In tomorrow’s Herald, and a lot of other places, you’ll be reading about some interesting things said by a couple of Seahawks players, most notably that they addressed some issues during the week in a team meeting between some of the team’s core players and Pete Carroll. That story should be posted later tonight, but in the meantime, here’s what Earl Thomas and Doug Baldwin said.
THOMAS:
Was this the best the defense has played: “Yes it is—I think we had fun. It was just strictly fun. Man, just looking in each other’s eyes—I told the guys, ‘every time somebody gets a sack, I’m jumping on your back.’ I love it—the front played great, we stopped the run, we made them one dimensional, and that’s the key to our success every time we play—just have fun. If we mess up, our brother is always going to be there to clean it up for us.”
Thoughts on the win: “It’s a special win, because we did it together. For the first time this year, I think we played for pure reasons with no motives attached, and that’s what you love about this team—we can put our egos to the side, we can admit when we’re wrong, but we got to stay true. We have different personalities, but the thing I love about this week was it was up and down, we had tough battles with each other, but it turned into something beautiful, man. I’m talking about hugs, emotions, meetings, and I love all of that, man that’s a part of the game.”
Why did the defense turned in this performance this week?
“Trust. That’s what we’ve been missing, to be totally honest. I think we haven’t been trusting each other, but tonight, man, it was just pureness. Any time we can keep eliminating that ego and keep realizing the situation is bigger than one person. And I’ve got to realize that myself, because sometimes I go in hero mode.”
“We’re playing for each other, that’s what make us us, that’s what makes us special.
So there were trust issues?
“Yeah, especially with me. I wasn’t trusting guys like I needed to. I let myself down in that way, I kind of handicapped myself because I wasn’t able to focus on my job. Up and down, just hard talks, arguments, like a family, you know. And just like a family, we came together and it turned into guys telling me they love me, and of course I’m going say I love ‘em back, because I love ‘em.”
BALDWIN:
“It was more so just about us trusting each other, us feeling each other, feeling what it is to play like a team. It was very evident today that we were playing like a team.”
Why did it happen this week?
“Because that was the theme of the week. We had to get back to trusting each other. I spoke to Earl about it a little bit earlier this week. I told him that in order for a team or collective group to live and to thrive, the individual must die. Not necessarily die as in not breathing; it means the ego. We as a collective need to realize that if we just trust everybody on this team, if we trust each individual, each other to go out there and do their job, and then we put the put the pressure on ourselves just to do what we’re supposed to do, not doing anything out of the ordinary, not try too hard. If we just trust each other, the sky will be the limit for us and that we’ll be unstoppable because if we’re all playing collectively together, it’s like the theory of the fist and the fingers, when the fist is together it’s a lot more difficult to break than when the fingers are apart.
“It was just we weren’t feeling each other. There was something that was missing. There was a subtle difference there and I feel like today we kind of found it. We talked about it throughout the week. Like I said, just trusting each other, respecting each other and going out there and playing for each other. I definitely felt it today.”
“It’s hard to get to that point but once you open the floor up, then it’s easy to talk about it. The feeling was pretty mutual throughout the locker room. There was something missing. There was a feeling that was missing and we’re getting that feeling back. Playing for each other, trusting each other and loving our brothers.”
“We’d all been kind of feeling it for a while… We all talked about it that there was something missing. We brought it upon ourselves, and Pete as well, to talk about it and to figure it out, and I think we did figure it out.”
Can this help the team turn things around?
“I think so…The subtle difference between what’s good, what’s great and what’s legendary is the mental side of it and also the emotional side of it. You have to play this game with emotion and if you can play this game with love, with trust and commitment to each other, that’s probably the hardest thing for anybody to stop.”
Why did it take so long to get to this point?
“Because we’re humans. We don’t all have the answers. If this was easy everyone would do it.”
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