Weaknesses....

[Sarlacc83]

Until proven otherwise, 3rd and long. I wish I could find some stats about the number of 3 and outs for the defense as well, because I feel like that could use some improvement, but my memory might be failing me here,too.

 

[TJH]

3rd and long and late game D is a huge weakness for us. Some of that is pass rush, but a lot of it is breakdowns.

 

[Evil_Shenanigans]

Harvin tough? Where is he now?

For me the three biggest issues from last season are as follows.

Pass Rush- Need a Healthy Clemons and Someone bigger that Irvin on the other end.
Run Block- We were a sieve last fall!
Coaching- Cost us an extended playoff run with that crap in ATL!

 

[SoulfishHawk]

So because a guy is injured, he's not tough? I guess there are a hell of a lot of NFL players that are not tough then, because there are a ton that are out.

 

[QuahHawk]

Harvin wouldn't play RB sometimes if he wasn't a tough a$$ WR. I agree that the 3rd and long and late game breakdown's on defense cost us last year but I am fairly confident a vet like Winfield is exactly the remedy for that and so I'm not too worried as I think our team maturing from the playoff loss and the addition of one of the hardest hitting/playmaking nickle db's to this defense will change those problems.

 

[MontanaHawk05]

The team has taken a step backwards from last season. Of course, last season was a playoff team that came this close to reaching the conference championship, so that's not much of a diss. The core of 2012's excellence is still in place. But our areas of need have only widened, at least until they show up on the field.

* TE was an issue; now it's even shallower and Miller is hurting.

* Our WR's overachieved magnificently; now they're back to where they were with Harvin out.

* Pass rush faceplanted; now, Clemons is questionable and all our projected improvements are still on paper with much to prove. The current schematic shuffling along with the change of coaching suggests things getting worse before they get better. (It's hard to believe, though, that NOBODY will come through in the D's front seven. And the secondary plus Wagner are still nothing but awesome.)

* The right side of the O-line is still unsettled. This is one of the more overblown areas of concern; there were plays last year that sent Wilson scrambling because of lack of protection, and then there were plays where Wilson's height, his conservatism, our WR's separation issues, or plain good defense forced Wilson to hold on to the ball and inevitably let a defender through. Quick tip: once four seconds have gone by after the snap, the O-line has done its job and the QB and WR's become fully responsible for whatever pressure occurs next. Linemen are not expected to protect all day. But it's a bit of a downer to see Sweezy and Moffitt still duking it out. Mike Person is interesting.

So I do think we're still a bit vulnerable. I don't expect a perfect September. But it's a long season with plenty of time to acclimate and self-discover.

 

[m0ng0]

4th Quarter Defense is something that flat out has to be fixed. Also, the team started giving up a lot more rushing yards towards the end of the season. Hopefully the rotation on D will help and they can maintain this year.

That to me is coaching

 

[AvengerRam]

Oviscanadensisphobia.

 

[Evil_Shenanigans]

Oviscanadensisphobia.

This Will be Russel Wilsons Living Room Wall afterwards!

 

[13thMan]

4th Quarter Defense is something that flat out has to be fixed. Also, the team started giving up a lot more rushing yards towards the end of the season. Hopefully the rotation on D will help and they can maintain this year.

This is my biggest concern as well. Aside from my team concerns, the road schedule we have this year is brutal. If we go 3-5 on the road again, we are looking at another wild card at best, regardless of what we do at home IMO.

 

[jammerhawk]

Pass Rush, Pass Rush, Pass Rush, rinse repeat.

Oh, and depth at TE.

 

[RichNhansom]

They have done a ton to offset the deficiencies of last year. I cannot imagine them all failing. We relied heavily on Jones, Clemons and Red last year. When Jones went down and Red was playing injured it hurt but when Clemons went down it was the dagger. Irvin is out for 4 games and Clemons looks like he should make a full recovery. Bennett is an upgrade to Jones immediately and has a better track record for health and when Jones was healthy we were very good on the line. Avril will likely be very effective until Clemons and Irvin are back but we have multiple other options besides. Add in Winfield and possibly Thurmand and I think we are not only fine but much stronger and deeper than last year in both the run game and the short yardage game.

Miller has played dinged up his whole career and McCoy only caught 18 passes last year. The O-line will likely be better than last year for several reasons even if Carp doesn't stay healthy but we seen weekly improvements from Wilson utilizing the pocket better as well as getting the ball out sooner. That better O-line play from more experience to actually protecting Wilson in the pocket will also relieve Miller from having to block as much.

Chemistry as well as experience between Wilson and the receivers will likely have an expected improvement. I suspect Tate is going to have a break out year and Baldwin is capable of one also. Even if we got zero production from the bench I think we will see improvement but we will likely get Harvin back at some point also.

I think it is reasonable to expect improvement from Wagner, Sweezy and Wilson all in year two and who knows who else steps up. Christine Micheal will possibly be a huge addition to that running game and keep Lynch fresh as well.

Each year we have had huge questions going into the season since Pete and John arrived and each year we seem to over achieve in answering those questions. I love what we did this offseason and I could very easily see this team take another large step forward and considering they were probably the best team in football towards the end of the year, that is a huge statement.

 

[QuahHawk]

They have done a ton to offset the deficiencies of last year. I cannot imagine them all failing. We relied heavily on Jones, Clemons and Red last year. When Jones went down and Red was playing injured it hurt but when Clemons went down it was the dagger. Irvin is out for 4 games and Clemons looks like he should make a full recovery. Bennett is an upgrade to Jones immediately and has a better track record for health and when Jones was healthy we were very good on the line. Avril will likely be very effective until Clemons and Irvin are back but we have multiple other options besides. Add in Winfield and possibly Thurmand and I think we are not only fine but much stronger and deeper than last year in both the run game and the short yardage game.

Miller has played dinged up his whole career and McCoy only caught 18 passes last year. The O-line will likely be better than last year for several reasons even if Carp doesn't stay healthy but we seen weekly improvements from Wilson utilizing the pocket better as well as getting the ball out sooner. That better O-line play from more experience to actually protecting Wilson in the pocket will also relieve Miller from having to block as much.

Chemistry as well as experience between Wilson and the receivers will likely have an expected improvement. I suspect Tate is going to have a break out year and Baldwin is capable of one also. Even if we got zero production from the bench I think we will see improvement but we will likely get Harvin back at some point also.

I think it is reasonable to expect improvement from Wagner, Sweezy and Wilson all in year two and who knows who else steps up. Christine Micheal will possibly be a huge addition to that running game and keep Lynch fresh as well.

Each year we have had huge questions going into the season since Pete and John arrived and each year we seem to over achieve in answering those questions. I love what we did this offseason and I could very easily see this team take another large step forward and considering they were probably the best team in football towards the end of the year, that is a huge statement.

Hard to disagree with anything you said, for some of our weakness I still need to see to believe. On paper we look better just about everywhere, but come game time is when it counts.

A weakness on the Seahawks would still be beter than 2/3's of the league so I'm not too worried about any of them.

 

[13thMan]

They have done a ton to offset the deficiencies of last year. I cannot imagine them all failing. We relied heavily on Jones, Clemons and Red last year. When Jones went down and Red was playing injured it hurt but when Clemons went down it was the dagger. Irvin is out for 4 games and Clemons looks like he should make a full recovery. Bennett is an upgrade to Jones immediately and has a better track record for health and when Jones was healthy we were very good on the line. Avril will likely be very effective until Clemons and Irvin are back but we have multiple other options besides. Add in Winfield and possibly Thurmand and I think we are not only fine but much stronger and deeper than last year in both the run game and the short yardage game.

Miller has played dinged up his whole career and McCoy only caught 18 passes last year. The O-line will likely be better than last year for several reasons even if Carp doesn't stay healthy but we seen weekly improvements from Wilson utilizing the pocket better as well as getting the ball out sooner. That better O-line play from more experience to actually protecting Wilson in the pocket will also relieve Miller from having to block as much.

Chemistry as well as experience between Wilson and the receivers will likely have an expected improvement. I suspect Tate is going to have a break out year and Baldwin is capable of one also. Even if we got zero production from the bench I think we will see improvement but we will likely get Harvin back at some point also.

I think it is reasonable to expect improvement from Wagner, Sweezy and Wilson all in year two and who knows who else steps up. Christine Micheal will possibly be a huge addition to that running game and keep Lynch fresh as well.

Each year we have had huge questions going into the season since Pete and John arrived and each year we seem to over achieve in answering those questions. I love what we did this offseason and I could very easily see this team take another large step forward and considering they were probably the best team in football towards the end of the year, that is a huge statement.

Hard to disagree with anything you said, for some of our weakness I still need to see to believe. On paper we look better just about everywhere, but come game time is when it counts.

A weakness on the Seahawks would still be beter than 2/3's of the league so I'm not too worried about any of them.

All excellent points.... I do agree though, the pass rush... actually, no... the PASS RUSH must be there this year... It is absolutely critical! The secondary would be lights out with a good pass rush, and furthermore, there are a few opposing QBs on the schedule that could eat us alive if there isn't any pressure... Here's hoping!