How Seahawks will get most out of Russell Wilson in 2021
By Andy Excell
Will the Seahawks defense lead the way?
The Legion of Boom were in their prime from 2010-2015 and you could easily make an argument for them being as much a factor, or more of a factor, in the Seahawks success during that period as Russell Wilson.
Re-creating such a formidable unit containing the likes of Earl Thomas, Richard Sherman, Kam Chancellor and Marcus Trufant in the embryonic stage of the LOB is no easy matter and probably a once in a lifetime thing. However the defence has not been good enough, particularly in the last couple of seasons.
Improving it would once again gain take pressure off Wilson to score on every drive, and maybe reduce some of the overly risky passes that crept into his game last season that resulted in a single-season career-high of 13 interceptions.
Some data to support this downward trend is provided by the points allowed per game by Seattle compared with that years super bowl winners.
2013 – 11.6 as Seattle won the Lombardi Trophy.
2014 – 12.1, New England allowed 19.7 per game
2015 – 13.2, Denver allowed 18.5 per game
2016 – 14.5, New England allowed 15.6 per game
2017 – 15.7, Philly allowed 18.4 per game
2018 – 16.5, New England allowed 20.3 per game
2019 – 24.9, KC allowed 19.3 per game
2020 – 23.2, Tampa allowed 22.2 per game
It should be noted that Tampa allowed 18.75 points per game for their final four regular-season games and 19.5 per game in the playoff run last season.
Until a slight reduction last season the upward trend over the previous 7 seasons is clear. and alarmingly so post 2018.
Yes, some of this is due to the general trend in the NFL, but the average points allowed by a super bowl winning team over the last eight seasons is 18.2, and if we take the improved end to the Bucs season last year then a successful team needs to allow 20 points or less per game.
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Coach Carroll and defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr need to find a way to have 3 points per game minimum off of this number in order for Russell Wilson to construct the legacy he is undoubtedly worthy of.