The Seattle Seahawks defense has been historically good over the last five years, but their days are numbered.
The defense, monikered the “Legion of Boom,” has been known for hard hits and trash talking.
Michael Bennett, a defensive lineman for the team, was just traded to the Eagles. Richard Sherman, the team’s lockdown corner and arguably most talkative player, is recovering from a torn Achilles and is expected to be cut Friday. (RELATED: Michael Bennett Will Be Traded To The Philadelphia Eagles)
Earl Thomas, one of the best safeties in the league, is reportedly on the trading block, however odds are he stays another year.
Kam Chancellor and Cliff Avril, both of whom have been selected to at least one Pro Bowl, are recovering from potentially career-ending injuries, and it’s still too soon to know if they’ll ever play again.
The downfall of the defense is not surprising. Age is an obvious factor to the decline. Injuries too. But, the most telling factor is the on the field and on the sidelines bickering between players.
After a 42-7 blowout loss to the Los Angeles Rams this year, Thomas told reporters, “To be totally honest I think the guys that played, you’ve got to give your hats off to Wags and a couple guys that played, but my personal opinion, I don’t think they should have played. I think the backups would have did just as good. But the injuries — Kam, Sherm, K.J. — they definitely hurt today.”
Wagner responded to Thomas’s criticisms via twitter before deleting it, it said, “E keep my name out yo mouth. Stop being jealous of other people success. I still hope you keep balling bro.”
Seattle’s defense announced itself to the world during the 2013 season. The Seahawks entered the playoffs as the top seed in the conference. With Seattle up 23-17 and only seconds remaining, Sherman broke up a pass to end the game. In the postgame interview with Erin Andrews, Sherman screamed, “Well, I’m the best corner in the game. When you try me with a sorry receiver like Crabtree, that’s the result [you’re] going to get.”
The defense led the team to the franchise’s first Super Bowl victory that year. The game pitted the league’s best defense in Seattle against the NFL’s most high-powered offense in Denver. The Seahawks dominated from start to finish, winning 43-8.
They were also one stupid play away from repeating as Super Bowl champions the ensuing year, but the offense blew that game.
Seattle may still have one of the best quarterbacks in the league in Russell Wilson, but the team will no longer look like the one of the past half decade.