Seattle Healthy and on top Heading to Bye Week
The Seattle Seahawks are heading into a bye week at the perfect time. The Seahawks lead the NFC West with a record of 10-1 and are three games ahead of both the San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals.
This past Sunday, Seattle became the first team to win 10 games this season. Week in and week out, the Seahawks are proving they can dominate their opponents by whatever means is necessary.
They recovered from 21 points down to defeat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in overtime, and they have gone out to stake a 28-0 lead and coast to a win.
Pete Carroll the team’s head coach has stuck with his game play win or lose since he arrived and it has worked. He wanted competiveness on the playing field, with sound picks in the draft and conservative risk taking on the free agent market.
The process has not been a success overnight, but thanks to Paul Allen the team owner, Carroll has been given patience since his arrival in 2010.
With just five games on their schedule until the playoffs start, Seattle is hitting their postseason stride at just the right time.
On Sunday, the team’s offensive line finally had Paul McQuistan at left guard, Russell Okung at left tackle, Max Unger at center, Breno Giacomini at right tackle and J.R. Sweezy at right guard, for the first time since the second week of the season.
The wait was long to get everyone healthy ago, but worth it. The same can be said for Percy Harvin the team’s all-Pro receiver. He debuted this past Sunday against Minnesota and only had one catch, but his part time role has given the offense another dimension that will be exploited after the bye week.
The offense now can run a four and five receiver set without using a running back and tight end. In addition, Harvin to start will be a great decoy by drawing attention from more than one defender deep down field.
In his first game back, Harvin’s impact could not be registered, but with two complete weeks of workouts before the team’s next game, there will be plenty of action from him when the team returns against the Saints.
The schedule does not get any easier after the bye, but the bye gives the team that much more time to completely heal from any injuries.
When the Seahawks return they face New Orleans at home on Monday Night, then are on the road against the 49ers and Giants, before two home games to end the season against the Cardinals and Rams.
This last run of five games will help determine where they are when the all important post season arrives, now it is time to rest until December 2.
