Seahawks To Win 8 Games, More Or Less

by Coltrane

The Vegas over/under for Seahawks wins is 7.5.

The ESPN experts all pick the Seahawks to finish 3rd in the NFC West.  This John Clayton quote is typical of the overall opinions:

DIVISION FINISH: 3 Pete Carroll isn’t loaded with talent as he was as the USC head coach, but he has a nice plan to rebuild the Seahawks. As long as Matt Hasselbeck stays healthy, Carroll could squeeze out seven or eight wins.

Hasselbeck won’t be in Seattle the next time the Seahawks are competitive.  Charlie Whitehurst seems to have the “correct” size, arm, high release, and mobility to be at least an adequate replacement when the time comes.  My concern with Whitehurst (from what little I’ve seen) is that his throws “sail” when he loses his release point.  Jeff Kemp had the same issue when he was with Seattle, and that didn’t turn out well.

What makes the Seahawks a .500 team?  For reference, Scouts.inc grades NFL players on a 1 to 100 scale.   A grade of 90 or above is considered “Elite”; 80-89 is “Outstanding”, and 75-79 is a “Solid Starter.”

The five highest rated Seahawks:

Lofa Tatupu – 79

T.J. Houshmandzadeh – 79

Aaron Curry – 78

Brandon Mebane – 78

Marcus Trufant – 78

And those are the studs.  

Bill Simmons ranks the Seahawks QBs 28th out of the 32-team league.