RENTON — Jim Mora, Monday motivational speaker, was not available following the Seahawks’ latest loss.
Instead, the Seahawks coach, who has stayed remarkably positive through losses and injuries so far this season, changed his tone a bit Monday following his team’s 38-17 los
s to the Cowboys.
“Adversity turns weak people into victims and it turns strong people into competitors,” Mora said, repeating a quote sent to him Friday by his junior high football coach, Bruce Brown. “We’re going to find out who the strong people are, and they’
re going to be here fighting with us until the end, and we’re going to be finding out who the victims are, and they aren’t going to be here fighting with us at the end.”
Following Sunday’s game, Seahawks players heard a similar message to the one Mora was preaching during Monday’s press conference.
“After the game, Coach Mora was very blunt about our performance and he basically said, ‘Listen, we’re going to evaluate this organization up and down, and if I feel like I’ve got to make changes, I’m going to make changes. If that means firing people I’m going to fire people,’” quarterback Matt Hasselbeck. “So we’ve definitely been put on notice that the scrutiny is going to go up and the coaching is going to go up in terms of being critical on us and pushing us to get better.”
On several occasions during the press conference, Mora made sure to let his audience know that he wasn’t seeing finger-pointing or players giving up in the Seahawks locker room. No, this was more of a preemptive strike.
“I believe there are a lot of men in this room that will continue to fight,” he said. “We’re up against it a little bit, we’ve hit some rough patches, some of them anticipated, some of them not, but people will reveal themselves in these times. Their true character will reveal itself, and I’ll be looking hard for the truth. If a man’s willing to stand here and fight and give his all come to work every day with great resolve and great determination and great toughness and accountability, then I’ll fight with him. But if somebody reveals himself not to have those traits, then by the end of the season there’s a good chance they won’t be members of the Seattle Seahawks.”
All of that being said, Mora insists he’s still optimistic. Says he believes this team can turn things around. Mora isn’t so worried that his team will start bickering and pointing fingers, but that there exists a possibility of players deciding it is no longer worth putting in the hard work when things aren’t going well.
“At a time like this, does someone take it upon themselves to study harder and go the extra distance that it’s going to take to get over the hump, or does he relent?” Mora said. “Does he say, ‘I’m not going to look at as much film this week,’ or ‘I’m not going to work as hard’? That’s what I’m talking about, OK? I’m looking for men that say, ‘You know what? It’s hard. And I’m going to give more. Every day I’m going to give more.’ And I’m also going to see if there’s somebody that says, ‘Ah, it’s not worth it. It’s not worth it.’ So it has nothing to do with the interaction on the team at all. Nothing. It’s the individual. It’s that character, that competitive desire, that competitive fire.”
But Mora can give as many speeches as he wants; ultimately turning this season around will come down to something much simpler.
“He’s done everything that he’s needed to do,” Hasselbeck said of Mora. “It’s just, at a certain point you’ve got to play better, you’ve got to make plays, you’ve got to know your assignments. If you ask me, that’s the problem: we’ve just got to play better.”
Seahawks release Fisher
The Seahawks did make one change Monday, releasing cornerback Travis Fisher. That move wasn’t likely related to Mora’s desire to clear out any negative elements, simply the result of Marcus Trufant coming back from injury. Fisher was inactive for Sunday’s game in Dallas.
Injury update
Ken Lucas, who left Sunday’s game with what was called a shoulder stinger, should be OK for Sunday. Will Herring (shoulder) and Ben Obomanu (oblique) also suffered injuries but Mora said he doesn’t think either are serious.
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more Seahawks coverage, check out the Seahawks blog at heraldnet.com/seahawksblog
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