Thoughts on the Seahawks

The Seattle Seahawks’ season has been a fairly typical one for a Pete Carroll coached team. They started out of the gate slow, kept every game close,  built and identity and started really rolling in November and December. I haven’t had time to write an in depth thoughts on the team this year (life gets busy and blogging for fun gets pushed to the back burner.) So, instead of a bunch of longer more researched and crafted posts here is a list of my thoughts of the season thus far.

• Pete Carroll truly is a defensive master mind. His team fired their d coordinator, lost four Ring of Honor caliber players (Sherman, Chancellor, Bennett, and Avril) during the off-season, have had two expected key contributors miss the majority of the season from injury (Wright, and Thomas) and yet still is playing at a very high level. This is probably his best coaching job ever in Seattle. He should get serious consideration for Coach of the Year.
• Chris Carson is a Locomotive. When he runs he is full of power and always gets positive yards. The guy never goes down without a fight. He is tons of fun to watch and a great running back for the Seahawks brand of football. I do worry about his style of running leading to a short playing career, even by running back standards. Carson takes a lot of contact and often gets gang tackled. Both usually lead to injuries. But while he healthy and here in Seattle I love watching him play. 
• Tyler Lockett has become the big play guy. I questioned the teams decision to pay him this last offseason. He has delivered in 2018. He has 9 TD in 13 games. He makes acrobatic catches and  bails out Wilson at least once a game. The team was right to pay him.
• Russell Wilson is good but not great. He has struggled at critical points this year. He continues to hold the ball too long and doesn’t throw it away when he should. He needs to use his legs as an offensive weapon and run more. That said he throws a beautiful deep ball. At least once a game he puts one deep right where a receiver can snag it. He is calm and collected and doesn’t let mistakes phase him. He is probably the sixth or seventh best QB in the league. He has a new contract coming up soon and the team needs to pay him. They also need to realize his limitations and paying him accordingly. They should not handicap themselves with a massive contract that keeps them from getting the rest of the roster filled. He isn’t Tom Brady or Drew Brees. He can’t win a Super Bowl on his own.
• D.J. Fluker is the offensive MVP for Seattle. As soon as he came back in week three the team started running and running with authority. When you watch a run you can see his presence. He is a bull dozer out there. He just flattens defenders and makes way. He is probably the best lineman signing of Pete Carroll’s tenure. I wish he was younger and healthy so he could demolish D lines for the next ten years.
• The team’s starting cornerbacks are young and talented. The Legion of Boom May be gone but Tre Flowers and Shaquill Griffin could be starting something special. They are both fast and cover well. There have definitely been growing pains. Both players have been burned. Both have gotten tagged for critical penalties. Those are things that should get better as they both get experience. Next year those two guys could be amazing.