Jay Glazer is reporting that the Seahawks have sent Jim Mora Jr. back from whence he came. After a season in which the Seahawks failed on nearly every level, Mora is out of a job.
I'm not ordinarily a fan of making sudden moves with respect to regime change, but I think the validation for cleaning house isn't hard to come by. Mora took over the secondary as the coach-in-waiting and the secondary got worse, but that's not damning. Secondary play is a byproduct of the passrush, a passrush that declined last season. From the standpoint of personnel, however... Brian Russell. That's not a point in Mora's favor. This was a trend.
As Head Coach, Mora brought in some interesting coaching talent in guys like Dan Quinn and Gus Bradley. Do we credit Mora for seeing some bright young minds or do we debit him for bringing in coordinators running a zone defensive scheme that was ill-suited for his on-field talent? It's the evaluation of personnel that strikes me as the larger failing. This season saw the continued overuse of Patrick Kerney, Craig Terrill, and Colin Cole. Owen Schmitt had a lot of development time wasted as Justin Griffith kept playing. While I like Julius Jones and what he can bring offensively, Forsett was frequently the more effective back (DVOA agrees) and didn't see enough touches. Olindo Mare and Chris Spencer. John touched on his leadership issues quite a bit, as well as the handling of the offensive line. The late-season loss of Derek Walker just to avoid some vague notion of mailing it in. The retention of Bruce DeHaven (this will likely be remedied in short order). There are plenty of reasons to help justify a change.
We live in terrifying times, do Seahawks fans. Exciting, too. After a few years of relative predicability with respect to the noted Tim Ruskell draft style and the Holmgren offense, we saw Mora come in and rock then sink the boat. No one survives. Now comes the uncertainty of a new GM, a new coaching staff, and a cornerstone roster year. Change for the sake of change is rarely a good idea, but firing Mora doesn't fall into that category. Today, the Seahawks ripped off the bandage and are in the market for a good surgeon. Choose wisely, Mr. Leiweke.
*Scruffy Note* - Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!