Divergent paths for the Washington Redskins and Seattle Seahawks have a common date. The fates of the franchises parted ways Sunday, Jan. 6, 2013 after traveling a similar path that brought them to that afternoon’s wild-card playoff game at FedEx Field.
Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III was hurt that day. Damage throughout the organization also began with that loss, one embodied by the picture of Griffin as a broken bird flailing to make his way while the season slipped away.
The Redskins lost to the Seahawks, 24-14, then briskly lost their way. Since, the Redskins are 4-16. They fired their coach. Griffin was hurt again. A quarter of the way through this season, desperation is being discussed in the lockerroom. The framework for the whole process seems bent and broken.
The Seahawks are 18-5 overall, including the playoffs, since that early evening win in D.C. They won the Super Bowl last season. Quarterback Russell Wilson can do no wrong. Coach Pete Carroll is now viewed as one of the sport’s great minds.
Geography isn’t the only great distance between the organizations.
“We would have thought we would have been up there, considering those two teams were on the rise at that point in time,” Redskins linebacker Brian Orakpo said. “It’s unfortunate. Those guys go on to win the Super Bowl and we just steadily [regress] as far as winning ballgames.”
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The differences in how the teams go about constructing and operating an NFL franchise are massive. Seattle has a modern operation wrapped around old-school football fierceness. The Seahawks want to run, defend and intimidate. They build those principles at practice on manicured lakeside grass while hip-hop thumps from a speaker pushed around on a cart. The players dance, the media is allowed to watch, fan groups are brought in. It’s a daily scene with tempered intensity that could become an outright party or fight at any moment.
At practice, Seahawks players have an electronic tracker dropped into the upper back of their jerseys. This allows coaches to know who not only practiced hard, but also who to possibly back off a day later. After all, health is everything in the NFL, a league Redskins guard Shawn Lauvao said earlier this season has a “100 percent” injury rate. He’s currently injured.
According to one Redskins veteran, Washington has the same trackers, yet does not use them.
Seattle also monitors sleep habits, nutrition and psychology. All details are paramount, as is pitting the players against each other in practice, weightlifting, time spent in film study and even shooting baskets at the hoop in the team meeting room.
“We’re competing at every turn,” Carroll said.
Contrast that with the Redskins. Practice is closed to the media. It most often takes place outside an aging facility in Ashburn, one that still has an AstroTurf field next to it. An indoor practice bubble was added in 2012. FedEx Field opened in 1997. The restrooms, concessions and offices there are dated and failing. Though Seattle’s CenturyLink Field opened in 2002, just five years later, the gap between the facilities feels generational as opposed to a handful of years.
Carroll, 63, speaks in rapid-fire chunks, talking the way he lives: brisk and relentless. Some of his ways are viewed as unorthodox, such as the basketball hoop in the team meeting room.
The Seahawks convinced him to leave USC, handing him the keys to the kingdom. His “program,” as he always calls it, is mapped from top to bottom by him. General manager John Schneider — who is younger than Redskins coach Jay Gruden — has personnel say. He works with salary cap guru Matt Thomas to build three-year roster projections. Schneider, who spent one year as the Redskins’ vice president of player personnel in 2001, delves into the draft. But, it’s Carroll who is running the show.
He covets draft picks. The Seahawks constantly move down in the draft, especially after the emergence of Wilson, a third-round pick, and Pro-Bowl players like cornerback Richard Sherman and strong safety Kam Chancellor, were each selected in the fifth round.
Those late-round boons have brought the Seahawks a sterling reputation as draft evaluators. In reality, their draft success comes from a blend of factors: high number of picks, skillful scouting, giving each player a legitimate shot once drafted, and, in part, luck. If the Seahawks knew Sherman or Chancellor would be this good, they obviously would not have waited until the fifth round to select them. Though, they earn credit for doing so and the openness they approach roster building with at least gives them a chance to hit on those late picks.
“We’re looking for unusual, special people and then we’ll try to fit them in,” Carroll said. “We won’t cancel them out because their size, weight or speed if they’ve got the qualities that we think will make them special on our team.”
A numeric representation of that openness shows in the preseason. Coming into this August, the Seahawks played rookies in the preseason more than any other team in the NFL since 2010 (that also allows veterans rest). The Redskins were 29th. The Seahawks led in average playing time per year for undrafted free agents. The Redskins were 25th.
As the Seahawks filled specific needs through the draft and targeted free agents, becoming younger and more formidable at the same time, the Redskins aged.
Much of what each has been forced into doing can be traced to the quarterbacks. The Redskins used an all-in trade to acquire Griffin, who provided a spectacular first year, a mediocre second year and is often hurt. The Seahawks were blessed with Wilson after free agents like Charlie Whitehurst, Tarvaris Jackson and Matt Flynn failed to take hold.
The most sweeping evidence of the Seahawks’ flexibility was when Wilson beat out Flynn in camp after the latter signed a three-year, $20.5 million deal to join the team that offseason. He was traded the following offseason. He threw nine passes for Seattle.
Wilson is still on the rookie salary scale, which has allowed Seattle to steadily lock up key pieces like Chancellor, Sherman and free safety Earl Thomas to long-term contracts. Wilson will bring in a lower salary than the Seattle long snapper and punter this season. They continue to manage cap space to be able to handle Wilson’s pending payday.
Seattle used this formula to become the youngest team to win a Super Bowl when it trounced the Denver Broncos, 43-8, in Super Bowl XLVIII. By average age, the Seahawks’ roster was the second-youngest in the NFL when this season began. The Redskins, the second-oldest.
“They’ve just been building,” Orakpo said. “They’re building something of a dynasty over there with them continually adding talent and continually growing as a team. You know, the quarterback is play is getting better and better every year. They’re adding new pieces on defense, and their defensive core guys are getting better and better every year. Their offensive line is growing as well, led by [Russell] Okung and company. Like I said, they’ve just been building. Pete Carroll is doing a great job of them just building over there.”
Orakpo insists he’s not jealous. Though, he may be envious.
“It’s just respect,” Orakpo said. “It’s not really jealousy. We’re just trying to get to that level where they’re at right now.”
A chance for a small step comes Monday night when the Seahawks come to FedEx Field. But, don’t bet on it. The Seahawks roll into town as the Super Bowl favorites, according to Las Vegas sportsbooks. The Redskins? They’re a 200-1 shot.
This is not the scenario expected just two years ago.
• Todd Dybas can be reached at tdybas@washingtontimes.com.
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