After three weeks of football, Seattle Seahawks fans may be wondering what an airline ticket to Tampa in February costs (By the way, it is about $312 roundtrip). That would be a small price to pay to watch your team play in the Super Bowl. Am I getting ahead of myself here? Absolutely. But are the Seahawks playing like a team that wants to play in the title game again? Absolutely.
3-0 is the record of the team that has blown up every defense they have faced and battled it out to the last minute in their first three contests. Last week was no different as Seattle had a Texas-style shootout with the Dallas Cowboys that came down to the last few minutes and a few clutch passes by Russell Wilson to once again pull off a win. Before we jump into their matchup against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, let’s quickly review the Cowboys game.
The Good
This one seems pretty easy to spot. The Seahawks look like they’re running a five-star restaurant that is headed up by the chef himself, Russell Wilson week after week. Fans wanted the Hawks to “Let Russ Cook” and that is exactly what he has done. Through three weeks, he is the clear-cut MVP favorite and he wowed America against the Cowboys. He had over 300 yards passing, five touchdowns through the air, no interceptions, a QBR of over 130 and completed 65% of his passes. He would have had another score on his sheet had D.K. Metcalf did not have a bonehead decision and walked into the endzone.
Wilson and Metcalf found each other again later however for the game-winning touchdown. Wilson is making magic through the air with big plays. He is completing 75% of his passes that are thrown 10 yards or more, best in the National Football League. We have not seen the iteration of Russ and it’s been a nightmare for opposing teams. Not to mention, Wilson is now leaning on Tyler Lockett more than ever. The wide receiver hauled in nine catches for 100 yards and three touchdowns in the win.
The Bad
The defense is not playing very well and that is a major concern. Now when I say “not playing very well” I mean that the defense is currently allowing the most yards per game in the entire National Football League. They have allowed the seventh most points in the NFC and are allowing 28 points per game. Maybe that has been the motivation for Wilson but the Hawks have to shore up this defense if they want to be considered legitimate contenders. The Rams, Cardinals and 49ers all have offenses that can be explosive.
What’s even worse is the fact that the Seahawks lost Jamal Adams in the game against Dallas and he may not be ready to go against the Dolphins. Adams injured his groin and looked to be in serious pain when he stood on the sideline for the remainder of the Cowboys game. Here is what Pete Carrol said about him on Wednesday.
“He’s pretty sore. I just talked to him a little while ago, he’s pretty sore right now. We’ll just keep going day to day and see what happens. He’s in massive treatments to try to accelerate the return and all that. I wouldn’t put anything past him that he couldn’t pull off. At this point, he’s working really hard at it, and we’ll see what happens. We don’t know enough to tell you about the weekend at this time.”
The other bad part of Sunday’s game was the absolute bonehead move that D.K. Metcalf pulled. Instead of hustling into the endzone, Metcalf was relaxed and tried to walk in. Of course, the ball was knocked out of his hands, went straight through the back of the endzone and was called a touchback. Had he not redeemed himself later in the game, he would be facing much more criticism from the 12th Man this week.
“It’s a terrible play, it really is because he has a touchdown just finish it off, and he started celebrating too early,”Carroll stated in his post-game press conference. “We celebrate in the paint is what we talk about. This is something we talk about all the time, and so it really hurt that we weren’t able to execute there.
The Miami Dolphins
The Dolphins are coming in with plenty of rest as they faced the Jacksonville Jaguars last Thursday night and picked up their first win of the season in the process. They have the upper hand on the injury and rest front which is a bit concerning but nothing that I see being overwhelming for the Hawks.
The Dolphins haven’t looked any better than the teams the Seahawks have already beat this season and in fact, they lost to the New England Patriots in week one, the team the Hawks beat in week two.
The key to their win last Thursday was finally getting some points on the board. Ryan Fitzpatrick contributed for three touchdowns, two in the air and one on the ground. And wide receiver Devante Parker had his biggest game of the season.
But there were also some obvious holes that the Seahawks can target. The Fins let James Robinson, the Jags running back, have a huge game through the air and on the ground. He contributed 129 total yards and two touchdowns. If Chris Carson is healthy, look for him to get a ton of work out of the backfield catching passes.
Three Keys
Keep Russ Cooking: Sometimes when a game plan is working so well, coaches like to surprise their opponents and switch it up. Now is not the time for that. Wilson is putting up career numbers every single game, now is not the time to try something different.
Stop Myles Gaskin: It appears that the Dolphins have found their new feature back. Opponents are averaging 66.7 yards per game against the Seahawks, second in the NFL. If they can wrap up Gaskin early, expect the Dolphins to put too much pressure on Fitzpatrick to score through the air.
Secondary Steps Up: This is important every game but the Hawks have been terrible in the secondary this season and a big game here could really help motivate them heading into the middle of the season. They need big plays and big turnovers quickly if they plan to develop like they thought before the season began.
My Prediction
I’m really not concerned about the Dolphins in this game, but won’t underestimate a team that has had over a week of rest to prepare for the undefeated Seahawks. Seattle comes into the game as 6.5 point favorites. I like them to cover that.
Seahawks 32, Dolphins 17
