FanPost

The Eye Test: SEA 'Hawks

Hello, and welcome to my third installment of The Eye Test!

I will be taking a look at a previous game of our opponent, and taking notes of what I see.

I will be coming into this review of the game with an open mind, and the eye test will bring me to a conclusion about the game and this upcoming match-up.

The Seahawks have faced the Panthers, Jaguars, Niners, Colts, and Texans. I have chosen the game against the Texans for my review, because I feel they are the team that best represents the Seahawks' match-up against us.

Note: I changed my formula for taking notes, and that left me with about 120 notes overall. That's way too much for a fanpost. So, from now on, I will be excluding the raw notes from this post and go straight to the results.

So, all that being said, let's jump right into it!

THE EYE TEST:

Quarterback:

Russell Wilson is a decent quarterback. He reminds me of Jake Locker, especially with his running ability. That being said, he still shows signs of inconsistency and inexperience. He often made poor throws under pressure, and looked generally uncomfortable in the pocket. When he did receive solid pass protection, he showed some great accuracy, especially on deep passes.

Passing offense:

The Seahawks' pass protection really drags down their entire passing game. The receivers made some great catches here and there, and I didn't see any drops. They come up with a different game-plan for each opponent. In this game, they mirrored the Texans' offense almost entirely, which was incredibly confusing to me.

Running offense:

This is the definite strength of the Seahawks offense. Despite their poor pass protection, their run blocking looked superb against a very strong Texans' front seven. Marshawn Lynch had some beast mode runs, and many run plays looked like they should have gone for even more yards than they did. This will be a major test for a run defense that has somewhat struggled this year.

Defense:

The Seahawks are very strong against the inside run, almost entirely because of the amazing play of Brandon Mebane. I think half of my defensive notes were about how unbelievably awesome Mebane is. The dude eats running-backs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, then has a fullback for his midnight snack. The Seahawks defense is excellent in run support as well, and provides a very inconsistent pass rush more opportunities to get to the quarterback. The two safeties are also incredible at closing on underneath routes. This will be a very rough game for our offense.

Their Opponent:

The Houston Texans need to fire their offensive co-ordinator. They need to extend their defensive coordinator's contract for 10 years. Their special teams co-ordinator.... eh, he's alright I guess. Overall they have a struggling offense, a vanilla scheme, a powerful running game, and a great defense that gets away with way too much illegal BS. That's Houston for you.

Their Opponent's Quarterback:

This is something I never thought I'd be saying. Matt Schaub is not to blame for Houston's struggles. The guy that has thrown a pick-six in every game since Week 2? He's actually not to blame. He's playing in an old figured-out scheme, and his offensive coordinator's play-calling puts him in impossible situations. He's a game manager. Treat him like the Chiefs have with Alex Smith. It's not that hard.

Our Quarterback:

Ryan Fitzpatrick will be wishing he could have played the Chiefs' defense again after this game. This has to be the roughest 2 first starts that a backup quarterback has ever had. If he doesn't have a horrible game on Sunday, then that'll be a surprise.

Penalties:

The Seahawks aren't really undisciplined like the Jets were, but they're not a perfectly disciplined team either. A few dumb off-sides and false starts here and there (especially by their center), but overall they keep it relatively clean.

Injuries:

O-line and receiver injuries are really holding them back right now. If Bobby Wagner is ruled out of the game, then that'll hurt them a bit on the defense side too. I don't predict that will heavily impact their D, though. Mebane and the secondary can certainly pick up the slack in run defense.

Wildcard:

We might win the turnover battle thanks to our defense, and still lose the game. Our OFFENSE needs to shock the world up in Seattle.

Official Prediction:

After a tough loss to Kansas City at home, we have to travel to a stadium that broke the world record for loudest fans at a sporting event, and play the best secondary and one of the best run defenses in the league. With our backup quarterback.

Yeah... It doesn't look good.

I predict that Ryan Fitzpatrick will have a horrible game, but our top-tier defense will keep us in the game for as long as they can. I'll pitch in a defensive touchdown here and call the score.

Final score: 'Hawks 23, Titans 13

Prove me wrong, Titans. Please.

Thank you for reading this installment of "The Eye Test"!

Please comment below. Any feedback is appreciated. Constructive criticism is as well.