Seattle Seahawks vs New England Patriots: Three Keys To Redemption

Feeding Jimmy Graham In The Red Zone

Aside from Richard Sherman, the big story of last week was the national reemergence of Seahawks Tight End Jimmy Graham. Graham had been having a fantastic season thus far, but his two one-handed touchdowns with cornerbacks draped all over him captured the attention of casual fans everywhere.

If Seattle hopes to be successful on offense, Graham needs to be involved, especially in the red zone. Wilson has been gradually building a rapport with Graham throughout the season, and as a result giving Graham more 50/50 balls. On Monday, Wilson finally trusted him in the red zone, and I’d say the results were pretty good.

New England has been very good against tight ends this year, allowing two touchdowns and 401 receiving yards. But, they also haven’t faced a tight end of Jimmy Graham’s caliber. The best tight end they’ve faced this year has been Gary Barnidge, and he had 76 receiving yards with Charlie Whitehurst throwing him the football. Other tight ends New England has faced includes Darren Fells, Dion Sims, CJ Fiedorowicz, Charles Clay, CJ Uzomah and Jesse James. Not exactly a stellar crew if you ask me.

In addition, the 6’7, 265 Graham has the size advantage against 99% of NFL defenders, but he dwarfs all of New England’s starters by a good seven or eight inches and 50-60 pounds. Cornerbacks Malcolm Butler, Logan Ryan and Cyrus Jones are 5’11, 190 pounds, 5’11, 194 pounds and 5’10, 200 pounds respectively. Their safeties aren’t much bigger. Pro Bowler Devin McCourty is 5’11, 195 and Patrick Chung is 5’11, 215.

Now, Butler, Ryan, Jones, Chung, and McCourty are all great defensive backs, capable of shutting down Graham on any given snap. They also receive lots of practice guarding 6’6 Rob Gronkowski in practice. However, I’d bet on a 6’7 former basketball player to corral a contested ball every single time.