So, the Seahawks have won just 2 road games this year, and both of them were against the AFC East. Just thought I’d start with that.
This feels bigger than it probably is, the whole “losing by more than 10 points” thing. It’s, without fail, the most lopsided loss since Russell Wilson joined the team, and it coincides with his worst game. One garbage-time touchdown against 5 interceptions. Sure, some of those balls bounced off of the hands of receivers, but the rest were just poor decisions or over-throws. And, speaking of over-throws, GOOD GOLLY were there a lot of over-throws in this one. Before I essentially stopped watching, he had two surefire touchdowns that landed well beyond the outstretched arms of wide open receivers. And there’s no way those were the only two of the game.
It was just all bad. The quarterback stunk. The running game stunk. The defense couldn’t generate any pressure on the quarterback. The secondary couldn’t cover anyone. We were playing tentatively, on our heels, the entire game. Green Bay dictated the tempo, dictated the aggressiveness, and really punished us from top to bottom.
That’s a team that’s largely been playing mediocre football this year! Aaron Rodgers was having a shitty season (by his standards), his receivers weren’t getting open, the running game was non-existent, and here were the Seahawks, the cure for what ails the Packers.
What kind of game plan was that, Kris Richard? I get that you’ve got three pretty solid pass rushers in Avril, Bennett, and Clark, but once you’ve seen that not work for a quarter or a half, don’t you think you should change some things up? Maybe NOT let the game get out of hand by the end of the second quarter?
If it were up to me, I would’ve been sending linebackers on blitzes on damn near every play, with our corners playing man coverage across the board. Because the alternative is what you watched yesterday: Aaron Rodgers standing there all day, picking our feeble zones apart. The Packer offense was MADE to play against the zone! That’s seemingly the only way it actually works anymore! When Rodgers was struggling, and when their receivers were struggling to get open, it was because they can’t shake man coverage and they don’t run any routes to open themselves up!
If Aaron Rodgers has to beat you with his legs, then so be it, I’ll take my chances. Because he’s not a running quarterback and eventually he’s going to make a bad decision here and there.
I guess you can’t totally kill the defense though. It’s not like Russell Wilson put this team in any position to win the game. He – and this offense in general – will have to figure out how to score points on the road against non-AFC East teams, because as things stand now – and how things are trending with this team – it’s looking more and more like the Seahawks will be playing on Wild Card weekend. Which means most certainly a minimum of two road games on the way to the Super Bowl.
Some of you might think I’m over-reacting, but are you forgetting the fact that we have to play the Rams again? And while Arizona is a shell of their former selves, they still find a way to get it up for the Seahawks? We could very well be limping to 9-6-1 and a 4-seed if we’re not careful. At which point, EVERYONE is going to be excited to see us in the playoffs!