For the second time this season the Seahawks were hammered at home.
In week three New Orleans were more physical, dictated the play to Seattle and forced errors. Baltimore did exactly the same today.
The only difference is this week the Seahawks didn’t have time to score garbage time points to polish the scoreboard.
Nothing will ever top the 2017 beat down by the Rams. Yet these two games — against the Saints and now the Ravens — are extremely concerning. It pulls the curtain back on the reality with this team.
You can get after them, even at Century Link Field.
We can sit here and reflect two ways. They’re 5-2. That’s a good record. They’re young and learning. They’re still in a modest rebuilt. They’ve also been battered by two good teams at home, were a goalpost away from losing a third home game to the Rams and nearly lost their other home game to the winless Bengals.
They’re 12-8 at home since the start of 2017. Can we talk about that by the way? The Seahawks are only 12-8 at Century Link Field since the start of the 2017 season. This is supposed to be a fearsome home field advantage. Are they a better team on the road these days?
They want to be the bully. They’re not the bully. They want to run the ball and have explosive plays in the passing game. They want to defend the run and force turnovers. They want to impose their will.
They’re just not doing it with any consistency — and other teams are parking up and doing it to them in their own backyard. The Ravens, like the Saints, were faster and stronger.
And sure — Baltimore had a bit of luck along the way. Yet one thing really stands out.
Today the Ravens loaded the box and said to the Seahawks, ‘you’re not running the ball on us’. Seattle responded by throwing it 41 times. When the game was close, they’d thrown 27 times vs 16 runs. That highlights how much they forced Seattle off script. The Ravens dictated to the Seahawks what they were going to do on offense.
They were the physical tone setters.
It’s supposed to be the other way round, especially at home.
It wasn’t all on the offense though. The defense initially restricted Lamar Jackson but by the second half they had no answer. They had no contain or discipline against his scrambling. The pressure was minimal. The D-line has regressed from last year and the linebackers — so much a focus this year — are not impacting games. This in turn leaves the secondary exposed. It’s a trickle effect through each unit.
Baltimore on the other hand harassed Wilson, took away the run, had two turnovers leading to touchdowns and nullified every threat.
Other teams will feel like they can get after Seattle — just like the Saints and Ravens.
And yes — you could argue the Wilson pick-six was a momentum shift. At that point Seattle was in control and it provided a swing. Yet Wilson led a field-goal drive before half time and Seattle started the second half with the ball and a 13-13 scoreline. The second half beating wasn’t due to the pick-six.
It seems they’re solely dependant on their offense. If they can’t run they need Wilson. Sometimes they need both. When teams win the LOS battle they struggle. The defense simply isn’t good enough to compensate on those occasions. Not enough pressure, not enough discipline, not enough big plays. Not good enough to contend seriously.
They’re not alone. There are plenty of other flawed teams, including the Ravens (who recently were themselves hammered by Cleveland). Yet the NFC is competitive at the top and the Seahawks are losing their margin for error.
So the season will continue in this way. Wilson will provide magical moments and win them games. There will be times when they can run and will be more physical too. Yet there will also, likely, be more games like this. And unfortunately, it could be in the games that matter.
Considering their utter dependance on the offense — do they need to add if they want to improve this year? Whether it’s a tight end addition as suggested earlier today by Ian Rapoport or another receiver?
It’s too late now to suddenly turn this team into the bully. They are what they are. Wilson’s lost Will Dissly. Don’t you need to say to your quarterback in a situation like this — we need you this year, so we’re going to support you?
You could say they have bigger needs on defense. I agree. What are you going to do though? Name the one defensive player that is available that transforms this unit?
They’re relying on their offense this year. So it’s either stand-pat and accept this is possible any week or try to do something in the next eight days to give Wilson an even greater opportunity to produce magic — because that’s what you’re relying on.
They’re now 1.5 games behind the 49ers and the Rams got back on track this week with a blowout win in Atlanta and the Jalen Ramsey trade. This was not a good weekend.
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