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RENTON, Wash. -- The Seattle Seahawks scored just 15 total points in their first two games of the regular season. The run game is not producing the typical success associated with Seattle teams over the years, and hobbled quarterback Russell Wilson isn't playing as effectively as usual either.
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For a team that averaged 28 points a game over the final eight regular-season games of 2015, the offensive struggles to open the season are unexpected.
"I never could have thought that we would go the first couple weeks and not score but one touchdown," coach Pete Carroll said. "I'm just surprised at that. We're better than that."
A 9-3 loss to the Rams in Los Angeles on Sunday marked the first time since Week 7 of the 2012 season against the San Francisco 49ers that the Seahawks did not score a touchdown. It was the first time since a 6-3 loss to the Cleveland Browns in 2011 that Seattle could manage only three points in a game.
Carroll said Monday that his focus is on the team not striking a proper balance in its run-pass ratio, struggles on third down and losing the field-position battle.
"We need to control the sticks better, and that's what balancing out the run game will mean to it. So that's why it was a difficult game for us again," Carroll said.
Seattle couldn't find any success on the ground in the first half. The Rams held the Seahawks to just 14 yards on 14 attempts. That put the game firmly in the hands of Wilson, who was playing with an ankle sprain that limited his ability to move.
"We're not far off by any means," Wilson said after the game. "We're not far off at all."
The Seahawks converted just four of 13 chances on third down. Only one conversion came on a distance of greater than 6 yards. Nine of Seattle's 13 third-down chances were of at least 7 yards.
"That's still the key, and converting and creating a new set of downs and all that is crucial," Carroll said. "And we just found ourselves, by our own doings, we found ourselves in a bunch of third-and-longers. I think we were pretty efficient on the ones that were third-and-6 or less."
Regardless of the reasons, 7.5 points per game isn't sustainable for a successful football team. Seattle knows the offense has to be more productive for the team to reach its intended destination.
--The Seahawks were stripped of a fifth-round draft pick in 2017, a week of offseason practices and were fined $400,000 by the NFL for excessive contact in offseason practices.
Carroll also was $200,000 for the violation.
Per the league, Seahawks' players "engaged in excessive on-field physical contact" during their OTA practice on June 6 -- a session that was not open to media.
Carroll said Monday the team stopped using helmets for most of the offseason program in an attempt to lessen the contact during offseason work. Despite the precautions, a collision in practice led to the league reviewing tape from the practice and issuing the penalties.
"A couple young guys, and they just went the wrong way at the wrong time, you know, and banged heads," Carroll said. "They both got banged pretty good."
It was the third time in six years under the current collective-bargaining agreement between the NFL and the NFL Players Association that the Seahawks were punished for violating the offseason contact rules. The Seahawks forfeited two OTAs in 2012 after having live contact during OTAs. They were then forced to miss two days of veteran minicamp practices in 2015 for having "excessive contact" during their 2014 veteran minicamp.
"I'm real disappointed because we work really hard to try and do a great job," Carroll said. "We've kind of been through this with the league over the years, over six years' time, and after the second time, we made some real big changes in what we did, two years ago. We're trying to do this really well and trying to be great at it, and really disappointed it came to this.
"But they've got to do what they've got to do, so we're going to continue to work really hard to do this really well. We practice hard around here and we always have, and we have to do it right. So we've made strong efforts to do that, but we're still working at it."
Seattle will lose its first three OTAs in 2017 as a result of the penalties imposed Monday. The team also was informed that future violations of the regulations would result in an even greater penalty, including possible loss of higher draft picks or multiple draft picks, larger fines and more practices forfeited.
--The absence of Germain Ifedi for the first two weeks of the season was one key reason for Seattle's early offensive struggles.
Ifedi worked at right guard with the first-team offense for the entirety of the offseason after being selected in the first round of the draft this spring. He then sustained a high ankle sprain on the Wednesday before the team's opener against the Miami Dolphins, forcing Seattle to adjust and put J'Marcus Webb at guard for the first two weeks of the season. Webb had not practiced at the position with Seattle at all prior to being moved two days of practice before the opener.
"We had had good continuity throughout the preseason," Carroll said. "We felt like we were intact with the running game and things were strong in the first four looks at it, and then there was some adjusting we had to do right there. It was a big shift, we shifted on Thursday of that week, so then you take a step back to go forward, and we had to do that there."
While Carroll said he thought the offensive line protected Wilson's fairly well against the Rams on Sunday, Webb seemingly struggled to handle two top-tier defensive tackles, Miami's Ndamukong Suh and Los Angeles' Aaron Donald, the first two weeks. Seattle isn't planning any lineup changes in the interim. Webb is the guy at right guard until Ifedi can return to the lineup.
The line's start to the year is disappointing considering the promise shown in preseason. With Ifedi next to Mark Glowinski at left guard and Justin Britt at center, Seattle ran the ball extremely effectively in the preseason and did a solid job protecting Wilson as well.
Ifedi's injury put them into scramble mode. Webb has had two weeks now at guard, and Seattle expects the line to work better given the time together. However, the Seahawks are really excited about the possibilities presented by Ifedi's return.
"Germain is really close to getting back," Carroll said. "He looks to be like a tremendous factor for us. We were really excited about him, so when he comes back out, I wouldn't be surprised if you see a little bit of difference because he was that impacting all throughout camp and the preseason all the way up to that Wednesday in practice."
Ifedi has yet to return to practice since getting hurt. However, Carroll said he won't know if Ifedi can play until later in the week.
"They're both really active in their rehab right now," he said of Ifedi and tight end Nick Vannett. "They're doing a lot of stuff. We need to see if they're safe to go. We'll find out."
--Running back C.J. Prosise did not play against the Rams due to broken bone in his wrist. His availability will be determined on a week-by-week basis.
--Carroll said the Seahawks will have to see how running back Thomas Rawls (leg contusion), wide receiver Tyler Lockett (knee) and wide receiver Doug Baldwin (knee) look later in the week to determine their availability for Sunday.
