Seattle Seahawks Notes from Week 1

The Seattle Seahawks opened the season on the road for the 10th time in the last 15 seasons and will continue on the road this week when they go off to one of the unique and toughest venues in the NFL, Lambeau Field.

The Seahawks had a 21-12 record against the St. Loius Rams coming into the 2015 Opener. However, Seattle has struggled in St. Louis since 2010, posting a 2-3 record and being outscored 83-80. That trend continued on Sunday with the Rams worsening the Seahawks record in St. Louis from that time span to 2-4.

The game started out well for the Seahawks defense and special teams. After a three and out by the Seahawks defense which forced the Rams to punt deep out of their end zone, Tyler Lockett continued to showcase his ability to find the end zone. Tyler Lockett scored on a 57-yard punt-return.

He is the first rookie to score a touchdown on his first career return on Kickoff Weekend since 2005 (San Francisco’s OTIS AMEY was the last to do it.) Before that punt-return, the Seahawks has the longest streak in the NFL without a punt-return touchdown, you have to go all the way back back to November 4th, 2007.

Sep 13, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Tyler Lockett (16) runs the ball on a punt return against the St. Louis Rams during the first half at the Edward Jones Dome. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Tyler Lockett keeps on impressing the nation which shouldn’t come as a surprise. In the last five weeks, Lockett has scored four touchdowns from special teams to catching the ball on offense. He has scored 36% of the Seahawks past 11 touchdowns.

His versatility should remain a huge impact to what the Seahawks try to accomplish. According to some sources, Tyler Lockett played 70% of the Seahawks snaps on Sunday. More than veteran receivers, Chris Mathews and Ricardo Lockette.

The offensive line had their handful against one of the best defensive lines, if not, the best D-line in the NFL. The Rams had a field day against Russell Wilson. 13 quarterback hurries, 6 quarterback hits and they brought down Wilson 6 times. Seven teams have been able to sack Wilson five or more times in a game.

The Rams have been able to do so three of those times. The Rams own Wilson’s number, in Wilson’s career, the Rams have been able to get to him 29 times, the most by any team he has dropped back against.

Fans shouldn’t put all of the blame on the offensive line, they had a tough matchup trying to protect Wilson against the Rams always ferocious defensive line. It’s really hard to judge how well the Seahawks line will fare just after one game, specially facing such a touch opponent.

The Seahawks defense gave up 24 points to the Rams offense. Since 2012, coming into the 2015 opener, the Seahawks have given up 20 or more points only once to a Jeff Fisher offense. The Rams have only averaged 14 points per game against this Seahawks defense in that same time span.

The Seahawks couldn’t get anything going on offense as they settled for more field goals than offensive touchdowns. The Seahawks had the most explosive plays in 2014 and going up against a team that was ranked 19th in the passing game last year, they only managed one explosive passing play against the Rams secondary on Sunday. Just brings you back to how safe the Rams secondary was playing and relying on that great pass rush that was too much for the Seahawks offensive line to handle.

The outcome was disappointing, but not the end of the world. The Rams were the better team on both sides of the ball, it showed up on tape and showed up on paper. However, the fact the Seahawks almost won despite the lack of play on both sides of the ball should tell you that there shouldn’t be no panic what so ever.

The Seahawks stay on the road as they go on to face the Green Bay Packers in a rematch of last years thrilling NFC Championship. A task that will be no picnic. If the Seahawks can pull off the win on the road, they will be right where they were going into Week 3 of last year.

Next: NFL West Roundup for Week 1

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