RENTON — Earl Thomas had some choice words for his teammates Thursday afternoon at Virginia Mason Athletic Center.
The Seattle Seahawks are 4-5 and fighting for their playoff lives following last Saturday’s 39-32 loss to the Arizona Cardinals. Thomas, Seattle’s All-Pro free safety, was asked Thursday whether it was fair to question whether everyone’s effort has been 100-percent. His response? “Yeah. I think I could put myself in that genre as well. I can be back-side, man-to-man, and the play’s happening way away from me, I can do a better job running to the ball also.
“I just think it’s kind of tough when you have so much success like we had, and you’ve been known for being this type of player, that type of player,” Thomas added. “Sometimes you’re not who you think you are in some cases. I just think overall we need to give it up for each other.”
Seattle reached the Super Bowl each of the previous two seasons, winning it two years ago. The team is largely intact from those two Super Bowl squads, including the three primary members of the Legion of Boom — Thomas, strong safety Kam Chancellor and cornerback Richard Sherman. But Seattle’s secondary has uncharacteristically allowed receivers to get behind it for touchdowns this season, most recently when Arizona’s Michael Floyd beat the Seahawks deep for touchdowns of 32 and 27 yards last Sunday.
Has the team’s hunger changed from the past two years?
“I don’t know,” Thomas said. “When you ask me a question like that, I feel I have to go get a lie detector test and make everybody sit down and say, ‘Are you hungry, are you hungry, are you hungry?’ I don’t know, that’s a tough question.”
Seattle defensive coordinator Kris Richard disagreed with Thomas’ assessment that effort is part of the problem.
“No, not at all,” Richard answered when asked if he saw the same things Thomas sees. “It’s just a fact of we’ve broken down in areas that we haven’t done so before. Really it’s something that’s easily fixable. We just have to make sure we lock in and do our job longer, do our job better. We can’t go out there and look to make someone else’s play. We have to be where we’re supposed to be and the ball will come to us. As soon as you go out there and start hunting for other people’s opportunities, that’s when mistakes happen.”
Thomas agreed that the chemistry in Seattle’s secondary isn’t what it’s been the previous two seasons.
“Of course not,” Thomas said. “I just think it’s an attitude. It’s a mindset. You’ve got to give it up for the next guy. It’s not showing up all the time like that.”
Regardless of whether Thomas or Richard is more accurate in their assessment of the situation, the message has heard in the locker room.
“It’s been sent,” Thomas said. “You’re talking about grown men here. They’ve got to make it up in their own minds so they can bring their best to the ball club.”
Check out Nick Patterson’s Seattle Sidelines blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/seattlesidelines, and follow him on Twitter at @NickHPatterson.
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