The Seattle Seahawks may seem as if they’re trending in the wrong direction entering 2018. Yet there’s still a chance they return to NFC West champions. Here are three reasons why.
A betting person probably wouldn’t put too much money on the Seattle Seahawks to win Super Bowl LIII, let alone even make the playoffs in 2018.
Case in point, Andy Benoit of The MMQB has head coach Pete Carroll’s squad finishing the upcoming year with a 7-9 record — third place amid a transformation shift within the NFC West, the division Seattle dominated not long ago.
It’s not hard to see why predictions aren’t favoring the Seahawks this season. After all, they went through one of the more tumultuous offseasons in the league entering 2018. In addition to changing out a sizable chunk of Carroll’s staff, Seattle elected to part ways with a massive chunk of player talent during the offseason:
#Seahawks lost this off-season: Sheldon Richardson, Richard Sherman, Paul Richardson, Jimmy Graham, Michael Bennett, Mike Davis, DeShawn Shead, Jeremy Lane, Eddie Lacy, Thomas Rawls, Matt Tobin, Kam Chancellor[?] Cliff Avril[?]
+2nd, 5th round picks [Richardson, Tobin trades]
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) March 17, 2018
Defensive end Michael Bennett was traded off to the Philadelphia Eagles. Tight end Jimmy Graham, who was never fully utilized in Seattle much anyway, is now with the Green Bay Packers. Perennial All-Pro cornerback Richard Sherman joined the Seahawks’ hated rivals, the San Francisco 49ers, this offseason. And the once-vaunted Legion of Boom is a shell of its former self.
All this points to a massive rebuild by general manager John Schneider, right? It has to.
Well, not so fast.
The Seahawks are still in the NFC West picture. Granted, their chances for securing another division crown are much slimmer in 2018 than they were last year or the season before. But the prospects for getting back in the divisional hunt aren’t quite as off as you might think.
So here are three reasons why Seattle could wind up pulling off a seemingly unlikely NFC West championship.
Next Page: No. 3
It is ok to vote MMQB opinions. BUT it is imperative to remember that those opinions are of a micro-relevance because MMQB and others of that sort are almost always wrong such how they predicted that the Eagles and MVP Foles stood no chance against the Patriots. And they would have been correct except for those many missed penalty calls on illegal Eagles plays. But the bottom line is the Eagles still won the Super Bowl and MMQB was all wrong again.
Seattle has just as good a chance to compete for the championship than any team, even with MMQB citing what they believe are reasons why Seattle or any other will fail to win out.
LOL at “Still”. The season hasn’t even started yet! The upcoming season bears a lot of resemblance to the Seahawks’ 2012 season, and I’m optimistic the next 3 seasons will turn out in a similar way to our last SB run. Anyone dismissing Seattle as a contender this year hasn’t been paying attention, and I’m looking forward to the “experts” trying to rewrite history (again) when they’re proven wrong (again). It’s a great time to be a Seahawks fan. =D
The defense lives or dies on its d-linemen stopping the run and putting pressure on the opposing QB. I don’t see reason for that optimism so far. The offense must control the clock and not fall behind in scoring to make this run-emphasize offense be relevant. I again don’t see that happening often. Misdirection and read option plays will be the key to winning. 6-10 if Wilson stays upright; 3-13 if he goes down early in the season. Wish we had those two picks back!
JoeB just watch the starting units during the first two preseason games. If not for a total ticky tack call on Dissly we start with two scoring drives. Earl has to come back and when he does he solidifies the back end and our new pass rush is going to be powerful. See Green 3 sacks and Clark really getting into game shape. Jordan will return and be a force so the playoffs are coming this year. The ground game will explode with the one two punch of Penny and Carson and if Procise is back he can be a huge factor. Marshall better than Graham in the entire field and red zone. Chin up or are you even a fan of the Hawks? Trolling.. probably
Not a troll. Just a semi-depressed fan. Here’s hoping that your predictions are right and the pieces come together.
I’d rather be awful for a few years while reloading new talent, like in 2010-12. Just not a slew of 8-8 seasons.
The Seahawks have outstanding athaleets! They need to find ways to play together and make the player next to them even better!!! Robinet