Three Things: Seahawks’ Russell Wilson is looking like himself again

The Seahawks have turned the corner on their schedule, not just surviving a stretch in which they played three road games in four weeks, but thriving.

They have a three-game lead in the NFC West and none of the final six opponents on their schedule currently hold a winning record. But Seattle also has a rash of injuries as four starters left Sunday’s game against Philadelphia at some point, with only one of them returning.

Here’s our weekly list of what we learned from Seattle’s victory and what we’re still trying to figure out.

Three things we learned:

1. Russell Wilson is getting back to the guy we remember. That’s not because he became the first quarterback in franchise history to catch a touchdown pass. The best example actually came in the second quarter with the way he was both able to scramble and extend plays and then throw downfield. The guy gets incredible velocity on throws while on the move without having his feet set in a way that is reminiscent of John Elway. Everyone has talked about the 35-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jimmy Graham, but just as impressive was the throw that sailed over receiver Paul Richardson’s head at the end of the first half. It was an incomplete pass that showed just how much mustard he can get on the ball even when he’s moving. Wilson’s longest rush was 7 yards on Sunday. He still doesn’t have a run for longer than 9 yards this season, but baby steps. He’s just started really scrambling again.

2. The Seahawks have a kicking problem. It’s not just the point-after-touchdowns, though that has been notably horrible. The Seahawks have failed to convert four of them this year, which is more than all of last year. They are consistently having kicks blocked up the middle. But it’s also field-goal attempts. Stephen Hauschka is 6 for 8 on field-goal attempts from 30 yards or shorter this season, which is 75 percent. He missed just two kicks from less than 30 yards in the previous five seasons combined (44 of 46, 95.7 percent). Throw in the 44-yard attempt that was missed on Sunday against Philadelphia, and it adds up to a problem of both the elevation of his kicks and the accuracy, which can’t be blamed on the fact the Seahawks have a new long snapper.

3. Doug Baldwin is one of the 10 best wide receivers in this league. This has nothing to do with his proficiency as a passer, either. You don’t even have to talk about how he plays in a run-first offense to explain his numbers. Over the past 16 regular-season games, he has 88 catches for 1,263 yards and 16 touchdowns. That’s a number that will catch your attention even in the most pass-happy of NFL offenses. The only reason to omit him from the list of top-10 NFL receivers is because he doesn’t necessarily look the part, which means it’s just one more way the Seahawks are showing that the best measurement of an offensive player isn’t necessarily his height.

Three things we’re still trying to figure out:

1. Why are the Seahawks throwing to Jermaine Kearse so often? Let’s get a qualifier out of the way: I really like Kearse. I think he is one of the most underappreciated players ever to come out of this state. All he did in college was become one of Washington’s career-leading receivers, and he has had some of the most important catches in the Seahawks’ franchise history. Not only that, he’s a great guy. But the production simply has not been there this season. Wilson’s passer rating on the 50 throws in which he has targeted Kearse this season: 66. His passer rating when throwing to anyone else on the roster: 105.1. Yet on Sunday against Philadelphia, Kearse was targeted six times, the most of any Seahawks player.

2. What’s the bigger M.A.S.H. unit with the Seahawks? Is it the offensive backfield, where C.J. Prosise is out with a broken shoulder blade and Troymaine Pope suffered a high-ankle sprain? Or is it the secondary, which is likely to be without safety Earl Thomas and cornerback Deshawn Shead, both of whom left Sunday’s game with hamstring injuries? While Thomas hasn’t been ruled out, he has a Grade 1 strain and that type of injury usually requires 10 to 14 days to heal. That means his streak of 106 consecutive regular-season starts – which broke Cortez Kennedy’s franchise record of 99 – is very much in doubt. Tampa Bay’s Jameis Winston is the kind of quarterback who takes a ton of chances, having been picked off 10 times this season. With Steven Terrell starting at free safety, will Seattle be able to take advantage of those opportunities?

3. Is it time to worry about Seattle’s short game? Given the way the Seahawks struggled to score the first two months of the season, you’d figure they would be grateful for any points. After all, Seattle was held to 12 points or fewer in three of the first six games of the season. But now that the Seahawks have gathered some honest-to-goodness momentum on that side of the ball, it’s time to look at the efficiency. Or more accurately, the inefficiency when Seattle gets close to the goal line. The Seahawks have scored on 51.4 percent of the possessions in which they’ve made it inside the opponent’s 20, the so-called red-zone. That ranks No. 21 in the league. The Seahawks are even worse the closer they get. When they’ve had a first-and-goal, they’ve scored a touchdown 55.6 percent of the time, tied for fourth-lowest in the league. Combine that with a spotty place-kicking operation and you’ve got the potential for real problems in a close game.

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