Some good debate in the comments. A midseason trade (or two, or three) wouldn't surprise me. Hendrickson might be an option, but dealing with the Bengals is, well, dealing with the Bengals. JS won't overpay, so I'm not sure how realistic that might be. Maxx Crosby is already signed for two more years after this one, and if the Raiders think they are 2+ seasons away from really competing, maybe draft capital would be appealing to them. He's well paid, but not close to market setting. Hendrickson would be a true rental.
I think JS will shop around at OLB/DE, iLB, and DB. We'll see what he catches, if anything.
If our offensive performance is reasonably sustainable, our defense only needs to be solid, not spectacular......which is weird to type because I was thinking of it the other way all offseason (offense solid if the defense was elite). I have faith in Mike MacDonald to get things sorted out. The TB game is, for now, the defensive outlier, and with all the injuries, perhaps not all that surprising. Let's see how the next couple of games go.
Re: Mafe and Hall, and have to agree. I don't know what they might do in the future, but at least relative to pass rush, highly underwhelming. Oddly Mafe grades out as 'elite' re: pass-rush-win-rate, which certainly didn't look to be the case on Sunday. PFF grades, grains of salt, etc. D-Hall grades out as above average in both pass rush and run defense grades (again PFF FWIW). Chenna's run defense grade is really good (13th out of 165), but his pass rush grade is average at best. But no question, the eyeball test on Sunday left something to be desired.
Hopefully Mike MacDonald will take his frustrations out on Trevor Lawrence next week.
Watching Big Cat Leo Williams blow a cork and draw an untimely penalty worries me a bit. I can see real value in diluting all the focus by opponents on him being the sole danger here. The Guy To Stop. Looks like it sucks all the fun out of the game and our Leo likes having fun kicknass. I wish Murph had stepped up by now, so yeah, let's get Hendricks and give Big Cat some company before he blows a gasket.
Hey SJ from appearances, some of those “easier” wins are getting less easy. A weird weekend. Pats win. Jags winning. Saints. Titans. Texans. Nothing easy
Boye Mafe's last 15 games -- almost one full season:
- 2 sacks
- 4 TFL
- 6 QB hits
- 14 pressures
If you put those numbers on a player in 2024, he would be about 100th in pressures, about 150th in QB hits, about 180th in sacks, and about 220th in tackles for a loss.
I could understand being patient with Mafe if he was 23 or if he had been really good in the past. He's never been that good and he was 24 when he was a rookie. It's getting old. Like I said, Mafe is a piece, he's not a centerpiece.
'lest we forget this is still early for them pulling together as a group'....I think we've all forgot lol 🤣. Once we saw they were good we forget some barely know each other's names. If we're this good now, let's get out the grit and start applying some elbow grease. This team is gonna polish up well in the end (when it matters).
I recall a write up of yours after Kupp signed. JSN and Kupp both similar etc etc slot guys. Oh man JSN is showing he’s an everything guy. Longer passes and his receiving stats are actually better is something else. JSN a Brian Blades/DJax type. And Horton. Are you kidding me? We get rid of one of the greatest ever in Tyler, and we get Tyler Jr. Horton. Side note. I’m not thinking JSN numbers continue in part because we have yet to see Charbo/K9/Arroyo/Ouzts and the Bobo/Young getting shots. Coach K and Sam’s arsenal is growing every week.
I don't know specifically which article you mean, but in May I wrote "concerns that I'm not concerned about" which included Sam Darnold being able to get the job done at QB and Cooper Kupp can fill the void at WR:
Was always happy with the Cooper Kupp signing and that he was an upgrade to DK Metcalf for what the Seahawks needed and at his price. I also said that I wasn't concerned about the Seahawks needing another CB, so 2 out of 3 ain't bad.
That was in no way meant to be negative. Don’t recall either and don’t have time to find article. It was just early comparison of 2 receivers with similar qualities and position play strengths. Sorry if came across wrong. Was just meant that we’ve seen massive growth in JSN. He was slot. Kupp excels in slot (a couple awesome grabs yesterday. And he knows where FD marker was. But was noted many months ago JSN had shown slot skills (recall you noted his incredible stats from slot). Sorry if came across incorrectly.
I'm seeing JSN blocking his ass off. It's impossible to measure what did not happen, but I'm betting Coop has a lot to do with rounding out Greatness. I also expect to see him become a Coach after he's done rattling the field.
With so many new guys, when at the game, watching more than just the ball means missing things like this. So thanks. I’ll keep my eyes peeled a little more. Being an ex-head linesman official, I am ingrained to watch the oline more. Natural habit. So thank you. Will work to be more observant of that added skill
No, I think I know what you meant. There was understandably a general thought out there that Kupp and JSN are too similar. But Kupp and Robert Woods and Puka Nacua were also all similar players on the Rams. Kupp worked great with Woods and he worked great with Puka. JSN worked great as a slot, but there was a good reason to think he'd be able to move outside.
I just wasn't sure which article you were referring to.
* JSN v. Nacua. So far, Nacua is a supercharged version of 2024 JSN: He’s catching a lot of passes. But give me the guy who’s averaging a big play (15.7) with just about every reception
* Home field advantage. Thinking about this, it’s no surprise that this is currently in abeyance. Great teams dominate at home and, for my money, there is not a single great team in the 2025 NFL
* Injuries:
-Hall (oblique). Oblique problems helped drive Andrew Luck out of football. Don’t expect Hall back any time soon
-Woolen (concussion). When was the last time a player missed no time from a concussion? He’s out for at least a week
-Spoon. That he was active for only one game after missing time is not a good sign
* Barner is showing more than I thought he would
* At the beginning of Myers’ first contract, an 85% place kicker would have been worth his weight in gold (especially after C-Bass and Blair Walsh). Now, he’s league average. Having said that, FGs get missed. Myers didn’t bail out Kubiak in week 1 or the defense last Sunday, but he’s not why the Hawks lost the games
* Going for it on fourth down. I was not particularly encouraged by MM going for a first in the fourth quarter because 100% of coaches would have in that situation. I was unimpressed that he elected to try a FG on 4th-and-2 in the first quarter
* Hendrickson. He may well not be the only pass rusher potentially available (Mike Dugar goes over this in the current Seahawks Man2Man.) There may be legit alternatives to bringing in a guy who Schneider could keep only by making him make the highest paid player on the team
* Speaking of M2M, Christopher Kidd’s likening of Pritchett to a rotisserie chicken (“toasted”) is near classic
Thanks for the call out of the Seahawks M2M podcast. I watched the latest episode, enjoyed it and subscribed. Loved the bit about Mayfield "putting the belt to the booty cheeks."
No disrespect to Puka Nacua. That is a grown man football player. Both he and JSN have earned a place among the elite WR, I can't even compare the 2. Those are supremely good players and will never be more valuable than today on their rookie deals.
And today on NFL.com, they just published their MVP watch, the top 5 in the league after 5 games. Tell me ANYONE would have picked these 5 before the season began:
1. Josh Allen
2. Jared Goff
3. Baker Mayfield
4. Daniel Jones
5. Sam Darnold
But there you have it, Darnold at #5 for MVP, and not from us Hawks Homers. Wow.
Another interesting tidbit is that only 1 is an MVP condidate for the team that drafted him. It has never been more apparent that teams aren't patient enough with QBs as it is right now.
Four days ago I posted that good teams have good backups and when we evaluate teams we need to look past the starters and check on.the number 2s and
the PS. Just call me Nostredomas!
Hendrickson would be a great pick up but there are others out there on.bad teams that may well be available. Miles Garrett asked to be traded from Cleveland because he's had it with the constant losing and didn't see anything changing. He got a big contract extension but the Browns still suck. Hendrickson could be had for a 3rd plus something ! The Bengals are done this year and need to stock up for 2026. JS needs to get busy soon!
I see the game as having three phases: (1) the Bucs open up an early 13-0 lead; (2) Seattle makes good use of the magic eight minutes (or whatever they are called), righting the ship with two TDs and opening a 14-13 lead; and (3) Woolen has to leave the game and TB scores 25 points in its remaking 11m of TOP:
Phase 1: The key play is obviously the Milroe fumble. Myers’ missed FG didn’t help, nor did MM’s decision to attempt the FG on 4th-and-2 when his QB had a hot hand, was getting protected, and had JSN and Kupp as targets
Phase 2: Re the offense, no comment necessary. Re the defense, yes, the Bucs were driving when Woolen got concussed. But the D had already twice held TB to FGs after long drives; the Bucs’ only TD had come after the Kubiak brain fart left them with a short field
Phase 3: After Woolen went out, Seattle had no one left who could cover. (This is a depth problem at DB and an outright issue at LB.) In their remaining 11m of TOP, the Bucs scored 25 points compared with 13 points in their prior 22m TOP. Up to that point, the ‘Hawk defense wasn’t playing great, yet had allowed only one TD and had held two TB drives to FGs. I’m not attributing this directly to Riq—his departure was more like a last straw. At the time, I wondered why MM wasn’t blitzing on just about every play but let’s face it: There was no scheming out of this. Todd Bowles held the cards and he knew it
I agree worth you, We scored all our points in 30 minutes. We didn’t score for the first 29 minutes of the game. We lost turnover 2 to 0. That cost us 10 points on defense and both turnovers were near midfield, so they probably cost ours offense a score or even two. I’d love it see us win the turnover battle over the next few games.
I’m concerned about our secondary. Sure, our edges need addressing, but we knew they were a work in progress at the start of the season.
With the secondary, I (we?) expected it NOT to be too much of an issue. Yet, a couple of injuries later, and it seems like we’re exposed. Our depth, both on the edges (though what we have are still a work in progress) and the secondary need to be addressed IMO.
Hendrickson would be a quick fix on the edge (maybe), but the issues look more long term to me. I think we need to seriously look to the next draft.
I hope we can come back from these close losses this year and make a run, but my gut is telling me next year may be our year - if we address the above.
Good players are returning to the secondary eventually. There are no good players returning to the edge rusher room.
Macdonald said himself in the press conference today "There were too many mississippis" when Baker Mayfield dropped back. He's saying that QBs have all day to throw and that leaves the secondary vulnerable.
Oh, I get it. I’m just questioning our depth because, in all honesty, just losing Spoon made a hell of a difference IMO.
I just think we can improve again next season addressing just the secondary and edges. We can’t do all of that this season. Best we can hope for is a full recovery from injury and lack of injury from there on, this season. I’m not saying it’s over yet!
Regarding the D-line and pressure, “5 games of supremely underwhelming production” is not how I’d describe it. I’d have sworn I heard it mentioned on the broadcast that the Seahawks were second in the league as far as QB pressure, and doing it with the lowest blitz rate. If so, that’s not supremely underwhelming production.
I’m not saying a trade isn’t warranted, and yes I think both Mafe and Hall have been a bit underwhelming. I just look at the team’s defensive performance in the 5 games so far and think one of these games is not like the others. That would be yesterday.
A healthy Love and Witherspoon seem to cover up a multitude of smaller defensive issues. I worry about how long they’ll be out.
I think it's more of the fact we're not getting pressure from our edge rushers... I'd like to see how PFF computes "pass-rush-win-rate" when Hall/Mafe have little to no QB hits or sacks. I don't see the pressures either. Aside from a few bull-rushes from Hall, not much production from these dudes.
In fact you could have read in this newsletter that the Seahawks had one of the top pressure rates in the NFL after a couple of weeks. But I don't really care what the stats said. I watch the games, you watch the games...they aren't getting pressure. Mike Macdonald said in his press conference today that the Seahawks aren't getting pressure. But even all that being said, yes it is "supremely underwhelming" when your 2 second round edge rushers in their 3rd and 4th seasons have combiend for 0 sacks.
"Sacks don't matter" is only ever brought up when the players don't have any sacks.
None of us would even know that Mafe and Hall were on the team if we didn't have to be reminded of how forgettable they are: 10 combined games, 0 combined sacks, 1 combined tackle for a loss. How is this even a debate?
In my opinion (and that’s all it is) the Hawks D has gotten pressure in all games except yesterday. And I thought McDonald was talking about yesterday.
I agree that Hall and Mafe have had 5 games of underwhelming production. But if we’re talking about the D getting pressure as a whole unit, we’ll just agree to disagree.
I’d rather go status quo this year and take an EDGE in the first round in the draft. We can use the money saves on Hendrickson to extend JSN and Spoon.
Once again I rise in defense of growing your own. I recognize that paying for a proven veteran is closer to a sure thing than drafting for the position. BUT...would you rather have Rinzler, who ended up in Cincinnati, or Fries, who took the big money in Minneapolis...or Zabel? I realize that's a false choice, and that we, in fact, have drafted a ton of IOL in the last few years. THAT is my point. Draft more edge players. It's now an issue that needs fixing. I simply think it's unwise for long-term team building to spend two good draft choices on a high-priced player who's one injury away from being average -- or retired.
Further, arguing that free agency/trading for vets is somehow safer than drafting would seem to ignore a whole bunch of recent Seahawks history.
Further, still...I continue not to believe that we have arrived at that magic Super Bowl window. Oh, we're close. We can see that it might open for us. But we're not there yet. So let's not mortgage our future for a present that is, at best, a long-shot. (There's a longer answer on the Trey Hendrickson post if anybody really wants to suffer through my wordiness.)
Problem with "growing your own" is that it may take a few years for our guys to develop, or they may not develop at all. We need to strike now when while we have an elite QB on a bargain contract, cap space, etc. First round edges miss more than they hit, especially if we're picking in the BOTTOM-HALF of the first round: not all will be a Verse.
Fair. Absolutely fair. I'm not positive that I was responding directly to your text (I may have been thinking about conversation around the previous post, or just listening to abstract voices in my head. But).
If I may be allowed to recast that sentence, then: I think I have more faith in JS drafting good players than I do in JS finding them in free agency, or trading for them. He's succeeded at both, sure. I just think he's done better -- been more productive, on the whole -- through the draft. (And I wonder if that's down to scouting?)
One other thought. We're frustrated with our edge rushers, but I've not heard a single complaint -- here or elsewhere -- about the position coaches responsible for those players.
I am a fan of John Schneider's work on all fronts.
Thinking about John's track record for drafting elite edge rushers and none came to mind. He has drafted some solid contributors such as Irvin, Mafe and Hall.
I considered free agency and Clemons, Bennett and Avril came to mind. Of course, those were long ago.
I could not come up with any acquired via trade.
Dominant edge rushers are difficult to acquire, I think, no matter the means. I do like the idea of acquiring a veteran with a proven record no matter who that is.
At the end of the day, I trust JS/MM judgement and look forward to seeing the direction they take.
I think the point about coaching is a salient one and worth considering.
Latest NFL.com QB rankings and tiers:
Sam Darnold is #5 and first in Tier 2 together with Goff, Stafford, Herbert and Hurts (Tier 1 is Mayfield, Mahomes, Allen and Dak).
Geno is #28 and Tier 6 together with Fields, Gabriel and Dart
Wow.
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1EdfbpTmSj/
Just for fun: Drew Lock for Trey Hendrickson?
Some good debate in the comments. A midseason trade (or two, or three) wouldn't surprise me. Hendrickson might be an option, but dealing with the Bengals is, well, dealing with the Bengals. JS won't overpay, so I'm not sure how realistic that might be. Maxx Crosby is already signed for two more years after this one, and if the Raiders think they are 2+ seasons away from really competing, maybe draft capital would be appealing to them. He's well paid, but not close to market setting. Hendrickson would be a true rental.
I think JS will shop around at OLB/DE, iLB, and DB. We'll see what he catches, if anything.
If our offensive performance is reasonably sustainable, our defense only needs to be solid, not spectacular......which is weird to type because I was thinking of it the other way all offseason (offense solid if the defense was elite). I have faith in Mike MacDonald to get things sorted out. The TB game is, for now, the defensive outlier, and with all the injuries, perhaps not all that surprising. Let's see how the next couple of games go.
Re: Mafe and Hall, and have to agree. I don't know what they might do in the future, but at least relative to pass rush, highly underwhelming. Oddly Mafe grades out as 'elite' re: pass-rush-win-rate, which certainly didn't look to be the case on Sunday. PFF grades, grains of salt, etc. D-Hall grades out as above average in both pass rush and run defense grades (again PFF FWIW). Chenna's run defense grade is really good (13th out of 165), but his pass rush grade is average at best. But no question, the eyeball test on Sunday left something to be desired.
Hopefully Mike MacDonald will take his frustrations out on Trevor Lawrence next week.
Watching Big Cat Leo Williams blow a cork and draw an untimely penalty worries me a bit. I can see real value in diluting all the focus by opponents on him being the sole danger here. The Guy To Stop. Looks like it sucks all the fun out of the game and our Leo likes having fun kicknass. I wish Murph had stepped up by now, so yeah, let's get Hendricks and give Big Cat some company before he blows a gasket.
Hey SJ from appearances, some of those “easier” wins are getting less easy. A weird weekend. Pats win. Jags winning. Saints. Titans. Texans. Nothing easy
Boy Howdy.
Wow Lawerence maybe growing up. Falls. Messed up snap. Scrambles. Scores.
Maybe borderline powerhouse. I don't think a true powerhouse has a rookie qb run an option play in an important game.
Boye Mafe's last 15 games -- almost one full season:
- 2 sacks
- 4 TFL
- 6 QB hits
- 14 pressures
If you put those numbers on a player in 2024, he would be about 100th in pressures, about 150th in QB hits, about 180th in sacks, and about 220th in tackles for a loss.
I could understand being patient with Mafe if he was 23 or if he had been really good in the past. He's never been that good and he was 24 when he was a rookie. It's getting old. Like I said, Mafe is a piece, he's not a centerpiece.
Solid rotation player but not a #1 or #2. These 2nd rounders need to start panning out for us. (fingers-crossed Emmanwori/Arroyo looking promising)
Harsh, but true. Embrace the Suck? No. It's Go Time, Boy(e).
'lest we forget this is still early for them pulling together as a group'....I think we've all forgot lol 🤣. Once we saw they were good we forget some barely know each other's names. If we're this good now, let's get out the grit and start applying some elbow grease. This team is gonna polish up well in the end (when it matters).
Hoo Yeah! They just got a much-needed measuring yesterday. I have zero doubt there's an electricity alive in the locker room today.
I recall a write up of yours after Kupp signed. JSN and Kupp both similar etc etc slot guys. Oh man JSN is showing he’s an everything guy. Longer passes and his receiving stats are actually better is something else. JSN a Brian Blades/DJax type. And Horton. Are you kidding me? We get rid of one of the greatest ever in Tyler, and we get Tyler Jr. Horton. Side note. I’m not thinking JSN numbers continue in part because we have yet to see Charbo/K9/Arroyo/Ouzts and the Bobo/Young getting shots. Coach K and Sam’s arsenal is growing every week.
Good catch!
I don't know specifically which article you mean, but in May I wrote "concerns that I'm not concerned about" which included Sam Darnold being able to get the job done at QB and Cooper Kupp can fill the void at WR:
https://www.seasidejoe.com/p/seahawks-sam-darnold-cooper-kupp-concerns
Was always happy with the Cooper Kupp signing and that he was an upgrade to DK Metcalf for what the Seahawks needed and at his price. I also said that I wasn't concerned about the Seahawks needing another CB, so 2 out of 3 ain't bad.
That was in no way meant to be negative. Don’t recall either and don’t have time to find article. It was just early comparison of 2 receivers with similar qualities and position play strengths. Sorry if came across wrong. Was just meant that we’ve seen massive growth in JSN. He was slot. Kupp excels in slot (a couple awesome grabs yesterday. And he knows where FD marker was. But was noted many months ago JSN had shown slot skills (recall you noted his incredible stats from slot). Sorry if came across incorrectly.
I'm seeing JSN blocking his ass off. It's impossible to measure what did not happen, but I'm betting Coop has a lot to do with rounding out Greatness. I also expect to see him become a Coach after he's done rattling the field.
With so many new guys, when at the game, watching more than just the ball means missing things like this. So thanks. I’ll keep my eyes peeled a little more. Being an ex-head linesman official, I am ingrained to watch the oline more. Natural habit. So thank you. Will work to be more observant of that added skill
No, I think I know what you meant. There was understandably a general thought out there that Kupp and JSN are too similar. But Kupp and Robert Woods and Puka Nacua were also all similar players on the Rams. Kupp worked great with Woods and he worked great with Puka. JSN worked great as a slot, but there was a good reason to think he'd be able to move outside.
I just wasn't sure which article you were referring to.
General thoughts—
* JSN v. Nacua. So far, Nacua is a supercharged version of 2024 JSN: He’s catching a lot of passes. But give me the guy who’s averaging a big play (15.7) with just about every reception
* Home field advantage. Thinking about this, it’s no surprise that this is currently in abeyance. Great teams dominate at home and, for my money, there is not a single great team in the 2025 NFL
* Injuries:
-Hall (oblique). Oblique problems helped drive Andrew Luck out of football. Don’t expect Hall back any time soon
-Woolen (concussion). When was the last time a player missed no time from a concussion? He’s out for at least a week
-Spoon. That he was active for only one game after missing time is not a good sign
* Barner is showing more than I thought he would
* At the beginning of Myers’ first contract, an 85% place kicker would have been worth his weight in gold (especially after C-Bass and Blair Walsh). Now, he’s league average. Having said that, FGs get missed. Myers didn’t bail out Kubiak in week 1 or the defense last Sunday, but he’s not why the Hawks lost the games
* Going for it on fourth down. I was not particularly encouraged by MM going for a first in the fourth quarter because 100% of coaches would have in that situation. I was unimpressed that he elected to try a FG on 4th-and-2 in the first quarter
* Hendrickson. He may well not be the only pass rusher potentially available (Mike Dugar goes over this in the current Seahawks Man2Man.) There may be legit alternatives to bringing in a guy who Schneider could keep only by making him make the highest paid player on the team
* Speaking of M2M, Christopher Kidd’s likening of Pritchett to a rotisserie chicken (“toasted”) is near classic
Thanks for the call out of the Seahawks M2M podcast. I watched the latest episode, enjoyed it and subscribed. Loved the bit about Mayfield "putting the belt to the booty cheeks."
I’ve been a Mike Dugar fan since he guested on John Clayton’s show back when he covered the Seahawks for the Seattle P-I.
No disrespect to Puka Nacua. That is a grown man football player. Both he and JSN have earned a place among the elite WR, I can't even compare the 2. Those are supremely good players and will never be more valuable than today on their rookie deals.
No doubt about it. Can you imagine a JSN and Nacua on the same team? The QB might complete 80% of his passes.
And today on NFL.com, they just published their MVP watch, the top 5 in the league after 5 games. Tell me ANYONE would have picked these 5 before the season began:
1. Josh Allen
2. Jared Goff
3. Baker Mayfield
4. Daniel Jones
5. Sam Darnold
But there you have it, Darnold at #5 for MVP, and not from us Hawks Homers. Wow.
Interesting tidbit:
None of these guys got past the 7th pick of their respective drafts:
Allen #7
Goff #1
Mayfield #1
Jones #6
Darnold #3
Guess there are the occasional lower-pick gems at QB, but none here
Another interesting tidbit is that only 1 is an MVP condidate for the team that drafted him. It has never been more apparent that teams aren't patient enough with QBs as it is right now.
Four days ago I posted that good teams have good backups and when we evaluate teams we need to look past the starters and check on.the number 2s and
the PS. Just call me Nostredomas!
Hendrickson would be a great pick up but there are others out there on.bad teams that may well be available. Miles Garrett asked to be traded from Cleveland because he's had it with the constant losing and didn't see anything changing. He got a big contract extension but the Browns still suck. Hendrickson could be had for a 3rd plus something ! The Bengals are done this year and need to stock up for 2026. JS needs to get busy soon!
Trading Myles Garrett carries a $100 million cap charge to the Browns. He's not going to be traded.
But it's the Browns, so.....
I see the game as having three phases: (1) the Bucs open up an early 13-0 lead; (2) Seattle makes good use of the magic eight minutes (or whatever they are called), righting the ship with two TDs and opening a 14-13 lead; and (3) Woolen has to leave the game and TB scores 25 points in its remaking 11m of TOP:
Phase 1: The key play is obviously the Milroe fumble. Myers’ missed FG didn’t help, nor did MM’s decision to attempt the FG on 4th-and-2 when his QB had a hot hand, was getting protected, and had JSN and Kupp as targets
Phase 2: Re the offense, no comment necessary. Re the defense, yes, the Bucs were driving when Woolen got concussed. But the D had already twice held TB to FGs after long drives; the Bucs’ only TD had come after the Kubiak brain fart left them with a short field
Phase 3: After Woolen went out, Seattle had no one left who could cover. (This is a depth problem at DB and an outright issue at LB.) In their remaining 11m of TOP, the Bucs scored 25 points compared with 13 points in their prior 22m TOP. Up to that point, the ‘Hawk defense wasn’t playing great, yet had allowed only one TD and had held two TB drives to FGs. I’m not attributing this directly to Riq—his departure was more like a last straw. At the time, I wondered why MM wasn’t blitzing on just about every play but let’s face it: There was no scheming out of this. Todd Bowles held the cards and he knew it
All in all, a tough but not discouraging loss.
I agree worth you, We scored all our points in 30 minutes. We didn’t score for the first 29 minutes of the game. We lost turnover 2 to 0. That cost us 10 points on defense and both turnovers were near midfield, so they probably cost ours offense a score or even two. I’d love it see us win the turnover battle over the next few games.
Thanks.
My critique of Kubiak lacks balance. Overall, he’s been outstanding—35 points should be enough to win.
I’m concerned about our secondary. Sure, our edges need addressing, but we knew they were a work in progress at the start of the season.
With the secondary, I (we?) expected it NOT to be too much of an issue. Yet, a couple of injuries later, and it seems like we’re exposed. Our depth, both on the edges (though what we have are still a work in progress) and the secondary need to be addressed IMO.
Hendrickson would be a quick fix on the edge (maybe), but the issues look more long term to me. I think we need to seriously look to the next draft.
I hope we can come back from these close losses this year and make a run, but my gut is telling me next year may be our year - if we address the above.
Good players are returning to the secondary eventually. There are no good players returning to the edge rusher room.
Macdonald said himself in the press conference today "There were too many mississippis" when Baker Mayfield dropped back. He's saying that QBs have all day to throw and that leaves the secondary vulnerable.
Oh, I get it. I’m just questioning our depth because, in all honesty, just losing Spoon made a hell of a difference IMO.
I just think we can improve again next season addressing just the secondary and edges. We can’t do all of that this season. Best we can hope for is a full recovery from injury and lack of injury from there on, this season. I’m not saying it’s over yet!
For sure there’s no Walter Thurmond to fill any gaps. But no team will do well with three starting DBs sidelined when the game is on the line.
Post of the day. Take away the top 3 corners from any team and what would happen? And TB had their DBs and look what Darnold did to them. Thanks Paul
I may have peaked!
lol. Posted before I saw your other more detailed one, but this was perfect.
Regarding the D-line and pressure, “5 games of supremely underwhelming production” is not how I’d describe it. I’d have sworn I heard it mentioned on the broadcast that the Seahawks were second in the league as far as QB pressure, and doing it with the lowest blitz rate. If so, that’s not supremely underwhelming production.
I’m not saying a trade isn’t warranted, and yes I think both Mafe and Hall have been a bit underwhelming. I just look at the team’s defensive performance in the 5 games so far and think one of these games is not like the others. That would be yesterday.
A healthy Love and Witherspoon seem to cover up a multitude of smaller defensive issues. I worry about how long they’ll be out.
I think it's more of the fact we're not getting pressure from our edge rushers... I'd like to see how PFF computes "pass-rush-win-rate" when Hall/Mafe have little to no QB hits or sacks. I don't see the pressures either. Aside from a few bull-rushes from Hall, not much production from these dudes.
In fact you could have read in this newsletter that the Seahawks had one of the top pressure rates in the NFL after a couple of weeks. But I don't really care what the stats said. I watch the games, you watch the games...they aren't getting pressure. Mike Macdonald said in his press conference today that the Seahawks aren't getting pressure. But even all that being said, yes it is "supremely underwhelming" when your 2 second round edge rushers in their 3rd and 4th seasons have combiend for 0 sacks.
"Sacks don't matter" is only ever brought up when the players don't have any sacks.
None of us would even know that Mafe and Hall were on the team if we didn't have to be reminded of how forgettable they are: 10 combined games, 0 combined sacks, 1 combined tackle for a loss. How is this even a debate?
In my opinion (and that’s all it is) the Hawks D has gotten pressure in all games except yesterday. And I thought McDonald was talking about yesterday.
I agree that Hall and Mafe have had 5 games of underwhelming production. But if we’re talking about the D getting pressure as a whole unit, we’ll just agree to disagree.
I’d rather go status quo this year and take an EDGE in the first round in the draft. We can use the money saves on Hendrickson to extend JSN and Spoon.
Once again I rise in defense of growing your own. I recognize that paying for a proven veteran is closer to a sure thing than drafting for the position. BUT...would you rather have Rinzler, who ended up in Cincinnati, or Fries, who took the big money in Minneapolis...or Zabel? I realize that's a false choice, and that we, in fact, have drafted a ton of IOL in the last few years. THAT is my point. Draft more edge players. It's now an issue that needs fixing. I simply think it's unwise for long-term team building to spend two good draft choices on a high-priced player who's one injury away from being average -- or retired.
Further, arguing that free agency/trading for vets is somehow safer than drafting would seem to ignore a whole bunch of recent Seahawks history.
Further, still...I continue not to believe that we have arrived at that magic Super Bowl window. Oh, we're close. We can see that it might open for us. But we're not there yet. So let's not mortgage our future for a present that is, at best, a long-shot. (There's a longer answer on the Trey Hendrickson post if anybody really wants to suffer through my wordiness.)
Problem with "growing your own" is that it may take a few years for our guys to develop, or they may not develop at all. We need to strike now when while we have an elite QB on a bargain contract, cap space, etc. First round edges miss more than they hit, especially if we're picking in the BOTTOM-HALF of the first round: not all will be a Verse.
I can't see how I'd be "ignoring" history with the comment I wrote in the article that there have been a lot of misses in recent history.
Fair. Absolutely fair. I'm not positive that I was responding directly to your text (I may have been thinking about conversation around the previous post, or just listening to abstract voices in my head. But).
If I may be allowed to recast that sentence, then: I think I have more faith in JS drafting good players than I do in JS finding them in free agency, or trading for them. He's succeeded at both, sure. I just think he's done better -- been more productive, on the whole -- through the draft. (And I wonder if that's down to scouting?)
One other thought. We're frustrated with our edge rushers, but I've not heard a single complaint -- here or elsewhere -- about the position coaches responsible for those players.
Also: I am often wrong!
I am a fan of John Schneider's work on all fronts.
Thinking about John's track record for drafting elite edge rushers and none came to mind. He has drafted some solid contributors such as Irvin, Mafe and Hall.
I considered free agency and Clemons, Bennett and Avril came to mind. Of course, those were long ago.
I could not come up with any acquired via trade.
Dominant edge rushers are difficult to acquire, I think, no matter the means. I do like the idea of acquiring a veteran with a proven record no matter who that is.
At the end of the day, I trust JS/MM judgement and look forward to seeing the direction they take.
I think the point about coaching is a salient one and worth considering.