Eventually some day we're going to get a miniseries on the Legion of Boom era Seattle Seahawks teams. While they didn't quite dominate the world the way Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls teams of the 1990s did - and the ensuing cultural icon that was "The Last Dance" Netflix series about it - for several years Seattle was at the center of the football world.
At the heart of that incredible run was a defense that was the best in the NFL four years in a row - an achievement that no team had even come close to approaching for 50 years. While the all-time great trio on the back end of that defense were the headliners, the guy in the middle of things making it all work was Bobby Wagner, who is improbably still playing middle linebacker at a high level 13 years after he was drafted.
Wagner was more than just an exceptional defender - he was a steady presence in a unit that featured multiple ferocious personalities. Wagner's leadership and communication is the stuff of legend - and it's something that's still generating ink all these years later. On thate note, speaking with Wagner and former teammate K.J. Wright, former Seahawks beat writer Jayson Jenks has kicked off a new series from The Athletic covering leadership and personal development.
When Jenks asked Wagner how he gave hard feedback and held people accountable, Wagner replied with a simple five words: "Uhhhh, you just say it."
Being able to explain a thing to somebody like they're five is a sign of true mastery. Still, Wagner elaborated when he was asked to, talking up the value of an honest opinion: "people always tell you what you're good at. They're afraid to give you their real, honest opinion. So when you find somebody who will tell you when you're not on your game, it allows you to fix a problem."
The turning point in the inevitable LOB documentary will likely be what happened at the one-yard line in the Super Bowl that happened 10 years ago.
The end zone pick itself was damaging enough for the coaching staff - but the underlying problem was what really tore that team apart - that being the perception that head coach Pete Carroll wasn't holding Russell Wilson to the same standard as the rest of the team. The resulting resentment from the defense exploded after Wilson's INT and never really stopped burning, eventually bringing the whole building down.
