The Seattle Seahawks had a rough start to the season with a week one loss to the Green Bay Packers. The offense and defense couldn’t have performed any differently on Sunday.
A Tale of Two Seattle Seahawks in Week One Loss
The Seahawks lost their opening game in Lambeau Field to the Packers. There’s no shame in losing to Green Bay, but it’s a bad start to the season for the Super Bowl contending Seahawks. Seattle plays better at home, and would benefit by winning home field advantage throughout the playoffs. One of the teams that they’ll be competing with for home field advantage just beat them in the season’s first game. The Seahawks still have a chance to bounce back, but they look like two completely different teams. The defense was dominant against one of the best offenses in the NFL. The offense was pathetic against one of the most vanilla defenses in the NFL. The disparity in the outcome between the offense and defense should alarm Pete Carroll and the Seattle coaching staff.
The Seahawks shut out Aaron Rodgers and the Packers offense in the first half. They were allowing some first downs, but didn’t allow the Packers to get into field goal range. Rodgers faced some pressure, but it was the secondary that shut down the passing game. The Seahawks were without starting cornerback Jeremy Lane for most of the game after he was ejected for throwing a punch that he never threw. This penalty and a questionable block in the back penalty took a pick six off the board for Seattle, which changed the whole complexion of the game. Without Lane, rookie Shaquill Griffin stepped in and performed admirably. The pass rush was inconsistent, but got the job done in key moments. The Seahawks run defense was elite all game. They allowed a rushing touchdown, but this was after a turnover that gave the Packers an extremely short field. The defense wore down towards the end of the game because of the offense’s inability to get first downs.
As impressive as the Seattle defense was, the offense was equally impressive. Unfortunately for Seattle, the offense was so pitiful that is was impressive. Russell Wilson was running for his life because of the offensive line. According to Pro Football Focus, the Seahawks had the worst offensive line in the NFL last season. Somehow, the unit managed to regress. Pete Carroll and John Schneider have made a calculated risk to not spend money on their offensive line. Instead, they trust offensive line guru Tom Cable to coach the players up.
Cable is a great coach, but he’s not a wizard. No coach can take five of the worst lineman in the NFL and somehow make them a cohesive unit. This may seem harsh, but it’s well deserved. The Seahawks linemen’s inability to block in 2016 led to Russell Wilson’s injuries. Now healthy, he has a better chance of running away from the defensive lineman that his offensive linemen are incapable of blocking. Not only was the pass protection terrible, but they couldn’t open up running lanes for the plethora of talented Seattle running backs. Seatttle doesn’t need their offensive line to be great. They just need their offensive line to not be among the worst in the NFL. Given the lack of talent that they have up front, this is a big ask. Their offensive line cost them a chance of beating one of their NFC rivals. If they don’t improve this unit, the Seahawks might waste the best defense that they’ve had since their Super Bowl run.
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