| Advertisement |
The offense of the Seattle Seahawks is stumbling toward the midway point of the season. The Seahawks scored just 13 offensive points in a 25-20 loss to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday. They've scored just 19 points over the last two games and were only able to manage one touchdown against a Saints' defense that entered Sunday's game as the 28th-ranked defense in the NFL.
Advertisement
"We need to get out of what we've been in here the last two weeks," coach Pete Carroll said. "This is not the way we're going to play football. We're going to fix this. It just happened back-to-back to us in very similar fashion and I can't wait to get back on the practice field. We all feel the same. There will be some things that will look different."
Russell Wilson hasn't thrown a touchdown pass since Oct. 2. Seattle has rushed for just 570 yards this season and is currently on pace for its lowest output in franchise history for a 16-game season.
Injuries have certainly played a significant factor in Seattle's offensive struggles. Wilson has dealt with ankle, knee and pectoral injuries through the first seven games of the season. Tyler Lockett has played through a knee sprain. Thomas Rawls has missed five games with a hairline fractured in his fibula. Luke Willson, Bradley Sowell, Germain Ifedi and C.J. Prosise have also missed games due to injury.
But Wilson and Lockett are nearing full strength and Christine Michael has been serviceable as a replacement for Rawls at running back. Seattle just hasn't been able to move the ball with the consistency needed to make a mark on the scoreboard.
"Just in general we just need to get more shots," Carroll said. "We just need to dig in with the running game and we have not been able to get that done and it's frustrating to say that. Other than a couple games we got ahead and got in hand, it hasn't gone the way we wanted to.
"We're just going to keep plugging away. We're not stopping with anything that we believe in because we know the formula we want to play with, we just haven't really settled into yet."
Wilson's lack of mobility has been key to the struggles. He's rushed for just 44 yards this season through seven games as injuries have sapped his athleticism. He's averaged over 30 rushing yards a game in each of his first four seasons in the league.
"Part of it is we have not allowed Russell to take off and run very much," Carroll said. "He's been very, very effective for us over the years. We've had to take care of him and that's how this season has been."
Carroll insists that Wilson is improving and has faith the offense will get back on track as he returns to full strength.
"He's getting better," he said. "He's getting better and I'm really fired up about that and we're going to keep progressing as he is able and do what we can do to get back to the kind of mix that we like. I know it's coming. I'm pretty optimistic about it. We just need to keep slugging it out here as we find our way and we're getting close."
