Seahawks Week 3 Review

A win is a win no matter how you look at it. There were probably more negatives than positives when breaking down yesterdays game against the San Diego Chargers, but none of that matters when you are the team walking away with a win. This game was really a tale of two halves, which makes it hard to draw any one conclusion. I'll do my best to recap what turned out to be a great win against a deservedly high ranked opponent.

THE FIRST HALF:

Seahawks Defense came out playing how they needed to play to win the game. The front four were dominating San Diego's O-line, and the stats reflected that. Seattle shut out the chargers in the first half, and looked really good doing it. While I was very impressed with the play of the front 4, I have to point out what has been the most promising progress to me all year, and that is the play of Kelly Jennings. There was a deep ball thrown to deep down the middle to Malcolm Floyd that Jennings was able to get a hand on and knock down. In years past, Jennings would have been beat by at least a step or two on that deep throw, and that easily would have been a TD for the Chargers. He has looked solid through the first 3 games and if he keeps this play up may be the most improved player on the team.

Seahawks Offense on the other hand, continued to beat themselves. We easily could have been up 24-0 going into the half, if Deion Branch hadn't fumbled the ball out of the endzone on the one yard line, resulting in a touch back, and if poor play calling and clock management hadn't left Seattle on the 1 yard line as time expired in the first half. Matt made some poor throws once again, but would then follow those with brilliant passes, showing great anticipation and accuracy. Hasselbeck's TD pass to Carlson in the back of the endzone was brilliantly placed and timed. I think the issue is our inability to adlib. When a play is broken, and Matt is forced to scramble he doesn't have a receiver who can scramble as well and get open. We see him frustrated outside the pocket trying to direct traffic and not getting the receivers to follow his lead. I hope this is something that will develop with rapport, after all this is a young, inexperienced, and new receiving core.

THE SECOND HALF:

Leon Washington returned the 2nd half kick off 101 yards for a TD, longest KO return in Seahawks history, and then returned another KO 99 yards for a TD to give Seattle the go- ahead score in the 4th quarter. Leon Washington is now the all -time leading KO returner for both the NY Jets, and the Seattle Seahawks, no one else has ever accomplished this feat. He is the reason Seattle won this game, and truth be told he almost ran back a third kick off but slipped up and was just barely caught by a shoe string tackle.

The Defense, lost key players in the second half, which may have had an affect on their performance. Aaron Curry (hamstring) Marcus Trufant (Ankle) and Brandon Mebane were all injured during the game. That combined with the adjustments SD was able to make on offense is what allowed the Chargers to dominate the 2nd half. Rivers ended up  passing for a franchise record 429 yards going 29 for 53. The holes in the zone coverage where alarming for Seattle. Rivers picked apart our secondary for 12, 17, 20 , 50 yard plays at a time. Seattle defense however made the plays they needed to make to win, in the end. Holding an offensively dominant team like San Diego to only 20 points is remarkable. Causing 5 turnovers, 3 fumbles and 2 interceptions (both by rookie Earl Thomas) and playing their hearts out down to the last play is what allowed Seattle to hold on for the win.

In the second half we weren't able to get nearly the amount of penetration at the line of scrimmage against SD front, and for whatever reason there were gaping holes in our zone defense that was being exploited. Our offense couldn't get a first down to save their lives which left the defense on the field way too long in that second half, but when the game was on the line we performed.With 6 seconds on the clock, on a 4th and 15, SD down 7, Earl Thomas intercepted his second pass of the day to seal the win for the 'hawks.

What I take out of this game is the feeling that we will win a lot of games at home this year. The 12th man's affect on the game is quantified by penalties, SD had 11 penalties for 83 yards, including delay of games and false starts, similar to what SF struggled with in the first game of the season. We seem to have some play makers on this team that we haven't had in the past. That could make the difference in whether or not Seattle makes the play offs this year. All in all it was an exciting game, and we came out with a win, which is all that matters. My concern is for the injured players, lets hope they were not severe, our secondary can't afford to lose Trufant especially after losing Josh Wilson to the Ravens.

GO HAWKS!!!!