With three games left, the Seahawks are right where we thought they would be: At 7-7 and likely on the way to our predicted 8-9 – unless their defense takes another jump from the minor one it made Thursday in a 21-13 loss to the 49ers.
Yeah, the Hawks blew two coverages on George Kittle’s touchdowns, dropped a pick and gave up a clinching 55-yard run at the end of the game. But they held the 49ers to two touchdowns (the third was a gimme by the offense) and just 115 rushing yards before Jordan Mason’s long run.
“This was the best game we’ve had in a while, and we played solid,” Pete Carroll said Friday on Seattle Sports Radio.
“We had a couple busts that were unfortunate. And … we missed three tackles downfield for enormous plays. We could have gotten out of those plays — you know, 10- to 15-yard plays — and they wound up being bigger than that. But I liked the way we played, and we played without some guys, so the guys up front did a really good job to keep us in it.
“We’re going to make sure and capture the progress we made on defense,” he added. “We did something here that is going to be really important in these next games. I know our players are feeling better about everything. It’s been a couple waves this season of our improvement, and this is the one that we have to capitalize on to finish.”
The Hawks’ playoff chances are down to 34%, per FiveThirtyEight — they need at least two wins and some losses by Washington and/or New York to grab a wild card.
They obviously will have a tough time against the Chiefs on Christmas Eve morning. They’ll have a better chance to stop the Jets and Rams in the final two games.
“We’re looking ahead to what we can become,” Carroll said. “We have some games left here to make some noise, but this is even more than that. The group, the mentality, their connectedness, their willingness to keep fighting and holding a good mentality is what really is empowering us to keep going.”
CHAWK TALK: Everything being said about the Seahawks 
A much different take than the angst on another blog I could name!
The calls to replace Carroll don’t make much sense, or, rather, make sense only if you believe that a different head coach would have more than seven wins with a defense where for the most part (a) the most talented players are the least experienced and (b) the most experienced players are fading, hurt, or run-of-the-mill. Throw in three new coaches and a perfect storm is brewing. Same issue with the OL.
I have to say that I’m not sold on Geno. If there’s an NFL record for targets behind, at, or just past the LOS, he’s threatening it.
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hmm, sounds like a blog run by someone whose ego has grown substantially and demanded for years that the team keep Russ and fire Pete….
that said, I am not sold on Hurt as DC. I do think he gets another shot next year with better talent (hopefully better)
Geno? I think he is a better version of Tannehill. Team is top 7 or 8 in scoring, Geno is a net positive
Depends on the price they have to pay, but keeping him removes need for drafting a qb first
really hoping that top 2 picks are DL, then some version of C/G, LB after that.
I really miss the LOB. Any reasonably competent D will suffice for now….
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Whether or not to stick with Geno is arguable from either side, and I’m not about to come down on anyone who doesn’t share my perspective. I’d just like to see more dynamism from the position. QB is not the biggest issue facing the team, though.
The ego on that particular blog is…well…not always merited.
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Haha, I hear you guys on the unnamed blog. Haven’t read that one for quite a long time. But Pete is not going anywhere — not with a bevy of draft picks in 2023 to help him try to rebuild his defense.
As for Geno, he has used the field so much better than his predecessor. In addition to leading the NFL in %, he also is tied with Tannehill for fifth in YPA. After the Raiders game, Next Gen Stats tweeted out this one: Smith has thrown 7 TDs with a completion probability under 25% this season; no other QB has more than 3.
I’d be fine with paying Geno around $30M/yr for 2-3 yrs. They can afford it. Pete also probably prefers it to going with a young QB in his last few years. I am sure he has breathed a sigh of relief over Geno’s surprising play this season …
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