Week Ten: Wilson’s Warming Up.

Not much to say about the Seahawks game on Sunday night. Holding penalties killed every offensive drive in the first quarter and, while the defense did what they could being stuck permanently on the field, they eventually started to give ground. The points explosion happened and Seattle was down 22-0 (if I recall correctly). The come back was a furious one but key drives were stopped on penalties. Also, Richard Sherman had a ball he tipped miraculously caught up the Arizona receiver, and if it was not, the Hawks probably win the game.

The Hawks had 18 rushing attempts for a season high 6.38 yards/carry, however the leading rusher was Russell Wilson. Rawls performed well in his two opportunities. Lynch continues to struggle, posting a 5 yard average, almost 3 yards fewer than Wilson averaged. Wilson threw the ball 32 times for an average of 7.5 yards per attempt and 17 yards per catch (!!!!!! WTF?!?!?! Is that possible?). The math makes it pretty clear, as it makes it clear every week, so I won’t bore with repeating myself.

The Hawk’s problem is the same problem they’ve had all year. They can’t play 4 quarters of a football game. In this game, the offense decided to sacrifice the entire first quarter to fouls up. Hard to beat a division leader, considered one of the best in the NFC, when you only play 2.5 quarters of a game.

After 9 weeks of silence, the media is finally coming out against Seattle’s offense. I think most people felt the Seahawk’s would figure it out sooner or later but you’re starting to hear things like, “The Seahawks are just now figuring out what they have in Jimmy Graham.” Translation: “They have no fucking clue what they are doing with this guy.” (It’s not just if they use them, it’s how they use them–it’s weird). Or when Collinsworth said, “You know, it might be nice to see some timed passing routes once and a while.” Translation: “They have no fucking clue on how convert first downs with the passing game.”

The sad thing is that people are starting to turn against Russell Wilson. At the bar, all I heard were people saying, “He’s too short!” Personally, I don’t feel Wilson is responsible for the ills of the Hawks. You can’t check down to a check down receiver who’s not there, but that is not to say he is playing perfectly. All year he has been slow to throw when receivers are coming out of routes. Also, he still does boneheaded things like throw a jump ball to Doug Baldwin–the shortest guy on the team–in the middle of the field against one of the best handed safeties in the NFL. Of course, the decision ended in an INT and killed a nice drive. We saw plenty of examples of how to use Baldwin correctly (he had a great game) but you can strand that guy on a island in coverage. He’s either open or he isn’t.

The Seahawks seem set on sticking with Bevell for the rest of the season but he has to go. The Seahawk’s run no offense to speak of. They go up there in the option with Lynch and Wilson, and then if they go play action, Wilson just runs around until someone gets open. There’s no real sense of coherency or logic to the thing. In fact, it’s kind of amazing that Wilson hasn’t melted down in this anarchy of an offense. I’m impressed he still has his wits about him, and how he wills this offense to at least do a few things correctly.

As for the defense, hey guys, you tried your hardest. Once again, the offense put you out there for the entire game. Earl Thomas had an interception in the end zone. We had two sack fumbles from Carson Palmer, one ending on the 3 yards line, one a touchdown. Richard Sherman’s tip almost led to an interception. Okay, they are not the greatest defense in the league and the Legion of Boom is dead (Yes, I said it: DEAD) but you can’t tell me this unit didn’t do everything they could to try and win this game. Look, they were gassed at the end of the fourth quarter. They had nothing left to give. In the offseason, we need to retool the defense to bring in pass rushers since the LoB can’t even cover their zones any longer, and we need to focus more of generating pressure on the quarterback.

4-5–tough season but I still love the team. It seems far-fetched, especially since they still have to play the Cardinals and the Steelers, but if they can claw their way to 10-6, they may be able to get a wild card spot.