We only need to tweak the roster to squeeze two more wins

[StoneCold]

Not as good as we hope and not as bad as we fear. I can agree with that. This team is poised to make a run at the SB for years to come. It's also a few bad decisions and injuries from being 8-8. If they don't improve on the Oline, by either improved play from last years guys or adding through the draft or free agency, trouble. The same can be said about the secondary, the LB's and to a lesser extent (IMHO) the Dline, trouble. But a small improvement in 3 out of 4 of those for next year and only injuries keep us from getting to the playoffs. They are poised because they do have many of the pieces. Poised is just about as good as it gets in the NFL. Patriots are an anomaly, and as much as I hate them you have to tip your hat. But there's also Cleveland on the other end. Thank Pete and JS that were much closer to the Patriots than Cleveland.

I guess this is a semantics thing for me then, cause I don't see any of the things most of you guys are suggesting for improvements as "tweaks."

A tweak to me is a minor thing like DB depth, a better backup QB, a 4th WR, a blocking TE, another veteran interior D-lineman for the rotation.

Two new tackles, 1-2 DB's, a safety, LB depth, another D-line starter and an upgrade at our #2 WR spot AND 3-4 players getting healthy and back to 100% are not minor tweaks, those are major improvements that probably all won't happen in one off season.

Yes, semantics or perspective. I don't expect, nor do I think they need, to hit homeruns in each of those groups. Just some improvement, while not taking steps back in other places, and we are very competitive next year. Of course if any team whiffs repeatedly on the draft they are going to stink eventually. I just don't expect that from this group.

 

[getnasty]

Some could agrue just Earl being healthy a full year might be enough for two more wins. I think the OL will only be better next year weather Fant/Gilliam start at tackle or not. The same can be said for the RB position and RCB too. This was a tough year but I don't see how any of the core guys take a step back next year, if we see a couple of guys step up next year we should be right in the thick of it.

 

[hawkfan68]

Fant maybe, dude's an insane athlete for his size.

But Gilliam's had what, three years now, and he's still getting benched mid season? That's not a good sign for the tackle you want anchoring the right side for the next 5 years.

Excellent point. I agree about Fant. I think PC/JS do a tremendous job of identifying superb athletes especially at the skill positions. Lockett, Rawls, Wilson, Baldwin, Sherman, Kam, Earl, etc are prime examples of this. However, they try to use the same "athletic" philosophy on the non-skills position - Oline and are failing. Because a better athlete doesn't always equate to a better lineman. Lineman are rare breed in that way. Someone who may not fit the measurements can turn out to be a very good lineman. He may look like a slob but can be a brick wall when it comes to blocking. This is where their methodology and philosophy has worked against them. Just an observation from watching them. I'm enjoying the ride, I just want the ride to be a little less bumpy, that's all. These things are all fixable if they choose to do so. Part of the skills philosophy is something that PC had success with in college.

 

[tonyseahawk]

Pete was basically saying the same thing in almost all of his press conferences & interviews after the playoff loss. There will be changes but most of the roster should remain the same including the guys play as OL.

Well, there is a salary cap to contend with, and you do not improve depth by throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Instead of cutting guys, you add to the competition with draft picks. Gilliam, for example, has a couple BAD years of starting experience at RT. He can be re-signed for A CHEESEBURGER, which maintains OUR LOSSES. Then you add to it with a couple draft picks capable of CONVERTING TO OT. The best case scenario is that you strike gold with a rookie, experienced at the offensive tackle position, who beats out one of the current TURNSTYLES. In that case, Gilliam provides LOSSES and experience on the cheap. The worst case scenario is THE SAME TEAM.

There, I fixed it for ya Symantics lol

 

[Seafan]

Or just have our two most irreplaceable players (Earl, RW) stay healthy. That could have meant HFA and a trip to the SB.

 

[Hawks46]

Gee Scott (710AM) was saying that Odihambo has a chance to make a big jump in year two. I'd expect Fant to be better. Actually I'd expect Russ to stay healthy and really play a lot better. Now, if we could figure out our leaky secondary, that would be great.

This guy gets it. Our OL was extremely young and needs to grow, and grow together. I'm not saying we don't need to add competition, but starting all over is only a ticket for another OL show that we got last season.

Meanwhile, the OL didn't give up 38 to Green Bay and 36 to Atlanta. We get our best pass rush at home, and on the road we're getting smoked. Which means our pass rush is taking that extra second to get home and our secondary got exposed.

 

[hawkfan68]

Gee Scott (710AM) was saying that Odihambo has a chance to make a big jump in year two. I'd expect Fant to be better. Actually I'd expect Russ to stay healthy and really play a lot better. Now, if we could figure out our leaky secondary, that would be great.

This guy gets it. Our OL was extremely young and needs to grow, and grow together. I'm not saying we don't need to add competition, but starting all over is only a ticket for another OL show that we got last season.

Meanwhile, the OL didn't give up 38 to Green Bay and 36 to Atlanta. We get our best pass rush at home, and on the road we're getting smoked. Which means our pass rush is taking that extra second to get home and our secondary got exposed.

No they didn't but they sure didn't help the cause any. Piss poor protection led to turnovers in GB and many three and outs in both those games. They also contributed heavily to a safety that changed the momentum in the Atlanta game. The OL didn't do any favors this season- it's a fact.

 

[sondevil89]

The OL didn't do any favors this season- it's a fact.

I nominate this for the understatement of the year award.

 

[randomation]

If we didn't decide to cut the LS that Hausch was comfortable with to save half a million we probably get those two wins even with our craptastic Oline.

 

[AgentDib]

In the last six drafts, the team has essentially avoided drafting from the small pool of players with the requisite skills to succeed at offensive tackle in the NFL.... In fact, zero offensive linemen at all were drafted above the 7th Round in the 2012, 2013, and 2014 drafts.

You're correct about '12 and '13 with the benefit of hindsight, but I think the context around this matters when evaluating the decisions without that benefit. We had just spent our first pick in the two previous drafts on tackles - the #6 overall on a franchise LT followed by the #25 on what we hoped was a franchise RT. Zero people were calling for us to pick another tackle early back in 2012 or 2013 and Okung/Giacomini/Bailey//Bowie was a legitimate group at the time with some fan angst centered on Giacomini's penalties and Okung's health.

I think you're off on '14 and later; we haven't spent our resources well but we have spent them. In 2014 we decided to let Giacomini walk rather than match the $18m/4yr deal offered by the Jets and then spent the second round pick on Britt. Regardless of what we know about him now, he played tackle in high school and left tackle in college, was projected as a tackle by draft experts, and we picked him as a tackle. We missed pretty badly on him as a RT but the problem was using resources incorrectly rather than failing to spend them. 2015 was the same story as we spent our fourth round pick on Poole but missed, and remember that much of the turmoil around the O-line was focused at C. 2016 we spent our first round pick on Ifedi as a tackle with the thought that we play him inside for a year first but then transition to RT this season.

We could have spent our resources better but we haven't been ignoring it. I'm not going to blame the FO for Okung leaving with hurt feelings for Denver when he decided to be his own agent, and without that the discussion could be very different about our O-line.

 

[Seahawk Sailor]

Or just have our two most irreplaceable players (Earl, RW) stay healthy. That could have meant HFA and a trip to the SB.

A couple of tweaks in personnel, plus keeping our core superstars healthy, is most definitely a solution that could bring us NE-style success year after year. But for injuries, we'd have won several more games this year, even with the offensive offensive line. But for the offensive line, we'd have won several more games this year, even with our superstars injured. Fix both and we're perennial winners.

 

[evergreen]

Don't forget, we were just one missed 27 yard field goal against Az. from being the #2 seed and having NFCCG at home (Assuming we won the Division game) It would help to have a hot QB at the end too, which we didn't have though.

Then make a few more field goals and we could've been #1. All with the same deficiencies we still had.

Now you can add all the other stuff.

 

[RiverDog]

We were a tie and a a 3 point loss to AZ from being 12-4. With a seriously injured QB and work in progress Oline. I see the need for improvement, but no wholesale changes. Hawks are not the 2014-2015 Mariners.

We're also a tie and two very close wins (Atlanta, Buffalo) away from being 8-8. Half the teams in the league can make a similar "what if" argument. It's pointless to go down our schedule and speculate as to what our season might have looked like had this, that, or the other thing did or didn't happen.

You can look at it from two completely different perspectives, a glass half full vs. a glass half empty. There's plenty of evidence for each point of view. IMO we need to improve, and some rather major changes are needed, particularly along the OL. This isn't the empty cupboard 5-9 team we were when Pete took over, but neither is it the 13-3 team we were in our Lombardi year.

 

[StoneCold]

We were a tie and a a 3 point loss to AZ from being 12-4. With a seriously injured QB and work in progress Oline. I see the need for improvement, but no wholesale changes. Hawks are not the 2014-2015 Mariners.

We're also a tie and two very close wins (Atlanta, Buffalo) away from being 8-8. Half the teams in the league can make a similar "what if" argument. It's pointless to go down our schedule and speculate as to what our season might have looked like had this, that, or the other thing did or didn't happen.

You can look at it from two completely different perspectives, a glass half full vs. a glass half empty. There's plenty of evidence for each point of view. IMO we need to improve, and some rather major changes are needed, particularly along the OL. This isn't the empty cupboard 5-9 team we were when Pete took over, but neither is it the 13-3 team we were in our Lombardi year.

Very true and people forget both while trying to analyze the team and it's prospects. Given the recent history of success, I'm more inclined to think we have a better chance of going 13-3 next year than 8-8.

 

[Hyak]

We were a tie and a a 3 point loss to AZ from being 12-4. With a seriously injured QB and work in progress Oline. I see the need for improvement, but no wholesale changes. Hawks are not the 2014-2015 Mariners.

We're also a tie and two very close wins (Atlanta, Buffalo) away from being 8-8. Half the teams in the league can make a similar "what if" argument. It's pointless to go down our schedule and speculate as to what our season might have looked like had this, that, or the other thing did or didn't happen.

You can look at it from two completely different perspectives, a glass half full vs. a glass half empty. There's plenty of evidence for each point of view. IMO we need to improve, and some rather major changes are needed, particularly along the OL. This isn't the empty cupboard 5-9 team we were when Pete took over, but neither is it the 13-3 team we were in our Lombardi year.

Very true. It's indisputable that this team had more weaknesses and was less dominant than other recent Seahawks teams and that includes the defense.

 

[chris98251]

Take a lot of effort and time to climb to the top of the Mountain and stay there, not so much to fall off it.