Tag Archives: K.J. Wright

Contracts, The roster

Offseason to-do list

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Salary cap logoSince training camp last summer, Russell Wilson has said these Seahawks remind him of the 2012 team he led as a rookie, which exceeded some people’s expectations by reaching the second round of the playoffs and then came back to win the Super Bowl in 2013.

While this crew also surprised a lot of people, it didn’t do quite as well as the 2012 squad, failing to win a playoff game. But, even after the 24-22 loss in Dallas, Wilson thought the comparison valid. “If precedence has any truth to it,” he said, “hopefully we can find a way to do something good like that.”

Some think this team is ready to contend in 2019.

“We have everything we need,” Doug Baldwin said. “You have all the pieces. You have all the right mindsets, personalities, everything. It’s just we’re a young team. With the time comes progression, comes growth, comes learning. This team will be better.”

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Playoffs: At Dallas

Shoddy finish to Schotty’s first season

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logo-playoffsWhen Pete Carroll hired Brian Schottenheimer to be his new offensive coordinator a year ago, skepticism was rampant. Many people thought he had made a lateral (or worse) move from Darrell Bevell.

We withheld judgment until after this season. Well, after poor scheming cost the Seahawks four games, ending with a 24-22 wild-card loss to Dallas, the doubters sure look like they could be right.

And how ironic the way it unfolded.

Carroll and Schottenheimer didn’t run the ball enough in the first two games of the season, losses in Denver and Chicago where Russell Wilson was under assault. Seattle committed to the run the rest of the season and ended up the No. 1 rushing team in the league as they won 10 of the final 14 games.

They took that rushing mentality into Dallas against the fourth-ranked run defense, but they could not run. Passing yards were clearly there for the taking, but Schottenheimer refused to take them.

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CHAWK LINES, Week 16: Kansas City
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CHAWK LINES -- Chiefs at HawksTedric Thompson has an unusual chest condition that involved a fluid buildup, so he is being held out as the team waits for it to subside.

Despite 16 listed injuries, the Hawks apparently have just three game-time decisions. K.J. Wright will return, and fellow starting defenders Bradley McDougald, Jarran Reed and Shaquill Griffin are expected to play through injuries.

One-time Seahawk Spencer Ware, who replaced Kareem Hunt when he was cut, is doubtful with a hamstring injury.

Pro Bowl linebacker (again) Bobby Wagner talked about the key to his success.

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Injury report, The roster

Roster check (for now and future) as playoffs approach

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Logo -- At San FranciscoThe Seattle defense is coming off its best game of the season — a dominating performance against Minnesota that showed this unit might be effective against great offenses in the playoffs.

But now it unfortunately has lost another player: Mychal Kendricks is out for the season after suffering a broken leg in his first game back from suspension. With K.J. Wright also out at least a couple more weeks, Austin Calitro will be called on to start again.

Meanwhile, Doug Baldwin is questionable again as the Seahawks face Richard Sherman and the “not middle of the road” 49ers for the second time in three weeks.

As Seattle gets set to clinch a playoff spot, here’s a status report on each position (with a look to the future, too):

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Franchise history, State of the team, Week 12: At Carolina

Hawks’ run defense is historically bad

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Logo -- At CarolinaWhile everyone else marvels over the fact that the Seahawks are over .500 this deep into the season, we’re more concerned about how Seattle’s historically bad run defense might prevent the team from advancing in the playoffs.

We have always projected the Hawks to be above .500 at this point (they actually have underachieved by a game in our eyes), and it speaks well of their developing offense that they have been able to stay in games against high-powered offenses such as the L.A. teams, Green Bay and Carolina — rallying to beat the latter two.

But Seattle’s defensive line has proven to be more of a liability than we thought it would be. No one expected the pass rush to be very good outside Frank Clark — and that largely has proven true (Clark has 10 sacks, Jarran Reed a mildly surprising 5.5 and the rest of the team 12.5). But the run defense has been a major disappointment.

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Contracts, The roster

Could be final season for Baldwin & Wagner, too

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It’s looking more and more like K.J. Wright and Doug Baldwin are in their final seasons with the Seahawks — and, if the Hawks don’t want to pay Bobby Wagner again, he will have to join them.

The Seahawks created a lot of shockwaves when they separated from a handful of their Super Bowl stars earlier this year — a sudden about-face for John Schneider and Pete Carroll that showed they were ready to remake the team.

A lot of fans are going to hate this, but the smart ones will recognize the reality of it: Wagner, Baldwin and Wright all might join Earl Thomas, Richard Sherman, Michael Bennett, Kam Chancellor and Cliff Avril as former Seahawks next year.

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CHAWK LINES, Week 9: L.A. Chargers
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Chris Carson (groin/hip) appears to be a game-time decision for Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers. Said Pete Carroll: “We’ll see.”

Carroll said K.J. Wright “should be ready to go” against the Chargers after taking it easy the week after his first game. Bradley McDougald, who has battled a knee issue for weeks, also is listed as questionable. Carroll said he is “ready to go. We just wanted to rest him all the way through the week. … We just wanted to make sure to maximize the rest.”

Chargers running back Melvin Gordon, who missed the game before L.A.’s bye with a hamstring injury, appears to be a game-time decision.

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Franchise history, Week 8: At Detroit

This Detroit game has a very familiar look

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Logo -- At DetroitK.J. Wright will make his season debut against Sea Lions Golden Tate, Luke Willson and DeShawn Shead, and he’s got big plans for the reunion game.

“I’m going to mess Luke up — no, I’m just (kidding),” Wright said. “I do hope I cover Luke. I want to tackle Golden as well. I talked to Shead earlier this week and I told him I’ve got to exchange jerseys with him. So it feels good seeing those guys.”

This game should look very familiar to the Seahawks — not only because of the Sea Lion reunion but because the Hawks are in almost the same position they were in exactly six years ago when they went to Detroit.

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CHAWK LINES, Week 8: At Detroit
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CHAWK LINES -- Hawks at LionsThe Seahawks will honor Paul Allen with a uniform patch for the rest of the season.

The Seahawks will see three Super familiar faces in Detroit.

The Lions, who rank 30th against the run, brought in Snacks to help. Golden Tate welcomed Damon Harrison and also gave a throwback nod to his NFL career.

The Hawks will get their own defensive help. The return of K.J. Wright should allow Bobby Wagner to start making more plays. Wagner is close to the No. 2 spot on the franchise tackles list.

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Injury report, Week 2: At Chicago

Even without Wagner, can defense really be any worse?

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Logo -- At ChicagoThe Seahawks are about to play their first game without Bobby Wagner or K.J. Wright since 2011, but — other than Wagner — what are the Seahawks really going to miss Monday in Chicago that they weren’t already missing?

In their 27-24 loss in Denver, they were without Wright (knee) and deactivated Nazair Jones and Poona Ford — and the Broncos rolled up 470 yards. That was with Wagner, Tre Flowers, Delano Hill and Tom Johnson on the field.

How much worse can it be without them?

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