Seattle Seahawks: Too Early to Crown Them Super Bowl Favorites

Seattle Seahawks Should Not Be a Super Bowl Favorite Right Now

September 25, 2013 3:17 pm EDT by Ryan Heckman gplus

Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

Three games into the season and the Seattle Seahawks look good — real good. Pete Carroll and his team have been impressive when it comes to filling up the stat sheet and dominating the score board in their last two contests including one trounce of their rival San Francisco 49ers.

With all of the talk about the Seahawks being a Super Bowl favorite, I can’t help but wonder what makes them truly qualified just yet to be in that conversation.

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love what Seattle is doing and am one of the biggest Russell Wilson fans there is. You can’t beat the kid’s humility and all-around talent. He’s an incredible player and will be for a very long time.

However, look at the first three games and tell me what they all have in common. Well, to make it easy, they are all games the Seahawks should have won. In week one against the Carolina Panthers, they sputtered a bit and only wound up winning by a score of 12-7.

Carroll and company stepped it up a notch from there as they blew out the Niners. But, should they have expected anything different? Hear me out here. Colin Kaepernick had the game virtually on his shoulders. With little to no options in the passing game other than Anquan Boldin, he struggled mightily — as he should have.

Other than Boldin — and the injured Vernon Davis — the Niners’ wideouts have no clue how to get open or run crisp routes. Take a look at the tape! In this case, their offense struggled, leaving the defense on the field more than they should have been against a pretty good offense like Seattle.

Most recently, Seattle beat down the Jacksonville Jaguars 45-17. Not only did they score the most points they have all season — which they should have — but they gave up the most points they’ve allowed all season to Jacksonville of all teams. Shouldn’t that be a little alarming to a defense that many consider to be the best in all of football?

I’m not saying, I’m just saying.

Seahawks fans, I’m not here to rain on your parade. Like I said, I love and respect Carroll and Wilson more than almost any other coach and quarterback combo in the NFL. I truly hope they get themselves in the big game very soon — they deserve it.

But, with the season being just three weeks in and the kind of teams the Seahawks have played against so far, it’s time to take a step back and look at it from a player or coach’s perspective: You have to take it week by week, especially this early on. Don’t go throwing them in the Super Bowl just yet, because anything can happen in the next 14 weeks.

Ryan Heckman is a Senior Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @ryanmheckman, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.

If you think the Seahawks are contenders, make sure to grab your 2014 Super Bowl tickets from Vivid Seats.

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Calibandawg

You are right we shouldn’t be thinking about anyone as a Super Bowl favorite now but not because Jacksonville put up 17 on our 2s when 3/4ths of the Legion sat on the sideline, but because the OL is dinged up and not playing well especially well, the Beast is only sporadically finding the Mode, and because it’s too dang early to consider anyone. OK Denver looks pretty good but a lot of injuries can happen between now and February and it is just too early since every team hasn’t really sussed out their problems and had a chance to fix them.

What is impressive about the Seahawks is the defense especially what they have done in the box. We know about the Legion of Boom (check) but this triage unit that has essentially been starting 2s and 3s on the D-line has been amazing. OK at this point there are so many combinations and variations it’s hard to say what the depth chart is but consider that Clem is the incumbent starter and just played his first 16 snaps last week, the guy they brought in to augment him, Avril, is just played his first snaps leaving them to start a linebacker at rush end. The preseason logjam caused Carroll to move Irvin to linebacker which is scary since he can basically run down most tailbacks in the league. Whatever is going on inside has been working. Cut down cast-off McDonald made the most of his second chance by pushing his man back into the quarterback, reaching over the blocker”s shoulder while being blocked and brought down the quarterback. It was an All-Pro play coming from a guy who basically didn’t make the team at final cut down. Bennett has been everywhere and matches McDonald with 2.5 sacks; he was supposed to back up Mebane and McDaniel who have both been out or hampered with injuries. McDaniel has been everywhere since coming back. So what is the depth chart? Who cares, this has to be exceptionally hard to prepare for as an offensive coordinator.
OhSnapWhatNow

Hm, I think one needs to look at what this team did towards the end of last season, the road win in Washington during the playoffs, the near win in Atlanta, and the 3-0 start of this year as a whole not just this season. The author claims they “should” have won against all three teams played thus far. Let’s dissect that statement: First, many so called “experts” had picked the 49ers to win in Seattle because they were also Super Bowl power house favorites. Second, the Panthers are a much better team than people give them credit for and the win was on the road on the east coast, in the heat and humidity for a 10AM PST game. What team wouldn’t struggle in conditions like that? They won and forced Newton into one of his worst performances of his career. Third, why is it “alarming” that Jaguars scored 17 points? Did this author not watch the game? Most of the Jaguars points came during the second half when many of Seattle’s starters were sitting. You throw all those things together and you have a very good case for the Seahawks making the Super Bowl.
Sean Steinhauer

If you think the jaguar’s 17 pts means anything you weren’t watching the game or have any idea what happened. They were completely shut out. Jones drew had -5 yards, Cecil shorts had no yards. Then Pete sat his starters the second half. If Seahawks have a downfall it’s on the road, okungs injury and a below average receiving core. Luckily they can run the ball and throw you off with Wilson and play great D when the game means something. You could make the case they lack some depth. It bothers me the author of this article makes money off of posting this article. It would seem he only looks at ending scores and tries to make bold statements without actually knowing why something happened that way.
- OhSnapWhatNow
  
  Yes this next stretch of road games will tell us just how strong the Seahawks are or it will tell us if they still have some holes. I feel like the receiving core is better than below average though but the OL hasn’t given Wilson the greatest protection in the first couple games and better in the third. With the injuries on the offensive line and now having to play rookies it will be interesting to see what happens against JJ Watt and the Texan D. We’ve seen what Wilson can do when the offense is clicking, it will be a fun game to watch.
  - Sean Steinhauer
    
    Yes the road games will be a good test. I shouldn’t say below average but there many teams with a lot of talent at receiver. If Percy was healthy it would really boost them into a truly great WR core.
Sean Steinhauer

Nobody can argue how sick the secondary is though with sherman Thomas chancellor and browner when healthy. With a healthy Clemons it’s hardly fair to be a qb facing the hawks