Seahawks’ defense again lacked its finishing touch against Green Bay

GREEN BAY, Wisc. – It’s not the way the Seahawks have started this season that should concern Seattle, but the way they’ve finished.

Namely, they haven’t. Not in Week 1 in St. Louis when the Rams forced overtime in the final minute. Certainly not at Lambeau Field on Sunday night when the Packers scored the final 14 points of the game, handing the Seahawks their first double-digit loss in four seasons.

Twice this season Seattle has held a fourth-quarter lead. Twice the Seahawks have lost. And for all the worries about this Seahawks season – and there should be plenty with a penalty-prone team whose offense scored a total of one touchdown over the first six quarters – the biggest long-term concern regards the defense.

It couldn’t shut the door when leading by a touchdown in the final 5 minutes at St. Louis, and it didn’t force the Packers to punt on any of their final four possessions, giving up two field goals, a touchdown and a two-point conversion for good measure.

Recap | Carroll disputes call | Knee-jerk reactions | Carroll Show | Photos | Stats

“Yeah, really disappointed in the finish,” coach Pete Carroll said. “Really disappointed. We’ve been so good at finishing. Really, that’s something that we’ve taken great pride in. We had a chance in both of these games to win the football game with a lead. We need to protect it properly, and try to do right longer.”

This defense that has allowed the fewest points in the league for each of the past three seasons is suddenly looking vulnerable on the back end, and it is impossible to talk about this subject without mentioning the absence of Kam Chancellor. Two games into this season, Seattle has started two different players in his place at strong safety. In St. Louis, it was Dion Bailey. In Green Bay, it was DeShawn Shead, and while it’s too simple to say that Chancellor’s absence was the difference, it would be naïve to ignore its impact entirely.

Seattle’s run of three consecutive playoff appearances has been predicated on a relentless running back, an opportunistic playmaker of a quarterback and a defense that is quite simply unyielding.

And now, Seattle is left as one of eight 0-2 teams in the league, kicking itself over penalties and wondering why tight end Jimmy Graham was thrown to only twice, catching a single pass in Sunday’s game.

There will be a lot of talk in the next few days about fixable mistakes, avoidable penalties and the resiliency of Seattle’s locker room. That’s good. The Seahawks need to be looking within for answers and not giving opposing quarterbacks free shots down the field.

“I felt like it was definitely self-inflicted,” linebacker Bruce Irvin said of Sunday’s loss. “We left a lot of plays out there, and Aaron Rodgers made us pay for it.”

But the bigger question of this start is whether Seattle’s defense has lost its finishing touch.

Remember, it took a while for the team to develop it. The first half of the 2012 season was chock full of fourth-quarter struggles, whether it was letting Kevin Kolb (remember him?) drive Arizona the length of the field in Wilson’s first start with the Seahawks or losing late leads on the road first in Detroit and then in Miami.

The Seahawks haven’t been perfect in the two seasons since then, but they’ve been better than what they showed the first two games of this season. This stumble at the start has everything to do with Seattle’s inability to finish.

“We’ve got to get out of our own way right now,” Carroll said. “We’re not doing that well. We’re not playing good enough ball to play just good and clean and sharp and let our football show itself.”

Related

Bump: Darnold should remain Seahawks’ starting quarterbackBreakdown: Where Seahawks’ NFC West title, playoff odds now standSeahawks’ draft pick of JSN started a run on WRs; he’s clearly been the bestSeahawks Injury Updates: Sam Darnold could return after byeNFL reinstates WR Brandon Aiyuk to 49ers after he left team last yearCards WR Michael Wilson, QB Gardner Minshew suffered serious injuries vs Seahawks