Seahawks get burned by big plays far too often. When will it end?

We’ve seen the Seahawks give up big plays far too often this season. This week it was the turn of William Fuller and DeAndre Hopkins to shred the LOB.

It wasn’t that long ago that the Legion of Boom was talking about tightening up and preventing big plays. The Titans game turned on big plays, of course. On their bye week, Seattle had vowed to shut down the big plays. Defensive coordinator Kris Richard said then,

"“It’s just been major letdowns in areas that we have been unaccustomed to,’’ Richard said. “It’s stuff that is fixable, stuff that we believe we have fixed. Obviously, only time will tell. The guys have locked in, they have seen the explosives play tape, they have seen all the cutups. From here on out we can kind of imagine how teams are going to try to attack us at least for the next five games after, so it’s just stuff that if they have plays that are very similar that have worked against us we are going to be prepared for those.’’"

Yet here we are again, giving up a 59 yard touchdown pass to William Fuller of the Houston Texans. Fuller also scored on a twenty yard pass, on his way to a 125 yard day. All DeAndre Hopkins did was haul in a 72 yard touchdown as part of his 224 yard performance. That was on what looked like a hamstring injury for Earl Thomas, granted. But it was hardly the only big play of the game against the Seahawks. Hardly the only one of the year, either.

It’s also obvious that the Watson kid is pretty good after all. So much for those spurious stories about him padding stats against weak pass defenses. Mr. Watson, my apologies.

The Seahawks come up short too often on the big play

So here we are, looking at “stuff that is fixable” and imagining that “we are going to be prepared for that.” A bad hamstring in the middle of a play, nope, you can’t prepare for that. You can’t fix that. Regardless of how good Deshaun Watson looked coming into this game, you can’t allow any quarterback to throw for four touchdowns and over 400 yards and expect to win. Let alone a rookie who’s supposed to be rattled by the hostile crowd.

Yes, good quarterbacks have pulled the trigger on most of these big plays. That’s why they’re good quarterbacks. Great defenses don’t have these lapses. The Seahawks need to find answers, and find them fast. Yes, Seattle pulled this game out, only because they have an absolute magician at quarterback in Russell Wilson. At the end of the game, Frank Clark came up with a big sack. Richard Sherman made the third interception of the game for Seattle to seal the last second win. I was spared my imminent heart attack, as were many 12s. Thank you, gentlemen.

The Seahawks made some great defensive plays to win the game. It doesn’t change the fact they were burned far too often. Those huge plays were the only reason it was a game. The Seahawks defense needs to solve this issue. I admit I don’t have the answers. If I did, I’d be a defensive coordinator.

And while we’re at it, could somebody please run block, just a few times a game?

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