getnasty":3rc9u87z said:
There's been a lot of complaining about Pete over the last couple of days. If you were going to swap Pete with any other coach in the league not named Belicheck who would it be? For me I wouldn't trade him for anyone, I know he has his faults but who doesn't? He certainly doesn't have the most exciting brand of football but it's hard to argue with the result.
The thing with Pete is when he came in here, he was pretty innovative. He ran some really interesting defensive formations, and he really did some cool things with our personnel, like throw Red Bryant at DE. People thought he was crazy, but it was a stroke of genius. Carroll saw a trend in the NFL with NFL wide receivers. A lot of them were getting bigger, and taller, and as a result they were bullying smaller DBs. Carroll responded by going after big corners that were considered too large, and stiff to play. Through this we brought in Brandon Browner and Richard Sherman. We also went after a safety that was considered too large, and slow to play safety, and we used him as a linebacker, safety hybrid (Chancellor).
The Seahawks were the trend setters. We went after player types that were considered to be role players, or non-viable in the current NFL. The results were shocking to say the least. We mauled big wide receivers, and our safety, Thomas could cover them with his incredible range. It was virtually impossible to get off of the LOS with Sherman, and Browner playing press. The next thing the 'Hawks did was use under-sized tweener DE's like Clemons, and turn them into upright pass rushers like in a 3-4 defense in passing situations. Really interesting stuff was going on here during 2010-2013.
Unfortunately, with success comes recognition. Our staff got poached, and people understood the brilliance of Pete Carroll's scheme. All of the sudden the big corner back came in vogue, and all of the sudden there were teams running our schemes. The talent pool to pick from became much smaller due to people trying to copy one of the best defenses the NFL has ever seen. We were no longer the trend setters, we were the norm.
I personally don't think Pete Carroll has another championship in him. We're going to be competing for the wildcard spot from here on out. I believe people refer to this as "Marty ball". Our offensive scheme is broken, and incapable of adapting to situations, and our defense is not as strong as it once was, which is what you would expect when the pool of talent becomes smaller. The types of players that went overlooked are now the norm. In the NFL it is adapt or die, and I think Pete Carroll is incapable of doing so. He lives and dies by his philosophy, and as a result I think we can expect some very stale football, especially when Russell Wilson is taking up a huge portion of the cap.
I don't think Carroll is ever going to be a bad enough coach to be outright fired, but it definitely seems like the league has caught up with him, and passed him by. 9-7, to 10-6 is going to be our new norm. Carroll now reminds me of the 2006, and 2007 Holmgren. A coach that was once at the cutting edge no longer knew how to adapt to a rapidly changing league. Sure, Holmgren could still get us to the playoffs, but that is as far as he could take us. I think Carroll is firmly in this boat at the moment. Still a good coach, but is unable to evolve, and adapt to overcome. He still will bring the Seahawks winning seasons, but I think competing for the championship is now out of the question.
