Category Archives: State of the team

Carroll and Cable preach patience with developing O-line

October 5, 2015 cc Leave a comment

As the Seattle Seahawks finish the first quarter of the season, their offensive line is still a major work in progress.

But that should come as no surprise. Coach Pete Carroll and offensive line coach Tom Cable are satisfied with the steps the unheralded unit has taken, knowing it was always going to take half the season for Russell Okung, Justin Britt, Drew Nowak, J.R. Sweezy and Garry Gilliam to jell.

“They’re growing and they’re working at it hard,” Carroll said, leading up to the game against the Detroit Lions. “Their confidence is gaining and we’re going to see them continue to improve. I don’t think we’re going to know for another four, five weeks, maybe the halfway point of the season.”

Cable has said several times that this is the most talented group of linemen he has coached.

“I still think they’re going to be the best group (he has had),” he told 710 ESPN last week. “All they’ve done in three games now is get better and better and better.”

Continue reading Carroll and Cable preach patience with developing O-line →

State of the team, Week 3: Chicago

Is this the beginning of the end for Lynch?

September 29, 2015 cc Leave a comment

Is this just a minor injury hiccup for Marshawn Lynch or are we seeing the beginning of the end?

Back issues have dogged him throughout his career, but the Hawks have managed him well and he has not missed a game since 2011. Now he is dealing not only with that recurring issue but a hamstring injury that could keep him out Monday against Detroit.

“We’ve just got to wait and see,” Pete Carroll said Monday, adding, “We really probably won’t know until Friday. The MRI will be important though when we get the results back from that.”

Carroll said Lynch’s “calf thing is resolving” and it’s all about the hamstring, which Lynch injured on his bobbling fourth-down catch at the end of the first half vs. the Chicago Bears.

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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.

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State of the team, Week 3: Chicago

Don’t get too excited about Chancellor’s return yet

September 23, 2015 cc 1 Comment

Let’s not get too excited about the return of Kam Chancellor. He’s not going to be some kind of savior — especially because the Seahawks don’t need one.

And there is a very good chance he will get injured and miss time or be ineffective — it’s a very common result for players who hold out for extended periods and then have to rush to catch up to game speed. Hamstrings, groins and anything else that can be pulled are major concerns now.

The big immediate question: Will the Seahawks resist the urge to just throw Chancellor back into the lineup with three days of preparation time? Will they risk the injuries that so often accompany holdouts?

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State of the team, Week 2: At Green Bay, X's & O's

Carroll on Graham: ‘We want him to be a big part of the offense’

September 21, 2015 cc Leave a comment

Pete Carroll is just as frustrated as everyone else that Jimmy Graham was invisible Sunday night, especially when the Seahawks planned to have the Pro Bowl tight end heavily involved from the beginning, and the coach promises Graham will be more involved going forward.

Graham caught one pass in the first half of the opener in St. Louis, but Russell Wilson went to him more in the second half and he finished with six catches for 51 yards and a touchdown. But in Green Bay he was thrown to just twice and caught one (for 11 yards).

“I’m disappointed because … we want him to be a big part of the offense,” Carroll said. “(Six) balls in the first game and a touchdown pass. (Six) balls is a pretty good day. This day it didn’t work out. We were trying to go to him four out of the first five passes.”

Asked why Wilson did not throw to Graham on those plays, Carroll said, “There’s all kinds of things that happen. We get flustered here or there, get pushed away from the route where it’s going. There’s all kinds of stuff that happens and it isn’t any one thing. If it was one thing, it’d be really easy. It’s a variety of things that happen in the route.”

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State of the team, Week 1: At St. Louis

Nothing in that loss was surprising, and there’s no reason to worry

September 13, 2015 cc 2 Comments

Nothing about Seattle’s season-opening loss in St. Louis should have surprised anyone. And no one should be worried that the Seahawks can’t make the Super Bowl again — even if they lose in Green Bay next week, too.

As expected Sunday, Seattle’s reworked offensive line struggled against one of the NFL’s very best defensive lines, the secondary gave up some big plays and special teams made a big gaffe — all leading to a 34-31 overtime loss.

None of that should have shocked anyone. The only surprise was that the score was as high as it was in an opener featuring two stud defenses. (Of course, Tyler Lockett and Tavon Austin each returned a punt for a touchdown to beef up the score.)

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Contracts, State of the team

Report: Allen ends negotiations with Chancellor

September 11, 2015 cc Leave a comment

It looks like the Seahawks are finished trying to appease Kam Chancellor.

Seahawks owner Paul Allen has told John Schneider and his staff to cease negotiations with the holdout safety, ESPN’s Ed Werder reported on Friday. (H/T to 247Sports via Davis Hsu and Evan Hill on Twitter)

Chancellor told NFL Network’s Dan Hellie on Wednesday that the sides were $900,000 apart and that the Seahawks had offered to move about $3 million from his $6.8 million salary in 2017 to add to his $5.1 million salary in 2016. Chancellor told Hellie the Hawks were being “petty” and the situation should be resolved by now.

Per the ESPN radio segment, Schneider also had called a few other teams to see how they would deal with the situation — Schneider apparently being cognizant of how the Seahawks’ solution might affect the rest of the league.

On Friday, Pete Carroll told KIRO Radio, “The situation has stayed the same. There has been a lot of work done and a lot of conversations and stuff, but it just has not happened to get him here. … We love the guy, wish he’d be here, but he’s got a mindset that’s keeping him out.

“We always want him to come back, but we’re still focusing on what’s real — that’s getting our guys ready to play. Dion Bailey’s going to start and we’re going to have our rotations to take care of that position. We have to keep moving, so that’s what we’re doing. Unfortunately there is no change.”

Continue reading Report: Allen ends negotiations with Chancellor →

Contracts, State of the team

Chancellor wants $4M moved to 2016, says sides are $900K apart

September 9, 2015 cc Leave a comment

In his first public comments since he started his holdout 40 days ago, Kam Chancellor told NFL Network’s Dan Hellie it could be over by now and the sides are $900,000 apart.

Chancellor said he is not asking for more money but wants $4 million moved from 2017 to 2016, Hellie told 710 ESPN. That would bump his 2016 salary from $5.1 million to $9.1 million. He is due $6.8 million in 2017.

Chancellor, 27, also said he didn’t want to wait until he was almost 30 to rework his contract.

If the sides are indeed $900,000 apart on a $4 million request, it means the Hawks have offered to move $3.1 million forward to 2016.

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State of the team, The roster, Week 1: At St. Louis

Carroll gives scouting report on McCray

September 8, 2015 cc Leave a comment

The hot topic on Day 1 of Seattle’s prep for the season opener in St. Louis was the arrival of veterans Fred Jackson and Kelcie McCray.

Pete Carroll was stoked about the 34-year-old Jackson, saying “he’ll play a lot” against the Rams. Carroll really likes the 26-year-old McCray, too, but is not so sure he will be ready to play this week.

The Hawks sent the Chiefs a fifth-round pick for the 6-foot-1, 205-pound player because they didn’t want to go with first-year safeties. McCray, a fourth-year player, joins Earl Thomas, Dion Bailey, DeShawn Shead and Steve Terrell — all but Bailey played for the Hawks during their Super Bowl season last year.

“We’re ready to start Dion and go; he’s ready to play football,” Carroll said. “He had a good preseason and he’s ready to go. We wanted some depth with some experience, and the other kids were going to be first-year guys. We thought we needed a little bit more depth than that with some background.”

Carroll’s scouting report on McCray, as told to 710 ESPN: “Kelcie McCray is a really good-looking football player. He’s a terrific looking athlete. I’ve seen a ton of film on him. He’s active, he’s physical, he’s a featured special teams guy, which is always a good indicator of an overall general football ability of a guy. He’s a hitter. He moves well in space. He’s played strong safety and free safety back and forth. We’ve seen him in all kinds of situations, close to the line of scrimmage and in the middle. He’s very well-versed.”

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State of the team, The roster, Trades

Carroll on trading Michael: ‘We just thought it was time’

September 7, 2015 cc Leave a comment

Pete Carroll said the team thought it was time to give up on Christine Michael, the former second-rounder who was sent to Dallas for a conditional seventh-round pick.

“We spent a lot of time with him. We gave him plenty of opportunities. He’s a good, hard-working kid. … We just thought it was time.”

Carroll said Jackson offers much more experience and in the passing game, catching and blocking. “On this team at this time, it was just the way to go.”

Carroll said Jackson is a “good pass pro” guy and “he’s a terrific catcher. So that part is going to fit in really well.”

“We like Marshawn on third down, but he needs a break now and then,” Carroll said. “I like to have a real steady guy going in. Without Turbo available to us, he was the steady guy to go in. Christine wasn’t that guy to take that spot, and we didn’t want to put that on Thomas (Rawls) at this point.

“We think that’s going to be a good, solid move and get a real classy guy to add to the locker room.”