.
The Seahawks had 55 yards of offense, except for one interception that Golden Tate intercepted. ... even adding in the intercepted interception, they had the 3rd-worst offensive day in team history.
Dr. D also watched the worst game, in the 1970's (?), against the Rams, in which the Seahawks had -7 (?) yards in total offense on the day. (As he recalls, the headline in the paper the next day was -7). This game didn't look a lot different than the -7 game.
Talking points:
.
This is squarely on the coaching staff. John Madden was perfectly clear about the passing game. The first thing you've got to do is protect it. Either you can get the quarterback his 3 seconds, or you don't run the play.
I saw some stat, during the game, where Russell Wilson was hurried, hit, or sacked on 22 of his first 24 dropbacks. Sounds about right. How many times did you see Wilson plant the back foot, bounce up to unweight his foot, and gather to throw? About 2 of the first 24 times.
There are 87,000 reasons that Pete Carroll made the decisions that he did. None of them matter to Dr. D. Carroll did not prioritize pass protection. Even during the game, Jon Gruden marvelled at the zero-running back sets.
.
This is squarely on the receivers. You should not be able to leave any NFL wideout, really, in a situation where:
I mean, one juke and he is gone, right? That's why they play 2-deep and 3-deep.
The Rams came into the game saying, We don't respect your receivers enough even to play one safety behind our guys. Brilliant defensive plan. The Seahawks only stung them the one time, the Tate interception of the interception.
Dr D wonders, idly, if the Rams' trash talk was on exactly this. "I don' need NO help with YOU, man. I gonna take you myself and there ain't nothin you can do about it. We're gonna put your quarterback in the hospital 'cause you guys got nothin'. Are you SHORE you're a STARTER?"
Picture that going on for about 3 quarters, and then Tate breaks one to the house, and then waves g'bye... that's my hallucination, anyway.
.
Russell Wilson can play for me any time. The offense is up-and-down. Wilson is a work in progress; it's easy to forget that.
But! Supposing Wilson had thrown one interception? And under that pressure? Just. Wow.
He'd been hurried or hit, like 23-of-25 passes, and the rollouts weren't working either, and he was looking very SHORT in the pocket, and ... and his demeanor was still precisely the same. Get to work on the next play.
Dr. D, in real life, has lots of people applying for apprentice work. He almost never accepts. It's too hard to find somebody that you can visualize as the full-grown bansai tree.
But Russell Wilson? There is a guy you can take as a Shao Lin disciple. You know what I'm saying? Bet the franchise on him. Bet ALL IN. If you lose that is perfectly okay.
.
I got no problem, winning with defense. If the Seahawks win the Super Bowl and the offense is suspect the entire year, that's just fine with me.
But hey. In 2012, the defense's job was to hold the fort until the offense jelled, right?
BABVA,
Dr D