Seahawks still have ‘winning culture’ despite losing Wagner, Wilson

Defensive tackle Al Woods believes the Seattle Seahawks still have a winning culture despite losing starters Bobby Wagner and Russell Wilson.

Defensive tackle Al Woods knows a little something about football after his 12 years in the league. Woods re-signed with Seattle this offseason despite the Seahawks losing veteran starters on both sides of the ball.

With Russell Wilson and Bobby Wagner both gone from the lineup, many think the Seahawks won’t be able to put together a winning season. Woods, on the other hand, thinks Seattle will be as competitive as ever.

Just the culture we have,” Woods told reporters during his press conference on Thursday. “The culture we have is a winning culture. Us being competitive at practice. It’s not going to be the same group of starters however, everybody has got to go out there and compete.

Woods is dead on about the competition – just how coach Pete Carroll likes it. The roster should be able to shape itself out over the rest of the offseason if things go as planned.

“The best players are going to play,” Woods said. “I feel like once we get out there and we start the comradery, the togetherness, and start working with each other. Iron sharpens iron, I think we’re going to be all right.

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Nigel Bradham eager to join the Saints, “a place where it’s known for winning”

Former Philadelphia Eagles and Buffalo Bills linebacker Nigel Bradham wanted to join the New Orleans Saints because of their winning culture

Nigel Bradham has played a lot of football. He’s entering his ninth season as a pro, having spent four full years with the Buffalo Bills and another four seasons on the Philadelphia Eagles. But he says the New Orleans Saints offer him something neither of those teams were able to.

“It’s definitely a different type of environment, a different culture. Because the last two organizations I went to weren’t really winning organizations,” Bradham said in his introductory media conference call. “So when you come to a place where it’s known for winning and known for being in the postseason, you see a different type of culture they have and the expectations that they have naturally and what they expect out of you as a player.”

That’s a bold claim to make, sure, but the Saints have backed it up. They’ve won their division three years in a row, whereas the Eagles and Bills combined for two division titles in the eight years he played with them (the Eagles won the NFC East twice, in 2017 and 2019). But Bradham did help the Eagles win Super Bowl LII just a few years ago, lending some skepticism to his thinking here. Maybe he meant that the Saints are further along now than his previous teams were when he joined them.

Bradham has also been on the receiving end of the Saints’ winning culture before. His Bills lost to the Saints 35-17 back in 2013, and his Eagles were trounced twice in 2018 (losing 48-7 in the regular season, and falling 20-14 in the playoffs). He’s probably happier to be dishing out that kind of punishment rather than getting thumped with it.

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