Don’t get too worried about disappointing Seahawks preseason
Sep 2, 2018, 12:06 AM
(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
With the Seahawks 0-4 in the preseason, fans may be tempted to give up on the birds already — but Danny O’Neil of 710 ESPN’s Danny, Dave, and Moore advises the 12th Man not to take the preseason too seriously.
“The preseason is one of the most difficult things to objectively cover in sports, because you see what you want to see … the bias that you take into viewing the team is what comes through in people’s preseason assessment,” he said to KTTH’s Todd Herman on the Dori Monson Show.
“Every study that I’ve ever seen shows zero correlation — there are good teams in the regular season that go win-less [in the preseason], there are good teams that go 4-0, there are terrible teams that go 4-0,” he said.
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He pointed out that before the Detroit Lions went the entire 2008 season without a win, they had had a perfect preseason. In 2009, the Seahawks themselves won all of their preseason games — only to go 5-11 once the regular season started.
“You can’t draw any conclusions — it doesn’t mean anything when it comes down to it,” O’Neil said.
Rookies to watch this year, according to O’Neil, include punter Michael Dickson, an Australian who came to the Seahawks from the University of Texas.
“Seattle might have the best punter in the league,” O’Neil said, calling Dickson “phenomenal.”
Another rookie to keep an eye on, according to O’Neil, is linebacker Shaquem Griffin. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because the Griffin family has a talent for football — Shaquem’s twin brother is Seahawks cornerback Shaquill Griffin. Shaquem Griffin lost his left hand as a small child, but this has not stopped him from establishing himself as a formidable football player.
“He’s not gonna play as much as some others — I don’t expect him to start for the full season,” O’Neil said. “But I think he’s gonna make an impact.”