| 12 January 2012
The Seattle Seahawks finished the second year of the Pete Carroll era at 7-9, however, this year that record wasn’t nearly enough to send Seattle to the postseason. The future of the team is finally looking bright again. Obviously there are still issues with personnel and needs at certain positions on the roster, especially at quarterback.
Before making decisions on who to bring in, who to let go, and who to draft it is important to look at the shortcomings of this year and how they can be corrected.
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Here are a few major things the Seahawks will have to change next season if they want to march back into the post-season:
Reclaiming Home-field Advantage
The 12th man was still loud and proud this season as Qwest Field became CenturyLink field. This season the Seahawks failed to continue its usual home dominance with a home record of 4-4. Dominating at home has been a signature of Seahawks football since Qwest Field opened in 2002. The Seahawks have made the playoffs six times since then, and each time they've had a winning record at home.
Even last year when they made the playoffs at 7-9 they had a 5-3 record at home. The Seahawks hurt themselves at home repeatedly because of penalties. Seattle was the second most penalized team in the league this year. The Seahawks will have some tough opponents at home next year including New England and Green Bay. In order to achieve a winning record at home the Seahawks need to be more relaxed on offense knowing that their young hard-hitting defense coupled with the noise at Centurylink field will force opponent’s offenses into making mistakes.
Winning the Games that should be Won
The Seahawks pulled off some impressive victories this year. Beating the Giants in New York and Baltimore at home were signature wins for the team. These games proved that this team is capable of beating playoff-calibur teams regardless of whether they are playing at home or on the road. However, these wins didn’t mean anything because the Seahawks dropped games to teams like Cleveland and Washington.
There are numerous excuses to be made about the Browns game such as being without Marshawn Lynch and Tarvaris Jackson. There are not as many excuses that can be made for letting a 10-point fourth quarter lead slip away against the Redskins. Regardless of the situation, the Seahawks need to find a way to win these games, this starts with consistency.
Seattle had a very up-and down year. This team needs to play every game like they have a chip on their shoulder. Playing with an edge should be easy for a team full of young players led by an unproven head coach in Pete Carroll.
Winning the Division is no longer the only Option
There has been a long standing idea in Seattle that the only way into the postseason is winning the NFC West. This has been an acceptable idea to this point since the division has been in the basement of the NFL for the last decade. However, with the NFC West on the rise, the Seahawks need to start believing that they can win a wildcard spot.
The two wild card teams this year, Detriot and Atlanta, featured high powered offenses. In fact, every NFC playoff team, with exception of San Francisco, has a high scoring offense. Even other teams that were on the bubble like the Eagles and Cowboys regularly put up big points. In order to compete with these teams for wild card spots, the Seahawks have to build their team to either match or shutdown high-powered offenses on a regular basis.
What big problems from the 2011 season do you think the Seahawks need to think about when making off-season moves?
