Seahawks vs Saints: A Quick Recap
By Rob Shumate
Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports
The wind you thought you felt at the end of the Seattle Seahawks versus New Orleans Saints game was not, in fact, from a low pressure center anchored over Vancouver Island in British Columbia, it was the collective sighs of relief from the 12th man at Century Link Field.
For a team that dominated for three quarters of the game and to have it come down to the last 26 seconds is really discouraging. But I was so impressed with our defense, seriously could not have been prouder of them. I understand that Drew Brees threw for a little over 300 yards, but put that into context, it’s Drew Brees…he is supposed to do that on a weekly basis. He had 34 yards at half time and most of his yards did not start to pile up until late in the third quarter. Marques Colston was the only receiver that could muster consistent yards against our secondary. That means that their all-everything TE was held to one small catch…late in the fourth quarter. Our defense was not just good but pretty darn good.
The Saints running game, that was so ballyhooed last week, was relegated to average this week. Make no mistake, the Saints came out looking to establish the run early and force Seattle out of their defensive game plan. This strategy never got off the ground. Brees looked frustrated at times and plain lucky other times (think Kam Chancellor whiffing on a clean pick in the fourth quarter).
What concerns me as a fan of this team is the offensive mire they find themselves in. Yes, I know that Lynch ran for 140 yards. Don’t call me ungrateful, just call me a realist. He won’t do that every game as evidenced by the previous four games. What happens when he has a mediocre game? Can we turn to our Russell Wilson-led attack with much confidence?
I understand that Russell Wilson has not been sharp lately. But is it because his receivers can’t create space? Because Wilson is simply not playing well? Or is it because Darrell Bevell has forgotten how to call a game?
Once Percy Harvin went out of the game, I think one of the trainers mistakenly took the playbook with him to the locker room because most of the time it was Lynch running two plays, Wilson throwing an incomplete pass and a subsequent punt. There was no variety. No flamboyance. No imagination (said like Spongebob Squarepants).
What happened to the days of Wilson running the read option? I long for those days. It opened up the field to dynamic plays, where we could complete a 40 yard pass or a 15 yard Wilson scramble. Now we look like we are slogging our way through a bunch of wet cement.
There was a different look to this team when Percy Harvin was on the field. It’s electric. Speaking of electric Harvin was a lightning bug on the field, too bad he got extinguished before half-time. To this point San Francisco still doesn’t know how we are going to use him because we haven’t seen enough of him. He is still an enigma dressed in a Seahawks uniform. I just hope that he is ready for this weekend because it could be the final nail in San Francisco’s playoff coffin. Go Hawks!