Seahawks have perfect opportunity to make a critical coaching change

The Seattle Seahawks have dropped their last two games, and neither loss was close. It's time to shake things up on the staff and the perfect opportunity just presented itself. Thanks to the Jets for gift-wrapping this.

Obviously, the last two Seahawks games didn't go according to plan. A more cerebral person might say they had suboptimal outcomes. I'll just say the Hawks sucked. At least against the Lions, there were some mitigating circumstances. Being down six defenders by the second half didn't help, that's for sure. But allowing Jared Goff to set an all-time league record isn't acceptable.

On the face of it, a 29-20 loss isn't as bad as the 42-29 defeat. But the Lions are good, while the Giants - well, let's be charitable and just say not so much. Yes, their final six points came on a blocked field goal that would have tied the game for the Hawks. Seattle was completely dominated in all three phases of the game. No less an authority than Mike Macdonald confirmed this. And that, dear 12s, brings up coach Mike Macdonald.

The Seattle Seahawks must make a coaching change now

Yes, I'm well aware it's Tuesday, and the Hawks have a game in about, oh, about 48 hours, depending on when you're reading this. There are several keys to Seattle pulling out the win over San Francisco. I agree with all three players Mr. Coleman mentioned, especially Walker. At this point, I think the Hawks need more than on-field performances to maximize their results. They need a shakeup on the coaching staff.

No, I am definitely not calling for the dismissal of Mike Macdonald, Ryan Grubb, or any of the Seattle staff. Five games into their first season, that would be absurd. Yes, it's an asinine thought, even if the Twitterverse seems to like the idea. It's not that Luis is anyone special, but his tweets were just one of dozens of similar ones.

Luis, I'm sure God and your mom love you, but you're as wrong about firing Macdonald as you are about the capitalization. Macdonald doesn't need to be fired. He needs to be the head coach and just the head coach. With a new defensive scheme, a new offensive scheme, and rookies at all three coordinator positions, Mike Macdonald needs to focus on the big picture within the game.

That leads me to the big opportunity that has presented itself to Seattle. I understand why Macdonald might be hesitant to turn the play-calling duties over to Aden Durde, the Hawks DC. Let's face it, if he isn't calling the plays, he's the DC in name only. He was excellent as the Cowboys defensive line coach, but that doesn't exactly give him experience at calling for the right defense in the moment, every play.

The New York Jets fired their head coach, Robert Saleh. Whether this was due to tensions with Aaron Rodgers or not is immaterial. The Jets were 20-26 under the defensive-minded Saleh. The fact he was oriented to that side of the ball didn't help his relationship with Rodgers.

Frankly, I don't care about his record with New York. What I find intriguing is their record on defense. In his first year as the head coach, the J-E-T-S ranked 32 in defensive yards allowed. In Year 2, he turned it completely around and had the team ranked fourth in yards and points allowed. They were third in yardage last year, and so far in 2024, the Jets rank second in the league in yardage and fifth in points,

Most 12s are well aware that Saleh was the Niners defensive coordinator from 2017 - 2020. All too aware, I might add. He inherited a team that ranked 32nd in both points and yards allowed. In his first season, he got the Niners to 25th and 24th, respectively. In 2018, the 49ers ranked 28th and 13th. By 2019, Saleh had them up to eighth and second overall. Again, that's points and yards allowed.

The team dropped off a bit in 2020, his last year before leaving for the Jets. Still, the Niners ranked a respectable 17th in points and fifth in yardage. Not surprisingly, Nick Bosa missed 15 games that year.

The point is Robert Saleh is a damn good defensive coach. I don't care that he can't get along with a selfish prima donna QB, I just want him to help Macdonald on defense. The Seahawks need to hire Saleh today. I don't care if they name him as a special assistant for defense or hire him as the DC and bump Durde down to an assistant spot. They need to get him on staff now and turn the play-calling over to him fast. Not Thursday, for gosh sakes. I'm not that crazy.

But Saleh needs to be on staff before that game, and calling plays in Atlanta for Week 7. That way, Mike Macdonald can finally be the head coach and start to take care of the issues that have been sinking the Hawks over the past two weeks.

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