Updated Feb 12, 2013 - 3:06 pm

Bobby Wagner says Seahawks are team to beat

By Josh Kerns

You think you're disappointed the Seahawks season came to an end when it did? Linebacker Bobby Wagner says you're not alone. The rookie standout told the NFL Network Tuesday he's pretty bummed too about both the second-round playoff loss and not winning the Defensive Rookie of the Year award.

LB Bobby Wagner says the Seahawks should be the favorite to win the NFC West next season. (AP)

"I thought I was going to win," Wagner said. "I felt like I had the stats, I thought the team success we had would have put me over the edge, or at least made it a closer margin. But Luke had a great year so I wasn't surprised when he won," he said about Carolina's Luke Kuechly.

"I had a lot of talented guys around me, probably had the top secondary in the league," he went on. "We had a pretty productive D-line, I thought to stick out in a group like that was significant."

Wagner, a second-round pick out of Utah State, led the Seahawks in tackles as he anchored one of the NFL's best defense's.

Wagner also said he considers the Seahawks the best in the NFC West heading into next season.

"I think we can beat any team that's on the field with us as long as we're doing our job and everybody is taking care of what they need to do," he said.

Wagner also talked about his off-field obsession with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He's been spotted often wearing a Turtles backpack and collecting TMNT toys.

"My parents introduced them to me when I was 2, and I always watched them growing up," he said. "They remind of myself sometimes, a lot of them are sarcastic. They like to have fun, love pizza. My mom is always like, "if you love something, keep it around you."

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Sekolah wrote...

I concur

February 12, 2013 2:18 pm

Wagner got scammed, and the Seattle Seahawks are the team to beat in 2013; especially if they add the missing pieces they need. That being said, I am looking forward to seeing Bobby step up his game a bit. He needs to round things out a bit with his coverage skills, but he's not that far off. Many times this past season he was merely inches way from making plays against the pass. We need that presence we used to have when Lofa was in his prime and one of the best coverage mike LB's in the league.

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RWIII wrote...

Confidence in John Schneider

February 12, 2013 2:29 pm

I could not agree more. I have firm belief that the Front Office(John Schneider & Company) will find the players that the Hawks need. Pete Carroll, John Schneider and the entire Seahawk organization is on a "roll". My "only" concern would be the Seahawks "staying healthy" next year. If the Hawks stay healthy its "Super Bowl!!!"

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TwoTrees wrote...

I know how depraved I am...

February 12, 2013 2:56 pm

...when I cannot WAIT for draft day!

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Rangerhawk wrote...

I can't wait to break all them hearts in San Francisco

February 12, 2013 6:19 pm

Again.

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WhiteLotus wrote...

9ers are Team to Beat

February 13, 2013 12:32 am

Real competitive division. Surprised at all the comments here, some really big heads. Many holes to fill to become one of the true elite teams. No true #1 WR. No WR on the Seahawks have distinguished themselves as a rock solid, true, go-to wide out. No defense is scared of this receiving corps. I won't call them a joke, but to be happy with this corps as constituted (as one of the talk show hosts expressed tonight on 710 ESPN) is incredulous. If our wide receivers were Calvin Johnson and Roddy White then I would be fine with that, but they are not. At least the 9ers had Michael Crabtree and Randy Moss, a future Hall of Fame WR. A far cry to what the Seahawks have. Of course we have the problem of a consistent pass rush, again. We need to consistently get after the QB so that guys like Matt Ryan can't pick us apart like they did.

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WeberJR-600 wrote...

At least the 9ers had Michael Crabtree and Randy Moss, a future Hall of Fame WR

February 13, 2013 7:14 am

Come on. Let's be serious. You're trying to tell me you would rather have Randy Moss over Golden Tate, Sidney Rice, or Doug Baldwin?

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RWIII wrote...

Atlanta Game

February 13, 2013 8:18 am

White Lotus. I guess you did not see the Atlanta game. Russell Wilson threw for 385 yards against the vaunted Falcon secondary. Russell Wilson did that with pratically no offseason. If you remember Wilson, had to compete with Matt Flynn and Tavarias Jackson. So his reps(coming out of college) with a new offense was very limited. Now Russell Wilson will have the entire off season and the entire playbook at his disposal. Like all the great ones Russell Wilson has the ability to make his receivers look better than they actually are. By the way San Francisco will be lucky to beat out the Rams for second place.

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Derrol_o wrote...

WhiteLotus

February 13, 2013 9:39 am

If I didn't know any better I would have thought you were describing the Niners in your post. The Niners don't have an elite WR neither. The fact of the matter is, neither team really needs one. As far as what you said about Randy Moss, being a future HOFer doesn't in any way help the Niners right now and he's a LONG way off from being at that level at this stage of his career. I'd take Golden Tate over Moss any day. I'd probably take Rice over Crabtree as well. Matter of fact I'd take the Hawks' entire WR corps over the Niners' WR corps. That's not where the disparity between the two teams lies or where the Hawks might come up short against them. As for what you said about the pass rush, that might be a different story and I can probably agree with you on that. The two areas where the Niners probably had a slight edge on the Hawks is in experience and the defensive front seven, specifically the pass rush. It ultimately was the difference between why the Niners were able to beat the Falcons and the Hawks weren't. But the gap between the Hawks and Niners going back from last season was closed entirely this year. They just have to keep doing what they've been doing and they will be fine.

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Derrol_o wrote...

Correction

February 13, 2013 9:52 am

If going purely on stats Crabtree had a better season than Rice. But Tate had a better season than Moss which still makes it a wash. Hawks running game > Niners running game. Wilson =/> Kaepernick. Hawks WRs = Niners WRs. Hawks OL =/> Niners OL. Hawks secondary > Niners secondary. Hawks DL < Niners DL. Hawks LBs < Niners LBs (but maybe not for long). Hawks special teams =/> Niners special teams. The Hawks arguably have more upside or upward mobility than the Niners too at this point. Overall I'd take the Hawks going forward. But it's too close to tell right now what's gonna happen next season so it all boils down to who has a better offseason between now and then.

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RWIII wrote...

Derrol

February 13, 2013 10:10 am

I agree with what you said. The 49er defense is good. But they had a lot of mileage on that defense. The last 5-6 games the 49er defense just plain wore out. The Patriots torched them for 34 points. The Seahawks punctured San Francisco for 42 points. Atlanta got 24 points. Finally the Ravens smoked Patrick Willis and company for 34 points in the Super Bowl. Down the home stretch San Francisco's defense was nothing to brag about.

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Derrol_o wrote...

RWIII

February 13, 2013 10:46 am

I can agree with that although a lot of that had to do with Justin Smith being hurt. What I was saying was more of an assessment on the Hawks' defense than the Niners. But you're right, the Niners' D did have their issues, particularly in the secondary which was exposed and exploited a bit late in the season and the playoffs. But bottom line to me is overall I think the Niners D still is probably a little better than ours, or at least they played better against the Falcons than ours did. Both games were pretty similar. We fell behind 27-7 and the Niners fell behind 17-0 and I think at one point 24-7. Both defenses were getting lit up a bit while falling behind and both got it together and started getting stops but it took the Hawks' D a bit longer to figure it out. Strictly from the standpoint of the Hawks and how our defense played, it was an inconsistent showing. The last quarter and a half or so, they played like the elite defense we all know they can be. But the rest of the game they were just getting torched and they even got gashed by the Falcons' average at best running game. That's where the lack of consistency that has kinda plagued the defense all season showed itself once again in the end. So while the Niners' D has issues, so does the Hawks' D, maybe even a little more so at this point with the Hawks. Rest assured though that Pete and John will do what needs to be done to fix it.

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RWIII wrote...

Derrol

February 13, 2013 11:35 am

What you said is true. However, the Hawks played the Atlanta game without two of their three best pass rushers(Clemons and Jason Jones). Plus the fact that the Hawks went back to back East coast trips. The Hawks had to fly about 10,000 air miles in a 10 day period. So it is possible they might have been a little on the tired side. Especially the defense. By the way I would be willing to bet the Hawks defense will tower over San Francisco's next year. Justin Smith isn't getting any younger. According to John Clayton all 49er linebackers were not healthy at the end of the season. Seattle's defense was no where as beaten up as San Francisco's.

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Derrol_o wrote...

Hawks D

February 13, 2013 2:22 pm

All good points. The main thing for me, Niners defense aside, is that the Hawks defense while very good overall was not consistent enough. They were just too prone at times throughout the season at having stretches where they were just getting it handed to them, particularly against the run. I think over the 2nd half of the season they were dead last in ypc average and the Falcons did some pretty heavy damage running the ball on the Hawks in the playoff game. That wasn't anything new, it had been going on for a while. Concerning the pass rush, at least they had a significant improvement over '11 where they finished something like 27th in total sacks. But still you take away the 8 sack first half against GB and that only leaves like 25-30 sacks over the whole season which isn't all that good. They still somehow managed to only give up 15 points a game but they were living dangerously with those kinds of numbers. Regardless of how the defense stacks up to the Niners' defense, they still have some issues they need to address before they can be considered a truly elite defense. Just my humble opinion.

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Derrol_o wrote...

forgot to mention

February 13, 2013 2:25 pm

they struggled all season getting stops on 3rd down so that's another thing they will need to address going forward.

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Largent803 wrote...

I don't Believe that is True

February 13, 2013 2:14 pm

While the 9ers are an excellent team and they will be a challenge next year. I don't believe that Randy Moss is a Hall of Fame receiver. Don't get me wrong I think he is an excellent receiver I find other parts of his game lacking. Number one when you look at Sidney Rice watching him play the goal I saw in him was to score. It didn't matter who scored it just had to be one our guys. One of the prime examples was when Wilson was flushed out of the pocket once and ran for a touchdown against Washington. Rice while he didn't make a crushing block made enough one so that Wilson could score. To many times I have Moss not willing to do that kind of thing. He may eventually get into the Hall of Fame. However, I believe guys like Rice and Largent were better all around receivers than Moss would ever be.

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RWIII wrote...

Largent

February 13, 2013 2:55 pm

Good point. One thing about Seahawk wide receivers is that they are not afraid of blocking. They are good blockers. Especially Tate and Baldwin. In fact Golden Tate reminds me of Hines Ward. Tate is just a hard-nosed football player. Seahawks wide-outs are not afraid to do the dirty work.

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Sekolah wrote...

RE: 9ers are Team to Beat

February 15, 2013 10:34 pm

*sniff* smells like a troll laid a stinker here.

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Sekolah wrote...

9'ers are a team in decline from my perspective

February 15, 2013 10:53 pm

For starters, this team is a Super Bowl loser. Say whatever you want about their current roster, but the statistics suggest this team is due for a slide simply based on raw numbers which suggest Super Bowl losers fail to make the playoffs the following season. Is it any coincidence that Aldon Smith's play dropped off severely the moment Just Smith began to show his age? How does this work going forward? Aldon Smith is young. Can he adjust to what teams are able to do against him when he's not protected? Or is their next Andre Carter? Colin Kaepernick. Sorry, still not convinced Kaep is the real deal yet. Let's see him do what he did over a full 16 game schedule, with the league now on notice. He's not the leader Wilson is. This is a guy that is trying to follow Wilson's lead. And that slow release of his is something I think might always keep him just a step behind the truly elite passers. Suspect secondary. The only player worth talking about in that secondary is Dashon Goldson. The rest of that crew is fairly mediocre and certainly not up to snuff with Seattle's defensive backfield. In fact, were it not for such a dominating pass rush in the early part of the year, that S.F. secondary probably costs them some games. Gore winding down. This man doesn't have a lot of carries left in him, IMO. He turns the magical age of 30 in a few months, and we all know what the writing on the wall says about NFL RB's who turn 30. Gore might stick around a bit, but his carries will likely diminish; whether through injury or just lack of effectiveness.

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Daddy Dennis wrote...

SO funny!

February 13, 2013 7:42 am

They showed a picture of him hugging Russ and asked viewers to add the caption. They used my caption! "They said rookies have to slow dance on the sidelines whenever we score more than 50 points."
The look on his face was priceless! One of those maxed-out Seahawk fan moments. He liked the caption saying he was was trying to stop Russ from Kaepernicking more than the slow dancing!
Bobby, "Nah, I don't like the slow dancing one. I like the Kaepernick one."
NFL AM's Webber, "But that's from a fan, you don't like slow dancing?"
Bobby, "No. I don't like it. (blushing)"
Sooooooooo funny! NFL AM is the best!

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Hawkman wrote...

BIG D

February 13, 2013 1:37 pm

It will be very intersted to see how the off season developes. We have a lot of needs to take us to the next level. OLB and a D line rusher. We need another offensive lineman and a Nichol back defender. I think Tru and Hill are done. Go Hawks!!

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ronzilla wrote...

Bobby is correct. And I concur with his assessment that Seattle is the Team To Beat.

February 14, 2013 1:59 am

We SHOULD beat the 49rs twice during the regular season in 2013.
p.s. As soon as Wilson was named starting QB, I KNEW Seattle was on the rise! The Seahawks won 11 games in 2012, JUST LIKE I said they would.
Our 'D' directly lost 4 games for the Seahawks last year. boo... St. Louis, Detroit, Miami, Atlanta. Let us hope that both the rushing defense and pass rush are drastically improved next year.

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Updated Feb 12, 2013 - 3:06 pm

Bobby Wagner says Seahawks are team to beat

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