What's wrong with Seattle?

The Seattle Seahawks were the most dominant team in the league last year, but it wasn’t because they played easy opponents. Obviously they play in the NFC West, which most considered to be the strongest division in the entire league, with 3 teams totaling over 10 wins. They went 4-2 in the division, 13-3 overall, and earned the top seed in the loaded NFC.

In the playoffs they ousted the Saints by a score of 23-15 and the 49ers 23-17 en route to the Super Bowl. Then, of course, they embarrassed Peyton Manning and his Denver Broncos 43-8.

Pete Carroll’s disciplined squad put up 417 points last season, which was the eighth most in the NFL. Even more importantly than that, they only surrendered 231 points, a league best.

What was impressive about Seattle last year was their composure and solidity. Second year starting quarterback Russell Wilson led the team at 25 years old, and threw 26 touchdowns without a hint of an elite receiving core. Not to mention he produced one of the most efficient offenses in the league; only the Saints, Panthers and Colts gave the ball away less than Seattle. They also took the ball away 39 times, mostly in thanks to the Legion of Boom.

I could ramble about stats all day, but it would bore you. So bottom-line, the Seahawks were filthy, and most importantly young. Now I raise the question to all of you; what happened?

They’re 5-3 through the first half of this season which isn’t bad by normal standards, but the wins haven’t been impressive. They dominated Green Bay in the opening game of the year, but were outplayed by the inconsistent Chargers in week 2. They followed that up with an overtime win against the Broncos in a Super Bowl rematch. Then they lost a close game to Dallas and the Rams in consecutive weeks. Two weeks ago, they barely snuck past the struggling Panthers, and last week they almost blew a 21-point lead against the winless Raiders.

Granted, they do have the fourth toughest NFC schedule to this point, but it’s no excuse to getting dominated by the Rams in the first half of their game and the second half against the Raiders. We didn’t ever see any slip-ups like that last year, so it came as a shock to most of us when they were in danger of going 3-4.

Wilson is doing an admirable job at QB this year, throwing 11 scores and just 3 picks in addition to rushing for 3 touchdowns. As a team, they rank eleventh in scoring and tenth in defense. They’ve forced 10 turnovers, and have only given the ball away 3 times.

All of that sounds fine and dandy, but I think there are hidden mines in the Seattle organization.

At the front of the minefield is Percy Harvin; why did he really get traded? I think it had something to do with his ego, but we have way of knowing for sure. Carroll said that he had been given enough chances, but what has he done in the past?? This is the first time we got news of Harvin disrupting the team, so one would have to imagine that whatever he did was behind closed doors.

Obviously I can’t say for certainty, but I think there are only 2 possible reasons for the sudden trade.

1) Harvin wasn’t happy with his role on the team. This is generally the reason for out-of-the-blue trades, but Harvin played a huge role on this team whenever he was healthy. He was the focal point of the wildcat offense, and every trick play in the book revolved around him. They designed a multitude of plays specifically for him, so this appears to be the lesser of the two possibilities.

2) The second, and more likely possibility is that Harvin had a feud with at least one player in the locker room. Seattle wouldn’t want anything to interrupt the chemistry they had retained from last year, and if Harvin was stirring up trouble, I imagine they would move quickly to prevent it from becoming a lasting issue. That would explain the quick deal to a team who’s out of playoff contention (New York Jets, 1-6 at the time). The other eye-opener was that in return, Seattle acquired a conditional draft pick that can range from the fourth to the sixth round.

I know buying into Harvin is a gamble, but the 26-year old, 22^nd overall pick is significantly more valuable than a conditional sixth rounder.

This leads me to one of their other “problems”. Trade rumors have been swirling around 28-year old running back Marshawn Lynch recently, and again, no one knows why.

You have to give credit to Seattle’s front office and coaching staff; they really know how to keep the media out of the locker room.

Lynch is one of the key cogs to their mechanism, and has proven his worth time and time again. He is a workhorse on and off the field, and seemingly adapts the body of a bull whenever he touches the ball.

Despite that, there was talk of shipping the veteran back to a team like San Diego for a younger and more agile back along the lines of Branden Oliver. This situation is easier to dissect but it still worried fantasy owners and Seattle fans.

After Harvin was traded, there was uproar from some of the players. Wilson lobbied to the front office to pull the trade off the table. Lynch even more furious than Wilson; he was visibly angry about the deal that sent his good friend and comrade away, and was refusing to travel with the team to Saint Louis.

I think this is where the rumors started. Somehow, somebody escalated the story into “Lynch is refusing to play and wants to be traded” or “Lynch is refusing to play and they are going to trade him too.” Fortunately for Seattle fans, these rumors proved to be insignificant. Carroll came out and said that Lynch isn’t going anywhere, and this past game against Oakland proved that statement. The tailback bullied his way to a 143 total yards and 2 scores, and looked to have a renewed fire in his heart.

The locker room issues appear to be under control now, but who am I to say that all is well in the rainy city?

They’ve only skated by some of the worst teams in the NFL, and there is a noticeable difference in the potency of their offense from last season. It’s safe to say that Beast Mode is slowing down, averaging just 68 yards a game, opposed to 78 last year and 99 the year before. He’s still effective, but he might be the biggest reason for Seattle’s offensive slumber.

Now take a look at the wide receiving core. Doug Baldwin, Jermaine Kearse, Kevin Norwood, Ricardo Lockette, and Paul Richardson. How many of those names stand out to you? How many are capable of making a big play? There answer to those questions is yet to be revealed, and it’s playing a huge role in the Seahawks poor third down efficiency this year.

The defense would be the best in the league, but they’re battling injuries to key players. Stud cornerback Byron Maxwell hasn’t played since October 12^th, which that the Legion of Boom hasn’t been together since the first quarter of Seattle’s week 6 loss to Dallas. In addition to Maxwell, linebacker Bobby Wagner has been out since week 6 as well, and Malcolm Smith is out of action for the next couple weeks.

The NFL fan base, along with myself, might be jumping the gun on Seattle. However, there are issues than cannot be avoided this year, and it might be taking a toll on everybody.

They currently sit on a 5-3 record, which is good for the sixth seed if the playoffs were to start today. But there are a handful of dangerous teams behind them including division opponent San Francisco, and if they aren’t careful they can easily slip out of a playoff spot.

Considering they’ve kept everything on the down low this year, there may be even more issues within Seattle than we are aware of. They might be over the hump now, but it’s definitely worth keeping an eye on in the latter half of this season.