The Seattle Seahawks are considered a serious contender this season in NFL preseason odds in the NFC West. The San Francisco 49ers is the lukewarm favorites to win the division with the Arizona Cardinals the second choice. Seattle is the 3-1 third choice in NFL preseason betting.
NFL preseason odds list the Seattle Seahawks as 48-1 long shots to win the Super Bowl. While the Seahawks may not win the Super Bowl they could win their own division. The Cardinals look much weaker without retired quarterback Kurt Warner and receiver Anquan Boldin while San Francisco is not considered a sure thing either.
The Seahawks have a new head coach in Pete Carroll and renewed optimism entering the 2010 season. The team still has Matt Hasselbeck at quarterback and they have a solid wide receiver in T.J. Houshmandzadeh. They also have a lot of questions to answer. The Seahawks could be favored in three of their four preseason games. They open up by hosting Tennessee on August 14th and they will be favored in NFL preseason odds in that contest. They could also be a slight favorite at home in Week 2 against Green Bay. They will be underdogs at Minnesota in Week 3 while anything is possible for their preseason finale against Oakland on September 2nd.
The questions for Seattle in NFL preseason betting start with Carroll. He was a superb coach at USC but he has never won consistently in the NFL. Carroll is placing his faith this season in 35 year old Matt Hasselbeck who has seen better days. If Hasselbeck doesn’t get the job done then it is up to Charlie Whitehurst and he doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence.
The Seahawks did have a good draft as they got left tackle Russell Okung, free safety Earl Thomas and receiver Golden Tate. They need all three to contribute right away. The offense also needs to find someone that can run the ball as last year they had nothing.
The defense for Seattle last season was not very good. They could not stop the pass at all. They need cornerback Marcus Trufant to be healthy and they need Thomas to play right away as a rookie. The Seahawks do have Aaron Curry who had a nice rookie season and getting Lofa Tatupu back will help.