the game should have been won more handsomely by Seattle in many respects, they did just enough, and they fucked up less. I will take it.

Winning in the NFL is always a good thing, and losing always sucks. Now we get a breather of ten days before Seattle faces yet another tough opponent at home against Tampa Bay.

Here’s some of my more positive takeaways for Seattle heading out of this desert battle. As much as it sucked watching their quality lead evaporate late in the game, there are also some quality silver linings coming out of this one.

Sam Darnold Continues To Shine

I really dig how Darnold has played these first four games of the year for Seattle’s offense. I think he’s shown a lot of command and poise, and I love his timely playmaking abilities when he extends out of the pocket making throws downfield, and out of pressure, at critical junctures. This is how you want to see your QB1 play.

He was also the best player on offense on Thursday night, between both clubs, and I don’t think it was close between him and Murray in terms of QB play. Darnold showed better accuracy, poise under pressure, and he put up better production on significantly less passing attempts than Murray did, and it did this against an equally tough defense.

Make no mistake, Arizona has a very good defense with a much improved defensive line, and their linebackers and safeties are all very good football players. Generally, I thought Darnold boxed very smart against a defensive scheme that can be tricky to pass on. He largely took whatever was there, but he was also savvy enough to recognize when there were opportunities further downfield. His pass to JSN down the sideline with less than thirty seconds to go for a chance to kick a game winner was a big time money throw from any NFL quarterback, and he delivered it on the dot.

The more I watch Sam Darnold play in this offense, the more I feel like he’s a quarterback that Seattle will want to hang onto for the longer haul, and build around. He’s only 28, and there is a reason why he was taken third overall in the NFL draft in 2018. He just feels like an NFL prototypical franchise quarterback, and I genuinely look forward to watching him play.

Elijah Arroyo And AJ Barner Flashed Big Play Potential

On the night, I thought both of Seattle’s tight ends played really good games. AJ Barner had three nice grabs and a beautiful touchdown, and rookie Elijah Arroyo had two impressive grabs for 44 yards.

I know that Barner is a pretty good tight end, but Arroyo is a big target at TE with insanely gifted abilities to get downfield on vertical throws, and explosive catch and run opportunities. When Seattle drafted Arroyo, I got excited because I knew these sort of downfield plays would be coming from him, eventually.

Last night, against a tough Cardinal defense with great safeties, he really flashed, and this was, in my opinion, one of the hidden little gems of the game. As we get further into games this year, I think we are bound to see more high level playmaking from this youngster, and get ready for that fun to take place.

Let us remember that he is still a rookie, and tight end is a position in this a scheme that has a lot on its plate. Once the lights come on for this guy, and he has the pass and run plays in his bones, he has the physical talent to be a superstar tight end in this league right up there with the guy who plays in Arizona and the fella who plays in the Bay Area.

I look forward to seeing Arroyo and Barner continue factoring in as pass catchers in this offense. This was a good sign.

The Seahawks Sacked The Shit Out Of Kyler Murray And Intercepted Him Twice

First off, Chenna Nwosu posted a terrific game against the Cardinals both in terms of a pass rusher and run stopper. That was very timely, too, as Seattle lost their regular base defense speed rusher DeMarcus Lawrence early in the match with a hamstring injury. Chenna’s play spoke a lot for him, but also for the quality depth, in general, that Seattle currently has on their defensive line.

Seattle’s defense dropped Kyler Murray six times in this match, and they picked him off twice. Despite giving up 20 points in the end, I think these stats alone proved how really dominant Seattle’s defense largely was for the night.

If it weren’t for some offensive mishaps late in the fourth quarter that took points off the board and gave Arizona new life, and Murray a chance to make plays with his legs and arm, I think Seattle’s defensive effort would have felt greater. In the end, they did enough against a dangerous quarterback.

I say this also acknowledging that I personally don’t have that much belief in Murray as a quarterback, and have been out on him for a few years now. The main reason why is because, while I see him as a rare bonafide playmaker, I think his tendencies are to play big games early in the season, and then go cold later on after wear and tear takes hold. He’s like a little Bruce Lee video game character through the first eight games of the year, but by midseason, after being hit numerous times by defensive tackles and edge rushers who run like BMWs, he becomes a different player.

But early in the year, Kyler Murray can be a scary ass little fucker to play against, and he is still one of the very best athletes in the league who can threaten to take over games if you allow him to do so. In this game, Seattle did a lot to harass him and keep him largely ineffective until the fourth quarter. This should be celebrated despite the late game collapse in coverage by Woolen and company.

The next time these two teams face each other will be mid November, when Kyler starts to typically turn into his annual second half of the season pumpkin. Really glad that we have Sam Darnold, though.

For the night, Murray had to pass 41 times to collect 200 yards through the air with 2 late scoring TDS and 2 INTs. You tell me if that was a great night for him early in the season when he is known to play his better ball.

By Winning, Seattle Is Awarded A Valuable Mini Bye Week

After dropping a disappointing home opener against the hated San Francisco 49ers, Seattle’s schedule was to play three games in eleven days with two of those games in the road against quality opponents. The Seahawks have now won all three of those games. This is quite a contrast to last year when Seattle dropped three games in a row in the span of ten games.

Scheduling matters in the NFL. It matters especially to the human bodies that play this violent sport. Seattle has sustained itself very well in this stretch, and will have ten days to properly prepare to host a tough Tampa Bay team.

This is going to benefit Seattle. It is going to allow coaches to self scout the team more and make corrections. It will allow these players a chance to rest and heal. It will allow the players and coaches to study the Buccaneers a bit deeper.

This mini bye could allow the John Schneider and the front office an opportunity to bring in other players from outside via trades, or free agency. It feels to me that the New Orleans Saints could be on the verge of selling if they lose in Buffalo this Sunday, and we are probably all expecting that they will. It is worth keeping in mind that Klint Kubiak was their OC last year, and knows their offensive players very well.

Could the long time Seahawk terrorizer Alvin Kamara be had for a mid round pick? Could Chris Olave also be made available?

As I continue to find myself flummoxed about K9’s play, part of me wonders if an older back quality like Kamara would help settle him down. As for Olave, I know that his concussions concern, but the thought of what Sam Darnold could do in a passing attack with JSN, Cooper Kupp, Tory Horton, and Olave entered into the mix entices quite a bit. Could both players be had?

It’s an interesting thought as we approach a point in the season were really bad clubs start eying their rebuilds. For now, however, I suggest that you enjoy this win against the Cardinals, if you are a diehard Seattle Seahawk fan.

And if you are not a diehard Twelve, why on Earth are you even reading this stuff? Seriously.

Go Hawks.