Three biggest reasons for worry for Seahawks in 2020
By Lee Vowell
Seahawks face some good offenses with not great defense
In 2020, the Seahawks will go up against top 13 offenses nine times. So over half the schedule will see a team capable of beating Seattle with their offense. And this doesn’t include the Arizona Cardinals who looked good offensively late in 2019 against Seattle. Four of the road games – half of Seattle’s road schedule – are against top 13 offenses from this past year.
In 2019, Seattle went 7-1 on the road. This was unlikely because the Seahawks were just 4-4 at home. Losing just one game on the road next season seems not logical, so Seattle will need to find another path to the playoffs. The problem is that Seattle’s defense was not good and may not be again next season.
Let me be more clear: if the Seahawks defense is better it will be because they found better players because the coaching will not be better. Ken Norton Jr. was a bad defensive coordinator in Oakland for three years and he has been a bad defensive coordinator in Seattle for two more. I have no faith that Norton will suddenly figure out how to stop good offenses.
Seattle needs to have a better pass rush next year and a better Tre Flowers, too. But unless the coaching leadership gets better, both the pass rush and Flowers might improve but the results of Seattle’s defense are likely to remain the same. Norton Jr.’s defenses ranked no higher than 22nd in the NFL and since he came to Seattle his defense has gotten worse (16th in 2018 and 26th in 2019).