As usual, John Clayton over at ESPN is educating the rest of the country on what kind of team we have here in the Pacific Northwest, aka Egypt.
In his mailbag, he answers a question on the Seattle defense and whether it should be much improved from last season when it ranked 30th in yards allowed. It was the worst finish in team history (dead last in 1978 but out of 28 teams).
Clayton claims the team made great strides to improve the defense this offseason but doesn't go so far as guaranteeing a top-10 finish.
To continue...
Q: What's your thought about where the Seahawks' defense will rank this year? They couldn't get off the field last year with the offense sputtering, but they've made smart moves this offseason on the D-line, at outside LB and in the secondary with the signing of Ken Lucas. Plus, they have a coach in Jim Mora who's much more defensively minded than Mike Holmgren, who valued a "bend but don't break" mentality. Do you see the Seahawks moving into the top 10 for overall defense?
Daniel in Seattle
A: Seattle has had a great offseason, which is largely because of what it did on defense. You should like the defense a lot better than last year's. It has the ability to blitz with Leroy Hill and Aaron Curry, and Seattle has better man-to-man ability in coverage with the addition of Lucas at right corner and the development of Josh Wilson, who could play the slot. More importantly, Mora is going to be more aggressive with the defensive calls. Expect more blitzes and decent sack numbers with the return of a healthy Patrick Kerney. I don't know if that will get the Seahawks into the top 10, but it should get them into the top 15. If the Seahawks can improve their offense by five or six points a game, that could translate into a nine- or 10-win season.
A Seahawks defense hasn't finished higher than 15 in yards allowed since 1997. Hopefully, a doing away of the "bend but don't break" policy will make for a more aggressive defense, which doesn't concede easy yards in the middle of the field.
Reach Jeff Richards at nextseasonsports@gmail.com
