Tag Archives: Duane Brown

Just one new blocker, but protection starts with Waldron

March 25, 2021 cc Leave a comment

With the return of backups Jordan Simmons and Cedric Ogbuehi, the Seahawks’ offensive line is now set — at least until the draft – but plenty of people are wondering what Russell Wilson thinks about the fact that his calls for better protection netted just one new blocker.

Here’s a good reminder for those folks (and Wilson): Seattle’s first and biggest effort at improving protection was made in January with the hires of OC Shane Waldron and running game coordinator Andy Dickerson from the Rams.

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The roster, X's & O's

A third of Wilson’s sacks were on him — most in his career

February 12, 2021 cc Leave a comment

Russell Wilson picked a strange year to call out the Seahawks for not protecting him, considering the 2020 line was one of the best he has had and he was responsible for a career-high 14 sacks – nearly a third of the 47 times he was dropped.

Counting playoffs, he was to blame for 16 of 51 sacks (31%), per Pro Football Focus, and we tallied the same via a cut-up video posted by Parker Lewis on Twitter.

So it’s fairly disingenuous of him to put the blame on the line and John Schneider — this year anyway — when he bears a third of the responsibility. Yeah, he mentioned he needs to get better, too, but you know he is not going to change certain aspects of his game at this stage of his career. He is always going to be a double-edged sword, and 2020 was the ultimate example of that.

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Franchise history, Injury report

It’s December: time to get healthy

December 4, 2020 cc Leave a comment

“We’re in pretty good shape. We’re hoping to keep on this edge on staying healthy. It will really make a difference for us.” – Pete Carroll

December is here, and there is one thing the Seahawks need to do above all else: Get and stay healthy.

December has been a bad month for the Seahawks since 2016. They just have not been able to stay healthy, and it has cost them playoff position and wins. In 2017, when the Legion of Boom blew up, they missed the playoffs entirely.

We said it before this season started: Health will be a key factor in whether they win in December and advance far in the playoffs. Carroll knows that’s the key, as he told 710 ESPN on Friday.

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Contracts, The roster, Trades

‘This is just the start’: Dunlap is a keeper, extensions expected

November 23, 2020 cc 2 Comments

It took almost two years, but it looks like John Schneider finally found Seattle’s next star pass rusher. And he had better plan to keep him beyond 2021.

In three short games, veteran star Carlos Dunlap has proven to be everything we expected — a grand steal of a deal from the Bengals – and he clearly should be in Seattle’s plans next year and beyond.

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The roster, Trades

Schneider finally addresses biggest offseason whiff

October 29, 2020 cc 2 Comments

Most observers are giving John Schneider major kudos for once again filling a big roster hole by taking advantage of another team’s dysfunction.

The trade for Carlos Dunlap – Schneider’s third October deal in four years — certainly was needed, and Schneider did well to get it done for a mere seventh-round pick and overpriced backup center B.J. Finney, as Cincinnati clearly was eager to get rid of Dunlap. (The GM would do better to add another pass rusher, too.)

But let’s not forget this is the continuation of an ongoing theme: The Seahawks were in this mess because Schneider created it – and then failed to fix it until now, maybe only for now.

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The roster

Waiting for new core to emerge, Schneider won’t invest beyond two years

April 12, 2020 cc Leave a comment

John Schneider had around $35 million in 2020 salary cap space to spend on free agents when the league year began, and everyone expected a chunk of that to go toward a pass rusher on a long-term deal.

That has not happened, and it would be a surprise now if it did — because Schneider has spent about $34 million on 13 veterans (including four RFAs). And he has followed his SOP of not giving out long-term deals to outside players — just three of his signings (Jarran Reed, B.J. Finney, Brandon Shell) have been for two years. Even his reported offers to Jadeveon Clowney have been for just one or two years.

Other than guys on rookie deals, the Seahawks have just three players signed for the next three seasons: Russell Wilson, Bobby Wagner and shaky kicker Jason Myers.

Basically, this team is built — you might say patched together — through only 2021. And that includes Schneider and Pete Carroll, whose contracts expire after that season as well.

Why are they being so shortsighted? Because they generally give long-term deals only to players who have proven themselves in Carroll’s system — and few of their recent draft picks have earned the right to be considered part of the core.

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The roster, Week 17: San Francisco

Hawks have made Week 17 rebound before

December 23, 2019 cc Leave a comment

The Seahawks just got upset by a bad division rival at home and now face a big finale against a playoff-bound division foe. Sound familiar?

The same thing happened in 2015. In Week 16, they lost to the 6-8 Rams (Seattle’s offensive line played poorly in that one, too) and then (missing a bunch of key players) blew out 13-win Arizona 36-6 in the finale.

On Sunday night, the Hawks (11-4) will face the 49ers (12-3) for the NFC West title — and they will do so without Chris Carson and Duane Brown (and previously injured Rashaad Penny, Justin Britt and Will Dissly) and also still might be without defenders Jadeveon Clowney, Quandre Diggs and Shaquill Griffin (though Pete Carroll sounded optimistic about Clowney on Monday).

Marshawn Lynch is returning to replace Carson for a game or two (or however long the Hawks are in the playoffs) — and Lynch certainly could provide a big emotional lift to a downtrodden 11-4 team, even if Travis Homer carries most of the running load.

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Week 1: Cincinnati, X's & O's

Outcoached again, Carroll needs to get his team up to speed fast

September 10, 2019 cc Leave a comment

We all should be used to this Seahawks fact by now: Pete Carroll plays a conservative (i.e., ugly) brand of football that almost always leads to slow starts.

So why does Seattle always look so bad on offense early in the season? Why does the offensive line start so poorly? Why is the play-calling such a mess?

It really boils down to this: Carroll plays simple football, relying heavily on players to execute relatively basic concepts, while some other coaches use more complex schemes to help their players succeed.

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Contracts, The roster

No more big deals on Hawks’ horizon

July 31, 2019 cc Leave a comment

Bobby Wagner’s signing pretty much ends Seattle’s big-money deals for the foreseeable future. Now the Seahawks find themselves in wait-and-see mode, just like John Schneider and Pete Carroll’s early years in Seattle.

The Seahawks acquired and developed a lot of talent from 2010 to 2013 and were able to pay all of the top guys: Earl Thomas, Kam Chancellor, Marshawn Lynch, Richard Sherman, K.J. Wright, Russell Wilson, Wagner, Michael Bennett, Cliff Avril, Doug Baldwin.

The Seahawks are still counting on Wilson, Wagner and Wright — all of whom got third contracts this year. But the team now needs to see which players, if any, become the next generation of stars in Carroll’s program.

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Free agency, The roster

2019 line set, but what about the future?

March 15, 2019 cc 3 Comments

In one swell foop Thursday, the Seahawks reset their offensive line for 2019 — bringing back D.J. Fluker and swapping in Mike Iupati for J.R. Sweezy (basically a trade with Arizona).

The Hawks now have four former first-round picks and one second-rounder as their line starters. You can hardly get better draft pedigree than that.

They also will return four starters to the line that led the league’s top rushing attack in 2018. They just have to hope Fluker and Iupati can stay healthy for Mike Solari — or at least combine with Jordan Simmons to put together 32 man-games at the guard spots in 2019.

Then John Schneider needs to work up a plan for beyond next season.

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