Do you buy the idea that the Seahawks sort of, you know, knowing how well the defense was playing in the second half of the season, knowing the turnover issues that they had in the first half of the season, that they sort of intentionally backed off the gas? And do you feel like that is supported by the offense that we did see from them in the playoffs?

I think that's possible.

And it's hard to know, like, how much of this is coaching, how much of this is Sam Darnold, like, really not wanting to turn the ball over after that first Rams game.

And it's funny because this is so much like the conversation during the, it was the 2020 season, right? The let Russ cook season where they came out on fire.

Wilson had some turnovers in the middle of the season.

And then the, the last like half of the season, they played a bunch of bad teams and they just let their defense.

Yeah.

Are you still of that mindset? I think,

here from the legion of boom era uh other than i guess jaron reed tangentially has some ties to it uh probably not that influential on the record and instead the zeox extend john schneider with like the longest contract possible so where are you about that big picture in the off season

that's a good way of framing it and i've been not all in on john schneider for quite some time um The drafts were very frustrating for a long time.

And as we talked about a lot on this podcast, when Pete Carroll was here, it's hard to separate how much of this was Pete Carroll, how much of this was John Schneider.

Everything that we've heard, especially since Pete Carroll left, suggests that a lot of it was like they were always on the same page, but it was like John Schneider running the ship.

So when we're talking about reaching for players and the insane trades, it sounds like Yes, Pete had final say in everything, but a lot of it was John doing what general managers do, which is shaping the roster of the team.

And there has been a lot to criticize over the years with how much they've invested in the offensive line, the ill-fated trades using first-round draft picks.

And yes, if the results don't improve, then it raises the question of how the...

the roster that he's coming towards what do you think about Sam Darnold in general for the Seahawks and then also the Seahawks decision to move from Geno Smith to Sam Darnold this offseason especially process wise

Yeah, I mean, the other thing we should mention here, he

goes into the AFC West with Jim Harbaugh.

The third different league they have competed or division they have competed against each other as rivals.

And it's truly incredible.

But also Andrew Reid and Sean Payton, the NFL's by far most accomplished coaching division.

How is it that we have fucking AI and everything we do online is tracked and yet I still have to watch ads for horror movies? How does that make sense?

If there was one good thing that my data constantly being tracked could do, it would be to not show me ads for movies that I will never under any circumstances see.

And yet, that low bar, we cannot clear.

So Ben, where are you at on John Schneider?

I was kind of amazed he kept his job last year, and I don't see any reason to think that we should revise our opinions upward.

I think, like, the major...

I guess there's two major strikes against him.

One is that the Seahawks have...

Like, when was the last time the Seahawks ranked in the top half of pass protection grade or something? I'm guessing it would be 2012.

I haven't looked it up.

We came in with a lot of reason for excitement, and unfortunately, a lot of that was not realized.