Earl Thomas, is his heart still in the game?

I've been watching some highlights from last season and it's got me thinking.......
First things first, don't get me wrong, the guy is still a heat seeking missle but I can remember him in training camp last season questioning if he still had love for football. Yes, he stuck with it, but, IMO his game suffered. Was it to do with his healing from injury or has he taken a step back, or has he lost that desire to be the best? Just thinking about this upcoming season and I'd love to see the "boom" back to full strength but I'm kind of wondering what we're in for.

SpokaneHawks":3t5vyu51 said:

I've been watching some highlights from last season and it's got me thinking.......
First things first, don't get me wrong, the guy is still a heat seeking missle but I can remember him in training camp last season questioning if he still had love for football. Yes, he stuck with it, but, IMO his game suffered. Was it to do with his healing from injury or has he taken a step back, or has he lost that desire to be the best? Just thinking about this upcoming season and I'd love to see the "boom" back to full strength but I'm kind of wondering what we're in for.

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Right now, I'm going with 'recovering from injury.' The alternative is unthinkable.

I had almost the same exact surgery he had (full Labrum tear, Rotator cuff partial tear, shoulder impingement, shoulder cap tightening), November 20th, 2015. Obviously Im not the same elite level athlete that he is, but I can tell you this surgery & recovery was one of the most painful things I have ever had to deal with.

Its not just the pain that he dealt with, its also having 100% trust in a part of your body that you generally lead with to knock other grown ass men down. He will be fine.

He is just maturing and getting older. As you get older, you don't see a lot of things the way you used to even if you really want to.

SpokaneHawks":3sfwkpso said:

I've been watching some highlights from last season and it's got me thinking.......
First things first, don't get me wrong, the guy is still a heat seeking missle but I can remember him in training camp last season questioning if he still had love for football. Yes, he stuck with it, but, IMO his game suffered. Was it to do with his healing from injury or has he taken a step back, or has he lost that desire to be the best? Just thinking about this upcoming season and I'd love to see the "boom" back to full strength but I'm kind of wondering what we're in for.

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When he said that, he was recovering from his first serious injury in football.

Earl was "off" the first half of the year, I attribute it to the shoulder, playing in the harness and Kam's time out. Listen to what he said, go find the post game interviews. Earl seemed to self-heal around the half year mark and seemed good the last third.
There's a lot of mind wars in the game... but I believe he's past it.
and I'm rarely wrong, so there's that. :mrgreen:
Just ask Mr. Sutz

Earl wasn't the "Earl" that we were used to seeing (frankly, we're kind of spoiled), for the 1st quarter or so of the season. I attribute that to, as others have stated, coming in fresh off of surgery. I also agree with the aforementioned notion of Kam holding out for the beginning of the season. To me, Kam's BS was a MAJOR "Swag Drain" on the team as a whole, but especially for our defensive backfield. Couple that with Cary Williams being the starter opposite Sherman and I would guess the sum of it all DID have him questioning his 'drive and motivation'.
Coming off a soul crushing SB loss, where Tommy Ugg Boots completed 50+ passes on them...yeah, he most certainly probably had some serious questions about a few things. I just don't really believe he TRULY 'lost love for the game', he just needed to get his mind 'back in shape' and likely worded his emotions/frustrations wrong.

But fast forward to this upcoming season, where we brought back the "DOG of the LOB", BB, Clem (a seasoned, vocal leader), no Cary Williams to feel like he has to compensate for, Lane back in the fold & healthy and finally Coach Richard coming into year 2 as the DC without any big distractions.

So, if I were to make an educated guess, I would say Earl and the rest of the defense will have a TRUE "Bounce back" season, straight out of the gate.
I. CAN. NOT. WAIT!!!

I agree with those saying that ET and the LOB as a whole will bounce back this season. Earl is different this year than he was last year. Last year you could tell Earl's head was somewhere else and as stated by others he made comments that he didn't know if he still had the same love for football.

This year is different though. I haven't heard any second thoughts from Earl and his head seems to be 100 percent into the team and getting back to proving people wrong again. It seems like he may have found something to ignite his fire and put the chip back on his shoulder with his perception and comments about Cam Newton dissing him/calling him out. I think Earl comes back as focused as ever this year and will be riding every member of that secondary to make sure each one of them is also giving their best effort.

“I think it was a lot of mental battles on my shoulder,” Thomas said on the “John Clayton Show” Saturday. “I think a lot of offenses recognized, and you could hear it in the way they talked. Especially Cam Newton saying we run the same defense. I felt like he was talking to me personally because I knew he wouldn’t talk to us like that if my shoulder was right. So all of that stuff you just hear and you just take it and you prepare for next season.”

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http://sports.mynorthwest.com/13341...ast-years-slights-from-cam-newton-personally/

Does it mean anything to you that you were left off The Associated Press’ All-Pro first team?

“Yeah, it does,” Thomas said. “I was mad.”

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http://www.seattletimes.com/sports/...ad-motivated-and-focused-over-all-pro-slight/

I think Earl will have one of his best seasons of all time this year.

Injury; gelling with Williams and a missing Kam; tweaks to the defense with a new coordinator; take you pick.

The guy has the earned the right to just be good instead of exceptional over four or five games every once in awhile without arousing suspicions, IMO.

The funny thing is we say for the LOB to bounce back but our defense was still number 1 in points allowed right? :irishdrinkers:

He was recovering from a injury, he was also playing two positions for a large part of the year, FS and RC at the same time, there was a lot of flux going on in the secondary and he was not able to play down hill like he had been able to before.

Earl eats, sleeps, and breathes football. He's said it before, football is his wife- and I doubt that changes for him anytime soon. I hope so anyway.

Whoa. After watching this in another thread: http://www.seahawks.com/video/2016/06/0 ... arl-thomas

I don't believe that guy will EVER lose his fire and competitive edge. Quit is not in him. The guy is crazy for the the game.

I theorize this is why they brought Browner back.

He's going to bring back the swagger and pop to the LoB.

Pete's a freaking genius.

Hawks46":1vikk2bd said:

I theorize this is why they brought Browner back.

He's going to bring back the swagger and pop to the LoB.

Pete's a freaking genius.

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Definitely was part of the reason, I agree.

I really think there was some Derrick Rose type timidness with Earl when it came to his shoulder.

Throwdown":10afxq2p said:

I really think there was some Derrick Rose type timidness with Earl when it came to his shoulder.

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Do you blame him? Obviously he's over it and with him and his head 100% and Kam 100% in we're back to 2013 or better. I can't wait for the Arizona, Carolina, Green Bay, Los Angeles and New England games. It's time to send a message that we are baaaack!

Tommy Ugg boots...I like it and Wilson has unfinished business with that punk. I hope we do the impossible and beat them in their house and meet them for a rematch in Houston or Pittsburgh would do just as well.

Love me some Earl, all day every day, but ...and I hope I'm wrong....but I see a lot of Bob Sanders in Earl and I for one would not be surprised to see him dealing with injuries going forward. Small, fast, hard hitting safeties just don't physically hold up over the long haul. If Earl has a 10 year career I will be surprised.

Popeyejones":39uiwtsl said:

gelling with Williams IMO.

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NOBODY could gel with Williams.

IIRC, he was the only one left sitting in the locker room for 30+ minutes after the Carolina loss. He wasn't sitting there mulling over retirement, I feel like he was legitimately upset and heartbroken that we lost to Cam, ending our season.

His hearts still there. His heart is something I wouldn't question about him. But who really knows what goes through these guy's heads