hawknation2018":2cye2v0w said:
I think there is too much bashing of former players. Bennett was great when he was here. Helped the Seahawks win a Super Bowl. He got traded for practically nothing and made a stupid comment after the fact about not paying attention during team meetings. We had an amazing defense when Bennett was here and healthy. The defense would be better today if they had the cap space to afford Bennett and knew he would stay healthy.
Groupthink often becomes an echo chamber of ignorance.
I respectfully disagree with you hawnation2018. Here's why:
1. There should be no doubt that Hawks 2017 had way better players than Hawks 2018 on the defense side.
2. Compare the result of defense Hawk '17 vs Hawk '18? The set back was way smaller than the depleted roster would suggest. We are #6 in points allowed per game up to this point at 20.5/game; 2017? We were #13 at 20.8/game.
3. Ummm... but the stars, Bennett etc. did put up good stat in '17, even now in '18 with their new teams, so why didn't the team defense benefit from their individual effort in 2017? or why their absence are so invisible in Hawk defense '18?
In the end, football as we know it still is a team sport. when stars aka locker room leaders are being negative and destructive in the locker room, the whole unit suffered as they couldn't function as a team, this is after all not tennis. Let's be honest, Tre Flowers '18 is no way better than Sherm, Earl is way superior than Tedric, Sheldon Richardson vs Shamar Stephen? Bimmer vs Hyundai? No one can argue Green/Dion is anywhere close to Bennett or Avril, may be one day in the future but not now. But hey when Flowers, Tredic, of the world bought into a system, being hungry and played as team, they may not excel, but very serviceable, and with upsides. Needless to say, aging stars had no upsides, aging team spirit destroying stars were must trades.
Even as a Pete Carroll homer, I think it's fair to question why Pete lost the heart of all the stars that he picked, molded, and nourished. I am hoping Pete learned from the past mistakes and not let that repeat on the current youngsters.