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Rob Staton
Hot topics
- The reality of the current day Seattle Seahawks and why change feels inevitable on offense
- Instant reaction: Seahawks embarrass themselves, chuck ice water on season vs Green Bay
- Curtis Allen’s week fifteen watch notes (vs Green Bay)
- My first 2025 NFL mock draft
- Curtis Allen’s third quarter report card for the Seahawks
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Hot topics
- The reality of the current day Seattle Seahawks and why change feels inevitable on offense
- Instant reaction: Seahawks embarrass themselves, chuck ice water on season vs Green Bay
- Curtis Allen’s week fifteen watch notes (vs Green Bay)
- My first 2025 NFL mock draft
- Curtis Allen’s third quarter report card for the Seahawks
This game was a quintessential mismatched college game.
It stayed close until the superior team established dominance and pulled away.
It wasn’t quite TCU vs. Georgia.
Thoughts throughout the game:
1st half
Guards blown up on back to back plays.
WRs wide open on back to back plays on Woolen in off coverage.
Woolen off coverage beat again, saved by late throw
Missed tackles by 10, 8
Huge hole, McCaffery for 66. Where were the LBs?, mistackle
No pass rush, wide open uncovered receiver open in the midfle
Who has the RB? No one, touchdown
Why is DK off the field? A one WR lineup on 2nd and 4? This play looks like it’s destined for a 1-3 yard run. Yep.
Woolen beat by 5 yards again. Does he struggle with slants?
Slow barton gives up 6 extra yards on QB sneak
Mistackle gives up 1st down
Nwosu guarding McCaffrey as WR? Result – first down
THAT was our 3rd and 8 play with 1:20 left in Q2? A zone read? Bad play call.
Woolen 7 yards off Aiyuk on another wide open slant. Is the SF plan to exploit him on slants all day?
Mike Jackson falls down on tackle, gives up 3rd and 10.
2nd half
Neal? Why are you not taking Kittle and pointing around while he’s now 7 yards away?
3 missed tackles. Woolen? Barton? 30?
Mistackle at goalline on McCaffery
Wasted time out on 3rd down? Why?
False Start? On the center? Out of field goal range?
Why do we keep running DJ Dallas on 1st downs?
3 mistackles on McAffrey
Woolen doesn’t stay with his man
Missed sack, no one has the RB again. Barton 10 yards away from Mitchell, TD
Holding on Hawks
Cross false start!?!
I’m waiting for a bone headed Dk penalty
Lol. Almost got it with DK strike to the neck after the play. How did I know that was coming?
Neal MASSIVELY blown coverage on Deebo for 70 yard TD
Geno no! Pick.
Mistackle, mistackle on Samuel.
Poona mistackle
Barton mistackle on McAffrey
Barton flat footed standing in end zone almost gives up TD to Samuel, who drops it
Another penalty (3rd time ineligible downfield)
Two mistackles on run
Game over
so…no positive thoughts at all?
The positive is the game is over and the season is over. Should never have been played in the first place. I am looking forward to the draft!
Shows them where to weed out. Treat it like an expansion team roster. Crap, I would rather watch rookies.
You ask many good questions, and highlight issues worth discussion. Personally, I’m resigned to Pete coaching out his contract … through the 2025 season, is that right? I’ve favored his firing since the Hawks playoff loss to the Cowboys, a very preventable loss but for his stubborn insistence on running the ball.
But this team won many more games than I predicted, and I give Pete credit for exceeding most expectations, mine certainly. On the radio post-game tonight it was my impression that Pete wants to bring back Geno next year, and pick-up right where this season left-off. This was not encouraging to me.
You forgot Damien Lewis not having anybody to block on a few plays and immediately wandering downfield as if he’d never experienced this before.
Lots of holes on defense, have 0 faith in Pete to actually fix it
Pete will now pat himself on the back, sign himself to an extension, and the o-line and defense will continue to be awful for years to come. QB has never been the problem.
Right! A fumble in the red zone and an interception on the next offensive play. And it’s not the QBs fault.
Must draft a qb asap
Well no false sense of we belong on the same field as 9ers. We are many players and coaching upgrades from competing at that level. Losing 5 picks in standing sucks, but i still would rather watch hawks.in playoffs.
Now pete, retire on top. You did it without russ. Now go.
This. Please just go Carroll
NFL is the biggest loser here. This game went as expected, the 7th seed is a joke.
They just made tens of millions in profit on a crap game.
They have been making hundreds of millions on crap Thursday night games all year.
Nothing is going to change.
Also, consider the college playoffs expanding. Some of those games will make this game look like a nail-biter.
I agree. This new playoff format is wrong and this is an example of what we have to look forward to. It will get worse when a star player on a legit championship team gets injured in meaningless wildcard game like this.
It is about greed. The Hawks and the other worthless wildcard team does not deserve to be here.
Okay long time follower but I haven’t commented to much in the past but I feel a need to vent. All during pre game and through the game the Fox so called football experts were lauding this Hawk team as playing beyond expectations and how this team is young and has a bright future ahead of them, Really?? the hawks have youth at Offensive tackles, a rookie running back, 2 rookie defensive backs so were are the rest of the so called young players? Now there are rumors that Geno is to be resigned! My God I’m really tired of the Pete Carrol era! In the second half just because you have the lead does not mean you don’t need to make half time adjustments! Where were the blitzes? Purdy was throwing the ball all over the place when under pressure and yet I do not recall one blitz in the second half and there were times they rushed only 3 D lineman while dropping back 8, Purdy with plenty of time just dumped it off to Samuels who ate our lunch.
Well, a first half that was promising turned sour quick! We could not force them into any mistakes and we made too many of our own. I felt like Walker re injured his ankle late in the second half and that really hurt the Seahawks in the second half. Our running game disappeared.
I wish the defense would have played with more aggression. How often did we even blitz? I don’t remember even one. Poor showing for most everyone on the D.
Lots of work to do for next season. Looking forward to reading this blog for info about upcoming picks and free agents. It’s going to be an interesting off season. It feels to me like the first season of our “rebuild” has been fairly successful even if this loss has been hard to take.
Thoroughly hoping for JS to take a sledgehammer to the defensive roster. Grab a C with one of their second round picks, maybe a late round G or RB, and then invest in defense. Sign a bunch of free agents, castaways, etc and churn the roster looking for diamonds in the rough. I cannot handle watching another game of Cody Barton running himself into a blocker instead of at the ball carrier for no apparent reason. There’s probably 2 starters who shouldn’t be pushed for their jobs, a couple DL who should be rotating, and the rest can go play in the CFL or XFL.
The entire defense needs rebuilding
It really feels like the Hawks would be better off scrapping the whole transition to a 3-4 and go back to Pete’s 4-3 while they still have most of the players to do it.
I’ve wondered the same thing Brennan. Pete could have some ammo to going back and playing defense “HIS” way in a 4-3 and have a couple of guys to blame in Hurtt and Desai.
Yes! The personnel and the scheme both need intense critical evaluation, followed by decisive action. S##t or get off the pot.
Man SF is in amazing shape. If Purdy is their guy, and he sure looks like it, hes on $2.9mln TOTAL for the next 3 years. They could rip off 3 strait SBs with that situation.
I think Purdy will struggle in the playoffs against a real team with a defense. SF is good enough to just run the ball every play so it might not matter.
They still have no drafts….
I don’t know, but my strong impression is that Purdy is real, and we’re just seeing the beginning of a long, distinguished NFL career as a starting NFL QB … smart, accurate, nimble, ice-water in the veins.
With McVay’s just-announced return as Rams coach, nothing in the division grows easier.
Looks like Geno may be back:
https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/1614310289398169602?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1614310289398169602%7Ctwgr%5E59f1b54850f0cd5883eff40244072c1847a736c0%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpublish.twitter.com%2F%3Fquery%3Dhttps3A2F2Ftwitter.com2FRapSheet2Fstatus2F1614310289398169602widget%3DTweet
He also says that they may tag him. That won’t happen with their cap space. This is all just posturing at this point. I wouldn’t listen to the national media at all.
Dump the safeties and you’ve got plenty of space.
I’m for dumping Diggs/Adams, but I don’t know if all that money should go to Geno.
My thought is not to keep Geno on the tag but to trade him. I think he’d fetch a second rounder from the Panthers, the Falcons, the Saints, who could extend him to spread the cap hit over ~3 years. Look at deals over the years for Matt Ryan, Darnold, Wentz. Geno was better this year than any of those players when they were traded. Unless something drastic has changed in the QB market, he’ll fetch some value. I’d rather trade him than pay him 60m over the next two seasons, even if you can spread the cap it down a road a bit.
So much melodrama here. We had the lead at the half and it was a one score game after three quarters. That fumble turned the game. But surprisingly, we were competitive for most of it, even if it did end exactly as I expected. 49rrs are a super bowl level team and for a month now I’ve had them as favorites.
Having said that, we’re not a good team and if you think Geno Smith and Carter/Anderson are going to make us as good as the 9ers I don’t know what to tell you. The defense has been pathetic for 5 straight years and one DL player won’t fix this. An elite QB can mask it, as russ did for years going one and done in the playoffs (sound familar?), but theres no guarantee well get one. We need to stop thinking the pick #5 will save this team. It’s going to take a lot more talent being added. So the question is, whats the best option at #5? Elite qbs are the hardest to find and the most valuable. If you don’t have one that should always be a teams first option, even if it means trading up. Unless there’s serious changes, like hiring Mora Jr again, this could be our best shot for years at getting one.
If I’m being honest the first half was better than I expected by quite a bit. The 2nd half a little worse than I expected but not by much.
This team made more progress than I thought they would. But they had no business being in the playoffs. They are 1/2 of a legit starting caliber NFL team that would have deep playoff aspirations. Their defense has been overmatched in 2/3 of their games and many times even against really bad offenses.
Carter is not our savior here. They probably need 7 new starters/upgrades just on D. They were the weaker team tonight by a lot and their true colors finally came out (immediately) in the 2nd half.
The season in anagrams.
Cody Barton = Candy Robot
Pete Carroll = Clear Petrol
Austin Blythe = Unable Shitty
Jamal Adams = Peacock
🤣
🦚
Funny, well done.
Seemed like they were in the game until Barton tackled Woolen on the 3rd and 7 allowing Samuel to run free. It just snowballed from there.
That was crazy. As was the long run down the left sideline with receivers blocking for him.
It felt like the game got away from them on their first drive of the second half. They marched down to answer the 49ers opening drive, got to the 49ers 10 yard line then, questionable Offensive Lineman downfield call, followed by Geno’s fumble. Momentum changed…..49ers…..march down and score. 2 possession game. Next play, Geno throws a pick. That was the game right there.
For me, when Pete decided to punt the ball on the last but one drive in 1st half
The big takeaway is that the Hawks are miles away from seriously competing. Need a major injection of player and coaching talent. Not just a QB or DT away. The big thing with the Niners is that their worst player isn’t bad, they’ve got an incredibly high floor. The Seahawks are playing Cody Barton for serious minutes. The entire spine of the team is soft. Need talent at linebacker, safety, the interior OL, just about everywhere really. Need some actual coaches as well, not just random old Carroll sycophants.
Metcalf played very well, the rookie tackles held up well, apart from that?
First half the Hawks played to their maximum while SF not.
2nd half SF played to their maximum while Hawks crumbled
Woolen sucked so bad it was embarassing. They went after him. It was a super bad outing for him, maybe only Abrams was worse with that ankle twist shitty move.
Geno is what he is. A game manager who can make some nice throws and be super accurate but can also make stupid mistakes and doesn’t handle pressure well.
iOL needs some upgrade. Rookie OTs needs some more exp and play better.
Defense were up and down. Some nice PBUs and TFLs but other times it felt like kindergarden kids trying to play against men. They play soft and lack BAMFness badly.
Offense playcall was mehh, was not a fan, especially that weak 3&8 run and longer plays. You could probably go forward with 4-6 yard passes.
On the defense the secondary play really bad. LBs lack starpower but they played decent (based on their talent and ceiling). On the front, apart from Nwosu I wasn’t a fan of anyone. Irvin made some plays but also missed some.
The 1st half Hawks might just need an offseason to be a contender. The second half Hawks will need much more
Fun game for a half…fun season overall. Hawks playing with house money due to low expectations..the Gino story and stellar rookies. Lessons learned from years past to inform upcoming draft and free agency:
1) No more Big Swings in FA PLEASE! No Jamal Adams, Percy Harvin or Jimmy Graham trades for high draft picks. Get your future stars in the draft P&J
2) Draft high on Oline, like Cross, Lucas and D. Lewis…no more Joeckel busts for $8mil
3) Grab value vets on Dline like Red Bryant, Clemons, Avril, Nowosu
4) QB? Trust your gut…if you think you’ve found the guy in the draft pull the trigger! Enjoy not having Russ’s agent up in your grill for once this year
So the next bid date to look towards is Monday.
Stroud declaring for the draft is pretty critical for us.
So JAX decided to play ugly. That takes away attention from Seahawks.
This aged well..
People saying Trevor Lawrence is a trash first pick only to have him shake it off, throw 4 td passes, and finish wirh a game winning fg drive 😆
Pete, Brandon Staley… no guts no win
Kudos to Pederson and Lawrence!
7th seeds killing it
Miami is the afc 7 seed
How many new starters on D do we need?
11 starters on Defense.
With Pete, 4 new starters. Day 1 and day 2 picks, free agent. Likely no QB with 5. All in Win Now! We are so close!!!!
With JS, we will have 4-5 new starters. They will be from day 2 and day 3, free agents.
Personally i want 6 new D starters. To me the absolute worst by far is Cody Barton. Shameful display by him.
My mistake Jacksonville is the 4th seed
@NFL over the last 4 quarters of wild card playoff football, the 7th seeds have been out scored 52 to 6. I’m no expert, but maybe bad teams shouldn’t make the playoffs.
But, but….money!
lol, yeah, this feels like the Walmart of playoff football.
Crap. Wait. so Jacksonville is the 4 seed!? So we can expect even worse football tomorrow? Ugh
It’s a pretty mediocre year for the NFL overall
Not too shabby for a Pete hating, Geno hating Englishman (I watched the stream)… In all seriousness your realistic takes, your in-depth research, and your keen eye for talent are so appreciated by many of us Hawk fans. I’ve never understood those little cults within Seahawks fandom. Keep up the great work, stay fearless in ticking off the culties when needed. I’m looking forward to your pre-draft analysis and takes from now through the end of April.
Agree that the coverage here is unparalleled.
Beware the Sacred Order of the Mollusk. Lurk in the shadows of Innsmouth, they do.
The only pathway the Seahawks have to gain a competitive advantage over the 49ers in the foreseeable future is to draft and develop a top tier QB. As solid as Purdy looks, he doesn’t flash the traits of an Allen or Mahomes. For the Seahawks to take back the division, they need to take swing to try to get that guy.
Drafting a dline prospect isn’t going to cut it. Even if you hit on a DL with your top pick, you’re not going to equal the talent across the SF line, or at LB, or the Niners multitude of offensive weapons. If you hit on QB, you can continue to unlock DK and to give the OL and running game a chance to shine.
I don’t think the team can afford not to take a QB.
I don’t know about only a QB. Van Pran would make this offensive line a lot better and it’s a pretty good tight end group.
Try to have an open mind.
I’m open to adding talent on either side of the ball– after the first pick.
There’s no amount of talent that the Seahawks can realistically add around Geno to compete for a championship. Van Pran would be a major upgrade to the line. He’s not going to make the up the difference between the Hawks and the Niners team we’ll be facing over the next few years.
Yes, but the 49ers have to KEEP all those players and they have their own challenges under the salary cap.
100% agree Daniel. They have to find a talented QB with the 5th pick. There are so many holes on the roster, but an uber talented QB can fill multiple holes in one position. I would be far past the moon, probably on Mars, if the Seahawks got AR. There isn’t another talent like his in the draft. I understand the fear and concern about potentially picking a dud, I remember the Kelly Stauffer (Chuck Knox was all over Farve then), McGwire and Myer picks, but AR seems special with his running ability and that cannon for an arm has me mesmerized. With an upgraded middle oline and paired with K9 in the backfield I can’t stop thinking of the possibilities.
just finished listening…another reason to root for tompa bay is cause if pete calls it i’d want to bring quinn back. love pete but his staff couldn’t even get robinson taylor or mafe to beat out bruce. i dont think alton or darrell were even in to rotate at all.
Was Alton active? He was on IR all year.
Taylor’s played a lot this year he even had 9.5 sacks
Damn it I wanted Petersen as coach this last year! Look how Jacksonville has no quit and then he has the balls to play for the win instead being scared to lose and playing safe.
Incredible win. What Pedersen has done in Jacksonville this season is truly remarkable. Shad Khan finally seems to have gotten it right.
I wouldn’t call it remarkable. Jax is loaded with top draft picks from the last 5-6yrs and a stud franchise qb having a brilliant year and they had a weak schedule, weaker than ours. They went 9-8 just like us. If they threw 4 picks vs SF in the first half u think they come back and win tonight?
I like Pederson, good coach, but I dont know if he woulda done much better this year with our group that what occurred…
The Jaguars were a total shambles last year.
I think people are forgetting that Seattle had brought Matt Flynn over to Seattle on a contract and had their guy before drafting Russell that same year. Pete didn’t shy away from starting Russell who was better. We will be able to tell if Pete is too sentimental with the Old Gang if the rookie shows they are better than Geno and don’t get to start.
I get the sense that Geno looks amazing in practice. Gym class all star we use to call it. Will be hard for a rook to come in and look better unless they are a stud. Flynn was also entering a new situation, not 4yrs under his belt in the system. Will be much harder for a rookie next year. and maybe that is a good thing!
We need to get an update from the stream’s “Trevor Lawrence sucks” guy.
The stream was especially full of dumbasses tonight I noticed.
LOL…was just thinking the same thing.
Got that right. There were some straight up 🤡 s in the livestream. Bad faith arguments galore
Tip of the hat to the Jags on the comeback.
Down, down, ducks!
Got that right. There were some straight up 🤡 s in the livestream. Bad faith arguments galore
Ugh meant to reply to Cambs post my bad. Glitched out on my phone.
Bye Chargers. That’s what you get for costing us the 3rd pick.😉
Staley gonna follow in Kingsbury’s shoes as the young, big brained coach that can’t get it done if he’s not careful
Has Kingsbury ever been mistaken for being big-brained?
Staley should have been fired last year. Way too soft and conservative.
You can always count on the Chargers to be a complete embarrassment. I’ve watched more of their games than I care to admit and all year they would look fantastic for a quarter and a half and then retreat into dump-offs, runs up the middle, and soft zone defense for the rest of the game.
They missed one of the best WR in the AFC, have basically no run game, no TE and are still playing their backup OL. The latter is not Staleys fault, the atrocious 2022 draft and not finishing the job is.
This Targaryan fella really came thru for Jax…
Thanking all the gods Jody & the Vulcan gang resisted any pressures to fire Pete. Crikey, we might have ended up with anyone, even Doug Pederson. Extend Pete now!
So ready for a fresh start
I really hope this is sarcasm.
Geno Smiff isn’t our answer. Pete Carroll is presiding over a horrific “defense” a half decade now…
How the hell does he still have a job? I’d almost trade our #5 pick straight up for Doug Pederson… ALMOST… 🙂
Sorry. I apologize for criticizing Pete. I should have known better. My bad. I’m stupid.