Too Little Too Late? Perhaps, But...

[ZagHawk]

It's interesting the logic we try to use to convince ourself that moving on from Pete is anything more than restoring hope. Every time we look for something better it's to remain hopeful. Watching sports itself is filling ourselves with hope every year only to push that forward to the next season if this season doesn't turn out as we'd "hoped". It's purely emotional and nothing logical about it. Yet we debate endlessly and try to use "logical" arguments to rationalize trying to make ourselves feel more hopeful.

There is no data to back up the assertion that moving on from success leads to success. The outcomes of teams moving on from a successful regime has varied from abject and dismal failure (miami, NYG) to one hit wonders (Phi, TB) to ongoing mediocrity (Dallas) to a true success (if you consider NFC north domination by GB a success). Very little data to suggest you immediately improve a situation but of course you might get lucky. But luck is a fickle mistress so don't count on her.

Life is really two options...

Stick with what you're doing, but don't expect your patterned outcome to change

Try something different, it could lead to better success, it could lead to even more failure. (some are so afraid of failure, they never try something different, some do just fail and which they never tried something different, some keep failing until they eventually succeed or never succeed, and others do succeed or at least feel good that they are trying to succeed)

Making it to the playoffs is "success"...but you have a lot of fans who have watched how this team has played the last 5-6 years (which is A LOT of time) and the trajectory has been down as other teams who also succeed seem to hit that conference championship game time to time. There is a large group of fans (which it includes me) that doesn't believe Pete will be able to get past the divisional round of the playoffs again. The success this fan group is desiring is perhaps more than playoffs, its that NFCCG. There are others who believe success is just making it to the playoffs where it's any team's chance to win the SB (by definition) even though the team on the field perhaps is not a true contender year after year.

So yeah it is restoring hope you can be MORE successful, but of course it is not a guarantee. But there are those that see what the current guarantee of success is...as it's a grade B team in the NFL year after year. For most aspects of life, having a Grade B guarantee is better than risking it all (otherwise I would have quit my job and invested my life savings into Bitcoin a few years ago). But the NFL for us fans is entertainment, so yeah as a fan I'm good with risking failure and not being able to talk trash to other team fans if it perhaps means in a few years they truly contend for a SB vs squeaking into the playoffs and getting exposed as we've seen the last 3-4 seasons.

Who knows maybe RW is truly the one who is 100% at fault (His performance in the playoffs certainly could make one think that), but you'd hope the head coach had enough say to work around his ego and decision making.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

Well, they lost 5 games by 3 or less points. So there is that.
A LOT of work to do, but I don't think they are nearly as bad as some make them out to be.

You're right, but if you look deeper you'll see that it's been over a year since Russell had a game winning drive, or even a 4th quarter comeback.

He failed quite a few times this year, before and after injury. That's the alarming statistic for me. Is that an aberration? Or is it a sign that Russ may be regressing.

 

[ZagHawk]

Well, they lost 5 games by 3 or less points. So there is that.
A LOT of work to do, but I don't think they are nearly as bad as some make them out to be.

You're right, but if you look deeper you'll see that it's been over a year since Russell had a game winning drive, or even a 4th quarter comeback.

He failed quite a few times this year, before and after injury. That's the alarming statistic for me. Is that an aberration? Or is it a sign that Russ may be regressing.

:ditto: That was a true difference this season. Which reared its ugly head in the first OT game where the Hawks got possession and RW went 4 and out. Where previous seasons we've grown accustomed to something a little more than that.

One also wonders perhaps other teams have seen these 4th quarter come back drives by RW season after season so long they learned how to adjust their defenses to mitigate these RW heroic comebacks a little better. So perhaps he hasn't regressed but was figured out. At least you'd think players and coached who are paid millions of dollars are capable of this.

 

[chris98251]

Asking a girl to go out and her saying yes is considered a success, not having a second date, well that's our playoffs the last 5 or 6 years.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

Go Hawks

 

[Sgt. Largent]

Well, they lost 5 games by 3 or less points. So there is that.
A LOT of work to do, but I don't think they are nearly as bad as some make them out to be.

You're right, but if you look deeper you'll see that it's been over a year since Russell had a game winning drive, or even a 4th quarter comeback.

He failed quite a few times this year, before and after injury. That's the alarming statistic for me. Is that an aberration? Or is it a sign that Russ may be regressing.

:ditto: That was a true difference this season. Which reared its ugly head in the first OT game where the Hawks got possession and RW went 4 and out. Where previous seasons we've grown accustomed to something a little more than that.

One also wonders perhaps other teams have seen these 4th quarter come back drives by RW season after season so long they learned how to adjust their defenses to mitigate these RW heroic comebacks a little better. So perhaps he hasn't regressed but was figured out. At least you'd think players and coached who are paid millions of dollars are capable of this.

I think smart coaches and good defenses have figured out what Russ's tendencies are, and takes them away.....and he refuses to adapt and change the way he attacks certain schemes.

Obviously this is a group effort that includes Waldron, Pete and Russ. They all have to do a better job of figuring out what works in the two and four minute drills that will get Russell back on track to being his old clutch self in the 4th quarter.

But in general, IMO that's what's going on.

 

[scutterhawk]

I for one can hold my head high today as a Seattle Seahawks fan. Sure, they fell well short of their and our expectations this year. 7-10 is not a record any one of us would have predicted heading into this season coming off a 12-4 division-winning season. We can spend countless hours (and we do) discussing the whys and hows of it all but what I want to celebrate today is a team that clearly has pride and didn't ever once quit on each other or their coach.

The Lions is one thing. But beating a sound divisional opponent who gave it their all against us because a win meant they would secure the division title, and yet we still beat them? That's solid. That's something to build off of. I'm not suggesting keeping the band together exactly. Yes, there will still be changes in the offseason but that's nothing new.

I do believe we still have the talent and foundation - with the appropriate offseason moves - to be right back in the thick of things next year.

It was a challenging year for us all. Players, coaches, fans... But there's always next year and I have hope for a better season in 2022.

This ^
I want to see more high-octane games like the last two of this season, as they were TRUE "Pete-Ball" games.
We were 'Multi-faceted' and IN those games for 8 full quarters, because we had a great Run Game, and seemingly, an aggressive confidence with the entire O-Line.
Not having to count on Russ to carry the whole load in 4th quarter comebacks that relied on him having to throw haymaker knockouts = REFRESHING.
Defensively, we saw Brooks, and a couple others bring some much-needed speed & savvy, which in turn, made it easier for the other guys up front to get a lot more pressures, batted balls, hits & Sacks.
For next season, I'd like to see another rugged, & quick RB added to the stable. :irishdrinkers: