The only thing consistent about the Seattle Seahawks right now is their startling inconsistency.
And the inconsistency isn’t just on a game-by-game basis at this point. It can change from half to half as well.
The Seahawks haven’t won consecutive games since early November. Saturday’s loss to the Arizona Cardinals has cost the team a chance to control its own destiny in earning a first-round bye and the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs. But more importantly, the Seahawks can look completely incapable of playing high quality football one minute and then play to a significantly higher level the next.
“I don’t think it’s alarming. It’s just what we’re working with,” head coach Pete Carroll said on Monday. “Obviously it’s going to be really difficult to expect us to play a great game until we do. You want to see that. I know that’s what you’re waiting for but we’re counting on our guys being able to play off of one another, play off the defense and how they’re playing and special teams and put together good games.”
Seattle’s offense was a train wreck in the first half on Saturday. The offensive line was about as effective as five blocking dummies standing in the way of Arizona’s defensive line. Russell Wilson was sacked five times in the first half as the Seahawks managed just 93 yards of offense in the first half, 92 of which came in the second quarter. Seattle also was unable to get in the end zone despite seven plays inside Arizona’s 10-yard line.
“We just couldn’t get started. We struggled in every aspect of it it seemed. It starts up front. We just weren’t playing effectively,” Carroll said. “… From the start of the third quarter on, we were in sync and sharp and productive and physical and we came out and didn’t get that done in the first half.”
The second half was a completely different story as Seattle gained 298 yards after the intermission. Wilson tossed four touchdown passes and was sacked just once as the Seahawks rallied to tie with a minute left to play before Arizona won the game on a field goal at the buzzer.
“It was one way and then it wasn’t, so it was there to be had,” Carroll said. “It’s there to be done properly and well and all of that. The last two weeks both show that. The numbers in the second half of the last two games, we’ve put up (490) yards and 42 points. In the first halves of those games, we’ve put up 13 points and 200 yards so it’s pretty clear that we’ve got something that we can latch onto here. We need to get it cleaned up.”
December is usually the month when Seattle hits its stride and surges into the playoffs. For the first time in the last five seasons, the Seahawks are stumbling to the finish line.