Total Access: Have The Seahawks Lost Their Way?

[Dang3Russ]

The Seahawks have lost there way since SB 49. It was an unfortunate loss and guys like Sherman weren't the same after. They (sherman) sort of lost his drive and was not the same as they were leading up to it. Loosing happens and its unfortunate.

I love our team going into the seaon. Lots of unknowns, but plenty opportunities for guys to step up. the Legion of Boom might not be any more, but we got a set of Bash Brothers in the Griffens along with Frank Clark who will bring it and set the tone for the D. Don't forget about Bobby Wagner either.

I think the NFL will be a little shocked to see the offence that Seattle brings this year. Russ is ready to prove he is truly elite, although he has already been doing so since entering the NFL. Lockett will shine just like Richardson after finally being healthy. Brandon Marshall is a beast and had a tough go in NY, plagued with injuries. When he is healthy he is unstoppable.

The Seahawks Run Game will return, lead by blocking TE's and an improved OL. Penny and Carson will be a dynamic duo and complemented by Davis.

The Seahawks have lost there way the past few years, but they will carve out a new identity focused on a high intensity offence mixing up a strong run game with a blitz of an aerial attack. They will take there D and re-define it.

Like I always say, the NFL is a revolving door and as much as the Legion of Boom was the Seattle Seahawks, the Seahawks in no way are the Legion of Boom. I loved Sherman, Chancellor, Thomas, Maxwell, Shead, etc ... but we had our run with those guys and they gave us something to cheer for. Now there time is done and its time for a new team to take form.

Lets go Seahawks!!!

#BashBrothers #NextManUp

 

[FlyingGreg]

If losing their way looks like five straight years of league's undisputed best defense and going to the playoffs, there are dozens of NFL teams that would love to lose their way.

They are basing it off of 2017 forward. We didn't have the best defense in 2017, and we didn't make the playoffs. They are calling this the unraveling point, especially coupled with all the cornerstone defensive player losses.

If we make the playoffs this season, they look foolish. If we struggle again, it adds fuel. It is talking head conjecture, and what we did 2012-2016 matters not to them.

 

[Hawk1217]

I'm In! I think this team will outperform the expectations, and we've had some addition by subtraction. Obviously not in the case of Cliff and Kam, but in numerous other cases. I'm thinking we'll look a lot like the 2012 Seahawks, but with a veteran QB. Maybe 'Quem will be our new Kam-Bam factor?

Pete Carroll, the late Dick Clark, two peas on a pod. When Pete is the youngest octagenarian NFL coach, he will have outdone Dick. Speaking of Dick, Dick Vermeil didn't even make it to age 70 as an NFL coach. So if Pete is still coaching at 70 and has the Hawks in the playoffs, all he needs to do to top Vermeil is to learn to cry during press conferences.

To me, the biggest indicator of the Seahawks losing their way was when Bevell threw Ricardo Lockette under the bus after the 2014, and was not either fired or disciplined. (i.e., public apology and accepting personal responsibility for the failed play) When that happened, it was SO un-Seahawks-like, it was like it said to players tha all Pete's talk was BS when push came to shove. That has now been (finally) fixed.

There will be no more ridiculous contracts for washed-up players, there will be no more ridiculous free agent deals for expensive players that don't fit (Harvin, Graham), and we can only hope there will be better drafting.

More accurate would be to say, yes, the Seahawks did lose their way, but now, older and wiser, have massively course corrected back to "The Seahawks Way".

Hmm okay, you have changed my mind they have lost their way. That said Sherman was part of the problem and helped the way get lost with his, antics, calling coaches out, etc etc. Alos what Bevel did to Lockette should have cost his job right there. Huge mistake in my opinion.

 

[Attyla the Hawk]

I would rather like to think that they are refining their way.

I've said it for years, that I disagreed with Schneider's concept of grading drafts relative to your team. I felt and wrote that it was a recipe for passing on great talent for midlevel/replacement level upgrades at soft positions.

That resulted in having generically bad players not worth resigning over the course of multiple successive drafts and forcing us to resign great, if aging talent.

Simply put, I don't think they lost their way. So much as they made a mistake (repeatedly unfortunately). Their way early on was to fail quickly. And I think in that sense they are sticking with their way. By getting rid of guys whose time here had run it's course.

Seattle has a clean slate now. Although they don't have the draft capital available to them that they did in 2010/11/12. But this is the kind of environment that this team thrived in early on. I truly hope they abandon the grade against the team philosophy and just presume they won't resign any of their draft picks when it comes to putting together their boards.

Additionally, I would hope they stop trading their first round picks for other teams' castoff stars. That has had the predictable short term boost, but long term ruin of our draft process.

If Seattle had a way, it was hallmarked in my opinion by a constant evaluation and evolution of their process. Every year something different. I'd like to think that Seattle has learned from their mistakes as they have largely in the past. While I don't expect the 'grading against the team' concept to go away because that is central to their philosophy. I do believe that Seattle is going to achieve the same effect by simply removing the competition scale at the top by not necessarily resigning players. Not creating holes on the roster per se. But creating openings for opportunity for young talent in the draft and also preventing the 'kumbaya' effect on aged vets that no longer respect the message.

 

[efried78]

NFL Total Access is a reaction to SI's MMQB article. Sherm's sponsoring a CB Camp at Stanford University so the story wasn't entirely focused on The Hawks demise.

I suggest read the story and make your own conclusion.

That said, Sherm stated PC's rah, rah only works with college or first year, second or third year players.

The problem with that theory, that people have been parroting for 8 years now, is I've heard many ex long term players say that about all coaches.

ALL coaches say the same things over and over again. If you are a NFL veteran, who's spent any amount of time with the same coaches, you've heard their shtick over and over. It's not just PC. But the real professionals, the real veterans, reinforce it to the rookies, they still buy in. (even though they've heard the same speech before) The last time I heard an old player talk about this was Dave Wyman about Coach Knox.

Absolutely agree. Have you seen any of the Hard Knocks or All or Nothing shows? Every coach says the same thing year in and year out. It's what a good leader does, they have a message that they hang their hat on and they reinforce it to their players. If a player chooses to ignore it or get tired of it, that's on them. This notion that PC's message is stale is BS in my opinion. It's the prima donna players that chose to let it get stale, which is why those players aren't here anymore. Do you think Bobby, KJ, and Russell are ignoring the message? I think they're still all in, and they are the new leaders on this team. We will see some young guys emerge as leaders as well, watch for Shaq to step up this year. We aren't done yet, we're just getting (re)started!

 

[Fade]

Colin Cowherd thinks Pete may be fired if they struggle again this season.

If the same trends continue, despite the roster turnover and coaching changes, yes he will be fired.

Pete is old and only will have 1 yr left on his deal. Also too the CBA is getting ready to expire so the Hawks will want to have their new guy in place before then, preferably with a season under his belt if a lockout does occur. Things are lining up for Pete to get fired.

Pete of course can easily avoid this with another winning season, and being rewarded a 2-3 yr contract extension.

 

[ImTheScientist]

The past two seasons they lost their way....they are finally back on track. Final step is to trade Earl.

 

[truehawksfan]

I read the article a couple of times and I see where Sherm's going with this. His definition of losing our way:
-Type of players
-Reactive/Not proactive in player acquisition
-Always compete

lukerguy's avatar is a perfect example of what our WRs are required to do and do well: Block. When was the last time you saw a WR deliver a crushing block like Tate did to that Cowboy LB? Instead, Kearse and Tate were replaced with Harvin and PRich. Fast guys who avoided blocks like Jimmy. Lockett does a great Tate imitation on returns, but blocking?

And speaking about Jimmy, we did a terrible job replacing Zach Miler. Vannett and now Dissly. Last year was awful. If we want to run the ball, put Vannett out there. Sure Jimmy is getting paid, but there's no way, I mean no way he's a better blocker then Vannett. is that always compete?

And speaking about always compete, Cary Williams was inserted as a starter despite having zero experience on the kick step. Jeremy Lane and Deshawn Shead was groomed to play this style and they did a much better job, but, Williams was starting and getting burned in the terrible learn/train on the field. How did that go?

Reactive/Fly by the seat of you pants player acquisition. When we traded Unger, did we have someone on the roster to replace him? Nope. We scrambled by signing a street free agent- Patrick Lewis- and a retread Lemuel Jeanlepew-something.
RB one year was terrible too. We traded Christine Micheal to Dallas, resigned him, then cut him when we realized why we got rid of him in the first place.

This is just a couple of examples I can think of.

So, why are the reporters NOT looking at WRs and to determine if the coaches are preaching blocking techniques. If Vannett or Dissly outperform Dickson, they better play -Always compete? Glad to hear PC say Penny needs to block because that's always been a requirement. I hope they select a good blocking FB, because we saw the scamble mode here after MRob and Derrick Coleman left the team. Remember not signing/signing Will Tukuafu? And remember Marcel Reese? He did a good job too...but what happened there?

PC wants to instill what made this team a SB winner...I hope we see the desire, play because you deserve it, no scramble mode in filling roster spots this year.

 

[MD5eahawks]

Can we just call this the "fishwife culture" and be done with it?

God, I miss the days of actual sports writing and good sound football discussions, rather than ridiculous gossip and conjecture.

Unfortunately, with all the changes this team has done this off season, no one can really discuss in "good sound" detail what is and is not going to happen. This team is not going to look like the 2011 team. They are not going to win like the 2013 team. They are not going to putter offensively like the 2017 team.

They are going to play like the 2018 team.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

Can we just call this the "fishwife culture" and be done with it?

God, I miss the days of actual sports writing and good sound football discussions, rather than ridiculous gossip and conjecture.

Unfortunately, with all the changes this team has done this off season, no one can really discuss in "good sound" detail what is and is not going to happen. This team is not going to look like the 2011 team. They are not going to win like the 2013 team. They are not going to putter offensively like the 2017 team.

They are going to play like the 2018 team.

Nailed it.

This is really the most interesting year to me in the PC/JS era. Are we going to get back on track and rise again? Or are we going to implode under the weight of some poor FO drafting, trades and contract decision making?

I'd sure hate for John and Pete to go out like that, but it's certainly a possibility. Like you said, no one knows.

 

[hawknation2018]

Players get old and hurt (Sherman, Bennett, Avril, Chancellor). It requires difficult decision making.

Actually, you can add Lynch to that list, as well. He got old and hurt, retired for a year, and then came back to play for his hometown.

In my mind, the hiring of new assistant coaching staff will go a long way in getting us back on track to our core philosophy.

 

[MD5eahawks]

The things some people are not figuring into their equation are:
1. New coaches across the board with the exception of Pete.
2. A new offense. This can be a wild card. I have to assume the overall performance of the offense will improve. If they show enough improvement to score in the first quarter then they've improved 25% right out of the gate. They are also adamant about improving the run game.
3. With an improved run game comes time of possession. That lends itself directly to rest for the defense. A rested defense can be quick throughout the game.
4. Time of possession means clock control. Less time for the opponent to score. This was one of the biggest factors in that historic defense.

Football 101 right there.

This is pretty much the formula Pete wants to use. Simple as that. Run the damn ball and hope most of the other stuff falls in place. That keeps the game close. And when you have a QB like Wilson, you will win most of those close games.

 

[AgentDib]

People vastly underestimate the difficulty in going to the playoffs every year in the NFL. It's fine to be disappointed with last year, but we were still 9-7 with an enormous amount of injuries and a couple of narrow losses. Plenty of good teams have had worse outcomes. The only NFL team that has been more successful than us has also been able to pay the greatest QB ever half of what he's worth over the last decade. That is an unsustainable model to idolize.

Speaking of the Patriots, Brady has heard the same thing from Belichick for 18 years now. Why doesn't he complain about it in the media? In my view a few of the players like Bennett and Sherman are the ones who lost their way, putting their egos ahead of the team and not having the maturity to move on from one bad outcome.

 

[MontanaHawk05]

I would rather like to think that they are refining their way.

I've said it for years, that I disagreed with Schneider's concept of grading drafts relative to your team. I felt and wrote that it was a recipe for passing on great talent for midlevel/replacement level upgrades at soft positions.

That resulted in having generically bad players not worth resigning over the course of multiple successive drafts and forcing us to resign great, if aging talent.

Simply put, I don't think they lost their way. So much as they made a mistake (repeatedly unfortunately). Their way early on was to fail quickly. And I think in that sense they are sticking with their way. By getting rid of guys whose time here had run it's course.

Seattle had to lose Kam Chancellor, Richard Sherman, Cliff Avril, and the starting running back on the roster to injury; have the worst OL in the league for a year; ; get a down year from Jon Ryan and Justin Britt; and sign an awful kicker...to fall to 9-7. All that's needed is to return some of these factors to marginal - maybe even just one, given we lost multiple games by one field goal's worth - and we're back in the playoffs.

So I'm really not seeing the team having lost their way. I'm seeing a down year via something of a perfect storm. I'm also seeing an awful lot of "what have you done for me lately" handwringing - not from you, Attyla, necessarily, but from a lot of fans and from the media. The media I expect it from.

 

[adeltaY]

Yeah, it's a bit much of a what have you done for me lately league, but we haven't come close to a #1 seed in a few years now and that's really what I'm looking for in order for us to be contending. We did have a shot at the #2 seed in 2016, but blew that in embarrassing fashion to a hapless Cards team at home... Just haven't played well enough consistently since 2014 tbh. Blown leads to Cinci and Carolina in 2015, getting swept by a terrible Rams team. Wilson was injured, yes, in 2016, but there's no excuse for the aforementioned Cards loss or the Bucs loss, both of which occurred later in the year when he was healthier.

Honestly, we had a shot in those years, but you just have to win enough damn games man. Locking up a bye (usually at least 12 wins) puts you in a great position to compete and we just haven't done that since 2014. Playoff games at home are a huge deal, especially for the Seahawks.

 

[brimsalabim]

I don’t believe “lost their way” is the proper way to put it. It’s more like Pete’s original plan ran its course. He got us to two owls with it but it was never long term sustainable. Hopefully he has another plan or can re start his cycle again.

 

[Jimjones0384]

Can we just call this the "fishwife culture" and be done with it?

God, I miss the days of actual sports writing and good sound football discussions, rather than ridiculous gossip and conjecture.

I miss the day when football players acted like men. Not whine about things like, "the coaches message has gotten stale." You get paid tens of millions of dollars, win a Superbowl, but just can't stand the stale message? Grow a fricking pair.

 

[mistaowen]

I read the article a couple of times and I see where Sherm's going with this. His definition of losing our way:
-Type of players
-Reactive/Not proactive in player acquisition
-Always compete

lukerguy's avatar is a perfect example of what our WRs are required to do and do well: Block. When was the last time you saw a WR deliver a crushing block like Tate did to that Cowboy LB? Instead, Kearse and Tate were replaced with Harvin and PRich. Fast guys who avoided blocks like Jimmy. Lockett does a great Tate imitation on returns, but blocking?

And speaking about Jimmy, we did a terrible job replacing Zach Miler. Vannett and now Dissly. Last year was awful. If we want to run the ball, put Vannett out there. Sure Jimmy is getting paid, but there's no way, I mean no way he's a better blocker then Vannett. is that always compete?

And speaking about always compete, Cary Williams was inserted as a starter despite having zero experience on the kick step. Jeremy Lane and Deshawn Shead was groomed to play this style and they did a much better job, but, Williams was starting and getting burned in the terrible learn/train on the field. How did that go?

Reactive/Fly by the seat of you pants player acquisition. When we traded Unger, did we have someone on the roster to replace him? Nope. We scrambled by signing a street free agent- Patrick Lewis- and a retread Lemuel Jeanlepew-something.
RB one year was terrible too. We traded Christine Micheal to Dallas, resigned him, then cut him when we realized why we got rid of him in the first place.

This is just a couple of examples I can think of.

So, why are the reporters NOT looking at WRs and to determine if the coaches are preaching blocking techniques. If Vannett or Dissly outperform Dickson, they better play -Always compete? Glad to hear PC say Penny needs to block because that's always been a requirement. I hope they select a good blocking FB, because we saw the scamble mode here after MRob and Derrick Coleman left the team. Remember not signing/signing Will Tukuafu? And remember Marcel Reese? He did a good job too...but what happened there?

PC wants to instill what made this team a SB winner...I hope we see the desire, play because you deserve it, no scramble mode in filling roster spots this year.

Good post.

Man, I miss Golden Tate. I understand the desire for a player like Harvin, I was pumped when we got him, but Golden was the epitome of what is needed at WR for this offense. Elusive, tough SOB, home run threat, did all the little things well, solid blocker, chip on his shoulder. He landed in a great spot with the Lions, gets tons of passes and a good contract, but in retrospect he should have never been let go.

 

[toffee]

See I feel like we already had lost our way 2-3 years ago by keeping our overpriced defensive stars and getting away from pounding the rock, resulted in getting soft on defense an offense.

So HAVE we lost our way? No. DID we lose our way and are now getting back to building a young nasty defense again to pair with a physical run game using Russell's amazing play action? Yes.

This

 

[brimsalabim]

I was speaking in a broader sense but you are correct that the loss of a running game has derailed one of the deadliest play action threats the league has seen.