Recall the 1st time Seahawks lost? Bobby Wagner has a different, up vibe this time
Each loss counts the same.
But in the NFL, especially so far this season for the Seahawks, each defeat is not the same.
Bobby Wagner knows better.
On the Wednesday following his team’s alarming face plant against the supposedly rebuilding Los Angeles Rams on the opening Sunday to this season full of big expectations, the captain felt compelled to light into his teammates. He gathered them around him at the start of practice last month. He challenged them to demand excellence of themselves and others. The 33-year-old, 12th-year veteran said later he’d never done that before.
On this Wednesday following Seattle’s second loss, 17-13 at Cincinnati last weekend, Wagner felt compelled to...be quietly encouraged.
No gathering the entire team around him on the practice field. Good vibes only.
“In the beginning of the season when we came in, there was so much hype, so much buildup, so much talk about where the team is going to be that it was almost like we were supposed to go 17-0,” the six-time All-Pro linebacker said. “When we didn’t go 17-0, it was like, ‘Oh man, what’s the season now?’”
Three wins in four games later, the season now is promising — if Wagner’s supposedly weak-link defense can keep playing like this. And if the team’s many younger player keep learning and improving.
“It’s a little bit different. This is a very difficult league,” Wagner said. “No matter what the record is or who the opponent is, they are going to bring their A-game and it’s going to be a good team.”
Arizona Cardinals and Joshua Dobbs
This week the opponent for the Seahawks (3-2) is 1-5 Arizona. Sunday at Lumen Field (1:05 p.m., channel 13) the NFC West-rival Cardinals will again start a fill-in quarterback. Journeyman Joshua Dobbs, 28, will play for injured franchise pillar Kyler Murray. He’s completed 52 and 47% of his passes in Arizona’s last two games, losses at the Rams, 26-9 and to Cincinnati, 34-20.
Two seasons ago, 35-year-old journeyman quarterback Colt McCoy started for injured Murray for the Cardinals in Seattle — and shredded the Seahawks. With a quadriceps injury, McCoy had 35 completions for 328 yards in Arizona’s 10-point win.
Wagner had 13 tackles for Seattle in that game.
He has already talked to his young Seahawks — 40+% of the 53-man roster are in their first or second NFL seasons, with a league co-leading 15 rookies — about not overlooking the Cardinals as they did the Rams amid all the preseason expectations of a Super Bowl-contending season.
“If you watched the film, they’ve been close in a lot of their games. Their record could really be different than what it is right now,” Wagner said of the Cardinals.
“(It’s about) having a young group and being able to explain that to them. That you’re going to get the best regardless of the record and understanding that these are paid professionals and they’re going to come out and make sure they do what they need to do to stay in this league.”
The awakening and realization Wagner snapped the younger Seahawks into following the 30-13 loss to the Rams Sept. 10 specifically sparked a renaissance on defense. Since getting out-scored 23-0 in the second half of that first game and letting Matthew Stafford throw all over them, unharmed and untouched, Seattle’s pass rush has emerged.
The Seahawks sacked Joe Burrow three times in Cincinnati. They hit him five times and caused him to go from 17 for 19 passing on quick throws beating blitzes early to scatter-armed. He completed just seven of his final 16 throws.
That was a game after a team-record-tying 11 sacks for Seattle in the 24-3 win at the New York Giants. The Seahawks are tied for the fourth-most sacks in the league, with 19. Only the Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Chargers have more sacks per game than Seattle.
The Bengals’ only points the final 42 minutes came on a field goal after a 0-yard drive. That was after Geno Smith’s second interception gifted Cincinnati the ball in scoring territory in the fourth quarter.
“Phenomenal,” safety Jamal Adams said of his defense. He played in it at Cincinnati for an entire game for the first time in 13 months.
Phenomenal is what, relative to last year, Seattle’s run defense is becoming.
Run-stopping Seahawks
Last year opponents that didn’t even run ran wild on the Seahawks. Seattle was 30th in the NFL in rushing defense.
The Seahawks were so bad that in one of his last games before retiring, Tom Brady in Munich last November constantly changed pass calls to runs. His Buccaneers romped out to a 21-3 lead. That was after they ran more and for more yards in the first half than the league’s last-ranked rushing offense had in an entire game last season. That’s how Tampa Bay upset Seattle.
Coach Pete Carroll and defensive coordinator set improved run defense as their top priority for 2023. In March they brought back Wagner from a year away with the Rams. They brought back Jarran Reed on a two-year contract to play nose tackle after his two years with Kansas City and Green Bay. They invested up to $124.5 million in remaking the front seven that has just one returning starter from 2022, outside linebacker Uchenna Nwosu.
Voila! These Seahawks are first in the NFL in yards allowed per carry: 3.2. Reed in the middle is perhaps the defense’s most valuable player over the first five games.
That is why the vibe after Seattle’s loss in Cincinnati — holding Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and the Bengals to just three points over the final almost full three quarters — was one of the more encouraging ones following a defeat in recent Seahawks history.
“It definitely felt like a game that we let slip away, a game that we should’ve won,” Wagner said. “This was one of those games you try to find a positive, understanding that there’s so much season left.
“I think that’s probably the vibe. The vibe of just being frustrated and upset that you let a game that you probably should’ve won slip away, but having the positives that we kind of beat ourselves — and if we put this together, we can be really good team.”
This story was originally published October 19, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
