What did you expect this year?

[Wsumatt1982]

I was just looking for improvement and a direction. No win-loss expectations. For the most part we have seen that. The off-season and what we do to fix areas of opportunity will be telling

 

[James in PA]

I expected playoffs at the very least after 2 years of 9-8 and getting a better defensive mind in here. This year has been a disappointment.

 

[MontanaHawk05]

I expected playoffs at the very least after 2 years of 9-8 and getting a better defensive mind in here. This year has been a disappointment.

Not all that solid an expectation for a first-year head coach. They're pretty much exactly where I expected.

 

[flv2]

I thought the Seahawks would regress slightly and win 7 or 8 games - based on having below average cap and Draft capital available. At this point they are above expectations. This is possibly because they've been healthier than expectations, (not that any fan ever wants to hear that about their team).

 

[Shane Falco]

I was expecting to see steady improvement as the season progressed. We've seen that on defense. I think about as much as possible with the current players on the roster. Defense is easy going forward, just keep adding talent when possible.

But we haven't seen that on offense. So inconsistent still. Pretty big disappointment really. Going to be so many question marks going into the offseason and next season.

 

[FrodosFinger]

I expected a high caliber starting center in Connor Williams. I expected Walker to piece together a complete season. I expected Dodson and Baker to be worth a sh!t. I expected less injuries as we were absolutely decimated by injuries. I expected growing pains and I expected Geno to turn in complete games instead of the interceptions and at time poor decisions. The ******* interceptions man. Come on Geno pull your head out

 

[seahawks08]

I expected the defense to grow and start being stout. The 3 win start messed everything though. That gave me hope of winning the division. What I expected was a messy offense with a critical focus on establishing the runs to get the OL right. Grub gets cute unless he is on purpose trying to stretch the offense to see who we have to keep, trade or draft. I expected more loses but wanted to see a more stable run game.

 

[joeosprey]

Peteball for the last 5+ years at least:

Inability to stop the run and making back-up running backs look like All-pros.
No creative blitzes and zero ability to confuse or consistently get to the quarterback.
Geno being a statue in the pocket and making game altering mistakes, while pouting on the sidelines. DK pouting on the sidelines while he drops everything and evidentially his fumbilitis hit JSN now.
Can't run the ball consistently versus any good team and the O-line get's punched in the mouth versus any team worth a damn.
Special teams has now regressed and now is a liability (FG block last game and we got lucky on the thumb touching). Constant dumb mistakes.

Has any of this really improved over this season? I feel like I watch the same thing every year over and over and honestly just worn out watching our opponents have 45+ min of possession a game. Maybe it will improve as time goes on with MM and he brings his guys in over the next few years, and I'm willing to be patient, but it feels like we've regressed every week, which should be the complete opposite with a "genius" rookie head-coach.

it's this list you posted warrents the firing of john schneider

 

[joeosprey]

I expected this to be an evaluation of talent and who stays with this team into 2025 and beyond geno smith is deffinitely not going to be with the seahawks next year

 

[Crizilla]

Honestly not much but after the 3-0 start I really thought they would make the playoffs. Hoping the NFL lets the cards win next week

 

[FrodosFinger]

Honestly not much but after the 3-0 start I really thought they would make the playoffs. Hoping the NFL lets the cards win next week

Ikr. I feel like the Jets just layed down on purpose in the second half ffs

 

[SoulfishHawk]

8 to 9 wins was my expectation. This season has been the exact rollercoaster many of us expected.
Shoot, they had the lead over a 12-win team w/4 minutes left yesterday. I certainly didn't see that coming.

 

[DarkVictory23]

I was expecting to see steady improvement as the season progressed. We've seen that on defense. I think about as much as possible with the current players on the roster. Defense is easy going forward, just keep adding talent when possible.

But we haven't seen that on offense. So inconsistent still. Pretty big disappointment really. Going to be so many question marks going into the offseason and next season.

I think the defensive improvement has been pretty remarkable. Coming into this game, we were a top 10 Defense. We finished last year in the bottom 5.

I'm pretty disappointed in the offense. I honestly thought Grubb was going to have some growing pains, but so much of what he has done has been so inexplicable and he seems completely incapable of taking any positive steps from one week into the next.

Against the Jets, we run Duos for a lot of Success. Ok, finally, we've got a run concept we can lean on and build around in the running game. We've only been waiting for that for 2 and a half seasons.
Then the Cards game happens. We basically abandon Duos, but it's ok, we run GT Counter for ridiculous levels of success! Ok, THIS is our run concept.
Then we play Green Bay. GT Counter, non-existent. Duos, once or twice.
Minnesota. GT Counter, non-existent. Duos, once or twice.

This isn't 'College coach learning the NFL game' type of problem. This is a fundamental 'I'm in over my head being an OC with a defensive minded head coach' type of problem.

Ikr. I feel like the Jets just layed down on purpose in the second half ffs

Yeah, it was the 'we're out of the playoffs, so why not go for it on every fourth down?' mindset that crept into the game.

Rams obviously did not out-talent the Jets. It's amazing that the team that has played the worst in our division this year is on track to win it. Sometimes, life isn't fair.

 

[FrodosFinger]

I think the defensive improvement has been pretty remarkable. Coming into this game, we were a top 10 Defense. We finished last year in the bottom 5.

I'm pretty disappointed in the offense. I honestly thought Grubb was going to have some growing pains, but so much of what he has done has been so inexplicable and he seems completely incapable of taking any positive steps from one week into the next.

Against the Jets, we run Duos for a lot of Success. Ok, finally, we've got a run concept we can lean on and build around in the running game. We've only been waiting for that for 2 and a half seasons.
Then the Cards game happens. We basically abandon Duos, but it's ok, we run GT Counter for ridiculous levels of success! Ok, THIS is our run concept.
Then we play Green Bay. GT Counter, non-existent. Duos, once or twice.
Minnesota. GT Counter, non-existent. Duos, once or twice.

This isn't 'College coach learning the NFL game' type of problem. This is a fundamental 'I'm in over my head being an OC with a defensive minded head coach' type of problem.



Yeah, it was the 'we're out of the playoffs, so why not go for it on every fourth down?' mindset that crept into the game.

Rams obviously did not out-talent the Jets. It's amazing that the team that has played the worst in our division this year is on track to win it. Sometimes, life isn't fair.

Tbh I think the Cards are going to beat the Rams but we’ll end up losing to LA due to interceptions by Smith

 

[nwHawk]

Tbh I think the Cards are going to beat the Rams but we’ll end up losing to LA due to interceptions by Smith

Now that would be too fitting.

 

[NoGain]

My prediction in that prediction thread at the beginning of the season was finishing 9-8 and possibly squeaking into the playoffs. I thought 10-7 was a possibility, and 11-5 kind of a wet dream. I thought 8-9 would be disappointing given our schedule and offensive weapons, and anything worse more than a little disappointing.

We'll see what happens...

 

[Fresno Hawk]

I had the Hawks at 8 wins with potential of 10 wins. To me it's been clear, Mike has made 1 major decision mistake this off-season on his coaching staff. And it's Grubb, dose he keep him or give him his walking papers. As far as player personal i would say Geno is the big decision, although I get the feeling Geno has made the decision for them already.

 

[DarkVictory23]

I had the Hawks at 8 wins with potential of 10 wins. To me it's been clear, Mike has made 1 major decision mistake this off-season on his coaching staff. And it's Grubb, dose he keep him or give him his walking papers. As far as player personal i would say Geno is the big decision, although I get the feeling Geno has made the decision for them already.

I think the question with Grubb is sort of the same as what we saw with Clint Hurtt and Pete. Clint brought a flawed system, implemented poorly, and our defense dropped quite a bit. (From a top 10ish defense in 2021, to bottom 10ish in 2022). Pete decided he'd stick with his guy and 'tweak' his system... and we ended up bottom 5.

This is the cautionary tale for what Mike does with Grubb. We had a top 10ish offense in 2023. We have dropped to just outside the bottom 10.

Obviously, this is an inexact parallel. Clint Hurtt was a defensive coordinator working under a very experienced, defensive head coach. Grubb is an OC under a very inexperienced, defensive head coach. But the shades are there.

After Sunday, I've decided what I'd do, but I'm just a fan and haven't been working with the guy every week. Maybe Mac sees signs that the guy can actually turn things around with another offseason under his belt and the time to digest everything that's happened this year... of course, that's what Pete thought about Hurtt, too.

 

[Fresno Hawk]

I think the question with Grubb is sort of the same as what we saw with Clint Hurtt and Pete. Clint brought a flawed system, implemented poorly, and our defense dropped quite a bit. (From a top 10ish defense in 2021, to bottom 10ish in 2022). Pete decided he'd stick with his guy and 'tweak' his system... and we ended up bottom 5.

This is the cautionary tale for what Mike does with Grubb. We had a top 10ish offense in 2023. We have dropped to just outside the bottom 10.

Obviously, this is an inexact parallel. Clint Hurtt was a defensive coordinator working under a very experienced, defensive head coach. Grubb is an OC under a very inexperienced, defensive head coach. But the shades are there.

After Sunday, I've decided what I'd do, but I'm just a fan and haven't been working with the guy every week. Maybe Mac sees signs that the guy can actually turn things around with another offseason under his belt and the time to digest everything that's happened this year... of course, that's what Pete thought about Hurtt, too.

There's only 1 reason I would keep Grubb if I were Mike. And thats because changing coordinator's in back to back years is not a good thing for any team. And if we keep Grubb it will give the players another year in his offense. Which can only benefit all offensive players.

 

[DarkVictory23]

There's only 1 reason I would keep Grubb if I were Mike. And thats because changing coordinator's in back to back years is not a good thing for any team. And if we keep Grubb it will give the players another year in his offense. Which can only benefit all offensive players.

I can see that argument. This assumes, of course, that Grubb's system isn't inherently flawed (or that he's capable of adapting to remove those flaws). I am not sure I share that assumption, but I understand it.

This year, one of the big benefits of keeping Geno is that we knew at least at a baseline level of what our offense was capable of. We fell off that level quite clearly and while we've seen flashes of Grubb doing something in a game here or a game there, there hasn't been any clearly identifiable growth curve. Many of the issues we saw in the first weeks of the season just popped up again in Weeks 15 and 16.

If we keep Grubb, we're basically dedicating a second year of Macdonald's tenure to trying to determine if Grubb can figure out how to coordinate at an NFL level, which was something we'd hoped to figure out by the end of this year.

This has pretty big implications for how seriously close we think we are to being a contender next year, what our next moves will be at QB, etc. It's honestly a massive decision that they are making here that has pretty big implications for Macdonald's tenure as HC.