Five questions for the Seahawks as the second half begins

It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.

One of Pete Carroll’s most recited messages applies not only individual games but to the season as a whole. With the second half of Seattle’s season underway, here are five questions that will determine whether or not the Seahawks can finish better than they started.

1. Have the Seahawks fixed their finishing issues?

Back-to-back wins over San Francisco and Dallas got Seattle back to .500 heading into the bye. The way the Seahawks closed out those games suggests they might have rediscovered the finishing touch that was missing over the first month and a half of the season. Seattle led in the fourth quarter in all four of its losses, including by more than one score against Cincinnati and Carolina. As much as the Seahawks’ defense was blamed for losing those leads, their offense failed to either extend them or at least hold onto the ball long enough to milk the clock. The Seahawks allowed a combined nine second-half points against San Francisco and Dallas. They only managed a field goal in the second halves of each of those games. But against Dallas, that field goal culminated a 17-play drive that gave Seattle a lead, took more than five and a half minutes off the clock and left the Cowboys with only 66 seconds. The defense has done its part to close out Seattle’s last two victories while the offense has done just enough.

2. Can Seattle reduce the sacks and hits on Russell Wilson?

The Seahawks are off to a good start in their attempt to do so. Last week’s win over Dallas marked the first time since Super Bowl XLVIII two seasons ago that Russell Wilson wasn’t sacked. He entered that game having been sacked a league-high 31 times, which put him on pace to approach the single season record of 76. Improved pass protection was one reason why Seattle was able to keep Wilson mostly upright against Dallas, but that was also the product of a game-plan that featured plenty of quick passes designed to get the ball out before the pass-rush could arrive. Carroll said avoiding negative plays in the passing game was more important than anything against Dallas, but that approach can come with a tradeoff. The quicker the throw, the less time a receiver has to get down-field in his route. It probably wasn’t a coincidence that Wilson completed only one pass of more than 20 yards and finished with a yards-per-attempt average of 7, his lowest since Week 2. The challenge for Seattle is finding a balance between avoiding sacks and still hitting on big plays in the passing game.

3. Will the takeaway trend get back to normal?

Carroll believes it’s a matter of when and not if Seattle’s takeaways and wins start to come back into alignment. During his first five seasons as Seattle’s coach, the Seahawks were 33-6 in games in which they finished ahead in turnover differential, i.e., they took the ball away from their opponent more times than they turned it over. Winning the turnover battle was a nearly automatic formula for a victory dating back to Carroll’s days at USC as well. But that trend has been turned upside down this season. Not only have the Seahawks lost all three games in which they’ve won the turnover battle, they’ve finished with a negative turnover differential in three of their four victories. Carroll has been at a loss trying to explain why such a consistent trend hasn’t held true this season, but he’s certain that won’t continue. “I expect it to change in the next instant right on the field,” he said. “I can’t think of it any other way. I don’t know what’s going on.”

4. Will Marshawn Lynch get going?

The Seahawks rank third in the NFL in rushing at just under 140 yards per game despite getting less-than-expected production from Marshawn Lynch. He’s rushed for 375 yards and two scores, having missed two full games and most of another with injuries. Most telling is his 3.6 yards-per-attempt average, which is 41st among qualified rushers this season and more than a half-yard below his career mark. So what’s the issue? In some games, he hasn’t appeared to have much room to run, and Carroll has acknowledged that as being part of the issue. But it’s hard to blame Lynch’s slow start entirely on poor run-blocking when rookie Thomas Rawls has found success behind the same offensive line while filling in.

5. Can Seattle start converting in the red zone?

The Seahawks are dead-last in the NFL in red-zone offense, scoring touchdowns on only 29.41 percent of their trips inside the opposition’s 20-yard line. The next-worse team, San Francisco, has been nearly 10 percent better, which illustrates just how hard a time Seattle has had converting red-zone tips to touchdowns this season. This qualifies as a surprise and a disappointment for an offense that has a powerful running back in Lynch and a 6-foot-7 tight end in Jimmy Graham, who had averaged 11.5 touchdowns over the last four seasons. Those two have combined for only four touchdowns this season, and one of Graham’s scores came from 30 yards away. The Seahawks need to start converting more often in the red zone, which they have the weapons to do.

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