Coaches, Week 11: At San Francisco

Win vs. 49ers pauses deserved criticisms — Can Hawks end them for good?

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John Schneider, Mike Macdonald and Geno Smith had been under fire for several weeks – dating back to the bad loss to the Giants that dropped the Seahawks to 3-2.

Since then, they had fallen to 4-5 – with the defense getting gashed game after game and Smith and the offense making tons of self-defeating mistakes.

The reputations of Schneider, Macdonald and Smith were waning along with their season as they prepared to play the 49ers, who had beaten them six straight times (counting playoffs). But Macdonald’s recalibrated defense and Smith’s rediscovered comeback mojo gave the desperate Hawks a much-needed 20-17 upset win, putting the Seahawks back in the NFC West race.

Back at .500 with a streak-busting win, the Hawks now need to take that confidence into a battle for first place against Arizona in Week 12.

The question is whether this big win over the 49ers foretells more big wins to come in a season that still presents a lot of tough challenges – the ninth-toughest remaining slate.

Let’s look at the role of each of the three central figures in how this team sank to 4-5 and then finally beat the 49ers.

Continue reading Win vs. 49ers pauses deserved criticisms — Can Hawks end them for good? →
Week 9: L.A. Rams

All the ways the Hawks turned a blowout win into an overtime loss

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If and when the Seahawks decide to stop beating themselves, they are going to be hard to beat.

The question is whether they will indeed be able to stop giving games away to their opponents.

They should have beaten the Rams about 30-13 on Sunday, but instead they lost in overtime. Some great performances by the defense, Jaxon Njigba-Smith and Cody White went to waste because of the Three Stooges Act by Geno Smith, Connor Williams and Mike Jerrell.

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Coaches, X's & O's

Time to stop the ‘independent contracting’ on defense

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Mike Macdonald’s Seahawks are 4-4 largely because the defense has been struggling with the same issues that plagued Pete Carroll’s unit over the past few years: poor tackling and terrible run defense.

It has led to a lot of speculation about why Macdonald has not yet fixed the problems he was expected to resolve by this point in his first season.

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This week, we got some answers and Macdonald explained how he is going to try to finally fix these chronic flaws that have carried over from one coaching program to another. If he does what he says he is going to do, the defenders should be able to play faster and more aggressively, ideally helping them cause havoc and create turnovers.

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State of the team, Week 8: Buffalo, X's & O's

Hawks have given away three games — and that’s on Macdonald & the lines

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In the wake of the most embarrassing Seattle performance since the Seahawks were demolished by Baltimore last season, Brock Huard posited an interesting poll:

Our take: There is a lot of blame to go around.

The Seahawks are weak at the interior line positions on both sides and are getting pushed around by good teams. That’s John Schneider’s fault.

The Hawks have given away three games with poor prep and mental mistakes. That’s Mike Macdonald’s fault.

Continue reading Hawks have given away three games — and that’s on Macdonald & the lines →
State of the team

Defense is nearly whole, but Metcalf is injured, so it’s time to finally unlock JSN

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One of these days, the Seahawks will be whole – or at least we can dream they will be.

For now, we have to be content with the fact that we might finally see the defense as complete as it has been in weeks. It will still be at a disadvantage against the Buffalo Bills this week, because the defense is breaking in a new middle linebacker and the secondary is meshing a new combination yet again.

Meanwhile, the offense is likely to be without DK Metcalf — and that means Ryan Grubb needs to figure out once and for all how to get the most out of Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

Continue reading Defense is nearly whole, but Metcalf is injured, so it’s time to finally unlock JSN →
Week 7: At Atlanta

Have Hawks learned enough about selves to start a new streak?

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Mike Macdonald’s Seahawks finally got themselves a quality win – and they needed it big time.

With a surprising 34-14 blowout of a red-hot Falcons team that had won three straight, the Hawks avoided the dreaded four-game losing skid that might have been the death knell for any playoff hopes (just one team out of 15 in Seattle history had overcome a streak of four or more losses to make the playoffs).

And now the question is whether they can sustain it.

“It was inevitable that (adversity) would happen, so you want to see a rebound,” Julian Love said. “We’re still learning how to win as a team. … We’re still building; we’re still learning who we are as a team.”

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

Predictable problems and historic lack of takeaways are hobbling Hawks

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Before the season, we projected the Seahawks would win nine games. It was fewer than many optimistic fans were picking, but we saw a tough schedule and had big questions about the offensive line and run defense.

After a soft 3-0 start, the Hawks have come back to Earth against better teams and sit at 3-3 largely because their offensive line and run defense have failed them.  

They gave away the game against the Giants with mistakes in every phase, and then they followed that up by making a bunch more mistakes against the 49ers in a game they could have won if they had played it more cleanly.

“Right now, we’re just coming up short,” Mike Macdonald said. “We’re just not doing the things that good football teams do to win football games.”

Continue reading Predictable problems and historic lack of takeaways are hobbling Hawks →
Week 4: At Detroit

It was a memorable game the Hawks should just forget; better days ahead

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Now we know what happens to Mike Macdonald’s defense when you subtract five starters: It becomes latter-day Pete Carroll’s defense.

Without Leonard Williams, Uchenna Nwosu, Boye Mafe, Byron Murphy and Jerome Baker, Seattle simply did not have the talent to stop Detroit’s complex and well-stocked offense Monday. The result was a rather predictable shootout win by Detroit, 42-29.

It was a memorable game, but one the Hawks and their fans are better off forgetting. Better days are ahead.

Continue reading It was a memorable game the Hawks should just forget; better days ahead →
Week 3: Miami

At 3-0, Hawks are on a playoff pace despite more injuries and struggling O-line

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The NFL has been totally unpredictable early this season (our Survivor pool is already down from 150 entries to a handful), so it is notable that the Seahawks are one of the only teams that have not stumbled.

Before the season, we projected a 2-1 start, with a loss to Miami. But, after Tua Tagovailoa went on IR with another concussion, the Hawks became the obvious favorites in Week 3. They then handled the Dolphins 24-3 to become one of only four teams that are 3-0 (pending Buffalo’s result Monday night).

Yeah, the Hawks are 3-0 against teams that are a combined 3-6. But, you can only play the schedule you are dealt. The Hawks can’t help that they have faced a rookie QB (Broncos), a journeyman with no receivers (Patriots) and backup QBs (Dolphins).

Their defense has put the clamps on, allowing just 249 yards (second in NFL) and 14.3 points per game (fourth). We’ll see whether they can keep that up against a couple of top-four offenses over the next three games: Detroit on Monday night and San Francisco in a Thursday night game in Week 6. (The middling Giants are the Week 5 opponent.)

Continue reading At 3-0, Hawks are on a playoff pace despite more injuries and struggling O-line →
Week 2: At New England

Hawks are 2-0 with work to do, but odds and schedule favor them

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“I think the past two weeks we’ve really shown how close of a team we are when battling adversity. I know we are only going to get stronger and play better throughout the season.’’ – DK Metcalf

As we expected, the Seahawks are off to a 2-0 start following wins over seemingly lesser teams. As we also expected, the Hawks have serious flaws up front to work out if they are going to be any better than the nine wins we predicted for this season.

On the bright side, they have made the playoffs all six previous times they have started 2-0 over the last 25 years, per Gregg Bell. And there is plenty of time to fix an offensive line that has had some major struggles in both games and a defensive front that allowed 185 rushing yards to the Patriots in Week 2.

Continue reading Hawks are 2-0 with work to do, but odds and schedule favor them →