I wouldn’t mind him improving just a bit.

Which will help out the passing game early on in giving them favorable and manageable downs, which is what I think they will rely on the running game most for early in the game. Could be as simple as a lot of 3, 4, 5 yard gashes. I’ve heard several places recently about zone blocking taking awhile and that most of the long runs will occur later on, when the defense is worn out from being put on the ground a lot, and that’s partly why in the preseason the run game has looked pretty poor thus-far (that and the o-line not yet figuring out how to cut block). The defensive line in the second half of the preseason comes in with fresh legs. I am not absolutely sure if this is true (I’m far from an expert), but it seems to make some sense at least.

…if the coaching staff will insert a better pass-rusher next to him, ie: Redding, etc?

Any time I see Terrill in a game, I hold my breath, as I know our d-line is about to be punked.

we’re actually pretty healthy. Two guys sat out practice, and then there’s the three significant injuries (Walt, Tru, Spence). Feels like it was a lot worse than 5 to us kneejerkers.

We so often hear Ruskell described as stubborn,egotistical and wedded to the players he’s brought in. Until you mentioned it, I hadn’t thought of Duckett as the perfect counterexample.

And I know virtually nothing about Bennett…

If Manning’s receivers can’t step up, I could see Hasselbeck and co. winning a shootout.

I’m not sure if that crowd is as noisy now that there team is bad but it has a reputation of being incredibly loud.

That said, Kerney’s unavailability only partially explains the drop. When Kerney left, players replaced him and got sacks, meaning that Kerney’s 9.5 sack defecit was probably more like a ~6 sack deficit. Even if they hadn’t, Seattle as a team dropped 10 sacks, which is more than the difference from Kerney alone, so sacks were being “lost” for other reasons as well. I do think though that the difference between a career year and an injured year from the teams only dominating (10+ sack potential) front four pass rusher had a huge impact on the totals, in much the same way that injuries to Hasselbeck and the WR had such a brutal impact on the passing game.

I think some of that will come back. Kerney was on pace for more than 10 sacks before his injury. Kerney will decline from age, but I think if he plays 16 games, he should be worth 5-10 sacks over a full season, unless he completely tanks or he utterly fails to adjust.

Still, when you look at the 2007 team and its success, its pass rush was one of the biggest reasons for it, and Kerney’s career year was a big reason for the team managing 45 sacks. Simply put, without Kerney the team does not get to 45 sacks in 2007, and probably not even 40 sacks unless his replacement was worth 10 sacks. Because we can safely assume that 14.5 sacks from Kerney is extremely unlikely in 2009, that’s one area where matching the 2007 performance and totals will be very difficult. Not impossible, but for the team to maintain the 2007 pass rush, they’d need the rest of the defense to pick up an extra ~5-10 sacks, unless Kerney goes nuts again.

Just a closer, realistic look at other positions and an honest comparison of 07 to 09 (thus far).

There is a big difference.

Anyway,

Regarding Bernard, if you want to rag on Bernard for having 4 sacks last year, keep in mind that’s more sacks than Cole has for his career. I’m definitely not a fan of the D-line moves, actually wasn’t a big fan of anything on defense except for the coaching changes. I actually wrote out my reasons in great detail why but it was obscenely long, so I deleted it (cliff notes version: Brian Fucking Russell, didn’t like JP/Curry tradeoff short-term, Cole is bad and will get too many reps, Tapp and Bryant are good but will get too few). I’ll just leave it at that. In fairness to your argument, I don’t think Cole/Mebane will combine for 9.5 sacks like Bernard/Mebane did in 2008, but then again, this isn’t about 2008, its about 2007. And in 2007 they combined for 5.5. 2009 Cole/Mebane should be able to match if not exceed 5.5. I still think that Cole is probably worse than Bernard, but technically it will not hurt the pass rush vs. 2007.

Regarding Reed: As much as I like the kid, lets wait until we see what he can do against 1st team O-lineman in real games before we crown him. Nick Reed had like 30 sacks the last two years for a prominent, ranked BCS conference team, and yet he still went nearly undrafted. The reason is because, even if he can sack the QB in the pros, his size is such a liability that he won’t be able to start and will only play in situational, pass rushing downs, similar to Craig Terrill. I feel that Reed definitely has value to this team and I’ll be incensed if he doesn’t make the final 53, but because of how his opportunities will be very limited, I don’t expect him to have a major impact on the sack totals.

Tatupu had a career year in 2007, and career years are very hard to live up to. Since that time, a lot has happened, a huge contract, a DUI, a ton of injuries, a poor 2008 performance, and a new defense with a new DC. I agree that more size in the front four will help Tatupu, but it will still be a huge challenge equaling his best year ever.

JP and Hill combined for 12.5 sacks in 2007. Curry averaged 2 sacks a season at Wake Forest, and Hill has averaged 2 sacks a year since moving to weakside LB. I’d be shocked, no, giddy, if Curry and Hill combined for 12.5 sacks this year, especially since the team will be blitzing linebackers less. This is probably the area where I am most expecting to see a drop off from 2007.

There are plenty of things where I think the 2009 team is better than 2007: WR, RB, TE, and arguably even the O-line and CB’s depending on how the Jones/Trufant/Spencer injuries pan out. I don’t expect Hasselbeck to throw for almost 4000 yards and 28 TD’s again, especially since this offense will be almost as run happy as it was pass happy in 2007. That said, it could still be a very efficient pass offense that helps the team control the game, even if it doesn’t light up the stat sheet. I think it will be a good pass offense, and being top 10 is possible if the team adjusts its play calling to match its strengths.

I also think the pass rush will be good, or about as good as it was in 2008 (10th in NFL for sacks), but I don’t think it has almost any chance of being 2007 good (4th). When you look at the reasons for Seattle’s 45 sacks in 2007, those reasons are diminished or downsized in 2009. I mean it could happen, but of the 5 things on this list, this team getting 45 sacks would shock me the most.

Engram was the go-to guy, he didn’t have a TE he could trust (F-U Pollard) and the starting RB couldn’t catch even when he didn’t have giant cast on.

It’s like when Adrian Beltre hit 48 homers with a broken foot, he was healthy the next 5 years but never hit more than 26 after that despite missing very few games and staying mostly healthy.

Hasselbeck is recovering from a back problem which could return at any time, as is the nature of back problems. He’s also 34, right about where non-HOF QB’s experience career death. Hasselbeck’s arm was pathetically weak and inaccurate last year. Seneca Wallace dramatically outplayed Hasselbeck with the same terrible WR group.

Currently Hasselbeck is healthy and looking good. He’s always relied on his intelligence more than his arm to win games, which is the only reason that I have any faith in him after last season, WR or no. I think Hasselbeck definitely has it in him to be a good QB for another year or two but there is an awful lot that can go wrong, he’s one of the riskiest “good” QB’s in the league. So while I do think he has the potential to have another good/great season, the chances of him collapsing again is probably equally high if not higher. Overall, I take the good with the bad, and I’m simply hoping that he can stay healthy and lead a slightly above average passing offense.

WR-wise, 2007 was not that bad. What Engram lacked he made up for with chemistry with Hasselbeck, to the tune of 1147 yards. Don’t get me wrong, I think TJ Housh is the man, a great fit for this team and an awesome WR. But he averaged 9.7 yards per catch last year and at that rate, he’d need almost 120 catches to surpass Engram’s 2007. I think more realistically, Housh will end up with 800-1000 yards. Burleson also had a pretty stellar year, with 10 TD’s. I’d also take Hackett and his nearly 100 yards per game over Butler as a rookie. I think that the WR’s are better this year than 2007 in terms of talent, but not necessarily on production.