The big Seahawks debate, after hopeless performance against Buffalo

[@HawksFanMattMan]

Thanks, Rob, for the great discussion. I know you take a lot of crap for speaking your mind, but I always enjoy coming to your channel for the catharsis of hearing the unvarnished truth of my favorite team.

[@robstatonfootball]

Thanks Matt, I really appreciate your support and super chats 👍

[@shanehargus3707]

Well said.

[@real.cryptic]

Rob I want to thank you for everything you do. You and Hawk Blogger are my goats 💙💚

[@shane4474]

Great conversation. Love hearing Rob and Jeff dig in on this team.

[@RickHatch-b8j]

Rob and Jeff, best content I’ve heard. Like the team building concept. I really liked the offensive line vs top 10 comparison. Hope Schneider and co hears it!

[@THATREALBREW]

You are ALWAYS on point rob! Truly a man after my football heart…identity needs to cater to the trenches and extreme toughness!!

[@Tmatlow05]

Geno is not a leader, he only cares about his own stats. He aint the only problem or the biggest, but he aint it. PERIOD

[@ilonakiforishin1273]

Thanks Rob this is a great discussion.🙂

[@HWK4LFE76]

Do we have enough self-motivation mentally tough players? Or is this team full of players that need to be motivated by others week to week?

[@jesselund360]

Dk is looked up to like a leader no matter how bad the fans say "he doesn't have to be a leader, he leads with his play on the field". And when Dk's habits and mentality spreads like cancer after ONE thing doesn't go his way, instead of lead us out of it he pouts and sulks and flips his shit. We need to set the tone and finally move on.

[@stephaniemrus2320]

Great discussion. You guys are spot on with your analysis. I’m praying team gets sold to a quality owner that will demand accountability.

[@SD-pp3or]

I’m from Australia, travelling to watch the hawks for my first ever nfl game, against san Fran and the jets. I hope I’m not paying over $2000 Australian to watch a performance like yesterday 😅

[@richn2525]

Shotgun and Pistol formation, that has become Seattle's identity.. like you said, teams just tee off on you when they see that formation. It's sad.

[@jesselund360]

The play after the bad snap we go into a pistol formation and "canned" the play into a shotgun play.....Unreal

[@davidlawton340]

Great video speaking the truth! Totally agree with everything you guys discussed. It does feel like a massive disconnect between McDonald and his coaches. Especially when he comes out emphasising the run and Grubb does the opposite. I felt he’s been too focused on the defence and we know ain’t working, so getting someone like Wink would solve someone running his defence/system and then he can have more input into the offence. Sorry to say it’s going to get worse with the rams and 49ers coming up and rams now have the momentum and it’s a perfect match up for Stafford and co. Also, big games for Geno who has played poor in most if not all our divisional games up to now. After rewatching the bills game, the 1st two quarters the pass protection was pretty decent but Geno made some poor decisions, like the one into triple coverage on 3rd down and just a lack leaving the pocket when needing too. He’s either top 10 QB or bottom 10 and no in between and I know we have more issues than Geno but having a top QB can/will solve a lot look at Washington. Worrying times.

[@crazyloner407]

Mike’s interview didnt give me any confidence in regards to us changing how often we use shotgun on offense.He said the offense is basically built on that,and they will try to run different formations going forward.

[@FCViolent]

Why would we get another edge rusher that doesn’t make any sense…

[@twistedchopper]

Team building is definitely where the focus should be. We started to get excited about the early PCJS seasons when they went all out on team building (record number of roster moves, dumping guys like Housch, picking up Marshawn, etc). The thing is when you are really trying to build a team, you can very quickly change the trajectory of your franchise. The hardest part is that you do need a QB...that was the final puzzle piece that got the Seahawks into the stratosphere.

[@albertbutler4364]

You have your televisions turned off out of respect for Rob, but he's not wearing any pants.

[@robstatonfootball]

How did you know?

[@meisterwindu1141]

John just can't build an O-Line... period. It's been the same approach for years now with players like Connor Williams, Laken Tomlinson, Anthony Bradford, Germain Ifedi, Mike Iupati, Austin Blythe, Jake Curhan and Brandon Shell. They are either just bad or cheap & bad. That's just not how you can build your offense on. I actually don't think it will change under Schneider.

[@jeffdonaldson8230]

The Seahawks are essentially the NFL version of a Big 12 Team at this point

[@shanehargus3707]

The seahawks franchise should hire Rob as a draft consultant or something. Jeff's good too maybe a talent evaluater or something! But seattle is so off on how they evaluate themselves. They need real fans questioning their decisions.

[@jordanchevis7998]

nice one rob. at first i was optimistic about keeping schneider, attributing most of the issues to carroll. but after seeing this trade for ernest jones and seeing history basically repeat itself, I question whether this staff - led by Schneider - can learn from their mistakes and turn this around

[@frankhawes]

Go hawks

[@johnnyfalsetto450]

The basic fundamentals running blocking we are not doing it. 100 percent coaching

[@dreamforgecontractors549]

It's true. Not interested like I was. Rob "ping" me when they turn it around or hire you as a scout.

[@patrick_aKa_HOUSE]

TEAM BUILDING as a dynamic is the biggest issue. Lack of an OL hurts Geno and guys like DK. Paying a WR $30M/yr with an ass OL is pointless. Paying Geno again pulls resources from everywhere else (especially the OL). Can we trade Noah Fant right now? I know we'll eat dead cap next season, but what a horrible signing... It is my belief we would be drastically better with Barner, Brown, Russell and a decent LG vs Fant, Barner, Brown and Tomlinson. Paying Noah Fant $11M/yr to catch 2-3 balls/game is FOOLISH. Me being a Christian man, I can see that John prefers high character guys (I do see this as a positive); me also being a Veteran with combat experience, we also need a junkyard dog/fire it up type of guy to light the spark. We are a leader-less team. Geno is playing well, but them him sulking on the sideline & DK needing to be the one to console him just made me shake my head. Jarran Reed getting in Derrick Hall's ass was PERFECT; We need more of that!

[@matthewelliott1129]

Grubb, does he even know any run plays that aren't out of shotgun?

[@real.cryptic]

He does. We can’t get push from our oline. The only thing that we can do well is quick tempo shotgun.

[@real.cryptic]

He does. We can’t get push from our oline. The only thing that we can do well is quick tempo shotgun.

[@flickoftheswitch1054]

I keep hearing the podcasters saying we have the talent. Do we ? Not even close. If you need perspective, go look at the difference between the Seahawks roster in 2010 and then look at the roster in 2013. It's glaring. Go look at some of the blowout losses the Seahawks had in both 2010 & 2011. Season records at the start - 2010 7 - 10, 2011 7 - 10, 2012 11 - 5, 2013 13 - 3 Super Bowl. I want the Seahawks to win just as much as the next fan, but I see very little realistic evaluation on this teams overall talent.

[@robstatonfootball]

Oh give over. If you think we have over-egged anything you’re talking cobblers

[@CohnWolfeFitness]

One interesting thing I notice in Mike Macdonald’s pressers and when he’s on Brock and Salk the Monday after games, is he gets asked questions about certain players and if he has talked to them about certain instances during games (the DK headset scene when we played SF, the Derek Hall, Jarran Reed altercation on the sideline) and he always says no, he hasn’t talked to them. Does this not seem weird to anyone else? Like why wouldn’t he have sit downs in his office with players or at least go up and talk to them after games. Makes me question his ability to lead men.

[@albertbutler4364]

You will not be having the exact same conversation this time next year, because Jeff's hat will NOT be backward next year. It will be COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.

[@FantasySportsZen]

Great show.

[@billmockeridge7167]

We should move on from Geno next year ( go with Howell ) get the O Line sorted then draft a QB in 2026

[@hooikaika69]

Good discussion Rob and Jeff. Yes Geno isn’t the main problem but he’s also not the answer either as he’s not a leader like you guys explained well. I want to see Schneider building up both the Oline and Dline. Question, how much of the roster problem is John or Pete? Are the guys on this roster all John’s guys or Pete’s? We all know that Pete had a lot of power and influence on the draft and roster.

[@jodylancaster8706]

Not to knock on Geno, but as a leader you cannot sit sulking on the bench. Russell never would have done that, ever.

[@kamalshoranick-wc3xd]

thanks

[@ewwee2k]

The Seahawks problem is still & always has been John “Little Finger” Schneider. This team is lacking in talent especially on both sides of the ball. He’s had 2 decent drafts in the last 9 years, been woeful in FA acquisitions the entire time. The QB has to play phenomenally for any success. That’s not sustainable. JS should’ve been shown the door with Pete years ago

[@gasjet2000]

Why call him “Little Finger?” By most accounts Peter Baelish was a pretty great “talent evaluator,” and his business was pretty solid and established, before he had designs on the Throne. Not too bad for a modest man from The Fingers.

[@ewwee2k]

@ I call him Little Finger because he’ll be your champion one day & stick a knife in your back the next. He obviously convinced Seahawks owner that he wasn’t responsible for the team’s failures and that Pete was the guilty party. He’s one of the “schemers” as the Joker would say.

[@glennkarn9208]

Seems the problem is the offensive lineman we picked in the draft didn’t pan out. Haynes And Olu we’re playing well we might have a different situation. Hans is not that late of a pick

[@snailedej8]

Go hawks…

[@flickoftheswitch1054]

It's been 1 draft and half a season. It's going to take another 2 drafts and some really good signings in free agency. It took Pete Carroll 3 years to put together a great team. The Seahawks struggled the first two years of Pete's tenure.

[@curtisallen5299]

Mike Macdonald said this afternoon that the team was tough. He keeps using that word. I do not think it means what he thinks it means.

[@robstatonfootball]

Trying to wish it into reality I think

[@stevenmoody4531]

They’re tough to figure out is probably what he means.

[@jasonandkathleenbarker6306]

They’re tough like new kids on the block Whoa hanging tough We’re rough!

[@EdBoiiiii]

The Sam Laporta comment made me think about how they kind of did that when they drafted AJ Barner except he's smaller. Then I look it up and Barner is bigger than Laporta yet he looks kind of slim on the field. Maybe it's because of how tall he is, but he doesnt seem physical. Maybe the 250lbs draft profile isn't accurate

[@aa-ze5cz]

It's always been the same... Get a QB, protect the QB, get to the other QB. Seattle has 1/3... but the last is nullified because they can't stop the run.

[@davidcoder5628]

The whole team is soft as Charmin.

[@crazyloner407]

I feel Aden Durde having the DC title is pointless. It’s Mikes defense and nobody is asking for his head because we know it’s all on Mike.

[@dansmith680]

What we got from the Wilson trade was just enough to get us back to square one after the Adams trade. Schneider stinks at drafting lineman.

[@johnnyfalsetto450]

I hate to say it but we're been out coached

[@shanesmith6586]

This is the 1st time John is the main man also

[@comeconcon569]

We need Russel Wilson back to the team.

[@jasonandkathleenbarker6306]

John Schneider loves extending guys to free up cap space (dremont jones, Lockett) He has not extended Geno. Can we draw the conclusion that Schneider doesn’t see Geno in Seattle in 2025? I’m serious, I’d love to hear a knowledgeable take on this. It jus occurred to me that Schneider loves to “extend and lower” cap hits, but he hasn’t done that with the guy who has the biggest cap hit

[@Jason-lk9yi]

Geno was asking for a new contract this past offseason but John and Mike declined. They then shipped out a serviceable back up in Lock then traded for 24 year old Sam Howell. I'd say all signs point to Seattle moving on from Geno after this year. If they lose the next 2 games I wouldn't be surprised to see Howell before the season ends. They have a huge decision to make after this season, so they need to have a clear picture on what they have in Howell before the offseason. Do they roll with Geno one more year without extending him for a cap hit of 38 million? Do they take a risk and extend an aging/regressing Geno to an even larger contract with the risk of him regressing further while having an even larger dead cap hit? Do they let Geno walk taking a 13 million dead cap hit while still saving 25 million in cap and roll with a much younger cheaper Howell? Or do they look for other options in FA or the draft?

[@seasquawker]

Seattle's defense has too many liabilities and there's no immediate fix to that. The Seahawks offense is going to need to carry this team with long drawn out possessions, which reduce the amount of time the defense needs to be on the field. I think the offense can do that if they get better o-line play. The return of Lucas and Fant this week should help there.

[@iron_bison]

How are they getting long possessions when they throw more than 2x per rush attempt?

[@seasquawker]

@iron_bison That's what I'm saying. They need to adjust their strategy. This week was perhaps an impossibility with the o-line configured the way it was and suffering with injuries... and no Metcalf to keep the opposing defense off balance. But when the o-line has Lucas and Fant back... and Metcalf is there with the threat to take the ball deep at any moment, then Walker and Charbonnet should run the ball more and eat up clock for the benefit of our defense which just cannot be on the field for long. Seahawks need to win the time of possession battle every week. The more they control it, the better

[@NissanZaxima]

Team is 4-4. If I saw the discourse after last game without knowing anything about the season so far, i would guess they were 1-7 or 2-6. I just need consistency out of fans at this point as it is always a hot take after every week. We win everyone talks about how awesome the changes are/the team looks fast/this looks like Ravens defense etc. When we lose the sky is falling Mike Mcdonald has no clue what he is doing yada yada yada. Just make up your mind people.

[@j.d9124]

Was Mike McDonald offensive coordinator forced on him. Because if you were supposed to have Arthur Smith but Arthur Smith went to Pittsburgh was that really his backup or was that the management that Fired Pete Carroll who are not football people. Was he their hire?

[@robstatonfootball]

Not forced, they went through an interview process and seemingly agreed on the final candidate

[@wesker2397]

Go Hawks!

[@albertbutler4364]

The Seahawks are not nearly as bad as the Saints. Dennis Allen is going to get fired and the Clint Kubiak is going to take over with Spencer Rattler.

[@Seahawksnewera]

Rob as a fellow UK Hawker do you think we are just "The Man Utd" of the NFL. 10 yrs ago the envy of the league SB1 in the locker ( dynasty on the way) not my words, but others with more knowledge than me and what do you know back again the following year to end Bradys career...You did a show on why we still mourn the loss of that game and I say again sounds stupid I know,we have not recovered , we still have scar tissue, and does it not show every week... Just start fresh next year, not sure MM has the cohonos to do it but stop fannying around....its painful to watch and yes like you my travel arrangements are back on hold AGAIN..🏖

[@zappadadooi90]

Often I just think let's just tank ala Cleveland/Jacksonville style until the next Josh Allen appears and we'll fight like hell to get him in the draft. Ugh. Trust the process and who cares gets fired along the way lol

[@dustyt06]

Geno sux

[@Northstarisforlife07]

Can this coaching staff teach these dudes how to tackle? If these players are soft like me and aren’t capable of that task. Maybe go with a different sport. 🤷‍♂️

[@jesselund360]

Imagine if we had focused on the trenches last off-season and trimmed the fat aka traded Dk and showed the rest of the team we want people who are trying to get better every day and be disciplined.

[@iron_bison]

You always bring up DK and I'm into trading him....but trim the fat? The qb is getting worse every year. Dre Jones is a massive whiff. Leonard williams is going to cost 29 million for basically Jarran Reeds production.

[@iron_bison]

Btw the worst part? John did focus in trenches. Cross, lucas, haynes, signed williams, drafted murohy, signed hankins, traded and signed big cat...

[@BSinSeattle]

OL. OL. OL.

[@CF-lg8jd]

All you doom Sayers, wait till Monday when we put manners on the rams, it's going to be one of those seasons, might get some consistency in the home straight but shitting on the team with all the changes is bs, and cheap.

[@robstatonfootball]

@@CF-lg8jd what a stupid comment

[@bp1194]

MM, what a joke!

[@brianparfet5956]

Go Hawks

[@hunteraaenson216]

Go hawks