Are the Seattle Seahawks now the favorite to win the NFC West?
October 6, 2010 by ericschmidt
Filed under Latest News, NFC, Seattle Seahawks, West
Should the Seattle Seahawks be considered the favorite to win the NFC West this season? Yesterday, the Seahawks executed a trade with the Buffalo Bills exchanging a 4th round pick in 2011 and a conditional pick in 2012 for RB Marshawn Lynch. After acquiring Lynch, the Seattle Seahawks released Julius Jones. This trade immediately upgrades the Seahawks running game which has been extremely poor so far this season. Seattle is only averaging 79.5 yards per game on the ground.
Overall, the Seattle offense is in the bottom third of the league, ranked 21st in passing and 27th on the ground. QB Matt Hasselbeck is coming to the end of his career and has played poorly so far this season. Hasselbeck has only thrown 4 touchdowns against 6 interceptions and has been sacked 9 times. Seattle heads into a bye this week, but they should start thinking about giving QB Charlie Whitehurst more reps at practice.
The addition of Lynch, who according to reports will play next week for Seattle, should help to improve the passing game. RB Leon Washington showed fans he is completely recovered from his leg injury of last season after returning two kicks for touchdowns two weeks ago.
Seattle is playing in the worst division in the NFL. Preseason favorite San Francisco is 0-4, Arizona has quarterback issues and the St. Louis Rams, despite being 2-2 are starting rookie Sam Bradford at quarterback. Bradford is showing promise, but temper your expectations. The biggest problem for Seattle so far in this young season has been playing on the road.
A 9-7 record might actually win the West division so at some point the Seahawks are going to have to show that they can play on the road, Seattle is averaging 8.5 points per game. On paper, the St. Louis game should have been a win, but all they could muster was three points.
The addition of Marshawn Lynch will help the Seahawks, and they now should be considered the favorite to win a division which really isn’t very good. If they could just find a way to play all 16 games at home, they could be a powerhouse.
