Seattle Seahawks - NFL Season Information, Trivia and History

2011-12 NFL Season

Second year Head Coach Pete Carroll took his Seahawks to the playoffs last season after a 7-9 record becoming the only team in NFL history to make the playoffs with a 7-9 record and later became the first team in NFL history to win an NFL playoff game with a 7-9 record as they defeated the defending Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints 41-36. There is nowhere to go but up from there.

About 40 players participated in a voluntary workout organized by RB Justin Forsett this spring and while they are in shorts and tee shirts and have zero intensity, free agent QB Matt Hasselbeck takes it all as a very big positive. "Camaraderie builds when players have to take ownership for things when the coaches aren't around," Hasselbeck told the Times in a recent interview. "This year what's been a positive is the brotherhood of NFL football that has come together."

The team is also looking at a new offense and Offensive Coordinator in Darrell Bevell who was an assistant with Hasselbeck while both were with the Packers. "I have been with Darrell in Green Bay," Hasselbeck said. "I really like him as a coach. I love the offense he is installing here. If I was in charge of the offense, it is the offense that I would install. That learning curve would be good. Either way, it's going to be a pretty new coaching staff. There is a lot of change here in Seattle in terms of the roster. They like to change the roster as much as they can, probably in an effort to get younger.”

In the draft, the Seahawks surprised everyone by not selecting a QB as most pundits thought they would. When Coach Carroll was asked about it, he replied "We didn't think we could afford to yet. "You saw us go after a couple guys that were offensive linemen, which is an area that—without that—the quarterback can't play. "We're happy with Charlie (Whitehurst), and hoping he's going to flourish and blossom and all of that. He's a guy in my mind I'm not feeling like we missed out on a quarterback opportunity because Charlie's growing with us. He's just getting started to me," Carroll went on. "I don't care how long he's been around; he's only been able to start a couple times. So he's just a young guy proving himself, and he's going to show us in time where he fits."

Outlook: Coach Carroll is taking his team to the next level. The attitude is there, the swagger is back and the team is looking for better days. The team has a question mark at QB. Will Hasselbeck be resigned or are the rumors of Coach Carroll bringing in his former college QB Matt Leinart into the fold to replace him true? Only the end of the lockout will tell. As GM John Schneider put it recently, "We had a plan going in, and we still have our plan. We just can't execute that plan right now."

Seattle Archives

Since breaking into the National Football League in 1976 the Seattle Seahawks have been anything but a force to be reckoned with. They have had 11 winning seasons, 2 divisional championships, six playoff appearances, no conference championships and no league championships. However, the sun does come up at the end of the night. The Seattle Seahawks of more recent memory are a young up and coming team that has an almost unlimited potential. The team is led by 28 year old signal caller Matt Hasselbeck. Hasselbeck was hand picked by coach Mike Holmgren who was familiar with the quarterback when he was a back up to Brett Favre in Green Bay. Hasselbeck earned his first invitation to Honolulu and was very deserving of it. He passed for 3,841 yards, 26 touchdowns and only 15 interceptions, while completing 61% of his pass attempts. They are also led by their fresh legged running back Shaun Alexander who is the ripe old age of 26. Alexander has averaged 1,309 yards and 14 touchdowns in the three seasons he has been the featured back in the Seahawk offensive attack. He was also named to his first Pro-Bowl along with Hasselbeck, offensive tackle Walter Jones, 30, guard Steve Hutchinson, 26, and wide receiver/special teams specialist Alex Bannister, 25. The youth movement with the Seahawks has made them the trendy pick to dethrone the St. Louis Rams in the NFC West.

Last year the Seahawks stepped back into contention for a Lombardi Trophy. The team finished the season with a 10-6 record which put them in second in the NFC West, behind the Rams, and earned them a playoff game against the Green Bay Packers in the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field. The Seahawks found themselves down 20-27 with a little less than three minutes left in the game. Matt Hasselbeck went 3-5 for 59 yards on the tying drive that was capped off by an Alexander one yard touchdown run. In overtime the Seahawks won the toss and Hasselbeck said, “We want the ball and we’re going to score.”

The Seahawks took the ball and punted it away after three plays and the Packers followed suit when they got the ball. The Hasselbeck completed two passes to get a first down and on third and eleven from the Seattle forty five the unthinkable happened. Packers cornerback picked off a Hasselbeck pass and took it 52 yards the other way to finish the game. After the game Holmgren said “I’m dying inside. It hurts to lose a game like that.”

In the off-season the Seahawks brought in two very high profile players to help give the defense a well needed shot in the arm. Cornerback Bobby Taylor and defensive end Grant Wistrom are two players who have played in and won a great deal of big games in their career and will be looking to do the same in the Emerald City. They also let go of a number of defensive players from the year before like linebacker Randall Godfrey, defensive end Lamar King, defensive tackle John Randle, cornerback Shawn Springs, and strong safety Reggie Tongue.

In the draft the Seahawks started the youth movement of their defense by using four of their seven draft picks on defensive players. With their first two picks they grabbed defensive stopgaps Texas defensive tackle Marcus Tubbs and Florida State outside linebacker Michael Boulware. Boulware will actually see time at the vacant strong safety position because he has the athletic (4.44 40-yard dash) and playmaking ability to be a Pro Bowl strong safety in the league.

The Seattle talent level on offense is rivaled only by their divisional foes the St. Louis Rams. They not only feature a Pro Bowl quarterback (Hasselbeck) and running back but they have two very good very young receivers manning the outside. Koren Robinson, 24, and Darrell Jackson, 25, are expected to have Pro Bowl type seasons this year. The offensive line is also a very young unit that isn’t afraid to throw defensive lines to the ground to make holes for Alexander.

The Seahawk defense is hoping to keep opposing offenses from making a big splash against them. They lost almost half of their defense that was ranked a sub-par 19th overall in total yards last year and hope that the fresh blood will bring more stops too.