Capite Sequenti for Seahawks:

  Seahawks Ready for Next Chapter: QB1 Russell Wilson and Swarming D'

 Terrell Owens is out, Russell Wilson is QB1 and Matt Flynn will hold a clipboard. 

What does all of this mean for the rest of the Seahawks?  A lot… and it is going to be for the best.

Pete Carroll and John Schneider seemingly have an eye for talent in places that other GM’s and player personnel experts do not.  They have proven success in going to unorthodox places to find players who will contribute right away.  You can criticize the Seahawks for the Charlie Whitehurst failure and the losing of money to players like TJ Houshmandzadeh, or the dumping of potential talent like Lendale White, but they did the things they did because they felt it was the right thing to do, not because it was popular or because of media or fan pressure.  That’s just not the way that a Pete Carroll coached team handles player movements and starting rosters.  Carroll has been outspoken that money and draft position or even high profile players just don’t matter to him.  They don’t dictate the moves he makes with his team.  It’s all about competing for your job and losing it if you don’t.  He has a wonderful track record with Seattle in acquiring players and of course the draft.  Many people will cite James Carpenter and John Moffitt as being failures, but I think it’s a little early to call either of them failures, particularly John Moffitt who is ready to play by week 2 or so of the regular season.  He has been good while playing, he’s just been injured as has James Carpenter.  Carpenter may not even play this entire season, but injury is and why coaches are evaluated on the success of players.  Yes, I’m not so gullible to believe that her players won’t contribute to wins and losses and that definitely figures in to whether or not a coach last or if he ends up another casualty of the win loss battle, but look at where John Schneider the GM and Pete Carroll have hit home runs.  Brandon Browner was found in the Canadian football league who was hired for league.  Doug Baldwin, Seattle’s most productive wide receiver last year, was signed out of Stanford as an undrafted free agent, also costing league minimum.  Kam Chancellor, one of the 3 Seahawk defensive secondary pro bowlers was a fifth-round selection and is now one of the best free safeties in the NFL.  Richard Sherman, another Stanford player, and fifth-round selection.  The only starting defensive back on the Seattle defensive secondary that started but didn’t make the Pro bowl.  Earl Thomas, Chancellor and Browner all took a trip to Hawaii as pro-bowlers.  Carroll and Schneider found rookie standout linebacker KJ Wright who turned out to be a huge blessing and leader of a very young and athletic linebacking corps now, with newcomer and 2nd round draft pick Bobby Wagner.  Korey Toomer has also impressed at the weak side linebacker and was also drafted in the 2012 class.  And, to round out some of the great acquisitions and roster moves of the Carroll Schneider regime include JR Sweezy, also of the 2012 draft class who was a defensive end and has been converted to write offensive guard and will likely start this year.  Yes, I wrote “Start” which is almost a strange paranormal anomaly because that just doesn’t happen for a player who has never played the office in any capacity before and now he has a legitimate shot at starting with the Seattle Seahawks as a right offensive guard.   

The biggest and brightest of the Schneider and Carroll regime has got to be the newest and most recent breath of fresh air named Russell Wilson.  Russell Wilson was given about zero chance of coming in to Seattle and stealing the job away from Tavaris Jackson or Matt Flynn.  Flynn was brought to Seattle to hopefully replace Jackson and give Seattle a new quarterback, accurate, with a short resume of success.  He interviewed fairly well with the Seahawks, but they weren’t completely sold on him.  In fact, after signing him to a $26 million contract, 3 years and only $10 million of that guaranteed, they did not assure him a starting position.  This is before they drafted Russell Wilson, but Flynn was told that he would be given a fair shot to come into the Seattle Seahawks training facility in Renton and compete for a starting job.  Flynn felt good enough about the franchise to take a chance and believed he would be able to come into training camp and compete and win the starting job from Tavaris Jackson.  However, then came the proverbial "fly" in Flynn’s ointment of expectation.  That fly came in the form of a 23-year-old college quarterback drafted out of the University of Wisconsin, who in his senior year threw for 33 touchdowns with only 4 interceptions and just 2 balls batted down.  Wilson is only 5’10” tall,  of course causing nearly all the national draft pundits to crucify Seattle for making such a foolish selection in the 3rd round of a draft that still had plenty of quality backup QB's that were 6’3” and taller.  However, John Schneider and Pete Carroll, after careful consideration and extensive research around the country looking at all the talent in the draft said that they would be heartbroken if they failed to come out of that draft with 2 players that they were completely impressed by; one of them was Bruce Irvin, whom they selected in the first round with the 15th pick overall and the other, QB Russell Wilson.  Wilson lasted till the 3rd round, and probably would have gone much later, but the Seahawks wanted Wilson and they wanted him bad enough that they would sacrifice a 3rd round selection for him home my daughter, God hot new that he was happy about that it is was like you're the one that was like 2 months of time I had not have an answer for you since she is a wild I carry a story like this was Abby knocks raw sure.  Not in the immediately on screen as you.  There were a few draft analysts that loved the selection, but a couple of the most noteworthy that were down on the selection were; draft gurus Mel Kiper Jr. and Todd McShay.  Of all people who defended this move vehemently was former NFL head coach John Gruden.  Gruden has held a QB camp segment on ESPN where he sits down and has a somewhat in-depth conversation with college quarterbacks who excelled and had legitimate opportunities to be drafted to a pro football team.  Andrew luck, RGIII, Kirk Cousins and Russell Wilson were a few that he chose to focus on.  He fell in love with Russell Wilson and if you watched Gruden’s ESPN QB camp, I think you would be too.  His humble, but confident.  His respectful, but a leader that deserves to be respected.  He is direct, but polite and above all… He is a fierce competitor with an intangible to work as a leader of men like no one I’ve ever seen before.  I think he has better leadership skills than John Elway, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady or Drew Brees.  Obviously, he has much to do before he can be put in the same category as any of these great players, but let me tell you, this kid has everything he needs to be spoken of with all of those men if he is given the chance and the tools around him that those men have had.  His athletic, he is instinctual and has an incredible sense of anticipation and timing which are hallmarks of extremely efficient QB’s at the college level as well as the NFL.  He reads defenses and goes through his passing progressions and while he does it, he looks nothing like a rookie.  His decision-making in real time on the field is incredible for such a young man.  He is the oldest 23-year-old player that I’ve ever watched play football.  He’s fast, but isn’t it a hurry.  His tough, but knows when to slide or step out of bounds.  He can throw from the pocket, but when the pocket breaks down, he can extend the play and give receivers more time to get open.  If there’s nothing there down field, he can tuck the ball under his arm and flat out fly around the field like chickens in the barnyard.  If Russell Wilson was 2 inches taller, he would have been the 3rd player taken in the 2012 draft right after Andrew Luck and RGIII.  He’s that good and everything that the Seahawks coaches have put in front of him, he has gobbled it up and asked for more responsibility and challenge.  He has never balked at taking more responsibility, but reportedly and also mentioned by Daryl Bevell have said he is very coachable and eager to learn and make himself better.  He’s okay with who he is, but he never stops trying to become better.  He makes you believe in him and it has never been illustrated better than the year he transferred from North Carolina State to Wisconsin.  In 2 weeks after he arrived on campus, his teammates at a very good Wisconsin team voted him team captain. That is huge and that shows that people around him believe and want to be led.  He has brought that same tenacious and fervent desire to lead men to the Seahawks and they have responded the same way that great Wisconsin Rose Bowl team championship team did.  You’d never know that he was 23 years old.  When he’s on the field, there is no question who’s in charge, and just like a veteran quarterback, he’s pointing where the offensive lineman should line up if they’re not exactly where they should be.  This is something that paid Manny does now or Tom Brady or some of the other greats that played the position, that a 23-year-old rookie out there just trying to figure out what the heck is going on in the NFL.  He actually takes it upon himself to teach well he is stating on the turf of these NFL stadiums.  He takes practically everything in stride, including the news that he was about to take his new Seattle Seahawks offense to the Arizona Cardinals to start as the signal caller.  Carroll said that he was excited and eagerly accepted the role, but wasn’t exceedingly excited.  He expects to win and he expects to be good and he expects to make plays and that’s the kind of quarterback you want on the field.  If players like John Elway, or Tom Brady or Troy Aikman that when the game is on the line and you need a touchdown or you need a great play with very little time, these men want the ball.  These men absolutely thirst to be in that situation where greatness is expected, and more times than not, they deliver and that’s what separates them from the rest.  Again, Russell Wilson has a lot to prove, but he’s already proven one thing and that is that the Seattle Seahawks did not waste a 3rd round selection on the quarterback, number 3, from Wisconsin in the 2012 draft.  He’s never won a single regular season NFL game and who knows what he will do this year or any other opportunities that are afforded to him through his career, but he sure looks like the right man to be calling the signals at Centurylink field and on the road.  It’s unfortunate for Matt Flynn to have to meet this 5’10” buzz saw that tore his way through the playbook and also the preseason schedule.  He took what the coaching staff gave him and did the best he could with it and as it turned out, he won the job.  He WON the job.  Yes, Schneider and Carroll both had man crushes on Wilson, but that’s the way you feel after you listen to him represent himself and talk about the reasons that he does what he does.  He talks about his father passing away and what an influential person he was to Wilson throughout his life and how difficult it was, but in suffering the loss he came out the other side tougher and with more belief in his faith  and in himself. Which was the last Seattle Seahawks QB that had faith in himself?  I think bright things are ahead for an already good Seattle football team.  Another wonderful thing for Seattle’s new QB 1, is something the Colts and the Redskins new quarterbacks do not have; a good running game and devastating defense.  The running game is going to take a ton of pressure off the shoulders and arm of Wilson and the elite type of defense the Seahawks have are going to get many turnovers and they’ll also put the defense with a short field on offense, giving Wilson and the rest of the offense a short distance to go for another Seattle score.  This is going to be what I believe to be a near ideal environment for a new, dynamic QB like Wilson.  If he had more wide receiver targets to stretch the field, I’d be more comfortable, but many of the players haven’t had much opportunity during the preseason to be targeted because of Terrell Owens and Braylon Edwards.  Now, Owens is gone and it’s time to find out who has what it takes to catch the passes from Russell Wilson, without dropping a lot of them.  Dropped passes are primarily why Terrell Owens is now waiting for the phone to ring from another team.  He dropped 3 or 4 very nice passes from either Flynn or Wilson and that just wasn’t enough to convince Coach Carroll that he was worth a roster spot at 38 years old. He did not rule out the possibility for Owens to return after the cuts are made to the 53 man roster that they must trim to before game one of the regular season, but it’s unlikely at this point.  Sidney Rice and Doug Baldwin are locks to make the final roster. So, wide receivers competing still include; Kris Durham, Ricardo Lockette, Lavasier Tuinei, Jermaine Kearse, Ben Obamanu and Braylon Edwards.  This one is not going to be an easy decision, very much like the quarterback decision that Coach Carroll just made Sunday.  If nothing else, this is going to be a very intriguing and entertaining year.  I would have been ecstatic if Owens would have been able to resurrect his career as one of the best pass receivers this game has ever seen, but I guess it just wasn’t in the cards for him to excel right now or right here.

There will be a lot more to write about this football team.  There are so many subtexts and sideline stories surrounding this team, and the best part of it all is that none of it is shrouded in controversy and bad attitudes.  Instead, it’s about competition and great stories, making even better stories by making the team in performing and becoming great teammates for a team that doesn’t seem to have one real controversy over relationship going on inside the team.  I think one of the reasons Seattle never became a hard knocks subject is that there just isn’t any provocative entertainment value in the locker room.  It’s all going to happen on the field and in the form of great defense, some good swagger or swag, and a sound running game with a quarterback that just might turn out to be dynamite in a 5’10” package.