Seahawks need to take advantage of Redskins injuries Sunday
By Lee Vowell
The Seahawks play their second straight home game on Sunday versus Washington. Seattle has a few injuries. The Redskins have a lot more. Will Seattle take advantage?
Seahawks injuries are few but some are significant. Washington’s hurts are big and plentiful. One of these belongs to Washington’s excellent left tackle Trent Williams. Williams missed Sunday’s Dallas Cowboys game and is considered questionable against Seattle.
The problem for Washington is that Williams is not the only member of their offensive line dealing with pain. Williams’ backup, Ty Nsekhe, is also hobbling. And Nsekhe’s backup, T.J. Clemmings, sprained his ankle on Sunday. Seriously. Like, I can’t make this stuff up. And these are just three of the injuries to the Redskins offensive line.
The good thing for the Seahawks and 12s is that Michael Bennett and Frank Clark are healthy for Seattle. So is Jarran Reed. Clark is becoming possibly Seattle’s best pass rusher, and had two sacks on Sunday against the Texans. With a Redskins team that likes to pass, this means lots of pressure opportunities for Seattle’s defensive line. The Cowboys had nine pressures and four sacks against Washington quarterback Kirk Cousins last week. Cousins passed the ball 39 times. Seattle should get at least four sacks this Sunday.
The Redskins defensive line is not in much better shape than the team’s offensive line. Washington has four defensive linemen currently able to play against Seattle. The Cowboys have a different style of offense than Seattle, of course, but Dallas did run for 169 yards versus Washington.
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Seattle added left tackle Duane Brown this week. Brown will not immediately make the Seahawks an elite run team, but he should help make them a better one. Seattle had to throw more times than they would like to win against Houston. Sunday may be the game where they learn to run again. If only Chris Carson were healthy…