The loss to the Titans appears to have opened some old wounds
It took two games.
When the Russell Wilson saga reached its peak earlier this year, we talked about this inevitability.
If there wasn’t a proper resolution, this would linger into the season and be a cloud hanging over the team.
Such a resolution, in my eyes, was simple. Either you make a trade or you recommit to your quarterback in the way of a new contract. They are two extreme outcomes, obviously, but that’s how serious things got. And there needed to be a line drawn otherwise this season would be impacted.
At the very least restructure his deal to create cap space. They could’ve done that at any point. It would’ve been a big statement because it would make it virtually impossible to trade Wilson next year. Instead, they’ve well and truly left that door open. Make your own mind up as to why.
The Seahawks chose to stay silent during the media storm. Clearly they hoped everything would go away. Then Pete Carroll and John Schneider conducted an intelligence-insulting press conference where they claimed it was all a media creation and a whole lot of nothing.
You know, despite the Athletic article which appeared to be sourced from the team and the subsequent agent-led response to Adam Schefter, listing Wilson’s four preferred trade destinations.
So despite the forced ‘Pete and John crash Russell’s press conference to show they’re best buds’ routine, there was always a danger that once the season started — this whole saga would re-emerge.
Cue the Brock and Salk podcast this week — with the main subject matter being Carroll and Wilson’s relationship. Salk started the broadcast by claiming he’d spoken to the connected Gee Scott to ask about how things are between the two. ‘It’s all anyone (in the building) is talking about over there’ was the response.
“Something’s going on” claimed Salk.
How will Wilson respond to Carroll’s couched finger pointing about his fourth quarter performance against Tennessee? Why was that second half so reminiscent of late 2020? Who is to blame? The player? Or is it more than that?
Especially, as pointed out by Salk, since Carroll’s peculiar answer to a question last week about Shane Waldren’s influence on the Indianapolis win.
“He’s open-minded to do things that we’ve done in the past”
Think about that for a second. What has the new offensive coordinator brought to the table? Here’s an invitation to give him some praise. The one thing that stands out? According to Carroll, it’s the fact he’ll do things they’ve always done.
That answer was all the more alarming in the aftermath of the Titans game — where the offensive game-plan appeared to be directly transported from 2020.
That’s not to excuse Wilson, who should’ve played better late in the game. Yet if you feared Waldren and Wilson weren’t going to be handed the keys to the offense — this wasn’t a reassuring Sunday.
Meanwhile, Colin Cowherd — connected to Mark Rodgers and the Wilson camp — is busy announcing on his show that the Seahawks don’t do anything well if it doesn’t have the quarterbacks prints all over it.
“Russell Wilson fools you into believing Seattle is a well-oiled machine”
Welcome to the 2021 Seahawks season. Where wins will quieten the noise temporarily and defeats will open up all the old wounds from the off-season.
I think Carroll and Wilson have done an admirable job trying to move forward. But they didn’t really have a choice, did they? For the Seahawks there wasn’t a trade scenario that was tempting. And if Wilson had pulled an Aaron Rodgers — well, Rodgers is still in Green Bay, isn’t he?
What choice did anyone have but to crack on?
Making a statement about having a newly brilliant relationship and all that jazz sounds good but it felt like an attempt to put the toothpaste back in the tube.
I suspect both share resentment. Wilson over the direction of the team and lack of post-season success. Carroll and co for the way he voiced those concerns so publicly.
That doesn’t just go away.
This is how the entire season will be played out. Either the Seahawks will win and keep a lid on this for a moment or two. Or they lose and we get this. If the season ends in glory — salvation. Maybe. If it’s more of the same (or worse) then change will be inevitable. Either in the form of Wilson being dealt, Carroll retiring or maybe both.
It feels like the team is facing a six month period that could determine so much for the future of the franchise.
And sure, you could argue a 710 ESPN podcast and Colin Cowherd isn’t exactly the thundering jungle drums of the mass international media. It’s a start though, isn’t it?
The Seahawks play Minnesota (A), San Francisco (A), LA Rams (H) and Pittsburgh (A) next. There’s potential danger ahead, not just in terms of record, but in terms of the noise that could surround this team.
Either they’ll come out of this stretch stronger and ready to push back against this talk. Or things are going to spiral and the noise will grow and grow.
This is a major stretch of games in the Carroll and Wilson era.
Make no mistake though, this is the cloud they’ll play under for the rest of the season. Winning at an elite pace will be the only antidote.
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Rob, I finally had time to look at your video – extremely interesting and at the same time very worrying.
If our centers will keep playing like they started and Russ is going to get an awful lot of sacks this season, like I suspect, especially in NFC West, then we’re looking at a next season without Russ, in a year without a first round pick and with little options at QB in the draft anyways. John must make a move at C asap.
Offseason and issues with Pete aside, Russ should stay able to admit when he is not doing a good enough job. With Titans he didn’t do enough in the second half and his poor decision-making was a big part of why we lost that game.
Thank you for keeping these pieces in mind. I am continually staggered by those who take pointing out tension between Wilson and the Seahawks as “invented”. And the big reason why it must be invented is because if it was not they would then have to deal with it.
Wow, that response covers a whole lot of human nature. 🙂
But when reality is uncomfortable, it doesn’t mean that we do not face it. Wilson was not happy after last season. You need to keep your franchise QB happy. Sometimes that means firing the coach or other drastic actions, but franchise QB’s are arguably more valuable than coaches (see Arians in AZ vs. TB).
As you point out so much will depend on the rest of the season. I am very unnerved that we are so top heavy without as much backup. Injuries can and will happen, which has the potential to keep us listing even if we “fix” some issues (like learning how to use Jamal Adams, which you shouldn’t need to do of course).
Even if we are lucky on injuries we will need improvements in both personnel and coaching to even make the playoffs. If the performance is not up to Wilson’s expectations he will not wait until after the Super Bowl to make his intentions clear, although I very much doubt we would hear anything publicly this time around.
I really hope they right the ship, but I’m not sure if they have the pieces to this year.
Frankly I am quite bored of Pete Carroll and the stagnation of this team.
I was/still am (kind of) a big fan of Arsenal especially so during the Arsene Wenger era. The slow descent into mediocracy that played out at Arsenal is repeating itself with the Seahawks. Boring, repetitive and with no clear plan for the future. Winning inspires confidence for a limited time but a loss quickly reignites those feelings of desperation and this feeling of desperation mounts with every game.
Barring at least a visit to the NFC Championship game, Pete Carroll must go at the end of the year. If not we risk losing Wilson. Wilson wins us games with much more regularity than Pete Carroll, he is the present and the future of the franchise, not an aging, stubborn head coach.
And don’t get me wrong, I love Pete Carroll, Arsene Wenger is my favourite manager of all time. But things simply must come to an end and in this case the earlier the better (and undoubtedly less messy)
My real team is Celtic and we endured a similar situation the last 2 years. Subjected to boring, dull football, morgating the future for the present and it did not pay off. Does it ever? With a change in management and an overhaul of the team we have become slightly less competitive but there’s a new hope and excitement that accompanies it. The unknown is enjoyable, it inspires a little bit more passion and definitely more hope. Losing is still tough but we get over it faster. When the Seahawk’s lose we’ve been here before, same problems, same excuses, same next year.
Time for a change!!!
Very similar to Wenger situation, only hope Seattle finds the right replacement quicker than Arsenal as they are still trying to be great again many years later. Seattle need JS to step up
‘Bristling’ is the word I’d use to describe Wilson when he was asked about Carroll’s comments about checking down in overtime today.
He couldn’t stand still and smirked a couple of times.
Body language very noticeable there.
No pressing questions on his second half performance…
Russ might have bristled at the question, and Pete’s comments, but he should be able to take that type of assessment of his play without getting bent. He most definitely wasn’t good enough in the second half of that game, and as the quarterback, he must take a big chunk of the ownership for those failings. The most important, and highest paid, player has to be accountable when the offense performs poorly.
I do think you’re spot on though, this relationship between Pete and Russ is clearly strained. Things could very easily spiral out of control over the coming weeks. Or they might find more common ground and work together to make their team successful. Could go either way!
I don’t disagree Simo. I was just pointing out his reaction to the question.
It seems like both Russ and Pete are looking to blame each moment of failure on the other person.
Kind of a “seeeeeee… I *told* you my way was better” kind of thing.
A question about his choices in OT – looking back do you agree with the choice you made on that play?
Russ: What I agree with is winning.
Good Lord.
I missed that.
Wowzer
Journalist should’ve said, ‘well you didn’t win’
Bob Condotta
@bcondotta
·
1h
Russell Wilson was asked about Carroll’s statement that he wished Wilson had checked down on the first-down play in OT Sunday. Asked if he agreed with Carroll’s assessment Wilson said “I think what I agree with is trying to find a way to win the game.” …
Bob Condotta
@bcondotta
… Wilson noted the pass was just 3-4 inches from being complete and “I’m not gonna change my mindset” and that he knows how to win games in those situations.
Oh it’s from that. Yeah I saw that.
And Russell’s reaction was a picture as noted in a prior comment. They might be saying the relationship is better than ever. It aint.
They have a tough run of games coming up. If results spiral, get ready. Because this is going to be a topic everywhere.
RW does not trust PC now with what remains of his legacy as a player. That much is pretty clear to me. I think RW is hoping that PC will delegate more of his authority, and compromise just enough in a few other ways that some sort of a successful armistice can be reached.
If I’m RW though, adding Jackson and Fuller and a few late round picks to the OL didn’t move much in the direction of appeasing the guy who made no secret of the fact that he didn’t want to end up on the turf as much as he has.
It remains to be seen if PC/Waldron/RW can bring out a more consistently diverse and innovative offense that addresses the problems we are all too familiar with.
“No pressing questions about his second half performance”
At a Seattle media presser? Well, knock me over with a feather! (insert sarcasm emoji) 😉
Ironically it’s both Carroll and Wilson’s fault.
Wilson could be more consistent and work to improve his all-around game incl intermediate passing. Whilst a Carroll defense that is spot 30 pts is a disgrace if the game is lost.
On the bright side, I remember in early 2020 that a competitive defense seemed eons away whereas now I feel like the pieces are beginning to form. I also can think back to a time when scoring 30 points in a game was nigh on impossible and now it’s a regular recurrence. We’ve got something starting to brew, let’s hope they can keep the band together long enough to build on it!!
Really? Based on what you saw on Sunday?
The defense played pretty well in the first half. In the second half, they were gassed because the offense absolutely sucked. I think we’ll have a better sense of how competent they are in a couple of weeks.
For me, the big takeaway from Sunday’s game is that Russell Wilson is either too short to see the middle of the field to or he’s too stubborn to take the checkdowns. If it’s the latter, there’s a chance this offense could turn around (if he’s coachable). If it’s the former, watching the Seahawks this year is just gonna be one big waste of time.
As you say, Rob, these next four games will be very revealing. I really want them to surprise us all with four straight wins. But I also want to win the lottery.
That’s a convenient excuse for the defense though, isn’t it?
They were awful in the second half. Just awful. By all means let’s criticise the offense too. But just glossing over how crap the defense was? Not for me.
“Convenient excuse” implies that it is not reasonable to assume that a defense, even a great defense, will play poorly if they are stuck on the field for the majority of the game while a fast and huge generational running back comes barreling down upon them play after play after play.
I think it is a very reasonable *explanation* for why the defense faltered in the second half. Otherwise I would flip the question around to you and ask you to explain why this horrible defense played well in the Colts game and in the first half of the Titans game? Unless you maintain they were crap during that period too??
It’s an excuse.
The defense played a lousy game.
It wasn’t the offense giving up contain on the Henry run. It wasn’t the defense dropping into some deep zone, having the linebackers so deep to give up everything underneath.
It wasn’t the offense extending drives with dumb penalties in the fourth quarter.
They gave up over 500 yards.
They sucked.
Statistics show that the “gassed defense” mantra to be a false narrative. Both the offense and defense are gassed when on the field for extended periods. Instead, it comes down to adjusting a game plan, mindset of the individual players and effective coaching. Also, if you have a coaching staff reverting to a failed offensive scheme from previous years, that dramatically lowers the confidence of the defensive players on that same team. Imagine busting your ass for most of a quarter, sitting down, only to get right back up 2 minutes later? Its one thing to jump up from the bench with a rush of adrenaline after watching your offense instantly score a TD. Its quite another to slowly rise from the bench after watching that same offense go three and out for the 3rd consecutive time.
I honestly wish Wagner would call a timeout, walk over to the sideline and proceed to make his feelings clear to KNJ, Adams, Pete, Russ and anyone else he wishes to dress down. Not a single fan watching the game would question his intentions. They would cheer him on.
Maybe the first time I’ve disagreed with you Rob. I put that loss squarely on the offence despite the fact that the second-half defence was abysmal. All they had to do was get a first down or two and move the chains. Possess the ball. The best way to defend Derrick Henry is to keep him on the sideline. The relationship between a football offence and defence is the ultimate chicken and egg / ying and yang – when one struggles, it inevitably takes a toll on the other side of the ball. The irony for me is that Russell desperately wants to be Brady. But you rarely see Brady performing the spectacularly athletic heroics that Russell does each week. The difference is that on 3rd and 3, Brady gets you 4, or however much is needed to move the chains, while Russell attempts a 25-35 yard sideline pass with a high degree of difficulty which as often as not leads to Michael Dickson time. Brady just consistently produces one first down after another like a freaking metronome, but it’s the key to winning football that just continues to elude Russell. So for me, the defence gets a pass after holding Henry to 35 yards in the first half, they did an admirable job, but when the offence went in the toilet in the second half and time of possession was 40-20 Titans, the end result was inevitable.
Brady is surgical with his intermediate throws. Russ is not capable of them. I fear, that dreaded SB throw in 2015 was the last straw.
Also, Brady uses runs to control the clock. We have possibly the most overrated RB corps, and run blocking was lousy. Anybody, who watched Gabe Jackson the last seasons and hanging his hopes high should check his logic processor.
The offense was abysmal in the fourth quarter
But no one unit was to blame. There’s too much blame to pass around to blame one thing.
There has been one humongous difference in the careers of Brady vs Russ for those 3rd down passes – Brady has had adequate to superb protection from his o-line stratospherically more often over the years than Russ who over his full career often has had to deal with a poor pass blocking o-line/oncoming rushers far too often.
I think it’s the source of one of Russ’s biggest issues with Pete/John and I think there has been so many misguided Hawks fans that have railed on Russ for scrambling too much and holding onto the ball too long. He’s had to scramble because his o-line protection has regularly broken down quickly(if not nigh instantly if you look back through a number of other years o-lines Pete has fielded) and he’s had to scramble to try to make plays because when your pass protection does’nt afford you the requisite time to make the reads on the play called then the play becomes ‘off script’ and off script plays do not happen quickly/sharply like scripted plays because they have to be manufactured by the offensive skill players and found by the QB.
I am not saying Russ is perfect and I am sure his height for instance accounts for deficiencies in his game but one thing I am certain of is that if you took any of the starting QB’s in the league over the same years as Russ and put them behind the same crap pass blocking o-line Russ so often had to deal with(not to mention often mediocre receiving corps..) – the results would have been shocking in a bad way for thier stats/efficiency etc.
Let’s be right though… there’s plenty of times where Wilson has scrambled when he didn’t need to too. Maddeningly so at times. And he’s one of the hardest quarterbacks to block for.
So it’s not all on the O-line, far from it.
Agreed to a point but I’ll offer a fair bit of a counter, when you’ve routinely faced major breakdowns in o-line protection as a QB you’re naturally going to be ready to scramble even before the fact – most especially if you both are a good scrambler and often enough find a good amount of success for you offense doing so. And to clarify I am taking the big picture of all of the pass blocking o-lines Russ has played behind in his career, some have had decent stretches of play when injuries weren’t setting in but to my eyes Russ has had some pretty poor pass blocking through the years and I do believe end of the season PFF type grades would bear it out (if just looking through the lens of pass protection).
Wilson has always been a ‘mover’ behind the LOS though.
That’s not because of the O-line. It’s his nature.
He can be very difficult to block for.
Yes, I see the makings and again it is better than early 2020. Sunday they played stupid.
But I see pieces to build on: Poona, taylor, robinson, brooks, Reed, diggs. I see some big issues too like flowers .
But they just need to play as a unit, and if they do and stop free lancing, I think they can grow into a decent unit.
‘Better than early 2020’ isn’t much of a benchmark, is it?
The defense just gave up well over 500 yards in a game. It’s going to take more than a decent performance against a pretty crap Colts team to justify any faith from me.
Rob. We can agree better doesn’t mean great!
But it’s my opinion at this point in the season.
We will see how it goes
Kinda like when Taylor was written off last year as a bust
Better than what though? A historically bad defense for stretches? And one now not able to rely on playing a steady stream of terrible opponents?
And nobody ‘wrote off Taylor’. Serious concerns were voiced on whether he would ever play. Which was totally fair given the reason he DIDN’T play as a rookie. There’s a lot of revisionist stuff going on there.
Keen to see how we get in this week and develop as a team
Hawks held Henry to 75yards on 22 carries through 3 quarters and his DYAR was +4. They defo let the genie out of the bottle but I think most of it was fixable.
Even with that they rank 7th in DVOA and 5th in DAVE in the league. Note that’s last in the NFCW.
Needless to say it’s a small sample and they will need to improve if they are going to have a successful season. Sure it is frustrating compared to the peak years. But again I believe they have the ingredients to be competitive and successful enough to progress in the playoffs (well most anyway?!) but they need to grt coached up and grow. The key point though is I think they can whereas in 2020 1st half, they didn’t look to halve those pieces…
https://v.redd.it/zt8c48f757p71
So, what you do at Seattle is take the game plan from Pete Carroll, and bring it down to the players?
KNJ: Yeah, yes, yes. That’s right.
Well I have to ask, why couldn’t Pete Carroll just bring the game plan down directly to the players?
KNJ: Well, I, I’ll tell you why. Because players are not good dealing with Pete Carroll.
So….you physically take the game plan from Pete Carrol?
KNJ: Well, no. Carl Smith does that. Or Nate!
So then, you must physically bring it to the players?
KNJ: Well…no. The position coaches do that. But sometimes I do!
What would you say you do here?
KNJ: Look, I already told you! I deal with Pete so that the players don’t have to! I have people skills! I am good at dealing with players! I used to be one! Can’t you understand that?! What the hell is wrong with you people!
What’s the point of this? Someone cut up a lot of tape to make a cute video but this makes KNJ look like a fool, which he isn’t. Good lord, stop piling on.
This is a spoof of the movie Office Space.
I know exactly what it is and I’m tired of the passive aggressive attacks on KNJ. We know what he is and who he is. He is not a fool. Do we need a change at DC? Yes, I believe we do. Will that next person do a better job with Pete Carroll still in charge? I seriously doubt it, so what does a change really do here until Pete is gone?
I think, this is not an attack on KNJ, it’s a organizational study of PCs always compete mantra.
Really, this is not a large org. How can you defend having three or four tiers of coaching/management? How can you organize leadership? How about responsibilities?
This is a most dreadful read.
It’s just a joke. And a damn funny one. Brilliant!
It’s hard to advocate for the media to ask hard hitting questions to PC when the PC truthers will come out and admonish you. It has become a sacred cow, you must acknowledge that Pete is in the league of Bill Belichick and far from Mike Tomlin. ‘Pete Carroll had a secret plan’, they’ll say right before we tear into weak opponents.
I would say RW deserves blame but we already know his limitations and weaknesses. It is up to the coaching staff to come up with a plan to conceal those weaknesses and boost his strengths. RW doesn’t like to throw wide receivers open, throwing to a spot on the field that relies on the player executing on the ball, or most throws over the middle that would traditionally result in a quick release. The misdirection in our first game and tight end usage looked to be Shane Waldrons answer. The disheartening factor going forward will be PeteBall popping up whenever PC needs to stroke his own ego, PC is more than comfortable to play a team like the Jags this year and win by 3 points do to a last minute RW throw to a double covered Metcalf on 4th down and 5 yards out from the jags 35 yard line. Rather than handily beating garbage teams PC prefers the heart attack method.
*venting over *
Rob, using gee scott as a ‘source’. Come on, man. Love your writing but that’s a low point for the blog. Little letters for him, dude’s a drama queen, a small man attention seeker. He was on a Husky website before getting banned pretending to be an insider. Hope his son does well at OSU but the father feeds off the son’s glory.
As for Pete and Russ, good on Pete. Russ should be critiqued now without the excuse of the Old Man holding back. Russ had a terrible second half, and I’m tired of people talking about his miracle comebacks. Russ has lost plenty of games in the 4th. Many of which I was happy to blame on Pete and his OC for being old school and keeping the game ‘NFL close’. It would be amazing to see Russ be able to throw, to see lanes, across the middle of the field, like Tannehill, for example. And hey, what about those timing routes! Tannehill shredded us. Norton was, imv, the biggest goat on not adjusting to that as has so often been the case, but of course Pete’s responsible for that, ultimately. One of the biggest things I wanted to see this offseason was Norton fired or demoted. I’ve wanted that, like some others, since he was hired. For me, he’s the biggest reason we don’t go deeper into the playoffs. He gets out-coached literally every weekend, forcing Russ to need to make up for it.
But Russ has also always had a problem checking down to the RBs on the edge and the TE’s in the seam. And forget about timing routes. The bombs are beautiful, but the guy in GB and in TB scare me a hell of a lot more than Russ does. Also the guy in KC. (and Tannehill, for that matter now I guess, but that’s on Pete and his crappy DC, imv.)
I really hope for more open critique of Russ by Pete! Awesome. Hammer him. And vice versa by Russ, in public. It’s good for the team, Pete is a King on the defense, Russ is a King from the offense. Stop the fucking bullshit.
Pete needs to let the leash off the offense, and it seems like he’s putting some effort there…. but Russ needs to recognize he’s sucked in a way for significant periods of time where defenses have figured him out. Take away the deep ball, pressure him into a quick decision, bad ball. Russ doesn’t have the legs to work his magic like back in the day. He needs to become more like Drew Brees as a short qb. He’s got to start seeing the middle of the field, trusting timing routes and ball location and getting the ball out much quicker. Scheme is part of it, but Russ loves to sit and sit and sit in the pocket, thinking he can just improvise an escape. Five years ago, okay. Now he’s getting outrun now by lb’s and de’s who are faster than he is.
Solid post, I agree with a good bit of it. I think Russ well knows his magic/escapability has declined quite a bit and I think it’s a big part of why he made waves during the off-season particularly talking about wanting better o-line protection. I think Pete and John have done the team a huge disservice by not doing a better job of protection their HOF QB better over the years and especially of late when he has slowed down, it’s just dereliction to not build around your top tier QB in the NFL. They were lucky to land Duane Brown in trade…
And yes KJ has needed to be out of the league for a few years now – yet another continuing gaff of Pete and John.
I’m interested in how many posts and more likely emails you’re gonna get saying you’re making a mountain out of a molehill here Rob (many of which at least in the email category are likely to be rather unpleasant). Fact is, you’re not and it’s becoming increasingly obvious.
What else is increasingly obvious to me is that I’m tired of both of these men. Hey Russ, you freaking sucked in the 4th and OT this last game. Learn how to take what the defense gives you after 10 years in the damned league. And while you’re at it, be a man and accept your failings. Hey Pete, your micro managing the offense is sad and increasingly alienating a QB you must have to win. Give Shane the freedom to design a short and intermediate passing game that RW is comfortable with.
Another example of why I really don’t give a shit anymore. As I mentioned earlier this week, I’ll watch if I have nothing better to do and of course hope they win, but really this is just more of the same and it’s grown beyond tiresome.
I’ll be watching the Ryder Cup matches on Sunday. I’ll check in on the Seahawks during the game but won’t be watching them. I WILL be watching both the Ryder Cup and the Texas A&M v. Arkansas game on Saturday. That will be very telling of just how well my Aggies will do this year in the SEC West.
I am more excited about the Ryder Cup than the Vikings game this weekend.
(I retain the right to take this back if/when Europe start getting their arses kicked)
I don’t expect that to happen. I think it will be an excellent weekend and it will be close. I give the edge to the Europe team because it is them against the world (no Euro fans there and the US fans can be asses) and they seem to have the team spirit going for them. I hope for dramatic competition and expect it!
This is a newer, younger USA team. They’re also far more talented. I genuinely think this will be a fairly comfortable USA win.
Yep, on paper we look formidable, but this is golf and anything can happen! May the best team win!
I am a golfer and a golf fan. But the Ryder Cup never did much of anything for me. To me, it’s not even in the remote vicinity of The Masters, The Open, The US Open, or The PGA.
To each their own…
Outrageous 😮
Ryder Cup is one of the best things in all of sport
I get it that some people love it. Many share my opinion in America, though. It’s TV ratings here don’t come close to The Masters tournament, for instance.
Golf for me is first and foremost an individual sport. It’s you against the course. In the big tournaments, it’s individuals competing against each other on great courses. The team thing just doesn’t do much for me. The majors in professional golf are appointment viewing for me, especially The Masters and the two Opens. I barely ever watch the Ryder Cup.
Probably not as popular because you win it so infrequently 😂
Shots fired! Love it. I love the Ryder cup and how they turn and individual sport into a team sport. USA should take it, they got a lot of fire power, especially if Cantlay can keep playing well. That being said, anything can happen when you got Rahm on your side. And I really like Hovland.
And yeah, I have officially started thinking ‘what else could I do instead of watching the Hawks?’
I love the team play and the formatting above all else. I wish the PGA could find a way to return to match play instead of stroke play. It ratchets up the intensity and enjoyment.
Whistling Straits is a fantastic venue as well.
Whistling Straits is a beast!
“What else is increasingly obvious to me is that I’m tired of both of these men.”
Yes.
The start of the Carroll era was fresh, exciting, new and the team he built captivated your imagination. It was a rollercoaster ride.
That’s all gone now. I am tired too. I don’t have the same buzz for the next game like I used to. I don’t listen with excitement to Carroll or the players. I often wonder why Carroll still wants to do this, especially given his body language and words are becoming increasingly un-Carroll like.
I’m ready to see something new and different. I want to go in a different direction and start a new journey. I want to start the 2022 season with fresh hope and energy.
My preference is to at least try Wilson with an offensive minded Head Coach, such as Joe Brady, to see if that works. Because it’s hard to find a franchise QB. I at least want to see Wilson work with an offensive minded coach before we give up on him. Plus, there are no college QB’s to pine for at the moment. A Joe Brady type with an established, quality defensive coordinator who can sort this unit out.
What I can’t bare is the thought of another off-season of awkward drama if this 2021 season goes the way of the last few, followed by another repeat in 2022. I sense, however, that it won’t happen. There will be change, one way or another, at the end of this season unless this team delivers. This really is the last dance for this duo.
Anything after Jim Mora was fresh and new and exciting!
Kidding aside, I totally agree with this sentiment. Pete and John were a breath of fresh air and nothing was going to stand in their way to rebuild this team into a championship club. Well, they did that and then complacency set in (and egos) and they started reaching for the brass ring above all else.
Exactly this. And that’s fine. Nobody’s perfect and sadly the magic that they used to create one Championship roster didn’t re-emerge for the re-set.
But it’s time for the next form of this franchise to have a go. It’s been a great 12 year run under Pete Carroll. Now it’s time for a different staff to take this franchise forward. New ideas, new voices, new schemes, new identity.
“Anything after Jim Mora was fresh and new and exciting!”
LOL man if that isn’t the truth Tom.
I’m with you on the Jim Mora Jr thing! But then again I sorta missed the whole Tom Flores era. 🤣
I agree with you about pairing RW with an offensive minded HC. I’ve often said he’d be fantastic under Sean Payton. I think a guy like that would scheme well around RW’s limitations and may actually be able to do so without him even totally realizing that it was being done.
The credits have run and the lights are coming back on, time to go home. I used to watch seek out every morsel of Hawks content I could find, interviews, podcasts, Seahawks Saturday Night, all that. It has slowly wained to this site only, and now I’m contemplating whether to watch the game or not.
Even after watching your favorite movie 10 times in a row, eventually you say ‘ok, what else is on’.
Any who listens to Gee Scott needs better sources.
Say what you like about Gee Scott but you’re in denial if you refuse to acknowledge he has the ear of a lot of the players.
I agree gee Scott isn’t a great report that needs to taken seriously. But the guy literally hangs out with the players and is as close to a insider for the players as it gets.
Off field drama is more exciting than on field play. i like it…something to keep the season exciting!
SBD is the most interesting thing about the Seahawks for a few years now.
Thanks Mark
Carroll’s peculiar answer to a question last week about Shane Waldron’s influence on the Indianapolis win.
“He’s open-minded to do things that we’ve done in the past”
Think about that for a second. What has the new offensive coordinator brought to the table? Here’s an invitation to give him some praise. The one thing that stands out? According to Carroll, it’s the fact he’ll do things they’ve always done.
This really says a lot. So instead of seeing a Shane Waldron offensive game plan, were seeing the offensive play calling done the way Pete Carroll wants it done. Didn’t Russell Wilson say in no uncertain terms during the off season that he didn’t want to do things Pete Carroll’s way? So, not much has changed, the conflict between the two is carried into the regular season. Question is, how much of an impact did that have on the way RW played last week? How about moving forward?
You always find the best photos
My opinion about what could be going on. They did things more Carrol’s way the first game. They did things more RW’s way the 2nd game. RW lost the little between them, and he doesn’t really believe it yet. The offense I saw the first game compared to the second was completely different. TOP: Titans 42 mins; Seahawks 22 mins. That is ridiculous and puts a huge amount of pressure on the defense. Did they break or did Carrol just decide he wanted to lose the game to prove that RW’s way doesn’t work? That’s what RW is wondering. I know I played a hockey game last night; our team was up 3-1 after the 1st period, but none of us had skated recently so we were all dead after the 1st and lost 11-4. RW needs to swallow his pride and put winning above all else. Carrol needs to make sure there is a good amount of offense that RW has a say in, so he can stay engaged.
Burns playing pretty well, we had chance to draft him correct?
No but they could’ve moved up
Hahaha, Rob, you didn’t put the image on a t-shirt, like I had asked for, but I’ll be damned if you didn’t get the exact one I wanted right at the top of your article.
Pete, slack-jawed and clueless.
Thank you.
It truly is perfect in so many ways!
It really sucks that Jodie Allen is going to let a 70 year old dinosaur run a hall of fame QB out of town. What a damn shame!
I find Russell’s comments more concerning, he most definitely should’ve thrown some check downs to extend drives. But he said he wants to run plays that win? It looks like he was trying to make tuff throws, like into double coverage instead of getting wants given to him. Wilson wants to cook and they gave him every opportunity to and he fell on his face.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RrwzjXO0NM 4:35
This is something Russ and Adams should also understand.
Yes, understanding. Lockett has understanding beyond his years. He gives very good interviews.
If a Wilson trade were to happen after this season, what would the cap implications be over 22 and 23 seasons? Looks on spotrac like 13 mil dead cap over bleach season?
They’d save $11m next year and $40m in 2023.
Spotrac does such a fantastic job of laying bare all the pertinent numbers. That’s my go-to site for any cap questions. No fluff, just simple and easy to understand.
Unfortunately, that ability to spread the $26 million over two seasons is after 6/1. They’d miss next year’s draft and feel the Adams trade sting that much more. Three firsts and a score of later picks might help in 2023 and beyond, but 2022 could become a horror show. Albeit, a horror show with the prospect of rising up the draft board with all the native picks, excluding a first. (Of course, that’s predicated on the belief that Pete and John don’t utilize those future picks to go after a 2022 prospect.)
So, in essence, I have ZERO faith the ship will be righted until Pete is gone, no matter the picks they accumulate from a Wilson trade.
Hearing the numbers just makes me want to trade Russell more – and fire Pete. Russell peaked a long time ago, I’ll let you decide when. His stats are great, but he hasn’t learned any new skills and his body is getting slower. HE still can’t throw a quick slant to the middle, he still won’t throw screen passes, he holds onto the ball to long, and why do they even bother to get tight ends?
Just trade him, suck it up for one bad season to get a high pick, and find your next quarterback. Or hire your next quarterback, you won’t pay any more than we are already paying Russell.
Finally, yes I’m ready for a coaching change. I’m fine with Pete the motivator. But he has failed at play calling and at making first round draft picks, and at finding economical players who won’t bust the bank. I’m tired of the head cases that half the superstars have. Give me a Wagner or a Tyler Lockett, guys who just want to play and excel.
Find your next quarterback where?
There aren’t any in CFB
There are new quarterbacks coming out every year, and there are vets like Darnold that are also available. Maybe they aren’t as good as Russell, but maybe they are better at some things like a timed pass in the middle.
You just made a video in which you have discussed the lack of improvement from Wilson. He’s not a rookie anymore. We know what his abilities are. Going back in time we used to say he is a game manager. Not a premier QB, a game manager. What has changed since then?
The only way the Seahawks will ever see the superbowl again is with a premium 1-2 running backs and a premium defense. None of those two things involve the quarterback. In other words, most game managing quarterbacks would do just as well as Russell because many of them have a full skill set.
Give me some names then.
You want to move on from Wilson, tell me who replaces him.
1. I made a video where we discussed a poor performance by Wilson among multiple topics. That doesn’t mean I should want to trade him.
2. I never called him a game manager and anyone who did was talking utter bollocks.
I’m starting to think you’re taking Wilson for granted.
Is he flawless? No.
But come on.
To watch the second half offense was a gut punch. The promised adjusting was nowhere to be found. This had PC stamped all over it. Also what had stamped all over it were the undiciplined egrigeous penalties committed. “The bench is an ally”????….Really???…How about COACHING as an ally?
That being said, these are supposed to be grown men. In any job if you make mistakes you need to be corrected or criticized. I’ll give PC credit for that. RW needed to do what Brady does, dink and dunk for fucking first downs and a WIN.
You are right, it’s past time for change, we should have at least 3 trophies in that case by now, and we keep seeing the same things over and over. I totally expect a big fat LOSS this Sunday and maybe that will trigger some change, but doubtful.
Ugh …. Rob, it took me a bit longer than you but I’m finally slinking my way off the Pete Carroll wagon…
He’s stubborn. And I get it. He’s not gonna spend his final couple years ‘changing his stripes”. He’ll retire singing “I did it my way’ and he has every right to do so. And , if that is indeed the case, I want him to retire after this year.
I choose Russell over Pete.
This reminds me of Holmgrens last season or two. It felt like he was trying to force his “style” when the talent wasn’t there to run his style. But he refused to adjust.
Pete does NOT have the defense to play small ball. They are a middling defense with some potential. Not horrible, Not good. They are there playing hard with some flash moments.
But he is refusing to adjust. It felt like Pete stepped in the 4th quarter and told Shane “we’re up big. Dial it down a bit, waste time”. So they did. And we looked like we had Bevel or Shotty back here coaching the offense. It was gross.
When you have a great def that would work. But we don’t have a great def.
Hopefully, Pete recognizes this. I doubt he changes his thoughts on it but maybe he’ll keep his nose out of Waldron and Wilsons business…
You think Carroll step in the 4th quarter to dial it down and run out the clock and that was the problem? They put the ball in Wilson’s hands and passed almost every play. PC said he wished russ would of checked down and you know, get some first downs, extend some drives so maybe the d wouldn’t have to be on the field the whole quarter. Instead wilson wanted to do it his way and he did and it was gross. Everything you just said about Carroll really applies to wilson more
That’s what it felt like, yes. The play calling was blah. Wilson has to execute bit he doesnt call the plays. He may audible some but I absolutely do not put this solely on Wilson. He’s allowed to fail sometiems. Every great QB does. In OT Wilson seemed to go for the longer route instead of checking down, Agreed. But the second half was just crappy play calling. It was predictable, it felt like Waldron ran to the restroom and we were watching our offense from the last few years.
. And can we please ditch the WR screen? I’m trying to remember when that play was truly successful for us.
That quote about Waldron after week one was definitely weird for a guy that has previously praised many a player or coach. I suppose the shot at Russ could be viewed as positive for Waldron. The scheme was solid, people were open. The player must execute. It’s kind of the same as the Jamal comments. Defense in a decent spot. The player must execute and make the tackle. Come off more sincere if not for the clear off-season issues
My fear is Carroll is perturbed by Wilson’s public challenge to his way of doing things and can’t bring himself to even talk about what a new OC has brought to the table. He has to almost defend his own philosophy. “What’s great is him being open to doing what we did before.” Come on.
And Sunday felt like a repeat of what was done before, too.
“My fear is Carroll is perturbed by Wilson’s public challenge to his way of doing things and can’t bring himself to even talk about what a new OC has brought to the table.”
That’s how read it as well.
If true, then what an awful example of immaturity from a 70 year old coach who fancies himself a leader of men.
Is he really resorting to a passive aggressive pissing contest with his star QB?
It certainly appears that is the case. And while we’re at it, the 32 yr old Qb appears to be doing the same thing.
So let’s run with the thought that Russ doesn’t want to check it down, but rather look for the kill shot. Do you think a new coach – hard noised guy rather than a Pete Carroll – could get him to do it?
This is a completely false narrative that the defenders of the faith have run with on the heels of Pete’s comments about the first offensive play of overtime. Russ threw 16 passes in the second half and OT. Eleven of them went 6 yards or fewer past the line of scrimmage in the air. Russ takes the shot when he thinks the shot is there, but he has no problem taking the easy yards.
On the play Pete commented on, the first play of OT, Seattle went max protect and sent its two stud receivers (strike that, its one stud receiver and its diva) on deep routes, with the intention of sneaking Carson out late against a soft middle, but the route took a long time to develop and Carson still appeared covered 2.5 seconds after the snap. The only reason he was wide open half a second later is because the LB covering him did a 180 and sprinted the other way, probably because he read Wilson and knew that Wilson had decided his only play was down the field.
so much great content this week, rob. i’m only now catching up! we usually talk about carroll as a great culture-setter, but apart from his exemplary handling of the pandemic, i’m no longer convinced. his uncharacteristic behavior of late coupled with the ongoing wilson drama suggests to me that he’s on the brink of losing the team once again. am i reading too much into things?
Looking back, I think best time to get rid of PC was after loss in super bowl. It would be too harsh, but after that loss we are going down hill. Poor drafting, impulsive and bad trade, terrible in free agency list goes on and on.
I personally started to doubt Pete that offseason, even though I had no problem with the play call (credit BB and Butler for an historically great moment in sports), but because Seattle never should have been in that position in the first place.
I didn’t start to call for his head until the 2018 offseason.
In retrospect, I think you are almost right. I think the right moment to move on from Pete was after the Super Bowl win. However, there was no way that was happening in 2013 or 2014, but it sure could have happened after the 2015 season, when Seattle lost several games a team of their talent had no business losing and got boat raced in the playoffs, which was simply foreshadowing of things to come.
The team, and the fans, have been hanging on to Pete like the socially inept hang on to the first person they ever kissed. It is part of the Seattle inferiority complex.
No, I think if Gee Scott is right that ‘it’s all people talk about’ (the relationship between PC and RW) then there’s an issue brewing if the losses come over the next few weeks during a difficult stretch. There could easily be a split or some disillusionment.
Wilson’s answer to the question about PC saying he should’ve checked it down was filled with angst.
I want to clear something up for some people.
Waldron is from McVay’s tree. This we all know.
If you watch the Rams offense in recent years, last game shouldn’t have surprised you. This is what McVay does. I think there’s this misconception that it’s always gonna look like some fancy, well oiled machine and defenses have no idea what’s coming and Wilson just throws to wide open receivers all day on the boots. That’s just how Ken Norton’s defense looks against McVay.
Goff was a rather mediocre QB in 2019, McVay once had him throw nearly 70 attempts in one single game that year and overall Goff had over 600+ attempts. Wilson himself has never broken that mark I believe.
That’s the kind of adjustments McVay makes in-game. Just drop back, start passing, the QB needs to take what the defense gives him, throw over the middle where guys like Everett or Lockett should be getting open. Basically something more suited for Tom Brady than somebody like Russell Wilson.
We all know about Russell Wilson’s flaws, you’re just going to see a repeat of his meltdowns again and again and again unless he takes a backseat on offense to a Marshawn Lynch or he irons out his issues on offense. But man, paying a guy 40m a season just to want to hide him in the offense? Probably should’ve taken a shot on Darnold.
Darnold looks good to be fair
The Texans QB impressed me.
Off topic (or is it?)…
Does anyone else have the buyer’s remorse for spending Jacob Martin on just one year of Clowney?
Not really
Jacob Martin is a fairly OK rotational rusher.
My bigger issue was the way they handled the pass rush in total since the Clark trade
I like Martin, he would have been above average player in Hawks. 6th Rounder that is good, but they gave up for someone for 1 year rental.
Let’s be right though, that one-year rental was pretty much the only person who did anything on defense in 2019.
Man he was so good that year
Well, Josh Gordon s going to be reinstated. Do we sign him to the PS and take (yet another) chance?
I would, considering Eskridge didn’t practice again yesterday, for a different injury. Probably wont play this week against Minnesota
What do we do with him? We haven’t even figured out how to keep our TE’s consistently part of our passing game. Same for our RB’s. And we’ve got to figure out how to utilize Eskridge’s talent. I think he might make a very good gadget player.
We’ve got enough problems with our passing game now, IMO, without adding another one. We’ve given him enough chances already. I take a pass.
No such thing as too many weapons
I cannot quit saying this. The Rams, the Saints, the Niners, the Bucs, the Chiefs, they all just keep collecting offensive weapons (and taking a pass on Everett, hmmm).
This is the way.
McDowell, Taylor, Pocic, Dissly, Blair, Parkinson, Eskridge…it’s remarkable the number of our draft picks we either can’t get on the field or keep on the field in recent years. Head spinning.
cant forget cj procice, leader of the “always injured” pack
Yeah, I could have gone on a bit longer…Tre Brown…
And somehow Penny didn’t get listed by any of you haha
…and Penny…
It’s gotten tiresome
I don’t enjoy always being frustrated with Wilson, he’s a good person and makes some spectacular plays. It may be slightly vindicating that the thing that have really bother me for the last decade about his game seem to finally be part of the general consensus, but in the end without his cooperation in attempting to fix those issues being right is a bitter pill or if he even can; maybe the reason RW doesn’t hit the TE is that he can’t see over the line to target that part of the field. I want him to do well, want Shane Waldron to be great and maybe even take over the team next year, but certainly feel that this week was such a relapse in the crunch, that I have real serious reservations about RW being able to make that step and get another ring in Seattle. RW is weird, wouldn’t want to coach against him, but certainly wouldn’t want to build a team around him. More of an enigma than any player I’ve ever seen in 40 years of being a fan.
Too be fair, the Titans are a good team desperate for a win and at some point the game of who wants it more was answered in OT. Good teams don’t start 0-2 and the first couple weeks of the season is typical over reaction season so the lose itself isn’t that disheartening, the utter break down of the short passing game in the second half and reverted back to captain bombs a lot when in a real game can’t happen again; it felt like foreshadowing for the playoffs.
Random question; how do people across the pond feel about Biden? I heard they wouldn’t let any of the media even question him. I wanted to make the joke about the similarities between how Seattle media treats Pete and how the national media treat Joe.
I’m going to say this very nicely, please delete this Rob. This is literally the only place I go online without politics rearing it’s very, very ugly head.
100% agree on no politics
Why in the world are you bringing up politics on this site? It has nothing, whatsoever to do with what Rob is trying to accomplish here.
Please keep the narrative on football and not some personal political agenda. There’s enough of that crap in the rest of the media. We are here as a Seahawk fan base. Period. We are not here to push a political agenda. It’s the ENTIRE point of this site, to be free of the noise and focus on football.
100% agree with Big Mike. Please no politics.
Agree. Best to keep it off this site. Too many people become irrational trolls and delusional morons when talking politics. I face it everywhere nowadays. Not here would be nice.
Well said Roy. Thank you
I’d give him a shot at starting CB over Flowers.
I’d laugh if I didn’t stop for a second and wonder if he might be an improvement. 🙁
Maybe I could’ve worded this better, I’m a little confused tbh. The joke is Seattle media is not asking real questions to Pete.
I got you.
UNLV running back shows up with badd ass muthafucker attitude
What College matchups are you looking forward to watching today? I’m not seeing anything interesting. Maybe the Clemson vs North Carolina State.
Or Texas A&M and Arkansas?
A&M v. Arkansas and UCLA v. Stanford for me
I think I’m going to watch LSU vs Mississippi Sate this morning. It’s amazing that we can watch all these games across the nation.
Tyler Badie with Missouri could be a good change of pace running back. He’s small, probably get him UDFA.
Any PAC-12 game the put on TV here in Florida. And BTW Paul Feinbaum is still calling it the PAC-10.
I sometimes slip up and call it that too…. and I live in 25 minutes from UW 🤷♂️
I call it PAC-0 sometimes
As in zero reason to watch most of the time…
ouch
I usually don’t watch much PAC-12, but considering the lack of good draft picks coming from SEC this is the year to scout Oregon and the PAC.
Not sure I agree with that. The PAC 12 remains desert like in terms of pro talent with a handful of exceptions
LSU has a good senior receiver named Boutte, with 4 receptions for 85 yards and 2 touchdowns. Might go in the 4-6 rounds??
Impressed with backup QB-Drew Pyne (5-11-1/2-194) in Notre Dame Wisconsin game. Quite a football background. I can see a little of RW in his game. Mostly impressed by his accuracy and ball placement.
I think he should be one to follow as the season goes on. A potential QB of the future in a couple years=?
The Notre Dame Team looks pretty strong. Normally I root against them, but I’ll probably root for them this year.
Good defense, good running back/kick returner in Sophomore Chris Tyree.
I live in the Tex-ASS. Desahun Watson isn’t even playing. Nobody here knows what will happen with him, but if he doesn’t end up getting suspended and if RW walks, he would be awesome.
He could single handedly revive the massage parlor business in Seattle!
AlaskaHawk, that is hilarious! I’m not sure I believe all the stories, but still. Hopefully the FBI comes up with some real answers.
“He could single handedly revive the massage parlor business in Seattle!”
Robert Kraft did that here in Florida.
There are politicians and priests that have done way worse than what Watson is accused of.
Arkansas is so fun to watch! Add Trey Williams to the list I figure
Hi all, possibly no college football notes this week. Been broadcasting on a game that included a 6 hour round trip. Only caught the end of Arkansas vs Texas A&M.
At least you didn’t have to watch the front part of that sorry game. A&M is exposed! No QB, No OLine. We’re done.
NC State just upset Clemson in overtime. Did you see that throw by Leary?
I saw the complete non-effort by the overrated Justyn Ross
Zach Charbonnet again…
I’m watching that game too. God he’d look good in a Seahawks uniform. Quick to the hole, good vision and some power too.
Anyone seen or heard from Volume12 / V12 recently?
Is that former Seahawks DT Joe Tafoya? He just got a new mowing tractor and challenged all comers to a joust about four hours ago.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen V12. Hope all is alright.
Spencer Rattler is not very good.
Been saying it for a long time.
Got to completely agree seeing what I’m seeing right now.
Nice to see the Washington Huskies get back on track toward a Pac 12 title tonight.