obiken wrote:That is way outta line River! RW is the model of a company man, I never was. He put up with a lot of crap from Pete and the team. Sorry, what did you expect him to do?? Oh lets act like Andrew Luck, and when your body gives out and you cannot take it anymore because management doesnt want to pay for any protection, you quit! WE, almost all of us on this site, have been bitching and screaming for better weapons and an Oline for RW for 6 years, what has Pete done? NOT an freeking thing! I am almost 100% positive, that RW has addressed this in private, LONG before this. The only thing worse is TB who took massive pay cuts and the Pats had the gall to tell him that that is the most they could pay him, and all he wanted was to be loved! He told the Pats Adios Amigos, I am going somewhere else to win a title, and did. What does that make him River???
I'll tell you the same thing that I told Cbob: It's my opinion that Russell was acting like a prima donna, and I stand by it.
He did not have to take his complaints to the media. Doing so contributed to a toxic environment between him and the team and a negative image of the Seahawks organization just as we're heading into free agency. He did not have to let his agent dangle possible trade destinations as a means of trying to foist his opinion on the organization knowing damn well that the Hawks couldn't trade him if they wanted to as he had a no trade clause. His statement that he was "getting hit too much" seemed more of a concern to him than his failure to help get the team to the Super Bowl. Some of the things he's done earlier this season, like taking out a patent on the
"Let Russ Cook" crapola, the talk about him and Metcalf becoming one of the all time best combos, seemed to me to be self centered and an unnecessary distraction to the goal of winning a Lombardi.
Those are all debatable positions and you can disagree with me if you like, but it's how I feel about it at the moment. That's not to negate all the good things that Russell has done for us or all of the humanitarian efforts he's made over the years, like regular visits to terminally ill children. He's still one of my all time favorite Hawks, but I'm profoundly disappointed in him in the same manner I'd be upset with a son or daughter that made decisions that I didn't approve of.
You can say what we want about Pete Carroll and John Schneider, but they've always been known as a
"player's coach" and the Hawks have had an undeniable reputation as being a place where players wanted to come to. We've granted player's request even when they might have been detrimental to the overall goals of the team. If Pete and John are as upset with Russell as they appear to be, there has to be a pretty damn good reason for their angst. They're not going to just randomly throw him under the bus.
