Before I give my opinion I should note for about 6 years now I've been dubbed "The Sports Guy" by all my friends and friend's friends. I'm looking into a job in broadcasting and am pretty much the biggest sports addict in the world, reading ESPN for hours on end. With that here's my professional opinion.
The Seahawks have done well to fill certain holes on their offense Sidney Rice and Mike Williams are now a great 1-2 receiving punch that, barring any injuries, should turn out well. Also Zach Miller is a unbelievably huge upgrade to John Carlson at tight end. And the best part is they still kept Carlson who had a disappointing season last year mostly because Seattle ran the ball more and Carlson was used more for blocking than passing. It is also because Carlson was Seneca Wallace's favorite target so when he came in for the injured Matt, Seneca would overwhelm Carlson with balls, making him look great. Matt and Carlson, not so much. And to make matters worse for John, neither Clipboard Jesus nor Tavaris Jackson post his as their favorite receiver either. However you look at things though, the Seahawks have a quite solid receiving core that in no way must be upgraded. It is massively unfortunately though that the Quarterback situation is as bleak as it is. Last year Charlie Whitehurst showed he had a little bit of skill in the Week 17 win over the Rams to take us to the playoffs, but surely not enough to lead the team for the whole season. And Tavaris Jackson has a 10-10 record with Minnesota with a mediocre TD to INT ratio. And honestly I don't see him having gotten better while sitting on the sidelines watching Favre. Therfore, I don't see much coming out of Jackson. And to make matters worse, his blind side protection Russell Okung may be out for the first couple weeks of the season after a high ankle sprain on the left leg....again. You may remember this happened as well in week 3 last year where he eventually spent 4 weeks on the DL. Though the O-line is better, with Okung injured, things are worse. Hopefully Okung comes back fast and is able to give Jackson more time to find a receiver. When it comes to our running game, Lynch is going to be brilliant. I see an 1000 yard season. With a solid line and a bruising, motivated back like him, I see a great running game this year that we have not seen since the (here's it comes) Shawn Alexander days. I see the offense as a whole being decent this season with the glaring hole at unfortunately, the most important position in the field. Now to the defense. Our line is outstanding. Clemons, Bryant, Mebane, Brock, Cole, Wilkerson. The list goes on of how many talented DTs and DEs we have. We are going to be run stoppers first and foremost. And we'll be great run stoppers at that. Now moving backwards to the linebackers. I consider the move to release Tutupu one of the stupidest in Seahawks history. Complete blasphemous. Though Hill looks good and has always been the most athletic linebacker on the Seahawks, he is in no way an upgrade to Tutupu. Hawthorne will have a huge season, probably between 100 and 120 tackles when it's all said and done. And Curry should see a larger role with the DE-OLB hybrid tag they are posting on him this season. Something Carroll did much of with his athletic linebackers at USC (University of Southern Cheaters). So though I see the Tutupu loss being stupid, I still see a great season from our linebacking core. Not to mention we have solid backups in Matt McCoy, rookie K.J. Wright, and rookie Malcolm Smith. Now moving to the part of the team that's going to lose us the most games, the secondary. Trufant will get a little worse but still play very well for the most part. Did you know covering the opposing #1 wide receivers last year the Seahawks were #14?! Then covering the #2 we were dead last. Which bring me to Kelly Jennings and Walter Thurmond. Jennings is terrible. That's all. Thurmond has been a surprise, and hopefully he continues to grow. I see a little growth, but not enough, as teams will continue to hit their #2 guy against us. Watch out for a guy named Brandon Browner though. 6'4 CB and 3 time Canadian All Star. Showed much promise in the San Diego game and should continue to. Hopefully this guy makes the team and works into a starting role. Moving onto the safeties. Earl Thomas is a beast and will play awesome. Kam Chancellor will play across from him. And though Kam is not as good and not as much of a leader as Lawyer Milloy, he should still be okay. All is all, the Seattle secondary is okay. But not good enough. Special teams will be solid. Kicking battle will be interesting to watch. Overall, realistically I see this team at 8-8, optimistically at 9-7, and pessimistically at 7-9. Though on the flip side, I see the Rams starting 1-6. If they fall off an emotional cliff, it becomes the Seahawks division to lose. If they recover, they can also be 8-8, at best. Should be a fun year to watch. Oh, and I don't believe in the Kevin Kolb hype in Ariona and think San Fran is looking at a long, disappointing year. So happy football is back!
I should note at the beginning of last season I correctly predicted all but 1 of the playoff teams.
Also, I mentioned the broadcasting job earlier on, and everybody should listen to the Mariners game on 710 ESPN Tuesday at 7 because I maybe will be calling a half inning of baseball on the radio. I've been invited by Mariners announcer Rick Rizzs into the booth for the first couple innings and he may bring me on to call a half-inning. Thanks!
Oh and the Seahawks comments were all mine, I don't copy and paste anything. I love writing and talking about sports, it's what I do :)
