Seahawks review

If you had told me at the beginning of the season we were going to go 9-7 I would have laughed. I didn't see us going worse than 12-4. I figured Womack would be a downgrade from Hutchinson, but Womack was just one part of a whole, and the whole offensive line looked pretty good. Besides that, we lost Jurevicius a sure-handed receiver, but if we could plug in Jerehm Urban and DJ Hackett, then an athletic stud like Burleson would do nicely as well. After the Branch trade our WRs were stacked. Jackson was the all-around stud, Branch was the possession receiver with championship experience, Burleson was the uber-athletic slot receiver, Engram was the sure-handed veteran clutch in 3rd down situations, and DJ Hackett was the young guy who had tons of upside. Well, Jackson was good, then got injured, Branch never really played that well, Engram had a thryoid problem, Hackett stepped up but got injured in the playoffs, and Burleson became a $49 million dollar talented but raw punt and kickoff returner.
On the defensive side, we lost Jamie Sharper who was injured and replaced by DD Lewis anways, but gained Julian "the physical freak" Peterson. We lost Manuel, but got Hamlin back, and we lost Dyson, but drafted Jennings in round 1. On top of that, our young defense just got older and more experienced.
Grades:
Matt Hasselbeck D
He played about as bad as he could. He was injured for several weeks, injured his knee, his left throwing hand, and reports are that he could have played the entire season with a torn labrum on his throwing shoulder. Last year he was unbelievable, throwing only 9 picks. This year you expect about 10 off-target passes a game, putting the Hawks in bad situations. This probably forced him to do stupid things which only made things worse. I fully expect him next year to regain his title as best QB in the NFC.
Shaun Alexander C-
He looked horrible in the beginning, and he eventually cracked his foot which made him ineffective. He didn't look good until the Packers game when he ran for 200 yards, and the only other time he looked good was against the Bears. It's not all his fault though, for a guy who goes down on contact, he couldn't have prevented his injury. Many experts predicted his injury. 6 seasons without an injury, a great season with lots of carries the previous season, plus a SuperBowl run which meant even more carries. I also expect him to be better next year, but hopefully 3/5 of our O-Line won't be injured.
Darrell Jackson A-
Despite missing the last 3 games and playing injured other games, he had 956 yards and 10 TDs. He's probably the most underrated number 1 WR in the game.
Nate Burleson D
Sure he looked great on a few punt returns, but he 7 million dollars a year for a guy who had 18 catches for 192 yards is just ridiculous. What makes it worse is that our WR are too good and deep and we're investing too much money into them.
Deion Branch C+
If he played a full season he probably would have had 60 catches and 800 yards. That's pretty good, especially since we had so many WRs, but we gave up a first round pick for him. We need that pick for a guard, cornerback, or safety. Branch also had some key drops in big games, not something you'd expect from a former Super Bowl MVP.
DJ Hackett A
Hackett was so good that I wish we hadn't signed Burleson or traded for Branch. Why pay those guys a combined 13 million a year when we could have Hackett for less than a million?
Walter Jones: A-
He didn't make the All-Pro team, and wasn't as dominate this year as before. Still one of the best, but I dont' know why he slumped a bit this year.
Chris Spencer B+
Not a great guard, but decent. When he was moved to center, he was awesome. Tobeck retired recently and I'm glad we have Spencer to rely on. Wish we could have retained Tobeck for a few more years as a very good backup, but oh well.
Jerramy Stevens C-
Him and Mili (who might be done) were injured in the beginning of the year, so we had to rely on Will Heller. His official stats were 22 catches for 231 yards and 4 touchdowns. A guy as big, strong, and athletic as him should be getting 65 catches for 800 yards. For being such a punk he is a good blocker, and it seemed that when he was in the game, our running game was better. He also came up big against the Cowboys.
Grant Wistrom B
Wistrom must be the best player with a stat line as bad as his. 37 tackles, 1 FF, 4 Sacks. It seemed like he was in every play and his motor was always there. He's a great inspiration to the team and hell of a veteran.
Julian Peterson A+
Everything I hoped for. Completely over his injury, he had 90 tackles, 1 FF, 1 INT, and 10 Sacks for the season. A playmaker on defense with speed and power and you saw him on every play (unlike Leroy Hill who just dissapears).
Lofa Tatupu B-
123 tackles with 2 FF, 1 INT, and 1.5 Sacks. He looked lost sometimes, and didn't have that look like he did last year where he seemed to be in the right place all the time like Polomalu. He put on some weight in the offseason because at 235 he was getting pushed around by guys like Larry Allen (who doesn't?), but the extra weight made him slower and less effective I think. He also overpursued a lot of runs, which is bad because he is the safety cog, while LeRoy Hill and Peterson are the swift playmakers. He still made the Pro Bowl though even if it was undeserved, so this year wasn't a complete step backward.
Boulware and Hamlin: C-
I thought these two would be great safeties for the Seahawks for a while. I was wrong. They both have the athletic tools, but both are susceptible to the long ball. Boulware overpursues on runs still with his linebacker mentality. His rookie year he got picks but this year he overpursues every time. Against Minnesota on a 4th and goal (12 yards out or so) KC pitched it outside, and Boulware pursued even though the guy had to get 12 yards to get to the end zone. Moore, the running back, then threw to the guy that Boulware stopped covering, Jermaine Wiggins for a TD. Why would you go to help pursue this guy that is 12 yards from getting a TD when this TE runs right past you and you know there is no one back behind you? Boulware was benched for a few games, but then came back and still had the same problems. Hamlin played the full season, but made some dumb decisions like intercepting a long pass at our own 8 yard line on a 4th down then running directly out of bounds. He should have just batted the ball down.
Josh Brown A+
Having a guy who can kick 50 + yarders with great accuracy is special. It lets you know that all you have to do is get it to the 35 yard line and you can get points. Unfortunately Hasselbeck didn't help with this against the Bears, but having that in your mind puts so much pressure on the defense.
Plackemeier C+
In the beggining, he'd have big booming punts when he punted from midfield, and have sucky punts when we punted from our own endzone. By the end of season he was improving, but things like the Chicago game where he shanked his punt for 18 yards to allow them to get an easy field goal is where we got screwed. Kickers can't be so inconsistent, and Plackemeier needs to work on that. He has the talent, just needs to boom them when it's important to.