The Seattle Seahawks are limping into their critical Week 9 clash with the Rams on a sour note. They've lost four of their last five games and are coming off their worst performance, a 31-10 drubbing by the Bills. So, of course, I'm confident that they'll win.
What madness is this, you ask. You're quite correct to ask; after all, I'm the guy who thought the addition of Eddie Lacy was going to work out great for Seattle. In my defense, I'm sure it was a boon to the restaurants in the Greater Seattle area. Just not so much for the Seahawks. For you whippersnappers and those who chose to blot out the memory, Lacy played in nine games and tallied 179 yards rushing. I'd bet he had more Seattle Dogs than rushing yards.
Still, I ask that you give me a few minutes of your time. You may very well find my reasons to be suspect. After much thought and analysis, I must insist my reasoning is sound. Feel free to roast me if the Hawks lose by three touchdowns today. You know you want to, especially those people who don't even read the articles.
For the tl;dr crowd, here's the Cliff Notes version (yes, I'm old). The coach is simplifying things, the Hawks can't possibly play as poorly as they did last week, and they've already waxed a better team. For the details, read on.
Mike Macdonald is cutting down on the playbook
Head coach Mike Macdonald said that the Seahawks need to trim their playbook heading into their Week 9 contest. I mean, that's basically what he said. During his weekly appearance on Seattle Sports Brock and Salk Show, he expounded on that thought:
“I think you gotta start making some decisions on where to narrow it down. You can’t focus on everything,” he said. “So taking out the stuff that we feel like is kind of sunk costs at this point, maybe trying to trim that and then really focusing on and honing in on the stuff that we want to go excel at. That’s stuff that I feel like (there) may be opportunities that we haven’t been able to take advantage of at this point. And stuff that we do feel like we’re doing well, we can try to build on that a little.”
That's not exactly typical coachspeak, 12s. I mean, sunk costs? Seriously, who is this guy, a finance major who graduated summa cum laude? Oh, yeah, as a matter of fact, he is. That background shows his analytical skills. His detractors may say that all he's done is analyze his way to a 4-4 record. Frankly, that's less than sophomoric. If you don't understand that term, well...I'll be nice and just say you're not up to speed on the modern NFL.
Seahawks defensive lineman Leonard Williams seems to agree with his coach's assessment. In his press conference this week, Williams was asked about the Seahawks defensive scheme. He answered, "So I think this defense does require a lot more communication than others who would just say, you know, this is the call, get in it." You'll find this sequence beginning at the 7:30 mark.
The Hawks can't possibly make as many awful mistakes again
Seattle had two awful miscues in the red zone, which almost certainly cost them 10 points. Connor Williams is not going to hike the ball a yard over Geno Smith's head, nor will he trample on his quarterback's foot again.
After the stern paternal conversation Jarran Reed had with Derick Hall, he's not going to be delivering any more helmet-to-helmet shots to the opposing quarterback. Especially not two seconds after he gets rid of the ball. It was too early to go out in costume, and roleplaying as Darrell Taylor was a bad choice anyway. That penalty kept a Bills drive alive that turned into seven points.
Combined, just those three mistakes accounted for a 17-point swing in the Seahawks' loss. Yes, naysayers, I know Seattle lost by 21 points. Surely, even the most shallow thinkers realize there's a vast difference in a team's strategy if they're ahead at the half 14-10 compared to trailing 14-3. I agree, the Bills are a better team and likely would still have won the game. But Seattle did at least as much to lose as Buffalo did to win.
The Seahawks beat a better team in the Falcons, plus...
The Seahawks have played suboptimal football over the past month, with one exception. That was in their sweet Week 8 road win over the Falcons. As bad as Seattle looked against Buffalo, they were just as good versus Atlanta. Seattle did allow 155 yards rushing in the game but only gave up 38 in the second half. The biggest takeaway was, well, takeaways. The Hawks forced three turnovers in the victory.
True, the Seahawks won't have DK Metcalf today or Noah Fant. On the plus side, they'll have had another week of practice to scheme how they can best make up for Metcalf's absence. Just as important, linebacker Ernest Jones IV will have had a full week of practice under his belt. He made a couple of critical errors against the Bills but he also led Seattle in tackles with double the number of any teammate.
I expect to see a simplified defensive scheme to make the reads easier. I also expect to see a team that doesn't absolutely destroy its own opportunities. Finally, I expect to see a team that executes in all phases of the game, the same team we all saw in Atlanta.
