Reading Between the Lines: Something deeper may be wrong with the Seahawks

"Guys gotta forgive each other fully. Talking about players and coaches. Until we do that we'll never reach our full potential, "said Earl, when speaking to the media on Wednesday.

In case you haven't noticed, the Seahawks are a circus. Like Danny says - a really talented circus, but a circus nonetheless. The Hawks currently sit at 4-5 after a depressing loss to the Cardinals at home in Primetime. Remember the day when the Hawks were invincible at home? Yeah, me too.

Amidst the chaos of offensive line dysfunction, Russell Wilson just not playing that great, and miscommunication on both of sides of the ball - the Seahawks' season and playoff hopes are in jeopardy. We could seriously name a million reasons why the season has gone badly. Kam Chancellor held out. The Rams are tricky. J.R. Sweezy got blown up. Someone held. Russell made a horrible throw. Jermaine Kearse, what were you even doing? Cary Williams, make a play there.

There's a lot of wrong going on. Now - I'm not the one to read too far into what players say; players talk to the media nearly every day. Some things get misquoted, some things get misunderstood, and some things get misheard. But I've always made sure to pay close to attention to Earl's pressers - as sometimes - they are incredibly revealing.

Earl Thomas spoke to the media again on Thursday, following practice. When asked if the "chemistry of the secondary is the same of past years", Earl responded decisively, cutting off the reporter:

"Of course not."

Earl, when asked what was "holding them back", elaborated.

"I think it's the attitude. You gotta give it up for the next guy - it's not showing up all time right there."

Watching this presser and reading in between the lines - it's not hard to wonder if there is something deeper going on here. Earl kept mentioning the "attitude" of the secondary and how guys need to forgive each other. Whether that's in reference to the Super Bowl, Kam's holdout, a locker room struggle, or whatever - it's easy to speculate that there's something else going on with the chemistry in that locker room and in the individual meeting rooms that we simply don't know about.

Last year, the Seahawks were experiencing many of the same issues. The loss to the Chiefs in Kansas City sparked a "come to Jesus" moment for the Seahawks. Team leaders pulled the team aside and held a special meeting - to discuss what was going wrong, how to fix it, and how to move on. Earl Thomas described the meeting:

"Hard talks. Argument. Like a family. And just like a family, we came together."

Pete Carroll and other coaches immediately noticed the difference in the team's psyche. Russell elaborated on the meeting too:

"We had kind of a team meeting, and we were just talking about getting our swagger back. We felt like it kind of went away for a little bit, for whatever reason, but I feel like we got it back."

Hopefully, whatever it is, this team can figure it out, rally around each other, and begin a redemption tour - starting this weekend with Santa Clara. The Seahawks can still make the playoffs. However, the margin for error is small here on out.

This is the one thing I'll say: this team is currently disrespected around the league. They've been spat on and stomped on. When this team is hungry, their inner-wild-dog comes out.

Watch out. They may not be done.