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LESSONS LEARNED IN 2011

Three months ago this team looked like a shoo-in for one of the top five picks in next April’s draft. Two weeks ago they had an outside shot at a playoff berth after winning five out of six games. Since then the Seattle Seahawks have lost two straight divisional matchups in games that epitomized the 2011 season: full of progress and tantalizing potential, but not yet ready for prime time.

Still, it’s hard to be too disappointed with this year’s 7-9 finish considering how far Seattle has come in just three short months. The Seahawks opened the season in San Francisco with far more questions than answers. Now that the 2011 season has come to a conclusion, what have we learned?

Tarvaris Jackson is not the quarterback of the future. Might as well state the obvious right off the bat. The man’s talent is undeniable: that 61-yard laser of a touchdown pass to Ricardo Lockette in Sunday’s 23-20 loss to the Cardinals was a thing of beauty and a pass that few quarterbacks in this league could make. But Jackson lacks the consistency to be a starting quarterback in this league, and doesn’t have the ability to perform in the clutch that defines the careers of players like Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and Aaron Rodgers. He is a good locker room guy and an upgrade at the backup quarterback position over Charlie Whitehurst, but the Seahawks need to look elsewhere for a starter in 2012. And for all of Pete Carroll’s public assurances to the contrary, I suspect he knows that.

The kids are alright. John Schneider did a better job with late round draft picks and undrafted rookie free agents in 2011 than any other GM in team history, and it’s not even close. K.J. Wright, Richard Sherman, Malcolm Smith, Brandon Browner, Doug Baldwin, and Lockette were either third-day draft picks or failed to be drafted at all. All of them made a huge impact in their rookie seasons. For the first time in a long while, the Seahawks have a nucleus of good, YOUNG players to build around rather than fielding a roster of veteran stop gaps (remember the likes of Brian Russell and Julius Jones?)

O-Line play and depth are much improved. In years past, all it would take to break this team was an injury or three to the offensive line, a line that most seasons was held together with chewing gum and bailing wire in the best of circumstances. And when the Seahawks lost John Moffitt, James Carpenter, and Russell Okung to season-ending injuries in rapid succession, everyone expected the same thing to happen this year. Funny thing, though: as players like Paul McQuistan, Lemuel Jeanpierre and Breno Giacomini stepped in to fill the void, the offensive line not only held its own but got BETTER. The success of the offensive line is due in part to better players but also to Tom Cable’s coaching scheme and the attitude he has given this unit. With a little more work, this could be one of the best offensive lines in the league in 2012.

Darrell Bevell is a liability. Most fans were happy to hear that Offensive Coordinator Jeremy Bates got the axe after the 2010 season and figured that virtually anyone would be an upgrade. Darrell Bevell did his best to prove them wrong. The play calling this season has been adequate at best, and often frustrating (running the ball in goal line situations with Justin Forsett instead of Lynch, calling several long pass plays for Ben Obomanu in Sunday’s game instead of Lockette or Deon Butler, etc.) The Seahawks probably won’t fire Bevell but they really could do better, and the time to make a change is before a new quarterback comes in and not after.

“The entire team is ‘Beast moding.’” Shaun Alexander and Marshawn Lynch were and are the embodiment of the teams they played for. Alexander’s Seahawks beat you with rhythm, timing and perfect execution, but could be knocked of their game. Lynch’s Seahawks didn’t always look pretty, but they won through sheer guts and hard-hitting determination. More than any other player, Marshawn Lynch IS the 2011 Seattle Seahawks, and he is the very thing Pete Carroll wanted this team to become. And unless either side gets stupid with their contract demands, he will be a Seattle Seahawk for a long time to come.

“Almost there….” This team is close. It’s going to take another good offseason, a ton of hard work, and a few lucky breaks, but this team is nearly there. This team could be very special in 2012, and it will need to be in a division that suddenly looks an awful lot tougher than it did last year. The season may have ended on a bitter note, but the future is looking brighter than it has in a long, long time.

Random Thoughts on Week Seventeen:

• Let’s just take a moment and appreciate a truly great player in Larry Fitzgerald. Not only did he turn in another amazing performance, but he did so after sustaining a lung injury and coughing up blood on the sidelines. It’s hard to hate Fitzgerald, who is a consummate professional that refuses to indulge in the pampered diva routine that is depressingly common among the top receivers in this league. Now if he could only be traded to Miami….

• Speaking of receivers, Ben Obomanu and Mike Williams could very well find themselves on the outside looking in next September. With the development of Doug Baldwin and Golden Tate and the potential of receivers like Ricardo Lockette and Kris Durham, Obomanu and Williams will need to prove that they are not expendable. Games like the one Obomanu had on Sunday with multiple drops won’t help his cause any.

• Have we seen the last of Justin Forsett? With Lynch as the primary back and Leon Washington establishing himself as a good change-of-pace back, it’s hard to see what role Forsett is needed to fill.

• Thank your lucky stars that Seattle did not trade for Kevin Kolb and pay him $60 million to win all of two games and sit on the bench all year.