Time has a way of healing most wounds. Removed from the Seahawks elimination by the Atlanta Falcons, it's time to look at the season that was. Let's look at what went right, what could have gone better and the outlook for the 2013-2014 season.
What went right has to begin with Russell Wilson. On draft day all fans and most insiders believed that the Hawks had selected a long-term prospect with the third round choice of their young quarterback. The admittedly poised young man had a laundry list of questions attached.
1. Would his journey from North Carolina State to baseball back to N.C. State and finally to Wisconsin have retarded his development? It has happened before.
2. Is he too short? Wilson is listed at 5'11". Doesn't that usually mean 5'10"? 5' 9 1/2"? Are we dealing with Spud Webb here?
3. Would the gazillion million dollars that the Hawks paid to Matt Flynn make some of the decision makers queasy at the thought of Wilson as the starter? Money talks, and in sports it usually says, "Play me."
The answers to these questions turned out to be no, no, and no. Wilson went from "Russell who?" to the face of the Seattle franchise for the decade to come. He turned out to be just as collected as advertised and was leaving receivers "suggestions" at their lockers from the first game of the regular season. Pete Carroll rolled the dice and came up sevens, all year long.
What went wrong isn't so much of an indictment on anything as a need for what went right to have gone right sooner. The Seahawks ended the season as a Wild Card team, which is a hard road to the Super Bowl. The reason that was the case is because of offensive struggles early in the season.
The final NFL statistics show Seattle at 17th offensively. That's one spot below halfway. Seattle struggled early in the year, especially offensively, when playing away from home. Which turned out to mean that even the thrilling Sunday night win over San Francisco wasn't enough to win the division and host playoff games.
Looking ahead, the future looks dazzlingly bright for the Seattle Seahawks. The rivalry with the 49ers should be epic for the next several years, as the two teams battle for conference supremacy. How long 'til camp opens?
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