Everyone wants to be right about prognostication, but it's hard. Who knew Geno could...?
Well, I'll stand by what I posted here post- Trade.
I came to this site more for Seahawks talk because almost everything else was FIRE PETE, or Seahawks will be drafting number one overall.
Kenneth, you did that a little bit (and are now overly hard on yourself because it doesn't look like that), but I saw what Carroll and Schneider were doing.listened to what THEY were saying and knew if it worked that they could compete. And that's ComPete's model!
I rewatched the Jags game. Geno threw into windows against decently defended spots that showed me he could make the throws.
IF.
He has time, and the running game was solid. Kenneth did Great work on KWIII that I really enjoyed. He also said something that concerned me. It's hard for youth to make up a good line against good pro players and schemes.
That happened down in SF game 2.
I was also very concerned the way they were built because I liked the interior line, but I was very concerned about edge containon the run and our LBs stopping the run. That's why I was more concerned about losing Bobby than I was Russ.
The run game IS a concern. As didn't have their running backs. More maybe it allows scheme to get cleaned up and it improves...we'll see.
But I thought if Rashaad and KWIII were running well (DJ and Homer too after a good preseason) that the offense would be solid. The Geno presserers give me confidence they're not playing above their means right now. This is sustainable.
Defense? Keeping Murray out of the end zone is big time, but it was inn Seattle (where refs will be on your side), and he was down weapons. So we'll see, it's a small sample size (did I just do Murray and small??? Trees, I did).
My actual concern as not as much Geno pin the field, it was his actions off. I really wish he would get right and publicly apologize for his actions and words against the public (driving drunk) and disrespecting law enforcement.
While I've enjoyed his press conference confidence and command of what he's doing as a pro athlete, I'll let that go when he ponies up.
Going forwardwith the Hawks?
If they can find a way to stop the opposition run game (something Carroll's capable of teaching), and the lime continues growing, the Hawks are not a fluke at contending for the NFCW this year, and are positioned to win in the future with this rookie class.
Geno's capable of QB'ing this team till Lock is ready to take it to the next level (guys, he's over there doing what Geno did I'm prep of his shot), and Seattle will still draft another QB prospect with a first or second round pick.
My early draft want is a top LB to go with JB...and a run stuffer
Actually Pete dished the credit to Schneider and the scouts for Woolen today. Said he didn't really stand out at the combine other than with his 40. Said the athleticism and pure physical potential were obvious but so was the rawness, and repeated that this was a Schneider and staff pick.
Would Pete really take credit even if it was due? I'm sure all of these decisions involve a lot of input from a lot of people, but you gotta think Pete's opinion on DB prospect were critical to making the pick.
What pissed me off was calling Dissly — the guy who posted stellar receiving DVOA in his rookie season, shortened by an injury, and then came back in the following year and posted the second best receiving DVOA among tight ends, and this year tops all other tight ends in that metric — a "blocking tight end".
There is something like being a stat nerd that doesn't watch games. This is completely different — advanced stats favor Dissly a lot — this is just stubbornness and click-baiting.
He's a really good blocker for a run-first offense who reliably and efficiently contributes to the passing game (particularly in the redzone). By all accounts he's also a positive veteran influence. Sounds like a good player to pay to keep around for a team/offense that is retooling and that can afford him after freeing up a ton of future cap space. If they had paid Everett the same no one would question it, but I think Dissly is proving to be the better overall player.
Not that it says much good about me, but I think that I get a kick out of Seaside Joe poking fun at Ben Baldwin--who manages to be simultaneously full of himself and deeply insecure.
If there's anyone out there who dishes insults or criticisms on NFL twitter on a regular basis, it is Ben. So I will give him the benefit of the doubt that he can take it too.
My head hurts from having to imagine all the different universes and keeping straight how changing one thing dominoes throughout those different universes. Yet, I am a sucker for any time traveling story with mind blowing paradox's and world's running in reverse.
So I loved this article. And yes, we are better off, and so many questions about the chicken and the egg have been answered and they all favor keeping Pete and moving on from Wilson. Simply because Geno is a better QB than Wilson. He sees the field better, has a quicker release, is willing to stand tall and release the ball while being hit, and complete the pass when Russ would have baled the pocket and might improvise a nice gain or more and more likely gets sacked for significant losses. Geno might even be just as accurate in all but the long bombs as Wilson, has a nice touch at times. Geno stays on time and adjusts the OL protections better than Wilson. Geno reads defenses and adjusts the play call better than Wilson. Geno goes through post snap reads better than Wilson.
I am not a trained football guy, but I can see the above differences between Geno and Wilson. It is obvious to many if not most of us. So how in the heck can RGIII still believe Wilson is going to change? The DC's and coaches around the league know how to defend against Wilson. We saw that over the last three years. The year Pete allowed Russ to cook we saw Russ tear up the league and then we saw the league adjust and it wasn't sustainable.
Another observation is that Wilson seems to not know his own strengths and weaknesses. If he has participated in the design of the Broncos offense why would he put himself in a pocket so much? There are fewer roll outs and fewer play action plays than he had with the Seahawks, and play action is his strength, and rolling out on naked bootlegs is still a bigger part of the Hawks offense than the Broncos. Watching the Broncos is like watching the worst parts of the Hawks with Wilson.
However, they will probably fix many of these problems and as you have said, he has historically come back from poor stretches of play. I have not seen any official announcement about his injury other than it is "significant" but they said that before the game, and he played all game without any apparent gimpyness of physical limitations. If he is out, who knows, his backup might play better than Wilson.
Even if the Broncos won the Super Bowl this year I'd still think this was a good trade and a great offseason. The time was right, the price was right, and the decision to retain Pete and John was logical and looks right. The Broncos' success or demise doesn't change any of that (except for 2023 draft pick consideration), but demise still feels kinda right.
Really interesting look at the "what if" of the offseason. It's still too early to jump to conclusions on anything (not saying you are), but we are in a much better place than most of us expected to be.
The one thing that does interest me is who we might have hired at HC. We could have ended up with Hackett, sure, or we could have hit a homerun instead. Imagine if Brian Daboll was given the choice between the putrid Giants with no QB, or the Seahawks with their weapons and established veteran at the position. Or if Sean Payton, enticed by the idea of coaching Wilson, came to Seattle. I think the result would be so different, projecting who we signed/cut/drafted/traded for is nearly impossible.
Ultimately, bad as Wilson has been this year, I think the result would be very different if he had a really talented head coach. There is a credibility that someone like Sean Payton brings that would make any QB buy in completely. I don't think Russ is bought into Hackett, I think it's pretty obvious the guy is not head coach material. How can a guy like Hackett, with his limited success prior to not calling plays for the Packers, tell someone that believes they are a HoF QB how to play and run an offense? If I was Russ, I'd tell him what I wanted to do, and that would be that. It would not surprise me if Russ is walking all over Hackett. That is much more difficult to do with the guy who coached Brees, or the guy who developed Josh Allen.
In the Packers first season with Hackett as OC their offense was abysmal even with Rodgers at QB. A year later he was MVP. The Hackett offensive scheme is a derivative of the Mike Shanahan offense that Mark Schlereth said was so complicated he used to write down the exact steps he needed to take in every situation. It requires time and must be executed with precision. Given his dedication to study and execution it really is the perfect offense for Wilson. I expect it will come together and Wilson will be back in the good graces of the NFL fandom. Hopefully, that doesn't happen until next year.
Check out this short article on the injury situation in San Francisco...
Keenan Allen could be back against the Seahawks although the Chargers have a bye in week 8 so they might hold him out against an inferior team to give him more time to heal. One thing we know, Charles Cross is already having nightmares about facing Kalil Mack.
Barnwell wasn’t the only guy. There were a lot more infected by the Mark Rogers’ disinformation campaign. Here are some of prominent ones that I remember:
- MICHAEL SHAWN DUGAR of The Athletics: yes I’m still paying for membership. That’s shame on me! Mike Sando and others make it hard to cancel.
- JAKE HEAPS former host for 710 sports: totally fraudulent. Paid by Wilson to be his “coach” while being paid by 710 to spew Wilson’s propanda on 710.
In all fairness to Staton, he said that the off-season was great as soon as the draft ended. He praised the FO for being patient with QBs, getting a great haul for Wilson, and building for the future. He preferred keeping Wilson and kicking Pete, but he understood that the contrary was also an enticing alternative.
Rob also had given a first / second round draft to Lucas and Mafe, and a second round grade to Walker and Woolen.
Anyone can have an opinion on how good or bad a player from the draft is. I don't fault them if they're wrong. I truly believe that fans can be just as good as picking players as the "top" GM in the league. Draft success is like stock picking - random. As the matter of fact, I enjoy his draft eval very much until his stance on Wilson vs Carroll debate.
Like Ken has said much more eloquently than I could, none of those draft picks that he was lauding would have existed if Jody Allen had listened to him and fired Carroll. Ken just painted a clear picture of what a disaster it would have been.
Staton was loud and clear. He was invited by Jake Heaps' to come on 710 to cont spreading the Wilson's narratives. My assumption is that behind the scenes Heaps was serving as conduit of misinformation from Wilson to Staton.
Only a few weeks ago Staton still wanted to fire Carroll and start over with an offensive minded head coach to bring in the new QB that they will draft.
He didn't say to fire him though, only that if the defense continued to be the worst in the league with a largely veteran group (it is not young outside of the CBs and 2 edge players), Carroll might be done. Again, we had the worst D in the league to start the year for what, the third year running?
On the video that I saw, he said it didn't matter how well they played or how well they did this past draft. He wanted to Seahawks to move on from Carroll and have an offensive minded coach take over to bring in and coach the newly drafted QB.
To be fair to a lot of those guys though, the situation last year was terrible. Pete and John had done poorly in the draft most years prior, and the team stunk. There was a legitimate argument to firing Pete Carroll.
If Pete were fired, we don't know who we'd have hired. It could have been Hackett, sure, or it could have been Sean Payton. We don't know. Russ doesn't look good right now, that is for sure, but I'd argue he's playing without a head coach right now. Hackett is long past "over his skis"... he's avalanching down the mountain at this point. With someone that is not just competent but excellent, as Daboll seems to be and Payton always has been, it might have been very different.
Also, not sure about most of the others, but I know that Rob Staton loved the offseason. He also spent the previous year and a half saying Russ was going to be traded, and wrote about how relieved he was when that was done. Yes he wanted to fire Pete, but given how poorly our teams had performed on both sides of the ball, he had a very fair argument.
- Draft success: Have you looked at the data comparing PC/JS vs others in draft success over the period of 10 years? They're up there at the top with the Ravens. Any one like me and you could get lucky and have a good draft. But it's another story to sustain it over a longer period of time. Ron Wolfe is in the HoF for hitting only 60% success rate.
Also, it's difficult to get blue/red chip talent at the bottom of 1st round. That's why teams like the Rams followed Hawks and traded them away.
- Team stunk: only one year with Wilson injury. That's just a random act of bad luck.
- "coach's fault" Wilson has gotten 2 coordinators fired, Carroll barely survived, and Hackett likely will be gone. It's always the coach that's holding Wilson back. I thought this false narrative has resolved loud and clear by now. But I guess not. There are numerous reports out there with Wilson on records saying that the offense is a collaboration between Hackett and Wilson, and that Hackett reports to Wilson and not the other way around. So when it fails, blame it on Hackett and not Wilson? Mark Rodgers is definitely Wilson's MVP.
Also, I've already made clear that I don't like the Hackett/Wilson structure and that it is not conducive to success. And saying Wilson got two OCs fired is just not factual. Plus, how are those guys doing exactly? Neither of them are calling plays. The few times they have since working here, they were awful (see Bevell in Jacksonville or Detroit).
10 years still includes the legendary 2012 class though. How about the 2016 draft? Or the 2017 draft? 2018? 2019? How many starters have we had from these groups? If we had a 60% hit rate, I'd be doing back flips. That's much more equivalent to THIS draft class than it is to any other (6 early impact players out of 9). The previous iterations have been bad.
I appreciate that there is a talent difference based on where we were selecting. That doesn't mean players don't exist at those spots in the draft though. TJ Watt was someone we passed on. We drafted Penny over Chubb. I've defended many of their draft decisions, including the McDowell pick, as trying to do exactly that: find blue chippers later in the draft. I have no issue with picks like that. It's things like taking Collier because you need a DE and all the good ones are gone. And then, to get to a 60% hit rate, you have to hit on late round picks. Who have we hit on until this year? Carson? Griffin? Damien Lewis? Our mid/late round picks haven't hit in a while.
As far as the "team stunk" goes, I'd say getting pasted by the Rams' every year, losing playoff games constantly, and barely eking out playoff berths in the first place was not to standard. Were we the Lions? No. Were we actually contending for anything? Nol.
Again, very happy with this season, have no complaints. I love the draft class we have, and have a great deal of hope now. More than ever.
What is interesting to me is that despite coaching in a tougher division since Carroll arrived in 2010 (including the Seahawks, 6 NFC west teams have made the Super Bowl, 3 teams from the NFC South have) Carroll made the playoffs more often than Payton (9 vs 7) many fans don't think it is a debate that Payton is a better coach. Carroll also never went three straight years with a below .500 record like Payton and New Orleans did in 2014, 2015, and 2016. After one year below .500, there were a lot of people that wanted Carroll run out of town.
I want to be clear here, I honestly love Pete Carroll. It may sound crazy, but I do genuinely think he is a great coach. But, the organization was broken. It could not continue like this, and I generally believe it is harder to find a great QB than it is to find a great coach. Therefore, my opinion was that we should thank Pete for a phenomenal career here, and move in a new direction focused around maximizing the best asset on the team.
With Payton, I think the best argument is exactly what you just pointed out. He actually turned the team around! And while it never fell quite to the level of the saints, our seasons from 2017 onward have been utter drek. 2017 was supposed to start the rebuild, retool, whatever we called it, and we can now say it was an abject failure. Unlike Payton, Pete didn't turn the team around and start contending following a dip in quality. Payton returned to contention until Brees' finally gave out, and used every coaching trick he had to get there.
Overall, my point was that Pete Carroll couldn't coexist with the version of the team that we had built. Yet that's not the decision that was made, and I'm quite happy with the results. I've been more invested in the team than I have in years this season.
I don't mind people criticizing Carroll for failed big trades, recent poor draft results, and in-game management. Although I disagree with those objections, I can see their perspectives. Those issues are somewhat factual. We can agree to disagree.
When it comes to choosing Wilson vs Carroll debate, I felt like there was a lot of characters in the media arguing to fire Carroll in bad faith. Whether knowingly or not, they were spewing out false narratives that were likely fed by the agent. I wouldn't be surprised that they played a part in shaping your views of "organization being broken". Among those narratives include:
- "Carroll is too old to change" This was a lazy age discrimination narrative. Give me the evidence. "Look at these numbers in 2019! He doesn't believe in the passing game. Run the ball too much". Carroll has said multiple times that he believes in balance, meaning not too much run or pass. During his time at USC, passing was slightly more than running. During the last 6 seasons with Wilson outside of that 2019 season with Fluker on the line, the team was already passing more than running on first down. He coached to talent of his players. He didn't let Wilson do volume passing because Wilson can't access the intermediate middle of the field. So why does he all of the sudden coach the team to the 3rd HIGHEST passing frequency on first down - behind only the Chiefs and Bills - this year? Did he find the fountain of youth, or decide to listen to Michael Smartass-Dugar and Brainy Baldwin?
Off the field, where is the evidence supporting a "old guy stuck in his ways"? This is the same guy who brought in Angela Duckworth to talk about Grit, and Neil Degrasse to talk about astronomy. That's a lot more neural plasticity than people in their 40's. He's also the same guy who started the trend of playing loud music during practice.
- "Too many sacks": this was a combination of bad drafting and Wilson. So if Wilson is a culprit, he shouldn't be pointing fingers either. As obvious as it is now, Wilson needs a strong running game and it was correct for Carroll to favor big fat guys who can run block over light and nimble who is better at pass pro.
- "Harder to find quarterback than coach": A leader who could change the culture of an organization is much more than just a coach. Those people are extremely rare to find in any professional realms. Carroll is a culture builder. There's a long list of teammates who can attest to how good Wilson is as a team builder (lol) - even before this season. It would have been malpractice to hand the key of the organization to a guy like that.
Also, a QB who plays into the 40s like Brady is an extreme anomaly. A 34 yo QB needing his feet to improve his vision would most likely not have 6 years left. So not gaining that much more time on the field with Wilson vs Carroll.
This was just an incredible piece written by Ken. I'm mortified to walk down the path of what if...
Nice argument, appreciate the clarity. My argument for firing Carroll, again, had nothing to do with most of those narratives. I think Pete is great coach who does a very good job establishing culture, identity, and can motivate as well as anyone. He's a great coach!
This issue was, his philosophy and the way the team had been built were no longer in sync. We had a poor run game most of last year, with an incompetent defense. The philosophy of the team, as has been described by numerous people across different sites and perspectives, had become "pray Russ does enough to win us the game." We had our entire roster structured to play aggressive offense more akin to the Bills than the Titans, but didn't play that way.
The real killer, though for me, was that the 2017 rebuild failed. We gave our coach a chance to return us to contention after it was obvious that the LOB was over and the SB teams were behind us. We never turned it around. That, to me, was the biggest argument for firing Carroll. He simply seemed incapable of returning the team to contention.
I understand your point about culture, but the reality of the situation in the NFL is that there are more good coaches than QBs. With Alex Smith, Andy Reid was good not great. Now with Mahomes, he's finally a surefire HoFer. With Brees, even in old-man form, Payton was a SB contender. One year of Jameis Winston and backup QB play, and they were back to average. Daboll looks phenomenal right now with a bad QB. There are more very good coaches in the NFL than QBs. That's just the reality. The position is scarce, and you don't find replacements easily. I love what we've done this last year, and I'm excited for the future. But if we don't nail the QB pick, it won't matter anyway.
"Pray Russ does enough to win us the game" isn't that the whole point of having a franchise QB? What do you think people in GB, Buffalo, and KC do?
2017 rebuild: you're right it didn't work out. LJ Collier's pick was dumb. But again 60% draft success gets Ron Wolf in the HoF. Look at body of data over a decade. The Hawks and Ravens are the best in drafting.
In general, I think the "great drafting" GM label is a misnomer. Like stocks picking, the results are fairly random. I personally think the bigger element defining an excellent GM is personnel management - something fans and number crunchers like Bullshit Baldwin tend to overlook. Personnel management entails managing your scouting staff, coordinating with coaching staff, and of-course the players as well. There are a lot of egos that a successful GM has to redirect to keep people moving in the right direction.
For example, a regional scout spent countless hours in a motel in some hapless small towns in America thousand miles away from their families to write up the scouting reports. A successful manager needs to make that scout feeling like their work is being valued. An example of that is PC/JS make the scouts available to the media to talk about the prospects within their assigned region. These anonymous hard-working people now finally have their voices being heard. It also gives them a chance to practice public speaking and prepare them for their GM jobs. Attaching their names to the prospect also creates a sense of pride and along with that comes accountability. It motivates them to work hard and align them with the overarching "always competing" culture Carroll has cultivated. This was never done before with the Mike Holmgren's and past Hawks regimes. I don't know how unique this is in the NFL but I haven't seen with other teams as I tried to search other teams' websites after the draft during the last couple years.
It's safe to say that the PC-JS partnership is as well-aligned as there is in the NFL. You rarely ever hear about in-fighting and uncontrolled egos. This is very rare in the NFL. This structure has resulted in a well-run football operation. This leads me to the final point.
"Great coaches are easier to find than great QBs": during the past decade, Patriots, Chiefs and Hawks have won more games than any other franchises. Those teams have several common threads: well-run franchises, great ownership, great coaches, and great QBs.
Hawks structure was a mess before Carroll and Schneider arrived. Mike Holmgren had huge egos and so did Bob Whisitt and then Tim Ruskell - resulting in embarrassing public fights affecting on field performance. For example, Mike Holmgren was under the impression that Ruskell was going to franchise tag Steven Hutchinson but Ruskell pulled a fast one and didn't do that. Bullshit Baldwin and Rodgers-Rob Staton weren't around when that was going on. Firing PC/JS and keeping Wilson put us at significant risk for resurrecting those days. Do you want to go back to those days? I definitely don't. That's why I'm scared to death reading this piece by Ken - the previously well-traveled road that was not taken.
Great ownership: unfortunately, this is very scary times for us moving forward.
Great coaches: not much needs to be said about how good of a coach Carroll is if his teams have similar wins as Reid and Bellichick.
Great QB: Brady is a GOAT. Malhommes has been either the best or second best QB in the league.
Then there is Wilson. Now this is where the distinction needs to be made. The general statements about great QBs are harder to find than coaches NO longer apply! Why? Because that statement is based on the premise that the QB must be GREAT but is Wilson great?
At the height of his career, he was NEVER on the same level as Brady or Malhommes. At best probably top 5-7 in the league. However, the question needed to be asked in March 2022 was how great Wilson would be starting in September 2022 and thereafter. Wilson would be a 34-year-old QB with diminishing mobility further impacting limited-vision, no volume passing because can't access middle of the field, highly questionable culture-building qualities, AND, most important of all, looking to get a RECORD CONTRACT.
Ultimately, going forward with Carroll/JS was not choosing a GREAT coach/organization management over a GREAT QB. It was choosing a GREAT coach/organization culture and letting go of a GOOD QB.
I will let Wilson's current performance to speak for how good he is. Of course, the jury is still out on how Carroll/JS will do.
Last night's game was as bad as the 5 before it for Denver. It's known their 2 wins were as ugly as the losses. I had so many things come to mind while watching. the biggest was watching Russell run the ball time after time when he didn't appear to really try to find a receiver to throw to. Is that how he injured his leg? Is he still spending $1M/year to keep himself in top physical shape? Will he refuse to take time out to heal his shoulder and leg?
If any truth was mingled in with the media rumors last season that Wilson wanted to be party to player selections and game play, that he gave the FO an ultimatum "Pete or Me," then his desire to leave is hard to describe as anything more than selfish. He's never been afraid to say his life will always be football and he wanted to be mentored toward that goal. We see how happy former players are to reunite with Pete, and remember existing players encouraging others to come to the Hawks because of the team brotherhood. It makes having to shelve the past and be glad we still have Pete for me.
I've said it before--the media over-hypes Russell. Even last night, the instant RW got that deep ball down the field for a TD the announcers acted like all was well and Russ was back to his great self. They repeated it when he started getting rushing yards. But at the end of the day, they lost the game and more. I don't remember announcers showing that same enthusiasm for others who also make some outstanding deep ball plays now and then. Russ ending his postgame interview by simply walking off the stage with no "#Bronco country, let's ride" has people worried about his mental health. It's a valid concern that the Broncos need to address, IMHO.
Yeah, people love to jump on a single play as proof of something. Sustainability and consistency of those plays is the key. The Broncos have had none of that.
I think enough has been said by Pete John and Jody to assume that the decision to trade Russ was very thoughtful, and may well have included a risk/reward analysis on 34-38 yr old Russell Wilson.
And then Pete after the Denver game said they shaded him left given they know his “tendencies” (code for weak spots)
The frustration of Denver fans repeatedly watching Russ not seeing wide open players 10 yards deep in the middle of the field was another “tendency” Pete knew about.
And after 8 years of never having missed a snap, he’s suddenly hurt several times.
In other words, although I think Russ is absolutely capable of ripping off a series of games like his 10-10 start on Thursday, Pete and John and Jody may have known now is max value for Russ. Maybe not that the fall would be so sudden, but that 3-4 yrs from now he’d be substantially worse than today.
I thought Russell's "tendencies" were very well known throughout the NFL and it became more obvious with every season. They sure figured him out last season and kept the offense off the field for the better part of some games. Russ should have left his #3 behind. It's starting to represent Mr 3 and out. His play style hasn't changed, but the Seahawks sure look different.
Russ was unhappy here and wanted to get out. When people leave one job disgruntled they often bring their problems with them. Leave for opportunities while you're happy and the outcome stands a much better chance of success.
Yep. Two-high safeties to take away the deep shots, quarters coverage. Russ will get frustrated he can't take the deep shots, hold the ball too long or make mistakes.
They Killed it! PC/JS deserve the credit for pulling off the best NFL off-season by any team in years.
This last year makes me Really interested in what the upcoming off-season will look like...
As I was saying back in May, finish This year with 8 or 9 wins - with the Broncos finishing somewhere in the same place and draft for Defense primarily while getting the Best late second to mid 3rd-round QB along the way.
The ONLY player to potentially trade up for would be an Aaron Donald, JJ/TJ Watt, or Joey/Nick Bosa type! Otherwise, play the cards just like this last off-season and Kill It again!
He did say No.4 was for “the now”. And 32 isn’t old because Geno still has a lot of tread left on the tyres, he’ll have the football body of someone five years younger. We might get another five years easily, with two good drafts coming up for QBs. We are in a glorious position.
Geno's game fits this offense - his next contract demand may not fit. I have been a fan of Russ but once his salary made it necessary to dilute other key areas of the team (LOB), I felt it was time to move on.
If Geno's number is too high (not likely due to history, age, and there being SO many good/affordable draft options), draft Tennessee's QB Hendon Hooker.
Bill Barnwell, Ben Baldwin - it's not often that a person's initials also represent the size of their brain.
Another amazing Seaside Joe article ...One of my favs ,get down with your bad self .
Thank you!
Everyone wants to be right about prognostication, but it's hard. Who knew Geno could...?
Well, I'll stand by what I posted here post- Trade.
I came to this site more for Seahawks talk because almost everything else was FIRE PETE, or Seahawks will be drafting number one overall.
Kenneth, you did that a little bit (and are now overly hard on yourself because it doesn't look like that), but I saw what Carroll and Schneider were doing.listened to what THEY were saying and knew if it worked that they could compete. And that's ComPete's model!
I rewatched the Jags game. Geno threw into windows against decently defended spots that showed me he could make the throws.
IF.
He has time, and the running game was solid. Kenneth did Great work on KWIII that I really enjoyed. He also said something that concerned me. It's hard for youth to make up a good line against good pro players and schemes.
That happened down in SF game 2.
I was also very concerned the way they were built because I liked the interior line, but I was very concerned about edge containon the run and our LBs stopping the run. That's why I was more concerned about losing Bobby than I was Russ.
The run game IS a concern. As didn't have their running backs. More maybe it allows scheme to get cleaned up and it improves...we'll see.
But I thought if Rashaad and KWIII were running well (DJ and Homer too after a good preseason) that the offense would be solid. The Geno presserers give me confidence they're not playing above their means right now. This is sustainable.
Defense? Keeping Murray out of the end zone is big time, but it was inn Seattle (where refs will be on your side), and he was down weapons. So we'll see, it's a small sample size (did I just do Murray and small??? Trees, I did).
My actual concern as not as much Geno pin the field, it was his actions off. I really wish he would get right and publicly apologize for his actions and words against the public (driving drunk) and disrespecting law enforcement.
While I've enjoyed his press conference confidence and command of what he's doing as a pro athlete, I'll let that go when he ponies up.
Going forwardwith the Hawks?
If they can find a way to stop the opposition run game (something Carroll's capable of teaching), and the lime continues growing, the Hawks are not a fluke at contending for the NFCW this year, and are positioned to win in the future with this rookie class.
Geno's capable of QB'ing this team till Lock is ready to take it to the next level (guys, he's over there doing what Geno did I'm prep of his shot), and Seattle will still draft another QB prospect with a first or second round pick.
My early draft want is a top LB to go with JB...and a run stuffer
Now you're shooting fish in a barrel, Kenneth. There's such a thing as piling on.
hahaha
Actually Pete dished the credit to Schneider and the scouts for Woolen today. Said he didn't really stand out at the combine other than with his 40. Said the athleticism and pure physical potential were obvious but so was the rawness, and repeated that this was a Schneider and staff pick.
That's good to know! Thanks!
Would Pete really take credit even if it was due? I'm sure all of these decisions involve a lot of input from a lot of people, but you gotta think Pete's opinion on DB prospect were critical to making the pick.
He certainly has in the past. Repeatedly claimed Chris Carson as HIS pick, for example...
This is the best $55 I've spent in a long time. Thanks Joe......
THANK YOU!
What pissed me off was calling Dissly — the guy who posted stellar receiving DVOA in his rookie season, shortened by an injury, and then came back in the following year and posted the second best receiving DVOA among tight ends, and this year tops all other tight ends in that metric — a "blocking tight end".
There is something like being a stat nerd that doesn't watch games. This is completely different — advanced stats favor Dissly a lot — this is just stubbornness and click-baiting.
When they filter everything through an "I hate that Pete Carroll runs this team" narrative, only bullshit comes out of the other side.
He's a really good blocker for a run-first offense who reliably and efficiently contributes to the passing game (particularly in the redzone). By all accounts he's also a positive veteran influence. Sounds like a good player to pay to keep around for a team/offense that is retooling and that can afford him after freeing up a ton of future cap space. If they had paid Everett the same no one would question it, but I think Dissly is proving to be the better overall player.
Not that it says much good about me, but I think that I get a kick out of Seaside Joe poking fun at Ben Baldwin--who manages to be simultaneously full of himself and deeply insecure.
If there's anyone out there who dishes insults or criticisms on NFL twitter on a regular basis, it is Ben. So I will give him the benefit of the doubt that he can take it too.
💯 agree with you!
My head hurts from having to imagine all the different universes and keeping straight how changing one thing dominoes throughout those different universes. Yet, I am a sucker for any time traveling story with mind blowing paradox's and world's running in reverse.
So I loved this article. And yes, we are better off, and so many questions about the chicken and the egg have been answered and they all favor keeping Pete and moving on from Wilson. Simply because Geno is a better QB than Wilson. He sees the field better, has a quicker release, is willing to stand tall and release the ball while being hit, and complete the pass when Russ would have baled the pocket and might improvise a nice gain or more and more likely gets sacked for significant losses. Geno might even be just as accurate in all but the long bombs as Wilson, has a nice touch at times. Geno stays on time and adjusts the OL protections better than Wilson. Geno reads defenses and adjusts the play call better than Wilson. Geno goes through post snap reads better than Wilson.
I am not a trained football guy, but I can see the above differences between Geno and Wilson. It is obvious to many if not most of us. So how in the heck can RGIII still believe Wilson is going to change? The DC's and coaches around the league know how to defend against Wilson. We saw that over the last three years. The year Pete allowed Russ to cook we saw Russ tear up the league and then we saw the league adjust and it wasn't sustainable.
Another observation is that Wilson seems to not know his own strengths and weaknesses. If he has participated in the design of the Broncos offense why would he put himself in a pocket so much? There are fewer roll outs and fewer play action plays than he had with the Seahawks, and play action is his strength, and rolling out on naked bootlegs is still a bigger part of the Hawks offense than the Broncos. Watching the Broncos is like watching the worst parts of the Hawks with Wilson.
However, they will probably fix many of these problems and as you have said, he has historically come back from poor stretches of play. I have not seen any official announcement about his injury other than it is "significant" but they said that before the game, and he played all game without any apparent gimpyness of physical limitations. If he is out, who knows, his backup might play better than Wilson.
Even if the Broncos won the Super Bowl this year I'd still think this was a good trade and a great offseason. The time was right, the price was right, and the decision to retain Pete and John was logical and looks right. The Broncos' success or demise doesn't change any of that (except for 2023 draft pick consideration), but demise still feels kinda right.
Yeah for sure!
Really interesting look at the "what if" of the offseason. It's still too early to jump to conclusions on anything (not saying you are), but we are in a much better place than most of us expected to be.
The one thing that does interest me is who we might have hired at HC. We could have ended up with Hackett, sure, or we could have hit a homerun instead. Imagine if Brian Daboll was given the choice between the putrid Giants with no QB, or the Seahawks with their weapons and established veteran at the position. Or if Sean Payton, enticed by the idea of coaching Wilson, came to Seattle. I think the result would be so different, projecting who we signed/cut/drafted/traded for is nearly impossible.
Ultimately, bad as Wilson has been this year, I think the result would be very different if he had a really talented head coach. There is a credibility that someone like Sean Payton brings that would make any QB buy in completely. I don't think Russ is bought into Hackett, I think it's pretty obvious the guy is not head coach material. How can a guy like Hackett, with his limited success prior to not calling plays for the Packers, tell someone that believes they are a HoF QB how to play and run an offense? If I was Russ, I'd tell him what I wanted to do, and that would be that. It would not surprise me if Russ is walking all over Hackett. That is much more difficult to do with the guy who coached Brees, or the guy who developed Josh Allen.
In the Packers first season with Hackett as OC their offense was abysmal even with Rodgers at QB. A year later he was MVP. The Hackett offensive scheme is a derivative of the Mike Shanahan offense that Mark Schlereth said was so complicated he used to write down the exact steps he needed to take in every situation. It requires time and must be executed with precision. Given his dedication to study and execution it really is the perfect offense for Wilson. I expect it will come together and Wilson will be back in the good graces of the NFL fandom. Hopefully, that doesn't happen until next year.
Check out this short article on the injury situation in San Francisco...
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/34809497/49ers-mike-mcglinchey-charvarius-ward-leave-injuries
Keenan Allen could be back against the Seahawks although the Chargers have a bye in week 8 so they might hold him out against an inferior team to give him more time to heal. One thing we know, Charles Cross is already having nightmares about facing Kalil Mack.
Barnwell wasn’t the only guy. There were a lot more infected by the Mark Rogers’ disinformation campaign. Here are some of prominent ones that I remember:
- MICHAEL SHAWN DUGAR of The Athletics: yes I’m still paying for membership. That’s shame on me! Mike Sando and others make it hard to cancel.
- JAKE HEAPS former host for 710 sports: totally fraudulent. Paid by Wilson to be his “coach” while being paid by 710 to spew Wilson’s propanda on 710.
- Rob Staton
- Ross Tucker
In all fairness to Staton, he said that the off-season was great as soon as the draft ended. He praised the FO for being patient with QBs, getting a great haul for Wilson, and building for the future. He preferred keeping Wilson and kicking Pete, but he understood that the contrary was also an enticing alternative.
Rob also had given a first / second round draft to Lucas and Mafe, and a second round grade to Walker and Woolen.
Anyone can have an opinion on how good or bad a player from the draft is. I don't fault them if they're wrong. I truly believe that fans can be just as good as picking players as the "top" GM in the league. Draft success is like stock picking - random. As the matter of fact, I enjoy his draft eval very much until his stance on Wilson vs Carroll debate.
Like Ken has said much more eloquently than I could, none of those draft picks that he was lauding would have existed if Jody Allen had listened to him and fired Carroll. Ken just painted a clear picture of what a disaster it would have been.
Staton was loud and clear. He was invited by Jake Heaps' to come on 710 to cont spreading the Wilson's narratives. My assumption is that behind the scenes Heaps was serving as conduit of misinformation from Wilson to Staton.
Only a few weeks ago Staton still wanted to fire Carroll and start over with an offensive minded head coach to bring in the new QB that they will draft.
He didn't say to fire him though, only that if the defense continued to be the worst in the league with a largely veteran group (it is not young outside of the CBs and 2 edge players), Carroll might be done. Again, we had the worst D in the league to start the year for what, the third year running?
On the video that I saw, he said it didn't matter how well they played or how well they did this past draft. He wanted to Seahawks to move on from Carroll and have an offensive minded coach take over to bring in and coach the newly drafted QB.
I saw that and that was the end of it for me.
To be fair to a lot of those guys though, the situation last year was terrible. Pete and John had done poorly in the draft most years prior, and the team stunk. There was a legitimate argument to firing Pete Carroll.
If Pete were fired, we don't know who we'd have hired. It could have been Hackett, sure, or it could have been Sean Payton. We don't know. Russ doesn't look good right now, that is for sure, but I'd argue he's playing without a head coach right now. Hackett is long past "over his skis"... he's avalanching down the mountain at this point. With someone that is not just competent but excellent, as Daboll seems to be and Payton always has been, it might have been very different.
Also, not sure about most of the others, but I know that Rob Staton loved the offseason. He also spent the previous year and a half saying Russ was going to be traded, and wrote about how relieved he was when that was done. Yes he wanted to fire Pete, but given how poorly our teams had performed on both sides of the ball, he had a very fair argument.
There is a lot in here to unpack.
- Draft success: Have you looked at the data comparing PC/JS vs others in draft success over the period of 10 years? They're up there at the top with the Ravens. Any one like me and you could get lucky and have a good draft. But it's another story to sustain it over a longer period of time. Ron Wolfe is in the HoF for hitting only 60% success rate.
Also, it's difficult to get blue/red chip talent at the bottom of 1st round. That's why teams like the Rams followed Hawks and traded them away.
- Team stunk: only one year with Wilson injury. That's just a random act of bad luck.
- "coach's fault" Wilson has gotten 2 coordinators fired, Carroll barely survived, and Hackett likely will be gone. It's always the coach that's holding Wilson back. I thought this false narrative has resolved loud and clear by now. But I guess not. There are numerous reports out there with Wilson on records saying that the offense is a collaboration between Hackett and Wilson, and that Hackett reports to Wilson and not the other way around. So when it fails, blame it on Hackett and not Wilson? Mark Rodgers is definitely Wilson's MVP.
Also, I've already made clear that I don't like the Hackett/Wilson structure and that it is not conducive to success. And saying Wilson got two OCs fired is just not factual. Plus, how are those guys doing exactly? Neither of them are calling plays. The few times they have since working here, they were awful (see Bevell in Jacksonville or Detroit).
10 years still includes the legendary 2012 class though. How about the 2016 draft? Or the 2017 draft? 2018? 2019? How many starters have we had from these groups? If we had a 60% hit rate, I'd be doing back flips. That's much more equivalent to THIS draft class than it is to any other (6 early impact players out of 9). The previous iterations have been bad.
I appreciate that there is a talent difference based on where we were selecting. That doesn't mean players don't exist at those spots in the draft though. TJ Watt was someone we passed on. We drafted Penny over Chubb. I've defended many of their draft decisions, including the McDowell pick, as trying to do exactly that: find blue chippers later in the draft. I have no issue with picks like that. It's things like taking Collier because you need a DE and all the good ones are gone. And then, to get to a 60% hit rate, you have to hit on late round picks. Who have we hit on until this year? Carson? Griffin? Damien Lewis? Our mid/late round picks haven't hit in a while.
As far as the "team stunk" goes, I'd say getting pasted by the Rams' every year, losing playoff games constantly, and barely eking out playoff berths in the first place was not to standard. Were we the Lions? No. Were we actually contending for anything? Nol.
Again, very happy with this season, have no complaints. I love the draft class we have, and have a great deal of hope now. More than ever.
What is interesting to me is that despite coaching in a tougher division since Carroll arrived in 2010 (including the Seahawks, 6 NFC west teams have made the Super Bowl, 3 teams from the NFC South have) Carroll made the playoffs more often than Payton (9 vs 7) many fans don't think it is a debate that Payton is a better coach. Carroll also never went three straight years with a below .500 record like Payton and New Orleans did in 2014, 2015, and 2016. After one year below .500, there were a lot of people that wanted Carroll run out of town.
I want to be clear here, I honestly love Pete Carroll. It may sound crazy, but I do genuinely think he is a great coach. But, the organization was broken. It could not continue like this, and I generally believe it is harder to find a great QB than it is to find a great coach. Therefore, my opinion was that we should thank Pete for a phenomenal career here, and move in a new direction focused around maximizing the best asset on the team.
With Payton, I think the best argument is exactly what you just pointed out. He actually turned the team around! And while it never fell quite to the level of the saints, our seasons from 2017 onward have been utter drek. 2017 was supposed to start the rebuild, retool, whatever we called it, and we can now say it was an abject failure. Unlike Payton, Pete didn't turn the team around and start contending following a dip in quality. Payton returned to contention until Brees' finally gave out, and used every coaching trick he had to get there.
Overall, my point was that Pete Carroll couldn't coexist with the version of the team that we had built. Yet that's not the decision that was made, and I'm quite happy with the results. I've been more invested in the team than I have in years this season.
I don't mind people criticizing Carroll for failed big trades, recent poor draft results, and in-game management. Although I disagree with those objections, I can see their perspectives. Those issues are somewhat factual. We can agree to disagree.
When it comes to choosing Wilson vs Carroll debate, I felt like there was a lot of characters in the media arguing to fire Carroll in bad faith. Whether knowingly or not, they were spewing out false narratives that were likely fed by the agent. I wouldn't be surprised that they played a part in shaping your views of "organization being broken". Among those narratives include:
- "Carroll is too old to change" This was a lazy age discrimination narrative. Give me the evidence. "Look at these numbers in 2019! He doesn't believe in the passing game. Run the ball too much". Carroll has said multiple times that he believes in balance, meaning not too much run or pass. During his time at USC, passing was slightly more than running. During the last 6 seasons with Wilson outside of that 2019 season with Fluker on the line, the team was already passing more than running on first down. He coached to talent of his players. He didn't let Wilson do volume passing because Wilson can't access the intermediate middle of the field. So why does he all of the sudden coach the team to the 3rd HIGHEST passing frequency on first down - behind only the Chiefs and Bills - this year? Did he find the fountain of youth, or decide to listen to Michael Smartass-Dugar and Brainy Baldwin?
Off the field, where is the evidence supporting a "old guy stuck in his ways"? This is the same guy who brought in Angela Duckworth to talk about Grit, and Neil Degrasse to talk about astronomy. That's a lot more neural plasticity than people in their 40's. He's also the same guy who started the trend of playing loud music during practice.
- "Too many sacks": this was a combination of bad drafting and Wilson. So if Wilson is a culprit, he shouldn't be pointing fingers either. As obvious as it is now, Wilson needs a strong running game and it was correct for Carroll to favor big fat guys who can run block over light and nimble who is better at pass pro.
- "Harder to find quarterback than coach": A leader who could change the culture of an organization is much more than just a coach. Those people are extremely rare to find in any professional realms. Carroll is a culture builder. There's a long list of teammates who can attest to how good Wilson is as a team builder (lol) - even before this season. It would have been malpractice to hand the key of the organization to a guy like that.
Also, a QB who plays into the 40s like Brady is an extreme anomaly. A 34 yo QB needing his feet to improve his vision would most likely not have 6 years left. So not gaining that much more time on the field with Wilson vs Carroll.
This was just an incredible piece written by Ken. I'm mortified to walk down the path of what if...
Nice argument, appreciate the clarity. My argument for firing Carroll, again, had nothing to do with most of those narratives. I think Pete is great coach who does a very good job establishing culture, identity, and can motivate as well as anyone. He's a great coach!
This issue was, his philosophy and the way the team had been built were no longer in sync. We had a poor run game most of last year, with an incompetent defense. The philosophy of the team, as has been described by numerous people across different sites and perspectives, had become "pray Russ does enough to win us the game." We had our entire roster structured to play aggressive offense more akin to the Bills than the Titans, but didn't play that way.
The real killer, though for me, was that the 2017 rebuild failed. We gave our coach a chance to return us to contention after it was obvious that the LOB was over and the SB teams were behind us. We never turned it around. That, to me, was the biggest argument for firing Carroll. He simply seemed incapable of returning the team to contention.
I understand your point about culture, but the reality of the situation in the NFL is that there are more good coaches than QBs. With Alex Smith, Andy Reid was good not great. Now with Mahomes, he's finally a surefire HoFer. With Brees, even in old-man form, Payton was a SB contender. One year of Jameis Winston and backup QB play, and they were back to average. Daboll looks phenomenal right now with a bad QB. There are more very good coaches in the NFL than QBs. That's just the reality. The position is scarce, and you don't find replacements easily. I love what we've done this last year, and I'm excited for the future. But if we don't nail the QB pick, it won't matter anyway.
"Pray Russ does enough to win us the game" isn't that the whole point of having a franchise QB? What do you think people in GB, Buffalo, and KC do?
2017 rebuild: you're right it didn't work out. LJ Collier's pick was dumb. But again 60% draft success gets Ron Wolf in the HoF. Look at body of data over a decade. The Hawks and Ravens are the best in drafting.
https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stat-analysis/2020/nfl-drafting-efficiency-2010-2019
In general, I think the "great drafting" GM label is a misnomer. Like stocks picking, the results are fairly random. I personally think the bigger element defining an excellent GM is personnel management - something fans and number crunchers like Bullshit Baldwin tend to overlook. Personnel management entails managing your scouting staff, coordinating with coaching staff, and of-course the players as well. There are a lot of egos that a successful GM has to redirect to keep people moving in the right direction.
For example, a regional scout spent countless hours in a motel in some hapless small towns in America thousand miles away from their families to write up the scouting reports. A successful manager needs to make that scout feeling like their work is being valued. An example of that is PC/JS make the scouts available to the media to talk about the prospects within their assigned region. These anonymous hard-working people now finally have their voices being heard. It also gives them a chance to practice public speaking and prepare them for their GM jobs. Attaching their names to the prospect also creates a sense of pride and along with that comes accountability. It motivates them to work hard and align them with the overarching "always competing" culture Carroll has cultivated. This was never done before with the Mike Holmgren's and past Hawks regimes. I don't know how unique this is in the NFL but I haven't seen with other teams as I tried to search other teams' websites after the draft during the last couple years.
It's safe to say that the PC-JS partnership is as well-aligned as there is in the NFL. You rarely ever hear about in-fighting and uncontrolled egos. This is very rare in the NFL. This structure has resulted in a well-run football operation. This leads me to the final point.
"Great coaches are easier to find than great QBs": during the past decade, Patriots, Chiefs and Hawks have won more games than any other franchises. Those teams have several common threads: well-run franchises, great ownership, great coaches, and great QBs.
Hawks structure was a mess before Carroll and Schneider arrived. Mike Holmgren had huge egos and so did Bob Whisitt and then Tim Ruskell - resulting in embarrassing public fights affecting on field performance. For example, Mike Holmgren was under the impression that Ruskell was going to franchise tag Steven Hutchinson but Ruskell pulled a fast one and didn't do that. Bullshit Baldwin and Rodgers-Rob Staton weren't around when that was going on. Firing PC/JS and keeping Wilson put us at significant risk for resurrecting those days. Do you want to go back to those days? I definitely don't. That's why I'm scared to death reading this piece by Ken - the previously well-traveled road that was not taken.
Great ownership: unfortunately, this is very scary times for us moving forward.
Great coaches: not much needs to be said about how good of a coach Carroll is if his teams have similar wins as Reid and Bellichick.
Great QB: Brady is a GOAT. Malhommes has been either the best or second best QB in the league.
Then there is Wilson. Now this is where the distinction needs to be made. The general statements about great QBs are harder to find than coaches NO longer apply! Why? Because that statement is based on the premise that the QB must be GREAT but is Wilson great?
At the height of his career, he was NEVER on the same level as Brady or Malhommes. At best probably top 5-7 in the league. However, the question needed to be asked in March 2022 was how great Wilson would be starting in September 2022 and thereafter. Wilson would be a 34-year-old QB with diminishing mobility further impacting limited-vision, no volume passing because can't access middle of the field, highly questionable culture-building qualities, AND, most important of all, looking to get a RECORD CONTRACT.
Ultimately, going forward with Carroll/JS was not choosing a GREAT coach/organization management over a GREAT QB. It was choosing a GREAT coach/organization culture and letting go of a GOOD QB.
I will let Wilson's current performance to speak for how good he is. Of course, the jury is still out on how Carroll/JS will do.
Thank you Phil, really great post and you summed up my thoughts - and added more valuable more perspective - much better than I could have done.
Last night's game was as bad as the 5 before it for Denver. It's known their 2 wins were as ugly as the losses. I had so many things come to mind while watching. the biggest was watching Russell run the ball time after time when he didn't appear to really try to find a receiver to throw to. Is that how he injured his leg? Is he still spending $1M/year to keep himself in top physical shape? Will he refuse to take time out to heal his shoulder and leg?
If any truth was mingled in with the media rumors last season that Wilson wanted to be party to player selections and game play, that he gave the FO an ultimatum "Pete or Me," then his desire to leave is hard to describe as anything more than selfish. He's never been afraid to say his life will always be football and he wanted to be mentored toward that goal. We see how happy former players are to reunite with Pete, and remember existing players encouraging others to come to the Hawks because of the team brotherhood. It makes having to shelve the past and be glad we still have Pete for me.
I've said it before--the media over-hypes Russell. Even last night, the instant RW got that deep ball down the field for a TD the announcers acted like all was well and Russ was back to his great self. They repeated it when he started getting rushing yards. But at the end of the day, they lost the game and more. I don't remember announcers showing that same enthusiasm for others who also make some outstanding deep ball plays now and then. Russ ending his postgame interview by simply walking off the stage with no "#Bronco country, let's ride" has people worried about his mental health. It's a valid concern that the Broncos need to address, IMHO.
Yeah, people love to jump on a single play as proof of something. Sustainability and consistency of those plays is the key. The Broncos have had none of that.
I think enough has been said by Pete John and Jody to assume that the decision to trade Russ was very thoughtful, and may well have included a risk/reward analysis on 34-38 yr old Russell Wilson.
And then Pete after the Denver game said they shaded him left given they know his “tendencies” (code for weak spots)
The frustration of Denver fans repeatedly watching Russ not seeing wide open players 10 yards deep in the middle of the field was another “tendency” Pete knew about.
And after 8 years of never having missed a snap, he’s suddenly hurt several times.
In other words, although I think Russ is absolutely capable of ripping off a series of games like his 10-10 start on Thursday, Pete and John and Jody may have known now is max value for Russ. Maybe not that the fall would be so sudden, but that 3-4 yrs from now he’d be substantially worse than today.
Well said!
I thought Russell's "tendencies" were very well known throughout the NFL and it became more obvious with every season. They sure figured him out last season and kept the offense off the field for the better part of some games. Russ should have left his #3 behind. It's starting to represent Mr 3 and out. His play style hasn't changed, but the Seahawks sure look different.
Russ was unhappy here and wanted to get out. When people leave one job disgruntled they often bring their problems with them. Leave for opportunities while you're happy and the outcome stands a much better chance of success.
Yep. Two-high safeties to take away the deep shots, quarters coverage. Russ will get frustrated he can't take the deep shots, hold the ball too long or make mistakes.
2022 Seahawks Off-season Top Ten shopping list:
1) Get rid of stifling contract for current (and unhappy) QB - check
2) Acquire draft capital to 're-tool' with - check
3) Acquire quality veterans via trade and free-agency - check
4) Resign own free-agents - check
5) Somehow/someway establish a worthy QB for the now (see #4) - check
6) Extend the most exciting Young receiver in the NFL - check
7) Draft worthy class to build with - check
8) Move on from bloated contracts - check
9) Move on from personnel not conducive to the intended schemes - check
10) Attract Top-flight coaching replacements - check
They Killed it! PC/JS deserve the credit for pulling off the best NFL off-season by any team in years.
This last year makes me Really interested in what the upcoming off-season will look like...
As I was saying back in May, finish This year with 8 or 9 wins - with the Broncos finishing somewhere in the same place and draft for Defense primarily while getting the Best late second to mid 3rd-round QB along the way.
The ONLY player to potentially trade up for would be an Aaron Donald, JJ/TJ Watt, or Joey/Nick Bosa type! Otherwise, play the cards just like this last off-season and Kill It again!
He did say No.4 was for “the now”. And 32 isn’t old because Geno still has a lot of tread left on the tyres, he’ll have the football body of someone five years younger. We might get another five years easily, with two good drafts coming up for QBs. We are in a glorious position.
Geno's game fits this offense - his next contract demand may not fit. I have been a fan of Russ but once his salary made it necessary to dilute other key areas of the team (LOB), I felt it was time to move on.
If Geno's number is too high (not likely due to history, age, and there being SO many good/affordable draft options), draft Tennessee's QB Hendon Hooker.
With the way he is playing, Hooker won't be available for Seattle (unless Seattle trades up). Hooker is challenging for #1 overall right now.
Hookers draft stock certainly went up last weekend didn't it! I'm anxious to see the Survivor update.