Week #3 - Vikings

[RiverDog]

Norton should be fired after the game . Start over

Nope. Norton's not the one that pulled the trigger on the Adams deal. Pete's already thrown one DC under the bus when he fired Kris Richard just a couple years ago. If anyone gets axed after the season, it had better be the old man.

[RiverDog]

If this is what we can expect from our defense this year we'll be talking about draft positioning in a few weeks.

Yeah, the defense is horrible, worst in the PC era IMO. But the offense didn't look that great, either. We got completely shut down in the 2nd half, couldn't even get past the Viking 40. 2nd week in a row that the offense does a 2nd half face plant.

Azz whoopin. All good things must come to an end . This looks like a 6 win team if that all of a sudden . Defense is dreadful and offense was inept in the second half . Russ is a shell of himself with the game on the line . Bad bad bad . We’re in deep doo doo. Cellar dwellers and looking the part

I'm not quite that gloom and doom, but I'm close. I still want to see what we look like after we play the Niners and Rams, but we're going to have to win both of those games just to get back into the race. We lose both and we're looking at another Jim Mora season. We'll make the Jets damn happy.

[Hawktawk]

I don’t want to underestimate our last 2 opponents . Titans are as good as anyone , great young coach , very good qb etc etc. vikes are well coached and I’ve got nothing but respect for cousins . Something is wrong with Russ though . I’ve been saying it half a season now. He’s not the fearless guy with shark eyes anymore .

[trents]

I don’t want to underestimate our last 2 opponents . Titans are as good as anyone , great young coach , very good qb etc etc. vikes are well coached and I’ve got nothing but respect for cousins . Something is wrong with Russ though . I’ve been saying it half a season now. He’s not the fearless guy with shark eyes anymore .

He's not as young as he used to be. Granted, QBs are lasting longer than they used to in the old days but you do lose something when you get into your mid 30s.

[Hawk Sista]

A lot can happen in a 16…err 17 game season. With both sides of the ball (& today our kicker) looking middling at best, it feels like I need to re-bench my expectations. The Rams are legit as are the Cards, so it seems. Right now, I see us vying for 3rd place in the NFCW.

Go Mariners and bring on the Kraken.

PS - minor confession…. In support of my spouse, I wore bears socks and T-shirt for the AM games. Had a medical emergency in the family, so I’m still in the Bears shirt. That’s probably what happened. Sorry

[Hawk Sista]

In all seriousness, I actually expected to lose today. A good team at home with a 2-0 start spelled trouble to me, but I thought it’d be more like 27-30 or so. Last week sucked (I was there and lost my pipes for a few days so that one is t on me), but this week feels disastrous. It’s not that we lost, it is how.

[Hawktawk]

In all seriousness, I actually expected to lose today. A good team at home with a 2-0 start spelled trouble to me, but I thought it’d be more like 27-30 or so. Last week sucked (I was there and lost my pipes for a few days so that one is t on me), but this week feels disastrous. It’s not that we lost, it is how.

Great to hear from you sis . Yes this is 2 weeks in a row of nauseating losses. Last week squandering a huge lead . This week getting erased after the first 20 minutes . Hope it’s not a long season but concerned

[obiken]

Great to hear from you sis . Yes this is 2 weeks in a row of nauseating losses. Last week squandering a huge lead . This week getting erased after the first 20 minutes . Hope it’s not a long season but concerned

Teams are just running all over us, and we cant get off the field on 3rd down. No Russ may have lost a step but come on, Trade QB's with the Browns and see what would happen! This defense was bad last year, now this defense has become warmed over garbage. Moreover, you can blame the Ken, but IF the season continues we have to make a change on PC, otherwise I see us sliding into being the Lions.

[TriCitySam]

.....I was critical of their projections, but we may go 1-9. Our D is so easy to march against.

[Aseahawkfan]

I primarily blame Pete and John for the defense. They have been wasting picks on stupid trades and not rebuilding the defense organically. Their eye for cheap, effective talent isn't what it used to be. Pete and John seem to think they're one player away from contention, but the defense needs a wholesale rebuild from the line back.

LBs used to be a strength, now we're thin there.

CBs are pretty terrible.

Defensive line has one reliable run stuffer.

Pass rush is inconsistent and unproven.

Safeties have upside, but the 17.5 million dollar man has a major weakness in coverage. I don't think he can make a substantial difference on defense without good cover corners.

This is all on Pete. Failed draft picks, bad trades, and a general inability to replenish lost talent has left the defense where it is. Not sure why Pete has lost his eye for defensive talent, but we don't have the horses on defense to compete.

[trents]

Not lookin good from a Hawks perch..

Sorry

Advice? Better cater to Nick Saban

See ya soon

Nick Saben would be a fool to leave his gig at UA.

You know I'm getting very weary with the organization's post game cheerleaders (Wyman, Babbs, Jones, etc.) who every week tell us things are going to get better, that there are just a few adjustments that need to be made to turn things around. I mean I know they get paid to present the team in a positive light but I'm sick of being told nothing is majorly wrong when it is obvious there is.

[RiverDog]

I primarily blame Pete and John for the defense. They have been wasting picks on stupid trades and not rebuilding the defense organically. Their eye for cheap, effective talent isn't what it used to be. Pete and John seem to think they're one player away from contention, but the defense needs a wholesale rebuild from the line back.

LBs used to be a strength, now we're thin there.

CBs are pretty terrible.

Defensive line has one reliable run stuffer.

Pass rush is inconsistent and unproven.

Safeties have upside, but the 17.5 million dollar man has a major weakness in coverage. I don't think he can make a substantial difference on defense without good cover corners.

This is all on Pete. Failed draft picks, bad trades, and a general inability to replenish lost talent has left the defense where it is. Not sure why Pete has lost his eye for defensive talent, but we don't have the horses on defense to compete.

Our defense was horrible and I agree with every word of your post. This is one of the worst D's in the league if we can allow a team with a relatively pedestrian QB like Kirk Cousins minus his starting RB move the ball at will against us. But let's not forget about the offense's role in all of this. You asked me last week how many points should be enough to win most NFL games after we scored 30. Well, we only scored 17 yesterday. Only 5 teams in the league are currently not scoring more than 17 points per game. We're not going to win too many NFL games by scoring just 17.

For the 2nd week in a row, the offense did a major face plant in the 2nd half. We never moved the ball past the Viking 40. We ended the game with 6 straight drives w/o points. Russell and Company were completely shut down. I agree that the defense bears the brunt of the blame for this cluster phuck, but there's a lot more wrong with this team than the defense.

Not all hope is lost. We've dug ourselves a major hole especially considering that we're in the toughest division in the league, but it's still early. The Kansas City Chiefs are also 1-2 having lost at home to a division rival, but I doubt that their fans have given up on them. But we're going to have to turn things around quickly. We have to win the next two games just to get back in the race.

This is going to be an interesting week. In addition to the X's and O's that he's going to have to work on, Pete is going to have a major challenge keeping our locker room from splintering. We haven't lost two games in a row in September for quite some time. Hopefully they can keep any finger pointing behind closed doors.

[Hawktawk]

It’s over . Pack needed every second of a miracle comeback to beat the 9ers. They will kill us . Our only hope is fire Norton .you can’t fire 25 players. Russ is shot in terms of his ability to finish games . 2 weeks in a row he’s looked inept in the second half .. don’t want to be right but 2 of our last 3 losses we were lifeless . Over . Redo . The golden age of hawks ball is over

[Hawktawk]

And hey RD can we stop with describing Cousins as “ pedestrian “? He has 5 seasons over 4 k yards passing . Most of his seasons he’s had a passer rating over 100 and his career qbr is 98. I bet that’s top 20 all time . He stood in yesterday even in the occasional heat . He’s tough and fearless as a competitor. One of those qualities no longer applies to our guy . He’s mobile enough . He’s got 9 TDs and 0 picks this year and was a missed 37 yard field goal wasting a last second drive against a team in Arizona that will abuse what I watched yesterday twice . It’s not Kirk cousins from 2019 any more than it was Tannehill the week before . Whoever starts next week will be the most pedestrian qb we’ve seen all year . Beyond that it’s not the same Wilson as every year up to midway through last one . It’s the biggest reason we are losing . Russ simply can’t bail this team out anymore like he did for 9 years .

[NorthHawk]

I think that might be the problem with the mindset of our FO. Russ used to win games himself, but now that he doesn't there is no fallback.
Against the Vikings our Lines of Scrimmage were exposed for the fraud they have been for the last 7 years at least on O and probably more. The
fact that they haven't drafted much outside of Lewis along the OL shows a distinct lack of ability to identify young talent. On Defense we
have tried patchwork FA's and traded picks for good players who we then let go after 1 year. Now the chickens are coming home to roost and
we are going to have a tough time to even make a Wildcard spot if this keeps up. Injuries are going to crop up and if it's to key players like
Lockett or Metcalf it's going to be an even harder hill to climb. I expect Carson to miss a few games and we are thin along the OL again
should a starter miss some games and the DL can't get much in the way of consistent pressure on opposing QB's.
At the moment this is simply not a good team either from a production or talent basis and I haven't mentioned coaching.

[RiverDog]

And hey RD can we stop with describing Cousins as “ pedestrian “? He has 5 seasons over 4 k yards passing . Most of his seasons he’s had a passer rating over 100 and his career qbr is 98. I bet that’s top 20 all time . He stood in yesterday even in the occasional heat . He’s tough and fearless as a competitor. One of those qualities no longer applies to our guy . He’s mobile enough . He’s got 9 TDs and 0 picks this year and was a missed 37 yard field goal wasting a last second drive against a team in Arizona that will abuse what I watched yesterday twice . It’s not Kirk cousins from 2019 any more than it was Tannehill the week before . Whoever starts next week will be the most pedestrian qb we’ve seen all year . Beyond that it’s not the same Wilson as every year up to midway through last one . It’s the biggest reason we are losing . Russ simply can’t bail this team out anymore like he did for 9 years .

Fair enough. But he won't be mentioned in the same breath as quarterbacks like Aaron Rodgers or Patrick Mahomes. We've beaten him before:

Coming into Sunday, Cousins had faced Wilson and the Seahawks a total of six times (five as a starter) in the NFL. Wilson and Seattle came away the winner in five of those games, including the past three meetings

[RiverDog]

At the moment this is simply not a good team either from a production or talent basis and I haven't mentioned coaching.

I'll mention coaching.

In our first 3 games, we have outscored our opponents 62-38 in the first half. Following the intermission, we've been outscored 40-13. A big part of game day coaching is making 2nd half adjustments based on what they see in the first half, and it's blatantly obvious that we haven't done that on both offense and defense.

That falls directly on the coaching staff in general and on Pete specifically. They are as dysfunctional as any part of the team.

[c_hawkbob]

Yes they are, and it starts with Pete. He says "we threw everything in the playbook at them and it didn't work". Well maybe it's time for a new damn playbook. We don't have the same personnel we had when this defensive playbook was effective, let's start using who we have to the best of their ​abilities rather than to the best of the Legion's abilities.

And that's just on defense, I'll not go into how we've chronically misused Russ nearly his entire time here right now.

[Hawktawk]

To respond to RDs comments regarding cousins record vs the Hawks . The first game was the 2012 wild card when cousins replaced RG3 and his injured knee. As I recall he was quite plucky coming in cold .The win was also with the skins . As I recall Cousins was batterd for 4 quarters as Seattle’s offense let them hang around . In the final minute Cousins who had been hit all day completed 2 long passes to win at the end while being literally smashed in the mouth by Micheal Bennet etc. one of them I can’t even figure out how he got enough on it as he was being smashed as he released the pass . Again this is from memory but I had a lot more respect for cousins after that game . The last 3 I don’t really remember how they went down other than Russ played extremely well in those games . One I want to say he rushed for nearly 100 yards along with clutch passing . It’s a team game . There’s a lot of distance between the likes of Rodgers or Brady etc and pedestrian . Cousins is closer to the former than the latter . As for our coaching it’s worse than last year in all phases. Waldron playbook
Seems to get pretty thin after a quarter . Carroll’s being rah rah , whistling in the graveyard . Wilson is deflecting and pointing fingers at the D “ it seems we need to score on every possession sometimes .we’re going to score a lot of points “


Nothing to see here despite last 6 possessions resulting in 0 points …

You put up 17 points dude .
He’s not the accountable guy he was before .

Norton must go. Players were grumbling about the scheme after the game . They seemed confused about how to line up. One play everyone but flowers played man . It’s ridiculous . Richard got thrown away in a purge and it wasn’t smart or fair because he’s way better than Norton . There’s no good reason to keep him.
Then there’s Schneider , inexplicable that he’s signed through 27 and that’s not a good thing because he’s not hit a draft in quite a while and his high dollar free agents are not helping cover up that fact .

I think it’s smoke and mirrors at this point , a house of cards . Last year was the most hollow 12-4 season ever , rolling over lifeless in the wildcard , Wilson 11-29 with a pick 6 and the defense couldn’t stop a pedestrian qb with a broken hand . That’s how the team has played 5 of the last 8 quarters . Im looking at this division and I could see us getting swept .

[Agent 86]

To respond to RDs comments regarding cousins record vs the Hawks . The first game was the 2012 wild card when cousins replaced RG3 and his injured knee. As I recall he was quite plucky coming in cold .The win was also with the skins . As I recall Cousins was batterd for 4 quarters as Seattle’s offense let them hang around . In the final minute Cousins who had been hit all day completed 2 long passes to win at the end while being literally smashed in the mouth by Micheal Bennet etc. one of them I can’t even figure out how he got enough on it as he was being smashed as he released the pass . Again this is from memory but I had a lot more respect for cousins after that game . The last 3 I don’t really remember how they went down other than Russ played extremely well in those games . One I want to say he rushed for nearly 100 yards along with clutch passing . It’s a team game . There’s a lot of distance between the likes of Rodgers or Brady etc and pedestrian . Cousins is closer to the former than the latter . As for our coaching it’s worse than last year in all phases. Waldron playbook
Seems to get pretty thin after a quarter . Carroll’s being rah rah , whistling in the graveyard . Wilson is deflecting and pointing fingers at the D “ it seems we need to score on every possession sometimes .we’re going to score a lot of points “


Nothing to see here despite last 6 possessions resulting in 0 points …

You put up 17 points dude .
He’s not the accountable guy he was before .

Norton must go. Players were grumbling about the scheme after the game . They seemed confused about how to line up. One play everyone but flowers played man . It’s ridiculous . Richard got thrown away in a purge and it wasn’t smart or fair because he’s way better than Norton . There’s no good reason to keep him.
Then there’s Schneider , inexplicable that he’s signed through 27 and that’s not a good thing because he’s not hit a draft in quite a while and his high dollar free agents are not helping cover up that fact .

I think it’s smoke and mirrors at this point , a house of cards . Last year was the most hollow 12-4 season ever , rolling over lifeless in the wildcard , Wilson 11-29 with a pick 6 and the defense couldn’t stop a pedestrian qb with a broken hand . That’s how the team has played 5 of the last 8 quarters . Im looking at this division and I could see us getting swept .

Wasn't it though? I know the automatic answer heading into the season was "hey, they went 12-4 last year", but it did seem as hollow as it could get. Even though they were 12-4, I don't think anyone thought of them as a legit Super Bowl contender. Too many issues on both sides of the ball, and that has carried over to the first 3 games of the year so far.

I am not usually a knee jerk reaction guy, always optimistic, but yikes, this does not look good right now. There are alot of reasons, but I have to lay the most blame on Pete and JS. Absolutely poor drafting and developing and trading away important draft capital for "home run" players that have not turned out as planned (Harvin, Graham, Adams). Disappointed with Adams, complete non factor in 3 games.

Hawks pretty much now need to go 5-1 vs the division to have any chance, and I don't think anyone believes that is gonna happen.

[obiken]

In our first 3 games, we have outscored our opponents 62-38 in the first half. Following the intermission, we've been outscored 40-13. A big part of game day coaching is making 2nd half adjustments based on what they see in the first half, and it's blatantly obvious that we haven't done that on both offense and defense.

That falls directly on the coaching staff in general and on Pete specifically. They are as dysfunctional as any part of the team.

It all comes down to No talent Riv, our DL is mutt food, we are not stopping the run and we cannot get a pass rush to save our lives, even in obvious passing situations. Now what is going to happen? Fans, coaches, and players are going to start blaming Russ, its even starting to happen on this board. The problem in the NFC West is no one stayed stationary, especially the Rams. The Rams went and got DJ and he is the 3 WR in, not to mention the farm they gave up to get Matty! I think you are looking at colossal loses to LA, hope I am wrong. My biggest concern is people on LA want to hurt RW, not just tackle him.

[obiken]

Yea sis this here and it’s sad. That dude carried this franchise on his shoulders for a decade but about the last 8 games he’s not the same guy in crunch time .

The way to beat any great QB is to make him watch the game! We ran 21 fewer plays than the Vikes, we were out possessed by the Titans 40+ minutes, to make plays he has to get on the field, we cannot get OFF the field. We cannot stop the run HT and we cannot get a sack, we have the worse Defense in the league, period. People need to get off Russ till he starts throwing picks. The problem is he will, when he is limited in the TOP, he will start trying to do too much. These loses were against 2 AVERAGE FB teams, can you imagine when we start playing good ones!! I am so glad I have Rambo blocked!!

[Agent 86]

Great point about TOP Obi, Seahawks are dead last right now in that category through nearly 3 complete weeks at 23:20 per game. That means the D has been on the field for 36:40 per game. This completely goes against Pete's philosophy of getting leads and grinding out the clock with a good running game and forcing 3 and out's with a staunch D.

https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/average-time-of-possession-net-of-ot

[Hawktawk]

TOP is a 2 way street . Yes our defense is a sieve of biblical dimensions . But when the offense has the ball and continuously goes 3 and out that’s 50% of the reason why . It’s a snowball rolling downhill . It’s not either or. It’s all the above . Dreadful coaching on both units , poor fundamentals blocking and tackling , a lack of talent and as I will contend at least presently one of the most clutch Houdini escape artists in history who is suddenly playing like a middle of the pack hack in CRITICAL MOMENTS. That a recipe for lots of losses .

[RiverDog]

TOP is a 2 way street . Yes our defense is a sieve of biblical dimensions . But when the offense has the ball and continuously goes 3 and out that’s 50% of the reason why . It’s a snowball rolling downhill . It’s not either or. It’s all the above . Dreadful coaching on both units , poor fundamentals blocking and tackling , a lack of talent and as I will contend at least presently one of the most clutch Houdini escape artists in history who is suddenly playing like a middle of the pack hack in CRITICAL MOMENTS. That a recipe for lots of losses .

Excellent point. Most of that TOP stat reflects our hugely inept defense, but there's a good chunk of it that our offense has to own. We're a boom or bust offense. It's a bad mix, a very shaky defense with an offense that can't grind out first downs and keep them off the field.

But to defend the offense a little, one of the things we haven't done is turn the ball over. After 3 games, we have thrown zero interceptions and lost one fumble, 2nd in the league in fewest turnovers.

[Hawktawk]

Most of the first half was as good as that offense and Russ gets but we saw the final 25 minutes . Over the past decade it’s always seemed Seattle win the halftime adjustments but that’s on its head now . 1-2 and really not competetive in the game Sunday is the important stat . Sometimes you have to fit it into tight windows . Put your foot in the ground and let fly . I see a lot more pulling it down then just letting it go over the recent years . It cuts down on turnovers but can lead to being sacked on the 1. Right now it isn’t a good team in any respect ; turnovers or not . 3 And out over and over is just as bad .

[Agent 86]

Hope you all are OK with me posting these:



By Michael-Shawn Dugar Sep 26, 2021 68

MINNEAPOLIS — Quandre Diggs removed his helmet and paced toward the Seahawks sideline. His defense had just allowed what felt like the 87th explosive pass play of the afternoon inside an unbelievably noisy U.S. Bank Stadium.

As the free safety turned and walked toward the opposite end ahead of the start of the final quarter, Diggs barked angrily into the air, at no one in particular, visibly frustrated by what was unfolding against the Vikings. Along the way, his teammate Jamal Adams attempted to console him, placing his arm around Diggs’ shoulders.

Diggs’ energy matched that of anyone, whether it was a player, fan or coach, hoping for Seattle’s defense to rebound after a disastrous home opener seven days ago against Tennessee. Instead, it was quite the opposite: The Seahawks’ defense looked similarly discombobulated here against the Vikings, who had their way on offense all afternoon.

“It’s frustrating when the team is driving the ball,” said D.J. Reed, also notably upset in that moment. “We couldn’t get a stop.”

No, they could not.

It was an Alexander Mattison run here, a Kirk Cousins-to-Justin Jefferson connection there, and every so often a Cousins pass to Adam Thielen, almost always for a big gain. Sometimes tight end Tyler Conklin got involved, too. If the fan in the Stefon Diggs jersey who sprinted around the field hadn’t been arrested in the second quarter, he too might have found a way to generate an explosive reception against the Seahawks.

It was just that sort of day for Seattle, which lost 30-17. The Seahawks are now 1-2 for the first time since 2018 and remain in last place in the NFC West.

“We got to get this s*** together,” Reed said. “It’s just what it is.”

After allowing 532 yards of offense against the Titans in Week 2, the Seahawks hit the road and allowed Minnesota to total 453 yards in an ugly defensive performance. Cousins completed 30 of 38 passes for 323 yards and three touchdowns with zero turnovers. He had an EPA of 20.5 and a success rate of 68 percent, according to RBSDM.com. Mattison, filling in for an injured Dalvin Cook, rushed for a career-high 112 yards — matching the total he posted against Seattle in Week 5 last season.

Minnesota’s possession chart is perhaps the most disheartening statistic from Seattle’s view: touchdown, punt, touchdown, touchdown, field goal, field goal, field goal and a meaningless punt in the fourth quarter while nursing a two-touchdown lead.

Let’s discuss that first punt for a moment. Before the kick, linebacker Bobby Wagner tackled Mattison for a gain of just 3 yards on first down. Then linebacker Jordyn Brooks blanketed Conklin in coverage. Ahead of third-and-long, Cousins had an issue with his shoe, and chucked his right cleat deep into the backfield. He then took the snap and, clearly in a rush, had his pass batted at the line of scrimmage by defensive end Carlos Dunlap. Considering how the rest of Seattle’s possessions against a fully cleated Cousins went, it’s safe to say the only real punt Seattle forced was essentially a fluke. Aside from that drive, Minnesota had no problem marching up and down the field on Seattle’s defense and converted nine of 14 third downs.

“We’re getting out-executed by the other team,” Dunlap said. “They’re making more plays than we are.”

This is typical postgame player-speak so as to not publicly point fingers, which signals an absence of accountability. But, quite frankly, Dunlap is correct. Minnesota didn’t catch Seattle off guard with an unfamiliar game plan. On early downs, the Vikings handed the ball to Mattison and had success doing so. On critical third downs, Cousins put the ball in the hands of Jefferson and Thielen and that duo did the rest.

Both receivers scored on Reed, who said after the game that allowing two touchdowns is “unacceptable.” Thielen beat Reed for a 15-yard touchdown in the second quarter, perfectly executing a post pattern against Seattle’s Cover-3 defense. “Schemed our ass up,” Reed said. “At the end of the day I got to make a play. They formed a bunch; I was outside to the bunch and he bent it in. Good play, good catch.”

Jefferson ended Minnesota’s next drive with a 3-yard touchdown against Reed, running a double-move on the goal line to break free in the end zone.

“Ain’t nobody to blame but myself,” Reed said. “I had bad eye discipline. I knew that was a double-move guy but I just, for some reason, had my eyes on the slant, got greedy. He ran a slant-out. That’s on me. I’ll take that to the chin.”

Jefferson had nine receptions for 118 yards and Thielen had six catches for 50 yards. When they weren’t scoring on Reed, they were running free against his fellow cornerbacks Tre Flowers and Ugo Amadi. Flowers appeared to have a particularly rough day against Jefferson, and that qualifier is important because this was an outing in which it just didn’t look as if Seattle’s secondary was in sync (Brooks was also beaten for a touchdown). On the plays in which Flowers was the nearest defender to the receiver, it looked as if he were expecting help either underneath or inside.

The Seahawks on defense were without passing game coordinator Andre Curtis, who missed the game due to a non-COVID-19 illness. Flowers said not having Curtis, who helps with in-game adjustments, impacted the communication in the secondary. “We definitely missed him today,” Flowers said.

Reed and Flowers were the only defensive backs players available to the media after the game. Both corners accepted personal responsibility while also indirectly implying that coaching was in part to blame. “Whatever we were doing, it was just getting schemed up,” Reed said. In addition to Flowers’ comment about missing Curtis, the fourth-year corner gave a telling remark when asked how he’d self-assess his play through three weeks.

“It’s a schematic thing, I feel like,” Flower said. “I got my own questions to ask. I’m (going to) fix it. We got to find a way to tackle digs, those in-routes. I got to find a way to drive them or whatever it is. It’s a little gray area right now amongst a couple people. I’ll fix it or someone else will fix it. I guess I got a couple of questions myself.”

Asked about this gray area and whether he feels he has to occasionally operate out of scheme to make a play, Flowers said: “I think I do. Me personally — I don’t know how that’s going to sound in the media — I feel like something has to change a little bit. The little gray area, it’s going to be different. I’m telling y’all that, for sure.”

The secondary wasn’t entirely at fault. Seattle had no pass rush for most the night and the defensive line didn’t record a quarterback hit until the second half. Seattle’s only sack came when defensive end Darrell Taylor stripped Cousins in the fourth quarter. Desperate for quarterback pressure late in the fourth quarter, Seattle sent a full-house blitz — and Cousins just flung it off his back foot to K.J. Osborn for 15 yards and a first down.

“They were getting the ball out quick today,” Dunlap said. “We got to get our hands up and when they do hold it, we got to get to the quarterback. We didn’t get it done collectively. It’s not one group you could point to.”

As a collective, Seattle also had no answer for Minnesota’s screen game. The Vikings gained, by my count, at least 50 yards on running back screens that frequently caught the visitors off guard.

“We knew we could probably take advantage of them in the screen game,” said Mattison, who had six catches for 59 yards. “Real glad we were able to actually come out and execute that part of our plan, just knowing how those guys play, it was something we were able to target a little bit.”

As was the case last week, the offense is to blame as well. The Seahawks for the third straight game went scoreless in the third quarter. Seattle started the game with three straight scoring drives, out-executing Minnesota’s defense, which couldn’t handle DK Metcalf through the air or Chris Carson on the ground. Jason Myers missed a 43-yard field goal on Seattle’s fourth possession — deciding to kick on fourth-and-3 in that situation is a coaching blunder — and didn’t reach Minnesota territory again until there were two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

“I don’t know,” Carroll said when asked about his team’s second-half woes on offense. Seattle entered this game with one of the least-efficient second-half offenses in the league and that will certainly be the case entering Week 4 after going scoreless on Sunday. Seattle didn’t convert a third down after the first quarter and was 3-of-8 for the game.

“Part of it is opportunity — we got to stay on the field,” Carroll said. “When it doesn’t mix right, when the defense is giving up first downs and the offense didn’t convert them, it’s just out of balance. What changed? They didn’t do anything different and we didn’t do anything different. We missed our opportunities and we weren’t out there.”

Seattle had one drive in the third quarter and it stalled when Russell Wilson was sacked on second-and-10, leading to a third-down screen pass that was the equivalent of a white flag. Seattle didn’t get the ball again until there were 13 minutes left in the fourth, trailing 27-17. That drive stalled when Wilson overthrew a wide-open Freddie Swain in the middle of the field, causing an inexplicable punt from the Seattle 43-yard line with 11:48 remaining.

The inability to possess the ball is a problem, yes, though Seattle’s real problem is the ability to do anything when it has the ball in the second half. The concept of balance to which Carroll is referring requires the defense getting stops, but until Seattle’s offense figures out why it’s consistently being stopped, this season will continue to go downhill in a hurry. A strong place to start is any play in which Wilson ends up on the ground. Whether because of play calling, blocking or the quarterback himself, eliminating those negative plays is the easiest path to staying on the field, though that’s an all-too-familiar dilemma in Seattle.

Last week, Adams summed up Seattle’s defensive performance by saying “s*** happens.” This week, Reed says they have to get their s*** together. They’re confident they will, of course, but if that doesn’t happen soon, the Seahawks will be out of the running to win the toughest division in football. And out of expletives to explain what’s going on.

[RiverDog]

Hope you all are OK with me posting these

Not only am I ok with it, I appreciate it and appreciate the mods for letting you post it. I read every word.

[obiken]

Not only am I ok with it, I appreciate it and appreciate the mods for letting you post it. I read every word.

Me Too! What a Treatise!! When we won the title, we stopped the run and ran the ball, now we cannot do either. Riv, D-Day H-hour for us will be the Steelers, IF we go into Pitts and lose we are done period.

[RiverDog]

Not only am I ok with it, I appreciate it and appreciate the mods for letting you post it. I read every word.

Me Too! What a Treatise!! When we won the title, we stopped the run and ran the ball, now we cannot do either. Riv, D-Day H-hour for us will be the Steelers, IF we go into Pitts and lose we are done period.

How we do in our next two games will give us a feel for how the rest of the season goes.

The Rams and Cards play this weekend, Niners and Cards play the following weekend. If the Cards beat the Rams and we beat the Niners then on the following weekend, we beat the Rams and the Niners beat the Cards, we're right back in the mix as the Cards would have one loss and the Niners, Rams, and us would all have two losses, and one of ours will have come from a non conference opponent. That's not a far out scenario, which is why I'm waiting another couple of weeks to see how this all shakes out before I bag on this team.

I don't think the Pittsburgh game matters a whole lot compared to the rest of our schedule. Obviously it counts towards our overall record as all games do, but it's outside our division and our conference. Where we're going to make or break our season will be how we fare against our divisional opponents, especially given how they're all off to a better start than we are. If we're 1-4 heading into Pittsburgh then it isn't going to matter a whole lot if we beat them to go 2-4. We're still going to have to beat the Cards, Niners, and Rams. That's why these next two weeks are so critical.

[Uppercut]

I watched the Niners GB game and both teams played hard all 4 quarters. If Seattle rests for 3 quarters they will be blown out by the Niners and then the Rams. Hate to see the mediocrity but hey its real. Niners 35 Sea 13