Clayton: Reflecting on the Seahawks’ first 5 games

ookie The bye week gives Pete Carroll and the Seahawks a chance to reflect on the first five games of the season. Winning the game against the Los Angeles Rams was the key, as they are now 2-0 in the NFC West and have a decent chance of going 5-1 or 6-0 in the division. If they can do that, they can get to 11 and 12 wins and secure one of the top two playoff seeds.

ESPN gives Seahawks an 86 percent chance to make playoffs

The Seahawks get a few breaks coming up. They visit a New York Giants team that lost their top four receivers Sunday, with three of the top four going on injured reserve. The next week, the Houston Texans come to town without three of their top defenders — J.J. Watt, Whitney Mercilus and Brian Cushing. The Arizona Cardinals won’t have David Johnson for their home Thursday night game against the Seahawks, so we’ll see how the newly-acquired Adrian Peterson fills the void.

Here are a few observations for the first five games.

Russell Wilson is doing better at quarterback than some think. Though his numbers are down compared to last year, there are reasons. For one, the offensive line protection has been spotty. The running game after the loss of Chris Carson has also been missing. Last year, despite not being able to run in the first half of the season, Wilson threw for 4,219 yards, completed 64.7 percent of his passes and averaged 7.7 yards per attempt. This year, even though he’s barely on pace for a 4,000-yard season, he is completing 62.4 percent of his passes and his yards per attempt is down to 6.9.

Somehow, though, Wilson has the Seahawks ranked ninth in third-down conversions at 49.2. He’s done that even though 45 of his 77 third downs have been third-and-6 or more. He’s had 22 third-and-10 or longer, converting three. That means he’s 22-of-31 on third-and-4s or less. Through five games, Pro Football Focus ranked him the fourth best quarterback in the league. For big time throws, he ranks fourth, and he’s ninth-best against the blitz. It’s a good start.

Expect more juggling along the offensive line. Luke Joeckel was scheduled for arthroscopic knee surgery Thursday. Though the surgery was considered minor, it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s going to miss three or more weeks. It would be ideal if he only misses the New York Giants game, but his recovery time is unknown. I’m sure that is why the Seahawks visited with left tackle Branden Albert. If the Seahawks can talk him into a contract, he could work his way into the left tackle job in a couple weeks and move Rees Odhiambo to left guard. If it doesn’t work out, they could put Matt Tobin or Mark Glowinski at left tackle and keep Odhiambo at left tackle.

Even though I thought the Seahawks were six deep for talented running backs, Russell Wilson is the only runner the team can count on at the moment. Chris Carson is on the injured reserve list and C.J. Prosise can’t shake injuries. Eddie Lacy seems slow hitting the hole and has only 74 yards on 25 carries, while Thomas Rawls has just 24 yards on 13 carries. Alex Collins, who dropped to the fifth and sixth spots for depth in the backfield during training camp, resurfaced in Baltimore and has 261 yards rushing — more than the total of the backs on the Seahawks roster.

Something has to give. Mike Davis is on the practice squad and looked very good in the pre-season. J.D. McKissic has 38 yards on six carries and is a threat catching the ball. Wilson is throwing a career high 35.6 passes a game, and has rushed for 154 yards on 30 carries. To have any hopes of success, the running backs need to consistently average 21 to 25 carries a game and average better than 4 yards a carry.

If DeShawn Shead is available to come off the injured reserve list in the next couple weeks, it will be interesting to see how Pete Carroll works him in. Rookie Shaquill Griffin is playing at a high level at cornerback, both in coverage and for run-stopping. Justin Coleman is doing well in the slot in nickel, but Jeremy Lane (ankle) could be healthy for next week’s game against the New York Giants. When Shead returns, the team will have five very good cornerback options.

Thanks to the defense, the Seahawks are off to a 3-2 start. It has survived first halves in which there has been virtually no offense. It survived stretches in which it had to be on the field too long. Still, there are things that need to be tightened up. The Seahawks and Green Bay Packers lead the league with seven runs allowed of 20 yards or more. Opponents have scored 74 of the 110 points allowed in the second half. The sack numbers are lower than expectations. The Seahawks have 11 sacks in five games. But the key is that team is winning.

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