Tailfeathers against the wall

The Seahawks seem to be improving every game, but we're still not winning.

Last Sunday featured a few major offensive breakthroughs. For the first time, we saw tight end Jimmy Graham dominate as a receiver in a Seattle uniform, catching eight of the twelve passes thrown his way for 140 yards. The Ginger Giant even stretched the field with a spectacular 45-yard reception. He and Russell Wilson still need to work on increasing the ratio of catches to targets, but the Carolina game represented a very good start.

In the third quarter, Ricardo Lockette made an incredibly clutch catch, leaping high while reaching low to snatch a touchdown from the jaws of a probable pick; the Rocket robbed a Panthers defender who had been ideally positioned to intercept the slightly underthrown ball.

However, the rest of the receiving corps pretty much failed to show up. Baldwin caught three balls on four targets for just 23 receiving yards. Wilson threw at Jermaine Kearse thrice and Tyler Lockett twice, but neither caught a single ball. When your top three wideouts combine to catch 33% of their targets for 23 yards, your offense is in serious trouble. Twenty-three receiving yards would be poor production for just one quarter of football; over the course of an entire game, it's downright pathetic.

Shoddy pass protection remains a huge part of the problem. Our quarterback's nickname--DangeRuss--best describes the perilous state of the pocket. Wilson threw and ran well, but he still needs better blocking and some planned rollouts and screen passes to punish opponents who blitz too much (i.e., every defense we play until we make them pay for it).

Marshawn Lynch ran tough and busted into the end zone once, but I rued Coach Carroll's failure to feed Baby Beast Mode. Before the game, he had suggested that he would get Thomas Rawls about ten carries in relief of Lynch. In the end, the rookie had only one carry that counted. (A Russel Okung holding penalty nullified one impressive Rawls run.) I'm glad that Lynch wanted to stay in the game and carry the ball--true competitors resist substitution--but his hamstring clearly wasn't 100%, and I'm a big fan of fresh legs. At this point, Baby Beast Mode has a bigger burst of speed than his mentor. If I were running the offense, I would hammer opposing defenses by relentlessly rotating Lynch and Rawls.

Seattle's defense made a number of impressive plays. We held off Carolina for most of the game. The Seahawks forced five punts. and two Panthers drives ended in interceptions--one by Kam Chancellor, the other by Earl Thomas III. Bruce Irvin resumed his role as Cam Newton's nemesis, sacking him twice and playing decent pass defense, too.

But it wasn't enough. Seattle gave up too many points. Miscommunication between defensive coordinator Kris Richard and the Legion of Boom caused the blown coverage that allowed Newton to throw the touchdown that sealed the game.

Within the hour, we face the 49ers. San Francisco has been awful this year (they're 2-4, just like us), but their fans have been swaggering around the Bay Area the last few days, talking smack and predicting victory tonight. The Seahawks need to make them pay for their hubris.

Go, Hawks!