Absurdly Early Seahawks Season Prediction
By Nick Drage
It may be absurdly early to do so, but it is always fun to look ahead and try to predict the upcoming season for the Seattle Seahawks.
With the SuperBowl over the attention of all NFL fans has turned to free agency, to the combine, and to the draft. However I’d like to go one step beyond those, and show how I expect the Seahawks to fare this year. We already know which teams the Seahawks will be playing in the 2017 season, they’re officially listed here on the NFL.com website.
Of course it’s absurdly early to do this – but if I’m wrong then no-one will remember this article ( like that time last year I didn’t even mention the Falcons as a playoff contender ), and if I’m right, well, I’ll be tweeting a link to this page once a week.
So, how do I see the forthcoming season playing out? Let’s look at those opponents:
Home – 7-1
Arizona Cardinals, Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco 49ers, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Atlanta Falcons
The Seahawks go 3-0 in their division, and 4-1 outside it. They’ll beat Philadelphia, Houston, and Indianapolis, and one of Washington and Atlanta.
A specific prediction: Atlanta do well in 2017 and manage to bounce back from their heart-breaking SuperBowl loss, however the Seahawks rise to the occasion and win by three scores in a game that surprises both teams and pundits alike.
Away – 6-2
Arizona Cardinals, Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans, Green Bay Packers
The Seahawks lose to the Cardinals, because regardless of questions over Carson Palmer, they’re still the Cardinals. However the Seahawks finally beat the Rams twice in the same year. ( I say “finally”, thanks to the indispensable Pro Football Reference we can see this happened as recently as 2013 ; and happened more often than not in the last 12 seasons. It just doesn’t feel that way. )
Seattle beats New York or Dallas, but not both – both teams have problems with free agency, but they were both at playoff level last season. The game against Green Bay is close, but Seattle wins on a last-minute Blair Walsh field goal.
A specific prediction: In the middle of the season the Seahawks are blown away by the Jaguars or the Titans, with many Seattle players hitting season lows statistically. The usual statements along the lines of “wake up call” are trotted out, but turn out to be true this time, and the team suffers no further unexpected losses in the year.
Overall – 13-3
Overall, I make that thirteen wins, yet another division championship, and a high likelihood of home field advantage throughout the playoffs.
The best case is 16-0. While this is unlikely, and proposing it is absurd, looking down the list of teams, I don’t think it’s inconceivable. The Football Outsiders described 2016 as The Year Of No Great Teams and there’s no reason to believe 2017 will be any different. While the Cowboys and Falcons are troubling, neither of them seems indomitable; and the 6-10 Panthers were 15-1 the previous season, showing that such extreme changes in fortune are possible.
The worst case I foresee is 9-7. For this to happen the Seahawks would be surprised by the quality of opponents outside of their division, so still 5-1 against the NFC West, but 4-6 elsewhere. If Philadelphia, Houston, Tennessee, Jacksonville, and the New York Giants all progress as well as their fans hope, 2017 could be a lot more difficult than it looks at the moment. While recent coaching changes, and player choices, are perturbing, I see the Seahawks dropping to 9-7 as a sign of improvement in other teams, not a failure by the Seattle organisation.
Next: Seattle's new LT may now be on the market
The NFL schedule is due to be released around the middle of April ( judging from past release dates ) so the specific order won’t be known for a while; but I’d argue it’s already worth planning for the Seahawks to be in the playoffs.