INTRO: First off, I’d like to set something straight. I am without a doubt an avid Seahawks fan, but sometimes, you have to face reality. Today, that’s what I’ll be doing. I wish every season that the Hawks will go 16-0 and win the Super Bowl. Year in and year out, it doesn’t end up happening. The Seahawks are still the best team in their division (probably not for very long however), but today, we’ll face reality and I’ll tell you the many holes you can find throughout the Seahawks roster.
QB & WR: The only real bright spot on the entire Seahawks offense is probably Matt Hasselbeck. But when the only bright spot on offense for a team is a 32-year old, that’s not great news. Sure you can argue that he’s still in his prime, but for how much longer? The loss of Jim Zorn will definitely hurt, and it’s going to be tough for Hasselbeck having to throw to a poor receiving corps. Deion Branch won’t be 100% at the start of the season and up & coming D.J. Hackett has gone off to Carolina. These days, it’s all about BIG GUYS, and looking through the Top 3 wideouts on the Hawks roster, NONE top 6’1”. The biggest question for the receivers was Bobby Engram; in his mid-30s, he won’t be getting any better and last year was his peak, and it was also the past. Plus, he’s pushing for a new contract, and it’s questionable whether he’ll be available during the preseason and start of the regular season.
O-LINE: If you move on to the offensive line, what you’ve got are aging veterans mixed with inconsistent youngsters. Walter Jones is probably on the downside of his career and is currently injured, free agency pickup Mike Wahle is also into his 30s and won’t last more than one or two seasons. The switch from left to right guard for Rob Sims will probably just hurt him more and make him more inconsistent. Chris Spencer is a former 1st round pick but hasn’t shown anything special so far. In fact, 3rd round steal Sean Locklear is probably the only bright spot on the entire line.
RB: Now, time for the most interesting topic on the entire team, the running game. At least we had a confident leader in Shaun Alexander. Now all we have is an overweight slow guy who is only good for short-yardage situations (T.J. Duckett), a former 2nd round pick who has been a career backup to a former MVP (Maurice Morris), and another guy who is facing high expectations and was considered a hotshot free agent despite only ONE career 1,000+ yard season (Julius Jones). Look at the current free agent market. All 3 guys here have been disappointing. All 3 are former Day 1 picks, and they add up to just ONE career 1,000+ yard season. Look at T.J. Duckett! I don’t understand the hype surrounding this guy. Here’s a guy who has had 3 CHANCES (Atlanta, Washington, Detroit) at stardom, and screws up every single time. Don’t get me wrong, this is a guy who can bulldoze defenders and pick up the 1st down on 3rd downs and 4th’s, and we have been horrid in that category the past 2 seasons, but is he worth the money? We’ll have to find out. Look at the current free agent runningback market. We have PROVEN guys in the current free agent market. Instead of T.J. Duckett, how about Travis Henry (a former MULTI-year 1,000+ yard rusher), or Kevin Jones (who got 8 TD’S on 153 carries for a mediocre Detroit team last season AND unlike Duckett, he still has an entire career ahead of him), or maybe even Ron Dayne. Then again, I might be wrong; maybe Julius Jones and T.J. Duckett will be next season’s version of last year’s Jamal Lewis. However, I’ll bet that that won’t happen.
DB: On defense, the secondary is a question for me. Expect great things from Marcus Trufant, and I won’t be dissing him, but I will be dissing some of his teammates. I just can’t grapple the fact that two former undrafted players (Jordan Babineaux and a former practice teamer Kevin Hobbs) have a chance at overturning Kelly Jennings, a former 1st round pick, at the right starting cornerback position. Also, think about what could have happened if we kept Ken Hamlin (a Pro Bowler last season with Dallas), Hamlin would have given us several more turnovers on the year and probably at least 1 more win to the 10-win count.
DRAFT: And last but not least, ah yes, the draft. I really have to question Tim Ruskell. He’s made some risky choices (most of them have paid off), but has he finally lost his mind? LAWRENCE JACKSON??? LAWRENCE FREAKIN JACKSON??? You had guys like Malcolm Kelly on the board! Ever heard of Devin Thomas or Limas Sweed? Here are 3 guys who have a hell lot of potential, great size (6’4”, 6’3”, and 6’5” respectively), great hands, and will give the Seahawks a solid HEALTHY and CONSISTENT receiver. And even if you just had to draft a defensive end, how about Phillip Merling (to hell with injury prone) or Calais Campbell. JOHN CARLSON??? JOHN FREAKIN CARLSON??? Ever heard of a young man by the name of FRED DAVIS??? TYLER SCHMITT? TYLER FREAKIN SCHMITT??? Ever heard of drafting a long snapper? NOPE! BRANDON COUTU??? BRANDON FREAKIN COUTU??? Here’s a guy who you could have without a doubt gotten in free agency. JUSTIN FORSETT??? JUSTIN FREAKIN FORSETT??? He’s 5’8” and not another Brian Westbrook. Ever heard of another young man by the name of MATT FORTE??? If you wanted a runningback, go for Forte, or Jammal Charles, or Ray Rice. For me, the only bright spot I saw in the entire Seahawks draft day was Red Bryant. RED FREAKIN BRYANT!!!
CONCLUSION: I’ve dissed just about everything I can on the Seahawks roster today, and if you managed to read all this ####, I thank you and I would greatly appreciate it if you let me know what you thought about all this.
QB & WR- You're right about Hasselbeck, he's sure ain't getting younger. The loss of Jim Zorn bites, but it's always Holmgren greeting Hasselbeck on the sidelines. Holmgren has three other Super Bowl QB's on his resume(Montana, Young and Favre). I think Matt will be fine. Holmgren runs an offense the most like Bill Walsh. That means there is no need for tall receivers, because we'll be throwing 10-15 yards at a time with the Walsh philosophy. Courtney Taylor(6'1"), Ben Obomanu(6'0"), Logan Payne(6'2"), and Jordan Kent(6'4") all are receivers that have been in this complex Holmgren system for a while. Drafting a young receiver now would of done no real immediate impact on this team.
O-Line- Sure Jones is aging, but still very dominant. Wahle still has a good 5-6 years left in him. O-Linemen last the longest in years of playing next to maybe kickers and QB's. Rob Sims was playing out of his norm on the left side. Rob naturally plays on the right. So this is an excellent move.
RB- I'm not sure who Shaun was leading? I liked Shaun, but it was his time to go. The fact no one has signed him has to tell you, he is not the man he used to be. Duckett is not our answer, but his career has always been put aside for someone else. In Atlanta, Duckett competed for touches with M. Vick and Warrick Dunn. In Washington, it was Clinton Portis. Matter of fact, Duckett publicly complained about not getting the ball in short yardage situations in D.C. Finally in Detroit, when you're under Martz, the run game is put on the back burner. Du
........back burner. Duckett has never been utilized properly. Now to Julius Jones. With Kasey Dunn as our new RB coach, I'm curious to see if Jones is looking to have a revitalization similar to Priest Holmes in KC. Priest Holmes only had one 1000+ season before coming to KC.
Have to go for now, I'll finish my blabbing later.
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Hasselbeck's age was the reason I was hoping the Hawks would draft Dennis Dixon. The defense will keep the Hawks in the game, and hopefully the ground game will improve. The only thing that scares me is the receivers behind Bobby Engram. I've always thought that Babineaux should start opposite of Trufant. Jennings gets beat too much.
Secondary- 2006 our secondary was ranked 28th in the league. Only one member from that secondary unit started in 2007, that being Trufant. CB Kelly Jennings, S Brian Russell and S Deon Grant all helped Mora and Trufant propell our secondary to 2nd in the NFC. Our secodary in 2007 allowed the fewest passing TD's in the NFL and 2nd in passing yards against in the NFC. Sure Kelly got burned a couple times, but so did Trufant. Neither of which got burned a whole hell of alot though with 2nd fewest passing yards given up in the NFC. So if someone is giving Jennings a run for his money, I'm excited! To me that means we have depth.
2007- FS Ken Hamlin had 62 tackles and 5 int.'s.
2007- FS Brian Russell had 68 tackles, 1 int. and 1 sack.
So yeah, Hamlin would of been nice to have last year.
Last edited by WestSeattle on July 13th at 11:23 PM.
Draft- Why not Lawrence Jackson? The Giants had great success with rotating fresh DE's during the game. Lawrence was a senior coming out of the draft and will be able to play immediately. Again, drafting receivers so high in the draft is not going to have an immediate impact on our team. Holmgren runs a Bill Walsh type WCO. Tall receivers are not needed and the system takes years to learn. We'd be wasting picks if we drafted receivers. I believe the guy's we have we be a huge surprise to many doubters. Fred Davis can't block and oversleeps.....mmmm? Jeremy Stevens? Tyler Schmitt was the best at his position and if I remember right, we had horrible long snappers last season. With us running into cap problems, this was a good move. Along the lines of cap space, drafting Coutu to compete with Mare is smart. Mare was merely insurance. Could you honestly believe we could take a chance with free agancy for another kicker? I didn't see many available. As for Foresett, he is a kick returner...thats it. We needed one with Burleson starting at receiver.
So in my honest opinion, we did pretty darn good in the offseason with the limited money we had. And we resigned some key indiviuals.
I see a lot of negativity, but the points you raised are all valid concerns.
The O-line, IMO, should be more consistent with Wahle at LG and Sims moving to the weak side. Walter Jones is STILL Walter Jones - until someone... anyone... unseats him as the most dominant and effective LT in the game, he can start for my Seahawks until he's 50 for all I care.
The running game, atricious as it was the past couple seasons, looks at least mildly improved. Shaun Alexander was NOT a leader for this club whatsoever. Now, Julius Jones and T.J. Duckett are NOT the long-term answers for the myriad problems facing the running game, but they are an improvement over the ineptitude of Shaun Alexander.
Matt Hasselbeck will be just fine, and even though he's 32 (which is just about when quarterbacks really should be in their prime), he's the intelligent and calculating type of QB Holgren needs in the WCO.
The defensive backfield is not a concern - aggressive CBs get burned occasionally, and Trufant and Jennings are both very aggressive. Hamlin would have been nice to have last year (and this one), but Russell and Grant were excellent, and both should be just as good in 2008-09.
Wide receiver is where this team's weakness truly lies, and what it lacks in experience is somewhat made up for with depth. Burleson hasn't really gotten a fair chance to produce consistently, and I'm looking forward to seeing him start 16 games this year. Deion Branch is constantly hurt, and has proven to be a pretty painful bust for this franchise and one of the few black spots on Tim Ruskell's resume during his tenure in Seattle.
The draft... well... we'll all know how the draft really went for the Hawks in about 3-5 years, when the players they selected have complteted their development and NFL transition.
As for John Carlson? I see him picking up the offensive system quickly and having a very solid rookie season - 35+ receptions, 400+ yards, and maybe a handful of scores would be just fine with me for that young man.
To me, howver, Holgren's "lame duck" season may end up being a bit of a distraction, even with Mora penned in as his successor.
The "win one for coach" idea has a nice ring to it, but Ronald Reagan was the REAL Gipper, and the boys one it for him a LONG time ago.
10-6 or 11-5 is where I see the Hawks ending up. 12-4 is a possibility, but that would hinge on Jones being as good as he was in Dallas, Burleson shining, Branch returning from his injury with vigor, the defense repeating their performance from last year, and special teams executing every time. Then again, 9-7 is a possibility, too, and all that would take is one big injury to a guy like Walter Jones, Patrick Kearney, Lofa Tatupu, Julian Peterson, Marcus Trufant, Bobby Engram, Matt Hasselbeck... the list goes on.
For Seattle to continue its winning ways, helth and consistency are the biggest keys.
You know I was pretty happy when we got rid of Hamlin, he could nail people but was lame in coverage. Theres a reason why Dallas is garbage against the long ball, and its not all Roy Williams fault.
I don't get why you would want a one dimensional TE like Davis. He was noted for poor work ethic his whole football career, not to mention he can't block at all.
As far as the gigantic WRs that you think are needed; that may be true for most QBs but not Matt. Hass is one of the most accurate QBs in the league and does just fine with "short" targets. Big guys are only good if they are built like a TE (Jurevicius, Colston) or when throwing deep, in the WCO they are too eaisly covered in the short horizontal passing game.
I think this team will be very good this season, Wahle is a former all-pro and is only 30, Jones is a capable back who was not used properly in Dallas, and Duckett is going to pound the ball for those needed first downs. Ruskell has set this team up for some very good seasons ahead of us.
Dude, go back and look on the Seahawks page and read some of my comments about why your sooooo wrong about everything in your post. All of the picks met Seattles needs and some were rated as BEST in the draft. Schmitt, both of them, are steals, along with Jackson. Carlson may not have break neck speed, but is the best overall TE that was availiable. Forsett was the best availiable player availiable to Seattle at that time and will relieve Burleson of some of his special teams duties. As for our wide out core, we have a lot to look forward to. Logan Payne, Ben Obomanu, Courtney Taylor and Jordan Kent just need a chance to shine. With Matt leading the way, a better and revived O-line (with better coaching with Mike Solari), hopefully they will have a chance to do so. Our defense is going to be even better and Jacskson is a solid four year proven player, not a one year wonder. He will add depth and help out with the rotation. Yes, Seattle drafted a kicker and a long snapper. Why? Ok, not to get nasty, but did you even watch a game last year? We had to get Jeff Robinson out of retirement to help with the long snapping position. Schmitt is the best long snapper in the draft and can make plays down field. Brandon Coutu addressed the need of a place kicker and the void that probably will not be filled by Olindo Mare, an old and injury prone vet. Oh, he was also rated as the best place kicker in the draft. So, how did Tim Ruskell lose his mind again? Hmmm? I do not thing he did. Dude, thats why he makes the big bucks and you and I are just fans. Seattle will be
(Cont.)fine for years to come and the problem of replacing Matt will be taken care of next year in the draft. Dude, come join everyone else that is obviously thinking a lot differently than you. Fill that half empty glass all of the way up and give Seattle a chance. You might be surprised. GO HAWKS!!!!
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I am a FOX Sports Blogger who is a fan of the Seattle Seahawks. My primary interest is the NFL, I also enjoy the Arena Football League (AFL) and I follow-up on the NBA and MLB. I live on Mercer Island, Washington; across from the city of Seattle. Send any comments or complaints to:
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