Category Archives: State of the team

Playoffs: Detroit, State of the team

Hawks aren’t toxic or tenacious enough

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logo-playoffsWhen the Detroit Lions come to Seattle on Saturday for the first playoff game between the franchises, they will have the fortune of going against Pete Carroll’s worst team during the Russell Wilson era.

While Carroll’s club is one of three to make the playoffs in each of the past five years, along with Green Bay and New England, this is clearly the weakest Seattle playoff team since the 2010 crew that stunned New Orleans at home in the wild-card round and then lost in Chicago.

The Hawks can’t run the ball, can’t score in the red zone, can’t kick the ball consistently and really can’t sustain the level of play needed to go far in the playoffs. And Russell Wilson is just not as dialed in as he needs to be to go the distance.

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

Hawks show no signs of being Super this year

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logo-arizonaIn 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.

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State of the team, Week 16: Arizona

How much longer will LOB stay together?

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Earl Thomas and Pete Carroll (The Seattle Times via Twitter)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.

The crew has turned into the Legion of Drama over the past year. Last season, Chancellor created a big stir with a holdout that messed up the defense, and Thomas played tentatively for half the season as he returned from a bad shoulder injury.

The drama has continued this year, with Thomas injured again and talking retirement, Chancellor missing more time with injuries and Sherman sounding off every week about something.

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State of the team, Week 15: Los Angeles

Hawks have to keep running the ball

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logo-green-bayPete 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.

The question: Will the offensive line get it back together or will Seattle have to win the way it did against Los Angeles?

The Seahawks had rolled up 655 rushing yards, at a 6.1 average, over four games heading into last Thursday, leading to some confidence that they might be able to buck their trend of poor performances against the Rams.

But they instead conjured one of their worst rushing games of the season, averaging a season-low 2.4 yards per carry. It was their sixth game under 3.0 this season — the most in Carroll’s seven seasons. It also was the worst rushing performance by that metric since Russell Wilson became QB.

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State of the team, Week 15: Los Angeles

Carroll’s undisciplined Hawks win West

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logo-green-bayPete Carroll has never been much of a disciplinarian. He’s a free spirit who encourages the same in his players.

It’s partly why his team is always at the top of the league in penalties. It’s also why his players feel free to express themselves — even if they make Carroll look like a fool.

They certainly did Thursday night in a division-clinching 24-3 win over the Rams.

The Hawks committed 13 penalties — 10 of them mental errors that reflected that well-documented lack of discipline. And Richard Sherman went off on his coaches again.

If the Seahawks had been playing almost anyone other than the Rams and rookie QB Jared Goff, Seattle might have lost that game.

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State of the team, Week 13: Carolina

Hawks return to setting season highs

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logo-carolinaApparently Pete Carroll was right: That dud in Tampa in Week 12 was an exception to the Seahawks’ new rule.

Their explosion in a prime-time payback game vs. Carolina was their third season-best performance in the past four weeks.

In the 40-7 blowout, they set season highs for points and rushing (240) and total (534) yards as Thomas Rawls and Tyler Lockett showed what they can do when healthy.

On a night Marshawn Lynch showed up on the sideline, Rawls had his best game of the season: 106 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries.

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State of the team, Week 12: At Tampa Bay

Carroll not concerned about OL’s poor game

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logo-tampa-bayPete Carroll was as befuddled by his offensive line’s horrible performance against Tampa Bay as anyone, but he is viewing it as a one-off.

“I ain’t worried about it a bit,” he told 710 ESPN.”If it happens next week and the next week, then we’re in trouble.”

Carroll said Joey Hunt played well in place of Justin Britt (ankle) but Britt’s absence might have messed up Germain Ifedi, who also had a new right tackle next to him as Bradley Sowell replaced Garry Gilliam for performance reasons.

Aside from George Fant’s struggles against Noah Spence and Robert Ayers, the biggest issue was Ifedi missing stunts by the defensive line.

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State of the team, Week 12: At Tampa Bay

O-line costs Hawks the No. 1 seed again

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logo-tampa-bayIt’s all but official: The Seahawks’ decision to ignore the offensive line has cost them the No. 1 seed in the NFC. Again.

After their third turd of an offensive game this year, an inexplicable 14-5 loss in Tampa Bay, the Hawks (7-3-1) are now 2.5 games behind dominant Dallas (10-1) in the NFC. With five games left, the Hawks now have to hope they can hold off Detroit (7-4) and Atlanta (7-4) for the No. 2 seed.

They won’t do it unless they fix their offense. They have now scored under seven points three times this year – just the third time in 41 years a Seattle offense has been so feckless. They are 0-2-1 in those games, by an average score of 10-5.

The defense, despite myriad injuries, clearly has held up its end – still the No. 1 scoring unit in the league. So this is all on the offense, which continues to operate like a teenager driving a stick shift – lurching along, popping the clutch, stalling out.

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Injury report, State of the team, Week 12: At Tampa Bay

Hawks’ full depth will be tested this week

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logo-tampa-bayThe Seahawks’ overall depth this year has been considered the best since 2013, when they won the Super Bowl.

They have had to dip into those reserves here and there throughout the season — especially covering for Thomas Rawls, Kam Chancellor, Michael Bennett and Luke Willson.

But this week, as the Hawks try to stay on the heels of the Dallas Cowboys with a win in Tampa, the depth is being tested at every level.

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Franchise history, State of the team, Week 12: At Tampa Bay

Is Prosise destined to be an injury bust?

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logo-tampa-bayWhen C.J. Prosise busted out on his smooth-as-silk, 72-yard touchdown gallop vs. Philadelphia, Pete Carroll likely was thinking, “That’s what I’ve been talking about.”

It was the second straight big game for Prosise, who tallied 153 yards in the Week 10 win over New England. But, just as he had started to show why Carroll was so thrilled about drafting him in the third round this year, Prosise once again got hurt.

And now we really have to wonder whether he is cut out for playing running back in the NFL — at least in the volume Carroll would like to use him.

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