2012 Team Previews: Seattle Seahawks

Seattle Seahawks

• 2011 Record: 7-9 (3rd in NFC West)
• 2011 Point Differential: +6 (18th out of 32)
• 2011 Strength of Schedule (per PFR’s SRS system): +0.4 (t-10th)
• 2011 Adjusted Net Yards per Pass Attempt (offense): 5.0 (21st)
• 2011 Adjusted Net Yards per Pass Attempt (defense): 5.0 (6th)
• 2011 Adjusted Pythagorean Record (accounting for Strength of Schedule): 8.4-7.6 (t-15th)
• 2010 Adjusted Pythagorean Record: 4.3-11.7 (30th)

And now a frank discussion of the worst uniforms in recent NFL history

In case you didn’t know, the NFL switched apparel suppliers at the end of last season, ending their long-time partnership with Reebok in favor of Nike’s deeper pockets. Given Nike’s, shall we say, adventurous college designs, many NFL fans were hopeful/worried (depending on their attitude towards those college uniforms) that the switch in apparel companies would lead to radical uniform redesigns like these. Of course, there was never a real chance of that happening; NFL owners are some of the most conservative people around this side of Barry Goldwater and the thought of seeing a tradition-rich franchise like the Bears parading around in something resembling this would have likely caused them to choke on their caviar. Thus, when the new Nike uniforms were unveiled earlier this year, the vast majority of NFL teams made no significant changes and most uniforms look exactly the same as before.

The Seahawks, however, were the one team that took the opportunity to make major redesigns, as you can see from the picture above. And the results aren’t pretty, unless you like rejected Arena League uniforms. There’s too much going on in the top of the jersey and the new gray alternate jersey look exactly like the road whites have been dragged through a smokestack. Even the names of the Seahawks’ new color scheme sound pretentious: College Navy. Action Green. Wolf Grey. And…White (reportedly Aryan White was the original title but was shelved at the last minute). Bleh. In honor of these new affronts to manhood, let’s take a look back at some of the other terrible NFL uniforms of recent vintage.

Philadelphia Eagles 1932 Throwback Uniforms (2007). The worst part about this is the Eagles were wearing these in honor of the Frankfort Yellow Jackets. Why would you wear the garish monstrosity of another franchise you were never even affiliated with? Might as well wear the Providence Steam Roller throwbacks at that point.

Denver Broncos 1960 Throwback Uniforms (2009). OH MY WORD I FORGOT ABOUT THOSE SOCKS. Honestly, if you replaced those with something relatively normal, then this mustard-and-poop color scheme isn’t actually that bad…*thinks for a minute*…okay, you’re right, it would still be pretty bad.

Chicago Bears Alternate Orange Uniforms (2005-2011). What’s bad about these is the standard Bears home jersey is arguably the best in the league; trading those in for Orange-Crush Broncos-aping unis is a huge loss. Fortunately, the 1940s retro uniforms the Bears wore in 2010 are returning this season.

Detroit Lions Alternate Black Uniforms (2005-2008). There should just be a rule outlawing teams that originated before World War II from wearing alternate jerseys with dominant colors that have NO prior history with the team. Why did you feel like you needed to rip off the Panthers’ jerseys, Detroit? Why?

Jacksonville Jaguars Home and Away Uniforms (2009-present). Much like the Seahawks, the Jaguars’ recent redesign seems rather cheaply made and dilutes a previously strong design. I’d also like to take this time to once again ask Shad Khan WHY HAVEN’T YOU MOVED THE JAGUARS TO LOS ANGELES YET?

New York Jets 1960 Throwback Uniforms (2007-present). Why not celebrate the most putrid time of your franchise’s existence by wearing their equally putrid uniforms? F-E-E-T! FEET! FEET! FEET!

Seattle Seahawks Alternate Lime Green Uniforms (2009). And, of course, no discussion of terrible NFL uniforms is complete without mentioning the one-game abomination that these Seahawks alternates graced us with a few years back. Really, they should be proud more than anything else; any time you can unequivocally say that something is clearly the best or worst in its given field, you should feel honored to be part of that. Plus, who knows how many people were inspired to purchase Apple Jolly Ranchers after watching that game; as I hope you all know, Jolly Ranchers are delicious and anything leading to the purchase of more Jolly Ranchers is a net gain in my book. So, nuclear holocaust green Seahawks jerseys, I salute you for a job well done. Keep fighting the good fight!

Random thoughts

Probably the biggest surprise starter in the NFL opening day will be Russell Wilson, who outperformed Matt Flynn in the preseason and will be one of several rookie quarterbacks under center from the get-go. Wilson was incredibly efficient in his lone season at Wisconsin (having transferred there from North Carolina State), completing 72.8% of his passes and tossing 33 touchdown passes in comparison to just 4 interceptions. In addition, Football Outsiders’ Lewin Career Forecast system gave Wilson its highest rated projection ever (although FO head Aaron Schatz couldn’t backpedal from that projection hard enough) and he’s got excellent mobility and accuracy. The only knock on him has been his height (5-11); then again, Drew Brees and Michael Vick are only an inch taller and they’ve both had a pretty good run. Subjectively, I think Wilson will make it as a solid starting quarterback eventually; the usual warning signs with starting rookie quarterbacks apply for this season, however…Flynn was expected to win the Seahawks’ starting quarterback job easily after parlaying his amazing Week 17 start with the Packers into a big payday in the offseason. As Football Outsiders’ Vince Verhei and Grantland’s Bill Barnwell both noted, every other quarterback in NFL history who posted a single game stat line similar to Flynn’s 31-of-44, 480 yards, 6 TDs and 1 INT made the Pro Bowl at some point in their career (except for Scott Mitchell and even he had one phenomenal season in 1995). Flynn starts this year on the bench, but it’s fair to expect that he will get some playing time at some point this year…The Seahawks’ defense took a big step forward in 2011, largely thanks to their Pro Bowl safeties Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor. Thomas is 23 and Chancellor is the old guy at 24, so this may be the beginning of a long period of excellence at the position for the Seahawks…

Outlook

The Seahawks won the NFC West in 2010 and then went on to memorably beat the Saints in the playoffs, but by all indicators they were a much better team last season. Their defense became an above-average unit, with young playmakers all over the field and their offense did about as well as you could hope with Tarvaris Jackson at quarterback. How well you think the Seahawks will do in 2012 is largely tied to how much you think the Plexiglass Principle will affect their season. If their defense slides back down to something approaching their terrible 2010 effort, this will be a four-win team. If you think that last year represented young talent coalescing for the first time and things can only improve as that young talent gets closer to its peak, then the Seahawks may deserve to be the NFC West favorite. Questions will always linger around a team starting a rookie quarterback, so the Seahawks’ overall projection this year puts them around the seven-win mark they’ve maintained the first two years of Pete Carroll’s tenure. Again, though, in a division that looks very weak, Seattle has as good a chance as anyone of making the playoffs.

2012 Projected Point Differential: 322.4-354.7

2012 Average Projection: 7.1-8.9 (2nd in NFC West)