Tag Archives: Mike Holmgren

Franchise history, NFL history, State of the team

Will Kam be to Seattle as Emmitt was to Dallas?

September 24, 2015 cc Leave a comment

The 0-2 Seahawks have an 11 percent chance to make the playoffs and a 1 percent chance to win the Super Bowl, history says (just three of 204 teams that started 0-2 have done it since the playoffs expanded in 1990).

One of those teams was the 1993 Dallas Cowboys.

Will Kam Chancellor play the role of Emmitt Smith, who similarly sat out the first two games in a contract dispute? Smith came back for Week 3 and the Cowboys won 12 of the final 14 games and earned a second straight Super Bowl win.

Continue reading Will Kam be to Seattle as Emmitt was to Dallas? →

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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CHAWK LINES

July 26, 2015 cc Leave a comment

The latest in Russell Wilson talks: The Hawks reportedly have offered a deal worth $21 million per year but paying less than $20 million in 2015.

Field Gulls said the Hawks offered $54 million guaranteed last month. Former Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren, who once was John Schneider’s boss, apparently has heard the Hawks’ offer, too, and thinks it is “very fair” and Wilson should take it. Easy for him to say, of course.

The gossip queens went wild over Mike Sando’s QB survey, which placed Wilson eighth or something. We couldn’t care less. (And no, it has no impact on his contract situation.)

Meanwhile, Wilson is working on his boxing in San Diego ahead of training camp starting Friday.

Word also came that the Seahawks are closing in on a deal with Bobby Wagner.

Ricardo Lockette wrote that he refuses to watch a replay of the ill-fated pass at the end of the Super Bowl. But he said Wilson told him, “We’re going to get back there; and, if we’re in that same position again, I’m going to throw you the ball again. We’re going to get it done. I trust you.”

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Contracts

More indicators that Wilson’s agent is being unreasonable

July 23, 2015 cc Leave a comment

We’ve long suspected that Russell Wilson’s agent, Mark Rodgers, was going to be a problem for the Seahawks in contract negotiations, and it is becoming increasingly clear that he is indeed the problem.

The most recent tidbits over the last couple of days come from some guys with a little insider info: former Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren and Field Gulls.

On Wednesday, Holmgren said on KJR-AM that the offer he has heard is “very fair” and “the Seahawks are not lowballing” Wilson. Of course, that is coming from a guy who has always been on the management side of such talks. But Holmgren has been involved in enough deals to know what is fair.

Add to his comments what the guys at Field Gulls said in their podcast Thursday: They were told last month by a trusted source that the Seahawks had offered Wilson $54 million in guaranteed money, which would match the record amount the Packers gave Aaron Rodgers in 2013.

Continue reading More indicators that Wilson’s agent is being unreasonable →

History, Super Bowl XL, Super Bowl XLIX

XL and XLIX losses share much in common

February 3, 2015 cc Leave a comment

Lockette tripped — The non-call on Malcolm Butler’s trip of Ricardo Lockette in the fourth quarter cost the Seahawks at least 20 yards. (Click to enlarge)

The Seahawks are 1-2 in Super Bowls now, and both losses were steeped in controversy afterward — XL because of a handful of questionable officials’ calls, XLIX because of one questionable coaches’ call.

But they shared a lot more than that in common.

According to ESPN stats, those two teams were the only ones in the 49-year history of the Super Bowl to come out ahead in turnovers and yards and come out behind on the scoreboard — a stunning stat that tells you the Seahawks certainly were not worse than the teams they lost to in those Super Bowls.

Mike Holmgren’s Seahawks outgained Bill Cowher’s Pittsburgh Steelers 396 yards to 339 and won the turnover battle 2-1. Pete Carroll’s Seahawks outgained Bill Belichick’s New England Patriots 396 to 377 and won the turnover battle 2-1.

Continue reading XL and XLIX losses share much in common →

Playoffs: Green Bay

Packers-Seahawks got interesting 15 years ago

January 14, 2015 cc Leave a comment

Newer Seahawks fans — and there are plenty of them — might think the Packers-Seahawks series consists of two games: the Hawks’ infamous Fail Mary victory on a Monday night in 2012 and Seattle’s 20-point win in the opening game of this NFL season.

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CHAWK LINES

October 10, 2014 cc Leave a comment

While the Seahawks are facing their old AFC West foes this season, there now is speculation about them potentially having to move back to that division once the NFL puts teams back in Los Angeles.

Clare Farnsworth of Seahawks.com gives a status report and calls out the best players over the first quarter of the season.

It’s really old news, but Don Banks of SI.com asks Mike Holmgren and Bill Parcells to relive the infamous Cowboys-Seahawks playoff game from the 2006 season.

Pete Carroll says he and former Dallas coach Jimmy Johnson put their teams together similarly and he would love to pit his Seahawks against Johnson’s Super Bowl teams from the early 1990s.

The big matchup Sunday is the Cowboys’ No. 2 run offense vs. the Seahawks’ No. 1 run defense as Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times and USA Today both preview.

Franchise history, Hall of Fame

Are any of Seahawks’ nominees elite enough for Hall of Fame?

September 17, 2014 cc Leave a comment

There is no Walter Jones in this group. No once-in-a-generation, first-ballot Hall of Famer.

Former Seahawks draft picks Shawn Springs and Kevin Mawae are among the first-year-eligible nominees for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2015, announced Tuesday.

They join former coaches Chuck Knox, Tom Flores and Mike Holmgren and former running backs Shaun Alexander and Ricky Watters as nominees who coached or played for the Seahawks.

Those seven are among 113 total nominees — a list that will be whittled to 25 semifinalists in November and 15 finalists in January before the inductees are selected Super Bowl weekend.

The Seahawks have had a good run in the Hall of Fame recently, with career Seahawks Cortez Kennedy and Jones being inducted over the past three years. They join Steve Largent as the only career Seahawks in the Hall (and they shared a great moment before the Seahawks’ opener a couple of weeks ago).

But do any of Seattle’s current nominees have a chance to join that trio this year? Let’s take a look at each of the seven, starting with the coaches:

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