Does Rawls Suddenly Make Seahawks NFL's Most Dangerous Team?

[Hawkscanner]

Tomorrow marks the much anticipated 2016 debut of Thomas Rawls. Pete Carroll when asked about him this week practically sang praises for Thomas Rawls, making no bones about it that Rawls is going to see significant time in this game. It's been awhile since we saw Rawls actually on the field, so I pulled up his 2015 Highlight Film, just to remind me exactly what kind of player the Seahawks are adding to the mix this week ...

[youtube]0L_wJwgc38o[/youtube]

Direct link to Highlights ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0L_wJwgc38o

After wiping away my puddle of drool like one of Pavlov's dogs, a thought occurred to me ...

IF the 2016 version of Thomas Rawls is anywhere close to the version that we saw last year ... then are the Seattle Seahawks suddenly THE most dangerous team in the NFL -- PERIOD?

If Rawls is finally 100% healthy (the decision to suddenly cut Christine Michael this week would seem to indicate the answer to that is YES) ... and gives this offense anywhere close to the level of production he did last year ... then to me, that automatically makes the Seahawks the team to beat in the NFC.

Thoughts? Discuss.

 

[AROS]

I don't think there can be any doubt that yes, the Seahawks would be the league's most dangerous team IF in fact Rawls can return to the type of player he was for us last season. I suspect his carries will be somewhat tapered tomorrow coming off of injury as it seems to be Pete M.O. (and sound practice) to not throw a RB into the fire for 20+ carries their first game back from injury...With Prosise showing tremendous potential I doubt we would see anything close to that number any ways.

But yes indeed, make no mistake, even if Rawls shows that power and punishing style with 75+ yards on 14-18 carries that would be a great sign that this team is on its way, right where we want to be this time of year.

Even without Rawls I would say the Seahawks have got to be considered one of the league's most dangerous right now.

 

[cymatica]

Rawls helps, but since moving to a more spread shotgun style, I think Prosise may be the real difference maker.

 

[Sports Hernia]

I think a healthy Rawls and CJ will be a dangerously good combo.

 

[Hawkscanner]

Rawls helps, but since moving to a more spread shotgun style, I think Prosise may be the real difference maker.

Certainly Prosise is a heck of an addition to the offense, that's for sure, as he gives them that explosive threat as both a runner and especially on those wheel routes. And Seattle has a lot of other weapons to contend with on offense for sure -- Jimmy Graham, Doug Baldwin, and Tyler Lockett (who now that he's finally getting healthy is gaining that explosive game changing ability back) in addition to the insanely obvious and always game changing Russell Wilson.

BUT, you add in a Thomas Rawls to that mix ... a Rawls that IF he's healthy and gives this team even a bit of what Marshawn Lynch used to bring to the table ... then to me, that addition (when combined with all the aforementioned pieces) places Seattle firmly at #1 in the NFC and makes them the conference's most likely candidate for the Super Bowl. JMHO.

 

[Largent80]

Rawls is definitely healthy, and he adds a missing dimension of toughness to our run game. RW is also another week healthier and then we add in the unknown factor of Pope, who appears to be a smaller version of Rawls.

It could be a helluva run we get going on.

 

[MD5eahawks]

One would think that is the case, but I have to wait and see. Rawls really hasn't played much in almost a year so he might be rusty. Hungry, but rusty.

 

[Largent80]

Another factor for today at least is the Philly front D-Line. N.E.'s line is nowhere near as good as Philly's, and so far our line hasn't done well in the run game against decent fronts.

 

[Hawkscanner]

Another factor for today at least is the Philly front D-Line. N.E.'s line is nowhere near as good as Philly's, and so far our line hasn't done well in the run game against decent fronts.

Which is exactly why the addition of Thomas Rawls (who is such a physical runner) may in fact turn out to be so crucial to this offense. We saw for years how Marshawn Lynch could turn absolutely nothing into positive yardage. If Rawls could help this team re-capture at least a bit of that ... that could turn out to be HUGE especially as this team heads down the stretch and into the playoffs.

 

[truehawksfan]

Yes. A healthy Rawls makes us the most dangerous team in the NFC. The Hawks were running teams over , 2nd half of last year, with Rawls running over defenses and Baldwin was catching multi TDs per game. This happened w/o Jimmy Graham too, so the combination of Rawls, CJP, WRs and Jimmy.....look out.

 

[Hawkscanner]

Yes. A healthy Rawls makes us the most dangerous team in the NFC. The Hawks were running teams over , 2nd half of last year, with Rawls running over defenses and Baldwin was catching multi TDs per game. This happened w/o Jimmy Graham too, so the combination of Rawls, CJP, WRs and Jimmy.....look out.

Precisely. IF the Seahawks are in fact adding a healthy Thomas Rawls and he gives us anywhere close to the level of play that he did last year ... then absolutely the rest of the NFL needs to look out. We saw exactly what this offense was like the 2nd Half of last year -- explosive and nearly unstoppable. It may sound crazy to say this, but IF that's the Thomas Rawls we're getting for the remainder of the year ... then I honestly don't see a team out there in the NFL who really stacks up (the Cowboys, the Patriots, you name them). This team already has a lot of offensive weapons that look to be rounding into form led by an even better Russell Wilson. You add a healthy 2015-ish version of Thomas Rawls to that mix? Whew!! Good luck stopping that, man.

 

[Seafan]

The Hawks beat the best team in their own backyard without Rawls and one of the best defensive players in the NFL. When those guys are back and right the Hawks should be a very dangerous team.

 

[pmedic920]

I pray you are correct.

Remember that feeling in our 2013 season, the one where you just knew we were going all the way?
Seemed to me that we had "magic" on our side.

My fear is, I'm sensing that Dallas has the Mojo this year.
I hate'em, it kills me to even have those thoughts, let alone peck them out on my phone.

There is no doubt that the fire has been started, getting Jimmy back, RW getting healthy, and the other things you mentioned are all real fuel on top.

I hope/pray that adding Rawls causes an explosion, and makes us the most dangerous but I'm having a hard time shaking the "Dallas" feeling.

 

[Bobblehead]

Rawls helps, but since moving to a more spread shotgun style, I think Prosise may be the real difference maker.

IF Rawls works out, I doubt they stay in the spread shotgun style.

Really I think it only helps our defense out if we can wear down the opposing defense's, and the only way to do that is pound the ground. I think Pete would love to see his Hawks control the tempo of the game, control the clock and keep the opposition's offense on the sidelines.

We were only in the spread shotgun style due to our inability to run the ball consistently and Pete really adores ball security. You lose the 'chain of custody' when you pass the ball, its just not hands on and so many things can go wrong.

No, Pete loves the running game.

 

[Hawkscanner]

I pray you are correct.

Remember that feeling in our 2013 season, the one where you just knew we were going all the way?
Seemed to me that we had "magic" on our side.

My fear is, I'm sensing that Dallas has the Mojo this year.
I hate'em, it kills me to even have those thoughts, let alone peck them out on my phone.

There is no doubt that the fire has been started, getting Jimmy back, RW getting healthy, and the other things you mentioned are all real fuel on top.

I hope/pray that adding Rawls causes an explosion, and makes us the most dangerous but I'm having a hard time shaking the "Dallas" feeling.

I hear what you're saying about Dallas. But to that, I would add that the 2007 Patriots sure had that look of destiny about them as well ... and look what happened. They are the one team in the NFC that I'm concerned about, but we'll see just who has the magic and how far that goes once playoff time begins.

 

[pmedic920]

I pray you are correct.

Remember that feeling in our 2013 season, the one where you just knew we were going all the way?
Seemed to me that we had "magic" on our side.

My fear is, I'm sensing that Dallas has the Mojo this year.
I hate'em, it kills me to even have those thoughts, let alone peck them out on my phone.

There is no doubt that the fire has been started, getting Jimmy back, RW getting healthy, and the other things you mentioned are all real fuel on top.

I hope/pray that adding Rawls causes an explosion, and makes us the most dangerous but I'm having a hard time shaking the "Dallas" feeling.

I hear what you're saying about Dallas. But to that, I would add that the 2007 Patriots sure had that look of destiny about them as well ... and look what happened. They are the one team in the NFC that I'm concerned about, but we'll see just who has the magic and how far that goes once playoff time begins.

Well TBH, a Dallas "L" today, and a dominating "W" for us, will go a long ways towards calming my nerves.
And, don't get me wrong, I love to be wrong about this stuff.
GoRavens.

 

[cymatica]

Rawls helps, but since moving to a more spread shotgun style, I think Prosise may be the real difference maker.

IF Rawls works out, I doubt they stay in the spread shotgun style.

Really I think it only helps our defense out if we can wear down the opposing defense's, and the only way to do that is pound the ground. I think Pete would love to see his Hawks control the tempo of the game, control the clock and keep the opposition's offense on the sidelines.

We were only in the spread shotgun style due to our inability to run the ball consistently and Pete really adores ball security. You lose the 'chain of custody' when you pass the ball, its just not hands on and so many things can go wrong.

No, Pete loves the running game.

I think you can still run effectively when spreading the defense out. I would think it would work to their advantage actually, since wilson prefers(so ive heard) shotgun/spread style. Last week our offense had great balance while playing spread, i know it was the pats dline, but the time of possession was great despite playing against a dink n dunk offense.

Ideally, it would be nice to see both styles, maybe one favored more depending on the opponent matchups.

 

[Mojambo]

I think a healthy Rawls and CJ will be a dangerously good combo.

It has the potential to be a super charged version of what Cincinnati has been running with for a while. Could make for a very diverse running game, particularly if we continue to see Cable adding wrinkles to his ZBS scheme.

 

[Lords of Scythia]

The Hawks beat the best team in their own backyard without Rawls and one of the best defensive players in the NFL. When those guys are back and right the Hawks should be a very dangerous team.

Exactly. Getting Bennet back will make us the most dangerous team.

GO HAWKS!

 

[LeftHandSmoke]

Some of CJ's success at the Pats came on plays where he shifted out and lined up as a receiver, creating a matchup against a LB who followed him that, because he's such a good route runner, turned into mismatches.

It would be nice if Rawls created an even bigger rushing threat, also forcing more LB's versus more DB's, to benefit CJ if they both initially line up in the backfield. And even as a single back, Rawls did also make some great catch and runs last year - especially in that 200+ yd SF outburst.