How do you honestly feel about this team right now?

[JSeahawks]

We still have Russell Wilson, right? I feel as confident as ever.

 

[EverydayImRusselin]

I feel great. We have an elite QB. Pete is still the coach. We have a bevy of draft picks heading into a draft that is full of the kind of guys we need and Schneider is still the best drafting GM in the league. The core of our defense is locked up for 2 more years. 2nd half of last year our offense was unstoppable. Rawls looks like a future Ring of Honor caliber player. Doug Baldwin demonstrated #1 receiver capabilities last year. Tyler Lockett looks like the steal of the draft. So yeah I'm pumped for our inevitable playoff run next year and I hope it ends similarly to 2013.

 

[Marlin Man]

How do I REALLY feel about this team???

It sucks, with the worst O Line in the NFL and losing Irvin and Mebane on Defense- I frankly do NOT see us winning more than 8 games AT MOST

Go ahead and bullshit yourself, you can't BS me, this team is gonna suck and you better get used to it.

And YES I am a season ticket holder have been since day one. There is NO getting around the fact the last O line was terrible, how in th ehell can we REALLY epect it to be as good as that one (TERRIBLE as it was)?????????

M.M.

PS: You asked

 

[Ozzy]

I agree with Vegas. One of the 3 teams that are Super Bowl favorites.

 

[IndyHawk]

How do I REALLY feel about this team???

It sucks, with the worst O Line in the NFL and losing Irvin and Mebane on Defense- I frankly do NOT see us winning more than 8 games AT MOST

Go ahead and bullshit yourself, you can't BS me, this team is gonna suck and you better get used to it.

And YES I am a season ticket holder have been since day one. There is NO getting around the fact the last O line was terrible, how in th ehell can we REALLY epect it to be as good as that one (TERRIBLE as it was)?????????

M.M.

PS: You asked

I'm the opposite of this guy..I can't wait to use this in a shack piece..I know it's his asked opinion but really?

 

[Ozzy]

Indy we agree again, this guy is nuts.

 

[Ozzy]

Kearly killed it too. Good stuff guys

 

[Hasselbeck]

Our OL will be a train wreck. Fortunately our QB is a wizard and our defense will still be at the top of the league.

 

[Zorn76]

We are still a SB calibre team, no doubt about it.

I'm also happy with what's taken place so far concerning the OL.

Neither OKung - but especially Sweezy - were worth wasting anymore time or money on. The former never lived up to his potential and was too often dinged up, while JR couldn't pass protect to save his life. Neither was an especially intelligent player, with both accumulating penalties beyond what should be expected with their experience.

The line is the biggest x-factor. I understand the concern, but the group we had wasn't worth keeping in tact. Mentally, the team will regroup. It's a lot to ask anybody to make 3 straight SB's. All things considered, last year was a good one. If we just have a decent group to protect RW on passing downs, it will make a huge difference.

 

[olyfan63]

Kearly pretty much nailed it and especially the bit about 2015 having dark clouds over everything from day 1.
I feel like this year there are no dark clouds, and there are a lot of bets that could pay off huge.

There have been a few times I've been to Emerald Downs, and picked horses who are not the favorites, but do have a shot, have a good jockey, and have a payoff good enough that if they finish in the money, I've done very well on that race.

That's how I feel about the 2016 Seahawks, like I should go to Vegas and bet a couple hundred on the Hawks to win the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, Vegas is giving co-favorite odds, rather than longshot odds, on the Seahawks.

While our OL will probably start rough, I think we'll be average there by midseason. Our projects will start paying off.

 

[MizzouHawkGal]

We definitely have some question marks.

Offensive Line
We have zero starters from the 2013 Owl team. I know many thought our line wasn't good then, but they did block for the No. 4 rushing offense of all-time. Right now, the group looks pretty bad. I'm not trying to be overly negative here - I do believe there's some young, untapped talent available to us. But the Seahawks spend the least amount of money by an NFL franchise on their offensive line by a pretty healthy margin. I'm pretty much 50/50 on whether or not this group can be coached up and end up being pretty decent. The draft should infuse some talent into this group (hopefully). 2016 is going to be Tom Cable's toughest test yet.

Kam Chancellor
I have no idea what to think of the Kam situation. I have to believe that it's still there. He's not happy with his contract, but his holdout, followed by average play doesn't justify a reworking of his deal, and I hope the front office holds firm with him. I think he's a bit irreplaceable, which is quite the conundrum - anyone remember Earl basically telling the media that Kam is the entire brain of the defense?

Michael Bennett
Very underpaid at this point. Two years left on his deal. I think Bennett is hitting the last half of his prime. Will be 33 by the time his deal is up.

Mostly standing pat in Free Agency
Arizona got better. New England is the favorites to win 51 after having a pretty productive offseason so far. I don't hate that we didn't do much. The contracts this season were insane. But I do feel like we didn't really get better, either.

Thomas Rawls
Love this kid, and I hope he makes it all the way back from his injury and can stay healthy. But as a second year back coming off a pretty significant injury, I hope he can pick up where he left off. He looked like the league's best back in spurts last season.

Offensive Philosophy
I still read posts on here from people who think we're still a power run team. I don't think that's us anymore. The offense is going to be completely geared around Russell Wilson and the passing game. I can see us being a balanced attack for the most part, but I think the days of the power run are mostly over.

The draft is going to be huge for this team, and the front office can't whiff on picks. I'm going to support each pick when the time comes, but I really hope some serious draft capital is infused into our offensive line.

Right now, I think we're a top 10 team in this league. We have the talent to win 12-14 games if everything clicks. But the rest of this offseason is going to be huge.

In 2013, after the playoff loss to Atlanta, I felt like we were on the cusp of being a great team. My optimism level for the 2013 season was about an an eight out of 10. In 2014, I felt there was a great chance to repeat. In 2015, after acquiring Jimmy Graham, I was a solid 10 out of 10. I just felt we were far and way the best team in the NFL. Right now, I am at about a six out of 10, and feel like there's a lot of work to be done. But while I feel that way, I wouldn't be surprised if the 2016 season churns out the best Seahawks team ever.

Basically, it's tough to gauge where we're at right now.

You mean somebody else actually understands the deal? Honey, we're basically 10-6 but could be 15-1. Welcome to the level of having an elite quarterback and relax. Russell is for real as is Lockett. He has this.

 

[Shane Falco]

Business as usual.

 

[HawKnPeppa]

Dynasty.

Ming?

 

[RichNhansom]

I get the feeling scheduling will be critical this year. Last year our O-line was putrid to start the season and it didn't help that our TE and FB were garbage at blocking but the reality is facing brutal front 7's right out of the gate and repeatedly through the first half of the season and dominant defenses really killed us because there was no honeymoon for the O-line. It was baptism by fire and instead of gatting some cohesion and chemistry, they were shell shocked and uncertain. Effectively being worse going into the second half of the season than the start.

If the schedule is reversed this year and our o-line has a chance to gain some confidence, they may be good enough by mid season to deal with good defenses.

 

[TeamoftheCentury]

To me, the real key for Seattle's SB chances is getting their secondary back to a dominant level. Doing this will allow Seattle to control games and dictate terms. And usually, teams that control their opponents are the ones that win in January and February.

I share the same opinion about the secondary. I would be pleased to see the Hawks draft a corner and a safety (certain players at each position would get me more excited) within the first 5 rounds.

It's been said that (some/many) Seahawks fans are overly critical of the O-line. No one questions the importance of the battle in the trenches. Yes, it all starts up front so I have no doubt that the Hawks have a plan to address what they feel is needed to solidify that unit. It will be interesting to see how that unfolds, too, with the team likely opening up the passing game more than during the years with #24.

It's really too early to have much of a feel because there's going to be roster changes, battles and opportunities. I'll perhaps have more of a "feel" after the draft and mini camps.

As to some of the pessimism in this thread, let me get this straight. :229031_confused2:
This team has not even had the chance to build the 2016 line and further address other position group needs and there are already opinions that the Hawks won't field a team that will be able to compete in the NFC West?

 

[Largent80]

Considering we now have zero o-line starters from our SB win, and Britt's lackluster play after a 2nd round pick, it's easy to be concerned about that, however I agree with Zorn76 above. I'm glad Okung and Sweezy are gone and look forward to a new line up on the front.

Concerned about the Graham injury however, and not Rawls. So I would say my outlook is still optimistic.

 

[TeamoftheCentury]

http://www.hawkblogger.com/2016/03/seah ... tated.html

 

[Missing_Clink]

The last 3 years going in to the season I thought Hawks were likely the best team in the NFL. Those days are clearly over. I think they are the second best team in this division right now, and maybe the 3rd or 4th best in the conference. I'm concerned about the O line. I am glad they let Sweezy and Okung walk, but I do not like the 2 new guys they signed at all. They need to absolutely kill it in this draft and come away with at least 2 future (or present) OL starters. Those guys will have growing pains, but they need to come together quickly if at all possible. I do wish there was someone other than Cable coaching them.

The rest of the team I think is fine. They will still be a very good, competitive team. #1 seed in the NFC? I highly doubt it. But they should be a playoff team, and that's all you can ask for year in and year out in my opinion.

 

[Rocket]

I want to have their children.

 

[Hawks46]

Kearly had a great post and hit a lot of the points I wanted to make. One of the bigger ones was about Rawls. He didn't have surgery, and the latest I read about it, he's been pain free since late January. I'm not worried about him.

OFFENSIVE LINE:

Kearly also hit on my point about the lack of importance of elite OL play, but as our team stands right now...it looks largely the same as last year. It's an unknown, but if things stayed the same: Glowinski looks like an upgrade from Sweezy, at least by the end of the year. Look at his college tape: he played OG in a ZBS system at WVU and is great at combo blocking and is a nasty run blocker that plays to the whistle and finishes his blocks. It's also hard to be a worse pass protector than Sweezy was. Even if we stay exactly the same, Britt will start out better at LG (or move to RT), Lewis will play better than the guy we started with last year, and Gilliam is likely to play better as well. After all that, if we don't start out very well (like last year), Bevell knows how to call the offense to mask the OL deficiencies until they improve. I have a hard time thinking they won't switch to the offense we employed late last year if the OL starts out weak.

SECONDARY

It's already starting out better than last year. With Shead and Lane starting, we won't have to trot Williams out onto the field, and hopefully Chancellor comes back better than last year. If not, we know McCray can play now, and he'll likely be better after a year in our system.

DEFENSIVE LINE

There's two components to this, run defense and pass rush. Our run defense looks to be the same as last year. In this year's draft, it will be relatively easy to draft a DT that can replicate Mebane's performance from last year. The draft is chock full of good run stuffing DT's. We have Rubin back, so we should be just as stout up the middle, which is good for tops in the league. For pass rush, we look relatively the same, although we lost Irvin in the nickle package. It looks like Clark will replace him, which we're not entirely sure about, but it stand to reason we're going to be just as good as last year, with the potential to be better.

RECEIVERS

I think we're starting out better here. We have Baldwin, who actually got better (or at least better with Wilson, which equates to the same thing). It's reasonable to expect Lockett to improve. At the very least we can expect the same level of performance, although for the entire year. Also, he'll have more chemistry with Wilson. Throw in a returning Kearse and our starting 3 WR's are better than last year.

RUNNING BACK

This has been covered with the injury aspect, but we really don't know about the identity on the sidelines. Rawls got the sidelines hyped up when he ran, you could see it. But will he engender a toughness on offense like Lynch ? I'm not sure, and it's hard to quantify, but the kid will be more productive, and I think he's tough enough. Michael returning as the RB2 is an underrated move and I think we're strong here, and more explosive than last year. Throw in a draft pick and I think we're stronger over all.

QUARTERBACK

We're better here. Wilson matured as a QB and it's obvious to the entire league. I honestly don't know how you defend him; keeping him in the pocket won't do jack, if you lose containment he'll hurt you, and you have to watch for an incredibly efficient run game. You can't run nickle/dime as a base, and you can't stack the box. Interior penetration is about it, and it's going to be similar to last year.

LINE BACKER

I'm actually a bit worried here. We need to replace Irvin. I'm not too worried about it, as the position can withstand a drop off in Pete's defense, and I think we'll see at least a slight one. I'm more worried about MLB. You heard that right. Wagner just didn't seem as explosive last year. He seems to be really "meh" on impact plays all year. I mean, he racked up tackles and was assignment correct, but last year you could really see a big difference between Wagner and Kuechly, where the year before it was minimal. Just looking in house, I can't see the amount of impact plays as the year before. if Wagner returns to form, I'm ok with the positional group, as Wright showed marked improvement.

Overall, there's intangibles, such as losing in the divisional round and not the painful Superbowl loss that we had. I think our team is hungrier, more focused and starts better than last year, and I think the two wins we pick up will be the difference. And I'm calling all of this before I even see our draft.