Montrovant
Fuzzy bears!
If Harvin remains healthy the Seahawks should have a much more dangerous offense. Baldwin, while he seems like a perfectly serviceable receiver, is not the kind of playmaker Harvin is.
I've been reading a lot of praise for the Niners receiving corps lately, and I'm glad of it, but the Niners don't have anyone with the kind of speed and proven playmaking ability of Harvin. Maybe one of their young guys can step into that sort of role, but our top 3, Crabtree, Boldin and now Johnson, are not speedy guys.
On the other hand, those 3 Niners receivers are all guys who have shown great hands, the ability to make tough catches in traffic, and particularly in Crabtree's case, the ability to make good yards after the catch. So while not the threat to go all the way on every play that Harvin is, they are an improvement over the depleted receivers from last year.
Barring injuries, I'm curious to see how these two defense and run game oriented teams do through the air this year.
Funny how the two strongest teams in the NFL last year were both nearly dead last in pass attempts and yards. Both teams had pretty good running backs and both teams had QB's near 500 yards running the rock.
The Hawks and Niners are VERY close in how they play with the one exception as you have noted in the past Seattle's DBs. SC has a slightly better DL.
The Niners have better linebackers, Seahawks better secondary. It's very close on the defensive line; the Hawks are ahead in edge rushers but there are few inside defensive linemen that can compare to Justin Smith.
Seattle was, IMO, a bit better on offense last year. The Niners pass game was so one-dimensional that it hurt the run game. Even if the Niners don't have the kind of explosiveness that Harvin brings, I think their receivers are good enough, if they can stay healthy, that teams will have to at least respect the passing game enough to open up some holes in the running game.
Whatever weapons they have, though, the Hawks and Niners are likely to stay near the bottom of the league in passing. It's just the way the teams are built.