Heaps: Seahawks ‘passive,’ missing swagger of Pete Carroll’s early years
Nov 25, 2021, 10:22 AM
Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll stands with defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. on Sept. 19. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)
(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)
The Seahawks have dropped five of their last six games and sit at 3-7 entering Monday’s Week 12 road matchup with the Washington Football Team.
Rost: What we’ll learn about Hawks over next 7 weeks
Little has gone right for the Seahawks in 2021. The defense has been better of late but it is still not generating enough turnovers or pressure on opposing quarterbacks. The offense has struggled mightily throughout the season and is failing to stay on the field to sustain drives. This is also the first year that star quarterback Russell Wilson has missed any time due to injury.
Former NFL quarterback Jake Heaps believes there’s one issue that needs to be fixed over the last seven weeks that used to never be a problem for the Seahawks. He explained what that was during Tuesday’s edition of 710 ESPN Seattle’s Jake and Stacy.
“Passive is the best word that describes what I’m witnessing with this team right now,” Heaps said. “Passive, trying to hold on, being afraid to lose instead of going for it and trying to win. I mean, it just screams all that.”
What Heaps is pointing to primarily stems from the offense. The Seahawks have been very conservative, not going for it often on fourth down, even when the defense has been poor or when the line to gain is very short.
What makes that so frustrating, Heaps said, is that the Seahawks didn’t used to be that way.
“I don’t see the same swagger. I don’t see the same aggressive mentality,” he said. “And guess what? When (head coach) Pete Carroll first rolled up here and showed up to Seattle, he didn’t have a passive mentality. Everything was aggressive. Every single thing about him was aggressive … He actually was aggressive on fourth downs. He went for it. He was he was trusting. And that is something that has shifted and changed in Pete Carroll’s philosophy over time.”
There are a number of issues the Seahawks need to correct over the last seven weeks of the 2021 season, but altering that mentality is near the top of the list, Heaps said.
“I just think that in the (final) seven games, you’ve got to be aggressive,” he said. “You’ve got to be the aggressor. And that’s the message that I would be sending to this team.”
Listen to the full second hour of Tuesday’s Jake and Stacy at this link or in the player below.
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