Seahawks History: Will This Year's Team Be Better Than the 2005 Version?

(Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

If you ask real Seahawks fans, they will tell you that 2005 was by far the best season in Seahawks history. One main reason was their trip to SB XL.

Now unlike the Arizona Cardinals this season, the Seahawks earned a spot in the Super Bowl. The Seahawks were great on both sides of the football, having a very explosive offense and a stone-wall defense.

Now if you watched the first four games of the Seahawks' 05 season, you would have thought that they were definitely not going to be in the Super Bowl or make the playoffs.

The Seahawks started out going 2-2, with wins against Jim Mora's Falcons and the Arizona Cardinals. They suffered losses to Jacksonville in Week 1 and Washington in Week 4.

But after that they took off, winning their next 11 straight games, and as one former Seahawk put it, "we have developed a fear of losing." Well, let's look at how the Seahawks won 11 straight games.

Week 5 vs. St Louis (37-31): Hasselbeck had 316 yards passing and two touchdown passes with zero interceptions. Bulger had 336 yards passing, two touchdown passes and one interception.

The difference in this shot out was the running game. The Seahawks and 2005 MVP Shaun Alexander was the better running back over Steven Jackson. Alexander ran for 116 yards at two touchdowns. Jackson ran for 77 yards and only one touchdown. So in 2005, the Seahawks had a balanced offensive attack.

Week 6 vs. Houston (42-10): Week 6 was completely different than the previous week: it was the Shaun Alexander show. Matt Hasselbeck only had 168 yards passing and one touchdown and one interception. David Carr, on the other hand actually did better than Hasselbeck, throwing for 179 yards and one touchdown, but he didn't throw an interception.

However, where the Seahawks got the majority of their points was via the great one himself, Shaun Alexander. He ran for 141 yards and four touchdowns. Not too shabby but that's exactly why Alexander won the NFL MVP.

Week 7 vs. Dallas (13-10): This was the least amount of points scored in one game for the Seahawks in 2005 with 13. Drew Bledsoe and Matt Hasselbeck both had one touchdown pass and two interceptions. However, Hasselbeck did have more yards passing with 224 yards, Bledsoe only had 136 yards.

But the most important thing in the game for the Seahawks was when Hasselbeck converted on his only touchdown pass to TE Ryan Hannam to seal the victory for the Seahawks, they also had a field goal that allowed them to get 10 points in the fourth quarter. The Cowboys only had a lone field goal, which wasn't enough to get the win.

Week 9 at Arizona (33-19): Coming off their bye week, it was going to be interesting if the Seahawks would keep it up, and they completely did. Kurt Warner completely outthrew Matt Hasselbeck. Warner passed for 334 yards and had one touchdown, the big thing was that Warner had three interceptions. Compared to Hasselbeck who threw for 162 yards and one touchdown, but Hasselbeck didn't throw any interceptions.

Once again, "The Great One" led the Hawks to another victory.  Alexander ran for 173 yards and two touchdowns compared to the trio of Cardinals running backs (J.J. Arrington, Marcel Shipp, Larry Fitzgerald (end around) and Obafemi Ayanbadejo) combine could not get over 100 yards. They got 71 yards rushing combined.

Week 10 vs St. Louis (31-16): Once again, the opposing QB outthrew Matt Hasselbeck. In this case it was Marc Bulger. Bulger threw for 304 yards and had one touchdown pass and one interception. Hasselbeck had a below-par outcome, throwing for 243 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.

So once again, the Seahawks relied on RB Shaun Alexander, and once again, he came through. Alexander ran for 165 yards and three touchdowns. Alexander was the Seahawks main source on offense.

Week 11 at San Francisco (27-25): For the third straight week, the opposing quarterback outthrew Matt Hasselbeck, but this time it wasn't as bad. Ken Dorsey threw for 249 yards and one touchdown and zero interceptions. Hasselbeck had 233 yards passing, one touchdown and zero interceptions, almost the same as Dorsey with just a tad bit less yards.

So now I ask you, who is going to lead this team to another win? Shaun Alexander. Alexander rushed for 115 yards and two touchdowns, compared to the 49ers running back Maurice Hicks, who had 83 yards and one touchdown. So yet again, Alexander wins it for the Seahawks.

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