JayhawkMike":2bxasy8d said:
It’s all words until it happens. If our defense looks like the last 4 years of failure we will know the words were $h!t.
Here’s to hoping though.
I heard this interview, and Pete has always given his coaches leeway. I do think that Clint is going to get more though. He said that Pete asked him to look for his staff, so Hurtt called around listening to recommendations, and the name that kept coming up was Desai.
The fact that this defense was so bad the past couple of years, proves to me that Pete was giving Norton a lot of "autonomy." Dave Wyman went back and looked at Kenny's defenses with the Raiders, and here in Seattle, and the stats were very similar. During his stint with the Raiders, head coach Jack Del Rio, (a former DC), got mad at Ken Norton and took play-calling duties away from him for a while.
IMHO, Pete gave Ken Norton too much autonomy, and held on to him much too long. Just like with Trey Flowers, Pete was trying to bring him a long, and it didn't work.
After we had no chance at the playoffs, I think Pete told Shane Waldron: "The entire Offense is all yours, Offensive Line, all of it. Let's see what you got." And we saw what he had. The addition of Penny helped, and Russell's slowly healing finger helped, but I think the initial holes and available receivers were Shane and Andy Dickerson's doing.
Again, IMHO, that's what gave Pete the confidence to let Solari go.
I think we're going to see a HUGE improvement in our defense, and it will all be because of Clint Hurtt, and his staff.
But some of you will hold on to the old argument "It's Pete's defense, and he will never change." Give the opposite opinoin a legitimate chance, and I think you'll see it differently.,