Bobby can’t do it all, ya’ll. Players and coaches need to step up. (Getty Images)

If you are anything like me as a Twelve, you’ve probably been pulling your hair out a bit the last month. While you’ve been amazed at how well your star quarterback and his merry band of receivers and runners have been in the offense, you’ve been probably equally appalled at the lack of pass rush, the missed tackles, and blown coverages on the defensive side (let’s not even get into special teams). Presently, this team feels incomplete. They have an offense led by a quarterback who is hot enough to take them to a championship, but they have paired that with a defense that doesn’t feel like they can stop anybody.

In two weeks, they couldn’t stop Matt Schaub, and Jameis Winston; two quarterbacks nobody thinks about then thinking about how to start a franchise, yet they both put up numbers that would make you go “yowza” when looking at them on paper. This is troubling for any Seattle Seahawk fan who has followed this team for about the last ten years. This does not feel like a Pete Carroll defense, not anything close, and it feels like this club is destined, at best, for a short lived playoff appearance because of it.

This doubly stings because that would be a waste of potentially a historic season from Russell Wilson and company. It’s a shame simply because if this defense could just get to middle of the pack, or something closer towards, that could be enough for Seattle to capture the division, and make a deep playoff run.

So, as we sit here through nine games, my question is “can this defense be fixed enough this season with seven games left to go?”

My short answer is one of pure optimism. It’s possible.  Here are my thoughts.

Possible Fix Number 1. Players on the Roster stepping in and stepping up.

As of right now, Seattle’s defense ranks 25th in total defense out of 32 teams. That’s bad, but I have to be honest, when I was looking into these rankings, I was expecting worse. A lot worse. So, for me, this is at least a bit of a positive.

They are 5th in the league in creating turnovers, and that’s pretty darn good. However, they are 25th in sacks, and that isn’t great at all. They’ve given up a bunch of yards through the air and have been somewhat middle of the pack in yards given up on the ground. They have actually been a fairly decent red zone defense. That all feels about right. They have been classically “bend don’t break” all season long, at best.

Here’s the thing that I think is the long and the short of it. There has only been one player that has consistently brought pressures on the quarterback and that is Jadeveon Clowney, and that’s been a big problem.

Prior to trading for him, this team was likely banking on Ziggy Ansah to help mitigate the loss of Frank Clark, and they were counting on the continual positive growth of defensive tackle Jarran Reed. The fact that neither has contributed much has been a massive problem. With Reed, we can kind of excuse it because he was dealt a six game suspension, and is now just working himself back into the rotation. However, with Ansah, when he has been playing (either because of injury or age, or both) has been a vast shadow of himself.

It’s also pretty fair to note that the much hyped defensive tackle Poona Ford hasn’t factored into the pass rush, rookie first round pick LJ Collier has come in injured and raw and thus ineffective, and second year player Rasheem Green as been spotty, at best.

Here is a bit of good news. Before being injured, defensive lineman Quinton Jefferson had actually been playing pretty good ball. If we can remember back a few games, he was the one guy that had been getting pretty good inside and outside pressures along with Clowney. If he wasn’t getting to the quarterback, he was hurrying them and he was swatting down passes. Through seven games, Q Jeff had acquired 17 tackles, 2 sacks and 3 passes defensed. Those are pretty encouraging numbers. Seattle needs him back, like desperately.

It’s also worth noting just how impactful chemistry is for the pass rush, and how hard it is to generate it with a bunch of new faces. The only legit carry overs from last year are Reed and Q Jeff, and they have yet to play much together, and I think it is safe to say that Clowney and Reed are still figuring each other out. It is entirely possible that their chemistry grows in the second half where we start seeing more pressures and sacks.

Further in the back of the defense, is the other area where Seattle has also not been playing with all their horses yet. The newly acquired safety Quandre Diggs has been resting a sore hamstring that he had been playing on in Detroit, and even though rookie free safety Marquise Blair playing well enough with Bradley McDougald, Diggs is a hard hitting play maker that I’m sure the coaches want to utilize.

There is a reasonable thought that with a healthy adding of Diggs, he perhaps takes over the nickel corner spot and they play with three quality safeties on the field in many match ups. Diggs came into the league as a corner from Texas. A healthy Quandre Diggs, who was a pro bowl alternate last season, just gives this defense more quality dimension. This leads to the next part.

Possible Fix 2. Adjust the Scheme

Right now the Seattle defense is playing pretty predictably, at practically a ridiculous level. The cornerbacks aren’t pressing receivers at the line of scrimmage, and that is allowing receivers to basically do whatever they want to underneath. They can run digs, curls, and slants, and whatever else because there is usually three linebackers in coverage, there are almost always zones available to them because of that.

I believe the main reason why they have simplified these coverages to this extreme is due to the overemphasis of the coaches not wanting defenders to get beat over the top. If we go back to the first game of the season against the Bengals, and recall how John Ross was able to easily slip past Tedric Thompson for a long touchdown bomb, and then recall just how often Thompson repeatedly allowed long pass completions throughout the season until he found himself on injured reverse (was this a Rodney Dangerfield Caddyshack thing?), it’s pretty understandable.

Pete Carroll had probably seen enough, and had mandated these soft zone coverages that would invite quarterbacks to make the easy completions, instead of testing the back end coverage. However, with three weeks of Marquise Blair now starting, maybe the coach will get comfortable enough to start making some adjustments because he feels like he has a player on the back end who will not so easily be beaten over the top.

Another reason for the soft coverage is because they are playing with three linebackers on the field most of the time. Because of this, they are almost always in zone, and even when they blitz, they send the same linebackers from the same spots. It’s way too predictable. Any competent quarterback can pick up on these tendencies and pick apart what Seattle is doing. I think the reason why they’ve accepted this fate is because they don’t feel good at all about their nickel corner situation, and they think linebacker Mychal Kendricks is a better option, but this ties their hands to play zone because they don’t want to force Kendricks to play man against the smaller quicker receiver.

Coming out of the bye week, Seattle could try pressing receivers more, and throwing off their timing. This could give the linebackers a better chance in coverage. They have the big physical outside corners to do this, and with a healthy Diggs, they could utilize more nickel defense, and this would allow for more man coverage. They don’t have to radically change what they have been doing, but they can certainly add more to it, and I think they will.

It is entirely probable that Seattle will have self scouted themselves during the bye week and with the extra week of practice, they will adjust many of these overly predictable  tendencies. Just how much remains to be seen, but I am sure adjustments are coming.

It also wouldn’t surprise me at all if they become even more a blitzing team, and look to blitz from a lot of different angles with different players at linebacker, corner and safety. They might look at this defensive line and determine that they simply do not have the horses to consistently rush with four.  I wouldn’t expect them to always be sending someone extra, but they can be more exotic when they do. They did this last year with Justin Coleman blitzing at nickel. If they feel Diggs can provide that juice, why wouldn’t they revisit that?

Possible Fix 3. Players Step Up and They Adjust Scheme.

It’s entirely possible that Jadeveon Clowney and Jarran Reed develop better chemistry up front, and Quinton Jefferson comes back and makes up for the lack of production from others. Will that make them a decent rushing front four? Possibly not, but at this point, they just need to be better because they almost can’t be any worse.

It is also possible that Ziggy Ansah has still been feeling the effects of the twisted ankle he received in Cleveland and has been favoring it on the field, and through the bye week, he will have rested it to the point that he comes back with more pass rush twitch. It’s also possible that Rasheem Green and maybe LJ Collier will start to pick up their games a bit more. These are all possible.

What might be more probable is that Seattle will adjust the scheme more and will become less predictable. Pete Carroll always uses the bye week to self scout his roster and coaches. It would be shocking to me if they come out of the bye and have not made key adjustments. That is why I think the safe bet is that adjustments are coming.

Closing Thoughts

Even with players playing better and coaching adjustments coming in that will make this unit less predictable, this still is probably not going to be a very good defense. However, if they can just get closer to middle of the pack and by that, I would even take the 20th ranked defense over the 25th, that could be enough for Seattle to have a special season if the offense continues to do what they have been doing.

I think that is why the team went out and brought in wide receiver Josh Gordon. They likely know what they have with this defense, and they need to ride Russell Wilson and the offense. They might even consider bringing in Antonio Brown, even if Gordon works out just fine. At this point, why not?

Presently, Russell Wilson has been enjoying a career year, and Pete Carroll’s dream vision of a perfectly balanced offense has never looked this realized in Seattle with the way Chris Carson and Rashaad Penny have been running, along with how Wilson has been throwing to Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf. Maybe this is the season to simply go all in on the offense. It’s interesting to note that last year the New England Patriots won the Super Bowl with the 20th ranked overall defense in the league.

As for next season, I think it’s probably the safest bet in all things Seattle Seahawks that we are going to see some sort of major defensive overhaul. We will surely get more into that later as Jadeveon Clowney, Jarran Reed, Quinton Jefferson, Ziggy Ansah, and Mychal Kendricks are all set to be free agents.

But this is now, and that will be then, and as for now, there is still a lot of football left to be played against some tough opponents, but Seattle is still very much in the driver’s seat for their playoff chances and even a division title. So let’s just fix what we got.

Doesn’t have to be great. Doesn’t even have to be very good. Just needs to bend and not break on a dependable level.

Do they have the horses for this? Can they make these adjustments?

Golly, I hope so. I think they can. We shall see soon enough.

Go Hawks.

Good Lord in Heaven. Where do I frigging begin with these notes? I’m gonna keep this really simple, y’all.

The Good

Russell Wilson is the best football player in the league right now, and his numbers today completely backed that up: 29/43 passes, 378 yards, 5 touchdowns, and 0 INTs. Russell Wilson willed this team that was down 13-21 at halftime to this win. Period.

Tyler Lockett was also unbelievable hauling in 13 grabs for 152 and 2 touchdown grabs. If he is not in the pro bowl this year, the NFL is a total joke.

Rookie phenom DK Metcalf had a massive break out game with 6 catches for a 123 yards and a touchdown, but the bigger story for me was backup tight end Jacob Hollister catching 4 passes for 37 yards and 2 touchdowns. This team has missed Will Dissly’s pass catching at tight end, and slowly, Hollister is looking like the guy who can adequately replace his production. This is a big plus for Seattle’s passing offense.

Chris Carson ran well against the top run stopping defense in the league, although he fumbled twice.

The Bad

The defense. I quit taking notes on this because, by halftime, I didn’t really understand what the point was anymore. That was the worst first half performance I have ever seen out of a Pete Carroll Seattle Seahawk coached team. I can credit them some for slowing Tampa’s offense down more in the second half, but there were still broken coverages, missed tackles, and a general overall lack of consistent pass rush.

This is getting really hard to watch week in and week out. I don’t know what the answers are for this season. I think it is just something fans might have to learn to live with. However, I think there might be some hard choices for Pete Carroll to make heading into the offseason, whether it is coaching or players, or both. My initial thought is that it’s players. Seattle needs a lot of help on that side of the ball right now.

The Ugly

Jason Meyers missed two field goals and an extra point. Both field goals were easy. If Seattle would have lost this game, that would have been the story. Why can’t Seattle get right at kicker?

Moving Forward

Seattle is 7-2 and they are riding an extremely hot quarterback. It’s going to be exciting how they add incoming big play receiver Josh Gordon into this mix.

Russell Wilson is the clearly a league MVP player right now. I think the Seahawks will most likely make the playoffs because of that, but if Gordon becomes a good fit in Seattle, they can still have a pretty special season by catching even more fire offensively. That’s exciting.

What’s troubling is that the defense has yet to get out of it’s own way. They haven’t fixed all the missed tackle issues, and today there were blown coverages galore. That’s troubling.

If Seattle can just be average on defense, then we can talk about maybe being a genuine contender. It’s certainly possible between now and the end of the regular season they do clean it all up, but presently they are clearly testing our patience.

Hang in there, Twelves.

Go Hawks.

The man they call Flash offers a no risk potentially high reward situation for the 2019 Seattle Seahawks. Go Hawks!

When the Seattle Seahawks claimed wide receiver Josh Gordon off of the waver wire on Friday November 1st, it was quite the surprise to the hoards of Twelves. Reactions on the local sports radio and on social media seemed pretty varied. Many were excited about his potential paired with Russell Wilson, while others took a more pessimistic view.

Personally, I don’t think there is any right or wrong way to look at this. If you are looking at his immense athletic profile on the field and are day dreaming about what that could mean mixing him with Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf, there is legitimate reason for your optimism. But if you are looking at his track record of off the field issues, and why maybe New England decided to let him go, and why it took twenty seven other teams to pass on him through the waver wire before he landed in Seattle, it’s totally valid for you to be pumping the breaks on this move.

From my perspective, I think it’s is a pretty exciting for Seattle. When they lost tight end Will Dissly to a season ending injury in week six, they lost Russell Wilson’s seemingly second favorite target. Yes, rookie receiver DK Metcalf had been an exciting addition to the team, but it just seemed like Wilson was favoring Dissly, and his ability to get open in the inside zones and seams.

It also just felt to me like, as we were approaching the trade deadline, Seattle was going to try to make a move to land another target, whether it was another tight end or receiver. I was actually pretty surprised when the trade deadline past and Seattle didn’t make this kind of move. My thought was that they had probably tried, but given the fact other teams saw them as tight end/receiver needy, those potential trading partners were likely jacking up the asking price to the point where Seattle elected to stay pat. Sometimes the best trades are the ones that you don’t make.

Three days later Seattle landed Josh Gordon, a huge receiver with immense athleticism, but one who also comes with truck loads of personal baggage. The great news is that it cost nothing in the way of draft picks or players for Seattle to acquire him. If he isn’t working out, for whatever reason, Seattle can cut him, and they are off the hook, but if he does come in focused and stays clean, well, Seattle, at the very least, has added a player that defenses have got to account for.

Seattle already has a pretty effective power trio of quarterback Russell Wilson, running back Chris Carson, and wide receiver Tyler Lockett. They also having what looks like a major talent in DK Metcalf. If Gordon fits into the mix, what is a defensive coordinator going to look at to take away? If you sell out on the run, how do you cover three dynamic pass catching weapons? If you play the pass, who are you doubling?

This move is a no brainer for Seattle to make. They needed a legit weapon for the pass game, and they got one, baggage and all, and if all he does is push other receivers on the roster to raise their game, that’s also a big win. As former Seattle corner and current 49er Richard Sherman used to love to say, “iron sharpens iron.”

This is also a very Pete Carroll thing to do. He loves to get unique physical talents on his roster, and seemingly especially ones that other teams have rejected. From Mike Williams, to Marshawn Lynch, to Dion Jordan, and now Josh Gordon, Pete loves a good reclamation project, and this is how I mostly see this move.

It’s going to be really interesting to see exactly how this one plays out.

Go Hawks.

News Flash. Russell Wilson is good. (Getty Images)

We are now through eight games of the 2019 NFL season, our beloved Seattle Seahawks sit 6-2, and we all know what this means; mid season grades. Yay!

I have sat down with my expert panel and we have poured over the tape, and.. well, no we haven’t. I’m a middle aged burn out running on selective memory, and my expert panel consists of my tabby cat, Earl, and my black kitty, Kam, and they don’t have the NFL Game Pass to watch any all-access footage. So, we just sort of sat together, haggled, rubbed bellies, bit wrists, and we came up with the following grades. Hope you enjoy.

Quarterback. A+

Curtis: Russell Wilson has never started a season stronger. This is the best I’ve ever seen him, and I’ve always thought of him as a top five level quarterback. He’s a legit MVP candidate.

Kam: This team is 6-2 because of Russell Wilson. If they had Jimmy Garoppolo as their starting quarterback, they might be 2-6, or worse. For this team to win games, they need to consistently have great quarterback play, and for the most part, that has been RW.

Earl: Chris Carson deserves to be mentioned as a factor as to why this team is 6-2, as does Tyler Lockett, but Russell Wilson has been amazing. If he was supported by even a halfway decent defense, this team could easily be 8-0 right now, just like the 49ers and Patriots. I should be happy about 6-2 but I just feel darkness in my soul when I think about this. Darkness, I say. Darkness.

Running Back. A-

Earl: Chris Carson is the man. I wanted them to trade Rashaad Penny to Tampa for tight end OJ Howard before Tuesday’s trade deadline. That’s how much I think of Penny. Nice player, I suppose, but Carson da’ man.

Curtis: I don’t want to get into this again. Tampa was not going to trade Howard for Penny straight across, and to be honest, even if Seattle were to deal him, Chris Carson has never played a full healthy season of football ever. Never ever. This team needs Rashaad Penny and Chris Carson together.

Kam: I like Carson and Penny just fine, but is it just me, or doesn’t it seem like CJ Prosise should also see more carries? I’d kinda like seeing him more involved. I don’t know why you two are looking at me like that. Do I have a poo stuck on my tail?

Receiver. B+

Earl: Tyler Lockett is a Jedi Knight, or something. I don’t know what water he’s been drinking but keep him guzzling it. DK Metcalf has looked a lot better than I thought he would as a rookie. David Moore has been a little disappointing, though. I thought Moore was supposed to be the breakout player here.

Kam: Lockett is playing like a top five receiver in the league, and DK seems like a star in the making. Everyone else behind them just sort of feels more like a guy. I want to see more out of Moore. Wouldn’t you know it? This feline is a poet.

Curtis: You can’t rhyme “more” with “Moore.” That’s just stupid. Kinda cute, whatever. Lockett is playing like the best player on the team not named Russell Wilson. DK has been the most pleasant surprise of the season for me, and I think we will see David Moore start to take off more as the season moves along.

Tight End. B-

Kam: This group would have been graded an A if Will Dissly wasn’t lost to the season, again. Sorry subject. I feel a hair ball coming up.

Curtis: Still feels like a punch to the gut that they lost Dissly again. I was hoping they would pull off a trade. I’m fine with Luke Willson and Jacob Hollister. Fingers crossed that Hollister comes along quickly.

Earl: Loosing Dissly was like that dude on Game of Thrones who was fighting that really big dude, and pretty much had him killed, but then he starts dancing around, and acting like a jackass, and then that really big dude grabs his head and squishes it like a grape. Just so shocking and wrong and horrible and.. why? Why did this have to happen?

Offensive Line. B-

Curtis: It’s tough grading this group because it’s been kind of banged up, but I feel there has generally been decent pass protection in most games, and they’ve opened up holes for the backs. Germaine Ifedi seems to have been playing a lot better lately.

Kam: The line has been okay to decent. I worry about the age on this line with Brown, and Iupati, and Fluker, and now depth is going to seriously be tested with the loss of Justin Britt.

Earl: This group hasn’t been as strong as I thought they would be, but they also haven’t been Tom Cable bad, either. I actually think Joey Hunt will be fine at center. We just can’t lose Brown and one of the older guards. Man, that just sent a cold chill down me spine.

Defensive Line. C-

Earl: This has been the biggest area of disappointment for me. Jadeveon Clowney has been practically doing it all by himself as a pass rusher, while Ziggy Ansah has felt like an expensive free agent bust. My only hope is that Jarran Reed starts rolling now that he is back. This is the area that they have got to attack aggressively next season to fix. Does first round pick LJ Collier look like a player to any of you? Honest question.

Curtis: I almost wanted to give this unit an incomplete. Ansah has been slow to come back from injuries, and they lost Reed for a six game suspension. I think they were hoping more from Poona Ford and Rasheem Green. So far, it feels like the younger players haven’t really stepped up much. Quinton Jefferson might be the best player on the DL outside Clowney. They need better play here. Reed gives me some hope.

Kam: Fellas, y’all gotta relax a bit. They are just getting Jarran Reed back. Al Woods has been pretty good against the run, Poona has flashed, Q Jeff has been playing well, Clowney has been playing well, and they are just starting to get Ansah back. No one was saying this was going to be the team’s strength. Chill-ax a bit here.

Linebacker. B-

Kam: Bobby hasn’t been playing as good as he was last year, but he is still pretty darn good. KJ will make the savvy play here and there, but just doesn’t seem like he has the same juice. Kendricks will make a splash play, but then also misses tackles. I say let’s start seeing more Cody Barton and BBK.

Earl: Bobby is still good, but has he been playing like the best linebacker in the league good? Not so far. KJ is toast. Kendricks is okay. We can talk about getting the rookies more involved but how about we just go back to running more nickel, and pull one of these guys off the field?

Curtis: Bobby needs to play better, and I think he will. I could stand to see more of Barton and BBK sprinkled in. Just get more speed out there.

Secondary C+

Curtis: Shaquill Griffin has been the real bright spot of this defense. Unfortunately, the safety play has been spotty, and Tre Flowers has had some ups and downs. That said, I’m really hopeful that by starting rookie Marquise Blair and adding newly acquired Quandre Diggs, this backfield is going to be a lot more explosive, and that will be the spark needed for this defense. Fingers crossed here.

Earl: Marquise Blair makes me warm and mushy inside. Pete Carroll must keep him on the field as much as possible.  My biggest concern is depth at corner. If they lose Griffin to injury, I just.. I can’t. I will poop on your pillow.

Kam: Griffin, Diggs, Blair, and Flowers. That’s the starting foursome that I want to see. That’s the backfield that will give you the most speed and pops. That makes me want to roll around on your feet until you pet me, and then I bite you.

Special Teams C+

Earl: Who the #$%* cares about special teams?

Curtis: I do. Michael Dickson has had a bit of a sophomore slump. Jason Myers hasn’t been bad but hasn’t been pro bowl good, either, and the coverage units have been spotty. They all played great against Atlanta, though, so maybe they turn things around.

Kam: Who the #$%* cares about special teams?

Coaching. B

Kam: Pete Carroll doesn’t always do the best clock management stuff, but he has a team with marginal talent at 6-2, largely due to the play of his quarterback, but still, I gotta credit the silver fox. He’s good.

Earl: Pete is Pete. He will always have his roster believing, and fighting. I actually think  Brian Schottenheimer has been doing pretty well calling plays for Russell. Ken Norton on the defense, however, not as wild about. I don’t even know the name of the special teams coach. Does anyone really seriously care about special teams?

Curtis: I think Carroll has done a solid job getting the most out of these players. The offense is way ahead of the defense, which is weird for a Pete Carroll coached team. It is what it is, but I think Pete will have them playing their best ball in December.

Closing Thoughts

Curtis: Tough part of the schedule lays ahead, but I think the team will find a way to go 5-3 in those games, finish with a 11-5 record, and make the playoffs. Go Hawks.

Kam: I think Russell Wilson will be jobbed out of the MVP for Aaron Rodgers, Seattle  squeezes into the playoffs, but beats Green Bay in Green Bay and that will be Russell’s revenge. Go Hawks.

Earl: The San Fransisco 49ers terrify me.. on every level. Holy #$%*. Seattle has got to play their best ball in the second half of the season, or it’s going to get ug-il-y, ya know? Go Hawks.

There are few things that I am a hundred percent certain on. For certain, I can say that water is wet, fire is hot, ice is cold, and Larry David’s SNL Bernie Sanders is one of the funniest things I’ve watched in a while. However, I can not say, with a hundred percent certainty, that Abe Lincoln was the greatest US president, John Lennon was the greatest Beatle, or whether I really like or dislike hummus.

This all said, I can pretty comfortably say that this Seahawk road win against the lowly Matt Ryan-less Atlanta Falcons probably didn’t pump tons of confidence into the chests of Twelves that this team is anything more than a potential wild card playoff team. With all the hope we were filled with in the first half, going up 24-0 and really feeling like we’d finally see a blow out of an inferior opponent, it was fairly quickly dashed when Atlanta came back in the second half and outscored Seattle 20-3 to make it a much more respectable final score for them.

This game was literally a tale of two halves, and I think what we can glean from it is that Seattle still has a lot of work to do, if they want to truly contend this year, and that is even if they make some sort of big trade or two before Tuesday’s trade deadline.

I also think there is some perspective needed about this game and how it went down. I will go into that in later thoughts below, but first, let’s roll out the goods, the bads, and the uglies.

The Good.

Rookie safety Marquise Blair followed a good game against the Ravens last week with a pretty darn fine awesome great game for a second career start against these Falcons. He notched up 11 tackles and a key forced fumble that stopped the Falcons from really coming back in this one. He made plays against the run, and plays in coverage. He made Earl Thomas plays and Kam Chancellor plays. I get why Seattle took this guy high in the second round last Spring. I will take more of it, thank you very much. Buy stock in Blair.

The defense was not dominant by any means, but there was some really nice continued play by Shaquill Griffin, I thought there was better play out of Bobby Wagner, and they got good pass rush and plays against the run out of Jadeveon Clowney.

Russell Wilson continued to be his ultra efficient play as a passer, completely 14-20 passes for 180 and 2 TDs and 0 INTs. He made plays when they needed him to, especially when he was pinned back towards his own end zone in the fourth quarter and they needed a long time consuming drive that lead to a score. Russ delivered in this one.

Chris Carson also delivered running the ball with toughness when needed, and Rashaad Penny showed again how talented he is when he get his chances with the ball.

I thought Tyler Lockett was the best player on offense, showing uncanny ability to make touch catches in tight coverage. For all the national love Russell Wilson is getting for a potential league MVP honor, I think more love should be directed on how special of a player Lockett is now becoming in Seattle. In my opinion, he is playing like a top five receiver in this league, and this is just not being talked about enough.

Finally, Seattle’s special teams unit had a great game. Michael Dickson was booming punts, and Jason Myers made all of his field goals. Punt coverage was hella solid.

The Bad

There is a lot of constant talk about how Seattle’s pass rush isn’t generating enough sacks and hits. I think a lot of that is well warranted, but for my money, I think the season long tendency to miss tackles is plaguing this team, and they definitely need to get better here. They just have to. They missed too many in this one, yet again. One of the biggest hallmarks of a Pete Carroll defense is quality tackling, and it just hasn’t be consistently there this season. They gave up an easy third quarter touchdown run to Brian Hill by whiffing on tackling. Marquise Blair should have stopped him near the line of scrimmage, and I believe Mychal Kendricks missed him further down field, and Tedric Thompson missed him further down field. Can’t have that. Can’t. So stop it. Fix it, and then worry about the pass rush.

For as good as pressure that Jadeveon Clowney got on Matt Schaub, he was doing a lot of Michael Bennett impersonations jumping off sides, and it was annoying.

It was painfully obvious that Akeem King, starting in place of Tre Flowers, is not a starting caliber corner. When Schaub finally decided to pick on him in the second half, he couldn’t really do much to stop the pass catching on his side. He also missed an easy interception that could have easily been a pick six. I’m praying Flowers comes back soon.

I thought Seattle’s offensive play calling was weirdly dialed back early in the second half. It was only when it seemed like Atlanta’s offense was going to continue rolling that Brian Schottenhiemer started dialing up the passing attack more. I don’t know if it was Schotty’s decision to dial it back, or it was Pete who mandated it, but I would have loved to have seem them continue the second half in attack mode.

The Ugly

It appears that starting center Justin Britt tore is ACL in his knee early in this game, and if so, is done for the season. It’s a shame. He was a big leader on the line. Joey Hunt did a serviceable job replacing him, and has done serviceable jobs in the past stepping in for him. Seattle might still be okay here, but depth on the offensive line is now officially really being tested and San Francisco has an electric defensive line.

The officials missed a bad face mask on Russell Wilson, and then an obvious Clowney roughing the passer on Matt Schaub. What did these two quarterbacks do to deserve that?

Final Thoughts

This was a game that proven a bit tougher than it needed to be, but this is not new for these Seattle Seahawks this season. They opened the season at home against a Bengals team that is still win-less, and that awful Bengals team gave them fits, yet Seattle still won. Is it playing down to the level of the opponent? Maybe, but maybe this is what the Seattle Seahawks are this year.

They can still win ten or eleven games and make the playoffs, but if they really want to push for the division title against San Francisco and LA, they must clean things up. The good news is that Pete Carroll coached teams tend to play their best ball in the second half of the season. My hunch is that they will.

I also wouldn’t overly fret about this very un-blow out performance against the Falcons. Seattle was playing without it’s starting right cornerback against a team that has probably the best receiver the league along with several good complimentary receivers and a pro bowl tight end. Even though Matt Schaub is no Matt Ryan, he is still a savvy veteran quarterback and he had weapons to throw at. I think also, you have to credit Dan Quinn and his staff for making good second half adjustments to the offense to take advantage of Seattle’s overly eager pass rush with screens and play action. Any dog can have his day and Schaub was kind of having his.

Still, Seattle did what it needed to do to win, and that was really captured by the long fourth quarter Wilson, Lockett and Carson led drive that got them three additional points and more importantly, chewed up a ton of clock. Credit needs to be given for that. By the time Myers made that field goal, the game was pretty much out of reach for Atlanta. The final score made it seem closer than it was, period.

As for Schaub’s crazy 460 yard passing day, ESPN 710’s Danny O’Neil offered a very interesting tweet after the game; the Seattle Seahawks are now 7-0 against quarterbacks who have passed for 400 yards against them in the Pete Carroll era. This why I think the passing geeks need to pipe down just a bit. For one thing, teams that fall quickly behind will pass more. The other more important thing is that Pete Carroll is fine giving up passing yards if it is just underneath stuff. His philosophy is stop the run and don’t give up explosive down field plays that lead to easy scores.  We can complain about the lack of sacks and all the missed tackles, but this is pretty much what Seattle’s defense did today. In a sense, that’s Pete Ball right there.

Trade Deadline Approaching.

Mark Tuesday October 29th in your calendar. There could be breaking news about another Seahawks trade.

What is really going to be interesting over the day or so is whether Seattle makes any bold moves heading towards the trade deadline to help chase the 49ers for the division, or if they stay more tempered. It was rumored by NFL insider Ian Rapoport Sunday morning that Seattle is potentially shopping Rashaad Penny. It’s odd to me that they would trade away their 2018 first round pick so soon (especially since he was as impactful as he was in this game), but maybe he would be a part of a package for a much bigger named player for the offense or defense. We shall see.

In my mind, I still can’t decide if they should make a splashy trade (or two), or be more measured. On one hand, it would be fun to see them add more to the offense and have Russell continue to chase the MVP, but on the other hand, I don’t want to see them mortgage too much of the future to win now. They have a young team around Wilson, and a lot of draft picks for next Spring. In my mind, it’s still best to build through the draft. I’m sure that’s the balancing act general manager John Schneider is weighing in his mind as I type all this out. It will be interesting to see what it does in just a short while.

If I have to only have one thing on a wish list it is this. Get a quality starting tight end. This team misses Will Dissly.

Go Hawks.

The Seattle Seahawks lost a tough home game to the Baltimore Raves just a few short days again. It probably stung Pete Carroll a bit to lose that game to his former All Pro free Safety Early Thomas. I’m sure it stung even more for him to see Thomas’ replacement Tedric Thompson give up an easy fifty yard completion during the opening possession of the game. That was simply a play that would not happen on Thomas, and Pete’s golden rule with his defense is to not give up easy deep passes. Thompson has given up a few this season, and for Pete Carroll, I suspect he had seen enough.

During his Monday afternoon press conference he referred to Thompson giving up that play as “distasteful” and in the near decade that he has been in Seattle, I think those were the harshest words I have ever heard him say regarding one of his players. He was quick to praise rookie safety Marquise Blair’s efforts and all put assured that he would see more significant playing time moving forward.

One day later, enter former Detriot Lions safety Quandre Diggs.

What does Seattle get with this guy?

Seattle was able to get a young starting safety who was a pro bowl alternate last year for only a 5th round pick. He might not be a household name in these parts, but several of the Detroit Lion players went on Twitter after the trade blasting Detroit’s decision to move him. He was their defensive captain, a team leader, clearly a guy well loved in the locker room, and when you consider that he is only 26, and is signed through 2021, it really feels like Seattle made out pretty well in this move.

What this means for Seattle I’m not 100% certain about. On the immediate surface, my thought was that he replaces Tedric Thompson at free safety even though he played strong in Detroit’s system. At 5-9 and 200 pounds, he does not possess the physical profile of what Seattle usually likes to use at strong safety, and one scouting report I read is that he would be better served as a deep safety than someone playing in the box. It’s also possible that the back injury to strong safety Bradley McDougald is worse than the team was hoping and they had to make this move to get quality experience on the back end, asap.

Another thought that I had is that perhaps Seattle is done with keeping three linebackers on the field to the extreme extent that they were, and they want to get faster player out there in coverage. Diggs was drafted as a corner, and could be a big part of the team’s nickel packages moving forward even if they have a healthy Bradley McDougald and Marquise Blair. They might decide that their best defensive look in most passing situations is to have these three safeties on the field, and they pull out either KJ Wright or Mychal Kendricks.

It could certainly also mean that all three of these things are true. One thing I am positively certain abut is that Quandre Diggs was not brought in to be a role player for this squad. He was brought in to be an immediate upgrade at what has been the weakest area of the team, the secondary.

Twelves who have been clamoring for an upgrade at safety have just gotten their wish.

Is Seattle done shopping?

I highly doubt it. I’ve been suspecting for over the past week that Seattle would be in the market of acquiring a starting tight end. Even with this trade, they still have plenty of salary cap room to add a player of significance to the offense. I still think it will most likely be a tight end, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if Seattle makes a move on a wide receiver, if a really good one is suddenly available.

Atlanta has a good tight end in Austin Hooper who suddenly might become available after Seattle plays them this Sunday. We shall soon see.

Go Hawks.

Now Is Not The Time To Panic

Seattle lost a tough home game to a talented Baltimore Ravens team that is destined to win their division, much like their loss to the New Orleans Saints a month ago. They are still 5-2, and will travel on the road to play a struggling Falcons team and then they will return home to play a struggling Buccaneers team. In two weeks, this team has a pretty good shot at being 7-2 and this loss will be long in the rear view mirror as they get ready to play the unbeaten San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football.

Speaking of the 49ers, their schedule is about to get tougher. Next Sunday they have to play a tough Panthers team in Carolina, and then they have to go on the road to play the rapidly improving Arizona Cardinals. There is a chance that by the time these two clubs meet on November 11th, both will be facing off with 5-2 records.

Seattle just needs to beat the teams that they are supposed to beat to stay firmly in this race. I think a home loss like this can certainly help them hone into that.

Further Reflection on the Ravens Loss

Seattle was a bit undermanned on offense with no Duane Brown, Will Dissly, and DJ Fluker. In a wet day where leaning on a power run game might have been the more desired route, the loss of these three players probably hurt their chances doing that. I think this is why we saw so much volume passing from Russell Wilson.

Having Duane Brown starting at left tackle would have allowed for George Fant to play tight end in heavy run formations. Jamarco Jones has done a great job filling in for Fluker, but Fluker’s presence probably would have lent better for the run. Will Dissly would have helped as a run blocker, and would have been a way better passing target for Wilson during play action than Luke Willson and Jacob Hollister. Ideally, in a soggy late October match, this is probably what Pete Carroll would have preferred.

Seattle was also a bit undermanned on the defense because they didn’t have defensive end Ziggy Ansah, and the back end experience of Bradley McDougald. Rookie safety Marquise Blair played pretty well in McDougald’s place, but Carroll admitted in his post game press conference that they kept the calls on the defense simple for Blair, and didn’t ask him to do too much. This might have limited how they could adjust the defense.

This is the NFL. Seattle is a playoff contending team that lost a tough match up. It’s warts were exposed, like a lot of playoff contending teams have happen to them through the course of a season. Wilson doesn’t have the benefit of playing with a great defense right now, and when Baltimore was able to make Seattle’s offense more one dimensional, Seattle lost. It does not mean that this is how Seattle will be the rest of the way. It just means that this is how is was on this day.

Expect Seattle to be Active Leading Up to the Trade Deadline

It’s probably one of the worst kept NFL secret that Seattle probably wants to add a tight end. There are options out there on a number of losing teams looking to dump salaries and add picks for next year’s draft. The Bengals’ Tyler Eifert, the Buc’s OJ Howard, and the Titan’s Delanie Walker are just a few players to keep in mind.

It wouldn’t surprise me if Seattle makes a couple moves. Seattle could definitely use help with the pass rush, but part of me wonders if they would consider adding even one more offensive weapon for Russell Wilson outside of tight end, and just ride the offense for as far as Russell and company can carry them. Part of the reason why I think this is because even when they had a healthy and productive Will Dissly, they were initially interested in bringing in Antonio Brown before he ended up for a short spell in New England. Could Seattle trade for a tight end like Howard and maybe bring in a Emmanuel Sanders or AJ Green?

We shall soon see, but one thing is clear, Seattle will probably only go as far as Russell Wilson will take them. They aren’t particularly special on the defense right now, but they can be pretty special on the offensive side. If they can just be middle of the pact on defense and elite on the offense, they can still have a pretty special year.

Finally, on this subject of trades, it was interesting that they didn’t use running back Rashaad Penny in this match against the Ravens. He was active for the game. Were they holding him back because he’s potentially part of a big trade package?

Hmm.

Is It Time to Go Younger on the Defense?

At the beginning of the season, it was expected that the strength of the Seattle defense (if not the entire team) would be their veteran linebackers. Bobby Wagner, KJ Wright, and Mychal Kendricks are veteran players who have made fairly big names for themselves. On Madden, that threesome looks terrific, but last week, they allowed Baker Mayfield to easily jog ten yards up the middle for a touchdown in the red zone, and losing containment on running backs has been a bit of a season long theme. Against Lamar Jackson, it just looked kinda sad in the second half of the game.

Is it time for Carroll to consider mixing in rookies Cody Barton and Ben Burr-Kirven? Both were play-makers in college, both are faster players than KJ Wright, and while KJ had a really nice play in coverage defending what would have been a touchdown pass,   I’m just not sure if he is quick enough to consistently make plays like he used to against the run and pass.

The reason I bring this up is that Marquise Blair at safety was pretty flashy out there and his speed was apparent. While they had to simplify the defensive calls, he made plays that we just do not see Tedric Thompson routinely make.

I’m not expecting Carroll to bench KJ Wright in favor for Cody Barton heading into playing what could be the Matt Ryan-less Falcons next week, but I just wonder if they don’t start transitioning youth in a bit more moving forward.

Closing Thoughts

At the beginning of the season, I thought Seattle had a decent chance at winning eleven games and maybe winning the division. I still think that is possible, but there is a lot of games left to be played, and they have a lot of work to do. Added to that, with the Rams trading for Jalen Ramsey and the Cardinals on a three game win streak, Seattle just doesn’t have San Francisco to be concerned with in the NFC West. This is another reason why I think they will probably be active over the next week looking to add to the roster.

I still feel like they should look to add at tight end, and another pass rusher, but I accept the idea of double dipping on the offense. Perhaps this is a year to make your strength that much stronger.

On the defense, it doesn’t feel great right now, but they just got Jarran Reed back. I think there is a fair chance that in a couple weeks fans are going to feel much better about this side of the ball once Reed gets more acclimated.  As bad as it felt against Lamar Jackson, I’m still willing to be patient with this unit. Marquise Blair gives me hope.

Go Hawks.

Up to this game, Russell Wilson was having quite the remarkable start to his season and was the leading contender to win the league wide MVP award. Then this game happened.

Presently, this team was only go as far as Wilson can take them. Even in their five victories, most of their wins were narrowly decided. That is a sure sign of a team with blemishes riding a hot quarterback. Today, the quarterback was considerably cooler, and largely because of that, in the fourth quarter, they got it handed to them as a team.

Still, in this loss, there are some positive silver linings. I will start with those.

The Good

Jamarco Jones continued to play pretty well at right guard in place of the DJ Fluker and running back Chris Carson had nice gains running to the right.

Tyler Lockett continues to be a productive weapon for Wilson and had another solid game.

Rookie phenom receiver DK Metcalf was having a good game up until that play late in the fourth quarter. I’m going to trust that that play will never ever happen again moving forward in his young bright career.

Chris Carson continued running hard and part of me wonders if Seattle should have stayed with him more when Wilson and the passing game was struggling.

Rookie safety Marquise Blair looked good in the starting defense. He made the defense look a lot faster, and he made his presence known both against the pass and run. In my opinion, this might be the best sign for the defense moving forward, even better than the return of defensive tackle Jarran Reed. Seattle’s secondary needs a player with more presence and he delivered that. I hope he stays a starter.

Cornerbacks Shaquill Griffin and Tre Flowers both had good games.

Jadeveon Clowney didn’t get sacks but he got good pressures.

It was really nice to see Jarran Reed back, and around the ball.

The Bad

Russell was playing decently up until the last few minutes of the first half when he tossed a lazy pass to Jaron Brown near the sideline, and former Ram and Husky Marcus Peters picked it off for an easy pick six. Bad timing for Russ to toss his first INT for the year. Credit him for regrouping and leading the offense to a field goal drive to tie it at the end of the half, but it seemed like the offense started the second half without a lot of luster, and yeah, well.. he just didn’t have an MVP level game there on out. In my opinion, that’s the biggest reason why Seattle lost this game.

Pete Carroll decided to have Jason Meyers kick his longest field goal attempt instead of going for it on 4 and 2, and I actually thought that they should have gone for it. The field goal miss gave the Ravens great field position and they scored.

Seattle needed Bobby Wagner to have a great game and he didn’t. It’s tough to blame him for this loss because the whole defense was on skates trying to tackle a scrambling Lamar Jackson, but Wagner is the highest paid linebacker in the league, and quietly, he hasn’t really been at his best this season. This needs to change.

In the closing minutes of the game, when Seattle still had a wee chance to maybe make it a game, DK Metcalf caught a short pass by the sideline and he weirdly had the ball squirt out all by itself as he tried to tuck in and run. Ravens corner Marlon Humphrey scooped it up and ran it into a touchdown. Thus, Wilson and Metcalf are directly responsible for giving Baltimore 14 points on two defensive scores in this 30 to 16 loss. Take both of those scores away, and each offense scored 16 points. That’s how close the margins for error were in this match. Can not have that happen and expect to win.

The Ugly

My wife put a duraflame log in the fireplace and failed to open up the air vent and smoked out our house. On top of watching this rain soaked sloppy mess, we got enjoy this household fiasco, as well.

Moving Forward

This loss is not the end of the 2019 Seattle Seahawks season by any stretch, but it was frustrating nonetheless. It only illustrated how dependent Seattle is on stellar Russell Wilson play. The season ending loss of Will Dissly was felt in this one. Not having Ziggy Ansah in the game was felt in this one.

With the trade deadline approaching a week from Tuesday, it feels like Seattle needs to make a move or two, if they truly want to compete for a championship. As it stands now, they look like a team that can win ten or eleven games, and make the playoffs, but going against a really balanced team like Baltimore, they have to play near perfectly in at least one phase to win. Today, they didn’t do that in any.

If there is one silver lining in this match, it’s that it looks like Seattle’s decision to draft safety Marquise Blair with a high second round pick was a good idea, and maybe they should just ride with him as a starter moving forward, and Jamarco Jones looks line a good young guard on the offensive line. Seattle needs more of it’s younger players to step forward as the season goes on. These two guys did that. That’s a big plus in my book.

Go Hawks.

Is it time to bring back an old friend? Maybe (Getty Images)

Well, here we are, 5-1 and a week and a half away from the 2019 NFL Trade Deadline. We’ve gleamed a few things from six weeks of regular season ball from these Seattle Seahawks. We know that quarterback Russell Wilson is on pace for an MVP level season, and we know that largely because of his play, the offense has been humming along both through the air, and on the ground with the stellar running of Chris Carson, and others.

We also know that, at best, the defense has been just sorta hanging in there, and while they have been able to create some key turnovers as of late, the pass rush has been a work in progress, to put it nicely. The defensive line has been able to get pressures, but they haven’t be able to generate sacks or hits. That can all change with the return of defensive tackle Jarran Reed into the starting lineup after serving his six game suspension. However, even with his return, the team might consider looking to add here. When Seattle was playing in Super Bowls, the defensive line rotation was deep. I’m not sure we can all it that this year. Not yet, anyways.

So, if I were General Manager John Schneider, and I got the green light that all was cool with Head Coach Pete Carroll, I would be on the phone with the New England Patriots on a trade deal to bring back defensive end Michael Bennett. What he can do as a pass rusher is probably still special enough, and Seattle has used him perfectly rushing all up and down their four man front, depending on match ups.

Presently, he seems to be at odds with the New England coaching staff (is anyone surprised about this?) about how he is being used and or not used, and is sitting out this week on a suspension dished out by the very not Pete Carroll New England head coach Bill Belichick. Bennett, is a bit of an oddball, and can come across as a bit of a malcontent, but one thing he never does is not give it is absolute all on the football field. The current Northeasterly vibe I get is that perhaps with New England shifting back to a 3-4 defense, Bennett just hasn’t been a great fit there, and possibly both sides are coming to that understanding.

While two years ago Bennett may have lost his zest playing for Seattle, maybe, just possibly, a season and a half removed from this team and its player friendly head coach will have made his heart grow fonder about returning to the PNW where he most flourished as a player in Carroll’s 4-3 scheme. Conversely, Seattle’s coaching staff, seeing how slowly their pass rush has come along, might be now pine for the return of the hip gyrating sack master to do his voodoo again at Century Link Field. This could be a really great story line to the 2019 season, and in some respects, a very Seahawk-y move. There is precedence with former players returning to the program.

With Ziggy Ansah’s injury history, and the greenness of Rasheem Green and LJ Collier, I definitely think the return of Bennett to Seattle makes a ton of sense. I also think this team’s culture and this city’s vibe is the right place for the outspokenness of Bennett. He enjoyed his best seasons as a player out here. Seattle always knew how to use him, and hipster fans loved his social awareness and sound bites. He was a definite fan favorite.

More importantly to football, though, he could really give Seattle a big shot of what it most needs. Even if Ansah stays relatively healthy, think of what the pass rush could morph into with Ansah and Clowney working the edges and Bennett and Reed rushing inside. Then you still have the quality play of Quinton Jefferson, and the youth of Green and Collier all factoring in, now Seattle has a rotation. Collier, in particular, will have the benefit of learning from the very player his was compared to when he was drafted out of TCU with Seattle’s first pick last Spring. This all makes me feel warm and mushy inside.

In my humble opinion, Michael Bennett returning to Seattle just makes too much sense for them not to do it, and they could probably have him for a 2020 mid to late round pick. To me, this is a no brainer. Go get him, John.

No Dissly? Well, that sucks. Better give Russell Wilson some OJ. Go Hawks.

The second trade I would make a move on would be for Tampa Bay tight end OJ Howard, and I would be totally okay sending one of the team’s two second round picks to Tampa for him. It was rumored at couple years ago that Seattle was high on him during the 2017 draft, and possibly would have used their first round pick on him had he been available, even though the team still had Jimmy Graham. It is also being run through the NFL rumor mill that Tampa might be shopping him because head coach Bruce Arians doesn’t really utilize tight ends into his passing offense. Seattle just lost talented second year tight end Will Dissly to another season ending injury. Given Howard’s rare physical talent at the position, and Seattle’s need presently at the position, this trade makes a ton of sense. Tons of sense.

Yes, Seattle could probably trade a lower round pick for an older player, like Delanie Walker in Tennessee, but an older player comes with a bigger salary and is most likely a short term fix. With Howard, who was a first round pick just two years ago, Seattle would have club cheap control up to three more seasons with him, if they use his fifth year option. Howard is also a rare athletic talent at the position that can still blossom into one of the best players in the game in that span. His ceiling as a player is still out there, and Seattle could be set at the position for years.

Yes, I know Seattle still has Will Dissly for 2020 and 2021, but as much as we all love him, he has yet to play a full healthy season in this league, and let’s be really honest; each one of his seasons have been cut really short. That’s at least a bit of a red flag. As much as they likely love him as a player, Seattle is probably now going to be in the market next year for the position with either a big name player in free agency, or possibly a high pick in the draft. So why not just shop now and start the process now?

If Dissly comes back in 2020 and stays healthy, Seattle will have a stellar two tight end situation to pair with Russell Wilson and Chris Carson, and under Pete Carroll, Seattle has always valued the tight end position. They’ve always signed it, traded for it, and drafted it. Any team that wants to run and work play action off the run, values the tight end highly. Having Howard and Dissly on the field together, two players who can run block and catch, is probably a proposition that would have Carroll salivating.

Seattle is probably going to bring in a tight end soon. Pete Carroll has already alluded to them working on it in a press conference this week. They didn’t sign any significant free agent this week, so something is probably brewing. Like Bennett, Howard just makes too much sense.

Will it be him? I don’t know. Would they be interested in bring back Bennett? I can’t say.

But what I can say is that these Seattle Seahawks are in a great window for Russell Wilson to win the league MVP honors while guiding them back into the playoffs, possibly even further. To think of a quarterback from Seattle doing that is really cool. It’s never been done. It would be a shame to fall short of those sights because the pass rush wasn’t always there like it should have been, and the offense struggled at times because the tight end position was significantly less reliable. It would be a shame to waste a stellar year of Russell Wilson play. That’s what the Green Bay Packers have done over the recent years with Aaron Rodgers. I would rather not see Seattle follow that path.

Another thing to consider, according to Spotrac.com, Seattle has about $15 million is available in cap space presently. Michael Bennett’s salary is about $6.5 million and OJ Howard’s is a little over $3 million. These additions would fit well under Seattle’s cap, and give room to play with should Seattle need to sign free agents later in the season if more injuries mound (as is often the case during any given NFL season).

So, I say, “come on, John, go get another pass rusher and shore up that tight end squad. Doesn’t have to be Michael Bennett or OJ Howard, but doesn’t not have to be them either. Go for it. Go get it.”

Just my two cents, anyways. I think they make sense.

Go Hawks.

Probably the most intense twenty three minutes in motion picture history is the first twenty three of the Steven Spielberg WWII film Saving Private Ryan. In those minutes, Spielberg horrifically re-imagined the US ground forces landing on Omaha Beach against the well positioned German forces. In those initial moments of the film, it felt a near impossible feat for these US infantrymen to advance beyond the onslaught of Germain machine gun fire.

It would be a great disrespect to the memory of those men who fought on that beach to compare a football game to that event. So I will stop well short of that here. However, the way in which the hometown Cleveland Browns jumped to an easy 20-6 first quarter lead on the visiting Seattle Seahawks, it felt like Seattle was going to be in for a very long day. How Seattle battled out of that early point deficit was an impressive team effort, and Seattle fans should feel proud of how they managed it.

The Good

Russell Wilson never panicked about Cleveland’s quick early first score. He just trotted onto the field and led Seattle’s offense to a scoring drive of their own, running for a touchdown. When Baker Mayfield answered that scoring drive with another easy drive and a running score of his own, Russell didn’t panic then either. When the offense stalled and the Browns scored again, Russell still didn’t panic. With poise and patience, Russell Wilson moved his offense when his defense finally got a few stops and turnovers, and eventually he got them the lead, and then another lead at the end. Russell Wilson had yet another MVP performance, and was the ultimate difference in this game.

Chris Carson had another strong outing running the ball, and was equally as impressive as Wilson willing his offense into first downs that led to scores. Carson appears to have corrected his early season fumbling habits, and has become the perfect counter to Wilson’s passing.

Rookie phenom DK Metcalf took some interesting steps forward as a receiver, showing different route running on crossers and out patterns along the side lines hauling in tough grabs. The team is figuring out different ways to get him the ball, even using him on a jet sweep. He is a fascinating talent who feels like he is still just breaking through. This is an interesting thing to monitor moving forward.

Veteran receivers Tyler Lockett and Jaron Brown made great plays when the team needed them to, and they needed them on this day. The chemistry between Lockett and Wilson seems as strong as any in the league.

An offensive line that was minus starting left tackle Duane Brown and right guard DJ Fluker held up pretty well in this one. They opened holes in the run game and gave Wilson time to throw when needed.

The defense gave up painfully easy first quarter scores, but they settled in, and adjusted their game.  They didn’t sack Mayfield, but they pressured him into turnovers. Tre Flowers finally got his first career interception. Tedric Thompson was the hero of the defense against the Rams a week ago Thursday, getting a key fourth quarter interception, and he followed that play by picking off Mayfield in the end zone, stopping a scoring drive that could have put Seattle away for good in this one. Veteran linebacker KJ Wright picked off Mayfield in the closing minutes of the game that pretty much iced it for good. Even defnesive end Ziggy Ansah got into the turnover action by stripping the ball away from star running back Nick Chubb. For as bad as Seattle’s defense looked in the first fifteen minutes of play (and it was awful), they were pretty solid the rest of the way, considering the circumstances.

The Bad

Seattle likely lost starting tight end Will Dissly to a season ending Achilles injury and that sucks big time. Dissly was having a pro bowl worthy season. This is a big blow for the offense, and I thought his presence was missed in the red zone in this one.

The Cleveland Browns came out of the gates in this match on fire. It didn’t feel like Seattle did, especially on defense. Eventually, they caught fire, but I would have liked to have seen them match Cleveland with it sooner.

Seattle wasn’t perfect on offense. CJ Prosise fumbled the ball on third down and short in the second half that gave Cleveland the ball in great field position, and they capitalized on it with a go ahead scoring drive.

The Ugly

I thought the officiating kinda sucked in this one, and Seattle caught a break with a bad illegal block call on Cleveland receiver Jarvis Landry. Whatev’s.

Final Thoughts.

Seattle was down 20-6 and fought their way back into a 32-28 victory. It was a great team effort, but one clearly led by the MVP level play of quarterback Russell Wilson, and they are now 5-1 because of that. Through six games now, it clearly feels like Seattle will go as far as Russell and the offense will take them, and the schedule feels fairly favorable for a  11-5 season, maybe even better.

While the defense is not playing stellar, they are playing well enough when needed, and they are now getting defensive tackle Jarran Reed back. Getting a healthy and focused Jarran Reed back now will likely figure to be a big boost to the front seven. He’s one of the more talented young defensive tackles in the game, and he is coming in with a lot to prove in a contract year. This is good news for Seattle fans.

The bad news, though, is the potential loss of Will Dissly on the offense. This has me thinking something.

As the trade deadline is approaching, up to a week ago, I’ve been thinking about Seattle likely being active, and maybe looking to add to the defense to either help out the secondary, or pass rush, but what if the addition of Jarran Reed is enough?

Through six games into the season, it feels like Seattle appears to be in an arms race with the San Fransisco 49ers for the division. The 49ers have the appearance of a team loaded on defense, with just enough on offense, and they are playing like it. Does Seattle have enough on their defense to match the 49ers? Right now, I have very serious doubts, even with Reed coming back. So, why not make a mid season splash move and add more to an already potent offense?

The way Russell Wilson is playing right now, I think you can easily make the case that Seattle has the best offense in the NFC West. Wilson is a legitimate MVP candidate for the league as of now, so why not just full embrace that effort by rewarding him another big time weapon, especially with Will Dissly now out? Can you imagine AJ Green coming into this offense?

Maybe, just maybe the answer to dealing with the best defense in the NFC West is to add to the best offense in the NFC West. It’s a pretty fair thing to consider.

It’s going to be an interesting couple weeks to see what happens, and they got a big test at home next week against the Baltimore Ravens who just so happen to have a certain free safety by the name of Earl Thomas. Won’t that be interesting.

Go Hawks.