Seahawks fall three games off NFC West pace; Russell Wilson at a youth flag game
The Arizona Cardinals are where the Seahawks were this time last year.
They are 5-0.
The Seahawks are in trouble.
Seattle (2-3) fell to three games out of the NFC West lead just five games into the season on Sunday when Kyler Murray and Arizona won again, 17-10 at home over San Francisco.
That only begins to describe the Seahawks’ issues.
Russell Wilson spent his Sunday at a youth flag-football field.
It was two days after Wilson’s season-altering surgery to repair torn tendons and insert screws on the middle finger of his throwing hand. Wilson is expected to miss at least four games. He got hurt hitting his hand into the arm of Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald in the third quarter of Seattle’s home loss to Los Angeles Thursday.
It’s now a race to see how soon Wilson can return to an NFL field.
Veteran Geno Smith turned 31 on Sunday. The former starter for the New York Jets and Giants is now the Seahawks’ starting quarterback for the foreseeable future. Next Sunday night in Pittsburgh, Smith will make his first start since Dec. 3, 2017.
“I’ll be ready,” Smith said.
Thursday, he got his first extended snaps in a real game in two seasons with Seattle playing for the injured Wilson in the fourth quarter of the team’s 26-17 loss to the Rams.
“Geno has been practicing with us for all this time, waiting for his opportunity to be called upon,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. “The patience that he has shown to stay with us and his relationship with Russ and the coaches is impeccable.
“He’s a very talented football player. He has a great arm, great sense, and he knows the system really well. I totally trust that Geno can do this.”
He may have to for a while.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport posted on Twitter Friday afternoon about Wilson’s finger fix: “The surgery was more complicated than expected, with the need for screws complicating matters. The timetable is roughly 6 weeks, though Wilson will no doubt be determined to beat it.”
Six weeks would be Nov. 19.
Here are the Seahawks’ next six weeks:
Next Sunday night: at Pittsburgh (2-3 after beating Denver at home 27-19 Sunday)
Oct. 25 vs. New Orleans (3-2 after winning 33-22 at Washington Sunday)
Oct. 31 vs. Jacksonville (0-5 after a 37-19 loss at home to Tennessee Sunday)
Nov. 7 Bye
Nov. 14 at Green Bay (4-1 following its win at Cincinnati in overtime)
Nov. 21 Arizona
Seattle’s problems don’t end with Wilson’s finger and Arizona’s three-game lead.
For the second consecutive first half to a season, the Seahawks are allowing more yards than any team in the league — not just in the current year. Ever.
Seattle is allowing 450.8 yards per game. The worst NFL defense ever in yards allowed was the 2012 New Orleans Saints. They surrendered 440.1 yards per game.
These Seahawks have used a five-man defensive line to try to stop the run — and are next-to-last in the NFL in run defense, allowing 145.2 yards on the ground per game.
Seattle has alternated Ugo Amadi and Marquise Blair as an extra, fifth defensive back in nickel to defend the pass. The Seahawks used Ryan Neal for 26 snaps against San Francisco as a sixth, dime defensive back — then for only six plays as the Rams’ Matthew Stafford threw for 365 yards in Seattle Thursday.
Carroll said following the loss to the Rams playing Neal more, on first and second downs instead of long-yardage third downs, was not in Seattle’s game plan.
“Maybe we will resort to that,” Carroll said Thursday night.
Neal made four stops himself on third down at San Francisco two games ago, two on star tight end George Kittle. Those four stops were as many as Seattle’s entire defense had on 13 third downs in losing ugly at Minnesota.
“We have sh** we need to fix,” Seahawks Pro Bowl safety Quandre Diggs said.
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger at age 39 had been a shell of his former excellence as Pittsburgh began this season 1-3. But Sunday in beating previously 3-1 Denver he completed 15 of 25 passes for 253 yards and two touchdowns. The Steelers also re-discovered their running game. Rookie first-round draft choice Najee Harris has his second 100-yard rushing day in three weeks: 122 yards on 23 carries with a touchdown.
Also ominously for Seattle: Pittsburgh converted seven of its first 10 third downs into first downs.
So the Steelers figure to test the main problems Seattle’s defense has had: consistently stopping the run, the pass and getting off the field on third downs.
“I’m disappointed that we are not getting better at some stuff,” Carroll said. “In this game if you show vulnerability, the next team is going to go after them, and you have to fix them.
“There are a few things that have been repeated and we haven’t made enough progress.”
Meanwhile, Wilson’s progress after surgery will be the new theme of Seattle’s teetering season.
Hand specialist Dr. Steven Shin did the surgery at the Cedars-Sinai Kerlan Jobe Surgery Center in Los Angeles on Friday. Wilson “sustained two injuries to the finger: an extensor tendon rupture (mallet finger) and a comminuted fracture-dislocation of the proximal interphalangeal joint,” Dr. Shin wrote in a statement the Seahawks released Friday night.
A comminuted fracture is defined by the National Institute of Health as “a break or splinter of the bone into more than two fragments. ... External fixation devices such as splints and casts are usually inadequate in treating this type of fracture. Repairing a comminuted fracture often requires open surgery to restructure the bone to normal anatomy.”
“He will start therapy this weekend and it is highly anticipated that he will return to play later this season,” Shin wrote.
“Based on what I saw (Friday), I am fully confident Russell will return to the NFL this season and play at the same world class level that fans have come to expect of one of the game’s very best quarterbacks,” Shin concluded.
This story was originally published October 10, 2021 at 5:32 PM.
