Seattle Seahawks: Dud and Stud of week 12 – Carolina

Stud of the week

Studs were a much simpler task this week, though they all seemed to reside on the offensive side of the ball. There were several that stood out this past Sunday though choosing a player for the honor of the stud was a bit challenging.

1st honorable mention: Offensive line pass protection. Carolina has an extremely talented and athletic defensive line. They are one group that some thought would pose a serious issue if Seattle wasn’t capable of running the ball with the success they have had over the course of the past two months. Carolina obviously thought the same as many others did and loaded the box to stop Seattle’s trio of talented backs.

More from Seattle Seahawks

• Seattle Seahawks: To rest or not to rest, that is the question
• Seattle Seahawks: 12s still waiting to exhale
• Seattle Seahawks: 4 Takeaways from 26-23 Loss to the 49ers
• Seattle Seahawks: Four Takeaways from Week 14 21-7 victory
• Seattle Seahawks: Three Takeaways from the Week 13 43-16 victory

The Seahawks offensive line showed in this game, just how far they’ve come over the last couple of seasons in pass protection. For the most part, the big men up front relegated Carolina’s defensive line to spectators as Wilson found time and lanes to distribute the ball downfield all day long.

2nd honorable mention: David Moore. Moore has been quiet in recent weeks after a strong stretch earlier in the season. Against the Panthers, Moore had a huge game as shown by his103 receiving yards. He was a much needed second receiving threat to Lockett when it became apparent that Carolina simply wasn’t going to allow Seattle to run the ball at will as they have done for most of the season.

His beautiful one-handed touchdown catch on fourth down and three towards the end of the game was incredible. It showed the faith and confidence Wilson and the offense have in a young and growing player.

3rd honorable mention: Tyler Lockett. It was difficult not to hand Lockett stud status after yet another incredibly effective and productive afternoon. Lockett appears to have taken that step towards true number one receiver status, and each and every week provides a critical big play in the game.

I couldn’t go wrong choosing Lockett as the stud of the week, but there’s really only a single player that could receive that designation following this game in my humble opinion, and he happened to be the one delivering the football to Lockett.

Stud of the week: Russell Wilson. I’ll be honest, I was not thinking Russell would be the stud of the week after delivering the ball late and high to a wide-open Doug Baldwin early in the game missing a gimmie touchdown for the second week in a row. In fact, I was expecting it to take at least the first half and part of the third quarter for Wilson to find his accuracy. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case this week, and Wilson proceeded to slice up the Panthers ailing secondary all afternoon.

RW3’s accuracy, effectiveness, and improvisation were on display early and often throughout the game. Ultimately he was the difference in a game that the Seattle Seahawks defense was substandard and the running game struggled to find any traction.

Stay with us for more Seahawks coverage leading up to next Sunday’s game against the 49ers.