These ain’t your older cousin’s Seahawks.
Since Pete Carroll took over as coach and vice president of football operations in Seattle last season, the Seahawks have only 10 players on the 53-man roster remaining from 2009. They have 24 players in their first season with the team and they carry the youngest starting unit in the league.
Deon Grant, who played three seasons with the Seahawks before coming to the Giants last season, said they are practically unrecognizable. And with 15 new starters, the Giants’ 41-7 win in Seattle last season is even more irrelevant than usual.
“Nothing about that team is the same team that I signed with and when I left,” the Giants safety said. “They’re different from last year. There’s a new coaching staff, new quarterback, their offensive scheme, everything is totally new.”
After 10 seasons with Matt Hasselbeck under center, the Seahawks signed mobile quarterback Tavaris Jackson as a free agent from the Vikings, who was joined by his former offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell and wide receiver Sidney Rice, along with tight end Zach Miller from the Raiders.
Jackson, who had a largely disappointing tenure in Minnesota, threw for a career-high 319 yards in last week’s 30-28 loss to the Falcons. With a 31st-ranked Seahawks’ rushing attack, headed by Marshawn Lynch’s 3.1 yards per carry, Giants coach Tom Coughlin noted the importance of containing Rice, who has 11 catches for 188 yards and a touchdown in two games this season.
“When [Jackson] goes to Rice, he’s pretty sure where he’s gonna be,” Coughlin said. “There’s familiarity, you can tell. He’ll take some chances. Rice is a big play threat, without a doubt. He’ll launch that thing and Rice ends up on the other end of it.”
Facing a well-balanced defense and kick return threat, and former Jet, Leon Washington making his first return to East Rutherford, the Giants know a letdown game is not an option.
“A 1-3 team is a very hungry football team,” defensive tackle Chris Canty said. “Numbers sometimes lie, but the tape doesn’t lie. The physical level they’re playing at, we have to be prepared to stop them. They’ve got a lot of energy. They’re gonna be ready to go.”
Despite traveling across the country to play a team on a three-game winning streak, Carroll knows the matchup on paper will get thrown away with the opening kickoff.
“All our years at [USC], there was always that game, that somewhere on the schedule that would jump up when you least expect it and you’d think you were on a roll, things just don’t go right,” Carroll said. “We’re such a young team. We need all the confidence-builders we can get and this one would be a great one for us.”