The Seahawks sit at 6-3, with a game tonight against the 5-4 Atlanta Falcons. If the Seahawks win, they’ll take over first place in the NFC West (thanks to the head-to-head tiebreaker from Week 5); if the Seahawks lose, they’ll be overtaken from the playoffs and fall into the mediocre pack with the likes of the very same Falcons, Lions, Packers, Cowboys, and Redskins. So, yeah, tonight’s game is pretty huge.
But, it’s not just about one game, the season hangs in the balance. The Seahawks, once again, are decimated by injuries. Kam Chancellor now joins the likes of:
- Richard Sherman
- Cliff Avril
- George Fant
- Rees Odhiambo
- Chris Carson
- C.J. Prosise
- DeShawn Shead
- Tre Madden
- DeAndre Elliott
- Malik McDowell
And that’s not even counting guys like Luke Joeckel, Duane Brown, Jarran Reed, Eddie Lacy, Earl Thomas (guys who have missed considerable time due to injury) and all the guys currently playing through pain because that’s just what football players do.
It’s absolutely unfathomable that the Seahawks should have to go through this two years in a row. Sure, everyone has injuries here and there, but few teams are suffering the volume of injuries – and to elite superstars – at the rate the Seahawks are. For a run of football that’s been pretty astounding, just how historically good could this Seahawks team (under Pete Carroll) have been if they’d stayed relatively healthy. It’s one thing when you lose a guy for a game or two; but we’re falling HARD, and for the rest of the year!
How is this defense going to look without Richard Sherman and Kam Chancellor? I would venture to guess: not too good. Also, not for nothing, but facing the passing attack of the Altanta Falcons couldn’t have come at a worse time. Sure, it’ll be nice having Earl Thomas back in the fold, but now we get to see what a defense looks like with E.T. and a bunch of nobodies. If he can somehow hold this thing together, he truly will be this team’s MVP.
It would be nice if the defensive line could step its game up and make more of an impact, but that doesn’t seem too realistic. Opponents are conditioned to get the ball out quick as it is; there’s no reason for that to change now. If anything, they’re going to continue to get the ball out quick and guys are going to be MORE open than they’ve been.
Also, get ready for teams to pick on Jeremy Lane constantly. That should be fun. If you thought the fanbase was sick and tired of that guy before, just wait until he’s stuck trying to guard Julio Jones and giving up chunk plays left and right.
You’re not going to recognize this Seahawks team, that’s for sure. On a consistent basis, going forward, this is going to be a team that gets gashed defensively way more than we’ve seen in the last half decade. I don’t think they’ll start giving up 30+ every game; but I do think 24-28 is on the table against all but the very worst offenses.
So, what does that mean? It means the Seahawks’ offense is going to have to carry the load. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve written this, but ever since Russell Wilson entered the league, we as Seahawks fans have been waiting for the time where the switch flipped and it was the offense doing most of the work, while the defense just sort of coasts. Well, the time has come, because I don’t think this defense is capable of carrying this team anymore. And that’s frightening, because as we’ve seen all too often from this offense: it generally sucks.
Oh, it has padded its stats against the likes of the non-Jaguars AFC South, but this offense is truly mediocre on a good day and downright shitty on the rest. The running game stinks, which is an indictment of both the O-Line and the running backs on this roster. It takes Russell Wilson anywhere from 1-3 quarters before he finally starts playing well, which is an indictment on him, the O-Line, and his ball-dropping receivers (not you, Doug Baldwin). This whole unit – again, save Doug (please) – is riddled with sloppy, lazy play that constantly shoots this team in the foot. For every 1 game this offense does its job and compensates for a lacking defense (Houston), there are at least 3 games where this offense failed and this team lost as a result (Green Bay, Tennessee, Washington). We had no business losing ANY of those games, but we did, because this offense fucking sucks.
So, that’s what we’ve got to look forward to. Tonight, and the rest of the season. An offense that does its fucking job about 25% of the time, and a defense severely limited by injuries, with no help on the horizon, and so aged that it’s sure to only get more injury-riddled as the weeks go on.
Exactly how fucked are the Seattle Seahawks? Very. Very fucking fucked.