Category Archives: State of the team

Coaches, State of the team

Players: Macdonald and ‘right coaches’ bring ‘urgency’

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Amid the hullabaloo by some overly nostalgic fans about Mike Macdonald’s rearranging of the VMAC, his players seem to get it. They know Pete Carroll’s missing hoop and the temporarily blank walls are a metaphor for a clean slate, a new beginning.

They also know the expectations are much higher now and being delivered in a more defined, exacting way than Carroll and his staff were doing over the last few years.

It’s all as it should be, and the smart ones – players and fans – understand that. The players who don’t won’t be around very long. And that’s as it should be, too.

The core leaders of this defense – Leonard Williams, Uchenna Nwosu and Julian Love – sound bought in.

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State of the team

Carroll’s ‘not worn out,’ but his coaching style is — will Jody Allen agree?

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“I plan to be coaching this team. … I’m not worn out. I’m not tired.” – Pete Carroll to Seattle Sports 710

Pete Carroll might not be worn out or tired, but his coaching principles sure seem to be. He will never admit it, but the game officially has passed the 72-year-old by and it is time to retire.

Unfortunately, he is not interested in doing so and the only way we will see a new era is if Jody Allen decides she too has seen enough of the withering Carroll regime.

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On the air, State of the team

‘Lay the hammer down’: Wright nailed the truth about the Hawks

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“The season is not over, but just the sour taste that has been in our mouth since Day 1 hasn’t really left. It hasn’t been right since Day 1. … Something’s missing.” — K.J. Wright on Seattle Sports 710

It was great to hear K.J. Wright speak the brutal truth about these uninspired, inattentive, nonchalant Seahawks this week.

The former team star, speaking on his Seattle Sports 710 radio show, ripped the immature antics of DK Metcalf and Jamal Adams, the poor play of Darrell Taylor and Riq Woolen, the out-of-the-picture Quandre Diggs and even, subtly, his venerable friend Bobby Wagner.

With all of the bad attitudes and/or terrible play, Wright said Pete Carroll needs to “lay down the hammer.”

“I am pleading with him this week to really and truly lay down the hammer, lay down the law with these guys. Enough has been enough.”

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

Carroll won’t win another playoff game unless he creates a ‘conflict defense’

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It’s very difficult to see Pete Carroll ever winning another playoff game unless he changes the way his defense plays. We’ve seen the same thing for six seasons now, which is enough to know it is more than just the players who are at fault.

Last Thursday in Dallas, the Seahawks’ offense finally snapped out of a two-month funk and looked like the unit we expected it to be all season, but the defense remained a broken record playing the same old sad-sack song.

The offense was surprisingly competitive against the Cowboys in the 41-35 loss, but Seattle’s slide continued as expected – now four losses in five games. And, with a terrible defense yet again, there is no encouraging sign the Hawks will be able to beat San Francisco and Philadelphia in the next two weeks to stop that skid.

Continue reading Carroll won’t win another playoff game unless he creates a ‘conflict defense’ →
State of the team

Blowout didn’t change anything: Hawks still a borderline one-and-out playoff team

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The Seahawks never seemed like a Super Bowl contender throughout the first half of the season – they never even put together a complete game in a 5-2 start — and their 37-3 blowout loss to Baltimore in Week 9 proved it. There’s no Super Bowl in this team, even if John Schneider’s big deadline trade seemed to say the Hawks thought they had a chance.

The Baltimore debacle was a total team failure, from coaching to QB play to OL play to a million missed tackles on defense. As Jordyn Brooks said, they just did not come ready to play.

The Hawks are neither as good as their 5-2 record made some think nor as bad as this nightmare 34-point defeat would seem to indicate. They are still what we thought they were: a borderline one-and-done playoff team.

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State of the team

After 3-1 start, Hawks need to become more than just survivors

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The Seahawks spent the first month of the season merely surviving — overcoming a decimated offensive line, injuries in their secondary, big passing numbers from opposing quarterbacks and poor third-down performance on both sides, among other things.

They managed to hit their bye week at 3-1, thanks to an OT win in Detroit and victories over Carolina and New York, which are a combined 1-9 after both lost yet again in Week 5.

The Seahawks used a stunningly stout run defense, some big takeaways and some great offensive coaching to make it through the first month. Now they need their offensive line and secondary to get healthy so they can fix issues that otherwise will cost them against the good teams they are about to face.

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State of the team

Will the defense hold the Hawks back again this year?

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We usually are more bullish on the Seahawks than most.

Examples: In 2018, many picked them to struggle (as few as four wins) after the Legion of Boom was dismantled, but we projected 11 wins and they finished with 10. Last year, as Vegas put the O/U at 5.5 wins, we predicted eight– and they finished 9-8 and made the playoffs for the 10th time in Pete Carroll’s 13 years.

This year, we are not as high on the Hawks as many seem to be. Some think they will win as many as 12 games, but those people have a lot more faith in the defense than we do.

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State of the team

Lots of optimism, but Hawks have to ‘do something with it’

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In the wake of a surprising (to most) playoff appearance, there is a lot of optimism about the immediate future of the Seahawks. Many seem to think it’s automatic that the team will take the next step and contend next season.

But John Schneider and Pete Carroll have a lot of work to do to convert those positive vibes into a team that can yield positive results in the playoffs. As Carroll said, “It’s nothing unless we do something with it.”

There are two main things to do: Secure the quarterback position and remake the defensive front seven.

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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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