It will be no surprise to you, but it's going to come down to the salary cap, and how the Seahawks manipulate it. They are REALLY good at doing that, and there are several Field Gulls posts over the course of the season explaining the hows and what ifs.
http://www.fieldgulls.com/seahawks-analysis/2014/1/7/5284500/projecting-...
I don't know Bennett so I couldn't tell you his mindset about a hometown discount, but Sidney Rice has been quoted as saying players want to come here, even for less money, to get the chance for a ring. If they get that ring this year, then I suppose it's possible that he'll take the opportunity for a big payday. But I have to think he also realizes that the reason he has done so well is at least partially due to how he has been utilized in the defensive scheme, maximizing his opportunities to contribute.
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After the Buccaneers game, the News Tribune featured a couple of Dr. D's pals in real life. Pictured above. All the credit for this incident properly accrues to Dr. D, of course.
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On the NFL Network, they were marvelling at the way the Seahawks have developed such a distinctive "identity" so soon ... considering, said Rich Eisen, that he had asked Pete Carroll about his "identity" just in 2011 and the Seahawks had none.
Carroll inherited a pile of hot garbage, retorted Deion, and he needed some time. Anyway, they went on to mention a couple of things. Here are those couple things, as well as a couple of ours:
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"Competing."
The Seahawks' "Competition Wednesday," or whatever, consists of drill contests with 1's vs 1's. Sounds cliche to us, but the ex-players were impressed. Wow, they have a lot of fun with it, and wow, is it fierce competition.
Dr. D's reaction: Michael Jordan was famous for this ... there's a story about how Phil Jackson wanted his side to lose a scrimmage, and switched Jordan to the losing side when down 8-0 (in baskets) going to 11. Jordan started screaming, going for the freight-train dunks along the baseline, and his team won 11-8... The Jordan Bulls thought of themselves as "attack dogs."
The Seahawks go bare-knuckle, every down, every game, every player, no quarter asked and none given. That's what sports should be.
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The Mariners are, well ... pretty much the opposite of that. (We hear that they're out on Tanaka because of financial constraints. Can't get carried away, you understand; they already got the Yankee face to put on the TV network. Wonder how this will go over with him?)
There are sabermetricians who fervently resist believing this. They insist on believing that every single athlete in pro baseball has exactly the same interest, as every other athlete in "striving to win or gain something by defeating or establishing superiority over others." They'd like to believe that Bert Blyleven was as fierce a competitor as Juan Marichal, that Brandon Maurer has the same on-field mindset as did Randy Johnson.
Pete Carroll gathered players with the idea of competing -- to establish superiority -- and that's what he has done.
Jack Zduriencik has some interest in gathering players like Kyle Seager and Raul Ibanez and Felix Hernandez and Eric Wedge*, and in shedding players like Brandon Morrow. But he's invested far, far too much time in other players like Tom Wilhelmsen, Justin Smoak, and Jeremy Bonderman. Such players would never be allowed near a Pete Carroll baseball team. Or a Lou Piniella team, for that matter.
That's my opinion I could be wrong. ;- )
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Running the Ball.
It's taken me a long, loooooong time to come around on Marshawn Lynch.
There was a TV shot of Beast Mode flaring out into the flat to provide a safety-valve ... before he did, he lowered his shoulder and "chipped" a defensive lineman on the way out. There wasn't really any reason to; the DL wasn't going anywhere. But the guy's arms were up, and Lynch practically busted his ribs. The guy went down, stayed down, and the Seahawk OL sort of looked down quizzically.
Lynch deals a blow, every chance he gets. That's one thing. But 100 yards? Against this SF defense, with this linebacking crew? That knows Lynch so well?
It's MMA football.
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The Mariners, whose rosters have absorbed a lot of Chuck Armstrong's philosophy, have been "classical." Hence the reluctance to move the fences in... on the sour side, the Seattle Mariners have had a nasty aversion to strike three, on either side of the ball. (Remember the Betancourt/Lopez Mariners and all the early counts?)
The game of baseball is evolving, to where the best teams strike out more both defensively and offensively, and the Mariners have historically resisted this.
Where the Seahawks have imposed classicism in a good way, the Mariners (for some reason we don't quite understand) have just come off as stubborn and behind the curve.
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Intelligent Quarterback. and Cohesive Game Management.
George Bush Sr's favorite word used to be "prudent." Dr. D rolls his eyes every time Wilson overthrows a receiver by 2 feet, just making EXXXXXXTRA sure that the defender has NOOOOOOO chance to touch the ball...
In the 1960's, Bart Starr used to play like this.
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Troy Aikman was brilliant on TV. He really was. They asked him what was wrong with the Seahawk offense the last month, and he said "It's just 3-4 big plays a game, and they're choosing not to do it. It's Carroll's philosophy to win with defense."
And he was right. Sunday, the Seahawks chose to open it up, and they had little problem doing so (adjusting for who they were playing against).
Pete Carroll built this team, with synergistic help from the GM, and he coached to the personnel. These Seahawks weren't quilted together by committee; they are the product of human intuition and judgment, something not attainable by computer or committee. The Seahawks are the product of both art and science. The vision is cohesive, and it's a pleasure to watch.
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The Seahawks are a tentacled alien invasion ship, with sinister, spiderlike appendages that are impaling everybody, and up there in the cockpit you've got a single Nicholas Cage pilot who is orchestrating the murder and mayhem.
That's kind of odd. The bad-boy 1970's Raiders had a playboy at QB. The Mean Joe Greene Steelers had a big ol' dumb redneck throwing long bombs. The 1985 Bears had a QB who ruined his neck head-butting his offensive linemen.
I don't remember a gangster football team that was ever led by Jodie Foster at the nerve center. It's a crunchy center with a milk chocolate-smooth coating.
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Russell Wilson vs Jim McMahon ... hm. Perhaps the baseball analogy would be, Mike Hargrove vs Lou Piniella, Jason Varitek vs A.J. Pierzynski, Lloyd McClendon vs Eric Wedge.
As we go down this list, we see the Mariners in evolution toward the Seahawks' side of these themes.
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Individuality.
Carroll seems to actually encourage the smack talk, believing that if you're loose, then you're playing aggressively.
Odd that the NFL's oldest* coach should be hip to the NFL Street generation. In baseball, you don't see the 60-something managers relating well to the kids.
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Six or eight years ago, the Mariners would (and did) lock out Jim Edmonds for being too flamboyant. Nowadays, that has pretty well changed, what with the Carl Everetts and Milton Bradleys.
Howard Lincoln probably still winces to see recliners in the locker room, but ... give 'im credit.
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"The 12's."
Carroll opined, with sincerity, that the home crowd "is woven into the fabric of what we do as an organization." See the above 4 items.
I seldom hear a radio phone-in caller use the term "we" without being rebuked by a constipated radio jock. "What playing did you do?," the jock will scoff, always right on cue.
As James said recently, there IS no sports without fan identification. ... But in this case, the fans actually do participate in the on-field outcomes, so the radio jocks are wrong on every level.
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The Mariners "appreciate" their paying audience in a fundamentally different way. There are a lot of things to do at Safeco, besides just watch a baseball game, you know.
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Explosive Plays.
Such as, Doug Baldwin's 69-yard kickoff return. Sometimes it seems like every Seahawk offensive player can hit the GameBreaker button. Most of the defensive players can create turnovers, and supposedly the Seahawks have a "Turnover Theory."
Carroll seeks this kind of Home Run hitter, and he finds them, and he deploys them. It's part of his sporting philosophy ...
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But let's not forget our cross-training tennis shoes. It is still fashionable to sneer at Jack Zduriencik's quest for power in baseball. By "still" we mean like "this week."
At a minimum, let's remember that Zduriencik is not alone in his belief that it is good, in baseball, to hit the ball a long way. Earl Weaver devoted an entire chapter of Weaver on Strategy to home runs. "I'll never understand why people can't see that it's the greatest play in baseball ... I design my teams to hit at least 150 homers (this in the 1970's and 1980's)."
Not just Earl. Lots of guys. For example, at Bill James Online the idea is treated with respect. ... of course, you want good hitters, period ... you'll never take a 4 runs/game hitter over a 7 runs/game hitter because the 4.0 RC/27 guy hits homers. But that's not what Zduriencik is talking about. Corey Hart is not a 4.0 RC/27 hitter.
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Excellence.
The Seahawks are one of the few NFL teams ever to rank #1 in DVOA in back-to-back seasons, and their pass defense ranks with any ever put on the football field.
In Strat-O-Matic, we used to love to play matchups like the 1962 Packers against the 1975 Steelers. In real life, you just saw such a war; it just so happened that these two great teams (2013 SF and 2013 SEA) are contemporary.
Perhaps the 2013 Broncos offer such a Historic Heavyweight Title Bout, also. Their passing stats are certainly stunning enough.
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The Seattle Seahawks -- from Paul Allen on down -- did NOT set out with the idea of winning 9-10 games and providing a legitimate NFL experience to the Seattle football fan. They were the best team in the NFL in 2012, per DVOA, and then they went out and made a crazy trade for Percy Harvin, and signed Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril, and ...
Sports is NOT just about showing up, about just having a team and telling the city to be glad you're not in Tampa. Sports is about Edgar's Double, and it's about what happened Jan. 19, 2014, at CLink.
Dig yer top-down message, Paulie. I'm blinkin' loving it.
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Be Afraid there Peyton. Be Very Afraid,
Dr D
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Oh. Fast question for you football guys. What are the chances of retaining Michael Bennett? Is it feasible that he would do a hometown-discount thingy?
Comments
I read somewhere this week, an anecdote about John Schneider in 2007, then with Green Bay, cursing in the draft war room when the Bills took Marshawn Lynch. (Thank goodness they didn't know how to use him when they got him!) This truly has been a top down vision that was built piece by piece with full foresight and excellent execution. Amazing to see it all come together.
What a showdown, St Peyton vs the Seattle villains. Best passing O ever vs one of best passing D's. But why do I have a feeling we already got past the toughest opponent of the playoffs?
So awesome that the fan is part of the team. Watching at home, I'm encouraging the players, and I find myself even encouraging the fans to get louder. The few games I've attended at the CLink, I know I feel an obligation to be as loud as possible. I loved the camera shots at the Niners's close huddles, with everybody practically touching helmets and Kap flipping open his wrist play chart so teammates can read the play. Priceless. Seattle fans are actually changing the culture of the game.
Funny you should mention Rice. At his salary, he may not return next year, or at least maybe he'll have to take a haircut. That will free up some cap room, but there will be several guys due a raise and not all will be retained. "In Schneider we trust" to figure it out. It is nice that players now want to come to Seattle, but even with the top defense, several individuals had solid but not eye-popping seasons. They all fit on an outstanding team, but that might diminish their FA value if only looking at the surface.
I don't think anyone expects Sydney Rice to be back considering his salary load next year. But you are correct, it isn't just swapping Rice's money for Bennett, it's making sure you have the money for Earl Thomas, Richard Sherman, Kam Chancellor, Russell Wilson and others who are on their initial contract but coming up for HUGE increases in the next year or two. Harvin's salary goes up a lot next year as well so that'll eat up some of the money you'd save by releasing Rice. Tate is a free agent, Baldwin is a restricted free agent. There are going to be some very difficult personnel calls next year.
He's climbed to #10. Joining RW at #2 and Lynch at #6. I don't notice any other defensive players in the top 10. He must be doing something right w/ all this crazy (like a fox) behavior :)
No Seahawk has ever finished in the top 10 since the sales started being tallied in 2001. This year, we've got 3 of the top 10.