Seahawks MMQB: Defense? Seattle is an offense town!

Growin’ up before our eyes Boxscore | Play-by-Play | Q’s Post Game Recap Last week the offense played well enough to win, but the defense gave the game away.  This week the offense held the ball for 1o minutes and 53 seconds of the fourth quarter, including the final 5:27, where they converted on two 4th downs, to put the game away. In all fairness, the defense tightened up and played great during the second half, after giving up 228-yards during the first half. Almost 200-yards on the ground alone! The Seahawks defense held the Vikings to just 59 second half yards. The atmosphere I have to be honest, there wasn’t very much energy at CenturyLink on Sunday.  Half the stadium was seated during the Detlef Schrempf 12th Man introduction. I don’t think I have ever seen the fans go through the motions like that in the 70+ games I have been to. During the raising of the 12th Man Flag, the crowd kinda got loud, but quieted down before the opening kickoff. There were a few plays sprinkled in when the fans got loud.  There is a reason the Vikings didn’t have any false starts Sunday, we just didn’t bring it. Defense The run defense was terrible, especially during the first half.  It can all be traced to poor execution on the part of the players. Clinton McDonald and Alan Branch were getting blown off the line of scrimmage.  Bobby Wagner kept creeping up into the trash inside.   That caused him to be out of position for his gap responsibility. After the injury to K.J. Wright, backup LB Mike Morgan kept losing containment, and Earl Thomas was getting juke’d out of his cleats when he wasn’t missing tackles. The Seahawks were outstanding in the passing game.  They allowed just 44 yards through the air, the entire game. Including 4 sacks, that came at the most opportune time. Offense The top two quarterback in the game played for Seattle, as far as QBR and quarterback rating are concerned anyway.  Sidney Rice’s 25-yards pass to Zach Miller gave Rice a game high QBR of 100 (100 is perfect) and a quarterback rating of 118.8.  Meanwhile Russell Wilsonled with a quarterback rating of 127.3, and he had a 82.8 QBR. Quietly Sidney Rice has caught 4 TD’s this year. (Photo: AP Photo/John Froschauer) The last time Matt Hasselbeck had a quarterback rating above 127.3 in a game was December 9, 2007. (Speaking of Matt. Did you read my post on Hass vs. Wilson vs. T-Jack last week?) Wilson had his second straight multiple touchdown game, and the second 3 touchdown game of his career.  On the season, Russell has a quarterback rating of 87.2. Matt Hasselbeck has only had 4 seasons with a better ratting in his career. Quietly Sidney Rice has caught 4 touchdowns this season.  Sunday was the second game in a row that Rice scored, the last time he did that was 2009.  Nine games into the 2012 season, he has already had arguably the second best season in his career. On Sunday, the Seahawks ran for a season high 195-yards.  Marshawn Lynch went over 100-yards for the third straight game, 5th time this season. Lynch also scored a touchdown for the second consecutive game. I was left wishing the Seahawks had aired a couple balls out during the second half, but in the end, they never needed to.   Like any game, there are positives to take away and negatives to work on. As the season continues, I get more and more excited about Russell Wilson.  He still has a lot of growing to do, but he is having the best season a quarterback has had with the Seahawks since Mike Holmgren was the head coach. Go Seahawks! Fun Vikings vs. Seahawks Tweets VIDEO Week 9 Review: Gradual improvements on offense, smart adjustments on defense, & wow AP. (2:31) shwks.com/ubnl #MINvsSEA — Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) November 5, 2012 Lynch, I love you like a brother, but you have to stay in bounds during the two minute drill! I don’t care who you are! — Brett Bivens (@NWProSports) November 5, 2012 Leon Washington has really been feast or famine. Some great runbacks and some real ugly ones. — Mike Salk (@BrockandSalk) November 4, 2012 A subtle element to Russell Wilson’s terrific day was the way he drew the Viking DL offsides with hard counts on a few timely occasions. — mitch levy (@kjrmitch) November 5, 2012 Man twitter jail is stupid. Mid-3rd quarter is a new record for me — Danny Kelly (@FieldGulls) November 4, 2012 RG3 may be getting the pub, but RW has two more wins, 5 more TDs, and is ascending as RG3 is scuffling a bit. OROY still possible for RW. — Brian Nemhauser (@hawkblogger) November 5, 2012 I’m not really complaining about Earl Thomas’ defense…but DAMN has he dropped a lot of interceptions this season. — Brandon Choate (@NWSBBrandon) November 5, 2012 AcrofreakinBATIC TD Tate #Seahawks — Q Smith (@NWSBQ) November 4, 2012 Pete Carroll is challenging the spot where Peterson went out of bounds. This seems like another “hormonal” challenge. — Curtis Crabtree (@Curtis_Crabtree) November 4, 2012 CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT THE SEAHAWKS BLOG PAGE IN OUR CLUBHOUSE SECTION AT NWSB!