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State of the team, The roster, Week 2: At Pittsburgh

How (in)complete are the Hawks right now?

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Logo -- At PittsburghJust how far from their best are the Seahawks?

Judging by the Week 2 league injury report, the Seahawks appear to be one of the more banged-up teams. They have six guys on the official game report (only the Chargers and Redskins have more), and they had 16 guys listed with injuries on the practice report Friday.

Almost every offensive lineman has some kind of ailment, and the Hawks are going to swap out two injured defensive starters this week, too.

Their most stable positions have been quarterback, running back (if you can believe it) and linebacker. Otherwise, they are in a state of flux everywhere else.

We previously said they are better almost everywhere, but right now we estimate they are only about two-thirds of what they eventually will be. And it might take a couple of months to find that final third — barring any major injuries.

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Franchise history, Week 2: At Pittsburgh, X's & O's

Can Hawks end rocky road streak?

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Logo -- At PittsburghAs good as Pete Carroll’s Seahawks have been at home in September (15-0 after the ugly win over Cincinnati last week), they have been inversely successful on the road.

They are 3-13 on the road in the first month, 1-11 in the first two weeks and 1-8 in the first road game each season under Carroll.

If the Seahawks are going to end a five-year losing streak in road openers and win for the first time since their championship season, they are going to need to do well early in the 10 a.m. PT start in Pittsburgh.

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Week 1: Cincinnati, X's & O's

Outcoached again, Carroll needs to get his team up to speed fast

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Logo -- CincinnatiWe all should be used to this Seahawks fact by now: Pete Carroll plays a conservative (i.e., ugly) brand of football that almost always leads to slow starts.

So why does Seattle always look so bad on offense early in the season? Why does the offensive line start so poorly? Why is the play-calling such a mess?

It really boils down to this: Carroll plays simple football, relying heavily on players to execute relatively basic concepts, while some other coaches use more complex schemes to help their players succeed.

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Coaches, X's & O's

Hawks will keep running, but will Wilson & Schotty be better?

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Logo -- CincinnatiAs the Seahawks open the season, one of the major points to watch will be the evolution of Russell Wilson and a fully Baldwin-less offense in Year 2 under Brian Schottenheimer.

The Seahawks put a lot of resources (financial and draft) into their passing game in the offseason, which led some to suggest (or hope) they are now building entirely around Wilson and are going to throw the ball all over the yard.

Clearly, people who think Carroll is going to sway from his run-focused approach are dreaming — and not really paying attention. Remember, Carroll is all about that circle of toughness — imposing his will on both sides of the ball.

As Carroll recently told 710 ESPN: “We want to play off the running game. … We want to run the heck out of the football. We love that part of the game, but we love everything that comes off that.

“We hopefully are going to show you a wide-open attack that makes you have to defend the run and makes you have to defend Russell sitting back there bombing footballs. We want to get the ball down the field and attack the heck out of it. That’s a big deal to us.

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The roster, X's & O's

‘How do we work these guys together?’

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Logo -- CincinnatiNow that John Schneider has repeated his 2013 defensive line coup, the question becomes: How long will it take Pete Carroll, Ken Norton and company to get this collection of linemen playing to its best capabilities?

Schneider told 710 ESPN that Seattle’s front seven, including a trio of “phenomenal blitzers” at linebacker, is “a really cool group. (Coaches are) putting it together right now: How do we work these guys together?”

For a sampling, we merely need go back to 2013, the last time Schneider brought in two impact pass rushers at the same time.

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Contracts, The roster

Hawks have replicated 2013 moves on D-line

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Schneider at 2019 combineIn May, we said the Seahawks needed to replicate their 2013 moves and find a way to add a couple of impact veteran pass rushers.

Four months later, they have achieved that goal — in spades (Jadeveon Clowney trumps Nick Perry).

John Schneider getting Clowney and Ziggy Ansah for a grand total of no more than $21.25 million is akin to his 2013 coup of signing Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril for $18 million (Avril signed for two years). And, if Clowney and Ansah play like Bennett and Avril did that year, the Hawks could be looking at their second Lombardi Trophy.

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Contracts, The roster

Why Brown was cut and could return

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Salary cap logo(UPDATED with new details Sunday morning)

When word first came down that Seattle had acquired Jadeveon Clowney from Houston for a couple of backup defenders and a third-round pick, it was almost exactly the cheap price we had predicted Seattle would have to pay if the teams made a deal.

But then came the added cost: Cutting starting receiver Jaron Brown and Cassius Marsh. The latter wasn’t a big surprise because Marsh was suddenly a superfluous player, with Clowney and Ziggy Ansah both capable of playing the LEO spot.

But Brown’s release certainly was a stunner — as it left Seattle with injured David Moore, inexperienced Malik Turner and three rookies behind Tyler Lockett.

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Preseason, State of the team

Hawks have improved almost everywhere

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Pete Carroll and Russell Wilson plan to be clapping about their offense a lot this season (Getty Images)A year ago, few people thought the Seahawks could play even .500 ball — due to a completely revamped defense and an offense that didn’t seem capable of winning many shootouts.

Well, as we predicted, the Hawks won 10 games and made the playoffs for the seventh time in Pete Carroll’s nine seasons (and, as we all know, should have beaten Dallas in the wild-card round).

This year, it seems plenty of people have not learned their lesson — still forecasting the Seahawks as an 8-8 or 9-7 team. The main concerns are pass rush and a youthful secondary, plus the permanent loss of Doug Baldwin in the receiving corps.

Carroll knows his pass rush is weaker than it was — “We gotta make something special out of it” — but he also knows his team is otherwise very stout. (UPDATE: The Hawks acquired pass rusher Jadeveon Clowney the day after this was first posted.)

After the Hawks beat the Raiders in the preseason finale, Carroll said, “We’re going to be a really good team. … We’re going to be hard to beat.”

He’s right. When the schedule came out, we predicted 11 or 12 wins. It’s still easy to see that because they look better at six seven of nine position groups.

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The roster, Trades

How cheaply could Hawks get Clowney?

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Logo -- PreseasonWould Houston take Barkevious Mingo and C.J. Prosise for Jadeveon Clowney? Or maybe some combination of those two players and a third- or fourth-rounder?

Because that’s all Seattle should want to offer for a one-year rental who would eat up $16 million in cap space.

Houston reportedly has called Seattle (among others), and the Seahawks apparently are on Clowney’s preferred short list (with the Eagles). There’s no word yet on what the Seahawks think of all of this.

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NFL draft, The roster

More third-round thuds

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NFL draftJohn Schneider has had plenty of chances to find the next Russell Wilson or Tyler Lockett with third-round home runs since 2016, but so far he has struck out.

Amara Darboh (cut this week) is officially a bust — again. And Nazair Jones is headed that way, too, perhaps saved only by a move to IR (barring an injury settlement).

Is C.J. Prosise (the anatomy of injury for the past three years) finally finished, too? Can Lano Hill avoid the ax? And can Rasheem Green step up and avoid the avalanche of third-round busts coming out of Seattle?

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