Two huge problems the Seahawks must fix before Week 13 versus the Jets

That's right 12s, the Seattle Seahawks have to resolve not one problem, but two, before they take on the Jets at MetLife Stadium. Sadly, these aren't exactly new problems. But bear with me, we may have good news.

The Seahawks defense played their best game of the season so far in their dominant 16-6 win over the Cardinals. It's a good thing, too, because the offense wasn't exactly lighting up Lumen Field. 285 yards and one touchdown isn't exactly going to ring in the annals of Seahawks legend. As to why the offense was so constrained, I have to give some credit to the Arizona defense. Some, but not all.

No, the Arizona defenders don't deserve the lion's share of the credit, not at all. Five sacks and six quarterback hits by a team that came into Seattle averaging 2.4 and 5.0 tells me that this was not the 1985 Chicago Bears coming to own. Or the 2013 Seattle Seahawks, for that matter. But the 2024 Hawks, yeah, they're starting to play more like the Legion of Boom. Calm down now; I said they're starting to play more like that. No, defense is no longer Seattle's problem.

The Seattle Seahawks still cannot block

I'm not so sure this offensive line could block my grandmother. To be fair, she was kinda shifty and had a sick spin move to the outside. Amazing burst off the line, too. Okay, that may be an exaggeration, but this line is still bad. They are woefully bad and deeply frustrating. The line gives us both of the problems the Hawks need to fix: pass protection and run-blocking.

I often reference the grades from Pro Football Focus (subscription required), as do many actual journalists. You know, actual writers, not just schmucks like me. But I still take the grades from PFF with a grain or seven of salt. There's never been a better illustration of why than this week's grades for the Hawks pass-blocking against the Cardinals.

PFF's pass-block grade for this game was 66.3. That's not a good grade by any means, but it's far better than the 54.6 grade given to their performance versus the Dolphins. That was no gem either, but Seattle allowed three sacks, seven QB hits, and four hurries against the Phins. Are five sacks, six QB hits, and zero hurries really better? Umm... I would say no.

The grades for the individuals are even more baffling. Charles Cross - without a doubt, the Seahawks' best offensive lineman - did not have a good game against the Cardinals. He gave up two sacks and two additional pressures. Yet he was given a grade of 76.7 for his pass-blocking. Meanwhile, center Olu Oluwatimi allowed zero pressures, hits, or sacks, and was given a grade of 54.0. Yeah, okay.

Regardless of nonsensical grades, we see the results on the field week after week. Or lack of results, to be more accurate. Here's a stat from PFF that does make sense. Kenneth Walker III had more yards after contact, 46, than he had total rushing yards, 41. Pro Football Reference wasn't quite as severe in their assessment, as they showed Walker averaging 1.1 yards before contact, not negative .3. Either way, he's getting practically zero help from his line.

Speaking of the poor line play, Brock Huard is not a fan of the play-calling by Ryan Grubb. He questioned why the Hawks aren't making more adjustments to make life easier for the line:

Later on the same episode of the Brock and Salk Show, he said he saw some reason for hope: “They got under center a little bit, we saw some screens and they got into a funky four-by-one formation that you don’t see a lot in the NFL. You get the exact right call, the little tunnel screen to Jaxon. (The Cardinals) were bringing the house, they couldn’t peel back in time, and (Jaxon) gets the longest play of his career. And then I saw a little play-action, a little bootleg, getting Geno out of that chaos.”

So maybe there's some light at the end of this painfully long tunnel after all. Despite the Seahawks missing out on one of their biggest needs at the trade deadline,

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