Seattle is a bad team. Preseason hope notwithstanding, I think that was an accurate estimate of what this team would be this year. The offense has withered and the defense has not yet become a dominant unit. It's young and I am not disappointed with how it played today.
Seahawks fans might be a bit entitled. Most young fans adopted Seattle when the team was good. It took a lot of bad to get there. That is the ebb and flow of the NFL.
The foundation of the offense collapsed last season. Years of top heavy drafting and fruitless free agent spending forced a complete rebuild of the defense. Seattle is in a position where it needs to do likewise with its offense. Tim Ruskell attempted to prop up a sagging unit with veterans, stop gaps and polished draft picks.
Years of IOUs have come due the last two seasons. Alexander Pushkin said "The lie that exalts us is dearer than a thousand sober truths." A lot of fans used to winning grasped for reasons Seattle would rebound this season. The injuries continued. The offense collapsed in pieces. The defense is not able, may never be able, to carry the Seahawks without an offense.
If we audit the offense with a serious eye to the future, Seattle has five, maybe six players it can build around: Chris Spencer, Rob Sims, John Carlson, Nate Burleson, Max Unger and maybe Sean Locklear. That is desperation thin.
Ruskell has never had a chance to build the Seahawks offense. It is up to Paul Allen if he will be trusted with that this offseason. Ruskell could be criticized for ignoring the offense. That is a complex argument, but one worth exploring in detail. What we do know is that Ruskell has little experience building an offense and it is not considered his strength.
But the team moves on. A lot of the talent we are attached to will leave or be purged. The schemes will tighten as the coaches and players become more confident in each other. Seattle is a team in transition. It doesn't look stuck in the perennial losing of the 2000-era 49ers or Lions. We may not know that until this time next season.
It was a good run, but it's over. The Seahawks are dead. Long live the Seahawks.
Game Ball: Jordan Babineaux
David Hawthorne had the best game, but Babineaux may have had the most important game. Babineaux finally played like a safety. He filled in the run game. He was in position to attack the pass. I do not know if Seattle sticks with Babineaux, but for the first time in his career as a free safety, he gave the Seahawks reason to.