Seattle Seahawks: Guards Fluker and Sweezy lead revamped O-line

The Seattle Seahawks struggled to find their offensive identity through the first two games of 2018. Changes on the offensive line for game three turned the season around.

It was hard to watch the Seattle Seahawks offense in the first two weeks of the season. It seemed that quarterback Russell Wilson was consistently scrambling for his life when he wasn’t laying on the ground after a sack. A change (back) in philosophy as well as some changes on the offensive line involving guards D.J. Fluker, and J.R. Sweezy, have led to success since then.

Return to a successful formula

For the last two years, the Seattle Seahawks running game had become troublesome. So much so, that in 2016 they ran for 1591 yards with 13 touchdowns and in 2017, Seattle had 1629 yards and four touchdowns. What made 2017 worse, besides the paltry amount of touchdowns scored running, Wilson was the leading rusher with 586 yards (many from escaping the pass rush) and had three of the four touchdowns.

Compared to the two Super Bowl seasons the Seahawks had under Pete Carroll when they rushed for 2188 yards and 14 touchdowns in 2013, the year beat the Denver Broncos 43-8 and 2762 yards 20 touchdowns when they lost to New England Patriots 28-24; it was a significant change in the running game for sure.

The Seahawks didn’t make the playoffs last season, going 9-7. They fired offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell and offensive line coach Tom Cable. Carroll wanted to get back to running the ball successfully, like in the Super Bowl years.