on Sunday
Ugo Amadi
Jersey , but they didn’t get favorable results in other games. All of a
sudden, the Minnesota Vikings are 1鈦? game behind Seattle again for the #5 seed,
while both Washington and the Philadelphia Eagles scored unlikely road wins to
boost themselves to 7-7. We’ll see if the Carolina Panthers can cap off a crazy
Week 15 by beating the New Orleans Saints on Monday Night Football.I don’t want
this to be a “doom and gloom” playoff picture article, but I also remember when
the Seahawks were 8-4 last year and had an outside shot at the #2 seed. Instead,
the perfect storm of bad results knocked Seattle out of a playoff spot by Week
17. You should always brace for the worst case scenario, and unlike last year,
the good news for the 2018 Seahawks is they’re guaranteed to still be in a wild
card spot regardless of Week 16’s results.So what is that worst case scenario?
Here you go...—Seahawks lose vs. the Kansas City Chiefs AND—Washington wins at
the Tennessee Titans AND—Eagles win vs. the Houston Texans AND—Vikings win at
the Detroit LionsThat would mean the Seahawks, Washington, and Philadelphia
would all be at 8-7, while the Vikings would have an 8-6-1 record plus the #5
seed. It also makes it mathematically impossible for the Seahawks to qualify for
the playoffs at 8-8, as Philly and Washington play each other in Week 17.
Seattle has never lost three straight games in a season under Russell Wilson,
but frankly if they can’t win at home against an Arizona Cardinals team that
looks worse now than when these two teams met in Week 4, they really don’t
deserve to be in the playoffs.Again, this is the worst case scenario, not the
likely scenario. If Washington and Philadelphia both lose, Seattle has a much
greater chance of qualifying in a situation where they collapse to 8-8. The best
case scenario is that the Seahawks beat the Chiefs, and a trio of losses by
Washington, Philadelphia, and Minnesota assure Seattle of the #5 seed and a
chance to rest starters against the Cardinals in week 17. The Panthers already
lost to the Seahawks, so even if they win out, one Seattle victory renders
Carolina unable to overtake Seattle. So let’s root for that! It would be unfair
to compare just about any team to the 2013 Seattle Seahawks other than other
championship teams. The 2013 Seahawks are in the conversation for a top-five
defense all-time and unlike many all-time defenses, they also had a quarterback
who is on a Hall of Fame path through his first seven seasons, a Hall of Fame
caliber running back, and a receiver who could definitely be in the Hall of Slot
Receivers and if he plays another 7-8 years at a high level ... who
knows.Seattle’s 2018 team however had pretty much the quarterback, a hobbled
version of that receiver, and the middle linebacker. They had some other nice
pieces around them, an advantage here or there to the 2013 Seahawks, but if you
actually compare them roster-to-roster you start to wonder just how in the hell
this team went 10-6 and made the
playoffs.Well
Mychal
Kendricks Jersey , it’s because the 2018 Seahawks were a “playoff team”
but as you’ll see in comparing position groups, they are nowhere near a
“championship team.” In fact, if you think Seattle was close to resembling the
2012 Seahawks and are one year away from being like they were in 2013, I’d argue
that after doing this comparison, they’re more like the 2011 version. Until they
find out if Tre Flowers can develop like Richard Sherman, if they’ll have anyone
close to the caliber of Earl Thomas, if Jacob Martin is on the rise, if they can
add not one, but two really good edge rushers, another defensive tackle, if
Shaquill Griffin can at least settle into being a Byron Maxwell type, then
Seattle may be two years away from competing for first in the division rather
than one. Much like 2012, the Seahawks had to get around a championship-caliber
division-mate, and the LA Rams don’t seem likely to slow down that quickly.Now
enough of the depressing stuff and onto the more depressing stuff.I’m comparing
relevant players at each position. My judgment is just that: my judgment. It is
not a fact, just an opinion, and in some cases it’s one that I could change with
a good enough argument against it. When I went through each position, I came
away with a score of 10 to 2 in advantage of the 2013 Seahawks and fittingly, I
think you could make a case for 12-0. Even if you had it at 8-4, most of those
eight wins were blowouts.The Seahawks have gone through a lot of changes in the
wrong direction over the last five years and yes, I’m one of the optimistic and
bright-side Seattle writers! QB - Russell Wilson vs Russell WilsonAdvantage -
2018You could call it a wash if you want to. I think Wilson has certainly
improved over the last five years and is a more “complete” quarterback with all
the experience that comes with starting the number of games he has in that
period of time. Consider that he’s also doing more with a lot less. If you
factored in salary then you could make a stronger argument for 2012-2015 Wilson,
but I’m not doing that here.RB - Marshawn Lynch vs Chris CarsonBackups - Robert
Turbin, Christine Michael vs Mike Davis, Rashaad PennyFB - Derrick Coleman vs
Tre MaddenAdvantage - 2013Carson actually averaged .5 more yards per carry this
season than Lynch did during Seattle’s Super Bowl run, and he’s one of my
favorite backs in the league, but there’s only one Marshawn Lynch. That’s kind
of also the point: Carroll could more easily utilize a single-back system with
Lynch, who played more downs, didn’t miss any games, scored more
touchdowns
Steve
Largent Color Rush Jersey , and had more receiving yards. Even including
backup contributions, the better backfield seemed to belong to 2013.WR - Doug
Baldwin, Golden Tate, Jermaine Kearse, Sidney Rice, Ricardo Lockette (Percy
Harvin) vs Doug Baldwin, Tyler Lockett, David Moore, Jaron Brown, Brandon
MarshallAdvantage - 20132018 Lockett might be the best receiver in the whole
bunch, but this season also included a hobbled Baldwin and pretty poor depth
that showed itself when they were called upon to do more because of Doug’s
health. A healthy Baldwin and Tate were a more complete and consistent 1-2,
while Kearse came up huge in the playoffs.TE - Zach Miller, Luke Willson, Kellen
Davis vs Ed Dickson, Nick Vannett, Will DisslyAdvantage - 2013Miller didn’t
quite live up to the expectations of his free agent contract in 2011 but he
alone was probably far more effective than Dickson and Vannett combined. Would
have liked to have seen more of Dissly, but unfortunately for everyone that did
not happen. The tight ends in 2018 were perhaps one of the most underrated
weaknesses of the team.OL - Russell Okung, James Carpenter, Max Unger, JR
Sweezy, Breno Giacomini vs Duane Brown, JR Sweezy, Justin Britt, DJ Fluker,
Germain IfediBackups - Paul McQuistan, Alvin Bailey, Lemuel Jeanpierre, Michael
Bowie vs Joey
Hunt
Patrick
Kerney Color Rush Jersey , Jordan Simmons, Ethan Pocic, George
FantAdvantage - 2013 I have it as 2013, but I don’t know, Okung did miss half of
the season. Both lines had their strengths at left tackle and center, but I’d
think Unger is typically considered the superior player to Britt. I don’t think
any of the other starters are particular “strengths” but at best it might be a
wash.DT - Brandon Mebane, Tony McDaniel, Clinton McDonald vs Jarran Reed, Shamar
Stephen, Poona Ford, Nazair JonesAdvantage - 2013Similar to Lockett and the
receiver, Reed might be the best of the group but the depth in 2013 was so
fantastically better. We all like Ford, but he wasn’t even utilized that heavily
until late in the year.DE - Cliff Avril, Michael Bennett, Chris Clemons. Red
Bryant, O’Brien Schofield vs Frank Clark, Quinton Jefferson, Dion Jordan,
Branden Jackson, Rasheem GreenAdvantage - 2013Either this or cornerback or
safety is the biggest slaughter of comps, which emphasizes just how next-level
the 2013 Seattle defense was. They will go down with a few Hall of Famers, a
handful of Pro Bowlers, and a bevy of talented starters, some of whom were
relegated to backup duty on that 53. Clark was a top-ranked pass rusher in 2018,
but Avril, Bennett, Clemons, and Bryant is just sledgehammer after sledgehammer
for opposing tackles and running backs. LB - Bobby
Wagner
Germain
Ifedi Color Rush Jersey , KJ Wright, Bruce Irvin, Malcolm Smith, Mike
Morgan vs Bobby Wagner, KJ Wright, Mychal Kendricks, Barkevious Mingo, Jacob
Martin, Austin Calitro, Shaquem GriffinAdvantage - 2013A couple of the names
might be the same and Wagner is as good as ever, but Wright missed too much
time, Kendricks was in the same boat, and Mingo’s not even as good as Smith, let
alone Irvin. It’s another big advantage for 2013.CB - Richard Sherman, Brandon
Browner, Byron Maxwell, Walter Thurmond vs Shaquill Griffin, Tre Flowers, Justin
Coleman, Akeem KingAdvantage - 2013The number one corner is a blowout in 2013’s
favor, the number two corner still has an advantage for 2013 though I think we
are all hoping Flowers develops like Sherman did. You could maybe argue an
advantage in the slot for 2018 but I’m not sure it would be a strong argument
and this is another landslide for 2013.S - Earl Thomas, Kam Chancellor vs
Bradley McDougald, Tedric Thompson, Delano HillBackups - Jeron Johnson, Chris
Maragos vs Maurice Alexander, Shalom LuaniAdvantage - 2013Moving on...K -Steven
Hauschka vs Sebastian JanikowskiAdvantage - 2013Hauschka made 33 of 35 attempts
in 2013 whereas Janikowski was 22 of 27 and had three missed PATs.P - Jon Ryan
vs Michael DicksonAdvantage - 2018Woo, 2018! Some may argue Ryan over Dickson
and I really would not care too much. Dickson is a first team All-Pro though and
his net average 5.5 yards longer than Ryan’s was in 2013. The team may have been
worse this season but Dickson only had four more punts this season than Ryan did
that year.
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