Man, you've just laid down a veritable Thanksgiving dinner to nosh off of. Where to start?
Coaching: A team truly seems to reflect it's leader. Under Mora the Hawks were shrill and mentally mistake-prone. Watch an '09 Mora press conference after a loss and you'll see where that came from. Say what you will about Carroll's cliche'd approach to not just football, but life, it's working. The Knox comparison is appropriate. His biggest strength so far this season, though, is his ability to adjust on the fly.
D: Much tougher, not prone to mental errors, SMOTHERING run D.
O: Okung held strong against Peppers today. What a welcome development. Hasselbeck has become a top-tier backup. He can lead a team to a win because of his smarts, preperation, and leadership. But he can't put a team on his back anymore. His arm strength, which has never been great, has diminished and his accuracy has declined as well.
Special Teams: This deserves a spotlight. After suffering under years of terrible kick coverage and a static return game, this year has been a revelation so far. Now if they can just learn to catch a punt consistantly.
Overall: No one. Again - NO ONE picked the Hawks to compete for the division this year. The thinking was that Pete needed 2 or 3 years to get his personnel into place. And the Hawks fans seemed OK with that. Winning, heck competing, this year like they currently are is gravy. I can see the future and am optimistic. The only question is with regards to the next QB. This is the question that will also answer another important question: Will Carroll's Seahawk era be a success?
Q. Does SSI see Carroll as a Shanahan-style brainiac or a Belichick-style virtuoso?
A. I wouldn't guess so, but I see him as kind of a 21st-century version of Chuck Knox.
(1) Knox was an extreme player's coach, a man that NFL players simply loved to play for. Players believed in Knox, trusted him, bought into him.
(2) Knox believed in "hard-nosed" football, not as a cliche, but as a reality. Chuck's teams did not get pushed around.
(3) Chuck certainly wasn't up to his later rivals, the Bill Walshes and Joe Gibbses, when it came to X's and O's. But despite the fact that he wasn't a genius, Knox' knowledge of the game was truly comprehensive.
Knox was the one Seattle coach, I've ever seen, where the local beat writers wouldn't argue X's, O's and matchups with him. Knox's knowledge commanded respect.
One reporter went, "Granted he has forgotten more football than we'll ever know. Why doesn't he teach us, then, instead of condescending to us with cliches?"
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In all those areas, Carroll reminds me of Knox. He's a special leader, an above-average scholar, a rawhide-tough fighting man.
It's possible that Carroll is now an excellent NFL coach. I don't know.
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Q. Carroll sure turned the roster over. How can the Seahawks play so crisply?
A. One announcer mentioned the strange intersection of [27 new players]* times [low-mistake football] in Seattle.
You can quibble, but you know what I mean. Considering that Carroll powerflushed half the 2009 roster, it's amazing to me how crisply the 2010 Seahawks are playing.
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Jimmy Johnson provided the answer. "It's like when I came out of Miami. You've been recruiting all these guys on the NFL fringe. You know which ones are good and which aren't," or somesuch.
Johnson said that Carroll will have a big advantage in 2010 and also in 2011: he'll be better than (say) Mike Singletary at judging the young players around the league.
Mike Williams is a lot of fun to watch.
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Q. How about the offense?
A. Well, that's another subject. :- ) This is not a Strat-O offense you'd be willing to play with.
I'm up for Whitehurst, how about you?
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Still, I've seen worse, believe me. The offensive line is in there plugging.
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Q. Hasselbeck's done?
A. Hasselbeck, though wayyyy over the hill, can still read the defenses. Hass isn't what he used to be, but it's not like he's Rick Mirer, now is he?
I'm hoping that he's still capable of some individual good games. It could go either way. We imagine that Pete Carroll will have the stones to go to Whitehurst when it's time.
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The Seahawks may lay down and die like they did under Mora, but I doubt it. SSI advises you to enjoy the season. It may very well be a good one.
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Q. Seahawks vs Da Bears?
A. My son John predicts 8-8 for the Seahawks this year: 8 wins at home and 8 losses on the road. :- )
He's only half kidding. With 27 new players, and an eggshell-fragile project going on, the home field is bigger than usual.
The Seahawks are what, 8-point dogs, but the Bears' offense is turf-y enough that it will be a game well worth watching.
In the 1st quarter, I'll be watching to see if the D can bully Chicago's offense, and if it does, will be hoping for a few turnovers / special teams plays to give us a shot. Da Bears might be 3:1 faves, but I've got nothing against watching a 3:1 game.
If the Hawks can poach one on the road here, they'll probably be in the division after ten games, with the 4-in-6 home stretch lurking.
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Enjoy,
Dr D
Comments
The Hawks were like 150-19 in total yards, and over the loudspeaker they said Jennings was out with a hammy...
Seemed like 3 of the next 5 plays were 40+ against backup corners...
The worthless nickel guys weren't fatal, provided the starters were healthy... as it is, Carroll better use some of that Jimmy Johnson scour-age to get us a cover man or 3...
Rams and Cards can't be happy to see that the Hawks are capable of a performance like this...
I think that Thurmond held up fairly well spelling Jennings. The big plays against us were seemingly entirely compromised of missed tackles that went for big yards and, hence, preventable in the future.
That screen play is KILLING us, though. I wonder what we're doing, technically, that burns us so much.
Mike Salk is the only one with an opinion of Mike Williams on the Seattle sports scene: That he's OK to have for a project but if he's your primary receiver your team has MAJOR personnel issues.
The Mike Williams I saw today was a game changer. Tall, fast, good hands, ran solid routes. It doesn't matter what he was doing last year. It matters what he's doing now and that is being a legitimate #1 receiver.
Mebane was out? How did I miss that? And we still generated that much pressure? *shakes head* Jeez, this D looks very nice.