The Seattle Seahawks are the favorites to win the Super Bowl according to the oddsmakers, but they haven’t necessarily been a popular choice among NFL analysts and prognosticators.
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Sports Illustrated recently released its Super Bowl picks. Only one of the 10 selectors had the Seahawks reaching the Super Bowl. None had them winning it all.
CBS Sports has even less faith in the NFC’s No. 1 seed with none of its 10 prognosticators having the Seahawks reaching the Super Bowl.
ESPN’s Bill Barnwell has the Seahawks losing in the NFC championship game.
And NFL.com has Seattle losing in the divisional round.
But there are still believers in this Seahawks team. On Thursday, Pro Football Focus analyst Trevor Sikkema didn’t hesitate when asked if Seattle could win it all during a conversation with Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy.
“I absolutely do, and that’s because I think they’re extremely complementary of each other on both sides of the ball,” he said. “You look at some of these teams and OK, well, the offense is really good, but the defense isn’t as up to par as it needs to be. Sometimes it’s vice versa with some of these other teams.
“And even within some of the successful teams in the NFL, you kind of look at how they play and you go, ‘All right, well, it’s a little bit one-dimensional in what they do.’”
There’s only one team that gives Sikkema reservations about Seattle’s chances of hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.
“The reason why I have so much confidence in this team is really when I look around the NFL, certainly in the NFC, outside of one of these teams just catching fire in a way that we haven’t seen so far this season, I basically look at a future matchup against the Rams and kind of look at that team as really the only one that would give me reservation to say, ‘yes, they can do everything that they would need to do to best a really good Seattle team,’” Sikkema said.
He also thinks the benefits that come with being the No. 1 seed shouldn’t be overlooked.
“When you get to the postseason, every game is difficult and it only gets more difficult each week you go on,” Sikkema said. “But I think this rest, the fact that the playoffs in the NFC run through Seattle, all of that goes into helping one of the most complete teams in the NFL.”
The perceived flaw
It’s reasonable to assume that the some, if not most, of the hesitancy from analysts to pick the Seahawks to win it all stems from quarterback Sam Darnold.
Darnold came to Seattle this season with doubts about his ability to perform in big moments, and the flames of that narrative were further fanned when he threw four costly interceptions in a 21-19 loss to the Rams in Week 11.
But Sikkema has some belief in Seattle’s signal-caller.
“I have a lot of confidence in him,” he said. “I think when you look at Sam Darnold, you just have to be realistic with your expectations. … Can he make the big plays? Yes, I have no reservation that Sam Darnold is capable of making the big plays, the big throws (in) fourth-down moments, third-down moments, red-zone moments, fourth-quarter moments. Whatever it is, I feel that he has the ability, because we’ve seen it before, to do all of those things.”
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Sikkema doesn’t think the Seahawks need mistake-free football from Darnold. He just can’t let the mistakes pile up.
“Sam Darnold’s probably going to give you one tough turnover-worthy play per game. That’s just the style of quarterback that he is. You can live with one. It gets dangerous when we get to, OK, now he’s had two or three turnover-worthy plays in the game,” Sikkema said.
“… The style in which he wants to play, as someone who wants to attempt and complete those big-moment throws that you need to, means that you’re going to put it in harm’s way every now and then.”
Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Listen to Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.
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