RENTON — So far this season the Seattle Seahawks’ offense has been less like a finely-tuned Harley Davidson and more like a fully-loaded U-Haul.
When on the freeway it eventually gets up to speed, but it takes a while to get there.
Seattle’s offense has been slow to accelerate, often sputtering through the first half before finally getting into motion in the second, and that’s an issue the Seahawks hope to address.
Through three games the difference in Seattle’s offensive numbers between the first and second halves is staggering. The Seahawks have gained 361 yards of total offense in the first half, versus 640 in the second half. The result is Seattle has scored more than twice as many points in the second half (55) as it has in the first (19).
“We got them right where we want them,” Seattle coach Pete Carroll quipped during his Thursday press conference at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center. “Maybe it’s the rope-a-dope approach, I don’t know.
“We’d like to be better at the start, we certainly would,” Carroll continued. “We do know that doesn’t determine what happens in the game unless you let it. It’s how you finish that’s important. We’re always trying to do better. We’re not trying to not make yards and lull them to sleep or anything like that, that’s not the approach.”
It may not be the approach, but it’s been the reality. The difference between the first and second half has afflicted both the running and passing games, as Seattle has had both substantially more second-half rushing yards (273-126) and passing yards (367-235).
However, it’s been the run game in particular that’s seen the biggest difference as the Seahawks are averaging 6.1 yards per attempt in the second half versus 3.3 in the first half. On passing plays the numbers are 7.0 yards per attempt in the second half compared to 6.5 yards per attempt in the first.
Those slow offensive starts are part of the reason why Seattle found itself having to play from behind in each of its first two games, both of which ended in defeat. It even reared its head in last Sunday’s dominating 26-0 victory over Chicago, as the Seahawks managed only one first down and 48 yards prior to their final drive of the first half, and emerged with just a 6-0 halftime lead.
“That’s something we continue to work on,” Seahawks offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell said about having faster starts. “We always talk about finishing — it doesn’t matter how you start it’s a matter of how you finish. But we sure would love to come out and start better than we’ve started. We’re continuing to move that around. Last week we said, ‘Hey, we’re going to come out and throw the ball a little bit,’ and we got in some situations that didn’t help us to do that. So we’ll continue to evaluate it, continue to look at it and see what we can do to improve there.”
Another issue that’s contributed to the slow starts is poor efficiency on third down. Last week against Chicago the Seahawks were 0-for-6 on third down in the first half. Seattle improved that dramatically in the second half, going 5-for-10.
“We’ve been playing some tough football,” Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson said. “We had some chances to get some first downs in the first half and for whatever reason we fell short of that — I think we were 0-for-6 in the first half, but in the second half we were lights out. The goal is to make one or two more plays every half in terms of third downs. You do that and the percentage goes up a lot. It’s really that simple, it comes down to making plays.”
Overall Seattle ranks 24th in the league in third-down efficiency at 36.4 percent.
“We missed a couple of early (third downs against Chicago), two of them were short yardage where we just missed some blocks and didn’t do our jobs,” Bevell said. “But there’s so many things. I’m continually looking at what we’re asking the guys to do, seeing if we’re putting them in the right position.
“Then we come out in the second half and we’re 5-for-10,” Bevell continued. “That’s where we want to be, we want to live there at that 50-percent rate. So we know we have the ability to do it, but we just have to find a way to do it more consistently and earlier.”
At least the second-half improvement indicates the Seahawks are capable of getting the offense rolling. Though the first-half stats are ugly, Seattle ranks in the middle of the NFL pack in both yardage (18th at 346 yards per game) and scoring (tied for 12th at 24.7).
“We started clicking a lot better,” receiver Doug Baldwin said about the second half against the Bears. “The ball was coming out faster, we were protecting, we were getting open on our routes, just everything was going the way it’s supposed to be going.
“We’ve shown the propensity to be able to do that the past three games, we just want to be more consistent,” Baldwin added. “I think that’s the general message that we’re all preaching and receiving right now, is that we need to be more consistent.”
Consistency the Seahawks hope gets the offensive engine running a little earlier.
Injury update
Seahawks No. 1 running back Marshawn Lynch did not practice again Friday, leaving his status for Monday night’s game against the Detroit Lions in doubt. Lynch suffered a hamstring injury in last week’s game against Chicago, an injury that required an MRI. Starting defensive tackle Brandon Mebane (groin) also did not practice Friday. Carroll said earlier in the week that decisions on both could go all the way up to game time.
Check out Nick Patterson’s Seattle Sidelines blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/seattlesidelines, and follow him on Twitter at @NickHPatterson.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
