After the announcement last Friday of Seahawks Defensive End Bruce Irvin being suspended for the first four games at the 2013 Regular season. The question in my mind is do the Seahawks have a message not getting through to players in regard to the issue of performance enhancing drugs and players getting caught. My answer is they absolutely have a problem and the buck stops with Head Coach Pete Carroll and General Manager John Schneider. Schneider on Sirius XM's NFL Radio was quoted as saying that the team goes beyond what the league mandates as far as educating the players on what to do or not to do. Well, on the surface the first instinct would be to believe Schneider when he says that. The Seahawks under the Carroll/Schneider regime have taken a lot of risks on players and more or less have been successful with improving the team with minimal consequences in regard to performance enhancing drug suspensions hurting the team. The Brandon Browner suspension sticks out the most as the Seahawks went 4-0 without him. Now, fast forward to this recent suspension of Bruce Irvin and this where the red flags on the message being communicated from the Seahawks comes into play. Irvin, saw first hand Browner get suspended, and Richard Sherman get off on a technicality last season and for him to get caught with a positive test is inexcusable. The Seahawks were going to have to rely heavily on Irvin early in the season. Thus, combined with the uncertainty of Chris Clemons and his recovery process and the question of his availability if there was one guy that had to be extra on top of things it was Irvin. Irvin, did come across as very remorseful in his statements on Twitter after the announcement was made public. I want to give him the benefit of the doubt that there won't be a second offense of this nature. However, I would have like to have seen a more aggressive stance on Irvin by Schneider and Carroll instead of sticking to comments like "its disappointing." Like it or not to lead the league with six Performance Enhancing Drug related suspensions is inexcusable and it is a bad reflection on the Seahawk organization and if it means eventually having to sacrifice a top player like Irvin or someone else to get the point across that this stuff will not be tolerated then it has to be done. I hope for the Seahawk fans sake that it doesn't and this nonsense stops now. The Seahawks are in unchartered waters with having such high expectations of making it to the Super Bowl. The question for me is will Pete Carroll and John Schneider step up and get this very talented team in line in time for an epic run to the Super Bowl next February.
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