The ‘rare’ trait Brian Baldinger sees from Seahawks

The Seattle Seahawks are the defending Super Bowl champions, but they aren’t necessarily getting the respect nationally that usually comes with hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.

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Despite winning the toughest division in football and being last team standing a year ago, the Seahawks aren’t being named as the Super Bowl favorites for this coming season by many experts.

NFL Network analyst and former offensive lineman Brian Baldinger strongly disagrees with those who aren’t picking Seattle as the Super Bowl favorite heading into the upcoming campaign.

“I don’t even know how anybody could rank Seattle less than the favorite at this point,” Baldinger told Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy on Wednesday. “Because the last time we saw a football game, they were a dominant player in the Super Bowl, and they were pretty dominant – I mean, San Francisco didn’t score a touchdown against the them (and) they’re in the same division – in the playoffs. I don’t know how anybody could overlook Seattle. And if they are, are they worth listening to? Do they know anything?”

One of the reasons Baldinger believes the Seahawks should be the favorites to defend their championship is they possess a trait as a team that Baldinger described as “rare.”

“The one thing I know about the Seattle team – and I was around them a little bit – it is rare team in that how good these guys actually get along,” Baldinger said. “Go watch that team warm up before a game and see if the entire team isn’t out there on the field warming up together. And they love (quarterback) Sam Darnold.”

One example Baldinger pointed to that he felt illustrated Seattle’s togetherness as a team is the way rookie offensive lineman Grey Zabel credited a veteran defensive lineman like Leonard Williams for helping him come along and gain confidence in his first year as a pro.

“He went out and basically had a great season,” Baldinger said of Zabel. “I think people don’t really understand Seattle. They don’t look at them because they don’t know them. They’re not around that team. Anybody (who’s) around that team, you can feel the team.”

A believer in Darnold

Some could still be skeptic about the Seahawks because of Darnold, who committed a league-high 20 turnovers last season. But Baldinger is a believer in Seattle’s signal-caller.

“How many quarterbacks in the history of the NFL have won 14 or more games in back-to-back seasons? That’s what Sam just accomplished. I mean, there’s a handful of guys that can make that claim, and he did it in two different organizations,” Baldinger said. “I don’t know how you couldn’t believe in Sam Darnold. He had the league’s leading receiver (last year). Nobody thought Jaxon Smith-Njigba coming out of Ohio State was going to lead the league in receiving. Well, the quarterback allowed that to happen.”

Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player in this story. Listen to Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app. 

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