What a decade it has been for the Seattle Seahawks organization and the city of Seattle in general. The Seahawks, one of two original expansion teams along with the Tampa Bay Bucs have been to their highest high and their lowest low (still currently going lower) in franchise history, which is arguably the most successful decade in franchise history.The Seahawks started out in 2000 still in the AFC West with John Kitna as their starting quarterback so when you take a look at the current Seahawks roster the organization has been through a lot of changes, both good and bad this decade.
If you want to compare the start of the decade to the conclusion of it, don’t, it won’t even be close. For example Anthony Simmons was the Seahawks leading tackler at the end of the 2000 season with 119. Ricky Watters ran for 1,242 yards and recorded seven touchdowns while crossing over the 30 year old mark.
Now the Seahawks leading tackler is still a middle linebacker, but in the form of David Hawthorne who has done an exceptional job of filling in for the injured Pro Bowl middle linebacker Lofa Tatupu. Hawthorne has recorded 103 tackles heading into week 16. For the Seahawks running game, they don’t have anything close to Watters or the young Shaun Alexander. They have “never was” running back in Julius Jones who’s rushed for 563 yards and two touchdowns in 149 attempts. Justin Forsett, the better of the two running backs has rushed for 475 yards and four touchdowns in only 90 attempts and at least four less total games.
Clearly a substantial difference in the overall team.
However the 2000 Seattle Seahawks finished 6-10, which the Seahawks still can top but by only one game. So the same start has the same ending to the best decade in Seahawks history.
From 2000-2010 the Seahawks have produced countless Pro Bowlers and a few HOF’s with the likes of left tackle Walter Jones, running back Shaun Alexander (basically retired), Bobby Engram (best slot receiver in Seahawks history), fullback Mack Strong (retired, best fullback in Seahawks history), middle linebacker Lofa Tatupu (3 straight Pro Bowls), and by far the most influential man in this decade, head coach and GM Mike Holmgren all will make this decade one to remember for a long time.
Mike Holmgren, now with the Cleveland Browns as their team president, led the Seahawks to their only Super Bowl appearance in team history and going 13-3 in their miraculous season winning 11 straight games.
Holmgren also brought in quite possibly the best starting quarterback in franchise history in Matt Hasselbeck. Over the last few years Hasselbeck has not been given a fair shot to take this team back to the Super Bowl with a makeshift offensive line, horrendous coaching (Greg Knapp and Jim Mora Jr.) and other injury problems across the board.
With the Seahawks moving into a rebuilding mode, this could be a good sign for Hasselbeck and he may finally get the offensive pieces he needs to take this team back to the Super Bowl starting with a talented offensive line and a real NFL running back.
With all that being said lets travel back in time and go through the highlights, both good and back of each year this decade from 2000 to 2009/2010.
2000 highlights/stats:
• 6-10 in AFC West, 4th in the division
• 320 points scored (20 p/g, 19th in the NFL)
• 405 points allowed (23 p/g, 25th in the NFL)
• -9 in takeaways (23rd in NFL)
• John Kitna starting quarterback: 18 TD’s, 19 Int’s and 2,658 yards passing
• Ricky Watters 1,242 rushing yards, 7 TD’s in 278 attempts. 31 years old
• RB Shaun Alexander first round pick (19th overall), OT Chris McIntosh (22nd overall)
2001 highlights/stats:
• 9-7 in AFC West, 2nd in the division
• 301 points scored (18 p/g, 19th in the NFL)
• 324 points allowed (20 p/g, 18th in the NFL)
• +6 in takeaway/giveaway (11th in the NFL)
• Matt Hasselbeck starting quarterback: 7 TD’s, 8 Int’s and 2,023 yards in 12 games starting
• Shaun Alexander 1,318 rushing yards, 14 TD’s in 309 attempts.
• WR Koren Robinson first round pick (9th overall), LG Steve Hutchinson (17th overall, best LG in Seahawks history) and CB Ken Lucas (2nd round pick)
2002 highlights/stats:
• 7-9 in NFC West, 2nd in the division
• 355 points scored (22 p/g, 16th in the NFL)
• 369 points allowed (23 p/g, 23rd in the NFL)
• +2 in takeaway/giveaway (14th in NFL)
• Matt Hasselbeck starting quarterback: 15 TD’s, 10 Int’s and 3,075 yards in 10 games started.
• Shaun Alexander 1,175 rushing yards, 16 TD’s in 295 attempts.
• TE Jeremy Stevens first round pick (28th overall)
2003 highlights/stats:
• 10-6 in NFC West, 2nd in the division
• 404 points scored (25 p/g, 7th in the NFL)
• 327 points allowed (20 p/g, 15th in the NFL)
• -1 in takeaway/giveaway (18th in NFL)
• Matt Hasselbeck starting quarterback: 26 TD’s, 15 Int’s and 3,841 passing yards
• Shaun Alexander 1,435 rushing yards, 14 TD’s in 326 attempts
• CB Marcus Trufant first round pick (11th overall) and S Ken Hamlin (2nd round pick)
• Mike Holmgren no longer GM, remains head coach
2004 highlights/stats:
• 9-7 in NFC West, 1st in the division
• 371 points scored (23 p/g, 12th in the NFL)
• 373 points allowed (23 p/g, 22nd in the NFL)
• +8 in takeaway/giveaway (9th in NFL)
• Matt Hasselbeck starting quarterback: 22 TD’s, 15 Int’s and 3,382 passing yards
• Shaun Alexander 1,696 rushing yards, 16 TD’s in 353 attempts
• DT Marcus Tubbs first round pick (23rd overall)
2005 highlights/stats:
• 13-3 in NFC West, 1st in division- Super Bowl runner up
• 452 points scored (28 p/g, 1st in the NFL)
• 271 points allowed (16 p/g, 7th in the NFL)
• +10 in takeaway/giveaway (7th in NFL)
• Matt Hasselbeck starting quarterback: 24 TD’s, 9 Int’s and 3,459 passing yards
• Shaun Alexander 1,880 rushing yards, 27 TD’s (NFL record, then broken by LT) in 370 attempts
• C Chris Spencer (1st round pick 26th overall), MLB Lofa Tatupu (2nd round) and OLB Leroy Hill (3rd round pick)
• Shaun Alexander named NFL MVP
2006 highlights/stats:
• 9-7 in NFC West, 1st in division
• 335 points scored(20 p/g, 14th in the NFL)
• 341 points allowed (21 p/g, 19th in the NFL)
• -8 in takeaway/giveaway (27th in the NFL)
• Matt Hasselbeck starting quarterback: 18 TD’s, 15 Int’s and 2,442 yards passing
• Shaun Alexander 896 yards, 7 TD’s in 252 attempts
• CB Kelly Jennings first round pick (31st overall)
• Shaun Alexander missed six games involving the “madden curse”
2007 highlights/stats:
• 10-6 in NFC West, 1st in division
• 393 points scored (24 p/g, 9th in the NFL)
• 291 points allowed (18 p/g, 6th in the NFL)
• +10 in takeaway/giveaway (5th in NFL)
• Matt Hasselbeck starting quarterback: 28 TD’s, 12 Int’s and 3,966 passing yards
• Shaun Alexander 716 yards, 4 TD’s in 207 attempts (10 games)
• CB Josh Wilson second round pick (teams first pick in the draft)
• Seahawks, and Mike Holmgren went to a pass heavy and pass only offense which shot them into the playoffs
• Seahawks traded 1st round pick to New England Patriots for WR Deion Branch
2008 highlights/stats:
• 4-12 in the NFC West, 3rd in the division
• 294 points scored (18 p/g, 25th in the NFL)
• 392 points allowed (24 p/g, 25th in the NFL)
• -7 in takeaway/giveaways (25th in NFL)
• Seneca Wallace starting quarterback: 11 TD’s, 3 Int’s and 1,532 yards passing (8 games started, most by a single Seahawks QB in 08, Hasselbeck had seven and Charlie Frye had one)
• Julius Jones 698 yards, 2 TD’s in 158 attempts (10 games)
• Matt Hasselbeck, WR’s, DB’s where all injured for the majority of the 2008 season.
• DE Lawrence Jackson first round pick (28th overall) and TE John Carlson (2nd round pick, best pick in a long time for the Seahawks)
• Mike Holmgren retires as HC, leaves Seahawks organization
2009 highlights/stats:
• Currently 5-9 in NFC West, 3rd in division (Green Bay and Tennessee coming up)
• 257 points scored so far (18 p/g, 22nd in the NFL)
• 325 points allowed so far (23 p/g, 23rd in the NFL)
• -5 in takeaway/giveaways (22nd in NFL)
• Matt Hasselbeck starting quarterback: 15 TD’s, 12 Int’s and 2,656 yards passing
• Julius Jones 563 yards, 2 TD’s in 149 attempts (12 games)
• LB Aaron Curry first round pick (4th overall), C Max Unger (2nd round pick) and WR Deon Butler (3rd round pick)
• Hasselbeck has missed 2 games. A horrendous offensive line to start the first 10 games. Not much talent on the OL currently.
• Horrendous play calling from offensive coordinator Greg Knapp.
• TJ Houshmandzadeh signed five year, $40 million dollar contract with the Seahawks
• Jim Mora Jr. new head coach
• Tim Ruskell resigns as GM
So as you take a look at each year by year you see how the Seahawks can have consistent success in the future if they learn from the past.
Age has been a problem the last two years with the Seahawks with Walter Jones at 35 and Matt Hasselbeck at 34 both have been great in this decade for the Seahawks but as the Seahawks go into a rebuilding mode Jones will most likely retire and Hasselbeck could as well or finish out his contract and then retire next year.
Either way you chose to look at it, the Seahawks have been a winning franchise this decade until the tail end of the decade which will being to change as the Seahawks look for a new GM.
As a Seahawks writer and fan I will never forget the following great Seahawks this decade. LT Walter Jones, LG Steve Hutchinson, C Robbie Tobeck, RG Chris Grey, QB Matt Hasselbeck, RB Shaun Alexander, WR Darryl Jackson, Mike Holmgren and a few others.
You can follow Lars at Twitter http://twitter.com/larshanson
Check out Lars’ sports blog: http://hansonsportsblog.blogspot.com/
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