Ah, what a difference a week makes in the life of a Seahawks fan.

Last week, I couldn’t wait to get to writing my preview of the Seahawks Vs Tennessee Titans game. This week, I am gnashing my teeth at a Seahawk team who managed to give up a comfortable lead heading into the fourth quarter, only to lose it in overtime against a Titans team who’s safeties appeared to have dropped acid minutes before kickoff.

To make matters a bit more annoying, based on press conference comments in recent days between Pete Carroll and Russell Wilson, there doesn’t to be an aligned opinion between the two as to whether Russell should have taken the check downs available to him in overtime (which may have helped Seattle win). Great to see the two biggest leaders of the team outwardly expressing their different points of view heading into a tough match up against the Vikings.

Well, what do these 2021 Seattle Seahawks have for us against these fearless Minnesota Vikings of the North this Sunday?

What do they have, indeed.

That’s a mighty good question to ask that, frankly, I dunno because the games against the Colts and Titans were so schizo different.

Let’s just take a wild stab in the dark this week, and see what sticks.

Seahawks beat the Vikings by..

Going back to the creativity on offense that they used against the Colts defense. Thus far, Seattle has not been getting great play for the center position on the offensive line. So, reverting back to some version of “Schotty Ball” against the Titans was an odd choice, especially considering how well motions, miss directions, and sweeps kept a much better Colts defense guessing the week prior. It is still a mystery to me why Seattle chose not to emphasis this style of offense against Tennessee. The motions, wrinkles, window dressing, all feels a perfect fit for Russell Wilson, and keeps him from having to trust a suspect center by hanging inside the pocket, waiting for Tyler Lockett to pop open. Seahawks just need to go back to what they did offensively in week one, and loss the stuff from week two into the trash.

Play containment on defense against the run. Tennessee broke the code on what looked like the makings of a promising 2021 Seattle Seahawk defense. They used Seattle’s aggression (Jamal Adams) against them. Two of Derrick Henry’s big touchdown rambles were on plays where Seattle gave up containment on the opposite side of where the run play looked to be going, and Henry is a special enough of a ball carrier to take advantage. In my eyes, Darrell Taylor gave up containment on the first one, and Jamal Adams did what looked like a stupid gamble on the other that resulted in a 60 yard score. Seahawks cannot make this a pattern for other teams to exploit. Seahawks need to contain Dalvin Cook in this one. Edge defenders need to secure that edge and force the runs inside to where Al Woods, Poona Ford, and Bobby Wagner can have impact.

Playing better coverage at linebacker in cover two. Seattle needs Bobby Wagner and Jordyn Brooks to understand their zone responsibilities better against Minnesota than they did against Tennessee. It appeared that they dropped too deep in coverage and that invited Ryan Tannehill to dink and dunk them to death in that horrendous fourth quarter. He wasn’t even looking at his outside receivers. Kirk Cousins is Captain Checkdown in the National Football League. If Seattle can’t get their two starting middle backers to adjust better against Cousins, they might as well scrap cover two this year. A big key to that style is having the ability for the inside linebacker to cover. If these two guys can adjust (as they should), it will force Cousins to have to make harder throws.

Seahawks lose this game by..

Not fully embracing the creativity of what this Shane Waldron offense can be and they revert to a watered down “play it close to the vest” style of offense that we saw so much of last year during the second half of the season. It’s clear to me that Seattle’s biggest strength is its offense, and the best way to use their best player in Russell Wilson, is to throw as many looks and wrinkles at a struggling defense as they can, just like they did against the Colts. If they don’t, they will likely play in the hands of potentially losing a shootout.

Gambling with over aggression on defense will be a killer for Seattle against Dalvin Cook. If Seattle doesn’t play discipline in their gap assignments and on their edge responsibilities, this game could get really ugly for Seattle. Cook is perhaps an even better perimeter runner than Derrick Henry is.

Not taking full advantage of their pass rush against a weak Minnesota offensive line. Based on the metric grading of Pro Football Focus, Alton Robinson has been Seattle’s best pass rusher through these first two games. Oddly, he has been getting the least amount of snaps out of all the edge rushers in their rotation. This needs to change, and if Carroll doesn’t stay to his words about Robinson getting more time against the Vikings, and if Seattle’s pass rush doesn’t show up well enough, Carroll’s got nobody to blame but himself for that. Robinson needs to be used more. Personally, I think he’s making a case to be the starting LEO end.

Prediction

Seahawks rebound in this came by playing a more balanced and creative style of offense that controls clock and tempo against a struggling Minnesota defense. Russ gets back to a more decisive disbursement of the ball, tight ends and running backs become bigger factors, and Seattle’s pass rush becomes more alive against a talented Minnesota offense that feels it needs to win a shootout.

Seahawks win a close shootout 31-27.

I see Kirk Cousins needing to lead a come from behind in the final minute or two, and Carlos Dunlap gets his big mitts on the ball as it leaves Kirk’s hand, and it wobbles off target into the loving embrace of Qaundre Diggs. Last play of the game is a Russell Wilson kneel down, and we all feel better about these 2021 Seahawks next week as they get ready to face the 49ers.

Go Hawks!