The Seahawks are this year’s surprise outfit. It feels like a long, long time since Seattle went through the will-they-won’t-they Earl Thomas dating game; since John Schneider and Pete Carroll detonated the Legion of Boom era and kicked Richard Sherman and Michael Bennett to the curb; since Cliff Avril and Kam Chancellor were forced to retire; since Thomas flipped off his own sideline in an act of understandable insubordination.
Seattle entered the season with few expectations. Vegas odds placed their chances at a Super Bowl a hair ahead of the Browns, and any Seahawks discussion elicited a shrug. Unless, of course, you wanted to talk about the glory days and how different (read: boring) this year was going to be.
Except Carroll hasn’t had a blah team in almost two decades and, like Andy Dufresne, the 2018 Seahawks have emerged triumphant on the other side of all the melodrama. They’re 8-5, heading for the playoffs and peaking at the right time. They’re eighth in weighted DVOA, which assesses a team’s most recent performances to indicate how well they are playing right now rather than over the course of the entire season. They’re one of only eight teams with a point differential over 70, ahead of the Patriots, Cowboys, and Steelers, despite playing in seven one-score games.
Carroll and company transitioned the organization from one led by its defense, to one led by Russell Wilson and the offense. It makes sense too: having a long-term franchise quarterback is more stable than consistently fielding an elite defense: players get hurt, free-agency saps talent, age and attrition begin to take over. A very good quarterback – which Russell Wilson is – can overcome some of those problems on his side of the ball.
Carroll doubled down on his belief that a ground-and-pound, power-running game can still succeed in the era of pace-and-space. It’s worked. Seattle are second in the league in power-run success, trailing just the Ravens’ rush-only offense. While Carroll deserves serious coach of the year consideration his supporting cast have been impressive too. Offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer has done a brilliant job (stunning, I know) coaching around the limitations on the team’s offense. Mike Solari replaced Tom Cable, a man who makes Brick Tamland look like Jean-Paul Sartre, as offensive-line coach and the unit, predictably, improved (under Cable the Raiders offensive line has submarined, for what it’s worth).
Seattle haven’t relied wholly on their rushing game though. They’ve benefited from Wilson’s rare brand of escape magic to create plays on the fly, and his connection with Tyler Lockett has been the most efficient quarterback-receiver partnership in recent years. Doug Baldwin is the guy who makes the whole thing sing, though. Wilson is a different quarterback when Baldwin is on the field. With Baldwin in 2018, he has a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 11.5 (23-2). Without Baldwin that number collapses to 1.5 (6-4), his completion percentage drops by seven points; his passer rating by 41. Almost as importantly, Wilson’s average yards per target drops from 8.68 to 6.96. To put it simply: without Baldwin Wilson goes from an excellent quarterback to an average one. (...)
Perhaps most importantly, Pete Carroll has reignited the sense of camaraderie that had dissipated in recent years. Fans loved the early bombast of the Legion of Boom; they grew tired of it by the end – and the players grew tired of the organization itself. Meanwhile, Seattle’s 2018 band of upstart free-agent castoffs and young pups seem to be relishing the chance to just play. There’s no drama.
Seattle entered the season with few expectations. Vegas odds placed their chances at a Super Bowl a hair ahead of the Browns, and any Seahawks discussion elicited a shrug. Unless, of course, you wanted to talk about the glory days and how different (read: boring) this year was going to be.
Except Carroll hasn’t had a blah team in almost two decades and, like Andy Dufresne, the 2018 Seahawks have emerged triumphant on the other side of all the melodrama. They’re 8-5, heading for the playoffs and peaking at the right time. They’re eighth in weighted DVOA, which assesses a team’s most recent performances to indicate how well they are playing right now rather than over the course of the entire season. They’re one of only eight teams with a point differential over 70, ahead of the Patriots, Cowboys, and Steelers, despite playing in seven one-score games.Carroll and company transitioned the organization from one led by its defense, to one led by Russell Wilson and the offense. It makes sense too: having a long-term franchise quarterback is more stable than consistently fielding an elite defense: players get hurt, free-agency saps talent, age and attrition begin to take over. A very good quarterback – which Russell Wilson is – can overcome some of those problems on his side of the ball.
Carroll doubled down on his belief that a ground-and-pound, power-running game can still succeed in the era of pace-and-space. It’s worked. Seattle are second in the league in power-run success, trailing just the Ravens’ rush-only offense. While Carroll deserves serious coach of the year consideration his supporting cast have been impressive too. Offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer has done a brilliant job (stunning, I know) coaching around the limitations on the team’s offense. Mike Solari replaced Tom Cable, a man who makes Brick Tamland look like Jean-Paul Sartre, as offensive-line coach and the unit, predictably, improved (under Cable the Raiders offensive line has submarined, for what it’s worth).
Seattle haven’t relied wholly on their rushing game though. They’ve benefited from Wilson’s rare brand of escape magic to create plays on the fly, and his connection with Tyler Lockett has been the most efficient quarterback-receiver partnership in recent years. Doug Baldwin is the guy who makes the whole thing sing, though. Wilson is a different quarterback when Baldwin is on the field. With Baldwin in 2018, he has a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 11.5 (23-2). Without Baldwin that number collapses to 1.5 (6-4), his completion percentage drops by seven points; his passer rating by 41. Almost as importantly, Wilson’s average yards per target drops from 8.68 to 6.96. To put it simply: without Baldwin Wilson goes from an excellent quarterback to an average one. (...)
Perhaps most importantly, Pete Carroll has reignited the sense of camaraderie that had dissipated in recent years. Fans loved the early bombast of the Legion of Boom; they grew tired of it by the end – and the players grew tired of the organization itself. Meanwhile, Seattle’s 2018 band of upstart free-agent castoffs and young pups seem to be relishing the chance to just play. There’s no drama.
by Oliver Connolly, The Guardian | Read more:
Image: Joe Nicholson/USA Today Sports
[ed. They are a surprise this year, but one of the main reasons isn't even mentioned in this article: Bobby Wagner. The second most important man on the team and one of the best middle linebackers to ever play the game (and possible future Hall of Famer). Go Hawks!]
