Category Archives: NFL history

Will Hawks or any team challenge Patriots for decade’s best?

January 30, 2017 cc Leave a comment

Dynasties -- All four updated There’s a lot of talk this week about the dynasty Bill Belichick and Tom Brady have built in New England — whether they beat Atlanta in Super Bowl LI or not.

There’s simply no denying the Patriots have been the best franchise in the NFL for the past 16 years — and one of the great franchises in NFL history.

They certainly were the Team of the 2000s — with Super Bowl wins in 2001, 2003 and 2004 — and their win over the Seahawks in 2014 put them behind only Pittsburgh (six), San Francisco (five) and Dallas (five) in Super Bowl wins.

This is their NFL-record ninth Super Bowl appearance (Pittsburgh, Dallas and Denver each have eight). It’s the seventh under Belichick and Brady — no coach-quarterback combo has ever reached that many.

A win over the Falcons would make them a near lock for Team of the 2010s — an unofficial title that, added to their dominance of the 2000s, would cement them as the most dominant dynasty in league history.

Continue reading Will Hawks or any team challenge Patriots for decade’s best? →

Franchise history, NFL history, State of the team, Week 16: Arizona

Hawks show no signs of being Super this year

December 26, 2016 cc Leave a comment

In Week 16 of the 2013 season, the Seahawks lost at home to Arizona — putting the pressure on to clinch the No. 1 seed in Week 17. They did that and then went on to win the Super Bowl.

This season was set up to be a carbon copy of 2013, but just about the only thing that has followed 2013 form has been the Week 16 home loss to Arizona.

Unlike 2013, this Seattle team has no shot at the No. 1 seed. And it needs help to claim a bye. In fact, this crew will be lucky to win the one home playoff game it is guaranteed.

Continue reading Hawks show no signs of being Super this year →

Franchise history, NFL history

Remember the Seahawks’ L.A. story?

September 13, 2016 cc Leave a comment

behring It’s only appropriate that the Seahawks are going to be the first team in 22 years to play the Rams in Los Angeles.

L.A. fans are excited – or were before Monday’s debacle — about the return of the Rams, and plenty of people are making a big deal of Pete Carroll’s return to the site of his USC glory.

But this also marks a pretty major anniversary for the Seahawks, who actually were the last franchise to reside in Los Angeles – if only for a couple of unauthorized months 20 years ago.

As you may or may not recall, Ken Behring tried to move the Hawks to L.A. in 1996, just a year after the Rams and Raiders left. And it was that move that basically led to Paul Allen buying the team – and leading it to three Super Bowls and counting.

Here’s the Seahawks’ L.A. story from my book, “The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly: Seattle Seahawks”:

Continue reading Remember the Seahawks’ L.A. story? →

Franchise history, Hall of Fame, NFL history

Easley poised to join rest of NFL’s all-1980s team in Hall of Fame

August 15, 2016 cc Leave a comment

“It blows me away that Kenny Easley is not in the Hall of Fame.”

Paul Moyer, Easley’s teammate for five years in the 1980s, expressed his dismay while talking about the legendary Seahawk in our 2008 book, “Then Zorn Said to Largent.”

Well, Paul, it looks like you won’t have to wait much longer. Easley has been nominated by the seniors committee, meaning he has a great chance to make it next February.

You could call it an 86 percent chance. And if not this time, then maybe in a few years.

Continue reading Easley poised to join rest of NFL’s all-1980s team in Hall of Fame →

Coaches, NFL history, State of the team

With Schneider’s help, Carroll will finish forging his legacy

July 27, 2016 cc Leave a comment

Draft -- Schneider and Carroll It’s no surprise that John Schneider and Pete Carroll are going to be running the Seahawks for at least the next four seasons together. Where else are they going to find a better situation than the one they have built in Seattle?

As Schneider told John Clayton on Tuesday, “You look at all the really good organizations: They have great ownership and they have stability. And I think that’s probably what is most attractive here.’’

Schneider and Carroll have put together a team that is poised to contend for Super Bowl titles for at least the next three seasons (see the projected lineup) — and probably well beyond that. Schneider and Carroll have built an organization with similar staying power to Bill Belichick’s crew in New England.

Continue reading With Schneider’s help, Carroll will finish forging his legacy →

Franchise history, NFL history, Playoffs, Playoffs: At Minnesota

A tale of two 10-win Seattle teams

January 8, 2016 cc 2 Comments

1986 Krieg and Largent — Dave Krieg & Steve Largent during a 1986 game (Seahawks.com)

As stunning as it still is to consider, this is the best all-around team in the history of the Seattle Seahawks. That’s odd to say about a 10-win team — and it would be odder yet if this team had not made the playoffs.

Thirty years ago, it wouldn’t have. Thirty years ago, in fact, a red-hot 10-6 Seahawks team did not make the postseason.

These Seahawks, who have won six of seven and have averaged 32 points over the past eight games, are the team no one wants to play in the playoffs (even if Arizona GM Steve Keim says he does).

Continue reading A tale of two 10-win Seattle teams →

Franchise history, NFL history, Playoffs: At Minnesota

Carroll’s historic defense trumps Grant’s Purple People Eaters

January 4, 2016 cc Leave a comment

Carroll and Grant It’s fitting that Pete Carroll gets to take Seattle’s No. 1 scoring defense back to Bud Grant’s house next week.

As we all know by now, Grant was Carroll’s most significant mentor — the architect of the Purple People Eaters defense that was the league’s stingiest unit from 1969 to 1971.

Carroll’s crew just capped off a four-year run as the No. 1 scoring defense — a feat that had not been accomplished since the dominant 1950s Cleveland Browns, who did it five straight years in a 12-team league. Clearly, this is a much more significant accomplishment — coming in a 32-team league during an era in which the rules heavily favor offense.

Carroll was fired up about holding the league’s No. 1 offense to six points and finishing two points better than Cincinnati.

“I don’t know if there is a record that I could be more proud of than to see our guys go for four straight years and lead the league in scoring defense,” he said. “I think that is a remarkable accomplishment by a bunch of guys dedicated to the program and what we are doing. It’s hard to do things over a long period of time that well, and that is something about outlasting the opportunity and making sure that you get it done.

“Steven Terrell makes a knockdown at the goal line and to ice it (DeShawn) Shead makes an interception right there,” Carroll said, reliving Arizona’s last drive, which threatened to ruin the streak. “We knew what was going on on the sidelines. The guys were having a ball, trying to get it done, and the offense was trying to keep the football to let that happen. That’s a really cool accomplishment, so we take great pride in that one.”

Carroll got to see Grant, his 88-year-old mentor, when the Seahawks destroyed the Vikings 38-7 in Week 13. And now he will go back to Minnesota having done something Grant’s stellar Vikings defenses never did.

“Of all of the stats, that is the one that takes the most and demonstrates the most,” Carroll said. “We are really proud of that.”

Franchise history, NFL history, State of the team

Will Kam be to Seattle as Emmitt was to Dallas?

September 24, 2015 cc Leave a comment

The 0-2 Seahawks have an 11 percent chance to make the playoffs and a 1 percent chance to win the Super Bowl, history says (just three of 204 teams that started 0-2 have done it since the playoffs expanded in 1990).

One of those teams was the 1993 Dallas Cowboys.

Will Kam Chancellor play the role of Emmitt Smith, who similarly sat out the first two games in a contract dispute? Smith came back for Week 3 and the Cowboys won 12 of the final 14 games and earned a second straight Super Bowl win.

Continue reading Will Kam be to Seattle as Emmitt was to Dallas? →

Franchise history, NFL draft, NFL history, State of the team

Is Schneider becoming the new Bobby Beathard?

April 4, 2015 cc Leave a comment

DRAFT COUNTDOWN: Four weeks. A weekly look at draft-related topics involving the Seahawks.

The Seahawks will be in rare historical company in this year’s draft, becoming the first team in nearly 20 years to go three straight years without a first-round draft pick.

John Schneider’s deal for Jimmy Graham, which cost Seattle its first-rounder and Max Unger, means the Seahawks will become the seventh team in the modern era to go without a first-rounder in at least three straight drafts.

To recap how the Hawks have joined the select club:

–In 2013, they traded a first-rounder, seventh-rounder and 2014 third to Minnesota for Percy Harvin.

–In 2014, they traded down from No. 32 and picked Paul Richardson with the 40th overall selection, also adding a fourth-rounder in the deal with the Vikings.

–Last month, they sent Unger and their first-rounder (No. 31) to New Orleans for Graham and a fourth-rounder.

So is this just a one-time oddity, like the Houston Oilers from 1979 to 1981? Or is Schneider becoming the Bobby Beathard of this era?

Continue reading Is Schneider becoming the new Bobby Beathard? →

Franchise history, NFL history, State of the team

If NFL wants Hawks back in AFC, Paul Allen should make league pay for it

February 20, 2015 cc 1 Comment

The news that the Chargers and Raiders are working on a deal to move to Los Angeles together raised once again the specter of the Seahawks moving back to the AFC — and, if the NFL does come calling yet again, Paul Allen needs to make the league pay in a major way.