2011 Eagles vs 2013 Seahawks: Drop the “Dream Team” Off at the Quickstop Pitstop

Feb 22, 2013; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll speaks at a press conference during the 2013 NFL Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

We’ve started down the path of no return, as yesterday Matthew Christensen officially took our media outlet and dubbed the Seahawks the new “Dream Team”. Granted it’s not a moniker he incurred personally, he was reporting things that the fans are talking about, but now it’s going to go viral, you just know it is. While it’s a bit funny on the surface as a fan, you never want to get caught in this mentality (obviously) as a player, coach or team. It’s important for the Seahawks to stay humble and hungry no matter how good they think they might be and I’ll tell you why the Seahawks will do exactly that.

Matthew already mentioned the whole 2011 Eagles deal yesterday in his article so I won’t get too into the “what” of where we are. But I do want to point out some small similarities and differences between the teams, not stat related. This doesn’t really prove anything, but is fun food for thought in this way-too-early stage before the Draft.

Andy Reid made the mistake of allowing his team to go on and on with the whole “dream team” moniker, which just put all kinds of pressure on them and also pissed off their opponents, especially in the East division. After not winning a single conference road game last season it’s just not smart to go around flaunting how good you are to those teams. I don’t remember if that was Philly’s deal, but that’s the case of Seattle right now. I think it’s safe to say that the Seahawks have a chip on their shoulder about that, but just to reiterate the point, do not piss off the West teams fellas!

Carroll won’t hear of it. Seattle hasn’t accomplished anything yet and that’s the way he’s always approached the new season. The franchise still doesn’t have a Super Bowl ring and nobody on the roster has experienced a Super Bowl win. Heck, if Trufant doesn’t come back I don’t think anyone on the roster has even been to that stage and most have only experienced a single playoff win. Remember Carroll has been a Championship caliber coach at USC. Granted it’s not the same level, but to some degree, it’s just football. He also carries an NFL resume around after coaching in New York, so he knows how to deal with the approach to hype on the season. Or probably better yet, how not to. That goes for the entire coaching staff.

He’s doing the same thing here as he did at USC and this team will come out hungry each and every season that he is in Seattle, no matter who is on the roster. He teaches and preaches “we are the underdog” and I guarantee that will be the mantra as long as the Fighting Harbaugh’s are in the division. Let’s not forget they are the returning NFC Champions and probably think they have a “Dream Team” going on down there, too, after that Anquan Boldin trade.

Soon I have a feeling St. Louis is going to jump up into the Playoff discussion as well and you just cannot go to sleep if you’re Seattle. It really feels like the new Pittsburgh/Baltimore/Cincinnati, before Baltimore became a championship team. In that scenario, Seattle is not Pittsburgh.

I don’t think Russell Wilson will hear of it either. If anyone realizes how difficult it is to get all the way to the top, it’s him because of the way he approaches the game. More comparisons to the 2011 Eagles. Russell is a much harder worker than Michael Vick, bar-none, not to mention a better overall quarterback who is more adept at using his play-makers than Vick was/is. The ex-Atlanta and current Philadelphia quarterback is the better overall athlete probably, but that’s about it. Point being Russell Wilson will not get sucked up in the hype and become complacent, he’s too focused on the “now” and getting better tomorrow than he is today.

And finally, the defense won’t hear of it. They still feel slighted and quite honestly, they should. They weren’t the number one defense, they were number four, there are still some teams that are outplaying them and there’s still some East Coast Bias when it comes to this group. Then there’s the memory of the game against Atlanta, which was simply lost on the defensive side of the ball. Oh by the way, the Falcons are getting better too, so it might be fair to say (though I certainly don’t believe it) that Seattle is still only the third best team in the NFC.

There’s also the whole Sherman vs Revis vs everybody “on an island” thing going on. By the way, is this really a thing? If stats tell any real story, it’s that Sherman is both off to a much better start to his career than Revis, as well as a better player right now. Revis does have the excuse of injury, but that’s kind of something that goes along with it, is it not? And what about the loss of Clem for a time? Avril and Bennett make up some of that production, but Clem is still the best pass rusher on the team who can use more than just the speed rush to get to the quarterback.

Anyway we’re looking into this whole “Dream Team” thing, I hope it gets abandoned at the Quickstop Pitstop. There are still a lot of things to work on, a lot of things the Seahawks do well but not great, a lot of probably’s and a lot more guys that still think they’re the team to beat down in the Bay. Most importantly, there’s a whole lot of empty fingers around the facility, so there’s work yet to be done!

What do you think 12th Man? Should we run with this “Dream Team” mentality and have some fun while we can or should we put it down to rest, at least until Seattle has a Lombardi Trophy in its’ case?