Seahawks: An Open Letter To The 12s

12s: Listen up. Everything’s going to be okay. The Seattle Seahawks will get this fixed.

Dear 12s,

Calm down. Take a deep breath. Inhale. Exhale. Everything’s going to be alright.

All of us have had some time to reflect on Sunday’s disaster of a game. First, I’d like to state that I expected better from you guys. While I completely understand that it’s been an incredibly frustrating season so far, we have been spoiled the past few seasons, and it’s shown.

In my many hours spent perusing the internet, I stumbled upon a boatload of skepticism, doubt, and fear about the future. Negativity has reigned supreme. Is one game going to make you forget everything about the past four seasons? About the tremendous personnel and coaching staff in place? Or the injuries devastating this team?

The Rams have always played Seattle extremely well. This matchup is basically the closest Los Angeles will get to a Super Bowl for a long time. We know this. It isn’t new. Since 2012, Seattle is 4-5 against the Rams, and 42-14 versus everyone else.

Heck, Rams coach Jeff Fisher gets three-year extensions purely for beating the Seahawks every year. He spends 364 days per year preparing for this matchup alone. Throw in the fact that it was the first NFL game in Los Angeles since 1994 and you have a very hungry Rams team motivated to put on a show.

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After all, if any of you 12s could choose any roster in the NFL to start a franchise, how many would you take over Seattle’s? Would you prefer to switch rosters with the Rams? Instead of rooting for an exciting young team with two Super Bowl appearances in three years, you could be stuck cheering on a perennial bottom feeder unable to move on from mediocre management.

Tim Ruskell might be the one getting the extension right now (Shivers). What would have stopped us from trading the future for a underwhelming quarterback unable to sniff the active roster? I don’t know about you guys, but I would take Seattle 100 times out of 100.

Yes, the offense was so bad that to call them crap is an insult to the word crap. Face of the franchise Russell Wilson was awful. I acknowledge that. However, while I hate to use the injury excuse, it affected his game a lot more than I initially thought it would. Other than the obvious mobility concerns, his mechanics were off, leading to accuracy issues.

Instead of focusing on the poor performance, 12s should realize that it was a miracle that Wilson could walk this week, much less play an entire football game while getting thrown around like a rag doll behind terrible offensive line play. As Wilson continues to heal, his game will inevitably improve. No one needs to be fired.

In addition, the injury bug has decimated the Seahawks offense so far. Beyond Wilson’s ankle, running back Thomas Rawls isn’t fully healthy yet, despite his increased workload. Wide receivers Doug Baldwin and Tyler Lockett are banged up.

Tight end Jimmy Graham is returning from a devastating injury. Right guard Germain Ifedi, running back CJ Prosise, and tight end Nick Vannett are three promising yet injured rookies with loads of potential. They should return soon. While their struggles can’t be entirely blamed on injuries, things will improve as they return to full strength.

But what to do about the offensive line… After a lackluster performance week one, I touched on this subject a bit during my Position Spotlight article, but evidently, my advice was not heeded.

The offensive line’s performance against LA was awful. While no one will ever confuse them with Dallas’ offensive line, they will undoubtedly improve as they begin to mesh as a cohesive unit.