'You don't want a bunch of Russell Wilsons'

Wow, didn't see this posted here yet.

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/ex-s ... l-wilsons/

The Seahawks decline was precipitous. One minute they had the NFL's best young core, the next the Legion of Boom was six feet deep. Many will trace it back to the decision to throw on the one-yard line instead of handing the ball to Marshawn Lynch at the end of Super Bowl XLIX.

Michael Bennett traces it back to the loss of Lynch, which itself could be traceable to the infamous Malcolm Butler interception of Russell Wilson in that Patriots title game victory.

Lynch leaving, Bennett argues on The Ringer's Bill Simmons Podcast, destroyed the team's identity, because you need a rogue guy like Lynch and you "don't want a bunch of Russell Wilsons."

"You don't want a whole bunch of Russell Wilsons," Bennett said via the Seattle Times. "You gotta have three or four Marshawn Lynches on your team. At any moment, you never know what they're going to do. Whether they're going to come to work or dropkick the coach. You know, Latrell Sprewell. You just never know."

Uhhhhhh you actually DON'T want a Sprewell, who was a great player, but famously choked a coach. I mean, no one wants a player who chokes a coach. But Bennett has a legitimate point here: Russell is a vanilla-coated robot who does everything by the book, a guy who never lets his team get down and someone who is constantly, like Pete Carroll, optimistic.

Lynch is the opposite. He likes to grab his junk leaping backward into the end zone when he's already full aware he'll be heavily fined and/or flagged for the act. When your SIGNATURE MOVE is diving backwards into the end zone while holding your privates, you are not a "by the book" guy.

Bennett isn't saying Russell Wilson is bad to have your on team, obviously. He thinks Wilson's a great player.

"You can't have a whole bunch of nice people on a sports team," Bennett said. "You need one good guy that does everything right, you know, prays and does all the stuff then goes, 'Yeah! Let's go play!'


"Then you need some thugs. That's just how it goes."

Put another way, you need a colorful blend of personalities to get the right makeup of a championship caliber roster. This isn't breaking news, it's just a good explanation of what went wrong with the Seahawks and how the roster managed to melt away so quickly.

Lynch is a comet streaking through the sky, though. You can't hope to just capture Beast Mode for a decade and bottle him up on your roster. The Seahawks got what they got for a pretty long time and should feel good about it.

Now they just have to find a new identity, which will be interesting since they are rebuilding around Russell Wilson at this point of the proceedings.

Listened to the podcast and it was more a question about Lynch's impact, than a judgement on Wilson. Also think most would agree with the idea that you need a few edgy players.

Bennett has been supportive of Wilson, regardless of the rumors of the locker room.

I'd take a bunch Bobby Wagners too and he's much closer to Wilson than Lynch on the spectrum.

lobohawk":2k3bx7kj said:

Listened to the podcast and it was more a question about Lynch's impact, than a judgement on Wilson. Also think most would agree with the idea that you need a few edgy players.

Bennett has been supportive of Wilson, regardless of the rumors of the locker room.

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Exactly, and what he was talking about was diversity. He could have just as easily said you don't want a bunch of Michael Bennett's too.

I have to agree with Bennett. Everyone on that team knows Russell leads with his play on the field. I don't think guys are going to listen to Russell if he is talking to them as if he was talking to the media. Guys on the team need to know that they can relate to you.

I personally think this team has missed some of those "dawg" players. And that doesn't mean guys that are out of control or do stuff that doesn't protect the team. But good examples of this would be Chris Clemons and Brandon Browner. Watching those early Mike Rob Reports you can tell guys respected those two on and off the field. Like Christine Michael rapping in the camera and talking about smoking weed in one of his lyrics and you can hear Chris Clemons in the background yelling at him and telling him to "shut up with all that talk". Or you have a young Byron Maxwell talking about, "Oh man, BB is about to have my head". Young and old guys respect those types of personalities.

I believe you need those edge players like Michael is saying. Marshawn is another breed though. Bennett definitely could be considered in that group. He's a little more goofy than the other two I said, but you know guys in that locker room respected him and his play on the field.

How many Marshawn's do the Patriots have?

Jeff Fisher had a lot of thugs, especially when they played the Seahawks. Then he would hypocritically say "We need to do something about the personal fouls!" You know, the ones he encouraged his players to committ.

There's a lot to having a Marshawn Lynch on the team, but there are many other ways to win too.

What edgy player in the NFL would you want? Me, I'd break the bank for Aaron Donald. :179419:

This team was a physical team that beat people up when Lynch was here.

The team mirrored him in dominated and sometimes emasculating the other team. It mocked the other guys and rubbed it in their faces. Sherm's famous Meme 'You Mad Bro' encapsulated that.

We ran off Lynch (or more accurately, traded his blocking) and got a team that got handed to Wilson. But Wilson's rah rah pom pom BS clearly did not stick well. Wilson is the Company Man and nobody wants to hear it. Especially when it is the same crud in different wrappers.

Wilson is a tremendous QB but when we lost Lynch we lost the soul of this team and it showed ever since.

Handing this team to Wilson from Lynch was actually the beginning of the downfall. Because we needed someone to convince our team we were the bullies. We went from being the bad guys to being just the other guys. It showed in the way they played the game.

TwistedHusky":1nqfseij said:

Handing this team to Wilson from Lynch was actually the beginning of the downfall. Because we needed someone to convince our team we were the bullies. We went from being the bad guys to being just the other guys. It showed in the way they played the game.

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Well said Twisted.

When we won we were definitely bullies. But then again, would I call the Eagles, Patriots, or Broncos bullies? Not really :roll:


One of the greatest signs of a dynasty, historic franchise, or person is their ability to evolve and adapt. Belicheck..despite being the cheater I think he is has won in a variety of different ways. Early on, it was with a great kicker and defense. Then, it was with a high powered offense...and these days it's an efficient offense with a bend but don't break defense


The way Jordan won his first 3 championships is different from the way he won his last 3 championships. Same for Kobe...even as you watch say a Lebron James right now...he may not have the athletic explosiveness he once had but his basketball IQ, 3 point shooting, and arsenal of skills has improved dramatically.

You have to evolve. I find those who insist that our team remain only one identity to be short sighted and unimaginative...like a corporation that went bankrupt after being on top for a decade. Great people...great companies...great teams evolve. Amazon no longer specializes in selling books. Porsche no longer only specializes in 2 door coupes. Rolls Royce no longer profits from only selling the Phantom. Apple decided over a decade ago it needed to change its identity to mobile devices and minimalism.


I can go on...but my point is. I don't give a shit whether Lynch is our identity, or defense is our identity, or Russell is our identity. If our team's identity is to jump on the back of a 5'10, reasonably accurate magician "Dangeruss" Quarterback that most analysts consider Top 5..so be it

ivotuk":3hqh0dgj said:

How many Marshawn's do the Patriots have?

Jeff Fisher had a lot of thugs, especially when they played the Seahawks. Then he would hypocritically say "We need to do something about the personal fouls!" You know, the ones he encouraged his players to committ.

There's a lot to having a Marshawn Lynch on the team, but there are many other ways to win too.

What edgy player in the NFL would you want? Me, I'd break the bank for Aaron Donald. :179419:

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I mean Gronk is kinda the closest thing but is more on the frat than the Oakland cat spectrum

Here's what a dude like Marshawn does for a team as much as it pains people:

It allows other players to stand behind him and let Marshawn say what they want to say deep down without rocking things because he's 'that guy' who 'does that'. My wife is like that - unique, outspoken, loved by everyone but strict conformists, and does what she does really well no matter what it is. When we worked together, she got to do all the things I wouldn't but she shared the spoils of it with me, whether it was a more relaxed dress code or or swiping an extra donut for me. But most of all she was just fun to work with because even while flouting the corporate rules she was also a total boss at her job who took care of business like few others could.

Laugh all you want at the notion of living vicariously through other people but I think that this is kind of subtly in play in the situation. Having a super competent whipping boy for being a different kind of cat takes the edge and attention off yourself to do what you do well instead of feeling the pressure to be 'that guy' when they leave.

Scorpion05":1yr81l06 said:

When we won we were definitely bullies. But then again, would I call the Eagles, Patriots, or Broncos bullies? Not really :roll:


One of the greatest signs of a dynasty, historic franchise, or person is their ability to evolve and adapt. Belicheck..despite being the cheater I think he is has won in a variety of different ways. Early on, it was with a great kicker and defense. Then, it was with a high powered offense...and these days it's an efficient offense with a bend but don't break defense


The way Jordan won his first 3 championships is different from the way he won his last 3 championships. Same for Kobe...even as you watch say a Lebron James right now...he may not have the athletic explosiveness he once had but his basketball IQ, 3 point shooting, and arsenal of skills has improved dramatically.

You have to evolve. I find those who insist that our team remain only one identity to be short sighted and unimaginative...like a corporation that went bankrupt after being on top for a decade. Great people...great companies...great teams evolve. Amazon no longer specializes in selling books. Porsche no longer only specializes in 2 door coupes. Rolls Royce no longer profits from only selling the Phantom. Apple decided over a decade ago it needed to change its identity to mobile devices and minimalism.


I can go on...but my point is. I don't give a shit whether Lynch is our identity, or defense is our identity, or Russell is our identity. If our team's identity is to jump on the back of a 5'10, reasonably accurate magician "Dangeruss" Quarterback that most analysts consider Top 5..so be it

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i agree, first of all, you have to be who you are.

TwistedHusky":php1ddmq said:

This team was a physical team that beat people up when Lynch was here.

The team mirrored him in dominated and sometimes emasculating the other team. It mocked the other guys and rubbed it in their faces. Sherm's famous Meme 'You Mad Bro' encapsulated that.

We ran off Lynch (or more accurately, traded his blocking) and got a team that got handed to Wilson. But Wilson's rah rah pom pom BS clearly did not stick well. Wilson is the Company Man and nobody wants to hear it. Especially when it is the same crud in different wrappers.

Wilson is a tremendous QB but when we lost Lynch we lost the soul of this team and it showed ever since.

Handing this team to Wilson from Lynch was actually the beginning of the downfall. Because we needed someone to convince our team we were the bullies. We went from being the bad guys to being just the other guys. It showed in the way they played the game.

Click to expand...

How is Russell Wilson any different from guys like Tom Brady and Drew Brees in terms of leadership?

What was the team supposed to do with Lynch though? The guy was slowing down and getting injured. He was no longer the effective back that he once was. It was time for him to go when he did. While its great to have a back with that kind of attitude and talent, its another thing trying to find another to replicate it.

This is just stupid. If we had 50 Russell Wilson’s who prepare maniacally, and make things happen in the clutch, we would never lose a game. Doesn’t matter if they live the god life or the thug life.

Marshawn didn't want to play here anymore, he retired and then when he came back he wanted to go back to Oakland. What were we suppose to do about that. Our downfall was having to pay Russell Wilson, when that happens you lose the Tates, Irvins, Mebanes, Okung, Carpenter, Maxwell's of the world.

Not saying I wouldn't have signed Russell it's just a different ball game after that.

Seems we didn't want one Bennett either.

Regardless of the issue or sub-topic in this thread, sometimes you guys remind me of some disgusting, heinous church group trying to bury a secret. Everyone knows. Stop denying it.

And then the feelings part is just hilarious and pathetic. I'm sorry, you were in the locker room, weren't you.....

Personally, I'm excited for the reboot. It got old and boring. Great thread though.

This is in the NFL forum and has been for some time. Please take the discussion there.

Also..please don’t copy and paste other people’s material here. A link and your own summary is fine.