Are the Seahawks “in the middle of it” or coming to the end of it? That is the big question after three straight disappointing playoff seasons.
Pete Carroll, of course, says the Super Bowl window is still open. Just as he said after the XLIX debacle in 2015 and after the near blowout in Carolina last year, he reiterated Saturday night that the Hawks “are right in the middle of it.” But are they?
All of this team’s best players are signed for another year, but Carroll’s club has been on a steady slide ever since the ridiculous decision to throw the ball from the 1 vs. the Patriots. In 2015, Kam Chancellor’s holdout fractured the defense and the offensive line had trouble against good fronts — a big reason they were nearly blown out by Carolina in the divisional playoffs. In 2016, injuries and attitude problems messed up the defense and the offensive line was even worse than it had been in 2015– the main reason they were blown out by Atlanta.
This team is not the aging crew Mike Holmgren had left after his Seahawks’ five-year playoff run in the mid-2000s; but, as constituted, Carroll’s club is not a strong contender anymore.
Continue reading Are the Seahawks still ‘in the middle of it’?
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.
The Legion of Boom has spearheaded one of the great defenses in NFL history, but it’s fair to wonder how much longer the trio of Earl Thomas, Richard Sherman and Kam Chancellor will remain together.
Pete Carroll knows his team has to keep trying to run the ball if it is going to keep winning. That was true vs. the Rams and certainly will apply in the playoffs.
Apparently Pete Carroll was right: That dud in Tampa in Week 12 was an exception to the Seahawks’ new rule.
