The Seahawks held a record-setting Broncos offense to eight factors in a 43-8 smashing 10 years in the past, and their follow-up effort produced an extra time walk-off to finish an NFC championship comeback over the Packers. A much less wholesome Seahawks protection couldn’t maintain up towards the Patriots in Tremendous Bowl XLIX, with one play name — the go that led to Malcolm Butler‘s seminal interception, eschewing a Marshawn Lynch carry from the 1-yard line — remembered because the tipping level in that Tremendous Bowl and for each franchises within the 2010s.
Whereas the Seahawks by no means made it again to a Tremendous Bowl underneath Carroll, Wilson’s development right into a Corridor of Fame-caliber passer helped preserve the staff in competition for a number of years. Carroll guided the Seahawks to 10 playoff appearances and 5 division titles in his 14-season run. The staff’s blockbuster Wilson commerce in 2022 introduced again main belongings which were used on potential cornerstones. After a shock playoff berth in 2022, which featured a stunning Geno Smith re-emergence, the Seahawks disillusioned this season by ending 9-8 and lacking the postseason.
Throughout the Legion of Growth’s heyday, the Seahawks grew to become the primary franchise because the Nineteen Fifties Browns to guide the NFL in scoring protection in 4 straight seasons. Bradley, Quinn and Kris Richard resided as Seattle’s DCs throughout that interval, with Richard Sherman (Spherical 5, 2011) and Earl Thomas (Spherical 1, 2010) turning into Canton-caliber DBs and Kam Chancellor (Spherical 5, 2010) working as a co-anchor of the group. As that storied secondary splintered, together with the losses of Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril, the Seahawks steadily regressed defensively. Wilson’s two extensions made it harder for the Seahawks to retain their defensive core after the staff used its QB’s rookie deal to load up the roster in 2013 and ’14. By 2018, solely Wagner and Ok.J. Wright remained.
Underneath Clint Hurtt over the previous two seasons, the Seahawks completed no greater than twenty fifth in scoring or complete protection. This actually grew to become a problem for the defensive-minded head coach, whose unit crashed to thirtieth in complete protection (twenty eighth in DVOA) in 2023. Carroll had fired Ken Norton Jr. after a four-season DC run, however the unit has worsened within the two years since. Whereas Smith didn’t match his Comeback Participant of the 12 months season, the staff’s offense outshined the Carroll- and Hurtt-managed protection. This nearly positively has contributed to the Seahawks’ course change.
Carroll’s newest HC contract runs via 2025. He additionally held last personnel say, although he and GM John Schneider — introduced in collectively in 2010 — labored collaboratively all through this profitable period. Carroll finishes his Seahawks HC profession at 137-89-1. His AFC East years around the document out to 170-120-1.
The Panthers, Chargers and Commanders have requested conferences with Quinn, who turned the Cowboys’ protection round shortly. These golf equipment now have clear competitors, although it stays to be seen which different candidates Seahawks possession has in thoughts. However the subsequent period will probably be unmistakably totally different. The franchise picked up its first championship and tripled its Tremendous Bowl look depend underneath Carroll, whose high-energy model led to him being seen as certainly one of this NFL interval’s defining figures. In an offseason by which Belichick can be anticipated to go, the NFL will look significantly totally different by the point groups reconvene for the 2024 season.
