SEATTLE — So is this the game in which this Seahawks offense gets out of its own way?
The signs are as conflicting as the recent results.
The Seahawks are going to without running back Marshawn Lynch for just the second time in six seasons Monday night when they host the winless Detroit Lions.
The team announced following Sunday’s walk-through practice Lynch’s ailing hamstring that had him questionable wasn’t worth the risk of the offense’s cornerstone playing Monday.
That means undrafted rookie Thomas Rawls will get the start and 34-year-old third-down back Fred Jackson will get an expanded role against a Detroit defense that entered the weekend tied for 20th in the NFL against the run. Rawls gained 104 yards on 16 carries in last week’s 26-0 win over Chicago. Lynch missed the first 12 minutes of that game with a groin injury, ran five times for 14 yards, then injured his hamstring bobbling then catching a fourth-down pass in the final minute of the first half. The 29-year old didn’t play in the second half against the Bears.
The Seahawks also downgraded nose tackle Brandon Mebane from questionable to out for the game. He sustained a groin injury during the first half against the Bears.
The team also added outside linebacker Bruce Irvin to its injury report. He is questionable with an ankle injury.
The Lions have lost most of their teeth on defense. Huge cat Ndamukong Suh is now out of its middle, gone to Miami as a $114 million free agent. Without him Detroit has sunk from first in the NFL against the run last season to tied for 20th now, allowing 112 yards rushing per game.
The Lions are tied for 27th in total defense, allowing just under 400 yards per week. They are tied for 24th in points allowed. Detroit has four sacks in three games, part of the reason their pass defense is 26th. They had 10 sacks at this point last season.
This is all grand news for Seattle’s still-inconsistent, adjusting line. It has largely kept the Seahawks’ offense “off schedule,” to use leading receiver Doug Baldwin’s term this past week.
The sexier storylines for this Monday showcase is former wide receiver Golden Tate’s return to Seattle after a 99-catch debut season last year for Detroit. Or Cliff Avril’s appreciation for being the starting defensive end with a four-year, $28.5 million contract extension from the defending two-time NFC champion Seahawks, making him a world removed from having endured the Lions’ 0-16 season of 2008 as a rookie.
Yet Seattle’s most pertinent issue not just for this game but for its ongoing response to an 0-2 start is how its offensive line progresses.
While last week’s win over Chicago looks good on paper, it was a 6-0 slog into the third quarter. It took NFC special-team player of the month Tyler Lockett jolting them with a team-record, 105-yard kickoff return for a score to get the Seahawks going.
Seattle’s line has starters in three new positions, including a center, Drew Nowak, who was a college defensive tackle. Behind it the Seahawks scored just one offensive touchdown against the Bears, who have allowed more points than anyone in the league. Seattle has just four touchdowns in 31 offensive drives this season. Baldwin pointed out his Seahawks are the NFL’s worst so far converting third downs with 3 to 6 yards to go. And 1 yard to go has been a particularly peculiar mess.
Head coach Pete Carroll gathered his Seahawks this week to talk about how much the team’s former undrafted rookie free agents are contributing. Three-fifths of the O-line is among that group, including Nowak, right guard J.R. Sweezy and new right tackle Garry Gilliam.
Gilliam was a tight end his first three years at Penn State. He was the biggest surprise to make the 53-man roster in 2014, and is another in offensive line coach Tom Cable’s projects of turning into NFL starters.
“I mentioned it to the players the other night when I was talking about some of our young guys that developed and how far they’ve come,” Carroll said. “And he (Gilliam) was one of the examples of a guy that just a year ago was barely holding on to making the team.
“We were holding onto him because of the potential. I think Tom and the guys did a really nice job with developing him in really quick fashion, because they knew his was physically capable and he was smart enough. He just needed to get the knack of what it’s like to play O-line in this league.
“He’s learning that.”
So is Nowak. So is Justin Britt. Last year’s rookie right tackle is now the left guard.
With all this learning going on, Russell Wilson’s been sacked 12 times in three games. Lynch has been stopped on third and fourth and 1, the latter time in overtime to end the opening loss at St. Louis. That’s why the Seahawks have a nagging sense of frustration through the season’s first month that they could be doing so much more.
“I’d still like to knock a couple sacks off a game. That’s still what bothers me,” Cable said, “because really of the 12 we’ve given up in three games only two, to me, are real sacks.
“It’s communication. It’s laziness, not finishing, taking the sack or not getting the ball away. Whatever it is, we are all involved. Most of those are unnecessary, in my opinion. So we all have to do better.”
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