What's been your biggest surprise this season?

There are a few obvious answers so I'll try to go with the thing that worried me most; the rushing defense. I am so, so relieved that our run defense has been so fantastic this season and I think it will really serve us well in the post-season.

What has been your biggest, most pleasant surprise?

Thomas Rawls.

dopeboy206":2713d5xd said:

Thomas Rawls.

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:13:

There are lots of options - Rawls, Tyler Lockett, etc. The biggest surprise (pleasant one) is Russell Wilson. Russell earned his contract this year. He showed that even without Lynch, this offense and team is pretty damn good. They can overcome. Russell Wilson had a career year despite the early season issues with red zone offense, inconsistent OL, and significant losses of offense weapons (Rawls, Graham, Lynch, Willson, etc). Russell raised the bar for himself this year.

Russell's ability to finally hone in on his best weapons, Baldwin and Lockett, and exploit all the mis-matches they create. And doing it to the benefit, not the detriment, of the overall offense. No more receiver neutrality.

This is the area I wanted to see him grow the most in during the offseason -- let's stop pretending our ST gunner is the same receiver as our #1. Over the last half of the season, he really exceeded what even I could have imagined in this regard. He made our top guys fantasy-relevant. Uncharted territory for Seahawks receivers. Excited to see if this can spill over into next year. Baldwin/Lockett can be an elite WR duo, but Russ needs to trust them as such, and it looks like he's starting to. No coincidence that his game has taken off ever since.

Negative side first - how poorly the offensive line played
Positive - Seeing RW taking a huge step forward. Not sure how much of that is Bevell / PC trusting him more?
Close second on the positive would be a couple of things. The D ramping up towards the end of the year after the Kam holdout and injuries and the O line getting it together and becoming decent.

Good question. First thing that comes to mind is russell passing over 4000 yards and all the single season passing records he set. If you would've told me that graham and lynch would be injured for an extended period of time, I'd think the season would be over.

Finishing #1 in DVOA and #1 in scoring D. I didn't think it could be done after starting 2-4.

In terms of Individual performances, there are so many, but the most shocking was probably how Doug Baldwin scored 14 TDs, while Jimmy freaking Graham scored just 2.

Rawls excellence is a surprise, but in retrospect, it shouldn't be. Rawls didn't go undrafted for lack of talent. I should send a thank you card who whichever old lady it was that had her purse snatched.

I'm not really surprised by Wilson either. To me it was inevitable that a QB as natural as Wilson would eventually join the elites, and before the season began, I expected a huge year for Wilson. It didn't happen the way I thought it would, but it still happened.

Rawls, I just could never have imagined what he did this year watching him in preseason. I know he was praised in camp, but he was just meh from what I saw, but he just jumped off the screen once he got a chance to play in the regular season. Seeing him go down on that play was a real bummer.

The biggest surprise was how our team came out flat early in the season, never would of expected them to be like that. I'm glad they turned it around and now became the team with an even higher level of playing.

Darrell Bevell shifting gears and incorporating as much spread as we are seeing.

Now, if he could call a screen on anything but 2nd and long.

Mr. Rawls. But if we're talking about players/things actually active? The incorporation of an actual WCO passing game.

Lockett never surprised me because I watched him at Kansas State and already knew he is a number one level receiver. Maybe not yet but just wait until next year. He's on Antonio Brown's level, maybe not in top end speed but in everything else especially the important things like hands and route running.

Baldwin tied for most TD's in NFL.

-ve Cary Williams
+ve RW
neutral OLine

Playoffs.

I really thought we would miss them after the start we had.
Obviously that thought shifted along the way but I did lose most hope @ 2-4.

Baldwin's career year was probably the biggest surprise behind us cutting Turbin, trading C-Mike, and Rawls stepping in an looking like a pro bowl RB.

I think Gary Gilliam holding his job all year and showing some decent progress has be a huge bright spot and something I didn't see coming prior to preseason.

Rawls Pro Bowl caliber play, Baldwin's historic season and how Patrick Lewis single-handedly (or so it seems) turned the OL around from complete hot garbage to a decent OL.

Wilson's continued trajectory was no surprise to me. Well, maybe just how commanding he became in the pocket and as a pocket passer was a bit surprising.

irocdave":1s3xu9e2 said:

Negative side first - how poorly the offensive line played
Positive - Seeing RW taking a huge step forward. Not sure how much of that is Bevell / PC trusting him more?
Close second on the positive would be a couple of things. The D ramping up towards the end of the year after the Kam holdout and injuries and the O line getting it together and becoming decent.

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I'm on the same train ^, I think Pete was kind of in a corner, with all the injuries to his Offensive weapons, and Drew Nowak not getting it done at Center, + Russell Wilson getting sacked because of the breakdown of the O-Line, I think he had to take the fetters off, and let Wilson expand.
I think Bevell & Cable had to streamline the O-Line to do a better job of giving RW a pocket to work from.... once that happened, all hell broke loose ,and RW started using more of the field in his passing game.
My second biggest surprise was Tyler Lockett...I mean I was expecting some pretty decent play from this kid, but WOW he blew the doors off my expectation bus.
I've liked Baldwin, even in his Rookie year, he was catching a lot of passes thrown by Jackson, & expected that he and Russell Wilson would gradually start stringing it all together, but I didn't think it was going to be as abrupt a transformation as it has been over the last two months.
Rawls was another shocker for me, I mean undrafted?????

After seeing how we started (0-2, 2-4 and 4-5) I didn't expect us to even make the play-offs let alone be one of the favorites.

Rawls has of course been a really pleasant surprise, Shead was great. Baldwin and KJ deserve some big props for the way they have been playing this season as well.

The biggest surprise was us losing so many important players and not be influenced by that.

Biggest surprise was Pete letting up the reigns on the passing game. It needed to be done. Another surprise was Russ consistently and effectively passing in less than 2.2 seconds.