Three things from the Seahawks’ 34-31 OT loss to the Rams

You win some, you learn some, which means there’s plenty to sift through after the Seahawks’ loss in St. Louis on Sunday:

Three things we learned:

Jimmy Graham wasn’t a one-man solution to Seattle’s red-zone struggles.

The good news was that Graham scored a touchdown in his first game for the Seahawks, a tidy little piece of work in which he was split wide, isolated atop the formation against a cornerback, whom he beat with an out route for a 7-yard scoring catch. The bad news was that was the only one of Seattle’s four drives inside St. Louis’ 20-yard line in which the Seahawks scored a touchdown. That continues what was a cause for concern a year ago when Seattle converted red-zone chances into touchdowns 58.7 percent of the time, ranking 20th in the league. Graham’s six catches for 51 yards constituted a promising beginning to his Seahawks’ career, but it should be noted that after he three quarters he caught two passes for 8 yards. Seattle needs to keep looking to him.

Turnovers aren’t always the silver bullet.

The Seahawks were +2 in turnover margin, recovering three St. Louis fumbles while committing only one turnover. Usually, that’s a recipe for victory – at least it has been under coach Pete Carroll. Seattle is 33-7 when it has a positive turnover margin, which makes the loss in St. Louis more alarming. The Seahawks achieved what is usually a prohibitive advantage in takeaways and still lost. It was only the third time in Carroll’s tenure the Seahawks lost a game with a turnover margin of +2 or better.

Special teams still have work to do.

No trick plays by the Rams. At least not this year, which makes the 75-yard punt return by Tavon Austin even more concerning. The Seahawks didn’t get tricked on that play. They got beat, allowing a punt to be returned for a touchdown for the fifth time in Pete Carroll’s six seasons and for the second straight year in St. Louis. Carroll said before the game that he believes this team has the personnel to make for the best special-teams units since he has been in Seattle. Sunday showed that’s more potential than reality, and while the botched kickoff to overtime will draw the headlines, the coverage remains a concern. Remember, this is a team that allowed 82 yards worth of punt returns over an entire season back in 2013.

Three things we’re still trying to figure out:

Did Russell Wilson play well or not?

That’s weird to ask. After all, he had the best completion percentage of any game in his NFL career, completing 32 of 41 passes. That’s also going to happen with a game plan that called for a lot of quick passes near the line of scrimmage. Wilson was picked off once, but he also threw a touchdown pass. But it was some of the passes he didn’t throw that were an issue because not every one of the six sacks Seattle gave up should be pinned to the offensive line. Some of those were on Wilson, who either needed to recognize pressure was coming or throw the ball sooner than he did. But most telling about this game was the lack of attempts to get the ball downfield. The deep ball is a strength of Wilson’s, and yet there was only one completion in the game that gained more than 20 yards. In fact, he averaged 7.8 yards per completion, his lowest in any game since entering the NFL.

Is Seattle going to accelerate its tempo on offense?

The Seahawks did that in the third quarter, jump-starting the offense by moving quickly between plays. In fact, they seemed to be doing it even in overtime when time really wasn’t a factor, speeding up to snap the ball with at least 15 seconds on the play clock for what turned out to be the decisive fourth-down play. The Seahawks had success speeding up the pace in 2011. Is it something Seattle will look to more consistently this season?

Where was Seattle’s pass rush?

The Rams were starting two rookies on the offensive line and had a new center, yet the Seahawks had just two sacks, one of those coming on Cary Williams’ corner blitz in the fourth quarter. Some of that was a result of St. Louis’ game plan, which called for Nick Foles to throw quickly, but after a preseason that showcased Seattle’s increased depth along the defensive line, it was disappointing the Seahawks weren’t able to apply more pressure.

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