If you live in Seattle Washington you know the sports scene is a work in progress with the Mariners, Sounders and UW Huskies football program all on the rise while at the same time watching the Seahawks organization fall apart right before our eyes.
A team that last year went 4-12 and a team many predicted to have a huge bounce back year because the 2008 season was decimated with injuries to a lot of key players headlined by Matt Hasselbeck and Walter Jones among others.
The Seahawks added a high profile free agent wide receiver in TJ Houshmandzadeh, who signed a five year, $40 million dollar contract and a player who was suppose to headline a talented trio of wide outs that would help the Seahawks offense bounce back.
Well with the Seahawks season one lonely game away from being over the Seahawks stand 5-10, third in the NFC West and in recent weeks have been tagged as the worst franchise in the NFL. Worse than the 1-14 Rams, the 2-13 Detroit Lions, the 3-12 Tampa Bay Bucs (who humiliated the Seahawks 24-7 at home), the 4-11 Washington Redskins and worse than the 3-12 Kansas City Chiefs.
The Seahawks have been humiliated the last three weeks, being outscored 106-24. The highest amount of points they have put up the last three games was 10, against the Green Bay Packers last week and they didn’t score a touchdown until the end of the fourth quarter when the score was 48-3.
Now you might think looking at those two stats I just put up and think oh my god the defense is just horrendous. Well in fairness to the lackluster, zero heart or effortless defense the Seahawks offense has accounted for 10 turnovers and only three touchdowns.
Breaking down those 10 turnovers all ten have been at the hands of quarterback Matt Hasselbeck who has racked up nine interceptions and one fumble while only putting up three touchdowns in three games. Some in fairness some were because the receiver fell down on the route but for the most part Matt has nor been clicking on ANY cylinders this season.
So where does this lead in terms of relevance to the title of the article?
Well the Seahawks kicked off the month of December by announcing that GM Tim Ruskell was resigning as GM of the Seattle Seahawks leaving three months left on his original five year contract that was up this off season.
The move showed to the NFL that the Seattle Seahawks were officially rebuilding and would begin searching for their next general manager.
The Seahawks took a hit in their PR department when they announced that Mike Holmgren, the former Seahawks coach who many thought would return to Seattle in a GM or front office position, turned down the Seahawks offer of a “senior leadership position” and two days later signed a contract with the Cleavland Browns to become their club president.
Right after it was announced that Holmgren turned down the Seahawks everyone in the city knew it was just a PR move by the Seahawks to show the fans that “hey we offered him the job be he turned us down, we didn’t turn him down, he turned us down”. This really started the whole fire that boiled over on 950 KJR-AM Seattle with the Branch and Burleson Show with a special guest host, WR TJ Houshmandzadeh.
Branch, Burleson and TJ all spoke their minds in what was a very explosive and firey show in which the trio of wide outs called out local TV and Radio analyst and former NFL quarterback Hugh Millen on air as well as calling out the Seahawks offensive coordinator Greg Knapp for horrendous play calling, and even the Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck got thrown under the bus.
As Branch and TJ put it “either you’re with us or you’re against us”.
So it really shows just how bad the waters have gotten in Seattle when it comes to Seahawks football. A hot topic in Seattle has been the teams recent effort after Seahawks head coach Jim Mora Jr. called his team out during his weekly press conference three weeks ago.
Mora said during that press conference that he wants more “nasty, dirt bags” on this football team. Well Jim Branch and Burleson just gave you your dirt bags you wanted.
Mora is in his first full season as Seahawks head coach and some people have questioned the effort that the players have had over the last few weeks and some suggest it’s a sign to management that the players want Mora out as head coach.
When you have your big money wide receiver in TJ Houshmandzadeh saying this team sucks you know its time for a real change on the coaching staff. And TJ blames himself as well saying he’s going to work his butt off this off season to get in shape for next year.
So with all the mess that is unfolding in Seattle with the Seahawks organization and a new GM coming in this off season, no one knows who it is but for sure it’s not someone currently with the Seahawks there is sure to be a major face lift on this franchise from the front office down to the coaching staff and players.
So all signs point to Jim Mora Jr. not sticking around as the Seahawks head coach, as well as offensive coordinator Greg Knapp, defensive coordinator Gus Bradley and the rest of the Seahawks coaching staff most likely won’t be around with a new GM coming in.
Rarely do you see a current head coach stick around with a new Gm coming in (Todd Haley in KC, Eric Mangini in Cleavland and etc).
So who would replace Mora next season as the Seahawks head coach?
Well with not a lot of new head coaching options coming open except for all but three possible teams the Seahawks could use this opportunity to cash in big time on a great head coach like Mike Shanahan or Bill Cowher who has said he wants to return to coaching in 2010.
The Seahawks would be an excellent fit for Cowher, all depending on who is hired as the GM but no matter who that is Cowher will for sure be on that short list of head coaches for the Seahawks.
Now some might ask the question, why does Bill Cowher make sense as a top candidate for the Seahawks possible head coaching opening (I say possible because Mora is still the head coach).
Here are three reasons why Bill Cowher makes complete sense as candidate for the Seahawks possible head coaching job.
1) Cowher is a winner and knows what it means to be a winning NFL head coach. In his 12 years in the Steelers organization he compiled a regular season record of 149-90-1 and a post season record of 12-9 with two AFC titles and one Super Bowl title in 2005. His winning percentage as a head coach is .623 while Jim Mora in his fourth season as a head coach, first in Seattle has a regular season record of 31-32 and below a .500 winning percentage. The Seahawks need a head coach that has been to the top before and knows how to win. Cowher has done both, like former Seahawks head coach Mike Holmgren.
2) Cowher knows how to use talent to the fullest and especially knows how to build a great defense, like he had done in Pittsburgh for 12 years. The Seahawks current roster has some talent on it but the current coaching staff seems to not know how to use the talent the right way. Cowher knows talent and how to put the right players in the right position to make an all around successful team.
3) Cowher, coming into the Seahawks organization would be able to work with the new GM on how he wants the team run and which players he wants to keep, let go and bring in knowing that he will know what to do with those players to build a successful all around team.
Also Cowher is a winner and all the Seahawks players can trust that, something I don’t think they can buy into with Mora.
Now I would like to point out that that Jim Mora Jr. is still the head coach for the Seahawks but once the season is over at four PM Sunday PST then the doors open wide for this circus to really open up this off season.
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With my friend Scotty Kimberly wanting peoples opinion on the 2009 Seattle Seahawks offensive MVP I decided to give my take. I had a short list consisting of TJ Houshmandzadeh, Nate Burleson, Justin Forsett, Matt Hasselbeck and John Carlson.
