Seahawks 2020 Awards: Biggest What If?

Winning 12 games and an NFC West title, plenty of things went right for Seattle over the course of the 2020 season. But if a few dominos had fallen differently, the team may have made a much deeper playoff run.

While they didn't finish their season as envisioned with a Wild Card round playoff loss at Lumen Field, the Seahawks still enjoyed a strong 12-win season that culminated in their first NFC West title since 2016 and fifth overall under coach Pete Carroll.

As is the case for every team, over the course of the season, not every break fell Seattle's way. Key players were lost to injuries on both side of the football, untimely penalties were called that impacted the final outcome of a game, and necessary adjustments weren't always implemented by the coaching staff at the right time.

Looking back at one of the best regular seasons in franchise history, what are the biggest "what if" scenarios that could have dramatically altered how the Seahawks 2020 campaign unfolded? Our writers make their picks:

Biggest What If?

Corbin Smith: What if... Phillip Dorsett and Marquise Blair don't suffer season-ending injuries?

During the first couple weeks of Seattle's training camp, Dorsett and Blair were arguably the two best players on the practice field. Dorsett stood out like a sore thumb among the rest of the team's receiving corps with his blazing track speed and Russell Wilson seemed to connect with him on multiple deep balls during team drills each session. Unfortunately, he re-aggravated a prior foot issue in the Seahawks first mock scrimmage, eventually underwent season-ending surgery, and didn't play a single snap in 2020. It's worth wondering if his presence as a third viable deep threat with elite wheels and the ability to pick up yards after the catch in the short-to-intermediate game would have helped the team avoid their second half collapse offensively.

Ugo Amadi did a stellar job replacing Blair after his knee buckled following a collision with linebacker K.J. Wright in a Week 2 win over the Patriots. But Blair was the shining star of Seattle's training camp, intercepting several passes in practice as well as their three mock scrimmages. He looked like a natural at slot cornerback and his hard-hitting style brought a different element to the position than the Seahawks have ever had in the Pete Carroll era. Watching him go down in just the second game of the year after he flashed such promise in August was a buzzkill and if he would have stayed healthy, he seemed poised for a breakout season and could have been a game changer for the team's chances of doing damage in the postseason.

Ty Gonzalez: What if... the Seahawks clinched the first overall seed in the NFC?

Had the Seahawks defeated the Cardinals in Week 7 or the Giants in Week 13, they would have been in prime position to clinch the first overall seed in the NFC. While it’s certainly possible they still would have run into the Rams in the Divisional Round, it’s hard not to think about how the offense would have fared in a different playoff matchup against the Saints or even the now Super Bowl-bound Buccaneers.

Would Seattle still have been one-and-done against a different opponent, or would the extra bye week give them time to address some of their offensive struggles towards the end of the year? Would Brian Schottenheimer still be currently employed by the team and in the midst of head coaching rumors, or would fate have it that these events would still play out in a similar fashion as they did in reality? We will never know.

Nick Lee: What if... the Seahawks didn't change philosophies midseason? And Jamal Adams was healthy in the postseason?

Russell Wilson was setting the world on fire in the first half of the season. Let Russ Cook became a trademark, literally, and his MVP train had plenty of steam with 28 touchdown passes through eight games. Then, ker-plop, everything changed. Yes, turnovers didn't help the situation but if the Seahawks would have weathered that storm and stayed aggressive, who knows where they would be today? The offense clearly became rigid down the stretch with a more conservative approach and it cost Seattle big time in its first and only playoff game.

I may be suffering from recency bias to an extent, but the Rams had two huge 44-yard gains that I'm convinced wouldn't have happened if Adams was healthy. Does he knock a few critical passes away, including the 44-yard completion to Cooper Kupp? Does he get a big sack on Jared Goff? Does he make the tackle on Cam Akers to prevent a massive gain? Things like that could change a game, even with how poorly the Seahawks played on offense. Credit to Prez for being a warrior and toughing it out with a torn labrum and broken fingers, but if he plays in this game healthy, they might have advanced to play the Saints in the Divisional Round.

Colby Patnode: What if... the Seahawks beat the Cardinals in overtime in Week 7?

For me, this overtime loss against the Cardinals will always be the biggest "what if" moment from this season, particularly when it comes to the offense. It appeared to be the beginning of the end for Seattle's high flying pass offense, as Russell Wilson was picked off three times - all of them of the awful variety, including an inexcusable throw that Isaiah Simmons picked off in overtime - while the defense played so conservatively in the closing minutes of regulation and made some critical penalties. The Seahawks had a big lead at halftime and were up 10 points with three minutes to go, but instead of securing a huge road victory, they hand-delivered a win to the Cardinals and the collapse cost them home field advantage throughout the playoffs.