Never has a devastating loss felt easier to take. The offense and even the secondary to a degree look to be back in form. If Seattle wants to go anywhere this year they must get right on offense and they must get right on pass defense. We saw some emphatically good signs from the offense and even a few signs of encouragement from the secondary.
Seattle lost a game, but they were in it despite a mountain of adversity. In a lot of ways, this game mirrors the structure of the Atlanta playoff loss a couple years ago. Big halftime deficit, no pass rush, not the greatest run defense, Lynch struggling early, and Wilson turning it on in the second half with one of the finest performances of his career. All to be undone by an improbable finish by the opponent.
I've defended the pass rush through the first month of the season, but I think now it has clearly become a major issue. Same thing with the OL, and unfortunately both had their worst performances of the season this game. Seattle had to blitz constantly and STILL couldn't get Davis down. Davis is a good QB, and he played close to a perfect game today, but he's not Tony Romo and this isn't the Dallas OL he's behind.
The OL also had several protection breakdowns and numerous holds on run plays (though one such call on Alvin Bailey seemed totally bogus). They also struggled to create run lanes. Lynch was held to 2 yards or less on about half his carries. And when Lynch did break runs, it was usually via the cutback lane. Whatever run production Seattle got this game was mostly thanks to some stellar play by our RBs. And even then, Lynch averaged less than 3 yards per carry (seemingly all his big runs got called back), and his rushing total was doubled by his QB.
Yet despite these issues, Seattle still outgained the Rams by almost 200 yards. Just imagine how badly they would have outgained them if not for the fake punt at the end. And the Seahawks were turnover free. How often does a team lose a game like that?
It would require the other team putting up a monster performance on special teams and that's exactly what the Rams did. Kudos to Jeff Fisher. I don't normally enjoy seeing coaches get fired but when his day comes there will be no shortage of schaudenfreude for me. It's not that he's annoying, it's that he's only annoying to the Seahawks. What did we ever do to him?
For Pete, I don't know why he didn't anticipate the fake on that last punt. Super obvious. You don't need a big punt return with 3 minutes left. Just put your normal D on the field. I think Pete was asleep at the wheel there, and I would be surprised if he didn't admit as much.
I also have no idea how Seattle didn't recover the miraculous fumble at the end, Sherman was right on it and another Seahawk was in the area too.
I wish I could write 5000 more words on how impressive our QB is. But you all saw the game. One moment I must highlight was his big run in the 2nd half. That was like Russell's version of Beastquake. What a moment in his career. It's a shame, had Seattle won that play is all you'd be hearing about all week.
Doug Baldwin is back in a big way.
Though there were a few minor mistakes by Bevell playcall wise (throwing deep on 2nd and 16), I loved how Seattle countered the Rams for selling out to stop the bootleg and Lynch.
Simon is an idiot, although I do think he got screwed on that drive extending DPI.
Davis completed 84% of his passes and looked very sharp. However, up until the final quarter nearly all of those passes where very short and were essentially zone beaters. In other words, he was taking what the D gave him, which is exactly what Pete wanted. The Rams RBs outrushed Seattle's RBs, but the Rams still finished under 300 yards of offense.
Looking ahead, Seattle is kind of screwed. Their five remaining road games are all against teams that won 10+ games last year, and even their home schedule still has some gutty divisional games too. Of course, one of those teams is 3-3-1 Carolina, who has looked awful at times and seems to be in no shape to challenge Seattle if Seattle repeats their performance in this game.
But to make the playoffs, Seattle will probably need 11-5. Which would mean finishing 8-2 after starting 3-3. I'm not a statistician, but I have to think the playoff odds aren't looking great right now.
Seattle has to get hot. Starting right now. They need to pull some upsets and win some games you don't expect them to.
The playoffs start now for Seattle.
If Seattle does miss the postseason, I think we will all look back to the fake punt and the missed chance on the fumble at the end of the year. But despite the devastating nature of this loss, I can't help but feel great about the Seahawks right now. Their offense is back and despite some issues in certain places, they seem to have exorcised the demons that plagued their offense in 2013. And if the pass rush decides to show up, I think we might just be okay on defense too. Or at least good enough.
