Sports Illustrated seriously does not like the Seahawks in 2019

Are the Seahawks going to make the playoffs in 2019? According to Sports Illustrated, Seattle will not even have a winning record.

I think what Sports Illustrated may have done this week is simply cut and pasted their NFC West prediction from 2018 into 2019. Last season SI thought the Rams would go 12-4, the 49ers 10-6 and the Seahawks 7-9 (no one cares about the Cardinals). SI has the same prediction for 2019. The magazine is wrong.

The NFL is mostly about two things: Head coaches and quarterbacks. Seattle has the best quarterback in the division in Russell Wilson. Put him on any other team in the division and they get better and that includes the Rams. The argument could also be made, based on length of success, that Pete Carroll is the best head coach in the NFC West. Sean McVay might have his acolytes. But the other two coaches in the division, whomever they are, are in their first or second seasons and far too inexperienced to even compare to Carroll.

The reason that SI gives for the non-success of the Seahawks this year is a lack of pass rush. This might be the case but SI is incorrect in their phrasing. What they spell out, according to the magazine I just got in the mail, is

"With top defensive lineman Jarran Reed suspended six game for a domestic violence incident, Frank Clark departed to Kansas City and first-round rookie L.J. Collier missing from training camp with a sprained right ankle, the Seahawks simply have no pass-rushing juice, especially early in the season."

I doubled and tripled and quadrupled checked the one page write-up of Seattle. No mention of Ziggy Ansah. I get that Jacob Martin wasn’t a part. He hasn’t shown enough. But Ansah? He has been inconsistently great and has the potential to be fully fantastic again. Seattle signed him as a free agent this offseason. That is some juice, right?

To be honest, Sports Illustrated’s write-up of Seattle has some decent points. Seattle does need to find some depth at pass rusher. They also need to overcome the loss of Doug Baldwin. But every year outlets who predict an NFL season mis-remember how Wilson has never had a losing season or that Carroll is not a great coach.

One day, Wilson will be in the Hall of Fame and so will Carroll. It is funny how many people like to forget how good they are and how good they are together. The two make Seattle better than most teams. They are a big reason SI is wrong about Seattle (again) in 2019 and a huge reason the Seahawks will make the playoffs this year.