Seahawks Insider: Offense drops the ball on first-half opportunities

It wasn’t hard for coach Pete Carroll to put a finger on the biggest problem for Seattle’s offense.

It was a matter of securing it with both hands that seemed to be the issue for the Seahawks.

“We didn’t catch the ball as well as we normally do,” Carroll said. “We gave away a couple touchdowns early that would have really been the whole difference in this football game.”

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Those two potential scoring plays occurred in the first quarter. On Seattle’s first drive, Seattle had second-and-goal at the San Francisco 7 and Russell Wilson threw a quick slant to C.J. Prosise only to have the ball go through Prosise’s hands and bounce off his face-mask just before he was hit. It was a tough catch, but one Prosise could have – and probably should have – made at about the 3-yard line. There’s no guarantee Prosise would have scored, but it would have been close.

The second drop was more clear-cut, and it came on the Seahawks’ next possession. Facing third-and-goal from the San Francisco 9, Wilson threw a pass to Tanner McEvoy who couldn’t make the leaping grab.

So if you’re wondering why the Seahawks didn’t score more than six points despite running 45 plays on offense in the first half and controlling the ball for more than 20 minutes, wonder no more, said the coach.

“We missed the touchdown pass,” he said. “And we missed the touchdown pass. So that’s 14 points right there that would have made a difference so unfortunately that’s it. What’s the mystery to it? There’s no mystery to it.

“We have to catch the football better than that.”

It wasn’t just the points that those plays cost the Seahawks, but the impact it had on the offense’s rhythm. Wilson threw six straight incompletions in the third quarter.

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