Seattle Seahawks offense: an autopsy after it died Sunday
By Keith Myers
The Seattle Seahawks offense died on Sunday in a fiery pile of incompetence. Here we perform an autopsy of everything that went wrong.
The Seattle Seahawks had 13 possessions on Sunday. They managed just 6 points, even with playing an entire extra 15 minutes of football. Taking the time to quote any other stats, like that the Seahawks only had 6 first downs in regulation, would be a waste of time at this point.
Here is how every drive that the Seahawks had on Sunday ended, listed with the time in the game in which the drive began:
11:24 first quarter: Drive ended because Wilson kept it when he should have given it to Christine Michael a 3rd and 1 read option.
8:56 first quarter: Drive ends on Nick Vannett drop on 3rd and 4.
2:14 first quarter: Terrible blocking forced Wilson to throw ball away on 3rd and 4.
13:20 second quarter: Jimmy Graham drop on 2nd and 10, followed by a Glowinski holding penalty killed this drive.
3:11 second quarter: Wilson throws ball away over Graham due to pressure on 3rd and 15 after Gilliam holding penalty.
15:00 third quarter: OPI on Kearse, false start on Sowell and whiff by Sowell on running play left Seahawks with 3rd and 24.
4:28 third quarter: Third and 3, Wilson’s pass is batted back to Wilson, who catches his own pass but fails to run for a 1st down.
13:02 fourth quarter: Sowell holding penalty on one play and missed block on another left the Seahawks with 3rd and 25.
9:07 fourth quarter: Sowell whiffs on a block. Wilson is sacked and fumbles. Glowinski recovered, but it left Seahawks with 3rd and 29
4:33 fourth quarter: Holding penalty on Brandon Williams left Seahawks with 3rd and 20. Wilson connected for 10 yards to get team back into FG range to tie the game.
1:09 fourth quarter: Holding by Gilliam and Fant on back-to-back plays left Seahawks with 1st and 30. Team decided to run out clock and go to overtime.
11:23 overtime: Drive ends when Graham stops on route Wilson threw into the end zone on 3rd and 4. Drive results in field goal.
3:19 overtime: Drive ended because Seahawks set up game-ended FG, but Hauschka missed.
The final drive doesn’t really count since the Seahawks were never stopped. They simply stopped trying to advance the ball and set up Hauschka to give them the win. Instead, lets look at the other 12 drives in which the Seahawks were stopped.
There were 6 drives that ended after the Seahawks had 3rd and 15 or worse. That is 50 % of their possessions. 5 of those ended with more than 20 yards to go for a 1st down.
Bradley Sowell was directly responsible for killing 4 drives. That is one-third of the team’s possessions. Keep in mind that he left the game 22 minutes and 52 seconds before the game ended. He was also indirectly responsible for many other failed drives by failing to do his job.
Jimmy Graham killed two possessions. One with a drop, and another by stopping on his route when he didn’t realize Graham had changed the play at the line. His backup, Nick Vannett, killed another drive with a block.
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Unfortunately, I don’t have any answers on how to fix this except for the Seahawks to acquire better offensive tackles, and for the TEs to make fewer mistakes.
This isn’t a doctor’s visit people. It’s an autopsy.