Does Baldwin-Cable moment mean Seahawks have issues?

The Seahawks receiver Doug Baldwin shoved offensive line coach Tom Cable on Sunday. Seattle is full of emotional players. Does this latest sideline moment mean anything deeper is going on?

Seahawks receiver pushes coach. Have you seen it? Some of the national media who need to feast on every possible dramatic sideline moment thinks Doug Baldwin’s “shoving” of Tom Cable is a big deal. If you have not watched the brief shove, here it is.

Did it look like Baldwin was angry specifically at Cable? Or just upset?

What occurred was that Baldwin was frustrated with the inability of the Seahawks offense to score points. Seattle was dominating the New York Giants early on Sunday. Yet Seattle still found themselves trailing 7-3 at the half. Baldwin was upset in the first half. But an angry Doug Baldwin is usually a great Baldwin.

Prior to Baldwin pushing Cable away from the sideline huddle (because that is really what is was, a push and not a shove). Russell Wilson had stepped in to address his teammates. Pete Carroll had told Cable to also address Seattle’s offense. But Wilson had begun talking first. Seattle is a team where the players are a close group and they feed of each other. Baldwin felt Wilson needed to address the offense.

This doesn’t make what Baldwin did right, but it makes it understandable. The reason I point out that Baldwin pushed Cable and not shoved him is because a “shove” implies anger towards that person. Baldwin was frustrated with the moment, not the coach. That may seem minor, but it’s important. Or as Baldwin said, “At that moment, I was really frustrated with the offense as a whole. Not the coaching staff, the players.”

What does it mean?

Twice after the incident, Baldwin apologized to Cable. After the game, the receiver said the moment was “100 percent my fault. I lost my cool.” He did. But Baldwin is a stand-up guy. He is smart. There was no malice in Baldwin’s push. Cable knows that. So do all the Seahawks.

And therein lies the culture of the Seahawks. The players are an emotional group. They need the emotion. Is it a coincidence that after a heated moment on the sideline the Seahawks offense scored three second half touchdowns? Probably not.

Related Story: 3 reasons why the Seahawks won on Sunday

There are not issues in the locker room in Seattle. The team just needs chaos sometimes to be great.