The Root of the Seahawk Struggles

by: Michael Steffes

Well, this is pretty obvious, I guess, but while one could certainly argue that the offense did more than was expected last week, in the NFL success follows the passing game.

Michael Salfino, at Mlive.com, has written a nice article looking at the correlation between passing yards per attempt and wins and losses. I would argue with Michael over whether any overtime game can be considered a whipping, but let's look at what he has found.

Salfino says that so far teams who average more yards per pass than their opponent are 27-4, with a few of those losses being very close calls. The only 0-2 team who has excelled in this area is SD. Not surprisingly, both Buffalo and SF appear on the good side of this list.

So, here is the crux: not only are the Seahawks not getting any explosive plays from their passing game, but they are also allowing far too many from the opponent. The offensive side of the ball will still need some time to catch up, especially now with two more new guys, but in the meantime the defense is on the hook. What happened in the secondary Sunday was an embarrassment, and the problems go deeper than one player. They need to start playing together and communicating better. What I saw was a whole lot of confusion which led to bad penalties and mismatches. Hopefully, this team has taken enough lumps not to overlook Torry Holt and the Rams. ~END~