Time for that team to soar back to the top

Not sure why they thought they needed a new look with that goofy alternate logo they came out with recently.

Because the Seattle Seahawks, with their fleecing of the New York Jets in the Sheldon Richardson trade, have shown they can still dominate other NFL teams, at least off the field.

Getting a Pro Bowl defensive tackle for a receiver they were probably going to have to cut was sheer genius by the Seahawks braintrust.

Adding him to a defense already chock-full of Pro Bowlers, past and present, should make Seattle even more than pain in the you-know-what to move the ball against.

That is, if you survive a few series against their punishing defense.

Last year, the Seahawks altered the course of the Dallas Cowboys by injuring their quarterback. This year they did the same to Kansas City by roughing up their running back.

If I’m on the Seahawks’ preseason schedule next year, I’m sending the B squad.

I’M PICKING the Seattle Seahawks to win the Super Bowl, whether I’d like to or not.

They’ve wasted the last couple of seasons by petering out in the divisional playoffs — despite whatever excuses their fans came up with to justify their early exits.

They are simply too dominant on defense not to do what they did in 2013, when they won a thrilling (for them, anyway) NFC title game and mutilated Denver in the Super Bowl.

Those defensive stars aren’t getting any younger, so they must win now before the sum of all that punishment they’ve been doling out the past few years starts to take a toll on them.

Sure, there’s a few warts on the offensive line, but with the Miracle Worker at quarterback, he can take pedestrian receivers and make them into all-pros.

BESIDES, WHO’S going to challenge them?

New England is the obvious default pick, despite its stumble the other night. And the Patriots may very well repeat. Yes, they lost a key receiver to a season-ending injury in the preseason. But they seemed to do just fine without their all-world tight end at the end of last year.

However, the other usual suspects — Green Bay, Dallas, Atlanta, Carolina, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, etc. — seem more pretenders than condenders. One of them could emerge as this year’s Flavor of the Month, but more than likely, they’ll show flashes, but bow out early.

Remember, Seattle won at New England last year — one of the few teams to beat the Pats when they were at full Brady — so the Seahawks aren’t going to bow to the mighty Belichick.

Other than that, the only thing that could stop the Seahawks is the Seahawks — throw the ball on the 1-yard line when they should have run it, or some other goofball call.

AS FOR the 49ers, hopefully we can resemble a professional football team, after a couple years of not being able to do that.

The fact our best receiver last year couldn’t even make the team this year means we might have more than one person who can actually get open and catch a forward pass.

We also got rid of our best cornerback, but that’s a bit relative since none of them were really all that good — unless standing next to the receiver and tackling him after he makes the catch is considered good defensive back play.

We’re on our fourth head coach in four years, and they gave him and the new GM six years to figure it out, so hopefully we’ll be in a position to contend by then.

Or, at the very least, make the games with those bullies up north competitive again.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.