After suffering through the 2011 Seahawks opening-game loss Sunday, some friends and I kicked around mottos for the team.
- 2011 Seattle Seahawks: I’ve got a bad feeling about this.
- 2011 Seattle Seahawks: Better Than Last Year (In the sucking department)
- 2011 Seattle Seahawks: It’s either us or shopping with your wife.
- 2011 Seattle Seahawks: Stop Believing
- 2011 Seattle Seahawks: As Boring As Church, But With More Praying
The team’s actual public motto–“Earn everything”–is emblazoned on a banner affixed to the facade of CenturyLink Field. But a second, more pragmatic motto may be driving the team’s decision-making: “Suck for Luck.”
That’s “Luck” as in Andrew Luck, the star Stanford quarterback whose strong arm, large frame and pedigree make NFL scouts quiver. Some say he’ll be as good as Peyton Manning, which is like saying a President will be as good as Abraham Lincoln.
The team with the first pick in next year’s NFL draft will have the right to pick Luck, and, if the scouts are right, have that near-pre-requisite to a Super Bowl win–a Hall-of-Fame quarterback.
So who gets that #1 pick? The team with the NFL’s worst record. And, after their performance Saturday, the Seahawks look like as likely a candidate for that distinction as any team in the league.
To wit: Behind a offensive line with three players making their first NFL start, the Seahawks averaged just 3.4 yards per play Sunday, worst in the NFL. This against San Francisco, hardly one of the NFL’s dominant defenses. Yes, the Seahawks defense held the Niners to only 209 yards, but with San Francisco holding a two-score lead for most of the game, they had little incentive for aggressive offense.
The keenest observers of NFL football–Vegas oddsmakers–were so repulsed by the Seahawks’ performance, they’ve made them the biggest underdogs in the NFL this week: The Hawks are 15-1/2 point underdogs to Pittsburgh. A two-touchdown spread in the NFL is about as bad as it gets–and the handicap is even more incredible considering that the Steelers lost their opening game 35-7.
If there is cause for hope in 2011, it resides in the persons of left guard Robert Gallery and wide receiver Sidney Rice. The two were the big Seahawks free agent acquisitions of the off-season, but neither played Week 1 because of injury. And they may not play again in Week 2.
The Seahawks, behind coach and grand poobah Pete Carroll, clearly did not build this team to win in 2010–failing to re-sign starting quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, cutting defensive stalwart Lofa Tatupu, building the offensive line around two rookies and two second-year starters. But were they built to lose?
We may be in for a lot of long Sundays this fall–with Luck as the potential payout.