The Seahawks could win the NFC West this week.
The Seahawks put Earl Thomas on IR and brought back Jeron Johnson, who was with them in 2011-14.
Pete Carroll offered injury updates on Paul Richardson, Luke Willson and more.
The Seahawks, who have been scrambling for running backs since releasing Christine Michael, will see him again this week. He’s not concerned with payback.
Apparently Pete Carroll was right: That dud in Tampa in Week 12 was an exception to the Seahawks’ new rule.
Their explosion in a prime-time payback game vs. Carolina was their third season-best performance in the past four weeks.
In the 40-7 blowout, they set season highs for points and rushing (240) and total (534) yards as Thomas Rawls and Tyler Lockett showed what they can do when healthy.
On a night Marshawn Lynch showed up on the sideline, Rawls had his best game of the season: 106 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries.
Don’t believe an emotional tweet: Earl Thomas is not going to retire.
The 27-year-old All-Pro safety was just upset about the broken leg that ended his season.
“When you get injured, it becomes very emotional,” said Kam Chancellor, who provided the friendly fire that sidelined Thomas during Seattle’s 40-7 win over Carolina. “Sometimes you say things you might not mean. Sometimes you say things you might mean. It’s one of those things you just have to let him sit back and breathe, let him sit back and go through his process.”
The Seahawks are getting back a bunch of injured starters.
The Panthers, meanwhile, still have all kinds of injury issues.
Ron Rivera called the offensive line “a catastrophe.”
The Seahawks are going with Bradley Sowell at right tackle.
Here’s a full preview of #CARvsSEA.
Richard Sherman called this season “karma” for Cam Newton.
The futures of three Seahawks came into question again Wednesday amid a flurry of reports, making us wonder what the team is going to do with Kam Chancellor, Michael Bennett and Garry Gilliam after this season.
In an ESPN The Magazine piece, Chancellor talked about how his holdout affected the Legion of Boom (something we surmised throughout last season) and how he apologized to Earl Thomas and Richard Sherman for letting them down.
We always figured his holdout was motivated by his constant battle with injuries and desire to have as much financial security as possible, and he shed more light on that thought with this tidbit: He spent three days in the hospital with internal bleeding after the Seahawks’ 43-8 domination of Denver in Super Bowl XLVIII.
While that interview revealed more about Chancellor’s situation, Bennett’s agent sent a cryptic tweet Wednesday that might have referenced contract talks with the Seahawks. The “deal” also could have been some other business, but most think it meant he was talking with John Schneider again — as they reportedly did in July.
Both of Wednesday’s revelations raise the question again: What will the Hawks do with their two defensive leaders?
Continue reading Topic of the day: Futures of Chancellor, Bennett
Pete Carroll was as befuddled by his offensive line’s horrible performance against Tampa Bay as anyone, but he is viewing it as a one-off.
“I ain’t worried about it a bit,” he told 710 ESPN.”If it happens next week and the next week, then we’re in trouble.”
Carroll said Joey Hunt played well in place of Justin Britt (ankle) but Britt’s absence might have messed up Germain Ifedi, who also had a new right tackle next to him as Bradley Sowell replaced Garry Gilliam for performance reasons.
Aside from George Fant’s struggles against Noah Spence and Robert Ayers, the biggest issue was Ifedi missing stunts by the defensive line.
It’s all but official: The Seahawks’ decision to ignore the offensive line has cost them the No. 1 seed in the NFC. Again.
After their third turd of an offensive game this year, an inexplicable 14-5 loss in Tampa Bay, the Hawks (7-3-1) are now 2.5 games behind dominant Dallas (10-1) in the NFC. With five games left, the Hawks now have to hope they can hold off Detroit (7-4) and Atlanta (7-4) for the No. 2 seed.
They won’t do it unless they fix their offense. They have now scored under seven points three times this year – just the third time in 41 years a Seattle offense has been so feckless. They are 0-2-1 in those games, by an average score of 10-5.
The defense, despite myriad injuries, clearly has held up its end – still the No. 1 scoring unit in the league. So this is all on the offense, which continues to operate like a teenager driving a stick shift – lurching along, popping the clutch, stalling out.
The Seahawks’ overall depth this year has been considered the best since 2013, when they won the Super Bowl.
They have had to dip into those reserves here and there throughout the season — especially covering for Thomas Rawls, Kam Chancellor, Michael Bennett and Luke Willson.
But this week, as the Hawks try to stay on the heels of the Dallas Cowboys with a win in Tampa, the depth is being tested at every level.
When C.J. Prosise busted out on his smooth-as-silk, 72-yard touchdown gallop vs. Philadelphia, Pete Carroll likely was thinking, “That’s what I’ve been talking about.”
It was the second straight big game for Prosise, who tallied 153 yards in the Week 10 win over New England. But, just as he had started to show why Carroll was so thrilled about drafting him in the third round this year, Prosise once again got hurt.
And now we really have to wonder whether he is cut out for playing running back in the NFL — at least in the volume Carroll would like to use him.
Earl Thomas will miss a game for the first time since Seattle drafted him in 2010.
Doug Baldwin was fined for flipping the bird at Darrell Bevell last Sunday.
The Seahawks promoted George Farmer to bolster their backfield. Zac Brooks is back, too.
Eleven players missed practice Wednesday — and at least half seem likely to miss the game in Tampa Bay.
Find out why Doug Baldwin playfully flipped off Darrell Bevell before the reverse pass to Wilson for a TD vs. Philly.
What does the release of J’Marcus Webb mean?
Russell Wilson is protecting the ball better than ever.
Bucs coach Dirk Koetter says Wilson does things the coach would never want Bucs QB Jameis Winston trying.
The Bucs, run by John Schneider’s friend Jason Licht, are trying to emulate Seattle’s approach to building a consistent winner.
CHAWK TALK: Everything being said about the Seahawks 