Seattle Seahawks: Offensive line was no Fluke(r) on Sunday
The Seattle Seahawks were defeated by Los Angeles on Sunday 33-31. One of Seattle’s bright spots was the offensive line. A group that has slowly come together as the season marches on.
Even though the Seattle Seahawks lost on Sunday there were some good things that came out of the defeat. The big item was how the offensive line held up against the Los Angeles Rams’ top-10 defense. With all the big names on L.A.’s D-line, especially defensive tackles Aaron Donald, and Ndamukong Suh, it was good to see the Hawks front five measure up
At the start of the season quarterback, Russell Wilson was running for his life. The first two weeks of the season, Wilson had no help from his offensive line.
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He was sacked a combined 12 times against Denver and Chicago. Additionally, the Seahawks only rushed for 138 yards, total in those games.
Fluker’s return, in week three, to right guard allowed J.R. Sweezy to move to the left guard next to tackle Duane Brown on the blind side. Right tackle Germaine Ifedi was stabilized by having Fluker lining up next to him. Those changes opened up the ground game. From there, the good running attack allowed Seattle to effectively use play-action passes because defenses have to defend against the run.
Now Wilson has more time in the pocket. He has used the extra time to wait for his receivers to make their breaks and get open. With the offensive line performing at this high level, it has given the Seahawks more options to use on offense.
What we saw on Sunday was the emergence of an O-line that gave their quarterback time to throw because they handled run blocking so well. Chris Carson rushed for over 100 yards for the second time this year.
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The Seattle offensive line can hold its own when faced with adversity. It survived Fluker’s loss to open the season, and Justin Britt‘s absence against Dallas. The O-line also showed that with the right pieces in place the Seahawks can have a strong run game. Carson and Mike Davis have been able to carry the mail with that big line opening holes.