Biggest reason for optimism? Biggest area of concern?

JSeahawks

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Pre draft, Give me the main reason you're optimistic, and the main reason you might have some pessimism or be a bit worried about the upcoming season.

My reason for optimism: I expect the defense to do its thing. I think the addition of Jimmy Graham makes our offense that much better. It will take pressure, and hopefully coverage, off the WR's to get open all of the time and will also hopefully open more lanes for Lynch and the other backs. I think our offense will be much more dynamic (especially if they add a WR or 2 in the draft).

Reason for pessimism: Thought about the o'line, but our offense has proven they can be effective even behind a relatively weak (or at least perceived weakness) o'line in the past. I think the biggest threat to returning for another Super Bowl run is wear and tear. Going to 2 Super Bowls in a row, our boys have played more football in the last couple years then any other team. That could take a toll on their bodies and lead to more nagging injuries and bodies breaking down, that along with losing some of our quality depth (hopefully we have a really good draft, and some of last years picks are ready for bigger roles this season, to restock the roster) could hurt us going down the stretch.
 

Yxes1122

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Reason for Optimism: A more potent offensive attack. I still think we badly need to add a Home Run threat in the draft. He doesn't have to be Megatron, but a Desean Jackson type that can threaten a huge multiple TD day. But I just hope our offense becomes a little more aggressive and I think the addition of Graham helps.

Reason for Pessimism: I expect a decline in the defense this year. The depth is thin on the DL and in the Secondary, the Legion of Boom is coming off major late season injury which could hurt us early in the season. New DC also has me nervous (I know Kris Richard has been here, but he's still new to the role). Bennett holding out makes me nervous. And just overall I think we are going to have several instances this year where our Defense isn't going to be able to smother people the way it used to. Hopefully a good draft can fix some of the depth issues.
 

Sgt. Largent

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Optimism: Back to the group of hungry dogs looking for redemption that won us the SB two years ago.

Concerns: Too many key players recovering from major injuries, especially the LOB and retooling of the O-line with draft picks and/or 3rd tier free agents.
 

mikeak

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Reason for optimism: Two Superbowls in a row and our coach isn't named Harbaugh

Pessimis: Secondary went from a total strenght to concern last year and need people to come back healthy from injuries
 

gowazzu02

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Lots to be optimistic about. Ill start with the fact that were one week away from the start of the Draft and we have a boat load of picks in the mid rounds where JS is deadly.

Graham, nuff said

Our rookie RT isn't a rookie anymore,

Chris Matthews performance in the superbowl a hint of things to come???

Kris Richard the next in line to become Tampa Bays coach in 2 years.

Our Line backers, underrated group. Plus Irvins in a contract year, look for huge strides from him

That John Ryan TD pass in the nfccg

We didn't get royally screwed with the schedule

RW another year of experience

Beast Modes coming back

Jordan Hills performance the second half of the year, stay healthy for me one time!!!

The super bowl is the 50th in our rivals barn, what better place to be the first team to make it back to back to back since the Kelly lead bills.

LOB

I could honestly keep going.



It's too early to be negative, theres lots of worry warts on this board ill leave this for you.
 

Lords of Scythia

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FlyHawksFly":lhq11nor said:
Reason for optimism: I think the offense is going to take a step forward this year. I think Graham will open up the offense more than we have seen. We have a really good shot of adding a play maker at WR and RB in the draft. On top of that, another year of Russell Wilson's growth.

Reason for pessimism: injuries that bleed over from last year. We have a pretty rough start to the season, and sounds like a number of guys will just be getting their legs underneath them by the time we start.
Especially to the LOB.
 

crosfam

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Optimism: Last years' SB loss makes team really want a do-over. Lynch may have walked away from the game with the MVP, but now he wants to do it again, with a big raise for 2015. Wilson, if he stays injury free, will only get better in his 4th year, just getting into his prime. Jimmy Graham, if healthy, makes everybody better. Opens up the run game, helps the other WR's get open.

Pessimism: It only takes one playoff loss to ruin the season if your goal is to win the SB. Everything else will seem like failure, unfortunately. If you compare this team the Steelers of the 70's, they won 4 of 6. They lost two playoff-games in there. Other teams are catching on to our system and trying to copy us. Injuries - we may get off to a less than stellar start, 2-2, 3-2, 3-3, etc. Money, folks will stat wanting more and more, until we get cap relief. Like some folks possibly leaving after next year - Lynch, Irvin, Wagner, Okung, etc. We need to do the Patriot thing and replace them with cheaper vets or rookies, or else.
 

original poster

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Nice post.

Optimism -

Jimmy is going to really, really, expand our whole offense. Every player will benefit from having him on the field. No more stacked boxes for Lynch, a premier 3rd down and red zone threat, (hopefully) Baldwin returning to the slot where he belongs, potential greatness in Chris Matthews. I still get shivers when I hear the commentators saying "we're watching a star be born" as he caught the TD pass right before end of half in the Super Bowl.

We still have Pete and John working their magic.

The most draft picks of any team.

We're due a good draft after the last couple of years and the FO knows if.

Wilson is always improving and is only going to get better, and that's saying something.

Lynch will want to go out with a bang.

The fact the media expects us to return to the Super Bowl.

The team is tight and I think the Hawaii trip just cemented it that little bit more. These guys treat each other like family and play like it as well.

The determination our players have for greatness is very positive.

Irvin in a contract year and I expect him to explode this season. He has got BIG this offseason.

Reasons for concern -

None really besides injuries. ET and PRich will hopefully make a full recovery but there's no guarantees.

The draft could go wrong and we need roomies to add a lot of depth at a lot of positions. The transition these guys go through from NCAA to NFL is large and not everyone adjusts to it.

Our schedule is far from easy but with limited 10am starts and plenty of prime time games I'm far from 'concerned'.


In summary, this is the best I've felt about the Hawks and the fact we are 100% contenders to return to the Super Bowl means other teams put a target on our backs. The guys absolutely thrive on this.
 

Hawks46

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Good thread, i like the subject.

I was going to say biggest optimism is Graham coming over. It's been covered a lot already, but I think he'll help us extend drives with a better 3rd down conversion %, and he'll also improve our red zone scoring. I see him adding 8-10 TD's instead of FG's just by himself, and that doesn't include what he opens up for others.

I'm optimistic for Matthews. If he can progress, it's the big bodied guy we need opposite of Graham, and we can rotate Graham, Willson and Matthews around. Not many teams can combat that type of size consistently. I'm also optimistic of Willson progressing watching an elite talent like Graham. Miller was a great guy, but he doesn't have the physical skill set of Willson, so I can see Willson picking up more (from a route running perspective) from Graham.


My second biggest optimism is the Offensive Line. Hear me out: we have Lewis and LJP back, which I think will add to continuity which was the biggest problem with the OL the last couple of years. That combination is physically better than Unger, and I just hope they get up to speed on the line calls and cerebral aspects that Unger was so good at.

Carpenter is gone, which to me is an addition. I'm tired of seeing him get blown up in pass pro (Sweezy is even worse), whiff on blocks and lose assignments. I think we're going to have a net improvement at the position. If Bailey can't take the spot, it means we have someone there even better and we'll have good depth.

Also we have a ton of picks right in the meat of the draft where we can pick up better OL than we have. After the draft, we'll have a deeper, more talented OL.

My biggest area of pessimism is the pass rush on defense and depth on the DL and secondary. I know Avril is coming back, but we really don't have a true LEO on the squad and I just don't feel right about our pass rush. I'm also not really confident about our secondary depth, particularly at Safety. I think Burley will progress and give whoever the starter is a run at the Nickle. I don't see Lane making much of an impact this year. I'd like to see SImon progress more, but he has a problem staying healthy, which stunts his growth. And our new guy had a pretty bad run in Philly, so not sure what to expect from him, but if he returns to Ravens' form, then our starters are pretty set.
 

Largent80

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Op. We have the horses to pull the wagon and the experience to do it. Adding a huge redzone threat get's us over that hump of wearing out Haushka. Beast is still here, Wilson has the best attitude of any QB I have ever seen and I see him going off even more this year. The special teams can only get better as I felt the blocking on returns was at best...dreadful. Walters is gone so maybe they can draft a dude to run back kicks.

Pess....I'm not pessimistic at all. The reality is that we have lost our starting RCB and hired an inconsistent replacement. We also lost our depth and S/T player in Jeron Johnson. Lanes injury in the SB may hamper him, Simon got injured in his red shirt year and played horrible after the shoulder.
We have a couple signings on the DL and Williams will probably be back, but Mebanes injury is still in the dark.

All of this is pre draft.
 

Hasselbeck

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Optimism: Jimmy Graham, a hungry and pissed off team that has always performed better with a chip on their shoulder, lots of key players returning from injury

Pessimism: Our offensive line, no true #1 WR, the health of our secondary to open the season, Cary Williams opposite of Sherman... oh .. and our offensive line.
 

Missing_Clink

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Optimism- Jimmy Graham might be the best player they could have possibly acquired to pair with Russell. Finally he has a talented pass catcher that he deserves.

Pessimism- I think the O line hits new lows this year in pass protection, and that is really saying something. We'll see how they look in camp and preseason, but I am anticipating full on revolving door status with the 2 new starters and Okung not getting any better. Sweezy and Britt may be ok though, but it won't be enough. It's the reason I'm expecting an L in week 1 against the Rams and the best D line in the NFL. It's so disheartening how that unit seesms to only get worse.
 

Tical21

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Optimism---We still have the best roster in football, and it isn't really close

Pessimism--I know it is going to be cliche, but Darrell Bevell. However, I don't mean it in the traditional playcalling sense. For the most part, I think he is fine. But that grey, grey cloud is going to suffocate him and this offense. Every playcall is going to be under such a microscope, and there is going to be so much pressure on that bubble, that it is inevitable that it bursts in my opinion. I still can't believe he was allowed to come back. Just screams of an absolutely toxic situation to me, and one that could be so impactful that it has the ability to disrupt the entire season.
 

SoulfishHawk

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Right there with you, best roster and team in football.

But Bevell and that O-Line is my biggest area of concern.
 

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