All this talk about cream rising to the top...
You do realize that the mistake that Pete made, that essentially undermined his entire philosophy (but that now he can get back to) was what Sherm, Baldwin, and others pointed out 8 years ago and what our loss in the Superbowl made crystal clear. That the compete mantra and the idea that the best man woukd be on the field and accountability ruled was mocked by Pete's coddling of Russ. You can't pitch 'compete, scrap and fight',, when the 'coaches son' can do what he wants, and despite what teammates know to be true week in and week out (that some players can do what they want, how they want because they are praised by the coach and beloved by the media), things aren't changed.
Bit how can you change them when on the surface, the guy that needs to pick up his game is MR Franchise. You can't.
Pete and this team have been stuck in this post LOB and Beast Mode malaise for 6 years. Never quite succeeding under the Wilson flag, but nonetheless charging ahead, all the while, subtle cracks forming that culminated in the Sh!t$how that has been the last almost 3 years. Russ was our Qb but he wasn't the leader of the team. He never had the kind of character that guys could rally around. Yes. When he went into Russ mode and completely abandoned the playbook, we could do great things. But tye credit for that, by virtue of the fact that he didn't rely on his teammates actually doig their job to get the W (although they did), wasn't shared. Tyler got his press. Dk got his when he'd see the ball. But it was all too often NOT a result of them executing the way the were supposed to, but rather being where Russ wanted them to be based on his play.
That's not team ball. There's little reward for doing your job correctly. No accomplishment. Just a guy making plays and seeking out the dudes he needs to do that.
And Pete neutering criticism of Russ and declawing his defense during its peak was a massive mistake. It seeded resentment and likely dulled the edge the group played with. Defense requires aggression, anger. Russ was optimistic... and awkward. Pete went with the strange optimism ( separation is in the preparation... ) in shaping the team after 2016.
So nit competing and not playing with an edge has been a result of catering to a player that was untouchable, and in his later years, more consumed with his own identity than the teams - a qb who didn't command the same respect, by virtue of his own persona, and failed to get guys to fall in behind him.
How many other starting qbs have backups that get more love from their teammates than they do? TJack was praised and beloved and in a brief stint at atarting, Geno saw a swell of respect and support.
The fracture of this team is reflected in the broken nature of what our offense was. You'd never sit Russ because he could make things go, put up HOF stats on his own, and still won, but in ways only he could, to the detriment to the 'team' contributing, succeeding, and coming together in support of eachother and belief in the unit. The collateral damage was never seen to be 'damaging' enough that it warranted turning out the lights on the magic that Russ could wield - the spectacular wins, the stat sheet, and the idea that if we could only tweek this or that just a bit, we could get back to the big dance. We were close for a long time, but at the end, overestimated our ability to overcome the fatal flaws in the culture and strategy that Pete allowed to persist and Russ relished in.
The idea of trading Russ was always hard because he was the golden child. League star. Face of the franchise. So the skeletons were pushed to the back of the closet and discontent, quietly pushed aside.
The cream will rise to the top and the leadership is certainly there. Diggs and Adams don't have to worry about taking a back seat to the Wilson Wagon and likely biting their tongues at the obvious flaws they had to watch on the other side of the ball week in and week out. Not saying a word when their QB woukd say to the world in a postbgane presser that the issue with the team wasnt on his sude if the ball... because they were putting up points... do you think Sherm woukd have let that fly? Bennet? Do you think Russ woukd have said it if they were there or if Pete hadn't quietly condoned his behavior?
Brooks and Taylor wont have to stand behind the quiet leadership of Wagner - a guy I absolutely love, but was never the leader during the LOB days and was reluctant in stepping into the position after that group left.
In an odd way, the subtraction of the teams top two stars will have the equivalent effect of lifting the lid off a simmering pot and turning up the heat. The personalities and culture that was result of those two players will yield the fire the team has been missing.
The attitude will be back. The punishing running and fast defense will be there. And the contributions from rookies who run around with their hair on fire will come again. There's room again for more personality than just Wilson. When you understand why it left in the first place, it's not hard to predict.
What's best, and you could see this last year - even if / when either Lock or Geno struggle, I sincerely believe that there will be support for them and a commitment to pick up the slack in a way we haven't seen in a while. Simple 'team' culture support and execution. We haven't had that. Why would we have when the Seahawks were a one man show, and the HC permitted it.