Category Archives: State of the team

State of the team, The roster

Post-bye review of the roster

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As the Seahawks get ready to play their final seven games, they are in a position few (if any) could have imagined – tied for first place in the NFC West at 6-4 and facing a coming three-game stretch that could see them hit nine wins before mid-December.

Geno Smith has been hands-down the most surprising player on the team – stunning everyone by leading the NFL in completion percentage (72.8) in a season that looks very likely to end in an unexpected Pro Bowl.

While Smith has yet to prove he can rally his team in the clutch – he failed in Munich against Tampa Bay – he has been a steady hand for most of the season.

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State of the team, The roster, Trades

Was the trade a good deal? And how quickly can the Hawks ‘reset’?

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Many Seahawks fans are understandably upset over the trade of longtime franchise QB Russell Wilson, not realizing that it is the best thing for the franchise (and for Wilson).

Some fans are so busy sobbing into their beers that they even think the Seahawks are counting on Drew Lock to be the new starter. Some think they got a bad deal from Denver (Lock’s presence might have some bearing on that). And almost everyone thinks the Hawks are now rebuilding.

Let’s take a look at each of those concerns and see where the Seahawks go from here:

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NFL history, State of the team, The roster

Hawks should take lessons on how 49ers and Rams keep getting to the Super Bowl

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“We feel this is the toughest division in football.” – John Schneider on the NFC West.

The NFC West has been the best division in football for several years now, so it is no big surprise that the NFC championship featured two teams from Seattle’s division.

The 49ers and Rams both have lost in the Super Bowl in the past three years, and now – after a pair of walk-off road wins last weekend — one of them (the Rams) is returning to the league’s championship game. It will be the NFC West’s sixth Super Bowl appearance in the last 10 seasons – another tribute to the best division in the NFL.

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Coaches, State of the team

People want ‘clarity’ on Carroll & Schneider, but we already have it

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Some fans inexplicably were
expecting a big announcement from the Seahawks by the end of this week, after the season wrap meeting involving Jody Allen, Pete Carroll and John Schneider. But why would the franchise make an announcement that things are … staying the same?

It already was clear that Carroll and Schneider were not going anywhere. They both said it themselves as the season ended. Apparently, though, plenty of fans who want wholesale change think they are owed an explanation for why Allen is keeping Carroll and Schneider.

Continue reading People want ‘clarity’ on Carroll & Schneider, but we already have it →
State of the team, Week 18: At Arizona

Why would Jody Allen avoid major change?

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Would Jody Allen really run it back with the same trio at the top in 2022? If so, why?

A couple of recent reports indicate that is a possibility. Sources are telling NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo that the team plans to keep Russell Wilson, and Albert Breer’s sources indicate John Schneider appears safe and Allen actually might choose the status quo for another year. Both reports indicated Pete Carroll is not considering retirement (nor has it seemed that way).

In his pregame radio appearance before the Seahawks finished their dismal season at Arizona, Schneider seemed to indicate the status quo, at least for himself and Carroll.

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State of the team, Week 14: At Houston

Adams & Wilson are still the focus of all of Seattle’s drama

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The dysfunction and discontent surrounding the Seahawks will remain the story for the rest of the season (unless they make a miracle run to the Super Bowl), and two pieces of news have fed it this week.

First was Jamal Adams’ season-ending surgery, which put the red spotlight back on Seattle’s desperate move to get Adams last year as Pete Carroll and John Schneider tried to find an impact defender. Then came a report that Russell Wilson may be amenable to expanding his trade options to include the New York Giants and Denver Broncos.

Continue reading Adams & Wilson are still the focus of all of Seattle’s drama →
Coaches, Franchise history, State of the team

What if Carroll does get fired or retire?

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Jody Allen fired the Portland Trail Blazers’ longtime general manager Friday, leading some to speculate she might do the same with the Seahawks’ coach and/or GM after this season.

But Neil Olshey was fired for violating the Blazers’ code of conduct, not because the team may miss the playoffs for the first time in nine years. So, it seems quite unlikely Allen would fire Pete Carroll and John Schneider after one losing season, especially when she just extended both of them and neither has any personal black clouds hanging over his head.

But let’s play “What If” anyway.  

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State of the team, Week 12: At Washington

Time to start shopping Wilson, who has hit his ceiling in Seattle

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The Seahawks’ season is over. With six games left.

We haven’t said that this early in a season since 2008, when Mike Holmgren’s final squad was stuck on two wins all the way until Week 14 and ended up 4-12. (Jim Mora’s pitiful 2009 band was 4-7 before collapsing to 5-11.)

The Hawks (3-8) have a minuscule shot at the playoffs if they could get to nine wins, but they certainly are not going to win six straight with this quarterback, who showed his ineptitude again Monday in a 17-15 loss at Washington.

So, it’s time to get ready for big change in the offseason.

Continue reading Time to start shopping Wilson, who has hit his ceiling in Seattle →
State of the team, Week 11: Arizona, X's & O's

Last chance for Wilson to prove he has not hit his ceiling

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In the wake of Seattle’s embarrassing shutout loss in Green Bay, the topic of Russell Wilson’s future with the Seahawks came back to light – with numerous national media revisiting the prospect of a split after this season.

While plenty of fans and media still cling to the myth that Wilson has been failed by the franchise and is a victim of mismanagement and poor coaching and personnel, that’s the bass-ackwards way of looking at it. Wilson is a double-edged sword who always has been half the problem, and he needs to adjust his play if the Seahawks are going to flip things around over the final eight games.

We do agree with all of those people on one thing though: This should be the final test of whether Wilson should stay Seattle’s quarterback going forward.

If he can’t adjust – if he and Shane Waldron cannot agree on how to proceed, if he remains a one-dimensional passer, if it becomes clear he has hit his ceiling — it may indeed be time to trade him.

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State of the team, The roster, X's & O's

Geno-sis: A new start for Hawks’ offense

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Plenty of fans were hoping the Seahawks would trade Russell Wilson in the offseason, moving on to another quarterback who didn’t have the same deficiencies. Well, those people are about to get their wish, for a few weeks anyway.

Seattle apparently is going to be without Wilson for 4-8 weeks after he suffered a finger injury on his throwing hand against the Rams on Thursday and had surgery Friday in Los Angeles.

That gives Geno Smith, the former Jets second-round starter, an early birthday present as he turns 31 on Sunday: A starting quarterback job once more. And he will start it off with two prime-time games.

Continue reading Geno-sis: A new start for Hawks’ offense →