If I were the coach of the Seahawks after Russell's turnover tantrum around week 5 last year, I would have changed the strategy as well. It seems as though folks around here just want a stats guy, wins aside, come helll or high water. Russ didn't have to throw the pick against Minnesota last year. He didn't have to throw the pick that lost our first game against Arizona last year. Or the one earlier in the game that cost us at least 3 points. He didn't have to throw the picks against Buffalo. He didn't have to lay an egg against the Giants in what was by my account his worst game as a seahawk. He also didn't need to throw the pick 6 against the Rams in the playoffs.In that game, the the loss to Arizona, the narrow win against the vikings, the loss to the Bills and Giants. That poor play by Wilson was unforced. It was just bad QB play and it cost us.
All of the Russ supporters seem to gloss over Russels own admission thatvlst year he pushed the ball too much, forgoing the short yards for the long ball. His words. You could see it in his play. Andnyet all those plays where he didn't go short and instead held the ball waiting for something deep to break and ended up with a scramble sack... those get lumped I to Pete's court because he's forcing russ to not throw, or the o-lines fault.
Our offense over the second half was not atrocious. We finished balanced, and lost because we got twisted in between trying to run more and not passing effectively when we wanted to. That's a fact. We ran far better in our playoff loss than we passed, and inexplicably continued to try to force a passing attack thatb finshed the day 11-27 with a pick 6. That wasn't Pete. It was a combination of stubborn habits from russ, and a game plan that didn't know what it wanted to do.
Truth is, we can't place the blame at anyone's feet entirely. Pete's mantra of running hard and playing strong defense is proven. I agree that he did hold to it far longer than he should have after the vaunted defense of old had waned and we couldn't hold opposing teams in check anymore. The worst example was probably the loss to dallas in the playoffs a few years back.
But that doesn't account for all of the team's offensive struggles. It certainly didn't last year. And if the offense struggles again this year, with a new coordinator, and by all accounts a more creative one, it likely won't be the cause.
Pete refuses to lose by self inflicted wounds. We won last year because overbthe first half, our qb saved us. And over the second half we found more balance to where our team didn't need saving.
We lost a few last year because our D was inadequate, and our qb, who was a hero over the first few weeks, began contributing unnecessarily to our woes. Andnwhen I say unnecessarily I mean careless throws that resulted in turnovers that you wouldn't expect from a qb with even a few games under his belt. I can't fault Pete from dialing that back.
We will see this year why we went from 100 to 30 instead of landing at 70 in terms of offensive passing aggression and effectiveness last year. It didn't have to be that way. And hopefully if the same issues arise again this year, we will have the experience to overcome them. And frankly, I could give 2 turds whether we toss our way out of it on the strength of Russ's arm, pound our way out of it behind Carson's pads, or punish opposing offenses out if it on D. We just need to figure it out.
