You can stop counting down the days, you can stop marking the X’s on the calendar. We have all been waiting for football to return for the last seven months and now, it is happening.
It really does seem like the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl 54 more than a year ago, but it hasn’t been. And now, our eyes are set on Opening Week.
The Seattle Seahawks haven’t played since they lost to the Green Bay Packers 28-23 in the NFC Divisional Round. The Packers and Seahawks are familiar foes in the playoffs but Aaron Rodgers got the best of Russell Wilson and Pete Carroll.
The Seahawks enter the 2020 season in a better situation than they did in 2019. Coming into last year, the Hawks were projected to win 8.5 games but ended up winning 11 games and coming an inch short of winning 12 and securing home-field advantage.
In 2020, their squad is different. It is more talented offensively but is still lacking some key pieces on defense. Wilson is bringing to the table another year of experience and another year to grow with Carroll. But will it be enough?
When Super Bowl 55 is played in Tampa Bay come February 2020, will the Seahawks be there? If they do get there, are they enough to power through the Baltimore Ravens and the Kansas City Chiefs? Can Wilson pull off a season as good as his 2019 campaign and depend on his defense to hold their opponents tight to the leash?
There are so many questions that will have to be played out, but from what I see on paper to what I see in their division, the NFC and the whole league, this just won’t be the Seahawks year.
The Roster Weakness
Let’s start with the biggest issue that the Seahawks will overcome on their own roster. As the saying goes, “you can only control what you can control,” and in this case its the Seahawks on roster. The most glaring and concerning part of that roster is their defensive line.
They were unable to sign Jadeveon Clowney for another year of the 12th Man. In 2019, Clowney recorded just three sacks but he was critical in taking the load off of other pass rushers. With the perennial Pro Bowler on their line, the Hawks still ranked 30th in sack rate at 4.68 percent. That’s a click that doesn’t bode well with Clowney and now way worse without him.
The unit as a whole is extremely young and sure there is a lot of promise and a lot of potential there, but that doesn’t translate to Super Bowl-like success. L.J. Collier will be forced to step up in his second year with the team, after playing just 152 snaps in his rookie season. He was drafted in the first round by the Hawks in 2019 but was largely an unknown presence and was inactive for both playoff games. Ken Norton Jr, the Seahawks defensive coordinator, is confident in the second-year player but we are not sure if we buy his optimism.
“Really good growth,” Norton said this week of Collier. “He’s come a long way. He understands the way we practice, he understands the scheme. Understands what his role is in the defense and what his responsibilities are. So I think he’s really going to take a lot of steps.”
So issue number one is that the Seahawks may not be able to get to the quarterback, and there is still another concerning part of this Hawks’ D. This isn’t your dad’s Legion of Boom secondary and while improvements were made with Jamal Adams coming in, the Seahawks will still need drastic improvement.
The Seahawks were unable to get their defense off the field in 2019. They ranked 1st in defensive snaps played during base defense, they were on the field for 69 percent of snaps. The team that ranked second, the Arizona Cardinals, had a click of just 38 percent.
The Division
Now that we have addressed some of the issues that lie on the Seahawks roster, we have to address the division that they are playing in. The NFC West may be the most talented division in the entire NFL.
The Rams are coming off a down year but were sporting an NFC Championship banner just two seasons ago, the same can be said of the San Francisco 49ers and the Arizona Cardinals finally have a legitimate air-raid offense with Kliff Kingsbury that could be a nightmare to deal with twice a season.
The division makes up six of the Seahawks 16 games. In 2019, their division record was just a mere 3-3. Now they will have to deal with Cardinals stepping their game up immensely, the 49ers still being a top team and the Rams are expected to bounce back quite well considering Sean McVay may be the brightest mind in the game of football right now.
ESPN currently gives Seattle a 58 percent chance of making the playoffs but that doesn’t mean the mothership sees them winning the division. That honor goes to 49ers for a second straight year with an 81 percent chance of making the postseason.
The Seahawks will have a chance to find what team they will be before they have to face any division foe. They meet up with the Cardinals in week four and finish the 2020 campaign with back-to-back divisional games with the Rams and the 49ers.
The League
So yeah, their division is riddled with talent and will be hard enough to win. But let’s not forget about the league in general. Here’s just an overview of what stands in their way:
Tampa Bay: You know Tom Brady? Well now he has an offensive juggernaut.
New Orleans: Drew Brees has one more shot at a ring, don’t expect another Marshawn Lynch Wild Card upset.
Dallas: Jason Garrett is gone, the offense is loaded and Dak is in a prove-it year.
Kansas City: I’m not sure I have to say much about him.
Baltimore: Again … what’s to be said besides Lamar Jackson?
Houston: Watson is out for revenge and the Texans match up very well with Seattle.
Seattle will also compete as long as they have the likes of Pete Carroll, Russell Wilson and Bobby Wagner, but it just won’t be enough this season. The league is too talented and the Hawks are missing a few key pieces that would make them legitimate defenders.
If you spot any Seahawks in Tampa Bay next February, it may be because they have a tee time, but it won’t be because they are playing at Raymond James Stadium.
