Category Archives: State of the team

Franchise history, NFL history, State of the team

If NFL wants Hawks back in AFC, Paul Allen should make league pay for it

February 20, 2015 cc 1 Comment

The news that the Chargers and Raiders are working on a deal to move to Los Angeles together raised once again the specter of the Seahawks moving back to the AFC — and, if the NFL does come calling yet again, Paul Allen needs to make the league pay in a major way.

A few months after Field Gulls posited the idea of the ping-pong move, 12th Man Rising brought it up again Thursday after the Los Angeles Times reported the newest development in the saga to get an NFL team back in Los Angeles.

Continue reading If NFL wants Hawks back in AFC, Paul Allen should make league pay for it →

NFL draft, State of the team, The roster

Lynch is a study in sentimentality: Hawks don’t really need him

February 17, 2015 cc 2 Comments

A major myth has been propagated across the Pacific Northwest and the NFL in recent months. You know, the one that says the Seahawks need Marshawn Lynch in order to win a Super Bowl.

(This is completely separate from the idea that the Seahawks would have won Super Bowl XLIX if they had run Lynch one last time.)

The Hawks have been partly guilty themselves of spreading the nasty rumor, with Pete Carroll and John Schneider talking him up as a core player. They consider him such a key piece that they have offered the soon-to-be 29-year-old a pay raise and extension.

There is nothing wrong with that — they can fit it under the cap nicely and not lose much even if he does walk away after 2015 — but the fact is the Hawks don’t really need Lynch.

Continue reading Lynch is a study in sentimentality: Hawks don’t really need him →

Contracts, State of the team, The roster

This is the perfect time to reset the offense

February 9, 2015 cc Leave a comment

The Seahawks have spent the last five years building one of the best defenses in the history of the NFL — a unit that has allowed the fewest points in the league for three years running and has been the main reason Seattle has reached back-to-back Super Bowls.

But, as we saw in the Super Bowl, the offense is a two-dimensional cardboard cutout — forced to rely largely on the determination of Marshawn Lynch (aka Beast Mode) and the freelance ability of Russell Wilson (aka DangeRuss).

When Seattle’s best offensive personnel grouping includes undrafted receivers Doug Baldwin, Jermaine Kearse, Ricardo Lockette and fifth-round tight end Luke Willson — and the coaches think throwing to Lockette on the goal line to win the Super Bowl is the best play — the Hawks have a serious problem.

This offseason, that must change. It’s the perfect time for Pete Carroll, John Schneider, Darrell Bevell and Tom Cable to determine the future of the offense — to improve their receiving corps, find some reliable offensive linemen and otherwise make a concerted effort to fix a unit that has been running on the shoestrings of Lynch and Wilson.

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State of the team, Super Bowl XLIX

‘This is a championship organization’

February 6, 2015 cc Leave a comment

After three straight seasons of double-digit wins, with one Super Bowl trophy already on the mantle, Pete Carroll had us believing. He had us talking destiny and dynasty.

And then one ill-fated play call put an end to it all — for a moment.

But, as Carroll tweeted Thursday, “One moment does not define you; the journey does. We will outlast this.”

He’s right, of course. The Seahawks are built to last. They have more Super Bowls in them.

“This is a championship organization,” Carroll told Matt Lauer of “Today.” “It’s an extraordinary time for us. We’re right in the middle of all the good, positive things that we can do. So this is what we have to deal with, and of course it’s going to make us stronger.

“Think how strong we’ll be coming out of this. Think how powerful our togetherness will be, our mindset will be as we know that we’ve shouldered this and we move forward and get back to what we want to do. … It’s a great challenge, but nothing could make us stronger.”

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State of the team, Super Bowl XLIX

Baldwin, other immature Hawks need to grow up

February 5, 2015 cc Leave a comment

Doug Baldwin turddown — Doug “Dookie” Baldwin pretends to poop out a football after scoring.

If the Seahawks have any hope of rebounding from that devastating Super Bowl loss, Pete Carroll is going to have to adjust the attitudes of some of his immature players.

He should start with Dookie Baldwin. Is anyone else fed up with his act yet? First he lashed out in Richard Sherman fashion after the NFC title game, and then he performed a classless “turddown” celebration after scoring in the Super Bowl.

He was fined $11,025 for the latter move — pretending to poop out the football in the end zone after his 3-yard touchdown gave Seattle a 24-14 lead in the third quarter. It was his only catch of the game as he found himself stranded on Revis Island, and yet he still felt like it was worth giving the Patriots a free 15 yards to start their next drive.

Continue reading Baldwin, other immature Hawks need to grow up →

State of the team, Super Bowl XLIX

Injuries and penalty trend contribute to Seahawks’ loss

February 2, 2015 cc Leave a comment

The Seahawks’ Super Bowl loss to the Patriots was — in so many ways — a microcosm of Seattle’s season.

The Hawks once again forgot who they were on offense, injuries again were key factors, and penalties — both called and not called — played a big role in their 28-24 loss to the Patriots.

We went into detail about the Seahawks’ failures on offense in another post, but injuries and the season-long penalty disparity loomed large in the Super Bowl.

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State of the team, Super Bowl XLIX, X's & O's

Seahawks never did find an offensive identity

February 2, 2015 cc 1 Comment

The Seahawks struggled to find an offensive identity all season. Obviously that had not changed by the last play of the Super Bowl.

For a bunch that continually says they are a power running team and Marshawn Lynch is their bell cow, the Hawks have a funny way of showing it sometimes. Sunday was one of those times.

Why in the world would the Seahawks consider giving Lynch a big contract extension if they refuse to use him in the most important moment of the season?

The inexplicable decision to eschew Lynch in favor of a pass from the 1-yard line, trailing 28-24 with 26 seconds left, was the most head-scratching move in a season that already had caused most fans to claw their noggins raw.

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State of the team, Super Bowl XLIX, The roster

Seahawks have to get better at receiver

February 2, 2015 cc 1 Comment

As much as receivers Doug Baldwin and Jermaine Kearse complain about not getting any respect and being labeled “pedestrian,” the last two games of the season showed the criticisms have a lot of merit.

And when the Seahawks went to Ricardo Lockette — really?! — for the winning touchdown in the final seconds of the Super Bowl, it was a clear indicator that the Seahawks have to upgrade the receiver position in the offseason.

After playing horribly in the NFC title game against Green Bay — shut down for most of the game until they both came up big in overtime — Baldwin and Kearse were almost completely clamped by the Patriots’ secondary in the Super Bowl.

Until yet another undrafted player, Chris Matthews, came up big and sparked the Seattle offense, Russell Wilson had nowhere to go in the first half as Baldwin and Kearse were blanketed by Darrelle Revis and Brandon Browner.

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Contracts, State of the team

Carroll won’t say ‘D word’ but he plans to create one

January 30, 2015 cc Leave a comment

Pete Carroll does not talk about the “D word” — as he called it at one point last offseason. But “dynasty” certainly is on his mind — even if it is buried way in the back, behind Cover-3 schemes and ways to dominate turnover margin.

What do you think his motto, Win Forever, means? Principle No. 1 of that mantra: To do things better than they have ever been done before.

The Seahawks are still working toward that goal — obviously much closer to achieving it on defense than on offense — and beating the Patriots on Sunday would be a huge step in that direction, making the Hawks the ninth repeat champ.

No team has ever won three straight Super Bowls, but the Hawks are in good position to make a run at it. Carroll knows it.

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Contracts, State of the team

Schneider: Hawks are better prepared for free agency this year

January 24, 2015 cc Leave a comment

John Schneider and his staff apparently messed up in free agency last year, thanks to the Super Bowl, and they aren’t letting it happen again.

That was the most significant message imparted Friday by the general manager, who shed no new light on the team’s position with Marshawn Lynch or Russell Wilson but indicated the team was not prepared enough for free agency in 2014.

Schneider seemed to indicate his staff underestimated the value of some of their free agents last offseason — Golden Tate and Clinton McDonald come to mind (although the Hawks will get compensatory draft picks for those two).

To avoid getting caught with their pants down this year, Schneider has already met with his pro personnel guys — Trent Kirchner and Dan Morgan — and they have a better bead on the market for their 15 unrestricted free agents.

Continue reading Schneider: Hawks are better prepared for free agency this year →