The Sports Guru

Projected Record

12-4, 1st Place NFC West

Projected Schedule W/L

@Detroit (W)
Arizona (W)
NY Giants (W)
@Chicago (L)
@St. Louis (W)
Minnesota (W)
@Kansas City (L)
Oakland (W)
St. Louis (W)
@San Francisco (W)
Green Bay (W)
@Denver (L)
@Arizona (W)
San Francisco (W)
San Diego (W)
@Tampa Bay (L)

The weakest division in football. The reigning MVP at running back. A coach that has led teams to 3 different Super Bowls. A Pro Bowl quarterback. All is well in the Great Northwest as the Seahawks beging thier quest to defend the first Conference Championship in team history. Sometime things come together just right for a team, and it did for Seattle as they have taken advantage of a down division and down conference as a whole to leap to the top of the heap. That’s not to say they didn’t deserve it. Shaun Alexander is a top 3 runningback in this league and Matt Hasselbeck has emerged as one of the top signal callers in the game. Mike Holmgren, when he is focused just on coaching, has proven he can win big ballgames and get to Super Bowls. The sting of the Super Bowl loss and how it went down still permeates the air around Qualcomm Stadium, and how the Seahawks deal with that, and an improved NFC as a whole will determine their success this season. All the peices are back, so it’s all right there in front of them for the taking.

Team Strengths – The Seahawks will go as far as the legs of MVP Shaun Alexander and arm of Matt Hasselbeck will take them. Last season, that was pretty far. Alexander broked the single season rushing TD mark with 27 and rushed for nearly 1900 yards. He is looking for 2000 this season and would like to get 30 TD’s. Hasselbeck had a fine season himself, throwing for nearly 3500 yards and 24 TD’s. The receiving corp is solid if not spectacular and should be helped by the acquisition of Nate Burleson from Minnesota. Darrell Jackson emerged in 2005 to be the go to receiver for Hasselbeck, but has been slow to recover from off-season knee surgery. Bobby Engram remains steady and Peter Warrick should see more action in 2006. The Offensive Line has been a strong suit for the Seahawks b ut will have to make up for the loss of Steve Hutchenson, who went to Minnesota as a Free Agent. On defense, was any rookie a bigger impact on their team last season than LB Lofa Tatupu? Not only did he start as a rookie but he made all the defensive calls from the MLB position. Pretty Impressive. Add to that mix former 49′er Julian Peterson and you have one of the best LB corps in the NFL. On a bright note, safety Ken Hamlin will make his return after being severly injured in a fight outside a Seattle nightclub. It’s been a long road and I’m glad to see him back on the field.

Team Weaknesses - When a team gets to the Super Bowl weaknesses on the field are few and far between. It is usually off the field distractions that cause the problems. Shaun Alexander found himself on the cover of Madden ‘07 and has been doing dozens commercials. Matt Hasselbeck has also had to deal with Super Bowl stardom, as he did the talk show circuit. The whole team has had to deal with questions regarding everything from Super Bowl officiating to whether or not this will be Holmgren’s last season in Seattle. On the field there are some question marks. They will have to replace Hutchenson upfront. The corners are suspect, though Marcus Trufant should have a breakout season. I was never a big fan of Kelly Herndon and the Seahawks drafted Kelly Jennings to replace him, but Jennings has struggled and Herndon again will start.

Best Case Scenario – There is no challenger in teh NFC West for Seattle so they need to focus on getting home-field advantage. Qualcomm is one of the toughest places to play for opposing teams and the Seahawks want to road to Miami to lead right through Seattle. It seems the loss to Pittsburgh has left the stars on this team hungry and that should work to the Seattle’s advantage. They do have some roles they need to fill, but the newcomers on the team are a talent upgrade over the guys they are replacing. If they can be the #1 seed in the NFC the Seahawks should run the table and get back to the Super Bowl.


Worst Case Scenario - If the off-season distractions effect this team they could falter slightly. Remember, there is noone in their division even close so that should be 6 wins right there. But let’s take a look at the last 4 NFC teams in the Super Bowl. Tampa Bay won the Super Bowl, but didn’t make the playoffs the next year. Next came Carolina, but they missed the playoffs the next year. Next, Philadelphia, and we all know what happened to them last season. Now it is Seattle’s turn. Barring injury, I really don’t see a way this team doesn’t make the playoffs, but anything less than the Super Bowl would be considered a disappointment.

My Opinion - Seattle is loaded and back to make another run at that elusive first championship. It won’t be easy for Seattle, as the NFC as a whole has improved dramatically. For Super Bowl team their schedule is pretty soft, though they are matched up with their former AFC West counterparts. I think that Seattle will end up with the #1 seed in a tie-breaker, but for some reason see them losing the NFC Championshiip game at home. I really like Seattle, but I like the other team left from the NFC a little better and am going with that team to win. History in the NFC shows it is tough to repeat(of course Philly did it 4 times, but the conference is alot stronger now than it was then). I think Seattle has a shot to, but will fall short.

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This entry was posted on Friday, August 25th, 2006 at 9:13 am and is filed under Broncos/NFL, 2006 NFL Preview. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.