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Seahawks lose to Rams, cue the overreaction

By Dan Viens

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Surely the sky is falling.

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Once again the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis was a house of horrors for the Seahawks, as they showed flashes of excellence, but mostly played in a way that will surely satiate the many critics of this team, and even the most cynical members of their own rabid fan base.

The final score was 34-31, in OT no less, but to hear emotional Seahawk fans tell it, they’ll never win another game.

This was worst-case-scenario type stuff. Michael Bay may be needed to put together the highlight package.

  • The offensive line is terrible.
  • Russell Wilson isn’t the same player now that he’s been paid.
  • Pete Carroll and Darrell Bevell are (still) morons.
  • New Defensive Coordinator Kris Richard is in over his head.
  • Dion Bailey is terrible, and so is Cary Williams.

The Seahawks are going 0-16, aren’t they?

Games like these remind me of my age, and that’s a good thing. When I was younger I lived and died with every game, and employed the same kind of outlook as a lot of the (presumably younger) Seahawk fans I follow on Twitter who react to every ebb and flow as if lives depend on it.

Mostly, there’s THIS guy, who places the entire share of the blame for today’s loss on one player, Kam Chancellor’s fill in at SS Dion Bailey.

And this guy is a Seahawks fan? I don’t have enough time to try and talk any sense into people like this, nor enough money to pay for their therapy.

But writing about games like this can sometimes serve as self-therapy. And here are my initial thoughts:

  • The offensive line is clearly a work in progress, but any big-picture assessments about their long term ability will only be judged after many more games against NOT the St. Louis defensive line.
  • The defense misses Kam, that’s clear, but any suggestion that the team should simply cave in to his contract demands at the expense of their long-range salary cap plan is both ignorant and misguided. Their only choice is to try and put the new pieces in place and be as effective as possible. If Dion Bailey proves to be insufficient, the team will try another player, they’ve proven that.
  • Rookie Defensive Coordinator Kris Richard is going to take some time to develop. It’s impossible for me to know who was responsible for the calls or the broken coverages that allowed big pass plays all day. The Seahawks were particularly inept trying to cover tight ends Jared Cook and Lance Kendricks, who combined for 7 catches for 127 yards and a TD. It’s more than just “not having Kam.”
  • Likewise, Offensive Coordinator Darrell Bevell has always been a lightning rod, but today he was really bad. He’s coordinated an offense that’s been very successful the last 3 years, but trying to point out his questionable play calls today would simply take too much time.
  • The read-option may need to be scrapped. This is an idea for a much longer piece of it’s own, but the ZR concept had zero success today.  The Rams completely took away Wilson’s run option, and once you do that the whole system becomes a detriment. The Seahawks are carrying two fullbacks on their 53 man roster, yet when they needed one stinking yard to keep the game alive and give themselves a chance in OT, they went spread, with multiple WR’s and a single back. Lynch never had a chance. For a team that’s supposed to be built on a physical running game, not going under center there with extra blockers seems contradictory.

And that’s my primary takeaway from today’s game. This is a team scuffling to find it’s identity, and it may take some time before they find it…. IF they find it. They have Lynch, and a bunch of offensive linemen more suited for run blocking than pass protection, yet they just traded for an All-Pro tight end and paid their young QB over $80 million dollars. Who are they? What are they? And how are they going to get there?

Those answers may take longer than we want to admit. With a primetime trip to Green Bay (who beat Chicago 31-23 today) on tap next week, the possibility of starting out 0-2 is real.

This is the hand the league dealt the Seahawks. The playing field has been leveled. There were good things, positive signs, things to get excited about, but immediately after a painful loss isn’t the time to write about them. That’s for later in the week.

This team isn’t going to go 0-16, just as the Colts won’t, or the Bills (who beat the Colts today) will go 16-0. The Seahawks may not go 13-3 now either, but all of the goals we have for them, and they have for themselves, are still attainable.

In the infamous words of the next QB the Seahawks will face, Aaron Rodgers………

“R-E-L-A-X, relaaaaaaaaaax.”

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