RENTON — Can the Seahawks survive life without Russell Wilson?
The general consensus around the NFL seems to be no, at least for 2022.
The updated over-under win total for the Seahawks in Las Vegas is just 5.5, via VegasInsider.com. Only two teams, Atlanta and Houston, have lower totals, each at 4.5.
Sports Illustrated has even lower hopes for Seattle, recently predicting the Seahawks to go 3-14, which if it happened would tie the woeful 1992 team for most losses in team history (with one more win thanks to the 17-game schedule).
So yes, consider this the season of low — if not, no — expectations.
It’s a season that gets underway Monday at 5:15 p.m. at Lumen Field when Wilson and the Denver Broncos roll (or, to use Wilson’s new slogan, ride) into town.
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The reaction among the Seahawks to the low expectations is what you’d expect — and if you’re a fan, hope for — with player after player stating they plan to defy them.
“Hey, if they don’t think that we’re going to be good, we don’t have nothing to lose,” said receiver Tyler Lockett, now the longest-tenured player on the team, drafted in 2015. “Those are the scariest teams to play against is teams that don’t got nothing to lose, but everything to gain.”
Said fellow receiver DK Metcalf: “I think a lot of people outside of this building have a lot to say, but the only thing that matters is us, because we practice with each other. We have to deal with each other on a daily basis. A lot of people are going to be surprised by what we do this year.”
But skepticism of the Seahawks as they venture into the post-Wilson era is warranted until the NFL world sees how a lot of their other new parts come together.
Here are other questions the Seahawks will have to answer before anyone can know if they can thrive without Wilson.
Can Geno Smith play winning football?
The Seahawks don’t need Smith to be Wilson but they do need him to be efficient and as mistake-free as possible. As Smith said this week, he’s learned that more NFL games are lost than they are won — a sentiment right in line with Pete Carroll’s beliefs.
“I expect him to be really solid,” Carroll said Friday of Smith. “I expect him to run the offense just like he has been doing it all along. I think he’s well experienced. He’s been around a long time. He’ll be poised about it and he’s in command of it. And he’s seen a lot of the looks throughout the time we’ve been together in this camp. So, he’s ready to go. I expect him to play well.”
Can the two rookie offensive tackles — left tackle Charles Cross and right tackle Abraham Lucas — make a quick adjustment to the NFL?
Cross and Lucas will get a stiff test right off the bat in Denver rushers Bradley Chubb and Randy Gregory, while also being tasked to help Seattle produce a running game to keep the ball from Wilson as much as possible.
Carroll is confident Cross and Lucas can hit the ground running.
“They are ready,” Carroll said. “They are ready to roll, and they will get better as they go. There is a lot for them to learn and I think the main lessons will be, ‘I can handle this, I’m okay.’ They looked like it and we are anticipating them to play well.”
Will the changes to the defense result in improvement?
Somewhat lost in the Wilson hype this week is that the Seahawks on Monday will fully unveil their new defense, featuring more 3-4 looks and what first-year coordinator Clint Hurtt has promised will be an overall more aggressive attack. Seattle also will likely show more three-safety alignments to get Jamal Adams closer to the line of scrimmage — all, hopefully, meaning a stouter defense than the one that last year ranked 28th in the NFL in yards allowed.
Will the team’s speed show up?
Carroll said again Saturday that he thinks this is the fastest team he has had in Seattle.
“It just seems like every part of our game seems faster,” Carroll said.
But will that show up in the team’s play on gameday?
All questions that may take longer than one night to answer.
What the Seahawks now for sure is that after Monday night, Wilson and the trade and the seven months of discussion that have followed will finally be over.
“Just leaving the practice field, I made a quick mention to the guys, ‘We’ve been at this for the long time, and it’s finally arrived. The wait is over,’” Carroll said following Saturday’s practice. “It’s an opportunity to look back and be grateful for all of the work that we had, the guys that you work with, the guys that you grow with, the stuff that we’ve learned, and all of that. That’s really where I feel right now, we’re there and we’re ready. We are primed for this thing to start up.”