Patterson: Seahawks may be turning mantra of ‘finish’ into ‘finished’

SEATTLE — All week long there was one word that was constantly on the Seattle Seahawks’ lips:

“Finish.”

This was going to be the week when the Seahawks rediscovered how to finish, how to land the knockout blow when they had their opponent on the ropes. From head coach to coordinator to player, the term “finish” was repeated over and over again in the lead up to Sunday’s game against the Carolina Panthers. Seattle found a way to finish plenty of times in the past, there’s no reason why the Seahawks couldn’t do it in the present.

But the only words waiting for the Seahawks at the finish of Sunday’s game were the boos raining down from the 69,020 disgruntled fans at CenturyLink Field.

It wasn’t that long ago that Seattle was the most feared closer in the NFL. Last season the Seahawks rallied from a pedestrian 3-3 start to finish out the season 12-4, including winning their final six games. In those six games Seattle didn’t allow a single fourth-quarter point. In baseball closing terms that’s three batters, nine pitches and three swinging strikeouts.

But the finish has evaporated. Going back to last season’s Super Bowl the Seahawks had a fourth-quarter lead in each of their past seven games. They won just two of those. Seattle was outscored 75-27 in the fourth quarter and overtime of those seven contests.

How did these Seahawks, who used to be the Mariano Rivera of the NFL, suddenly morph into Fernando Rodney?

“We pride ourselves on finishing games and we haven’t been able to do that this year,” Seahawks defensive end Cliff Avril lamented. “We have to get back to that some kind of way.”

Seattle was perfectly positioned to solve that problem Sunday, having the ball and leading 23-14 with 10 minutes remaining in the game. But once again the Seahawks found a way to lose from ahead. One week after blowing a 17-point fourth-quarter lead against Cincinnati, Seattle’s defense was little more than a helpless spectator as Carolina mounted two 80-yard touchdown drives down the stretch. The second of those culminated in Greg Olsen’s 26-yard touchdown reception with just 32 seconds remaining, in which the Panthers’ top receiving threat was left wide open for the game-winning score.

That play left two Seattle All-Pros, cornerback Richard Sherman and free safety Earl Thomas, staring at one another in confusion and pointing fingers. It’s not exactly the type of image that conjures up the idea of confident finishers.

If there was only one problem causing the fourth-quarter woes, it could theoretically be corrected. The problem for Seattle is that the issue has been glaring on both sides of the ball.

Is the defense, which allowed 397 yards and six scores on eight possessions in the fourth quarter and overtime the past two weeks against Cincinnati and Carolina, the primary problem? What’s wrong on that side of the ball?

“Nothing much,” Sherman replied. “We had two turnovers today, we had multiple stops. We played well.”

Say what?

Or does the responsibility rest with the offense, which managed just 140 yards and no points over nine possessions in the fourth quarter and overtime the past two weeks, doing nothing to help slow the turning tide?

“We did a lot of great things,” quarterback Russell Wilson said. “And we didn’t do enough great things. … Like I said, stay the course.”

OK.

If the Seahawks had one final straw to cling to with regards to the finishing issue, it was that it hadn’t afflicted them yet at home. None of the lost fourth-quarter leads in the previous six games came at CenturyLink, though Seattle needed a desperation forced fumble on the goal line two weeks ago to fend off Detroit at home.

But now even the Seahawks’ fortress, where Seattle won 28 of its previous 30 games, no longer feels like a safe haven.

For the most part the Seahawks chose not to dwell upon their finishing issues following Sunday’s game. The word of the day was no longer “finish,” but “believe.”

“They’re down,” Seattle coach Pete Carroll said of the mood in the locker room, “but if you listen to what they said as we broke it down at the end, you couldn’t find a way to be more proud of them, because they’re talking about believing, and believing in each other, and believing in what we’re here to do, and believing in the process and fighting for everything that’s out there.”

Perhaps it’s a wise move for the Seahawks to find a new word to focus on rather than “finish.” After all, with Seattle now being 2-4 and having history against it with regards to making the playoffs, it only requires the addition of two letters to change “finish” into “finished.”

Check out Nick Patterson’s Seattle Sidelines blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/seattlesidelines, and follow him on Twitter at @NickHPatterson.