Seattle Wins Ugly, Needs Help on Offensive Line
The Seattle Seahawks continue to lead the NFC West by one game with a 7-1 record. However, after their mediocre showing on Monday Night Football, the Seahawks need to regroup and fast or their season could take a turn for the worse.
The Seahawks defeated the St. Louis Rams 14-9, but the Seattle offensive line looked bad and the win can only be described as ugly. The worrisome thing is several of Seattle’s win this season have been ugly.
The Seahawks were able to pull out the win thanks to a ferocious defense and an outmanned Rams team.
Seattle had to make a goal line stand as the game ended to save them from the season’s biggest upset thus far.
Regardless, a win is recorded as such and at the halfway point in the season, the Seahawks are 7-1. Seattle has played four of their past five games on the road.
The caliber of the team is very high, but with an offensive line like Seattle’s no team will reach the Super Bowl.
Quarterback Russell Wilson suffered seven sacks and the run blocking was atrocious.
There are backups playing for injured starters on the offensive line, which is part of the problem, but no one on the line played well.
Seattle needs the likes of Breno Giacomini and Russell Okung the team’s two starting tackles to return as quickly as possible from injury.
However, just those two will not cure the extensive problems the line has. The entire line including the center and two guards most improve dramatically if the Seahawks want the NFC West title and to play in the Super Bowl.
If Wilson continues to be sacked and hit hard, he will suffer an injury sooner than later. Seattle also will have a hard time beating tough teams like the San Francisco 49ers and New Orleans Saints with their lack of an offensive line.
In Monday’s game, Seattle’s offense finished with just seven first downs and 135 total yards. The scary part was 80 of the 135 total yards on offense for Seattle came in just a single play when Wilson hit Golden Tate with an 80-yard touchdown pass.
Seattle’s strong defense also gave up more than it is used to. The Rams ran for 200 yards on the ground against a defense that allows on average just 92 yards on the ground per game.
However, coaches are not too worried about the status of the run defense in just one of the team’s 16 games.
Seattle needs changes though and they cannot wait until the two tackles return. Okung is out until mid November or later and Giacomini has at least two weeks longer. A trade might be something the Seahawks could consider but that needs to be done fast as the deadline is Tuesday afternoon.
If Seattle can fix its problems on the offensive line then Wilson can show his talent passing and running the ball and the defense can be more relaxed knowing they will not have to hold opponents to less than 10 points to win a game.
