The Seahawks gave up just 17 passing touchdowns last season — second least in the NFL. But 11 of them were scored by tight ends -- tied for third-most.

It's a problem area the Seahawks tried to focus on during the offseason. K.J. Wright, one of the key defenders against tight ends, said one of his goals was to do better against the big receivers.

But the Seahawks clearly have not improved in that department, as Cincinnati tight end Tyler Eifert's success in Week 5 proved. And now here comes Carolina's Greg Olsen.

Last year, the Seahawks were burned by San Diego’s Antonio Gates (three TDs), Denver’s Julius Thomas and Jacob Tamme and Dallas’ Jason Witten and Gavin Escobar. They went 1-2 in those games (and needed overtime to beat Denver). Oakland's Mychal Rivera scored twice as the Seahawks played without Kam Chancellor.

They kept Olsen in check, holding him to one catch for 16 yards in Week 8 and then four receptions for 58 yards in the Seahawks' 31-17 playoff win. But then New England's Rob Gronkowski did well in the Super Bowl, catching six passes for 68 yards and a touchdown in the Patriots' 28-24 win.

Once again, the Seahawks are not off to a good start vs. tight ends. They are 30th in the NFL, per Football Outsiders.

They got burned in the first game at St. Louis, as Jared Cook caught five passes for 85 yards and Lance Kendricks scored on a  37-yard reception. In Green Bay, Richard Rodgers scored eight points to put the Packers up 24-17 early in the fourth quarter of the Packers' 27-17 win.

Some people who apparently did not watch the Seahawks last season thought Chancellor's holdout was the reason for the Seahawks' failures against tight ends. But the fact is the Achilles' heel of Seattle's defense has always been short passes to running backs, tight ends and quick slot receivers. Almost every loss they had last year came against teams that used that tactic. It's also how Detroit nearly beat the Seahawks two weeks ago, until Chancellor's fortuitous forced fumble on the goal line.

Chancellor followed that heroic play up with a pretty poor game against the Bengals. He looked like the culprit on both of Eifert's touchdowns, but Pete Carroll adamantly denied Chancellor was to blame.

“You have to make sure when you’re asking that question that you realize that the two touchdown passes were not his responsibility," Carroll told reporters this week. "I know whatever goes out of the TV you guys think happened. That’s not what happened. He played a solid football game; he had quite a few opportunities. There were a couple of tackles that got away from him; but, other than that, he was pretty much on point.

Still, Carroll admitted, "Whenever the tight end has such an effective game, we’re going to look at the strong safety matchup. He had that great opportunity on the corner route, which was a fantastic throw and catch. He was inches from making that play. I think (Kam) was challenged."

Carroll admits Olsen will offer the same test again.

"With Greg Olsen, who is a fantastic tight end and a prime target for Cam Newton, he’s up against the challenge again," Carroll said, "so we’ll see how that goes. But he’s the best there is at taking on those kinds of challenges.”

Defensive coordinator Kris Richard said, "I’m sure they’re going to take a look at the tape and try to feature (Olsen) in some of the same areas in the football field. Our whole deal is to make sure that we prepare for those situations. Yeah, it’s a copycat league, and they’ve got a guy who is just as capable as the tight end was last week. So we just need to be aware of when they get in those particular areas on the field, to be prepared for the same concepts.”

The last time the Seahawks faced the Panthers, in the playoffs last January, Chancellor played perhaps the best game of his career. The Seahawks could use Batman again as they try to put the clamps on the tight end for once.

Image: Mike Morris (Flickr)