I do agree with the first part, with how many different times they tried they were bound to find a suitable guy at some point I suppose.


However, the fact that every team passed on him 2 or 3 times proves that Wilson mostly was luck. If any team (even the Seahawks) thought he was a future franchise QB anywhere near the level he has proven to be, he would have been taken much, much earlier obviously.

The fact that he was drafted in the third doesn't prove anything. Luck has nothing to do with his skill set and his ability. Teams should have known he was a future star, but player eval is an inexact science and you never know how players will turn out.

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I can agree, but all of those "stars" you mentioned except Thomas (1st) and Wagner (2nd) were selected in 3rd round or lower.

 

I never asserted otherwise.

 

Being a 3rd round pick or below and being a star is not mutually exclusive.

 

Seattle has obviously done a masterful job in the mid to late rounds.

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Worst to 1st.  Curse Reversed!

I don't know if this is mathematically correct, but I believe I heard 6 of the last 7 Super Bowls, the team with the better defense won.

 

I agree with just about all you've said.

 

And to add to that, Carroll is rooted in college football.  With his last stint at USC, he was able to carry over elements of college and have them work in the pros.. which is rarely successful.

 

How has he made it work?  It would seem to me the emphasis on youth, speed, and a hard hitting, challenge the receiver defense is the key.  With so many timing routes etc. with modern offenses, he takes the fight to them.  Bumping and jamming knocks WRs out of place and puts them off target in their timed routes.  A relentless pass rush takes the QB off the spot, and the combination of the two spells doom for offenses even with skirts on the QBs and rules advantages for the WRs.

 

On offense, you impose your will.  Be capable of running when you need to, want to... and also be able to throw on your own terms as well (keep downs manageable and make teams pay for cheating the line.)

 

I couldn't help watching them but to think... the ability to impose their will offensively and wreak havoc on defense reminded me a little of the dominance of the 90s Cowboys.  Who, were also led by a college coach who brought in weapons on offense and had a speedy, attacking defense.

 

Youth, speed, and challenging the opposing offense seem to be the new formula for success.

 

We can have that, too.  Though, it's likely to take the same four years as it did Seattle.  Maybe a little longer, since Carroll started with more than we did.  Keep drafting well and adding key free agents and I don't see any reason why we can't emulate that success.

 

Not sure I would compare them with the 90s Cowboys yet, though they have a chance to do some similarly great things if they can stay healthy and hungry.

 

To me, this has to be the most physical secondary I've seen in a Super Bowl team since the 1983 Raiders (Lester Hayes, Mike Haynes and Vann McElroy), quite possibly dating back to the late 70s Steelers.

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Worst to 1st.  Curse Reversed!

On a personal note directed to the OP, do you remember the "Why Pittsburgh wins" topic a few years ago?  The 2 teams that played in the NFC championship are very indicative of the Pittsburgh route to greatness.  Defense still wins championships, and while you can't have a bad QB, you don't need a great one.  Better-than-average will do, even though that's still a pretty hard thing to come by.

 

Yes, I can see this team fitting into that discussion/analysis quite well, though Wilson just finished his 2nd season.  He may yet develop into a great QB before all is said and done.  While he wasn't great in the playoffs, he had a very good Super Bowl.

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Worst to 1st.  Curse Reversed!

The Seahawks did a fantastic job of building their roster, finding great late round/UDFA gems, and getting Avril/Bennett on amazingly cheap FA deals (so cheap that Dwight Freeney called collusion even: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/02...75424.html )

 

However, if they don't find that outlier QB they won't win the Super Bowl. In fact, they tried multiple times and failed before they got super lucky with Wilson. They traded for Whitehurt, signed Tarvaris Jackson, and gave Matt Flynn a big FA deal. The idea that they 'built up the roster and then went for the QB' is patently false. They tried over and over and failed, got lucky, and then won the Super Bowl in short order after finding a franchise QB. Sometimes luck is just what it takes. 

I agree with this.

 

I don't believe for a minute they set out to get the QB as the last piece of the puzzle.  It just worked out that way when they landed Wilson in the 3rd round.

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Worst to 1st.  Curse Reversed!