Revisiting the Field Gulls staff’s predictions for the 2022 Seahawks

When Russell Wilson was traded and the quarterback competition was down to Geno Smith and Drew Lock, there were pretty much no expectations that the Seattle Seahawks would be a good football team in 2022. Thanks in part to a genuinely terrific season so far from Smith, plus a draft class that could be one of the greatest in franchise history, the Seahawks are 6-3 and lead the NFC West at the halfway point of the season.

The over/under win total for the season was 5.5, which put Seattle in “one of the worst teams in the league” category. That number has already been exceeded and there’s hope that greater things are to come out of this group.

Before the season began the Field Gulls staff made predictions on the Seahawks’ win-loss record, and let’s just say that almost all of us whiffed just as much as non-Seahawks pundits.

Here’s mine, which turned out to have a lot of things go right that I didn’t think would go right:

Too many things have to go right for the Seahawks to be a good team. Geno Smith and/or Drew Lock have to perform at a level somewhere better than bottom-ten in the league; the offensive line with two rookie tackles will have to continue its success from the preseason; the rushing attack surge from Rashaad Penny last year will have to sustain itself in 2022; the defense will need to be above-average (DVOA and EPA/play, not just points per game); bad in-game decisions (going for it vs. punting, timeout management, etc.) made by the coaching staff have to be kept to a minimum. Hell, the rest of the NFC West having a big downturn probably has to happen, too.

The only way I see Pete Carroll and/or John Schneider in serious job jeopardy is if they are so terrible without key injuries that they’re picking at or very close to 1st overall. There’s enough talent (Metcalf, Lockett, Diggs, Adams, etc.) and potential (Bryant, Taylor, Cross, Lucas, etc.) to avoid total rock bottom... I think. Seattle doesn’t have the depth to overcome bad injuries, bad coaching decisions, and certainly not bad quarterbacking. 6-11, last in the NFC West.

I’d like to take credit for being wrong about also kinda right about what needed to happen for Seattle to be good, but I didn’t even mention Kenneth Walker III in my write-up and I still said 6-11 anyway.

Here are the overall predictions for the staff:

Mookie Alexander: 6-11
John P. Gilbert: 6-11
Tyler Alsin: 5-12
John Fraley: 5-11-1
Lyle Goldstein: 4-13/5-12
Devin Csigi: 5-12
Stan Taylor: 7-10
Terrance Robinson: Best case of 10-7 and playoffs, worst case 7-10 no playoffs
Frank T. Raines: 9-8 and no playoffs

Frank had written a three-part series on how Seattle could exceed last year’s 7-10 mark, win double-digit games, and even win the NFC West. They’re two wins away from bettering the 2021 team and four wins away from a 10-win season. The NFC West figures to be a tight contest between Seattle and the San Francisco 49ers. It may come down to their December 15th rematch on Thursday Night Football.

Just about all of us have to take an L with all of these Ws the Seahawks have racked up. But I want to close this out by highlighting a comment from “Soggyblogger” about Geno Smith. Depending on how the rest of the season goes this could be one of the most bang-on predictions in Field Gulls history.

Here’s to an exciting second half of the season and more wins to come! Speaking of wins, let’s bump that over/under win total prediction a bit in this Sided debate poll: