The Seattle Seahawks have had problems along the offensive line for what feels like forever now, but this year has been especially brutal.
As the Seahawks enter their Week 10 bye, they rank 25th in pass block win rate (53 percent) and 29th in run block win rate (67 percent), according to ESPN, and even that feels generous. Geno Smith has been sacked 28 times, fourth-most in the league, and he's been pressured on 39.6 percent of his dropbacks — the fifth-highest rate in the league, according to Pro Football Focus. Seattle's 27th-ranked run game (91.2 yards per game) isn't faring any better behind this line.
It's a mess right now, and everyone in the NFL world knows it. During an appearance on Seattle Sports Radio's "Brock and Salk", ESPN NFL analyst Brian Baldinger went in on the Seahawks offensive line for its performance thus far.
“They’re not a strong group,” Baldinger said. “I mean, outside of (left tackle) Charles (Cross), who’s struggled also at times this year, they look like backups. That’s what they look like right now. … They’ve got backups in there right now and (offensive coordinator) Ryan Grubb is a deep-ball thrower. He wants to push the ball down the field, and those guys aren’t holding up in order to run that style of offense right now.”
The left side of the offensive line has been respectable, but the right side, which features a struggling Anthony Bradford and a revolving door at right tackle, has been downright awful. If two of the five players up front are struggling, then it's incredibly difficult for the unit as a whole to succeed.
If the Seahawks want to solve their offensive line woes, then they might want to look to one of their rivals. The Los Angeles Rams have also dealt with injuries up front throughout the season, yet they didn't allow a single sack in Sunday's overtime win over Seattle. Baldinger believes that, with the right adjustments, the Seahawks could see similar results.
“When (the Rams) were on their third left tackle when Alaric Jackson wasn’t in there, and they were going against good pass rushers, (they’re like): ‘Here’s a chip, here’s a back, here’s a slide, here’s a wide receiver before he goes out,'” Baldinger said. “They protected first and ran their routes second. And it showed up.
“And I was just sitting there going, ‘Why aren’t other teams doing this?’ … When you have a weakness or you have an inexperienced player, give that kid as much help as you possibly can, yet still try to run your offense the best that you can.”
The Seahawks are in a free fall after losing five of their past six games, and if they want to turn things around in the second half of the season, they'll have to figure something out up front.
