King on the Seahawks (!!!)

Postcard

This is the first preview of the 'hawks (I've seen) not done by a local guy (i.e. not John Clayton, not Mike Sando). One thing Peter King didn't mention - did he actually drive all the way out to Seattle? He had to have ditched his rental car and flown, right?

As a Seattle sports fan, national previews of Seattle teams rarely give me new insights into my teams - I follow them pretty closely in the Times, P.I., News Tribune, and on KJR. What they are good for, however, is calibrating the information that the national writers are giving out on the rest of the teams they write about. Far too often I find myself taking in what I read nationally as absolute fact, then later come to question the source after they give an uninformed opinion of the Seahawks (or Mariners or Sonics). I'll grant that the 'hawks may get less coverage due to their geography, but that should result in lack of coverage, not incorrect coverage.

So, with that said, how was Peter King's take on the Seahawks? Perfect. I'm not saying he knows exactly how well the Seahawks will do this year. I'm saying that in one day at camp he was able to soak up every detail in the consensus among Seattle's media as to what kind of team the Seahawks will be.

• "Seattle seems to be falling love with a fullback/halfback combo guy named Leonard Weaver, a 6-foot, 242-pound backup who is getting more and more carries and impressing the coaches with those carries in training camp." I posted the same thought last week, and I love the King took notice of him.
• "Seahawks prediction of the year: Holmgren has found his long-term replacement for Hutchison. His name is Rob Sims, a fourth-round pick from Ohio State last year, and the man Seattle should have stuck at left guard all along." We all love Rob Sims. This dude is crazy strong - squatting in the 800s, benching in the 500s.
• "I think this team might be significantly better on defense." I left out that he specifically mentioned Deon Grant and Patrick Kearney as key newcomers. I think Seattle's defense is going to be Great. Not good, Great. King doesn't quite go to that extreme, but he definitely noticed improvement.

On the whole, there wasn't a single point in the article that I though King was wrong about. He did drop a slight bomb about Marcus Tubbs practicing (when did that start? Sure it wasn't Mebane?). He also passed over a couple of interesting camp stories (Nate Burleson having a great camp, Jim Mora's influence on the defense, Marcus Pollard replacing Jerramy Stevens in Holmgren's West Coast Offense), but I can't expect him to cover every minute detail about the Seahawks. Key point: King was 100% on.

So what does all of this mean? First, my appreciation of Peter King as a football writer just went up even further, as has the credence I place in his opinions and analysis. And second, well, I'll let Peter do the talking:

"I think it's very hard to imagine any of the three other teams in the NFC West (each one having improved itself this offseason) being better than Seattle is right now. I will definitely stick with my June choice of Seattle to win the division."

Finally, a national writer that isn't gaga over the 49ers, Rams, or Cardinals. I hope he hits some of the other NFC West camps. I'll be eager to read what he has to say.