It has been said more than once over the years that the NFL is a copycat league, which would suggest that several teams around the league will be using the Seahawks as a model for building their own teams.
Emulating their defense would seem to be a particular attraction for other teams, but Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers cautioned teams not to expect much immediate success going down that route during his weekly radio show on 540 ESPN. Rodgers said that’s as true of his team as it is of the 30 others trying to get where Seattle did on Sunday night.
“With all due respect, I don’t think it’s possible to play at that kind of level for many other teams in this league, if any,” Rodgers said. “That’s a talented group. I don’t think that should be our goal. We do need to improve on both sides of the ball, but that team has a unique mixture of secondary talent that’s as good a group in the league as you can see, and then a front seven that really plays well together. It should be maybe the standard we’re going for, but it might be a little unrealistic to think of any defense being as good as that for the next couple years.”
Trying to mimic the team the Seahawks put on the field will be difficult, but there’s definitely something for teams to gain by seeing how the roster was put together.
As we pointed out just after the Seahawks beat the Broncos, their victory was a testament to the way General Manager John Schneider and coach Pete Carroll have identified and acquired talented players in every possible way and developed many relatively unheralded players into key performers. It’s not easy to pull off, but every team should be trying to put together a personnel department and coaching staff that can give them their own version of what the Seahawks have built.
