Seahawks can't look past these dangerous trap games in 2024

Every season has its share of trap games; the ones that look like easy wins but turn out to be brutal slogs. The Seattle Seahawks need to be wary of these four contests in 2024.

Ah yes, the trap game. We all love them; right, 12s? Just a few years ago, Bob Condotta zeroed in on the Lions game for 2021. As it turned out, that was one of the few times the brilliant Condotta was wrong, as Seattle stomped Detroit 51-29. The entire season was a trap, as the Hawks posted their first losing season in ten years. That 2021 season was full of trap games - or maybe the team just wasn't that good.

I only mention Condotta's exceedingly rare misstep to point out how difficult it can be to predict trap games before we've even reached minicamp. To his credit, he also pointed to the game in Washington as the worst trip, and it certainly was that - a 15-17 loss. Note the date of his prediction, May 12th. I've got almost a week's advantage on him, so I have no excuse if I punt on my predictions. Let's jump into the terrifying future, 12s!

Seattle Seahawks can't overlook these opponents in 2024

New York Giants - Week 5

We'll have a pretty good idea of how good the Seahawks might be by this game. They'll have faced two bad teams, the Broncos and Pats, and two good ones, the Dolphins and Lions. The 2024 schedule does them no favors; this is the first bite. Seattle faces New York in a road game, so that's a plus. The Giants haven't been a particularly good team for a while now. And the starting quarterback for the Jints will almost certainly be Drew Lock, an opponent the Hawks know very well.

What makes this a trap game? It's sandwiched between the road game in Detroit on Monday Night Football and their first division game - and it's against the Niners. That's bad enough, as the Giants are clearly outclassed by the two division winners from last season. Even worse, the Seahawks are hosting the 49ers on Thursday Night Football. The home game is nice, but jumping from a short week to an even shorter week for the Niners matchup might tempt some to look past the Giants game as an easy win. As we've seen all too often, there's no such thing in the NFL until the final whistle.

Atlanta Falcons - Week 7

I almost didn't include this game for one very good reason: Kirk Cousins. Yeah, he's only 2-4 versus the Hawks over his career, but it's not exactly his fault. In those six games, he threw 10 TDs vs 2 INTs and completed 65 percent of his passes for 1,586 yards. Those aren't stellar stats, no. Per game, that works out to 264 yards, and basically two touchdowns and no turnovers. With a good defense, that's going to win most games. His teams scored 127 points in those six games, the Hawks scored 143. So the average score was 24-21. last I checked, Cousins doesn't play defense/

However, Cousins is with a new team now, along with his inexplicable backup, Michael Penix. The Falcons have recorded three straight 7-10 seasons and haven't had a winning record since 2017. By the way, Dan Quinn, the guy so many 12s wanted, was responsible for three of those losing seasons. So while the Falcons aren't the worst team in the league, they're far from the best. It's another 10 am game on the East Coast - more or less - and it's between that first meeting with the Niners and another potential Super Bowl contender, the Bills. Yeah, it's a trap.

New York Jets - Week 13

Yes, it's a long stretch between trap games, at least as I see it. It's a tough schedule, and there just aren't any "gimmes" until late in the year. This one is on the road between games with Cards in weeks 12 and 14. Granted, the Cardinals haven't exactly been world-beaters and earthshakers of late.

They're coming off back-to-back 4-13 seasons, after all. But they typically give the Hawks fits, as we know all too well. By consensus, they had a great draft this year, and all those rookies will have had most of the season to acclimate to the speed of the NFL by Week 12 when we first face them. Division games simply aren't trap games.

As for the other guys in New York, the Jets have been awful. They haven't had a winning season since 2015. Under head coach Robert Saleh, they've had a good defense, but that offense is atrocious. Their highest ranking for points scored is 28th in the league over the past five years. I'm sure the Seahawks defenders can't wait to crush that offense to the turf. By the way, Seattle has a 6-0 record at MetLife Stadium. Another reason why this is a huge trap game.

Chicago Bears - Week 17

This will be the Hawks' second Thursday night game of the season, so Seattle will be coming into another road game with a short practice week. Yes, the Bears have been bad lately. Chicago hasn't posted a winning record since 2018. But like the Cards, they had brought in a pretty good haul in this year's draft, led by the consensus top quarterback, Caleb Williams.

Yes, he'll still be a rookie, but Williams will have had almost a full season under his belt by Week 17. The Seahawks will be focused on a (hopefully) meaningful season finale on the road versus the Rams in Week 18. A playoff berth or even the NFC West title may be riding on the outcome against the Lambs. So they have to be focused in Chicago, or the last game might not matter. I have a feeling Mike Macdonald won't allow that to happen for any of these contests.

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