2010 Seahawks Grades

Well, the 2010 season is over for the Seahawks, and what an odd year it was. It was a third straight losing season, but we made it to the playoffs and beat the defending champs. Here I will grade certain areas of the team, then give an overall grade at the end.

Quarterbacks: C-
Matt Hasselbeck was either average or horrible, and towards the end of the year (not counting the playoffs) he was more of the latter. I saw nothing spectacular at all from Whitehurst. It was a very subpar year for our quarterbacks, who threw more interceptions combined than TD’s.

Running Backs: C
You look at the stats and see the Seahawks were one of the worst rushing teams in the league—but don’t blame the running backs. Marshawn Lynch and Justin Forsett gave it their all every play, sometimes fighting just to get back to the line of scrimmage. Poor and inconsistent offensive line play caused a horrible running game.

Wide Receivers: B+
We lost Housh and Branch yet still had great receivers this year. Mike Williams came back from the dead. Brandon Stokley became our third down guy. Deon Butler emerged as a threat. Obomanu had his best season. Great season for these guys.

Offensive Line: D+
Hard to give these guys any better than a D+. They were way too inconsistent and injury plagued. What hurt was Alex Gibbs (Offensive Line coach) retiring in the middle of preseason, but I thought what really hurt was losing 2^nd year guard Max Unger for the year. Okung played hurt, as did Spencer. Everyone else was average, except for Pitts, who IMO was awful.

Offense Grade: C

Defensive Line: B-
Raheem Brock and Chris Clemons sure stepped up this year, big time. Losing Red Bryant hurt us, especially in run defense. Mebane and Cole were very solid, but not spectacular. Balmer and Terrill filled in nicely from time to time.

Linebackers: B-
Tatupu was solid yet again, and Hawthorne emerged as a starter in this league and easily had the best season of any Seahawk linebacker. Curry was ok, but he hasn’t turned into one of the premier linebackers like we thought he would. Herring and Davis and the rest filled in really well when need be and played great special teams.

Secondary: D+
The only time they had a good game was against a very below average quarterback, such as Max Hall. They constantly got burned and beat. Trufant was average at best. Jennings was Jennings. Milloy played like a veteran, but a slow veteran. The biggest bright spot was Earl Thomas, who showed he will be our safety for years to come. He is the reason for the plus in D+.

Defense Grade: C+

Special Teams: A
Easily the unit that excelled most for the Seahawks. I don’t think the Seahawks have ever had such great special teams play in one year. Get that ST coach an extension. Leon Washington was dominant and should’ve gone to the Pro Bowl. Mare was as consistent as a kicker can be. Ryan was amazing at pinning the opponents inside the 20 (and not getting a touchback).

Coaching: C
Pete Carroll was very good in his first year. We also had good coaching from special teams and individual units (linebackers coach, running backs coach, etc). However, they sometimes failed to keep the team motivated when they got behind, which caused the Seahawks to lose 9 times by 15 or more points. The playcalling was sometimes horrible, which led to Offensive Coordinator Jeremy Bates getting fired.

Overall: C+
This was (although the record indicated otherwise) an above average season. Give Pete Carroll credit for turning us in the right direction. I expect the Seahawks to contend for the NFC West crown again next year. Go Seahawks!