Doug Baldwin says Seahawks’ offense better off now than in 2015

If there’s any good news about the Seahawks’ lackluster offensive production through the first half of the season, it’s this: They’ve started here before and ended as one of the most explosive in the NFL. Last season, in fact. And there may be no better representation of that fact than wide receiver Doug Baldwin, who told “The Huddle” Thursday that he sees plenty of similarities to last year.

“(It’s) very similar in terms of the struggles that we’ve had on offense, but the better part of it is that we’re 4-2-1. We’re not 3-4,” Baldwin said. “We’re not in that situation so we’re better off right now but … what I’m really excited about and what I’m really thankful for is that we’ve had a lot of experience together offensively going through those adversities and so I’m really excited to see what we can put together because it kind of lights a fire under your tail when you have the struggles that we’ve had the past two, three weeks. You’ve got to look at yourself in the mirror and see what we can do better.”

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Baldwin’s current numbers appear off the pace he set in 2015, where he spun together a Pro Bowl-caliber season, catching 78 passes for 1,069 yards and breaking the franchise record with 14 receiving touchdowns. But in reality, on the most basic level, Baldwin’s stats show he is off to an even better start. Here’s a comparative snapshot of his first seven games in the last two years.

                   2015            2016

Catches   28                38

Yards       310              481

TDs           2                   2

Most of Baldwin’s damage last season came in a seven-game stretch between weeks 9-15 when he posted 38 catches for 678 yards and 12 TDs.

Seattle’s overall offense, meanwhile, is lagging slightly behind last year’s group in points scored and total yards, but not by a huge margin – 2,379 yards this year to 2,502 in 2015, and 124 points to 126. The defense and special teams were responsible for another 28 points in 2015, compared to just seven so far this season.

Baldwin said that the Seahawks’ offense has to execute at a higher level and that the team is once again finding its identity.

“We take some time to figure out who we are again,” he said. “That’s one of the key questions: Who are we as a Seattle Seahawks offense? We have to take the time to figure that out. And, obviously, our identity, our philosophy on offense is we’re going to be relentless, and that means running the ball down your throat, being explosive in the passing game and not turning the ball over. Sometimes we have to find our way through that again. We’ve been doing that for the past few years and it’s been successful for us, being able to finish in the latter part of the season, so hopefully we’re on to that next step.”

While Seattle’s offense has suffered through injuries to running back Thomas Rawls and along the offensive line, as well as a hobbled Russell Wilson, it was a similar narrative last season with Marshawn Lynch battling injuries and the team breaking in an almost completely new set of linemen.

“Every year we go through these injuries, everybody’s banged up,” Baldwin said. “From Day 1 of camp, nobody’s 100 percent. If you’re hurt, you’re hurt. If you’re injured, you’re injured. There’s a difference for us. If you’re hurt, get your butt out there, no complaining, I don’t want to hear about … what’s hurt. Go out there and play. If you’re injured then yeah, get in the training room, do what you need to do. There’s a different mentality to it so we don’t really concern ourselves with who’s hurt, who’s injured because that’s not something we can control.”

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