A quick look at the Seahawks 2017 season

            With the freedom that comes with a random blog post, I decided to dedicate this post to the upcoming season of the Seattle Seahawks-my favorite team in the world. Being born and raised in Seattle I have been consistently molded into the die-hard fan I am today. Because of the recent success the Seahawks have had I am often accused of being a “band wagon” fan that has just recently  been rooting for the team. However, that is far from the case. I remember being 10 years old and yelling at the refs on TV after the controversial loss to the Steelers in the 2005 Super Bowl. Or when Mike Holmgren didn’t allow Shaun Alexander to play the final quarter in the 2006 season to get him over 2000 yards rushing and to become the undisputed rushing leader of the year. After that we had a few tough years under Jim Mora and then the greatest coach in history Pete Carroll. But fortunately our division was so bad that Pete led us to the playoffs despite a losing record. We were the first team in history to do that. Anyways, now that I have proven my undying loyalty to the team I would like to get into a little bit of analysis of their upcoming 2017 season.

            Lets start with the defense. Going into training camp there has been a lot of controversy surrounding the Hawks. An expose from ESPN shed light on the rumored gap between the defense and the offense and how that has created resentment throughout the team. The article claimed that Richard Sherman, the star corner back, is still furious about the teams Super Bowl loss to the Patriots in which we failed to give the ball to running back Marshawn Lynch and instead threw an interception on the 1 yard line and thus losing the game. It goes further to suggest that Sherman believes Pete Carroll favors quarterback Russell Wilson and doesn’t get on him as hard when he messes up. While this report does make sense to me I feel that it was greatly overrated. Sherman did have a very controversial year last year when he yelled at coaching staff and refused to talk to the local Seattle media. However, at his heart he is an amazing competitor and a workhorse, and I just don’t believe that he will allow something so petty to affect him long term. This season I believe that Sherman will get his head straightend out and will be just as dominant as he has been in the past. On top of that we are returning with all of our starting defenders, which have proven that they are dominant over the last couple years.

            Next, lets take a quick look at the offense. Over the course of the Hawks recent success the offense can best be described as “above average”. It is no secret that our defense has carried our team. However, Russell Wilson has proven that he is a star quarterback. Despite his small stature, he is a very smart football player and knows how to use his feet which is a huge asset for us. Our run game was amazing with Marshawn Lynch but after he left we have been scrambling to fill the void that he left. I am optimistic that our free agent signing of Green Bay running back Eddie Lacy will do well to help bridge that gap but no one can replace the Beast. Our main concern on offense, which has been a recurring problem we seem incapable of fixing, is our offensive line. Our line is absolutely terrible and will continue to be. It is a miracle that we are able to win some of the games we do because Russ is constantly under pressure. This just goes to show how vital he is to our success.

            In conclusion, I predict that we win the NFC West this year because the rest of the division is so terrible and if we have any long-term success in the playoffs it will be because we are able to keep our defense and Russ injury free. Final prediction: 12-4 in the regular season and a Super Bowl win (gotta always believe right?).