THE FRONT ROW with Jason Elliott Sept. 7, 2013

They've been the talk of most pro football preview shows this season.

Seattle - one of the favorites to win the franchise's first Super Bowl.

But seriously, this can't be the year that the Seattle Seahawks win it all.

Can it?

FOR AS long as I've been a fan of the Seahawks - at least 30 years - I can remember the expectations being this high for the team maybe once or twice.

In 1984, they appeared in the playoffs for the first time in franchise history, then won their first AFC West title in 1988.

It took another 11 years for the team to get back to the playoffs, in 1999.

The expectations started to grow as the team continued to find ways to get into the playoffs, but in almost fitting fashion, both teams bowed out in the wild-card round, in 2003 and '04.

In 2005, the light finally went off and so did the team.

After a 2-2 start to the season, I wasn't even convinced that they could make the playoffs.

Then, the Seahawks won a franchise record 11 straight games, clinched home field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs and even had Shaun Alexander win the MVP award.

Even then, nobody really believed they could actually get to the Super Bowl because, like always, they'd find a way to lose it somehow.

But they found a way to beat Washington - even after Alexander was knocked out with a concussion - to earn the right to host the conference title game.

Against Carolina in the title game, they forced turnovers and made enough plays to clinch their first Super Bowl appearance.

Two weeks later, they came up short against Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XL in Detroit, a loss that still haunts me to this day.

Over the next couple of years, the team still advanced to the playoffs in what was a mediocre division for most of those years.

That's far from the case now.

San Francisco was in the Super Bowl last year, Arizona not so long ago and St. Louis is a lot better than some give the Rams credit for.

Seattle has more depth this year than in previous years, along with some proven playmakers at different spots. Of course injuries - like the hip injury that has Harvin out for at least the next seven weeks - have fans questioning whether they can live up to those expectations.

AS A Seahawks fan, it's a weird feeling to have your team considered the favorite.

Some of my friends believe they can advance to the playoffs, but will fall somewhere between the second round and the Super Bowl because of their lack of road success in recent years.

Do they've got a shot? Of course - but I've been wrong about this around 29 other times before.

This year seems a little different.

They've got depth in all the right spots and returners with experience in a system that coach Pete Carroll has been stressing since arriving from USC.

And for all of the other offseason moves - San Francisco adding Anquan Boldin and Atlanta signing Steven Jackson, most experts think that this is the year they'll get back to the Super Bowl in February.

For a change, they've got the attention of everyone else in the NFL now.

Are they ready?

We'll find out in less than two days.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d'Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com.