What we learned from Seattle’s division-clinching win

The Seahawks are one of four teams to have clinched a playoff berth. They are assured at least one home game and are two wins away from earning a first-round bye, yet plenty of questions remain about this team’s postseason trajectory.

With that in mind, here’s an accounting of what we know about this team, and what we’re still trying to figure out:

I. What we learned

1. Russell Wilson has to be more careful with the football.
The question of why Wilson has been picked off a career-high 11 times this season has a bunch of potential explanations. But before anyone cites injury, remember that he was intercepted only twice over the first 10 games, which is the timeframe when he was most limited. When Wilson was “just nuts,” according to Pete Carroll, and threw a jump ball late in the second half of last Thursday’s victory only to have it intercepted by Alec Ogletree, it was the ninth time in four games an opponent has picked off Wilson. If he’s not more careful with his passes, Seattle’s playoff run is going to be a short one. The Seahawks’ lack of a run game means they absolutely must be more careful with the ball.

2. The scars from the Super Bowl loss remain.
They don’t just linger in the background. Sometimes they’re raw and right at the surface. Like when Seattle attempted a pass on first-and-goal from the 1 in the third quarter last week. It wasn’t a rational response for Richard Sherman to start shouting at his head coach on the bench. It was emotional. So was the fact that offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell shouted back after the Seahawks scored on a pass from the Rams’ 1-yard line on third down. Even after the game, when Sherman sat in front of his locker to talk about how he’s not comfortable when his team throws from the 1, the pain from that interception in the Super Bowl is something that’s a part of this team and speaks to a tension in the locker room over the decisions that coaches have made.

3. Tyler Lockett will be one of Seattle’s most important players down the stretch.
Jermaine Kearse still started Thursday’s game against the Rams, but only because the Seahawks began the game in a three-receiver offensive set. Lockett was the one paired with Doug Baldwin when the Seahawks had only two receivers out there. The fact that he scored on a 57-yard touchdown catch underscored the big-play potential he brings, and with the run game remaining utterly inconsistent, Seattle’s big-play ability might be the biggest difference he can bring to the offense.

II. What we’re still trying to figure out
1. Will the lack of a running game hold the Seahawks back in the playoffs?
Seattle’s running game is painfully unreliable. It shows in the fact that Jon Ryan carried once on Thursday for 26 yards on Seattle’s fake punt while Thomas Rawls ran the ball 21 times and got just 34 yards. The most telling stat about this Seahawks’ season is that 89 of their 351 rushes this season failed to gain any yards. That’s incredible. That’s more than one out of every four rushes that goes for 0 yards or fewer, which explains why Seattle’s offensive possessions tend to short-circuit like they do. The question isn’t whether Seattle is going to suddenly start running the ball better. The question is whether the Seahawks can win in the playoffs in spite of the recurring inability to run the ball at all.

2. Why have the takeaways dried up for Seattle’s defense?
After 12 games, Seattle had forced six more turnovers than it committed. After 14 games, the Seahawks have now committed one more turnover than they’ve forced. That’s a huge swing, and it speaks to Seattle’s declining ability to force turnovers from its opponents. Through 14 games, Seattle has 16 takeaways, which puts them on pace for the fewest in any season under Carroll. What makes that especially confusing is that Seattle’s pass rush has been better than it was a year ago, and you would think that would goose the takeaway total. That hasn’t been the case as Seattle forced 23 turnovers a year ago.

3. Is Seattle ever going to settle on an offensive line combination this season?
The fact that Garry Gilliam entered the game at right tackle in the fourth quarter after being inactive for the past two games speaks to the fact that this line is still a work in progress. Throw in the fact that there are two rookies starting in Germain Ifedi and George Fant, and the lack of experience and continuity up front makes it harder to understand why the Seahawks ever thought this would work this season.

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