Tag Archives: Russell Wilson

Coaches, Playoffs: At Dallas, State of the team

Carroll’s Hawks will run, but they ‘have to adjust a little bit quicker’

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schotty“The Seahawks are going to be a running team as long as Pete Carroll is the coach. If you can’t handle that then you probably should pick another team to root for.” — Bob Condotta on Twitter

Condotta is right: Pete Carroll is not going to change his philosophy — or his offensive coordinator. Nor should he.

Unlike some fans, we have no issue with Carroll’s overall tactic of controlling the game with the run and great defense. This is the same philosophy that took the Seahawks to two Super Bowls, and Carroll is very confident it will take them back.

But he will evaluate how the first year with Brian Schottenheimer went, and they hopefully will improve their in-game adjustments so they can avoid the kind of unnecessary playoff loss they just experienced in Dallas.

As Carroll said, “We have to adjust a little bit quicker.”

Continue reading Carroll’s Hawks will run, but they ‘have to adjust a little bit quicker’ →

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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Playoffs: At Dallas, The roster

Roster review as Hawks prep for Dallas

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logo-playoffsWell, that finale against Arizona wasn’t pretty. But this is all that matters: The Seahawks are headed to Dallas for a playoff game Saturday.

The last time they faced the Cowboys, the Hawks were just rediscovering Pete Carroll’s long lost preferred formula for winning.

It worked in that Week 3 game: The Seahawks hit the magic 50 (runs and completions), were plus-three in turnover differential and won the third-down battle in a 24-13 victory in Seattle.

The Seahawks didn’t run the ball very well (2.9 yards per carry), but they kept pounding it anyway (39 times) and Russell Wilson took advantage of some coverage holes for a pair of TD passes.

“We didn’t really kill it that day. We had a hard game against those guys,” Carroll said. “I think Chris (Carson) rushed 32 times in that game for 100 yards. That wasn’t what became a little bit more standard, what we were shooting for during the season, but it was a step in the right direction and the commitment came through. We were just getting started.”

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Week 16: Kansas City

‘SNF’ matchup vs. Chiefs will tell whether Hawks are ‘worth anything’

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Logo -- Kansas CIty“If you’re going to be worth anything come playoff time, you’re going to have to beat a team like this.” — Pete Carroll to 710 ESPN, on facing Kansas City on Sunday night.

This is it — the game everyone (maybe even some Seahawks, ahem) wanted to see last week. As Pete Carroll said, this game against Kansas City will tell us everything we need to know about whether the Seahawks are good enough to do much damage in the playoffs.

As everyone hoped, this game means something to both teams, and they will be balling out the entire way Sunday night — the Chiefs trying to nail down the top seed in the AFC and the Seahawks just trying to secure a playoff spot after they badly whiffed against the 49ers.

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Week 15: At San Francisco, X's & O's

Wilson needs to throw to his receivers more

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Logo -- At San FranciscoIf Russell Wilson had found his receivers more often against the 49ers, the Seahawks quite probably would have won — despite all of the other errors by players and refs in the game.

A lot has been made all season of Seattle’s renewed running game and the magic 50 number (completions plus rushes), but the X factor really has been Wilson’s targets.

Including the loss to the 49ers, Seattle has lost four games despite big rushing days and is just 7-4 when hitting the magic number, so those stats obviously have not fully predicted results.

But Wilson’s targets have: Seattle is 0-5 when under 50 percent of his throws go to his wide receivers, 8-1 when over half go to the wideouts.

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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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Contracts, Week 14: Minnesota

Wagner, Clark have earned big paydays, but Wilson hasn’t

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Minnesota logoWith the playoffs now just a win away, most people are focused on the future of the Seahawks this season, but the 21-7 win over the Vikings on Monday night offered some major food for thought about the future beyond this season.

Bobby Wagner and Frank Clark led a thundering defense that dominated Minnesota for nearly the entire game — a stellar performance by the duo that reinforced the idea that the Seahawks need to pay their two best defenders next offseason.

Meanwhile, Russell Wilson continued a rollercoaster season that proves he does not deserve to be the NFL’s top-paid QB next year.

Continue reading Wagner, Clark have earned big paydays, but Wilson hasn’t →

Week 13: San Francisco

Seahawks blow out Sherman’s 49ers, move into playoff position

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san-francisco-logoA week after the Seahawks put together their defining win of the season, at Carolina, they added an exclamation point with a 43-16 win vs. former Seahawk Richard Sherman and the undermanned 49ers.

Russell Wilson threw a season-best four TD passes, each one marked by the receivers’ celebration skits (including an homage to Sherman’s famous Tip); Bobby Wagner played easily his best game of the season, setting a team record with his 98-yard pick-six; and the Seahawks moved two games over .500 for the first time this season — happy to show Sherman they are not a “middle of the road” team as they beat the 49ers for the ninth straight time.

The Seahawks officially moved into playoff position, where they can remain if they beat Minnesota next week and win the final three. (Even dropping one game probably wouldn’t hurt them that much.) If the season ended today, the Hawks would be the No. 6 seed.

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Week 13: San Francisco
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CHAWK LINES -- Sherman returnsRichard Sherman’s return to Seattle is one of the bigger reunion games the Seahawks — or any of the city’s teams — has ever had. Here’s a look at everything being said about it:

Doug Baldwin still hates the way Sherman’s Seattle career ended. Might have to recycle this quote next year if/when Baldwin leaves.

Bobby Wagner had some great good-natured digs at Sherman. Pete Carroll called him a “challenge” to coach but also expressed great respect for Sherman. Shaquill Griffin admires Sherman for mentoring him last year: “That wasn’t in his job description. He didn’t have to do that.”

Sherman basically stuck to the same criticisms of Seattle he made when he was cut. And he also made clear what he thinks of Russell Wilson as a QB (ICYMI: They’re not buds).

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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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