Seahawks 2023 Pro Bowl whatever
At least we have Devon Witherspoon, 1/3/2024
The Seattle Seahawks can always say “We signed two Pro Bowlers in free agency” about this season. The Seahawks had three Pro Bowl players announced on Wednesday: Devon Witherspoon, Bobby Wagner, and Julian Love.
It was my duty to inform you of these events and to give you a forum to discuss the snubs and flubs:
I say there are no snubs. Can’t find a flub to save my nub.
Seattle has eight Pro Bowl alternates and I would say that there is a very good chance that some of them will get official invites in a few weeks: Geno Smith, Ken Walker, DK Metcalf, Boye Mafe, Jordyn Brooks, Quandre Diggs, Michael Dickson, and Nick Bellore.
Sidenote: We were told not to call him Kenneth, so why do I keep seeing everyone write Kenneth Walker still?
I don’t want to turn this newsletter into me being a “dejected Joe” because there has been some good to come out of this season and certainly Devon Witherspoon is in the top tier of that list.
And I also know that at this time every year—every single year, without fail, and it’ll never change nor will the conversation ever evolve or update—that the Pro Bowl doesn’t matter. WE ALL KNOW IT DOESN’T MATTER.
What matters is that the Seahawks were once so good and talented that YOU COULD NOT DENY THEM six or seven deserving Pro Bowl nods.
Now as they are today, not even Seattle’s own fans should argue that three Pro Bowl nominations is anything less than a lavish prize package that nobody expected…as well as overcompensating for tackle totals. I mean, Wagner’s getting one of those “career Oscars” right now because as far as playing for the Seahawks goes, he can’t be doing that next season.
If Bobby Wagner is playing for the Seahawks next season, someone needs an intervention. Him, the head coach, or me. One of the three.
Julian Love being on the Pro Bowl is almost like a nod to the fact that the NFL has become more of a three-safety league. Because I wouldn’t put him in as a free safety or a strong safety. He was supposed to complement Diggs and Jamal Adams, as well as insure against injury, and he did those things. And he beat the Eagles. Drew Lock gets his glory, understandable, but c’mon. We kind of expected that out of the offense, NOBODY expected that game from the defense.
So I’m not mad at the three Pro Bowlers…BETTER THEM THAN SOMEONE FROM THE 49ERS!
But if it had been zero or one, who could really argue against that? The Seahawks are in a bad spot right now and if lack of talent isn’t the biggest concern, lack of effort certainly is…
Why mad Joe?
My apologies that this announcement is coming from a place of anger instead of celebration, but for some reason today I can’t get over Riq Woolen’s lack of effort against the Steelers. Riq was a Pro Bowl cornerback last year and he’s not an alternate this year, how does that make him feel? Does it motivate him? Because he was demoted against the Eagles and yet he was effortless against the Steelers.
The Seahawks need to eradicate that attitude from the team immediately. If Pete Carroll isn’t willing to do it, which unfortunately from his excuses to the media over such actions make it appear he isn’t, that’s a much bigger problem for me than wasting timeouts.
Three Pro Bowl Seahawks. Good.
Not getting to go to the Pro Bowl because you make the Super Bowl. Better.
I think Michael Dickson as an alternate is a snub. Anger has had a great year but he gave up more absolute return yards (243 vs 210) on 17 fewer punts (44 vs 61). And at least half his games are in a dome.
I’m not a coach and unlike half the fans in social media I don’t claim to be a film maven. I can only relate what I saw when watching the defense on All-22 of the Steelers debacle:
* Riq Woolen is targeted twice in the first quarter with one completion for about five yards. Otherwise, the Steelers don’t bother throwing against him. As the game goes on, Rudolph looks in Woolen’s direction as a first option a number of times and doesn’t make a throw. Eventually, the Steelers move George Pickens to left side in the third quarter because Woolen has him blanketed. In the first quarter, Woolen plugs a hole between two blockers to make a tackle and prevent what looks would have been a breakaway. Woolen looks bad on one run that is replayed over and over on social media. In general, though, he pretty much holds his blocks on runs to the defense’s right...
*...of which there weren’t many. Pittsburgh attacked the Seahawk left almost exclusively. Rudolph picked on Mike Jackson and the ground game went right at 234-lb Devin Bush, who left at least one Steeler observer unimpressed: https://steelersdepot.com/2024/01/chris-hoke-unimpressed-by-devin-bushs-17-tackle-performance-he-had-a-lot-of-jumping-on-the-pile/
Going forward:
* Quit screwing around with Witherspoon and let him operate exclusively from the left side. We would see a lot of QBs who don’t want to throw to either the right or left of the defense. John Schneider, do your job and find someone else to play in the slot. If this means taking Brown off the field, so be it
* Get a couple of rangy thumpers at linebacker and *don’t* risk having to rely on an undersized guy for depth. Sunday, they would have been better off with Cody Barton
* Give up the fiction that Mike Jackson offers anything other than depth. Whatever his strengths (and however great a guy he might be), he is not a quality starter
My take on Bobby is that he’s likely still one of the better MLBs in the league even if not at his former HOF level. But only for two downs. He needs regular blows when what the team needs is a middle linebacker who can be out there for 99% of the defensive snaps. Reluctantly, it really is time to move on.