Let me start by saying, I’m not mad or depressed or even disappointed in the game yesterday. Fool me once, and all that. I point out my state of mind to dismiss any notion of this being the ramblings of a tortured soul. This is where we are people. Get used to the view.
As I watched the game yesterday (I only saw about half of it due to vomiting youngest son who needed a hospital visit which was nearly as much fun as the game), my overwhelming feeling was, “How the hell are we going to fix this?”
It was annoying to read the paper this morning and see quotes claiming confusion and disbelief that Seahawks were playing so poorly. What could possibly be leading to this? Uh, seriously?
There are many types of poor NFL teams. There are the bad teams that are young at key positions, building toward something better. I’ll give you the 2006 Arizona Cardinals (5-11), for example. They had the core of their young offensive line in place, key defensive players like Docket and Wilson, and were about to draft a franchise player in Fitzgerald the following off-season.
There are also bad teams that are just broken and are not building toward anything. The current St Louis Rams would be an example of that.
Then you have a team like the Seahawks that is terminally ill. Key parts of the body (offensive line, defensive line, running back) are dead or dying, but this won’t be a merciless, quick death, and the hopes of recovery hinge on regrowing or replacing vital organs. The Hawks can’t just buy or build a new offensive line. We’ve had a couple of decent lines in the Hawks 35-year history. They are not a certainty. They take years to groom and stabilize, and are even harder to come by in the world of free agency and salary cap. Defensive lines are the second hardest thing to replace. The Hawks have a number of young players on this defensive line, and none of them appear to be cornerstones you can build around. For the hype around Mebane, he’s no budding superstar.
Even our supposedly strongest position, linebacker, is highly questionable. David Hawthorne has played the best two games of any linebacker on the Seahawks team this season, and better than any game Lofa Tatupu has played in the past two seasons. LeRoy Hill has been middling, at best. Curry looks like he’ll be a nice player, but not a franchise player. These are your linebackers for years, folks. Tons of money invested there.
For all the concern about Hasselbeck’s health and future, he could still lead a good team to a championship. This just isn’t a good team. He’s at the point in his career that he must have a reliable running game and offensive line to work with. He’s got neither. I will say that Matt left three TDs on the field yesterday by throwing the ball on a line without enough air under it. One to Housh. One on a screen moments later, and one on the diving catch Burleson made down field. If any of those throws had allowed his receivers to run underneath it, the Hawks would have scored. And even though I don’t think Housh’s antics are the right way to show it, Hasselbeck is not using him appropriately.
Bottom line is that we’ve got problems that are not going to be fixed in one or even two off-seasons.