What if?

Can anyone ever remember a more significant, impactful, "wow" offseason week in Seahawk history? 

Accoring to espn.com's ranking, we signed 4 of the top 32 free agents available in Rice, Miller, Gallery and (re-signing) Mebane.  That doesn't even include some of the other moves that could prove just as important for obvious (T. Jackson) and not-so-obvious (Branch, Wilkerson) reasons.  Thanks to what the Eagles have done over the same period, the South Alaskan Seahawks have still gone largely unnoticed by mainstream national media, but not COMPLETELY unnoticed.  The guys at NFL Network seem to have a much higher opinion of the Seahawks moves than the braintrust at ESPN.  Both Skip Bayless and Mark Schlereth left the Hawks out of their Top 5 Best Free Agent Moves lists.  But Sterling Sharp at NFL Net spent 5 minutes yesterday praising our offseason, and the signing of Tavarius Jackson in particular. 

Which brings me to this.....

A week ago, the prevailing opinion (and one I shared) was that the Seahawks had upgraded a number of key positions at O-Line and WR, while signing up T. Jack as a placeholder at QB.... with all sights set on the potentially bountiful quarterback draft of 2012 as the final piece to this rebuilding puzzle.  I figured we had the potential to be a better overall team, much more competitive week-in and week-out than last year while losing more games and setting ourselves up for a shot at Luck, Barkley, Jones etc.  But now I ask you....... who says we can't win THIS year?  Why not?  Let's do a quick breakdown.

Defensively, there may be questions about our young corners and the lack of pass-rushers outside of Chris Clemons, but does anyone see a huge decline?  Last year the D played well in spurts, but were simply on the field too often and for too long because of our complete lack of a running game.  The offense couldn't start or sustain drives.  Often, our defense would look great in the 1st and 2nd quarters, only to wear down in the second half and end up on the wrong end of a lopsided loss.  This year we are much bigger up front, our safeties will be much more athletic, and I think the play of our young linebackers is going to surprise some people.  I'm not saying we're going to look anything like the Ravens, but I believe we will be good enough to force some 3-and-outs, and actually have time to grab some Gatorade and a breather because.....

Offensively, we will be able to control the clock and piece together long drives.  It's not going to happen overnight.  We're going to start two rookies and essentially two second-year players on the offenseive line.  But while young, there is a ton of talent, size, and run-blocking ability there, not to mention the tutelage of Tom Cable.  I think it's reasonable to think that we will have much more success running to the left behind Okung and Gallery early in the season, but you're going to see this unit get better as the year moves forward, and by November I can see this group being a dominant run-blocking team. 

As for the quarterback, at what point did it become set in stone that Tevarius Jackson can't play?  His last 5 starts he threw for 9 TD's and only 2 INT's, and then along came Favre.  Nobody questions that he has the tools, and he certainly did struggle early in his career, but who hasn't?  How quickly we forget not just how bad Matt Hasselbeck was in his first couple of years, but also how bad he was in stretches the last two seasons.  How can so many people say that Jackson will fail even with DRAMATICALLY IMPROVED skill position players and a revamped offensive line, when just a few months ago the prevailing opinion was that Hasselbeck would play better if only he had better blockers and receivers?! 

The Seahawks have put themselves in a position now where Jackson doesn't have to be a star, or anything close to a Pro Bowl player for them to succeed in the NFC West.  To borrow a baseball term, if he can just perform at a "replacement player" or league average level, the Hawks have a chance to win the West if they can run the ball, make plays in the passing game when they are there, and be good enough defensively to keep games close. 

I'll leave you with one final thought.  Imagine for a second if Jackson develops into a solid starter.  The Hawks have now set themselves up for years on the offensive side of the ball.  They could win the NFC West, get a home playoff game, and concentrate solely on defense in the early rounds of next years draft.  Doesn't that sound better than having to break in a rookie QB, and experiencing the growing pains that go along with that?

What if?