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OPPOSITION TERRITORY: Seattle Seahawks · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:00
Speaker 1: What's up, everybody. It's Jeff here. I wanted to let
0:02
Speaker 1: you know that we recorded this podcast episode in Opposition
0:05
Speaker 1: Territory Show on Tuesday, August thirteenth, twenty twenty four. By
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Speaker 1: the time you hear this, some things may have changed
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Speaker 1: here or there, but we hope you enjoy the show.
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Speaker 1: Welcome to Opposition Territory here at the Philadelphia Sports Table
0:33
Speaker 1: podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show
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Speaker 1: in the world, eleven years strong, and yet again another
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Speaker 1: great discussion come in your way about a team here
0:43
Speaker 1: in the NFL that I think could be pretty sneaky
0:46
Speaker 1: this coming season, and that is the Seattle Seahawks. It's
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Speaker 1: been an interesting new era that has started for this
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Speaker 1: team with a new head coach. They have Gino Smith
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Speaker 1: at the helm. We're certainly going to be getting into
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Speaker 1: both of these topics during our discussion. But what's going
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Speaker 1: to happen with this defense? How are they looking so far?
1:04
Speaker 1: Where are things trending with the Seattle Seahawks. We've got
1:07
Speaker 1: a great discussion, let's get right to it. Joining us
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Speaker 1: this week from SB Nations Field Goals. You know we
1:13
Speaker 1: love our ESB Nation sites out there, and he does
1:15
Speaker 1: fantastic work with his colleagues again over at field Goals
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Speaker 1: dot com. You can find him on Twitter slash x
1:22
Speaker 1: at Mooky Alexander and he's done some great, great coverage
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Speaker 1: of the Olympics as well. We've got Mooky Alexander.
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Speaker 2: How you doing, Buddy, I'm doing all right. Great to
1:33
Speaker 2: be back on, Jeff. Yeah, the Olympics was really fun.
1:37
Speaker 2: I'm a big crack and field fan. I got to
1:39
Speaker 2: go with Condential Media to the prefont Tank Classic, which
1:41
Speaker 2: is a big meet here in Oregon, and of course
1:44
Speaker 2: I stayed here instead of going to Paris for the
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Speaker 2: Olympics coverage, but I still got to write several columns,
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Speaker 2: results opinion pieces based on track and field, and then
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Speaker 2: of course Team USA did a phenomenal job, most medals
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Speaker 2: in forty years, so it was really entertaining see not
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Speaker 2: just the success of the USA, but so many other athletes.
2:01
Speaker 2: First ever Olympic medal for Saint Lucia, you got the
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Speaker 2: two hundred meter champion, Letsili Tobogo heroes WelCom in Botswana
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Speaker 2: after winning the two hundred meters, So that's the beauty
2:11
Speaker 2: of the Olympics. There are a lot of things that
2:13
Speaker 2: politically cannot stand about the Olympics. Yes, everything going around that,
2:18
Speaker 2: the making of the games, but the actual competition, that
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Speaker 2: part is what people love the most.
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Speaker 1: I have to tell you, Mookie, I don't know if
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Speaker 1: it was just the vibes. I don't know if it
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Speaker 1: was the feel the positive aspects of what this Summer
2:31
Speaker 1: Olympics was. I really haven't felt too much in terms
2:35
Speaker 1: of Olympics coverage over the course of boy over the
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Speaker 1: past couple decades. And you know, I don't know if
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Speaker 1: we are at a moment in time, whether it's social
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Speaker 1: media the type of stories and the content that we want,
2:47
Speaker 1: but we want like feel good type of stuff and
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Speaker 1: that's what the Olympics really provided us. And I think
2:52
Speaker 1: as you were covering it, you probably saw that as well.
2:55
Speaker 1: The good vibes that were coming from this Summer Olympics.
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Speaker 1: I honestly have not felt it for quite some time,
3:00
Speaker 1: and I loved following so many different sports, sports that
3:03
Speaker 1: I usually don't follow, was able to get into it,
3:07
Speaker 1: and at the end of the day, again, positive vibes
3:09
Speaker 1: is what I got from this Olympics. I'm assuming you
3:12
Speaker 1: did too, is you were covering it.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, and it wasn't just the positive eyes in terms
3:17
Speaker 2: of the competition. We also got to put into perspective,
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Speaker 2: and of course COVID was still a significant story here
3:22
Speaker 2: because of what happened with Noah Lyles and Adam maybe
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Speaker 2: the British swimmer, so many others contracting the virus and
3:28
Speaker 2: then other people getting six swimming in that river, which
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Speaker 2: was a very very poor idea on the part of
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Speaker 2: the Paris organizers. But nevertheless, the last couple of Olympics
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Speaker 2: twenty twenty one in Tokyo and twenty twenty two the
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Speaker 2: Winter Olympics in Beijing, no fans in attendance because of COVID.
3:42
Speaker 2: So now that we had fans in the stands again
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Speaker 2: and everybody was boisterous for everything from the men's and
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Speaker 2: women's basketball, tremendous atmospheres for the gold medal game for
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Speaker 2: Team USA and the women's soccer, and then the host
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Speaker 2: nation and the men's soccer even though they lost in
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Speaker 2: the final. You just had so many fabulososphere is a
4:00
Speaker 2: great backdrop, great photography. Yes, I saw some of the
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Speaker 2: volleyball pictures for the hours in the background and the
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Speaker 2: sun is setting that that's a photographer's dream. Right there.
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Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely, Well, we're going to talk more about the
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Speaker 1: Summer Olympics on our regular show that's going to be
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Speaker 1: uploaded on Thursday morning this week with my co host
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Speaker 1: Lenn We're gonna get into some more Olympics talk on
4:23
Speaker 1: that show. But let's get into the Seattle Seahawks team
4:26
Speaker 1: what they're going to potentially be doing during the course
4:29
Speaker 1: of this upcoming season. What we've seen thus far during
4:32
Speaker 1: this preseason, MOOKI, it's a new era certainly that has
4:36
Speaker 1: started in Seattle. It's the Mike McDonald era, and it
4:39
Speaker 1: has to be exciting for Seahawks fans and for those
4:43
Speaker 1: like myself outside the Seahawks bubble. It's gonna be really
4:46
Speaker 1: interesting to see where Mike McDonald takes this team in
4:50
Speaker 1: his first year as the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks.
4:54
Speaker 1: What are we already seeing from head coach Mike McDonald
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Speaker 1: during this preseason, during training camp, and what kind of
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Speaker 1: a coach and leader will he be throughout this coming
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Speaker 1: season and possibly beyond.
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Speaker 2: Well, he's not going to just be a Pete Carroll
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Speaker 2: tribute act. He wants to be a personality and that's
5:12
Speaker 2: perfect more than acceptable. You don't try and be something
5:15
Speaker 2: something you're not. So McDonald is managing things his way,
5:19
Speaker 2: doesn't mean that he's going to be completely abandoning philosophies
5:23
Speaker 2: of Pete Carroll might chair. I'm sure they've got some
5:24
Speaker 2: share of beliefs and how how to approach coaching players
5:27
Speaker 2: and how to deal with players. But just a couple
5:30
Speaker 2: of things I noted from training camp. But we got
5:32
Speaker 2: like a WWE style championship belt for practice winners, whether
5:37
Speaker 2: it's the offense or defense. So a week or so ago, Yeah,
5:40
Speaker 2: the left tackle Charles Cross sporting the belt, which was
5:42
Speaker 2: apparently Geno Smith's idea. The offense won the day, So
5:45
Speaker 2: Charles Cross has been one of the stand up performers
5:47
Speaker 2: in training camp. He got to wear the belt for
5:50
Speaker 2: the afternoon. Another thing with McDonald I suspect is going
5:54
Speaker 2: to be a big part of his coaching style is
5:57
Speaker 2: the attention to detail and just preaching discipline, whether that's
6:01
Speaker 2: with tackling, being assignment sound, just doing your job so
6:06
Speaker 2: to speak. To to quote the New England Patriots and
6:08
Speaker 2: Bill Belichick. Yes, and that's been prevalent to the practices
6:11
Speaker 2: and he I think he's quite adaptable to just reading
6:15
Speaker 2: the room and seeing what's going on with this players.
6:17
Speaker 2: Because last week, the last Wednesday, I believe, five fights
6:22
Speaker 2: happened in practice, five skirmishes, if you will, and one
6:24
Speaker 2: of them was caught by the NFL network cameras because
6:26
Speaker 2: they were there covering training camp and DK metcalf rip
6:30
Speaker 2: Tray Brown the cornerback's helmet off, and then he tried
6:32
Speaker 2: to hit him with the helmet, but he ended up
6:34
Speaker 2: hitting his teammate cave On Wallace instead. Pause practice for
6:37
Speaker 2: and their fans in attendance too. This was a public practice,
6:40
Speaker 2: so there were a couple more practice practice fights after that,
6:43
Speaker 2: and he eventually kicked out the rookie Christian Haynes' rookie
6:47
Speaker 2: right guard and the second year outsideline backer Derek Hall
6:50
Speaker 2: because they got into it, so sent them away for
6:53
Speaker 2: the day. And then the next practice, which is the
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Speaker 2: final public practice of training camp, only did ten this
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Speaker 2: year instead of a normal scrimmage. With the fact that
7:02
Speaker 2: the preseason opener was two days later, he adjusted it
7:06
Speaker 2: instead of we can't let's not do a normal practice
7:08
Speaker 2: after what happened yesterday, going to do another session of
7:11
Speaker 2: what he calls the act, not the exam not the
7:13
Speaker 2: school exam if anybody still has advocated that, but alignment
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Speaker 2: communication at technique. So instead of focusing on the hitting
7:22
Speaker 2: factor and being physical with pads, no pads, it's just
7:27
Speaker 2: contact is not the primary thing. It's just being disciplined
7:30
Speaker 2: with your alignments and you're not having constant miscommunications, you say,
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Speaker 2: And of course we know how important that's going to
7:36
Speaker 2: be in McDonald's system and really Ryan grub system on
7:39
Speaker 2: the offensive side and working on techniques. So that's where
7:42
Speaker 2: the act comes in. So it's a glorified walkthrough, not
7:46
Speaker 2: necessarily the most exciting thing for fans who ended up
7:49
Speaker 2: having to go to a lockthrough that was not planned,
7:51
Speaker 2: but it shows McDonald's adaptability to the situation. And it
7:55
Speaker 2: was kind of like, let's calm everybody down heading into
7:58
Speaker 2: the preseason game where then we're allowed to not only
8:00
Speaker 2: hit people, but hit somebody on the other team for
8:02
Speaker 2: a change.
8:02
Speaker 1: And they certainly did that, and we're gonna get to
8:04
Speaker 1: that in a bit. With regard to the Los Angeles Chargers,
8:09
Speaker 1: holy cowboy, tell you a Seahawks defense really really did
8:13
Speaker 1: a number on them. Again, we'll get to that in
8:15
Speaker 1: just a second. But I wanted to start off with
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Speaker 1: this offense with the mookie because this quarterback position here
8:20
Speaker 1: on the team is really interesting to me. And I
8:23
Speaker 1: say that it's interesting because I don't think Gino Smith
8:27
Speaker 1: really gets the type of recognition that he deserves. He
8:31
Speaker 1: still seems like an underrated talent in the league and
8:34
Speaker 1: a quarterback that a lot of folks kind of tend
8:37
Speaker 1: to forget about. Unfortunately, dan Orlovsky he just released his
8:41
Speaker 1: quarterback ball placement rankings and Gino Smith was ranked number seven.
8:46
Speaker 1: I don't know if a lot of casual NFL fans
8:49
Speaker 1: out there would realize that in terms of ball placement,
8:52
Speaker 1: you've got Gino Smith a top ten quarterback in this league.
8:55
Speaker 1: What are the expectations here for Geno Smith really coming
8:59
Speaker 1: into this season where he could potentially take this offense.
9:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think Gina was top ten and something else.
9:06
Speaker 2: I don't know if it was decision making or his
9:08
Speaker 2: pocket presence.
9:09
Speaker 1: Pocket presence, Yeah, I.
9:12
Speaker 2: Tend to agree heavily. And I don't normally say that
9:13
Speaker 2: with dan or Loski, but the pocket presence thing with Gino,
9:17
Speaker 2: I think it's a very valid point because the sack
9:19
Speaker 2: rate for Gino last season was the lowest it's been
9:21
Speaker 2: for any Seahawks quarterback since twenty ten Matt Hasselbeck's final
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Speaker 2: season with the team, and keeping in mind how bad
9:28
Speaker 2: the offensive line was, it was really important for Gino
9:31
Speaker 2: to demonstrate good pocket presence not take so many drive
9:34
Speaker 2: killing sacks because he's not Lamar Jackson when it comes
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Speaker 2: to running the ball. He's mobile, but he can't create
9:40
Speaker 2: that sort of magic like Lamar or Prime, Russell Wilson
9:43
Speaker 2: or Josh Allen, et cetera. Can't. But yes, last year
9:46
Speaker 2: was statistically a down year for Gino. Smith and I
9:49
Speaker 2: mentioned the offensive line issues were part of it. Gino
9:51
Speaker 2: also had some throws that I'm sure we'd like to
9:54
Speaker 2: have back, some mistakes that really were deservedly punished, but nevertheless,
9:59
Speaker 2: and he was also injured. He missed a couple of
10:01
Speaker 2: games due to a growing injury, and he got dinged
10:03
Speaker 2: up other times of the season. But I think the
10:06
Speaker 2: expectations regarding this season is that he can be back
10:08
Speaker 2: to his twenty twenty two form, if not better, where
10:11
Speaker 2: it's twenty twenty two comeback player of the Year. Probably
10:13
Speaker 2: the last time we're ever going to see a quarterback
10:15
Speaker 2: win that way, or one of the last times where
10:17
Speaker 2: you go from not really a good quarterback to suddenly
10:20
Speaker 2: you are good and that wins Comeback Player of the Year. Yeah,
10:23
Speaker 2: but I suspect with Gino people can't get the Jets
10:27
Speaker 2: Era Gino out of their minds and think that that's
10:30
Speaker 2: still in him. Kind Of like Alex Smith, where those
10:34
Speaker 2: first few years in San Francisco San Francisco, rather first
10:37
Speaker 2: several years in fact terrible, absolutely terrible, and the circumstances
10:41
Speaker 2: were not all his fault, but he certainly had a
10:43
Speaker 2: helping hand in his own demise. But then Jim Harbaugh
10:46
Speaker 2: comes along, Alex is able to turn his career around,
10:50
Speaker 2: and he gets hurt. Colin Kaepernick comes in, but then
10:52
Speaker 2: he is able to carve out several successful years in
10:56
Speaker 2: Kansas City, and while they never made a deep playoff
10:59
Speaker 2: run with him, he showed that he might not have
11:02
Speaker 2: lived to the lofty expectations of a number one overall pick,
11:05
Speaker 2: but still was an above average starting quarterback. So with Gino,
11:09
Speaker 2: second round pick, but still this was why the Jets
11:12
Speaker 2: were high on Gino. He's showing the best of his
11:16
Speaker 2: abilities dating back to when he was a West Virginia.
11:18
Speaker 2: So what I'm hoping for Gino is at the offensive
11:20
Speaker 2: line of pooves such that he can push the ball
11:22
Speaker 2: down field more. And I'm not necessarily focusing on deep passes.
11:26
Speaker 2: That's a component that didn't drop off totally from twenty
11:29
Speaker 2: twenty three twenty twenty three compared to twenty twenty two.
11:33
Speaker 2: But his intermediate passing, so that ten to nineteen yard range,
11:36
Speaker 2: that did drop. In twenty twenty two, that rate was
11:39
Speaker 2: twenty two percent, and then in twenty twenty three it
11:42
Speaker 2: dropped to seventeen point nine percent, So it was almost
11:44
Speaker 2: like it's a long pass or it's a really short pass,
11:48
Speaker 2: not a whole lot in between. I'd also like to
11:50
Speaker 2: see Gino scramble more, and I think he's even mentioned
11:53
Speaker 2: that too. He had only thirty seven rush attempts and
11:56
Speaker 2: that's acknowledging the two games miss but he had sixty
11:58
Speaker 2: eight in twenty twenty two. Wow. So now keeping in
12:02
Speaker 2: mind Neil downs count as rush attempts, that's still wide
12:06
Speaker 2: enough of a gap that you know he was scrambling
12:07
Speaker 2: less often. But he can use his legs to extend
12:11
Speaker 2: plays and to at least run for first down. So
12:14
Speaker 2: that's another aspect of Gino's game. I'd love to see.
12:18
Speaker 2: But yes, I believe that Gino can have his best
12:21
Speaker 2: season as a Seahawk if the offensive line of Poo's
12:24
Speaker 2: and if he's taken well to the new stylings of
12:28
Speaker 2: former Washington Huskies offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb. I mean, there's
12:33
Speaker 2: a lot of excitement concerning the defense. We'll get to
12:35
Speaker 2: that later. But for the Seahawks to be a contender
12:39
Speaker 2: or even a playoff team, the inconsistencies of the offense
12:42
Speaker 2: have to stop. They have to be somewhere in the
12:44
Speaker 2: top third of the league in order to be a
12:48
Speaker 2: high caliber team or at least a team with a
12:51
Speaker 2: chance to make a playoff run. So the improvement of
12:53
Speaker 2: the offense I think is going to be much more
12:56
Speaker 2: important to them than the defense going from terrible to
12:59
Speaker 2: even bed yocre, because it is a league where if
13:02
Speaker 2: you don't have a great offense, you better have some
13:03
Speaker 2: amazing all time defense have any shot at making the
13:07
Speaker 2: playoffs or even winning a playoff game.
13:09
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, in that regard, Mookie, you know, I've been
13:11
Speaker 1: thinking to myself as it pertains to this Seahawks offense,
13:14
Speaker 1: you know, you know, learning about what they've been doing
13:16
Speaker 1: during the off season, and learning about where certain guys
13:20
Speaker 1: are hopefully going to be developing. I think who's going
13:23
Speaker 1: to be that spark on this Seahawks offense? And I
13:26
Speaker 1: really think wide receiver Jackson Smith and jig Buta is
13:29
Speaker 1: really gonna have a tremendous impact on this Seahawks offense
13:33
Speaker 1: this coming season. It's a second year and from my understanding,
13:37
Speaker 1: like his blocking downfield has dramatically improved, which is gonna
13:41
Speaker 1: help in the run game. It's also gonna help in
13:43
Speaker 1: a number of other ways with regard to the passing
13:45
Speaker 1: game too. So I'm wondering, is Jackson Smith and jig
13:48
Speaker 1: but is he going to be that spark do you
13:50
Speaker 1: think on the Seahawks offense this season, because I'm not
13:53
Speaker 1: sure this offense can totally be on Gino Smith's shoulders
13:57
Speaker 1: or I don't know, do you have somebody else in
13:59
Speaker 1: mind that may kind of play that role as we
14:01
Speaker 1: head into the first couple weeks of the season.
14:05
Speaker 2: I'd say short term and long term Jackson Smith and
14:08
Speaker 2: Jigba's development is going to be the most important aspect
14:10
Speaker 2: of this offense. So I've got no concerns about Kenneth
14:14
Speaker 2: Walker and Zach Charbonnet as the running backs, I think
14:16
Speaker 2: Walker can can produce a truly special season if this
14:19
Speaker 2: run blocking can improve, because we know that Walker has
14:22
Speaker 2: made the most out of the fact that his blocking
14:24
Speaker 2: in front of him hasn't been great. He's so good
14:26
Speaker 2: at his lateral quickness and his agility and ability to
14:30
Speaker 2: break tackles, and of course his speed is truly impresive
14:32
Speaker 2: for a guy of his size. But in terms of
14:36
Speaker 2: Smith and Jigbu, you think about the fact that he
14:40
Speaker 2: was the first receiver taken in the twenty twenty three draft,
14:43
Speaker 2: and then you had a run of receivers after him,
14:45
Speaker 2: A Flowers, Quinton Johnson, Jordan Edison. So as the third
14:48
Speaker 2: option at receiver, sixty three catches for six hundred and
14:51
Speaker 2: twenty eight yards and I think four touchdowns. It was
14:54
Speaker 2: either four or five touchdowns. But I'm going off the
14:56
Speaker 2: top of my head here. That's if he was a
14:59
Speaker 2: number one out, not a overly oppressive rookie season, but
15:03
Speaker 2: as a third option, that that's better than people realize.
15:06
Speaker 2: And that's keeping in mind his average depth of target
15:08
Speaker 2: was six point one yards, a lot of short passes
15:11
Speaker 2: his way, a lot of quick screens. Much of the
15:12
Speaker 2: annoyance of Seahawks fans, including myself, because it felt like, well,
15:16
Speaker 2: why do we take a first round receiver if we're
15:18
Speaker 2: going to have him be at the line of scrimmage, right.
15:20
Speaker 1: He's going to do screen passes? Yeah, well, there.
15:23
Speaker 2: Is a method to the man that's now. Keeping in
15:24
Speaker 2: mind that's a previous offensive coordinator. Smith and Jibber was
15:27
Speaker 2: quite efficient on screen passes as the season progress even
15:29
Speaker 2: won a game against the Cleveland Browns that way, but
15:32
Speaker 2: the screen pass that dkcaf was able to block and
15:34
Speaker 2: get the winning touchdown. But his his depth of target
15:37
Speaker 2: increased towards the end of the season. He was getting
15:40
Speaker 2: more deep shots of great one hand to catch against
15:42
Speaker 2: the forty nine Ers that that wowed everybody. And of
15:45
Speaker 2: course he had the game winning touchdown against the Philadelphia
15:47
Speaker 2: Eagles with Drew Locke throwing a long ball his way.
15:50
Speaker 1: I think, oh, I remember my friend.
15:52
Speaker 2: Yes, of course, you know I had to, but yes,
15:58
Speaker 2: with Smith and Jibber's development, it's key also because Tyler
16:01
Speaker 2: Lockett been one of the great Seahawks of his era,
16:04
Speaker 2: one of the great wide receivers in franchise history. He
16:07
Speaker 2: is on the other side of thirty and his contracts
16:11
Speaker 2: has been restructured and it's going to be real costly
16:14
Speaker 2: to justify keeping him the next season. So it's very
16:16
Speaker 2: possible that this is the end of Tyler Lockett. Sehawks
16:19
Speaker 2: career will look this year. So part of why they
16:22
Speaker 2: drafted JSN, I suspect is a Lockett replacement. And you
16:27
Speaker 2: can have instead of saying okay, DK is the number
16:30
Speaker 2: one receiver and Smith and Jigga is the number two,
16:32
Speaker 2: you can have a one A and one B and
16:35
Speaker 2: they have different strengths and weaknesses. With Metcalf, he's got
16:38
Speaker 2: that incredible speed, incredible deep deep thread ability. Smith and
16:44
Speaker 2: Jigba more advanced route tree, and certainly his body shape
16:47
Speaker 2: is different that he can run certain ROUSI Metcalf is
16:50
Speaker 2: not going to be adept at so I am of
16:53
Speaker 2: the opinion that Smith and Jigba is going to have
16:56
Speaker 2: a monstrous role in the Seahawks offense. The screen passes
16:59
Speaker 2: are to continue, But as far as whether he's in
17:03
Speaker 2: the slaughters in the outside, I think he's going to
17:05
Speaker 2: be a big option in the middle of the field.
17:07
Speaker 2: They're going to go downfield with him more often. He's
17:09
Speaker 2: going to be that great intermediate threat and yards after
17:12
Speaker 2: catch option too. I mean, if the Seahawks can improve
17:15
Speaker 2: the yards after catch, which they did last year, but
17:18
Speaker 2: having two options Metcalf and Smith and Jibba and no offense,
17:22
Speaker 2: the tight ends also really good at yack. That can
17:24
Speaker 2: open things up of the offense and find other ways
17:27
Speaker 2: to create explosive plays that don't necessarily mean Okay, in
17:30
Speaker 2: order to get forty yards, we got to throw at
17:31
Speaker 2: forty yards. Now, let's find ways to throw at twenty
17:35
Speaker 2: yards and the receiver is going to be in good
17:36
Speaker 2: position to get at least twenty yards after the catch.
17:38
Speaker 2: That's what I see in Smith and Jigba as an
17:41
Speaker 2: important part of the Seahawks offense because Tyler Lockett over
17:44
Speaker 2: the years, especially after the ankle break and some other injuries,
17:48
Speaker 2: he is a reliable pair of hands. He's a great
17:50
Speaker 2: route runner, very rarely drops passes, but not much of
17:54
Speaker 2: the yards after catch the thread anymore. He's a possession
17:57
Speaker 2: receiver kind of at this point where he's going to
17:59
Speaker 2: catch him go out of bounds, er go down at
18:00
Speaker 2: first contact, and its self preservation is totally understandable. But
18:05
Speaker 2: Smith and jig But provides a different element to his
18:08
Speaker 2: game that Lockett no longer.
18:10
Speaker 1: Provides absolutely, and it's why I think he is really
18:12
Speaker 1: going to be the spark on this Seahawks offense this
18:15
Speaker 1: coming season. But as we're moving along with the conversation here, Mookie,
18:19
Speaker 1: like with every NFL team, there are always some depth issues,
18:23
Speaker 1: and the Seahawks backup offensive tackles had a really rough
18:27
Speaker 1: time in the first preseason game against the Chargers. Seahawks
18:31
Speaker 1: fans were pretty dismayed on social media from what I
18:33
Speaker 1: was reading about Stone Forsyth and McLendon Curtis, who looked
18:38
Speaker 1: pretty pretty dismal in past protection. I was watching some
18:41
Speaker 1: of that game myself here in Pennsylvania and I was like, wow, man,
18:44
Speaker 1: I'm like, if if you know, the offensive line doesn't
18:48
Speaker 1: hold up, there's gonna be some big, big problems with
18:50
Speaker 1: the Seahawks backup offensive lineman. Perhaps, are there any other
18:55
Speaker 1: options to back up this starting lineup the offensive line
18:59
Speaker 1: or the these guys are going to start to really
19:01
Speaker 1: settle into their roles on the depth chart here? What
19:04
Speaker 1: are your thoughts about the offensive line depth as as
19:07
Speaker 1: we're moving forward here, you know, we don't want to
19:09
Speaker 1: see anybody get injured, but if that does happen, what
19:12
Speaker 1: is this depth really going to look like here?
19:15
Speaker 2: Well, I'd say a Seahawks fan should be accustomed to
19:17
Speaker 2: questionable offensive line depth. Questionable offensive line ever since Steve
19:21
Speaker 2: Hutchinson left and Walter Jones's prime went away. We're close
19:25
Speaker 2: to seventeen eighteen years since the last time the Seahawks
19:28
Speaker 2: had an elite offensive line. So that's been a really,
19:31
Speaker 2: really long time. It's just been a revolving door at
19:33
Speaker 2: so many positions trying to find that franchise player. They
19:35
Speaker 2: have extended so few players at any position on the
19:38
Speaker 2: offensive line because it's been justified to not retain But yeah,
19:44
Speaker 2: that first preseason game Stone Forsyth, and this is a
19:47
Speaker 2: contract here for him because it's the last year of
19:48
Speaker 2: his rookie deal. He's going to be fighting to make
19:50
Speaker 2: the roster because he's just he's a six round pick.
19:54
Speaker 2: So he's been depth the whole time. Played him at
19:57
Speaker 2: right tackle last year, but the coaching staffan didn't even
19:59
Speaker 2: entrust him to play right tackle full time. They brought
20:02
Speaker 2: in Jason Peters, a former Eagle it's out of retirement
20:06
Speaker 2: of sentry from the practice squad and ended up promoting
20:08
Speaker 2: him to the active roster to split time at right
20:10
Speaker 2: tackle between him and Forsyth. Now, Forsyth, in fairness playing
20:14
Speaker 2: out of position, he's more of a left tackle than
20:16
Speaker 2: right tackle. But still he's not been overly impressive at
20:20
Speaker 2: at either spot. So Forsyth is going to be definitely
20:24
Speaker 2: in trouble as far as making the roster. I think
20:28
Speaker 2: he's definitely a bubble player now. McLendon Curtis, he's a
20:33
Speaker 2: recent right tackle convert, and that might not even be
20:36
Speaker 2: a permanent thing because he's been a guard, a right guard.
20:39
Speaker 2: He's been taking right tackle reps throughout training camp. Now
20:43
Speaker 2: he could look at it as they want another right
20:46
Speaker 2: tackle option in case something happens to George Fant, who
20:49
Speaker 2: is the actual backup right tackle, backup swing tackle because
20:52
Speaker 2: he can play left tackle as well, or this is
20:55
Speaker 2: a last dish thing for Curtis to stay on the
20:57
Speaker 2: roster if they already have options at guard, so we
21:01
Speaker 2: can try you out at right tackle. If it doesn't work,
21:03
Speaker 2: then you go to the practice squad or something, or
21:06
Speaker 2: you go to another team. So that's just something to
21:08
Speaker 2: consider with regards to McClendon Curtis. But the depth, yeah,
21:13
Speaker 2: it's going to be a problem at tackle. I think,
21:15
Speaker 2: but I'm much more comfortable with George Fans as the
21:17
Speaker 2: backup tackle, especially with Abe Lucas still not back from
21:21
Speaker 2: his mysterious knee issue that has put him on the
21:25
Speaker 2: pup list to start training camp. So Fans is much
21:28
Speaker 2: better than the option they had last year. And he's
21:31
Speaker 2: starting experience, including in his first run with the Seahawks.
21:34
Speaker 2: So and he was with the Houston Texans last year
21:36
Speaker 2: as a starter too. So if something happens to Lucas
21:39
Speaker 2: and he still can't go, you insert George Fans. I'm
21:42
Speaker 2: pretty comfortable there something happens to Charles Cross, you can
21:44
Speaker 2: play George Fann at left tackle because he's got He's
21:47
Speaker 2: actually more comfortable on the left side to begin with.
21:50
Speaker 2: But the depth at center that's changed drastically recently with
21:54
Speaker 2: the signing of Connor Williams looks like he's going to
21:57
Speaker 2: be the Week one starter at center. They traded away
22:00
Speaker 2: Nick Harris, who was in competition with Olaw with Timmy
22:03
Speaker 2: to be the starter, but Williams towards ACL last year,
22:07
Speaker 2: and that's part of why he was available this deep
22:09
Speaker 2: in August. Otherwise he would have likely been in line
22:12
Speaker 2: for a big contract extension. So instead he's got to
22:15
Speaker 2: wait it down until August. He does get signed, he'll
22:18
Speaker 2: be the starter, Olawa Timmy as the backup. So I'm
22:20
Speaker 2: pretty good at center there, assuming Williams is even ninety
22:25
Speaker 2: percent of what he was with Miami when he was
22:28
Speaker 2: their starting center at guard lake and Tomlinson was not
22:31
Speaker 2: good at all with the Jets. He wasn't particularly good
22:33
Speaker 2: in this Chargers game. So left guard depth is going
22:36
Speaker 2: to be questionable. And then right guards, it's all about
22:39
Speaker 2: the youth movement of right guard. Because Anthony Bradford's second
22:42
Speaker 2: year player, got ten starts last year, he figures to
22:45
Speaker 2: be the starting right guard. But the rookie Christian Haynes
22:48
Speaker 2: third round pick out a Yukon, he looks like somebody
22:51
Speaker 2: that could be a starter as soon as this year.
22:54
Speaker 2: But I think he's going to end up in the
22:56
Speaker 2: starting lineup sooner rather than later. So the guard aspect
23:00
Speaker 2: of the depth left guard a little bit iffy, but
23:04
Speaker 2: we'll see how that goes. Thanks so Tilla Lomea, the
23:07
Speaker 2: rookie out of Utah six round pick, he got snaps
23:10
Speaker 2: at left guard in the fourth quarter and you'll probably
23:13
Speaker 2: get a lot of playing time this weekend and the
23:15
Speaker 2: rest of preseason, so we'll see if he's going to
23:18
Speaker 2: be an option at guard. But yeah, the offensive line depth,
23:22
Speaker 2: I'm better about it now than I was for the
23:25
Speaker 2: last couple of years, but that's in mind that you
23:27
Speaker 2: still have very inexperienced players there. You have three offensive
23:30
Speaker 2: lineman draft adding in Michael Jiraut the other six round
23:34
Speaker 2: pick out of Finley University, and then you've got Anthony
23:39
Speaker 2: Bradford in his second season so and Olawa Timmy as
23:42
Speaker 2: the backup center. He's in his second season, so it's
23:44
Speaker 2: a youth movement of sorts. They're going to be veterans
23:46
Speaker 2: starting like Connor Williams and Tomlinson, but with everybody else,
23:51
Speaker 2: they're all pretty much on the rookie deals. So we'll
23:54
Speaker 2: see how this goes with Scott Hoff the new offensive
23:56
Speaker 2: line coach, again formerly of the University of Washington. But
24:01
Speaker 2: I'm not bullish on the offensive line being a top five,
24:03
Speaker 2: top ten unit or anything. But ideally it is not
24:07
Speaker 2: as catastrophic as it has been in years past.
24:10
Speaker 1: As my thirteen year old twin daughters like to use
24:14
Speaker 1: the phrase mid if they're mid mookie, maybe maybe they
24:18
Speaker 1: can keep Geno Smith in the pocket a little bit
24:22
Speaker 1: more often this coming season. And again, folks, we're talking
24:25
Speaker 1: to Mooky Alexander from field goals dot Com, great SB
24:30
Speaker 1: Nation site at Mooky Alexander over on Twitter slash x
24:34
Speaker 1: and let's get into this defense on the defensive side
24:37
Speaker 1: of the ball, MOOKI the Seahawks d absolutely manhandled Chargers
24:41
Speaker 1: of the first preseason game of the year. And yes,
24:43
Speaker 1: I know they were going against quarterback easton stick rookie
24:48
Speaker 1: linebacker Trice Knight. He showed a lot of steam I
24:51
Speaker 1: think in the first preseason game from what I saw,
24:54
Speaker 1: Defensive tackle Byron Murphy looks like he wants to make
24:57
Speaker 1: an early statement here in the NFL. What are some
25:00
Speaker 1: the difference is in what you've seen thus far from
25:02
Speaker 1: the Seahawks defense right here in this first early part
25:07
Speaker 1: of the preseason then you have in previous years with
25:10
Speaker 1: this Mike McDonald regime.
25:12
Speaker 2: Here, Yeah, the defense was outstanding. Only two miss tackles
25:17
Speaker 2: according to Pro Football Because and that was a big
25:19
Speaker 2: problem for the Seahawks last year. They were among the
25:22
Speaker 2: worst in the NFL in terms of miss tackles, both
25:24
Speaker 2: in the volume and then the rates of misstackles and
25:27
Speaker 2: that was a three level problem. But I know it's
25:31
Speaker 2: preseason and the Chargers, even with their first team, even
25:34
Speaker 2: if they played outside of the fact that justin Herbert's
25:37
Speaker 2: very good, that is not an overly talented Chargers roster
25:41
Speaker 2: rebuilding process, and there's no way around that for Jim Harbaugh.
25:44
Speaker 2: And it's not going to be surprised if they were
25:46
Speaker 2: a playoff team in year one. But be that as
25:49
Speaker 2: it may. The fact that the first team held the
25:52
Speaker 2: Chargers to two three and outs and then the backups
25:54
Speaker 2: came in and kept scolding the Chargers to three announce
25:56
Speaker 2: until late the second quarter. Then the third team comes
25:59
Speaker 2: in and then the Chargers don't score any points in
26:01
Speaker 2: the second half. That was really really exciting and relieving
26:04
Speaker 2: to see because it reminded me of some of the
26:07
Speaker 2: legion of Boom era defenses with Pete Carroll. Because anybody
26:10
Speaker 2: who's watched those preseason games, you saw the Seahawks defense
26:14
Speaker 2: dominate to the point where you're going, man, it's a
26:17
Speaker 2: shame that some of these guys are not going to
26:18
Speaker 2: make the team, right And that's how about this Seahawks defense. Now,
26:23
Speaker 2: as far as differences that I've seen, some of it
26:27
Speaker 2: is familiar to Seahawks fans, like dropping big guys into coverage,
26:30
Speaker 2: which was an annoyance for us when Ken Norton Junior
26:33
Speaker 2: did it, But I guess it's different when Michael. But
26:37
Speaker 2: I guess it's just do you have the personnel and
26:40
Speaker 2: do you have the scheme to justify doing that. And
26:43
Speaker 2: Mike Morris secondary defensive lineman from Michigan. He hasn't played
26:48
Speaker 2: much because he was injured almost all of last season
26:50
Speaker 2: with a shoulder injury, but he's back now. And there
26:53
Speaker 2: was a play in the second quarter where you can
26:56
Speaker 2: see him dropping into coverage and getting a pass breakup
26:59
Speaker 2: on I think it was a tight end. And then
27:01
Speaker 2: there was another play where boyimaffe the edge rusher. He
27:03
Speaker 2: was the only first teamer who played the entire first half.
27:06
Speaker 2: Actually he drops into coverage on one side and then
27:09
Speaker 2: you blitz already burns a slot coiner from the other side,
27:12
Speaker 2: forced a pressure and stick ends up throwing a pass
27:15
Speaker 2: that almost gets intercepted. So that's the kind of unpredictability
27:18
Speaker 2: to Mike McDonald's defense and his defensive coordinator add and
27:21
Speaker 2: dirty as well. I mean, he's not a figure head.
27:23
Speaker 2: He's going to have to have a role in making
27:25
Speaker 2: sure that this defense is sharp and on points and
27:29
Speaker 2: knows what it's doing. It is still ultimately too early
27:32
Speaker 2: to tell based on preseason reps and based on what
27:35
Speaker 2: McDonald said earlier in the week the second preseason get
27:39
Speaker 2: megainst the Titans were probably not going to see the
27:41
Speaker 2: starters play because there's going to be joint practices that
27:45
Speaker 2: act have already flown up to Nashville in preparation for that.
27:47
Speaker 2: Haven't done joint practices since nineteen ninety one. It's not
27:50
Speaker 2: a thing that must have done. And part of it
27:52
Speaker 2: is geography because they're so isolated up there. Yeah that
27:55
Speaker 2: nobody necessarily wants to go up to Seattle for that
27:57
Speaker 2: to or have Seattle will travel elsewhere. But joint practices
28:01
Speaker 2: means the first team defense is going to be against
28:04
Speaker 2: the Titans first team offense for two days and padded practices,
28:07
Speaker 2: so there's no need to continue that potential and most
28:10
Speaker 2: likely very physical. That very physical practice doesn't need to
28:16
Speaker 2: go into the actual game, so they've got in with practice.
28:19
Speaker 2: So we'll know a little bit more, maybe in the
28:22
Speaker 2: preseason finale against the Cleveland Browns, and then we'll see
28:25
Speaker 2: how it goes the first few games of the regular season. However,
28:28
Speaker 2: I did get the chance to go to one of
28:30
Speaker 2: the Seahawks training camps. I was up in Seattle, first
28:32
Speaker 2: time in a long time for me. Up in Seattle
28:34
Speaker 2: last week at Lumenfield for one of their It was
28:37
Speaker 2: part of the Football Fan Fest, a little festival for
28:41
Speaker 2: families and children to meet players, get autographs signed, to
28:45
Speaker 2: play interactive games and all that. So part of that
28:49
Speaker 2: was getting to watch the practice in person. And I
28:51
Speaker 2: noticed that the cornerbacks, meaning especially Devin Withatherspoon and Rika Wooland,
28:56
Speaker 2: they were shadowing the receivers quite often.
28:59
Speaker 1: Wow.
29:00
Speaker 2: And that's something that's not something that Pete Carroll's defenses
29:03
Speaker 2: did a lot, especially in the early years. The legion
29:06
Speaker 2: of it's Sherman you're on one side, brown Er or
29:09
Speaker 2: Maxwell you're on the other side. You stay in your role.
29:12
Speaker 2: But with Woolan and Witherspoon, imagine we're going to see
29:15
Speaker 2: them traveling with the top receivers more often, and they're
29:19
Speaker 2: going to be quite capable. I mean, Devin Witherspoon wasn't
29:21
Speaker 2: outside corner in college, so he's been in the slot now.
29:24
Speaker 2: But the slot means so much in today's NFL that
29:28
Speaker 2: you pretty much have to be able to have that
29:30
Speaker 2: versatility to work in the slot, work in the outside,
29:32
Speaker 2: be able to travel with receivers. So at least in practice,
29:36
Speaker 2: the expectation is the secondary is going to have a
29:39
Speaker 2: more variable than we've seen with some of Carroll's defenses,
29:42
Speaker 2: and that really excites me because I think the secondary
29:45
Speaker 2: is the strength of Seattle's defense in terms of the
29:48
Speaker 2: depth at cornerback. Now, the safety spots are going to
29:50
Speaker 2: be new because Quandary Days and Jamal Adams are gone,
29:53
Speaker 2: Julian little Bits a promotion and a new contract extension indeed,
29:57
Speaker 2: but you also have Rayshawn Jenkins from Jacksonville and then
30:00
Speaker 2: Kevon Wallace who really impressed in his preseason debut. So
30:03
Speaker 2: you'll have new players at safety, but the cornerback situation
30:08
Speaker 2: generally the same, and I think they could be one
30:10
Speaker 2: of the top groups in the NFL. I'm that bullish
30:13
Speaker 2: on the Seahawks cornerbacks. Not necessarily the whole defense, but
30:16
Speaker 2: the cornerbacks I think could be really special, especially when
30:19
Speaker 2: you consider Witherspoon was a Rookie of the Year finalists
30:22
Speaker 2: last season and Riquillen difficult twenty twenty three with the
30:25
Speaker 2: penalties and some run defense issues, but he was a
30:28
Speaker 2: Rookie of the Year finalist in twenty twenty two. So
30:30
Speaker 2: you add in a great coaching staff and could you
30:33
Speaker 2: could see their potential really burst through.
30:35
Speaker 1: Kevon Wallace former Philadelphia Eagle. We diff definitely had a
30:38
Speaker 1: lot of high hopes for him, and I hope he
30:40
Speaker 1: does well out in Seattle. As we're finishing up here,
30:44
Speaker 1: finishing our conversation and as we're running out of time
30:47
Speaker 1: too here, Mookie, I wanted to just quick get your
30:50
Speaker 1: opinions on It's a two part question here, just in
30:53
Speaker 1: terms of where the offense and defense are trending. First,
30:56
Speaker 1: when you're looking at this twenty twenty four season and
30:59
Speaker 1: what we're going to seeing from the Seahawks offense, where
31:01
Speaker 1: do you think the Seahawks offense is going to be trending.
31:06
Speaker 2: I think they'll trend slightly. Now I'm not going to
31:09
Speaker 2: go with to the top three or top five necessarily.
31:13
Speaker 2: I'm going to be that high because I still have
31:15
Speaker 2: reservations about how good the offensive line will be and
31:17
Speaker 2: there are going to be injuries, and that's when we
31:20
Speaker 2: project NFL seasons all the time. We always do it
31:23
Speaker 2: on the basis that nobody ever gets hurt. Ever, well,
31:27
Speaker 2: tough luck. This is not Madden. You can't turn the
31:29
Speaker 2: slides off. There are going to be injuries. You just
31:32
Speaker 2: hope there aren't any injuries. But people are going to
31:34
Speaker 2: get hurt here and there, miss a couple of games,
31:35
Speaker 2: and some are going to be lost for the season.
31:37
Speaker 2: So if we assume the best, I think this offense
31:41
Speaker 2: can go from kind of average and a little bit
31:44
Speaker 2: middle into something close to the top ten, if not
31:47
Speaker 2: on the outer part, to the top tens, like say
31:49
Speaker 2: a ninth tenth, that sort of range. The running game,
31:52
Speaker 2: if that improves drastically from years past, I think that
31:56
Speaker 2: would be huge for Gino Smith, especially to not have
31:59
Speaker 2: so much much of it on his shoulders. With Walker
32:03
Speaker 2: and Charbonne, I could see them evolved more in the
32:05
Speaker 2: passing game. Maybe even the third running back, whether that's
32:07
Speaker 2: George Halawnie or Kenny McIntosh. I mean that's important too.
32:12
Speaker 2: The tight end situation a lot different than last year
32:14
Speaker 2: or the last couple of years. This tight end by
32:16
Speaker 2: committee stuff is not really going to be a thing.
32:18
Speaker 2: No offense clearly the undisputed top tight end and then
32:20
Speaker 2: you have more blocking tight ends in Faroll Brown and
32:23
Speaker 2: Brady Russell and AJ Barner. So didn't score touchdown last year,
32:27
Speaker 2: wasn't as involved in the offense. But I think you
32:29
Speaker 2: could get more targets this year. And Ryan Grubb did
32:33
Speaker 2: an excellent job of the tight ends at Washington. So
32:36
Speaker 2: I'm of course Ryan Grubb is going to have his
32:39
Speaker 2: learning experiences too. This is such an inexperienced coaching staff
32:41
Speaker 2: at an NFL level. Now McDonald's had NFL experience, Ryan
32:45
Speaker 2: Grubb has never had a day in the NFL until
32:47
Speaker 2: he got highed. What he though that is different from
32:49
Speaker 2: Seattle's last offensive coordinator, Shane Waldron. He has expansive it
32:54
Speaker 2: has an extensive history as a play caller. So Waldron
32:57
Speaker 2: didn't have a deep play calling history, in fact, not
33:00
Speaker 2: a cull plays here and there with the Rams. But
33:01
Speaker 2: he wasn't the one with the playbook making calling the
33:04
Speaker 2: shots in Los Angeles with the Rams. Grubb was the
33:06
Speaker 2: play caller in Fresno State, was the play caller of Washington,
33:10
Speaker 2: and he produced tremendous results for both schools. Can he
33:13
Speaker 2: translate that to the NFL, where the dimensions are different
33:16
Speaker 2: and the whole flow of the game is different. That
33:19
Speaker 2: remains to be seen, But I choose to be more
33:21
Speaker 2: on the optimistic side that yes, Gina, well, we'll play well,
33:24
Speaker 2: we'll play better than last year. We'll see the best
33:26
Speaker 2: out of Smith and Jigba, We'll see another great season
33:28
Speaker 2: from Metcalf. The offensive line will be at least decent
33:32
Speaker 2: enough to have the offense function. Yes, it's nossible. Yeah,
33:36
Speaker 2: the same problem as years passed. Then it's going to
33:40
Speaker 2: be a real difficult season. I'm gonna aer on, I'm
33:45
Speaker 2: gonna air on the side of positivity for once. That
33:47
Speaker 2: the enough to make the Seahawks an above average offense.
33:52
Speaker 1: Really quick, Mookie, where's the defense trending based on our conversation,
33:56
Speaker 1: I mean, it's trending upwards. For sure. You're high on
33:59
Speaker 1: the cornerback position, of course, But overall, from what we've
34:02
Speaker 1: seen thus far in preseason, this is going to be
34:04
Speaker 1: a darn good defense, likely at top ten defense in
34:07
Speaker 1: my opinion. And yes, things can happen, injuries can happen.
34:10
Speaker 1: But again, real quick, where do you see this defense
34:12
Speaker 1: trending here in twenty twenty four?
34:15
Speaker 2: Well, they can't be worse, they can't be much worse
34:16
Speaker 2: than the last year, so they'll have to trend upward.
34:19
Speaker 2: If they trend sideways, that's going to be the Seahws
34:22
Speaker 2: might as well just start picking in the top ten
34:23
Speaker 2: next year. But I think they're going to trend upward.
34:26
Speaker 2: And it's not to slight Pete Carroll, but I feel
34:29
Speaker 2: like even with all of his adjustments and all the
34:31
Speaker 2: things that he tried to do and all the investments
34:33
Speaker 2: they've made, it just wasn't working out the way it
34:35
Speaker 2: did when he was the coach of the first few
34:38
Speaker 2: years with Seattle. But with McDonald, different philosophy, different schemes,
34:43
Speaker 2: different concepts. They didn't completely overhaul the defensive roster. They
34:48
Speaker 2: did at safety and they did at linebacker, but there
34:50
Speaker 2: might be some growing pains at linebacker. That is my
34:52
Speaker 2: one area of concern on the defensive side with Tyroll
34:55
Speaker 2: Dotson and Jerome Baker. We'll see what happens with Tyree
34:58
Speaker 2: Knights and whether he's going to get so run because
35:01
Speaker 2: Baker has been hurt. You never know if Night ends
35:03
Speaker 2: up being a starter just because of that. But the
35:05
Speaker 2: pass rush I think will improve. You Chennon and Woes,
35:07
Speaker 2: who's back from his season ending injury, you've got Bira
35:10
Speaker 2: Murphy for interior pass rush, the same with Jared Reid.
35:13
Speaker 2: The run defense should be better now. Wasn't great in Baltimore,
35:16
Speaker 2: But what happened in Baltimore is not necessarily going to
35:19
Speaker 2: just copy and paste over to Seattle. Boy and Mafia.
35:21
Speaker 2: I think could be poised to be one of the
35:23
Speaker 2: top pass rushers in the league. He could finally end
35:26
Speaker 2: Seattle's drought of not having somebody with double digit sacks.
35:29
Speaker 2: I've already said my piece on the secondary, but I
35:33
Speaker 2: assume that because it's a new defense, we're going to
35:35
Speaker 2: have some miscommunications and coverage bus But I don't expect
35:39
Speaker 2: them to look as unprepared as they have in seasons past,
35:42
Speaker 2: where the defense was on pace to be historically bad
35:44
Speaker 2: and then they would course correct and then they would
35:46
Speaker 2: be bad again. I think that this defense is going
35:48
Speaker 2: to trend upward to the point where they again they
35:51
Speaker 2: should be at least average. I would take an average
35:53
Speaker 2: defense and a great offense.
35:55
Speaker 1: See I'm really high on them. I think they could
35:56
Speaker 1: be a top ten I really do.
35:58
Speaker 2: Actually happens, then Seattle could be challenging for the NFC West,
36:02
Speaker 2: which ends what happens with the forty nine ers and
36:05
Speaker 2: this Ayuk thing, They're going to have to make a
36:07
Speaker 2: decision eventually. I can see Seattle making a push for
36:11
Speaker 2: that division title, but at the very least I think
36:15
Speaker 2: the expectations amongst Thehawks fans is contend for the playoffs
36:19
Speaker 2: because of all the first year head coaches, McDonald is
36:22
Speaker 2: the only one that's taking over a team that was
36:23
Speaker 2: above five hundred last year. So if they can go
36:27
Speaker 2: ten and seven one game improvement, that should be a
36:29
Speaker 2: near lock for the playoffs and what should be theoretically
36:32
Speaker 2: a weaker conference in the AFC, So I'm expecting an
36:35
Speaker 2: offense somewhere close to the top ten, if not just
36:37
Speaker 2: inside it, and then the defense I would say in
36:41
Speaker 2: that ten to sixteen range.
36:43
Speaker 1: Again, folks. Mookie Alexander from field goals dot com, great
36:46
Speaker 1: SB Nation site and fill him on Twitter at Mooki Alexander, Buddy,
36:50
Speaker 1: it was great talking to you. Always love having you
36:52
Speaker 1: on the show. Let's talk some more Seahawks and NFL
36:55
Speaker 1: storylines down the road, my friend. I'd love to have
36:57
Speaker 1: you back on the show.
36:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's always fun to do this. This is our
37:00
Speaker 2: third year in a row.
37:01
Speaker 1: I think I think so absolutely that's going to do
37:06
Speaker 1: it for us here on Opposition Territory this week. Please
37:09
Speaker 1: share our podcast with your friends and family members who
37:12
Speaker 1: are Philly sports fans or sports fans in general. We
37:15
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37:18
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37:22
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37:25
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37:28
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37:35
Speaker 1: as well at Philadelphia Sports Table. Take care, We'll catch
37:39
Speaker 1: you next time.