Dear Seahawks Fan,

Do you feel weird about these 2021 Seattle Seahawks?

I know I do!

I think this game is a microcosm of all the weirdness I see with this team. They struggle on defense against a truly bad offense out the gates, then play better, then poop themselves for a bit on offense when Russell starts chasing deep passes too much again, then they pick themselves up to look good again by getting back to the short pass game, and the win decisively with a handful of explosive plays.. against probably the worst professional football team on the planet.

Offensively, I can never understand what the plan is, and I saw it again with this one. The short passing game starts to click, and they start taking deep shot after deep shot down field. Rashaad Penny looked great running, and they try to work in a gimpy Alex Collins who maybe shouldn’t have played.

They play passive in zone coverage and then tighten up.

Al Woods plays like a beast in the interior of the defensive line and then gets another stupid penalty on a field goal kick that gave Houston new life (How many times has he done this in a Seahawk uniform? I feel like it’s lots). Why, Al? Why?

On the plus side, Russell Wilson to Tyler Lockett remains probably the prettiest thing in all of football, which, of course, makes the idea of trading away Russell Wilson probably one of the stupidest things (I don’t think that’s gonna happen, by the by, but that’s a topic for another time).

I was quite pleased to see that the offensive line didn’t surrender one sack on Wilson, but then again, this was against Houston. They will have Aaron Donald to contend with next week. Color me unconvinced they will have a repeated performance against that monster.

If I am to give some game balls out, Rashaad Penny most definitely gets it on offense, and defensive end Darrell Taylor probably gets it on defense for being the steady disruptive force that he was. Without the efforts of these two, Russell might have had been forced to win a shootout against rookie quarterback Davis Mills that little of us were expecting.

Speaking of Mills, I thought that dude looked pretty good. I can’t tell if it is his growth as a passer, or the state of the Seattle defense without Jamal Adams, but he largely looked like a poised vet who was unfortunately stuck on a horrendous team. Should Seattle do the ridiculous and be in need of a quarterback next Spring, I’d honestly put in a call to down there to see what it would take to pry him out. I kinda think he might turn out to be a decent one in a Derek Carr like way.

That’s why this game, and it’s final score, was so damn weird. It wasn’t the beat down that the score suggested, but yet, maybe it sorta was. Mills made it more competitive than one would have thought it should have been, and it took a long explosive touchdown run by Penny late in the game against the worst run defense in the league to pad the final points and stats.

And if you are like me, you aren’t looking at this win, and likely to be filled with hope that Seattle is somehow going to manage to become spoiler to a playoff hopeful Rams team down in LA next Sunday. I think that’s okay. I don’t think Seattle is a very good team this year.

My goals for this team is to get into the off-season as quickly as possible and fix all that needs fixing without doing the extreme act of trading away their franchise quarterback who, despite struggles coming back from a gruesome finger injury, is still the foundational player on this team. What moves are likely to happen is probably anyone’s guess, but if I were Jody Allen, I would pretty much demand that the offensive line becomes the biggest priority, followed by the defensive line, running back, and maybe corner (although DJ Reed and Sidney Jones have been play fairly well lately). I would probably look to shake some things up with the coaching staff, as well, and maybe the front office, or at least reset the power structure of how it all runs.

That’s my hope, and in this win, I see Darrell Taylor, Tyler Lockett, DK Metcalf, and a few others as nice pieces to hang onto and build around in that process. But make no mistake, to fix what I see ails this team, it’s a big extensive list of tasks to do in one off-season.

I suppose if only we could have just held onto the lead against Tennessee, and managed to pull off a win against the Saints, we would be 7-6 right now, and feeling like the playoffs are still possible, and maybe that list doesn’t feel so daunting. Those two losses sting mightily more so now than this win against a pitiful team feels good.

5-8 is just a tough thing to get excited about these days. A win against the Rams would get the juices of excitement flowing more, but suddenly, the Chicago Bears don’t feel like an easy out, and there’s still the Cardinals to contend with at the season’s end.

Dreaming of a 9-8 finish feels a stretch, to put it mildly. So, I’m not holding out for that.

I’m in with this team for the long run, and what I see right now is a team that needs a reset. Even if we did miraculously squeak out 9-8, that wouldn’t change my perspective.

I’m going to enjoy these remaining games because this is my team, and I love them. Win or lose, I’m good. I just want Santa Claus to bring them a better plan for fixing their offensive and defensive lines, and maybe a better coaching approach that will help them play each game with better consistency.

I don’t think it’s too unreasonable to want these things, either.

So, come on, Santa! Do a dedicated Twelve a solid for Christmas!

Go Hawks.