2008 Seahawks

[mickii]

I agree on the D improving. Dids is right on with the secondary getting improved. LBs are already all pro-bowl caliber players. Peterson is a beast. Hopefully Morris will pick up some more Alexander slack and the Offense bounces back. Oh, and everyone not from the NW stop preaching SF and Arizona. They both stink. St Louis can't stop anyone but as always will score. Hawks 12-4
Bring us a Superbowl guys-

[NSchandler]

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I agree on the D improving. Dids is right on with the secondary getting improved. LBs are already all pro-bowl caliber players. Peterson is a beast. Hopefully Morris will pick up some more Alexander slack and the Offense bounces back. Oh, and everyone not from the NW stop preaching SF and Arizona. They both stink. St Louis can't stop anyone but as always will score. Hawks 12-4
Bring us a Superbowl guys-

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Are you serious?

[capone0]

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I agree on the D improving. Dids is right on with the secondary getting improved. LBs are already all pro-bowl caliber players. Peterson is a beast. Hopefully Morris will pick up some more Alexander slack and the Offense bounces back. Oh, and everyone not from the NW stop preaching SF and Arizona. They both stink. St Louis can't stop anyone but as always will score. Hawks 12-4
Bring us a Superbowl guys-

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I'd be willing to bet the farm that the Seahawks will not win the SB. First of all their are about 6 or 7 AFC teams I'd rather have then the Seahawks. Second of all without an improved O-line the team just isn't that good. I know there were a ton of injuries to the line last year but without Hutch the line will still never be that great. Without a great running game ala the year they got to the SB, the defensive unit wasn't nearly as effective. I'm not going to say any of the other teams in their division will win it but it's easy to understand why most are predicting the downward fall of the Seahawks.

[rubbrband]

Team seems really good this year. Not sure why everyone is hatin? They had a good season last year with Alexander and Hasslebeck injured half the season. I only see two problems.

1)offensive line. will never be as good as it was with hutch but they had a lot of injuries last year. If they can keep 5 guys on the field watch out.
2)Alexander. I am a firm believer that the O line makes the RB but foot problems are really bad for RBs(think Jamal Lewis and countless others), and they say he still might have a crack in the bone still.

Hawks should still have a relatively simple time winning the division, but this year I am finally seeing real improvement in the cards(matt and improved o-line) and 49ers(swept Seattle in 07).

[MacGuyV]

Nothing that happens in that division this yr would really surprise me. I guess you've got to give the Hawks the edge until one of the other teams actually shows something other than flashes of potential.
"If they get homefield they're a huge threat" - well yah #1 seeds are usually a threat; I still don't understand the notion that their stadium is especially tough.
edit: kerssens ftw.

[rubbrband]

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I still don't understand the notion that their stadium is especially tough.

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Took me a while to understand this.
1)extremely loud. might be loudest stadium in the NFL and it's outdoors. 12 man ftw.
2)outdoors good vs their division which is fairweather/dome teams.
3)Distance. This works both ways. The hawks don't travel well and are abysmal in east coast games at noon(9am for them). Other teams have to travel a decent ways no matter where they are located as the hawks are nowhere near any other NFL cities.

[LocustHorde]

I'll concede that not franchising Hutch was a bonehead move by Ruskell, but he is a guard and Minnesota overpaid him. And seeing how pathetic the Viqueens offense performed last year, it's hard to say how much of a factor he was.


Alexander will be fine. After he came back from the injury, he jacked up Green Bay for +200 yds. He is approaching 30 very soon, but he didnt start his first few years in the league and his running style usually has him avoiding big hits (the antithesis of guys like Earl Cambell and Jamal Lewis).

Matt Hasselbeck will be back to his All-pro form that he showed in 2005. Last year he was injured and played with a torn labrum. He's gutsy, very smart, and knows Holmgren's WCO like the palm of his hand.

They lost Darrell Jackson to SF, but he's always hurt. Look for him to play no more than 10 or 11 games at the most. (in fact he's STILL hurt and not even close to 100%). Deion Branch will pick up the slack and then some. Last year he didnt know the system very well and was thinking, not playing. Plus he will be more in sync with Hasselbeck.

The only negative is they lost Jeremy Stevens. Even though he's a drunk and a sissy, he could really stretch the middle of the defense where linebackers have an almost impossible task of covering him.

On the defensive side, they shored up their defensive secondary problems by signing safeties, Grant and Russell. Seahawk fans should rejoice now that Boulware isn't starting anymore. He was clueless out there!! And don't forget they have Mike Green, who is coming back from a foot injury.

Addition by subtraction: Winstrom was cut loose. The guy played hard, but couldn't get to the QB enough to warrant the money he was making. Now they have Kearney and should be a big upgrade over Winstrom.

The most critical thing for the Hawks Defense is if Marcus Tubbs knee holds up. If it does, they have a chance to crack the top 10, if not then who knows what will happen, lol

As far as improvement by other teams in the division goes, I say I'll believe it when I see it. The Cardinals were 6-10 in 04, 5-11 in 05, and 5-11 in 06. If that's improvement, I'd hate to see what regression would look like!

The 49ers might be a team on the rise, but the only player that I see that's rock solid on offense is Frank Gore. Alex Smith and the rest of the bunch haven't done anything to impress me.

The only team that is capable of challenging the Seahawks are the Rams. They have a decent QB who, given time, can shred defenses, one of the best WR's in the game in Tory Holt, and the beast, Steven Jackson. If their defense can play well, they can beat anybody.

Only 71 days till opening day [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Spellmen]

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I'll concede that not franchising Hutch was a bonehead move by Ruskell, but he is a guard and Minnesota overpaid him. And seeing how pathetic the Viqueens offense performed last year, it's hard to say how much of a factor he was.


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The Vikings offense was abysmal overall, but their running game was pretty solid, with Hutch providing alot of that boost.

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They lost Darrell Jackson to SF, but he's always hurt. Look for him to play no more than 10 or 11 games at the most. (in fact he's STILL hurt and not even close to 100%).

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I'll take 11 games of DJax over 10 or whatever games we got from Antonio Bryant. Almost anything from Jackson will be an improvement over the WR corps last year. I like Arnaz Battle alot, but your teams in alot of trouble if he's your leading receiver. Having Vernon Davis for a full year will be big as well, he came on strong after he came back from the broken leg

[mickii]

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They lost Darrell Jackson to SF, but he's always hurt. Look for him to play no more than 10 or 11 games at the most. (in fact he's STILL hurt and not even close to 100%). Deion Branch will pick up the slack and then some. Last year he didnt know the system very well and was thinking, not playing. Plus he will be more in sync with Hasselbeck.

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Don't forget the emergence of DJ Hackett out there to replace D-Jack

[PokerFink]

Here's what I see in this thread: "Hey, the 2006 Hawks made the playoffs with lots of injuries, we will be healthy this year, so 2007 Hawks will be really good!"

Well... perhaps. Anything can happen in the NFL. But remember that the 2006 Seahawks were pretty terrible. 25th in DVOA with one quality win (at Denver) the whole season. They beat up an extremely easy schedule (29th hardest) to go a whopping 9-7 and win one of the worst divisions of all time.

Can they win the division again this year? Sure, of course they can. But it's not a lock the way it has been the past few years. The O-Line is not as good, Alexander is getting older, and Arizona and San Fran should be better (I know, I know, we say that every year).

And if they do make the playoffs, don't expect much noise. The good NFC teams are in the same cities they were last year: Chicago, Nawlins and Philly.