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Real Hawk Talk Episode 24 – Early Seahawks Offseason Plans

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The boys get together to discuss the pleasantly surprising win over the Cowboys that ended their playoff hopes and the finale against Bruce Arians in what appears to be his final game. Can they make the playoffs? Nathan and Brian spend some time debating the merits of moving to a more pass-centric Seahawks offense and whether coaching changes are needed.

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  1. Re Pete Carroll’s post season presser: “Rah-rah, blah-blah, rah, rah, rah.”

    Yo, Pete, we already bought that used Studebaker last year and the year before. The engine, it needs work, yeah, right, but with your buddies Cable & Bevell at the wheel it ain’t going any further than a top ten draft pick in 2019. (At which time JS will trade down for the player with the most potential and character flags.

    Meanwhile, Russ and Wags and KJ, etc. get one year older.

    Not so long ago, players wanted to come to VMAC. Now they’re jumping ship.

    Me so pumped and jacked. Not.

    Thanks for the write-ups &”Hawk Talks,” Brian. Much appreciated.

  2. Okay, that was an interesting back and forth. Some wishful thinking to be sure, but entertaining.

    One quick comment on Schneider maybe heading to GB……..IF (it wouldn’t be what I’d advocate for that’s why a caps IF) it was to happen, this is probably as good a time as any given how much shake up it’s going to take to swing this team back to championship caliber. The more time that goes bye though the harder it would be to deal with.

    I just wanted to zero in on the defensive player changes part of the conversation, mainly because I don’t believe the necessary coaching changes on offense I’ve advocated for elsewhere are very likely. I liked the idea of “most shocking” change. The rationale on KJ was surprising but not too crazy. The talk about Sherm though is off on the timing. Last year at this time I was okay with the idea of shipping him out for good trade material, not because of the sideline antics but, in a sort of Belichickian sinister sort of line, it was a good chance to capitalize on value. With his injuries now that whole picture has changed. JS/PC got a bit too greedy and put “if you’re stupid enough……” price tag on him……………….and missed a chance to capitalize on one of the most loaded corner back markets perhaps of all time. The draft this year is comparatively bereft of choices in that position. We might still be okay this coming year with Shead coming back, even dumping Lane as we should. We can take a flyer on talent that this staff seems to have for evaluating defensive backs (forgetting about Williams). Here’s my shocking suggestion because it should add significantly to our younger, “impact player” acquisition capability. The guy who has the highest value exchange potential this year is Thomas. Yeah, yeah, the Hawk world goes nuts. Blah blah about how much the stats swung last year when he went down. Sorry, that was as much poor scheming to adjust to his absence as it was talent deficit. Besides, we have better depth now than then if we choose……..not counting what we should ad when extracting value to leverage in his trade. I’m not as negative on McDougald as Brian. The little he filled in for ET this year he wasn’t bad………….wasn’t Earl…………but nobody is. However, as I’ve said earlier, Earl is NOT indispensable. Surprise suggestion/idea sub part B, if Sherm loses just a little in CB skill/value/execution, pull a Woodson and roll him down to SS as Kam’s replacement (tear drop, sad to believe he’s not likely to return). He’s a terrific tackler, his speed is sufficient, and he’d be an improvement in tight end coverage that we surely could use. And again I agree with Brian, he has added value in his opponent formation recognition…………..this is a high IQ guy who would probably make a fantastic DC some day if he were interested in that sort of thing (although he’d probably like the money and schedule of a TV gig better). Let the wailing begin.

  3. Got to get younger. Coaches. Scouts. Players. If changes are not made soon next year will be more frustrating. Worst rushing team I have ever followed. And the game planning was comical. Need new plan.

  4. Thanks for all of your reporting/commentary Brian. Unfortunately I don’t have 2 hours to listen to a podcast, and would appreciate a published transcript if possible. Thanks!

  5. I really had hope that the Seahawks could become a organization that could sustain greatness. Last year and now would have been the time to start making the hard decisions on players and coaches to continue to be a championship contending team. New England has giving the blueprint on how to do this and like all other teams the hawks can’t seem to do the obvious. Today the news is that Seattle we not make changes to o.c. o.l.coaching. Any one reading this should understand why at a minimum Tom Cable should be replaced. Sadly we are now heading to mediocor and then bad football once again. The pain of being a also ran organization is still in all of us who are long time fans. Now it is fully on Pete. Not using the New England way of changing how they play offence often from week to week is killing this team. Stubbon old school football is dead and we are the most stubborn. Power running is great but demanding it be done is just stupid. So much time ,effort and resources are spent on power running and short passing with bubble screens is a head scratcher. The fact that Russell can have success so much playing rat ball in the second half of every game is not sustainable. My guess is that Pete is just to nice and clearly is not in the mold of Sabin or Belicheck . So now it’s just how long it takes to start over. Why Pete can not just close his eyes and then do just what he did when he first arrived seems odd to me. If today was Pete Carroll first day again he would look at tape and see that this team has a bad o line. Next he would find a different o line coach and or o.line scout.

  6. Regarding the discussion surrounding Earl and Sherm, there’s a couple of considerations that weren’t mentioned in the discussion.

    First, it was mentioned that Sherm is a risky extension candidate due to the perceived drop off of corners at age 30. While there will be some slow decline, I don’t believe this will apply as much to Sherman, as his game is not built around speed, in the way that majority of corners’ are. Rather, his success comes from mental discipline, length, and explosion (i.e. ability to leap and swat away a ball). That explosion will decline over time, but I don’t expect the sudden drop off in production that you normally see with speed products.

    Earl, on the other hand, rely’s tremendously more on his speed to make the kind of plays we are accustomed to seeing from him, which is why I see him as, by far, the greater extension risk. The last couple of years, we’ve seen the unfortunate product of moving on from certain players a year or two too late, rather than a year or two too early, evidenced by Bennett and Marshawn, among others. I think that this is a situation where we need to come to terms with the concept of letting a player go with likely a year or more left in their prime, rather than risking holding on to them a year or more into their decline.

    With regard to how to approach such this situation, my inclination would be allow Earl and Sherman to play out the last year of their deals. If Sherman proves to be playing near his expected level coming back from his Achilles tear, extend him mid-late season. Earl should be allowed to walk in free agency in 2019, and Schneider & Carroll should be prioritizing a successor in that regard. If they resign McDougald to a multi-year deal (as they should), McDougald will play in Kam’s role in 2018, and if the succession plan for Earl is not finalized by 2019, McDougald can fill the FS role in 2019 (which he did rather well while Earl was out earlier this year) while Delano Hill makes the permanent move into the SS role.

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