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Los Angeles Rams @ Seattle Seahawks -- Week 5


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After coming off a huge win vs the 49ers, the Seahawks host the Rams on Thursday Night Football. In their last game, the Rams pretty much got stomped at home vs the Cardinals. Even though they lost badly, they still are a great team. One thing the Rams showed is their defense is vulnerable if they aren't playing with a large lead. Obviously, the Seahawks aren't as good as the Cardinals, but the Seahawks defense needs to make key stops and some big plays to keep this game close.

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The Russell news is obviously a huge bummer, but I am oddly excited to see what this team looks like without him. On one hand, this will be the best supporting cast + coaching staff that Geno has worked with in a career that started with him as an early 2nd round pick. The mobility and arm talent are there in spades, but the question of processing remains with him. I think this is an opportunity for us to see what the Waldron offense is really about. They were already treating Russell like a fringe starter with their conservative play-calling, so I wouldn't expect much change there. The change is that I expect Geno to run the plays as they were designed and get the read to whichever progression makes sense on that given play. Russell, for better and worse, is very "backyard" in his style of play, which I feel often takes away from the OCs intent on any given play. I also see it as a win/win, because Geno either surprises everyone and wins us a few games and keeps us in the WC hunt, or this team just implodes and we get to see just how bad this John Schneider roster really is. Which brings me to my next point........


The state of the Seahawks. I hate to be a pessimist, but it's not good at all. There is clearly a fractured relationship between franchise QB and FO, and if you think divorce drama has run rampant in past offseasons, just wait for what lies ahead this offseason if the team ends up around .500. I have often been anti-Russ when it comes to a potential divorce, but I'm ready to admit I've been wrong. You don't deal your franchise QB. You cut bait on the guys who have no failed to maximize the window of that franchise QB and depleted a roster that looked prime for a dynasty in the mid-2010s. I'm tired of blaming our offensive and defensive coordinators. How many times do you need to change your socks before you decide your feet just stink? Our feet stink. We have a GM in John Schneider who HAS NOT hit on a 1st round pick since 2010. 2010! When he was gift wrapped two top-15 1st round picks. You can argue Bruce Irvin was a hit, but that's just semantics. You cannot sustain success if you fail to capitalize -- EVER -- on arguably the most valuable renewed resource you have at your disposal. I'd love to know if there has EVER been a GM who has lasted a decade+ and has also gone a decade+ of not hitting on a 1st round pick. The guy is pretty much living off of one epic 2012 draft that netted us a few HOFers, but beyond that his results are abysmal. Do we forego any accountability because he got us a SB ring and had a good draft almost a decade ago? The problem isn't always the offensive or defensive play calls. Sometimes it's the fact that we quite simply don't have the talent/personnel to effectively run what we're trying to run. 

And this issue isn't JUST that he misses on 1st round picks, it's the fashion in how he's missing. He appears to be completely ignorant to positional value and what it takes to run a team long term. Our last 3 1st round picks made include Jordyn Brooks (run stopping MLB on a team with Bobby Wagner), LJ Collier (operates as a weekly healthy scratch, was a run defending ‘elephant’ DE which aren’t hard to find), and Rashaad Penny (right when people had determined RBs weren’t worth 1st round picks unless truly elite and we already had Chris Carson). That is AWFUL use of draft capital. Only one of those 3 players even starts for us, mind you certainly not up to a 1st round pick level. And when he's not completely whiffing on 1st round picks? He's gift wrapping them to another team for their damaged goods. John's 3 most expensive trades as GM have been for Percy Harvin, Jimmy Graham, and Jamal Adams. Whiff, whiff, and major whiff. We can let the Jamal Adams one play itself out more, but what I'll say is that it was a bad trade when we were assumed to be getting an All-Pro SS. It's a terrible trade if he's anything less than that. Aside from Adams, do you want to know the last 3 players who commanded 2+ 1st round picks? Khalil Mack, Jalen Ramsey, and Laremy Tunsil. 3 MAJOR impact players for their teams and staples since they've been acquired. Adams doesn't even look like our best Safety right now and we're officially stuck with him. When you trade 2+ 1st round picks for a player, they better be ELITE regardless of circumstances or supporting cast. Adams is clearly not that. Nor do we know how to use him, similar to how we traded a 1st round pick+ for Jimmy Graham and tried to turn him into an in-line blocker. 

 

 

I don't mind Pete as much, even though he's clearly not the type of HC to maximize the talent of his roster (he's great at minimizing risk). But John Schneider has given him very little to work with for too long. I've reached the conclusion that this team will never be legitimately competitive again (i.e. a conference favorite) so long as John is the GM, and I fear that his job is in no danger due to his history with the team. It's a very unfortunate purgatory to find ourselves in. 

 

Rant over. 

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