Two problems the Seahawks need to fix before facing the Falcons in Week 7

The Seattle Seahawks face the same problems this week as the last, and the week before, and the week - well, you get the picture. Happily, the Hawks seem to be addressing at least a few of the issues.

Different week, same story. Well, more or less. The Seahawks give us different variations of ineffective play every week. Sadly, the outcome has been the same: another game in the loss column. After their promising 3-0 start, Seattle is reeling at 3-3.

The good news is there are 11 games left in the season. The trend of this team's record isn't good. It would be foolish to deny that. It would also be foolhardy to believe that a 3-3 record would be some portent of doom. The season after the Hawks won the Super Bowl, they began their defense of the title going - that's right - 3-3. I'm not suggesting that this team will only drop one game the rest of the year. I'm just saying it's a bit early to panic.

The Seattle Seahawks must fix the same old problems

That being said, Mike Macdonald has to turn things around. The Hawks do have glaring problems, and they won't magically fix themselves. As Bruce Irvin said, this team is a far cry from the aggressive, confident team that dominated the league. There are issues on defense, to be certain. But the offense desperately needs attention as well.

The offensive line

They can't block very well for the pass or the run. Week in and week out, left tackle Charles Cross has been the only reliable player on this unit. Even he had a rough outing against the Lions. Just ask the Cowboys how fun it is to play Detroit, though. Overall, Cross is the only member of the Hawks O-line with a run-block grade above 72.7 (per Pro Football Focus, subscription required). Cross also leads the unit in pass-blocking at 77.8. That isn't nearly as good as his run-block grade of 90.1, but it's still the best on the team.

New addition center Connor Williams is second in blocking for both the run and the pass. After that, it's a bit of a train wreck. No 12s will be surprised that Anthony Bradford and Stone Forsythe check in with the two worst overall grades. At 46.4 and 43.1, respectively, they grade out at roughly half of Cross's overall mark of 86.2. I don't always agree with PFF's assessments, but it's pretty obvious the right side of the line is - sorry, I almost forgot it's a family-friendly site. Let's just say it needs work.

The run defense

Ah, yes. This was supposed to be a strength of the Seahawks under new head coach Mike Macdonald. Instead, Seattle has opened up the turnstiles at an ever-increasing rate. After holding the punchless Dolphins to 65 yards on the ground, the Hawks have reverted to 2023 form. Giving up 116 yards to the Lions is excusable, as they are definitely a good team. But giving up 175 to the Giants is not excusable at all. That's 83 yards above their season average.

Then the Niners came to town and really showed how bad the run defense is. Christian McCaffrey out: no problem. Lose backup Jordan Mason in the second half: no problem. San Francisco gouged the Seahawks' defense for 228 yards on the ground. I know this will shock you, 12s, but that wasn't just their most rushing yards this season. It was their biggest ground attack since they rolled up 285 against the Packers in the conference championship game in the 2019 season.

Byron Murphy II is expected to be back for the Atlanta game, and that's great news. Seahawks GM John Schneider made a move to bolster the defensive line by adding veteran Roy Robertson-Harris. I hold out hope that R R-H will prove to add much-needed depth against both the run and the pass. But it's pretty hard to ignore that he isn't the best tackler in the league. In a week that saw players like Davonte Adams and Amari Cooper move to new teams, the trade for Robertson-Harris doesn't exactly move the needle.

Yes, the Seahawks have far more problems than this. But until they address these two fundamental issues, everything else is just window dressing.

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