Notes from the Nest: Seahawks show their true colors in 30-24 loss
This Seahawks coaching staff is struggling, and that can be good
If I’m going to play the blame game, I think we have to look at this coaching staff. Clint Hurtt has seen this defense fail as a 3-4, look NFC championship worthy for about a month going back to some old defensive schemes, only to fall back into misery. They can’t stop the run, at all.
Yes, Shelby Harris being out and Al Woods getting hurt didn’t help. But this Seahawks team continues to go belly-up against the run. There’s either a clear talent gap, a disconnect between coaching and the players executing, or just a lack of effort to stop the run right now.
It has been and continues to be the most demoralizing way to beat an opponent. Fans of the Seahawks have been fortunate enough to watch Shaun Alexander, Walter Jones, and Steve Hutchinson do this to teams for half a decade. Beastmode, Wilson, and the underrated Seahawks offensive line of those Super Bowl seasons demoralized teams for 3 straight years unlike anyone else in the NFL. When it is one, there’s no better way to put an opposing team in the dirt.
The defense doesn’t have that, and it is truly unfortunate considering the offense is playing near a top 5 level. The Seahawks currently rank 31st in the NFL in run defense, only ahead of the tanking Houston Texans. I firmly believe that with a league-average run defense, Seattle is probably close to 10-3 right now. It is truly a shame and a waste of a potential miracle season.
The offense, while still scoring at a high level, is not excused from this blame pie. Shane Waldron has made a name for himself this season. He has Seattle looking as potent as we’ve seen them through 13 games in years. While I don’t expect him to get a head coaching job this year, the clock appears to be ticking. While I’ve been a fan of his, I think he really hurt Seattle’s chances of coming back on Sunday.
After Seattle got that massive stop at the goal line late in the 3rd quarter to keep the score at 20-17 Carolina, Seattle began marching from the 4-yard line. Three straight vertical and aggressive pass completions had the Seahawks their own 43. The offense and Geno were humming, and then Seattle ran less than 100 percent Travis Homer into the middle of a stellar Panthers run defense. The play-call was horrendous, only to be outdone by another poorly executed screen pass to Noah Fant. The two plays put the Seahawks in a tough spot, and Geno was sacked on the next play. The Seahawks punted, and likely lost the game at that point.
I simply didn’t understand Waldron’s mindset on that drive. He came out in shotgun and looked to throw aggressively on the first five plays, only to chicken out when you have the Panthers on the ropes. You had completed first-down throws to your best players, Lockett, Dissly, and Metcalf, and got to midfield. Trust the stars that got you back into the game, not a run play from your number 4 running back and a tight end screen. That drive died at the hands of Waldron.
Lastly, Pete…my man…what are you doing? Stop wasting timeouts and challenges on plays that are clearly not going to be overturned. Don’t make me hire Mina Kimes to do the job that obviously needs to be done. Somebody, please take his challenge flag away.
I was also curious about what he was gonna say after the game. Pete has built a Hall of Fame legacy on running the football and stopping the run, something that this team can’t do anymore.
This quote is pretty telling. In my opinion, Pete is clearly saying that the coaching staff is trying, but this defense just doesn’t have the talent to get the job done when it comes to stopping the run. This is clearly an indictment on Pete Carroll, but also can be a good thing. Acceptance is important, and we will see in free agency and the draft how much the Seahawks look to rebuild their defensive front seven.
If not, at some point you have to look at how many coordinators have to fall on the sword before the seat gets hot on Carroll.