Three things on offense/defense you want to see improved

[FlyingGreg]

OFFENSE
1. Don't let Rice and Baldwin disappear for huge portions of games. We need to feature Rice as our #1, and we need to get Baldwin back to what he was in 2011. I think Harvin will help both of them, big time. Teams are going to have to account for and focus on Harvin on EVERY snap, and we will move him all over the place. Less double teams for Rice and Baldwin will have the opportunity to find the gaps created by Harvin's movement in space.
2. Coaching - more diversity in play sequencing. Yes, we are a run first team. But let's avoid the run-run-pass thing at all costs.
3. Wilson's down field vision. This is splitting hairs, but after re-watching last season's games in detail...we had open receivers all over the place. It's not exclusively his fault - a lot of times he didn't even have time to blink because of the pocket getting wrecked, but I'm hoping this is one of the areas he has focused on to improve in season #2.

DEFENSE
1. It's been beat to death...but a consistent pass rush that disrupts the pocket. CRITICAL. Depending on if Clemons starts the season on PUP or not, this could be a big problem the first quarter of the season with Irvin suspended. But I think Avril and Bennett will stem the tide.
2. Coaching - be way more aggressive on 3rd and long and when holding a lead. 4th down and 14 with 4:21 left in the Redskins game, we brought Jeron Johnson on an A gap safety blitz which was beautiful. More plays like this, please. No way should we have ever lost those games in Detroit, Miami, and Atlanta. They have to use that as motivation to fix it once and for all.
3. Earl catching more interception attempts. Again, splitting hairs...but Earl could have had about 7-8 picks last season, easily.

 

[joeshaney]

OFFENSE
1. Don't let Rice and Baldwin disappear for huge portions of games. We need to feature Rice as our #1, and we need to get Baldwin back to what he was in 2011. I think Harvin will help both of them, big time. Teams are going to have to account for and focus on Harvin on EVERY snap, and we will move him all over the place. Less double teams for Rice and Baldwin will have the opportunity to find the gaps created by Harvin's movement in space.
2. Coaching - more diversity in play sequencing. Yes, we are a run first team. But let's avoid the run-run-pass thing at all costs.
3. Wilson's down field vision. This is splitting hairs, but after re-watching last season's games in detail...we had open receivers all over the place. It's not exclusively his fault - a lot of times he didn't even have time to blink because of the pocket getting wrecked, but I'm hoping this is one of the areas he has focused on to improve in season #2.

DEFENSE
1. It's been beat to death...but a consistent pass rush that disrupts the pocket. CRITICAL. Depending on if Clemons starts the season on PUP or not, this could be a big problem the first quarter of the season with Irvin suspended. But I think Avril and Bennett will stem the tide.
2. Coaching - be way more aggressive on 3rd and long and when holding a lead. 4th down and 14 with 4:21 left in the Redskins game, we brought Jeron Johnson on an A gap safety blitz which was beautiful. More plays like this, please. No way should we have ever lost those games in Detroit, Miami, and Atlanta. They have to use that as motivation to fix it once and for all.
3. Earl catching more interception attempts. Again, splitting hairs...but Earl could have had about 7-8 picks last season, easily.

Your point about Earl is accurate, but it's pretty awesome that we have the best safety in the league and he has room to get better each season for the next few years. Young and dynamic.

I'll just name two things i want improved:
Rush Defense and Pass Protection.

 

[Tical21]

1. Develop any sort of rhythm passing game. I love what Russell does back there, but if we could hit a slant route every now and again rather than watching him do loop de loops every play, it might make things just a bit easier.

2. Run the ball more often, more effectively. Bulldoze. Take names. Hurt everybody. Beat them and send them home knowing in their soul they were just walked all over.

3. More balls to Rice down the field. I don't know if Russell doesn't trust Sidney down the field, but it seems his jump balls are to Tate or Baldwin. Throw it up to Sid and watch him high-point it every now and again.

Defense---
1. No More Adderall. Take HGH like the big boys.

 

[formido]

I'd like to see ET pick Winfield's brain and practice his tackling so he never again gets run over by an Atlanta running back. He's a small, athletic guy like Winfield so whatever Antoine does he can do too.

 

[Happypuppy]

Some very observant observations. I agree Wilson to get to the next level has to be after at read progressions, throwing into small Windows as well as throwing receivers open.

Pass rush will be interesting. I expect to see a lot of involvement of the SAM ,overloading one side with Thomas or Chancellor coming as well.

I hope we are over the run - run-pass coaching. I suspect the scheme is to beat them up the 1st half and pick them apart in the 2nd

 

[Zebulon Dak]

Good stuff Greg.

If we can get better pass protection on offense and a more consistent/effective pass rush on defense everything should fall into place.

 

[Steve2222]

Offense

1.) Pass protection
2.) Slow starts in the first half of games
3.) WRs doing what they're supposed to do, catch the ball and stop the drops

Defense

1.) Third down defense
2.) Pass rush outside of the Clink
3.) Sustain leads late in the game (looking at you AZ, DET, MIA, and ATL games)

 

[drdiags]

Offense

1 - Keep using Miller like they did down the stretch
2 - Guard play become stabilized, hopefully Carp is going to remain healthy this year.
3 - Always can improve pass protection

Defense

1 - Get off the field on 3rd and long/shutdown the slot receiver better.
2 - Red Bryant needs to return to 2011 form or better, would like more pass rush out of him if possible
3 - 2 of the 3 FA DL pickups making a difference in pass rush and aggressive attacking defensive play.

 

[Fuzzman55]

Offense

1. I'd like to see more explosive plays in the running game. I love the grind it out mentality, but a few more long runs will make us that much more dangerous. Hopefully Harvin and Michael will be game breakers for us on the ground.

2. Miller being a factor early in the year. Some of it depends on what defenses are doing to us, but he's good enough that it shouldn't take so long to have him make an impact. Also, hopefully, Willson adds some downfield speed to the position.

3. The guard positions locked down, preferably by Carp and Sweezy. Another late season rotation is something I don't want to see.

Defense

1. Pass rush from more than the Leo position. The Hawks work on this every year and it sounds like they've got some definite ideas for Avril, Hill, and Irvin. We haven't had consistent pass rush pressure on the inside since Bernard. I'm hoping Hill is that player.

2. Chancellor with another pro bowl year. He wasn't 100% last season, but with the new contract and health I'm expecting really big things from him.

3. Wright and Wagner to be a feared tandem of LBs. The talent is there and I'm big believers in both.

 

[jammerhawk]

I'd like to see the OLine give Wilson a bit more time in the pocket. After that I want to see some exceptional play from our TEs. I expect a strong running game and expect WIlson to be less shy about airing it out deep.

On D I want to see a regular strong pass rush w/o the need for blitzing but some creative use of the blitz.

 

[Seahawkscrazy]

On Offense:

1) 3rd down conversion rate. This needs to stabilize to do two things. A) sustained drives put points on the board. B) Sustained drives give our defense a chance to rest and puts them into an attack role with a lead.

2) Pass Pro. Our line was good at secondary and tertiary blocks, but were too often blown off the ball. Guards and RT need to improve, which I expect they will with one more year with Cable.

3) Route progression. Both the WRs and Russ needed to improve on this, moreso with the WRs. Being in the correct place at the correct time will likely reduce the number of broken plays Russ has to make.

on Defense

1) Pass Rush. This was the biggest issue IMO for our defense last year. Edge pressure should be increased with the FA additions this offseason, but right now it's limited because of Clem and Bruce.

2)Pass Rush. Interior pass rush may be improved with the rookie additions of Williams and Hill, but McDaniels is stepping in for Jones who was moderately productive last season. I think he must provide at least 5 sacks for this line to hold up at least as well as it did last year. I am not sure I'm happy about relying on rookies despite the fact that I like both picks.

3) Zone coverage schemes. Our LBs in space worry me a little. The underneath passes and screen play coverage seem to be a bit of a weak spot for us, although the addition of Winfield represents a huge upgrade over Trufant IMO. If Quinn puts Kam into more of the "deathbacker" role then I see this area improving greatly.

 

[getnasty]

Better screen game. We were horrible with the bubble screen early last year, and i mean horrible. We did better as the year went, and with Percy and Golden Tate the WR screen's should be great. Same with RB screen play, pretty much non existent since the Holgrem era. On the Defensive side of the ball, i would love to see more man to man and less zone.

 

[FlyingGreg]

Better screen game. We were horrible with the bubble screen early last year, and i mean horrible. We did better as the year went, and with Percy and Golden Tate the WR screen's should be great. Same with RB screen play, pretty much non existent since the Holgrem era. On the Defensive side of the ball, i would love to see more man to man and less zone.

I liked that they started to run some TE screens as well. McCoy had a huge gain against Arizona in the game at C Link on one of those.

Not just screens, but creative play calling with the TE as well. The delay release out of backfield play that Miller got a first down against the Sh*tskins was a great play design.

 

[hawkfan68]

Offense:

1. Better use of the TE (Miller)
2. Better/Consistent Pass Protection

Defense:

1. Pass rush - Less reliance on Clemons to provide pass rush
2. Run defense - Less reliance on Bryant.
3. Middle of the field defense - Stop teams from dink and dunk / using middle of the field.

 

[The Outfield]

Offense:
1) Wide receivers getting open faster & more often
2) Better protection for RW
3) More use of Zach Miller & other TEs (as seen at end of season)

Defense:
1) Sacks
2) Consistent & strong run defense
3) Get better at stopping the short passes - these seemed to kill us at times.

 

[Hawks46]

I know it's probably been covered but:

Offense:

1. pass protection. If this gets better, I'm confident that Wilson can hit/see his progressions better. If the pass pro is better than we can do more designed rollouts/bootlegs with Wilson, which will mix things up. I also think this is why we didn't see Wilson hit more quick slants; if guys are missing assignments or getting blown into the backfield, it disrupts throwing lanes. I hate to say it, but Wilson's height might keep him from seeing/hitting the quick hitting slants.

2. 3rd down percentage. You can always win on more 3rd downs. I like the play calling last year, I liked both the variety and creativity. HUGE deviation from the Holmgren years. If we can win on 3rd won more and:

3. be more dominant in run blocking....we'll be pretty much unstoppable. Games like Atlanta, Miami and Detroit we didn't run the ball well early, or struggled the entire game. Being able to block teams when they know it's coming, being able to ram the ball down the defense's throat will help us beat up teams, and will also help us in divisional matchups where the teams are more familiar with eachother and know what's coming. We aren't going to fool our division rivals that see us twice a year and probably game plan against us more than other teams, so it comes down to winning individual matchups and execution.

Defense:

1. Pass rush. Someone above said "outside of the Clink" but I'd really just like an improvement overall. A consistently good pass rush will make our talented secondary even better. It would also help us on:

2. 3rd down defense. We really need to get better on the 3rd and longs. We gave up an absurd amount of 3rd and longs. We should've never lost that Atlanta game, and we almost gave the Chicago game away. Having Winfield will probably help us smother the slot/3rd option which might help Kam on TE coverage. With a better 3rd down defense and:

3. better rush defense, we could be a historically elite defense. We need to clean up the run defense. Atlanta and SF come to mind (although SF is going to get their yards on us with their OL), but I'd like to be like the old Steelers and Ravens defenses where you just weren't going to run on them, and you game planned around it.

3b. Bonus defensive improvement: tackling. Too many times I saw guys going for the home run hit, not wrapping up, and giving up larger gains. If our tackling was more technical, our defense would be that much more suffocating.

 

[FlyingGreg]

Good stuff in here!

 

[RolandDeschain]

Offense - no conservative/vanilla play calling in the first halves of games, ever again. Go for the throat, be creative, be bold; for all 60 minutes.

Defense - I never want to see us change to deep/soft zone coverage at the end of a game again, ever. Everyone remember 3 Seahawks DBs all within 2 yards of Brandon Marshall when he caught that 50-yard pass at the end of the 4th quarter at Chicago? Yeah, that's how well that works most of the time.

 

[firebee]

1. Better Passing Design - I'd like to see Bevell tweak his pass plays a little for Russell, so the reads are in windows Russell can make the quick throws through and I'd like to see the passing plays favor a smoother progression vs. being the pre-programmed screen or homerun - checkdown passing play. Smoother progressions that better utilize the workable field of play for the QB. I don't like seeing huge spaces on the field with nobody in them when they could have a receiver in that space catching the ball.

2. Better Blocking - I'm comfortable with our offensive linemen, but I expect better blocking this year. All of our starters are returning and they've all been playing with each other for a couple years now, minus the rookies. Our O-Line needs to hit stride early, play disciplined and win at the LOS. I think this offense has the potential to break records this year if the line plays to the full potential and doesn't make mistakes. I have very high expectations for this offensive line this year.

3. Backfield Defense - I want our defensive fronts to get in the backfield and disrupt plays every play of the season from every position and direction imaginable. We look like we have a great defensive line on paper and I expect a ton of improvement from the defensive line. Clemons, Avril, Bryant, Mebane, Bennett, Jordan Hill, Jesse Williams, Jaye Howard and Scruggs should be a really strong defensive line. I expect Irvin to be used very similarly to how he was used last year until he had to start. He's a great pass rushing specialist that can be lined up at LB or DE on either side of the defense... Not a great every down defensive end or OLB... YET.

 

[NorthDallas40oz]

Offense:

1. Red Zone conversion % (TD's not FG's)
2. 3rd/4th-and-short conversion %
3. Pass protection

Defense:

1. 2-minute defense
2. Pass rush (particularly interior)
3. Play-making on the ball in the air (converting PBU's to INT's)