The Seattle Seahawks just went through their first losing season in 10 years. Now, everyone has an opinion on how to fix things. Some fans want to see Pete Carroll and John Schneider get fired. Others prefer the team trade Russell Wilson while they can still get a good return. Some want to see them run it back with the same players next season as much as possible.
The latest person to offer their take on what went wrong with the Seahawks is four-time Pro Bowl strong safety Kam Chancellor. Here’s what he said in a recent interview with Seattle Refined.
“It’s hard to win when you have a lot of different moving pieces every year. It’s hard to build the cohesiveness and comradery and to be on one accord. The difference we had when I played was, we were together a long time, we knew each other and it’s easier to play for someone when you actually know them and care for them and they are family. If it’s just guys coming in and out, that’s super hard.”
An interesting take, certainly one we haven’t heard much of this offseason. Chancellor has a point about continuity – which is particularly important for the offensive line and secondary.
A major overhaul of this roster is not the best way for the team to get back into playoff contention. From the personnel side, they need to upgrade their pass protection and pass rush. The rest of it is on the coaches to use the pieces they have more appropriately. Most of that will fall on whoever the team hires as its new defensive coordinator.
Among other things, the new DC will need to take a more attack-minded approach in general – something Carroll has mentioned since Ken Norton Jr. was fired. Specifically, they should use Jamal Adams to rush the passer more often, stop the silliness of dropping defensive tackles back into coverage and not play so much zone that any mediocre game manager QB who likes to dink and dunk can walk down the field without facing much resistance.
The good news is Seattle has a strong cornerback group – assuming they re-sign Sidney Jones and D.J. Reed. That should allow the new coordinator to call more aggressive coverages.
