Seahawks 2015: Another Great Defense

The Seahawks regular season is fast approaching. So, it is time to preview the Seahawks new team. I am going to focus on the defense, wihch looks to be a dominate unit once again. They will dictate the Seahawks success, much like they have for the past three years.

This season, the success of the defense has one giant question mark surrounding it; Will Kam Chancellor play or will he continue his hold out in a quest for more money? The defense should be great either way, but with the Chancellor of Pain on the field they have a chance to the best defense of all time.  I am serious about that. Last year's team led the league in fewest yards allowed per game and fewest points allowed per game. Even so, this year's team could be better. Even if Kam doesn't show up they should still be great. The rest of the talent is just to good. This review will assume Chancellor isn't going to play.

A weakness last year, if the Seahawks had one, was the defensive line. They struggled to get sacks and pressure the opposing QB. Much of this was because of injuries and this year Brandon Mebane, Jordan Hill, and Cassius Marsh are all returning healthy and they are all good to great players. These guys are essentially the Calvary and they are here to help. The team also added rookie Frank Clark (possible woman beater) in the draft. If he plays at all like he did during the preseason he should be a valuable contributed to the team. None of this mentions Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril, the awesomely talent defensive end pair that has done a great job terrorizing opposing O-line for the last two season, are both back. Bennett deserves another sentence because he is the best lineman on the team.

During Pete Carroll's tenure as head coach line backer has never been a problem. Once again the linebackers look too be great. Led by All Pro Bobby Wagner, the linebackers are a fast moving, quality tackling crew. Flanking Wagner are Bruce Irvin and K.J. Wright. All these guys can cover the pass, rush the QB, and stop the run. Their isn't anything they can't do. Bruce Irvin is the worst of the bunch, but if he falters backups Brock Coyle and Kevin Pierre-Louis are there to step in and step up. In my opinion they are the best group of linebackers in the league.

During the Seahawks recent run of dominance, the premier position on the defense has been the secondary. The unit has been so good they earned the nickname Legion of Boom. Assuming Chancellor doesn't play, two of the four starters are the best in the league at their positions, FS Earl Thomas and CB Richard Sherman. These guys are amazing. Thomas flies around the field making himself relevant on basically every play. While Sherman shuts down any WR teams dare to put up against him. These guys are so great that a single mistake gets talked about for weeks on sports radio because they are that rare.

However, even with Thomas and Sherman, this year the legion looks to be much reduced in power. Byron Maxwell has gone to Philadelphia and Kam Chancellor is holding out for more money. In Maxwell's place the Seahawks signed veteran Cary Williams. There have been mixed reviews of Williams. The consensus appears to be he is a downgrade. Hopefully the experts are wrong. Regardless I expect a lot of opposing teams to target Williams' side of the field.

Chancellor's hold out has open a door for second year player Dion Bailey. Despite joining the league in 2014, Bailey spent most of last season on the practice squad and recorded no statistics in the regular season. So, he is essentially a rookie. Pete Carroll and his staff have a track record showing they can turn unknown players into stars in the secondary. Richard Sherman, Bryon Maxwell, Brandon Browner, and Kam Chancellor were all relatively unknowns before they broke out big with the Seahawks. The hope for Bailey is he turns into another breakout star. It definitely isn't impossible. It would be great to see him grab this opportunity and run with it.

As described the Seahawks defense is still loaded. They could finish the season with several All Pros and are sure to have even more Pro Bowlers. They have improved on the defensive line, maintained the already good linebackers, and slightly downgraded the best secondary in the league. They could easily lead the league in scoring defense for the fourth straight year. If Bailey breaks out into yet another secondary star, or Chancellor returns, the team could become the greatest defense of all time.