Seattle Seahawks Lack Weapons on Offense

Over the summer, I said that the Seattle Seahawks’ group of receivers and offense in general was a major cause for concern.

Of course, the 12th Man came out and blasted me for my comments, saying that Doug Baldwin is indeed “explosive,” rookie wide receiver Paul Richardson would make a big impact, and Percy Harvin would have the best season of his career.

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I have yet to see any indication of a Seattle Seahawks passing attack, and with several members of the Seattle defense hobbled, the Dallas Cowboys absolutely dominated the Seahawks en route to their 30-23 victory.

The score reads much closer than the game actually was. Dallas gave the Seahawks their only two touchdowns due to special teams miscues. So really, Seattle should have lost 27-9. Was that the final score? No. But there’s no point in saying that the game was close. Face it. Seattle was beat down by Dallas, there’s no other way to say it.

Is Dallas for real? Nobody knows. It seems that they are after winning a tough game on the road in the most hostile environment in the NFL. But Dallas exposed a lot of problems, and most of them were on the offensive side of the ball.

The offense put the Seahawks in a world of hurt. The unit’s performance was absolutely pathetic against an average Cowboys defense. Don’t believe me? Before Sunday’s game Dallas’ defense was tied for 20th in rushing defense, 19th in pass defense, and 23rd in total defense.

Seattle only mustered 206 total yards against Dallas. Marshawn Lynch was a non-factor, rushing for only 61 yards with a long of 32. Russell Wilson was under relentless pressure the whole game thanks to another underwhelming performance from the Seattle offensive line. Jermaine Kearse was Seattle’s leading receiver with 62 yards on three catches, but 53 of those yards came on a single reception.

But the offensive shortcomings go far beyond the matchup with the Cowboys. A supposedly “much-improved” Seattle wide receiving core has only shown signs of regression so far. Doug Baldwin has only 155 yards, Kearse 106 yards, Harvin 133 yards and Bryan Walters 39 through five weeks.

Wilson needs more weapons; the ones surrounding him now are not enough. Percy Harvin was supposed to be a downfield threat and explosive player underneath, but has been underwhelming, Baldwin and Kearse have  been extremely underwhelming so far, and Walters has been… Walters.

With a weakened defense due to injuries, Seattle is no longer guaranteed to have leads early in the game. Dallas absorbed Seattle’s punches and responded by scoring touchdowns. They exposed the Seahawks inability to play from behind.

If the defense led by the Legion of Boom is no longer going to be the shutdown unit it was last season, the Seattle offense has to be prepared to put up points quickly so not to fall behind too quickly. Marshawn Lynch won’t be able to be a huge factor when the Seahawks have two minutes to score a touchdown. The easiest way for the Seahawks to inject some life in the passing attack is to get speedster Paul Richardson acclimated to the offense. Richardson was a healthy scratch for the Dallas game.

As I stated earlier in the season, Arizona will be a fearsome squad and now it sits atop the NFC West at 4-1. As much as the 12th Man hates the San Francisco 49ers, Colin Kaepernick might actually be figuring out how to play quarterback in the NFL.

To beat elite teams like Denver, New England, Arizona, San Francisco, and now, Dallas, the Seahawks will have to find ways to score quickly if they fall behind.

And the Seahawks can’t accomplish that when Russell Wilson has to throw to Bryan Walters on crucial third downs.