Category Archives: State of the team

State of the team, Week 14: At Houston

Adams & Wilson are still the focus of all of Seattle’s drama

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The dysfunction and discontent surrounding the Seahawks will remain the story for the rest of the season (unless they make a miracle run to the Super Bowl), and two pieces of news have fed it this week.

First was Jamal Adams’ season-ending surgery, which put the red spotlight back on Seattle’s desperate move to get Adams last year as Pete Carroll and John Schneider tried to find an impact defender. Then came a report that Russell Wilson may be amenable to expanding his trade options to include the New York Giants and Denver Broncos.

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Coaches, Franchise history, State of the team

What if Carroll does get fired or retire?

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Jody Allen fired the Portland Trail Blazers’ longtime general manager Friday, leading some to speculate she might do the same with the Seahawks’ coach and/or GM after this season.

But Neil Olshey was fired for violating the Blazers’ code of conduct, not because the team may miss the playoffs for the first time in nine years. So, it seems quite unlikely Allen would fire Pete Carroll and John Schneider after one losing season, especially when she just extended both of them and neither has any personal black clouds hanging over his head.

But let’s play “What If” anyway.  

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State of the team, Week 12: At Washington

Time to start shopping Wilson, who has hit his ceiling in Seattle

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The Seahawks’ season is over. With six games left.

We haven’t said that this early in a season since 2008, when Mike Holmgren’s final squad was stuck on two wins all the way until Week 14 and ended up 4-12. (Jim Mora’s pitiful 2009 band was 4-7 before collapsing to 5-11.)

The Hawks (3-8) have a minuscule shot at the playoffs if they could get to nine wins, but they certainly are not going to win six straight with this quarterback, who showed his ineptitude again Monday in a 17-15 loss at Washington.

So, it’s time to get ready for big change in the offseason.

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State of the team, Week 11: Arizona, X's & O's

Last chance for Wilson to prove he has not hit his ceiling

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In the wake of Seattle’s embarrassing shutout loss in Green Bay, the topic of Russell Wilson’s future with the Seahawks came back to light – with numerous national media revisiting the prospect of a split after this season.

While plenty of fans and media still cling to the myth that Wilson has been failed by the franchise and is a victim of mismanagement and poor coaching and personnel, that’s the bass-ackwards way of looking at it. Wilson is a double-edged sword who always has been half the problem, and he needs to adjust his play if the Seahawks are going to flip things around over the final eight games.

We do agree with all of those people on one thing though: This should be the final test of whether Wilson should stay Seattle’s quarterback going forward.

If he can’t adjust – if he and Shane Waldron cannot agree on how to proceed, if he remains a one-dimensional passer, if it becomes clear he has hit his ceiling — it may indeed be time to trade him.

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

Geno-sis: A new start for Hawks’ offense

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Plenty of fans were hoping the Seahawks would trade Russell Wilson in the offseason, moving on to another quarterback who didn’t have the same deficiencies. Well, those people are about to get their wish, for a few weeks anyway.

Seattle apparently is going to be without Wilson for 4-8 weeks after he suffered a finger injury on his throwing hand against the Rams on Thursday and had surgery Friday in Los Angeles.

That gives Geno Smith, the former Jets second-round starter, an early birthday present as he turns 31 on Sunday: A starting quarterback job once more. And he will start it off with two prime-time games.

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State of the team, The roster

State of the roster as season begins

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“It’s a critical time.” – Russell Wilson after another early playoff exit in January

A dramatic offseason and largely uneventful preseason are behind us, and we are finally about to see whether the Seahawks are any better than they were in 2020, when their offense and defense went in opposite directions over the course of the season and they once again failed to move past the first playoff game.

After a 3-5 record in the postseason over the past six years and two one-and-dones in the past three, the pressure is on to go deep into the playoffs and make a strong Super Bowl run in 2021.

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

Wilson ‘here to win it all’; can Waldron help make it happen?

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“You know what heals all things? Winning.” – Russell Wilson

That’s all we need to know about the state of things between the Seahawks and their longtime Pro Bowl quarterback.

Even though he claims things are peachy now between him, Pete Carroll and the club, Wilson confirmed it was indeed a tumultuous offseason – and Wilson’s future in Seattle still seems to depend almost entirely on whether the Seahawks make it back to the Super Bowl. In every response Thursday about his drama-filled offseason, Wilson circled invariably back to the theme of winning.

“Coach Carroll and I spent a lot of time together one on one, and we’re on the same page,” Wilson said. “We’re here to do what we’re meant to do, and that’s to win it all. I’m excited. I’m excited about who we have, the guys we have. I’m excited where we are. Coach Carroll and my relationship couldn’t be any stronger. My focus is to win. Winning is everything to me.”

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NFL draft, State of the team

Hawks had a quietly successful offseason

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The Seahawks’ offseason might not seem impressive to some, especially with such a limited draft, but John Schneider and the Hawks quietly have done yeoman’s work to refill and improve their roster, and Pete Carroll is justified in expecting his team to be “very, very competitive.”

The Seahawks had few pressing needs in the draft last weekend because they had made sure to get starters at every spot beforehand. The needs they had were for a corner and center to push the incumbents, a reliable third receiver and a left tackle of the future. They hit on three of those (all but the center), closing the second chapter of a solid offseason.

“I thought this offseason was really successful at situating the roster where we felt good going into the draft,” Carroll said after the Hawks had made their third and final pick (the fewest in team history).

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State of the team

Carroll follows Rule No. 1 to keep the peace with his quarterback

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Pete Carroll’s No. 1 rule is “Protect the team.” While Russell Wilson “challenged” that rule earlier this offseason with his public complaints (which actually violated Carroll’s Rule No. 2), Carroll followed Rule No. 1 to the letter Wednesday as he spoke to reporters for the first time this offseason.

While Wilson and his camp clearly were the ones who drove the drama train, playing the victim card against Carroll himself, the coach stood up for his quarterback and blamed it all on media speculation that the coach declined to end.

Carroll made it clear he was not happy about the “uncomfortable” drama, especially the part Wilson’s agent played, but he has made peace with his quarterback and was not about to give it up in this press conference. So he shot the messengers while taking a credibility bullet himself.

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NFL draft, State of the team

Carroll & Schneider say all is fine with Wilson

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In their first comments all offseason, Pete Carroll and John Schneider waved off the Russell Wilson drama, saying they never “actively negotiated” with other teams about trading him, he never asked for more personnel control, he doesn’t have any more than he ever did, the coach and quarterback have been talking all offseason and their relationship is fine.

Carroll and Schneider chalked this one up to a long list of drama around their team over the years. “We’ve been through a lot of stuff,” Carroll said, and Schneider added, “from maple bars to Marshawn” – a reference to Golden Tate’s infamous donut caper in 2010 and of course the rebellious Marshawn Lynch. They also said they remained mum even amid all of the reports and rumors because “we knew the truth.”

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