TERRY MOSHER
The Seattle Seahawks’ football season is teetering on the brink and Sunday in Cincinnati against the unbeaten Bengals we will find out which way the season falls, over that brink or back from the brink.
Cincinnati is the top-ranked offense (422 yards per game) in the NFL. The duo of quarterback Andy Dalton and A.J. Green, the six-foot-four 5th-year wideout Georgia, are the fourth-best in the NFL.
So the Seahawks’ defense, which ranks fourth behind Tennessee, Denver and New England, will be sorely tested once again and this time it may determined which way their season turns.
If there is such a thing as a big game, this is it. The Seahawks are 2-2 and just one game off the lead in the NFL West held by high-scoring Arizona, which surprisingly was dumped last Sunday by St. Louis, and one more loss this early really puts them behind the eight-ball.
However, the Seahawks are lucky to be 2-2. They should have lost on Monday night when they got lucky that a back judge decided that K.J. Wright didn’t knock the football intentionally out of the end zone with under two minutes left and winless Detroit ready to score what might have been the winning touchdown. If the back judge had ruled Wright intentionally had knocked the ball out of the end zone the Lions would have had the ball on the one-yard line with a first down. Instead, the Seahawks got a touchback and the ball on the 20 where they ran out the clock to secure a win they probably should not have had.
Even discounting what happened in those final moments, the Seahawks were lucky to have escaped the claws of the Lions. Quarterback Russell Wilson was running for his life the entire game and lost two fumbles, but because he is the Houdini of the NFL managed to pull off a couple incredible escapes and complete two long passes that put the only offensive touchdown of the game on the scoreboard and help the Seahawks escape themselves from an upsetting disaster.
Because of salary cap issues and thinking they had to upgrade their receiving corps, the Seahawks lost by trade two key offensive linemen in the off-season – center Max Unger (New Orleans) and left guard James Carpenter (New York Jets). Their replacements are Drew Nowak (center) and Garry Gilliam and for whatever reason the revamped line has not jelled.
As Joan Rivers used to say, “Can we talk?” The O-line has been horrible through the first four games. Now you might argue that I’m too harsh, but if you are realistic the Seahawks have played just one team with a winning record, the 4-0 Green Bay Packers, which they lost by 10 points. Outside of the Packers, the composite record of the other three is 3-9.
And the offensive line has left Wilson unguarded (he’s been sacked 16 times and harassed maybe three times more than that) and scrambling for all he’s worth. Because he is a Houdini, Wilson has often managed to make something out of nothing, but at some point the odds are going to catch up with him and he’s going to get thumped real good and then the Seahawks will have to depend on his backup – Tarvaris Jackson.
On top of a bad O-Line and a receiving corps that can’t get separation, the Seahawks could be in big-time trouble. They traded Unger to get the six-foot-seven Jimmy Graham, thinking Graham would give them a chance to have a more explosive passing attack. But Graham has had a hard time getting open and Wilson seems reluctant to force the ball into him and let his athleticism and his height win battles for the ball.
Then there is the fact the Seahawks now run into a crucial part of their schedule where after the Bengals they face at home the surprise of the early season, the unbeaten Caroline Panthers, then go on the road for the next two weeks to play at arch-rival and troubled San Francisco and Tony Romo-less Dallas Cowboys, then have their bye week before facing at home the explosive Arizona Cardinals.
Granted, the Seahawks defense is beginning to jell and reach expectations, but you can’t expect them to win every game with their D. At some point, the Seahawks need to create running lanes for Marshawn Lynch, who is expected back this week from a hamstring injury, and they need to give Wilson some relief from extreme pressure, especially opponents that are now using the corner blitz with good results.
Until they do that, it doesn’t look good.
On a positive note, Tyler Lockett appear to be getting better and better as a receiver and shows a toughness side to him that bodes well for his future. I noticed that he does not give up on plays and finds open space where Wilson can find him, so that is good.
You know, it is difficult in the NFL as it is structured today to have a title-contending team each season. The New England Patriots do it, but the whole system is constructed to provide parity in the league and even though the Patriots seem to make it work for them and the Seahawks look like they have it figured out too, it is very difficult to maintain and I think you have to be a little lucky to keep it going.
So far, the Seahawks have been lucky this season, no more so than Monday night when an official let a batted ball call out of the end zone go without blowing his whistle. You can’t depend on the Seahawks, though, to be so lucky on down the road. They need to get their offensive line problems straighten out, and they need to find passing schemes that will allow their receivers to have a chance to get open.
Until the next time, I’m outta here.
Be well pal.
Be careful out there.
Have a great day.