Seattle Seahawks: 5 takeaways from Week 15 victory over Washington
By Jake Luppino
Seattle play calling needs to incorporate more short passes
If you have been reading my thread over the last month or so, this may come as a surprise. I have been harping on the fact that Seattle is focusing on the pass too much. This year has been all about letting Russ Cook and it has paid off for the most part. But, this Seattle offense we have seen over the last month doesn’t look like the one from the beginning. Outside of the Jets game, it seems that they either favor the run or the pass.
This offense is at its best when they establish that balance. The run game was working really well in this game against Washington, but it hurt the Seahawks later in the game. When Washington rallied back, Seattle failed to answer with a touchdown or field goal. One drive ended with an interception on a pass that was tipped. But, the other drives had no momentum. Washington added another defensive lineman to the front in an attempt to slow down the run.
The reliance on the run game in this one slowed down the Seahawks offense, in a sense. Seattle is known to have an explosive offense hitting big plays down the field. That becomes increasingly difficult with two high safeties, but that doesn’t mean they can’t move the ball up the field slowly. I touched upon this last week, death by a thousand cuts. In the drive with the interception, Seattle kind of went to that approach with two short routes to D.K. Metcalf. But, it just felt that the passing game was out of rhythm the whole game.
Granted, Russell Wilson played good enough to win this game, but moving forward, the Seahawks need to keep the foot on the pedal and bury teams without giving them a shot at getting back into the game. When the run game is working, they need to focus more on the play action. Since the down field plays will be taken away, work on the crossing routes over the middle of the field. If it works, eventually the defense will have to double down and bite. The more this Seattle offense shows, the harder they will be to guard. Obviously, the run game has to be working for this to be effective, but I have the ultimate faith in Chris Carson.