Biggest Surprise of the Year (So Far)

[LoB6]

What's the Seahawks' biggest surprise of the year so far?

For me, thank goodness we have Justin Britt to stabilize the interior OL.

What say you?

 

[RussB]

How bad the o line still is.

 

[Erebus]

The offensive regression.

 

[LeftHandSmoke]

How strong our pass rush has been.

 

[seahawkfreak]

How much of a non factor Christine Michael is. Thought he was close to Rawls level but CM is average at best

 

[Blitzer88]

Terribleness of the offense.

 

[Hawkintent]

Bad time of possession/ few explosive plays. Tanner Mcevoy seems like our #1 playmaker on ST/offense.

 

[Jerhawk]

Russell's health. The fact that he's actually human is shocking. Hate seeing him injured, and to see him hurt in three known areas is a surprise

 

[TwistedHusky]

Russell Wilson's toughness and clear tolerance for pain. No one ever questioned his will but that goes beyond any reasonable expectations.

 

[stang233]

Bevell still has a job and still sucks.

 

[johnnyfever]

Level of injuries early.

 

[Popeyejones]

If you told me before the season that after seven games( without missing any of them) Wilson would have five total TDs I'd have literally laughed in your face.

There have been other things I wouldn't have predicted, but that's the only one I truly would have laughed at somebody for.

Other surprises:

* Graham looking like he's in pre-injury form (wouldn't have guessed that at all).
* Struggles in the kicking game (which has been really solid).
* The (mostly) invisibility of Lockett so far.
* Rawls being a total non-factor before getting injured again.
* Marsh evolving into a decent role player.

 

[WindCityHawk]

All Bevell talk aside, for whatever reason it is, I'm surprised the offense is as bad as it is. I thought we righted the ship last year, with Baldwin stepping up and Wilson taking a big step forward. I know injuries happen, but Russ, Baldwin, and Graham are all still on the field, and not only is this offense not as good as it was last year, it's probably the worst it's been in five years.

Struggles and stumbles are one thing, but to make a breakthrough like last year and then regress so completely? It's astounding.

 

[Spin Doctor]

How much of a non factor Christine Michael is. Thought he was close to Rawls level but CM is average at best

In all honesty, we have not even attempted to establish the running game in most of the games we have played. Michael is still averaging over four yards per carry, and has five touchdowns to his name which is the same amount as Russell Wilson has by the way. This is one of the many misgivings I have about our play calling this year, we have completely abandoned the run.

 

[getnasty]

How much of a non factor Christine Michael is. Thought he was close to Rawls level but CM is average at best

I think Christine Michael's been a bright spot. Bad OL play, no threat of the read option, no passing game and he's still been productive when he's got his name called.

 

[getnasty]

Richard Sherman has been average, Cliff Avril is better then ever, obviously Britt and TOP is horrible.

 

[FlyingGreg]

After 7 games, Wilson has only 5 TDs.

Hard to fathom.

I mean, Case Keenum has 8...

 

[NoChops]

ADB going on the milk carton after the first game.

 

[JGfromtheNW]

Three biggest suprises:

1. How bad this offense has been.
2. How well Britt has transitioned to Center.
3. The production Cliff Avril has been getting.

Not many last year were overly impressed by Britt's play at Guard and were skeptical of a transition to Center. The guy has been a bright spot on an offense in a dark, dark place.

Speaking of offense, I thought ours had learned a lot after the back half of last season. Maybe they did and haven't been able to incorporate it, but it's been a bigger step back than I thought it would be after losing the majority of our line (granted, it wasn't that great last year anyway) and Marshawn. Of course injuries have been a large factor in offensive production, but the lack of committing to the running game is also a big issue IMO. I think success going forward the rest of the season is going to rely on our offense getting healthier, getting back to a more balanced attack and putting more points on the board. I think most of us would be happy with even league-average offensive production at this point. Man, I miss Beast....

You know who's been going beast? Cliff Avril. I think most people around here have definitely appreciated Avril's contributions, he's been playing at a high level for us for some time. But good lawd has the guy been playing like a man possessed this season. 7.5 sacks through 7 games, 3 forced fumbles, 22 combined tackles, 3 passes broken up... he's been playing lights out. Most sacks he's ever had in a season is 11, so I'm hoping he can stay healthy and keep producing. Oh yeah, and he's going to build/donate a home for every sack he gets this season down in Haiti. I couldn't be more impressed with the season this guy is having. He's been looking like a young 30 year old, that's for sure.

 

[MontanaHawk05]

How much of a non factor Christine Michael is. Thought he was close to Rawls level but CM is average at best

In all honesty, we have not even attempted to establish the running game in most of the games we have played. Michael is still averaging over four yards per carry, and has five touchdowns to his name which is the same amount as Russell Wilson has by the way. This is one of the many misgivings I have about our play calling this year, we have completely abandoned the run.

It's quite possible that Rawls has four yards per carry BECAUSE we haven't established the run.

If we try to run seriously, Michael would soon find himself running against stacked fronts, upon which we'd see what kind of RB he really is.