How unified are the Seahawks as a team really?

The Seahawks are a team built on strong personalities and outspoken players. Seattle, both the city and the team, encourage this. But on the field, are there issues?

On Sunday, the Seahawks came out after the National Anthem arm-in-arm in unity. The Titans, who were Seattle’s opponent, also did not come out for the anthem. People will have their own thoughts about what is right or wrong, in their opinion, about what teams should do pre-game. But the point here is, the Seahawks showed unity in coming onto the field the way they did. Arm-in-arm and in groups. This could show the team sees themselves as one.

The problem came after the game when Kam Chancellor said that the Seahawks were bickering in the first half. Not about politics. But about the game. And with the other team.

Chancellor, according to ESPN, said, “We’ve just got to get back to playing together, playing sound ball, taking it one play at a time, eliminating the frustration, eliminating the bickering with other teams, eliminate the extra exertion of energy that we don’t need.”

The interesting part of that is Chancellor said “back to playing together.” Seattle is a team that allows players to voice their personal opinions about football. And about life. And politics. This is a good thing. I like that my favorite team lets human beings be human beings.

Wasted energy?

But are the Seahawks starting to pull apart a bit? It’s a fair question to ask. This offseason there was an article by Seth Wickersham that Richard Sherman’s whatever had worn thin on some players. On Sunday, Sherman’s reaction to being called for holding and pass interference on the same play (still odd that both those two penalties could be called on the same play and against the same player, however) may have rubbed players the wrong way. Sherman overreacted. And trust me, I am a Sherman fan. But I was at the game and he overreacted. He took his helmet off, which he cannot do. Sherman knows this and no matter his excuse that he was going to the sidelines. He wasn’t.

Later, several Seahawks got into a heated discussion on the Titans sideline. This after a late hit on Tennessee quarterback Marcus Mariota. The tackle was late and it was a good call. In the upper-80s temperature, any extra energy was wasted. Just as Chancellor said.

We 12s do not know what really goes on in the Seahawks locker room. But we see the team come out in supposed unity. And we know that one of the undisputed leaders of the team says after the game there is a lot of “extra exertion of energy that we don’t need.” These words may say more than what we see.

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The Seahawks are a team of strong and opinionated personalities. This can break some teams apart. Seattle has always thrived on having these players. Until now. Let’s hope the future is no different.