Seahawks vs. Raiders: What we learned about Seattle
By Lee Vowell
There were few starters playing on Thursday but we still found out stuff about the Seahawks football team. Here are three.
The Seahawks finished the preseason 0-4. Not great, of course, but also the games were meaningless. Seattle was really just trying to find out who would make the roster. On Thursday, even most of the starters did not play.
Still, 12s were able to find out a bit more about the 2018 team. (Hopefully Seattle will find some wins for 12s during the regular season.)
The secondary needs Earl Thomas
The Legion of Boom does not appear to be very good right now. True, there is no scheming in preseason but giving up a passer rating of 99.8 to E.J. Manuel is still bad. And giving up three touchdowns is worse.
And the issue with the secondary has been ongoing and not just against the Raiders. (Of course, it also doesn’t help that Seattle had a non-existent pass rush for much of the game.) The simple fact is that Seattle needs Thomas to decide to play. He makes the entire defense better.
The rush defense appears to be much better than in 2017
Again, there is no scheming, but Seattle seems to be able to line up and stop the run. After getting gashed in several games last year (against the Tennessee Titans and the second game against the Los Angeles Rams, to name two), if the Seahawks have found a way to stop rushing attacks at least they can focus on finding an answer in the secondary.
And rookie Shaquem Griffin appears to be a very good player against the run. This is good news if K.J. Wright has to miss more than two weeks.
The Seahawks have good depth at running back
Mike Davis was really solid – again – against the Raiders. In the first half alone, Davis had 45 yards on nine carries and a touchdown. Chris Carson played but not long and 12s already know if Carson can stay healthy he could have a big year.
Next. Seahawks have found Russell Wilson's backup. dark
Add Rashaad Penny and C.J. Prosise to Davis and Carson and the Seattle group of running backs is far ahead of the Eddie Lacy and Thomas Rawls group of last year. For a team that wants to run the ball more, the Seahawks don’t lack talent at running back.