Seahawks record belies the truth of their potential mediocrity
By Lee Vowell
The Seahawks are not really as good as their 5-1 record indicates. As a 12 I want them to be even better. But the truth is they could be in trouble.
Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson is so far having a career season. He has 14 touchdown passes and no interceptions. His quarterback rating is the best, by far, in the NFL (ignore the guys who have fewer than 189 pass attempts). That seems otherworldly and while Wilson is great the statistics he is putting up do not seem sustainable.
That is no knock on Wilson. He’s the best quarterback in Seahawks history. But no quarterback can really go an entire season with no picks. If Wilson does, he is the NFL MVP. But he won’t because no quarterback will throw zero picks with a large amount of touchdowns. Mistakes happen.
Seattle also made some big moves on the defensive line front in trading for Jadeveon Clowney and signing Ziggy Ansah. Clowney has worked out fairly well. Ansah not so much. It isn’t that Ansah has been terrible; He hasn’t. My point is that Ansah was brought in to get sacks for Seattle and he so far has 1 sack in four games. That isn’t productive enough.
The whole Seahawks pass rush has been lacking, however. For a 5-1 team to be 26th in sacks means that team is somehow getting by on luck and timing. Neither of those, again, are sustainable. Maybe Jarran Reed will help when he returns this week from suspension, or maybe he won’t. He got 10.5 sacks in 2018 and that was a lot more than he ever had before. Maybe 2018 was a one off.
Seattle’s special teams was supposed to be a huge strength this year. It hasn’t been. Michael Dickson currently ranks 31st in net average per punt. Free agent signee Jason Myers has been awful on paper but he has only made five field goals and made 71.4 percent of his kicks. This is the lowest mark of his career. Tyler Lockett is averaging 2.4 yards a punt return and is 15th in kick returns.
There is also the thing about Seattle winning four of their games by a combined 8 points. Again, that isn’t really sustainable. Right?
dark. Next. Seahawks trading for OJ Howard? Maybe.
I love the Seahawks as much as the next 12. But I want to be realistic too, especially with the tougher part of the schedule coming in a few weeks. If Russell Wilson can keep up his crazy pace, good. If he regresses any, Seattle could still have trouble making the playoffs in a tough NFC.