I was seeing it all offseason… the hype around new head coach, Mike Macdonald was palpable. Fans were tired of Pete Carroll’s ‘old-school’ ways that kept bringing early playoff exits and 9-8 records. Meanwhile, Mikey Mac. was being billed as a savior on Twitter / X / Elon’s playground. Then Jared Goff calmly marched in and hung 42 points, an almost perfect passer rating (155.8 🐐), 18 straight completions and a receiving tuddy on the boy genius. It was somewhat masterful, as he could not miss.
Well, Seattleites may soon learn the hard way that it’s tough to follow a legend. It’s also tough to make any sweeping conclusions following an early game loss against the previous year’s NFC Championship runner-up. As much as I want to point the finger and scream, “see, that’s why we should’ve never gotten rid of Pete!!!”, the truth is that it’s early. The players may still be learning Macdonald and OC, Ryan Grubb’s playbooks. On top of that, the entire starting defensive line was out and injured 🤕.
I will stop just short of providing any insights following the MNF ‘L‘, but I want to redirect our attention towards what is coming up for the season. It will be exciting to see who steps up, how young players develop, and most of all: How a Mike Macdonald team handles adversity. Don’t forget that we now have the league’s passing yardage leader (among other advanced stats). Did the Lions truly deal a deathblow to the fraudulent confidence of the young Hawks, or will they bounce back even stronger?
One thing we cannot take away from Coach Carroll was that he was a leader of men. Players gravitated to him and many times had their best years under him. There is much more to learn about these new-age Seattle Seahawks, as this is just the start of the implementation of Mike’s philosophy and scheme. Let’s talk about the upcoming settings in which these lessons will start to unfold.
Top 5 Most Exciting Remaining Seahawks Games
- V. New York Giants (Week 5) A get-right game? The Seahawks (and especially the defense) should be eager to wash the taste of that loss from their collective mouths. Facing a team that Seattle dominated just last year could be just what the doctor ordered. Let’s just all be honest about how much we drink to drown the sorrows in this one, eh?
- V. San Francisco 49ers (Week 6) Call me a glutton for punishment, after Seattle has lost the last 5 meetings against the 49ers. That’s two and a half sweeps bruh 😭. The team in Santa Clara is also dealing with some bad injury luck themselves and looking up to the Hawks in the NFC West standings. The day we make the Niners bleed their own blood is the day we’ll see the light at the end of their tunnel of NFC West terror. Here’s to hoping the defensive line is back to full strength by this time. It’s also prime time TNF with the exulted throwback unis 😎
- @ New York Jets (Week 13) Seattle heads to the Big Apple to face off against Aaron Rodgers and his new fling (Gang Green, not any of the substances that came to mind for you right there). This is another team with a lot of hype, which provides an opportunity to make a statement. Rodgers is hoping for another ring, but the Hawks will want to crash the wedding and get a little 🤏🏾 revenge of their own. I’m also biased, since I’m looking forward to a non-work trip to the NYC 🗽 for this game!
- @ Chicago Bears (Week 17) Our first look at the chosen one, #1 overall pick, Caleb Williams. He’ll be utilizing former Seattle resident and UW star, Rome Odunze at wideout against Woolen and Witherspoon. Da Bears 🐻 have an underrated defense, while Seattle could have an underrated offense (if the offensive line is fixed by this time). Shane Waldron revenge game…?
- @ Los Angeles Rams (Week 18) The Rams brought upset to Seattle’s team psyche and destruction to Seattle’s offensive line in Week 1 last year, after an offseason of low-key hype for Carroll’s cadre of compatriots. Can the Seahawks take advantage with Aaron Donald out the door? Watching McVay and Macdonald match wits will be fun. The Rams have a lot more young talent now… and they’ll be playing this game inside the apparently impressive SoFi Stadium. Oh yeah, McVay wanted Byron Murphy II in the draft, so let’s wave our shiny new toy 🧸 in his face!
