Carroll: Time to get season started

September 21, 2015 cc Leave a comment

“We’re going to go back to work and get the season started.”

— Pete Carroll, after the Seahawks self-destructed in Green Bay.

The Seahawks were their own worst enemy vs. the Packers on Sunday, as they lost by double digits (27-17) for the first time since 2011.

Kind of like the loss to the Rams, the errors came from every corner. Michael Bennett jumped offsides three times, Richard Sherman gave up two big plays, Darrell Bevell and Russell Wilson put together another subpar performance, the offensive line was horrible in the first quarter, Jimmy Graham was nowhere to be found, the Seahawks still can’t run a screen play to save their lives, and the defense once again got picked apart by the short passing game.

After that game, some fans probably are wishing Bennett had held out alongside Kam Chancellor. Bennett led the NFL with 13 pre-snap penalties in 2014, and he now has five in two games this season.

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CHAWK LINES, Week 2: At Green Bay

September 19, 2015 cc Leave a comment

Do the Seahawks miss Kam Chancellor on the field? Let their other defensive leaders tell you.

John Schneider visited Chancellor and asked him to come back, promising the team would take care of him at some point, Jay Glazer reported. Chancellor thinks he has great leverage, Glazer said.

Dave Boling says the Seahawks need to discover their post-Chancellor identity.

Bob Condotta points to the 1985 Bears, who won the Super Bowl with two season holdouts, as a case study for the Kam-less Seahawks.

The Packers might not be the only ones without their right tackle (Bryan Bulaga). Garry Gilliam is questionable with a rib issue.

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CHAWK LINES, Week 2: At Green Bay

September 18, 2015 cc Leave a comment

In good news for the Seahawks, Packers OT Bryan Bulaga will miss the game with a knee injury suffered Thursday.

Earl Thomas and Richard Sherman both said poor communication led to all of the big plays by the Rams. They also both call it easily fixable.

Communication was the biggest focus this week, per Bob Condotta.

Sherman and Michael Bennett — Seattle’s two most outspoken and controversial players — both chimed in about the Black Lives Matter movement.

Larry Stone points out what we have noticed: Sherman has mellowed out from attention-getting trash talker to thoughtful social commenter.

Bob Condotta of the Times says Jimmy Graham’s debut could be a nice preview of things to come.

Graham apparently stayed in to block 36.9 percent of the time vs. the Rams. Last year with the Saints, he blocked 30.5 percent of the time.

Marshawn Lynch’s mom made it clear she was not speaking for Lynch when she called for Darrell Bevell to be fired.

Marcus Trufant reflects on playing his entire football career in the state of Washington.

Contracts

‘My wife wouldn’t let me hold out,’ Bennett says

September 18, 2015 cc Leave a comment

While Kam Chancellor has stretched his surprising holdout into the second week of the season, Michael Bennett has been practicing, playing and leading by example.

But he said Thursday that he almost joined Chancellor in holding out. Both players are dissatisfied with deals that pay them $7 million per year. Bennett is being paid $6 million this season, and Chancellor was due $4.55 million but is forfeiting 1/17 of that every week he sits out (plus as much as $2 million in fines).

Bennett said his wife wouldn’t let him hold out.

“I’ve got three kids; I’ve got a wife. My wife wouldn’t let me hold out, so I had to come to work,” he said. “(Kam’s) situation’s different from mine. I respect what he’s doing; he respects what I’m doing. too. I just come back and try to work as hard as I can and show the team the type of leader I am and the type of person I am and what I’m willing to do and how far I’m willing to go playing in the games.”

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CHAWK LINES, Week 2: At Green Bay

September 17, 2015 cc Leave a comment

Once again, fans want to lynch Darrell Bevell. Especially Mama Lynch.

Richard Sherman talked about his positions as a spokesman for societal change and as the Hawks’ new nickel corner.

Dave Boling says the Packers are pretending this is not a big game of redemption.

Contrary to reports that the Hawks have offered concessions to Kam Chancellor, Pete Carroll said the team has not been negotiating, and the team apparently wants him to report before it considers making any chances to his deal.

Field Gulls looks at the effect of the absence of Chancellor.

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Week 2: At Green Bay

Hawks-Packers packed with drama since 1999

September 16, 2015 cc Leave a comment

As the Seahawks prepare to travel to Green Bay for the first time since 2009 — and the first time under Pete Carroll — the Packers are itching for revenge.

They won’t tell you that; but, after their 2014 season started and ended with embarrassing losses to the Seahawks — one by blowout and the other via historic comeback/meltdown — of course they want retribution.

It’s just the latest dramatic meeting between the two franchises, which have been deeply intertwined since 1999.

This will be the first in-season trip back to Green Bay for John Schneider since he left the Packers to become Seattle’s GM in 2010. It also will be besieged OC Darrell Bevell’s first game back in his home state since he was coaching the Vikings in 2010. It also will mark the return of one-time Wisconsin star Russell Wilson.

Newer Seahawks fans — and there are plenty of them — might think the Packers-Seahawks series consists of three games: the Hawks’ infamous Fail Mary victory on a Monday night in 2012, Seattle’s 20-point win in the opening game of last season and Seattle’s miracle comeback in a 28-22 overtime win in the NFC title game.

But this series was full of great matchups back when Mike Holmgren and quarterback Matt Hasselbeck were leading the Hawks against their old team — led by Brett Favre — and this will be the 12th meeting since 1999.

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Week 1: At St. Louis

Carroll: ‘We never should have lost’

September 14, 2015 cc Leave a comment

The Seahawks are pretty upset that they let one get away in St. Louis.

“The way we look at it is we never should have lost that game,” Pete Carroll said. “We had plenty of chances and opportunities to really take the game in command and (we) didn’t seize those opportunities as we came down to the end of the football game in the fourth quarter and in overtime. We had chances on both sides of the ball and we didn’t finish the way we needed to, so they get a great win, and we go home and try to regroup, get right and play better.

“When you have games when you get plus turnover ratio, you score on defense, score in the kicking game, any one of those three factors generally wins games for you,” Carroll said. “We had all of those — time of possession, all kinds of stuff.”
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CHAWK LINES, Week 1: At St. Louis

September 14, 2015 cc Leave a comment

Field Gulls passed on the latest on Kam Chancellor: (1) Teammates have come to John Schneider and Pete Carroll asking them to resolve the situation and get Chancellor in and (2) they were close to a deal in mid-August, but it fell apart. Also, check out the homage to “Back to the Future” in the Field Gulls pic.

The Seahawks lamented missed tackles and big passing plays (eight of more than 20 yards). Cliff Avril said, “It felt like we gave up the most explosive plays that we’ve given up since I’ve been here.”

Dion Bailey said he should have just tackled Lance Kendricks and taken the pass-interference penalty when Bailey fell while trying to cover the tight end.

Don’t blame Bailey for all of the defense’s problems though. Tight ends were a big problem for them last season, even with Chancellor.

The Rams once again pummeled Russell Wilson, sacking him six times for the third time in his seven games against them. “Those guys are really good up front, and they got the best of us today,” said Russell Okung, who gave up the final sack.

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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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CHAWK LINES, Week 1: At St. Louis

September 12, 2015 cc Leave a comment

Seattle’s reshaped offensive line faces a Ram-tough challenge in the opener.

Rob Rang offers three key matchups, and two of them are up front.

An insider’s look at the Rams, plus the matchup in a nutshell.

Earl Thomas tries to bait the Rams into throwing his way.

Why is it no surprise that Tharold Simon suddenly appeared on the injury report?

There will be plenty of room at Edward Jones Dome for Seahawks fans on Sunday as the Rams apparently are losing support amid owner Stan Kroenke’s attempt to move the team to L.A.

Linebacker Nick Moody was signed to the practice squad — for now. Mike Morgan might return next week; so, if the Hawks are considering adding Moody to the 53-man roster, the top candidates for release appear to be David King, Kristjan Sokoli, Will Tukuafu and Steven Terrell.

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