The Seattle Seahawks were a fairly decent team not many years ago, but they have fallen off significantly in recent seasons. In 2009, they only managed 5 wins. So, the powers that be in Seattle decided to pretty much clean house in an effort to bring the Seahawks back to a contender.
The new head coach. Pete Carroll makes another venture into the NFL, and he brings a good resume’. In fact, he has been successful everywhere he has been. It appears that he escaped USC before the NCAA brings the hammer down on them for alleged infractions in both the basketball and football programs.
Guess he figured that there are worse things than getting paid NFL head-coaching money in Seattle. The new look team. Even lifetime Seahawks fans who hold season tickets are going to need a game program this year. The Seahawks braintrust has made an astounding 55 roster transactions in the offseason.
In fact, more than half of the members on the Seahawks roster right now were not on the Seahawks roster a year ago. There’s no O in Seattle. Or at least there hasn’t been, since the offense ranked 25th in scoring in 2009. Matt Hasselbeck threw for 3, 029 yards, and 17 touchdowns, but also had 17 interceptions.
The running game was even more puzzling. Julius Jones ran for 663 yards, but only two touchdowns, and Justin Forsett ran for 619 yards, but only four touchdowns. In the receiving corps, T. J.
Houshmandzadeh and Nate Burleson had only 3 touchdowns each. Pete Carroll is likely to focus on increasing the potency of this offense. He took one step in doing so by selecting Golden Tate, a wide receiver from Notre Dame. This playmaker is a good route-runner and knows how to get open. Although he joins 14 other receivers on the current roster, he was already working with the first team in OTAs.
The other big addition (uh, really big) is Russell Okung, offensive tackle from Oklahoma State. He is a great blocker and will undoubtedly protect QB Matt Hasselbeck’s blind side. The addition of J. P.
Losman will add depth behind Hasselbeck, and push Charlie Whitehurst in the back-up position. It is difficult to think that Seattle would pull another 5-11 season. With all the changes in players and coaching staff, it is hard to predict what will happen.
