Is this Pete Carroll’s best Seattle Seahawks team?
The Seahawks are off this week because of their bye, meaning Carroll’s day-after-game press conference Monday at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center was the last time we’ll hear from the team until next week. And having a week before being forced to deal with the media again had Carroll prepared to make that press conference a memorable one.
Carroll was in a particularly jovial mood Monday, basking in the afterglow of Sunday’s 27-17 road victory over the Jets. Carroll eagerly ticked off all the aspects of the team that are performing at a high level, and he opened up on subjects he normally would remain mum about.
Then midway through the press conference he was asked if this was the best team he’s had. His response:
“There’s a chance. I think we have a chance because of the experience and great leadership that we have, the development and coming of age of the quarterback, we have our kicking game in order, there’s a lot of really good phases of our team that we can count on. We’re growing on offense with the guys up front on offense, they’re doing a good job and pass protection is a big deal to us right now, and we’ll grow in the running game.
“I’ve loved this team all along, I’ve seen it coming. Just the way they’ve gone about the work, we have a chance to be really good.”
That’s one heck of a statement about a team that just two weeks ago was 1-1, had scored a league-low 15 points in its two games, and was sweating over a gimpy quarterback.
The standard this year’s team is being measured against is the 2013 Seahawks, who went 13-3 in the regular season, dominated the Denver Broncos 43-8 in the Super Bowl, and are considered one of the greatest defenses in NFL history. Is this year’s team truly capable of bettering that one? Let’s take a look.
There’s no reason why Seattle’s defense can’t be the equal of the 2013 defense. After all, it’s basically the same players — Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas, Kam Chancellor, Bobby Wagner, K.J. Wright, Michael Bennett, Cliff Avril — just a few years older and wiser.
The numbers bear out that this year’s defense is playing at that same dominating level, too. The Seahawks through four games are allowing fewer points (13.5-14.4) and yards (264.0-273.6) than they did in 2013, and their three sacks per game are more than they averaged three seasons ago. Seattle isn’t on pace to match the 39 takeaways it had in 2013, but the three interceptions Sunday has the team trending in the right direction.
It’s on offense where this season’s team differs significantly from the 2013 edition. The Seahawks no longer have running back Marshawn Lynch steamrolling his way over and through opposing defenses, and the combination of Thomas Rawls and Christine Michael has yet to prove it can provide the consistent rushing attack Seattle had when Lynch was in the backfield. It hasn’t helped that quarterback Russell Wilson hasn’t been a factor in the running game because of his injured ankle and knee.
However, Wilson is a far more mature passer now than he was in 2013, being equally capable of throwing from the pocket as he is on the run. He also has far more dangerous weapons at his disposal. In 2013 Seattle didn’t have a player who had more than 66 catches or 898 receiving yards. But now he has perhaps the best large target in the NFL in tight end Jimmy Graham, a deep threat in receiver Tyler Lockett, and an improved Doug Baldwin who has joined the NFL’s elite ball-catchers. While the running game may not be as dependable, the passing game is far more dangerous.
Add up all the columns in the ledger and maybe Carroll is onto something.
It’s obviously too soon to say with any certainty how this year’s Seahawks stack up against the 2013 team, something Carroll himself acknowledges.
“We just have to go out there and keep doing it one week at a time and one day at a time and we’ll see where that leaves us,” Carroll said. “That’s nothing to project what’s going to happen at the end of the year, I don’t know that. But I do know what these guys have put into it, and how they’re approaching it, and how determined they are, and how they practice, and how they’ve applied themselves. It’s everything we’re looking for.”
This year’s Seahawks still have a long way to go before they can be elevated into the same category as 2013. A lot of things will have to go right, including staying healthy, for Seattle to match that team’s achievements.
But it’s telling that Carroll is even willing to entertain the possibility that this is his best team, and that’s something all Seahawks fans should find very encouraging.
For more on the Seattle sports scene, check out Nick Patterson’s Seattle Sidelines blog at www.heraldnet.com/tag/seattle-sidelines, or follow him on Twitter at @NickHPatterson.
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