{"id":24225,"date":"2015-10-08T08:04:33","date_gmt":"2015-10-08T15:04:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/seattles-offensive-line-inconsistent-so-far\/"},"modified":"2015-10-08T08:04:33","modified_gmt":"2015-10-08T15:04:33","slug":"seattles-offensive-line-inconsistent-so-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/seattles-offensive-line-inconsistent-so-far\/","title":{"rendered":"Seattle’s offensive line inconsistent so far"},"content":{"rendered":"

RENTON, Wash. <\/strong>\u2014 There was no question before the regular season began that the Seattle Seahawks\u2019 weakness was going to be on the offensive line.<\/p>\n

A quarter of the way through the season that weakness is bordering on crippling, leaving quarterback Russell Wilson scrambling for safety at times and getting hit far more often than the Seahawks would like.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to be more consistent. That\u2019s our key is to be consistent in the run game and pass game and protect (Russell Wilson),\u201d Seattle center Drew Nowak said. \u201cHe can\u2019t be getting hit as much as he is now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last Monday\u2019s 13-10 victory over Detroit could become a tipping point in just how long the Seahawks can last with an offensive line struggling to this level. Wilson was sacked six times and Detroit recorded 10 quarterback hits. And while the offensive line isn\u2019t completely at fault for all those sacks and hits, Wilson is being left too exposed.<\/p>\n

Wilson has been sacked 18 times through four games, tied for the most in the league and on pace for 72 over 16 games. The last time a quarterback was sacked more than 60 times in a season was Jon Kitna with Detroit in 2006. Only two quarterbacks have ever been sacked more than 70 times: Randall Cunningham in 1986 with Philadelphia and David Carr in 2002 with Houston.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re taking sacks at an alarming rate right now and we can improve it,\u201d Seattle offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell said. \u201cIt\u2019s really in a lot of areas. You can\u2019t really pin it on one group, one person.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bevell said while the attention is placed mostly on the offensive line, there is responsibility on the receivers to get open and Wilson to get the ball out on time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had some issues again and it wasn\u2019t any one guy, it was stuff happened,\u201d Seattle coach Pete Carroll said. \u201cAnd we had to help them more. The reality of it is there is a lot of things that enter into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

There won\u2019t be changes on the offensive line this week. An overhaul would be difficult on a short week with the Seahawks facing another stiff challenge in unbeaten Cincinnati on Sunday and offensive line coach Tom Cable said inconsistency would need to continue in multiple areas for changes to be made.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has always been a work in progress and I said when they get it they\u2019re going to be good and that hasn\u2019t changed,\u201d Cable said.<\/p>\n

Seattle put itself in this position by missing on some high draft picks and deciding to develop their line through late draft picks and undrafted free agents. Consider that three of the five starting offensive linemen for the Seahawks were either late-round picks or undrafted, and those three \u2014 J.R. Sweezy, Drew Nowak and Garry Gilliam \u2014 all switched positions either late in college or once they reached the pros. Nowak and Sweezy were defensive linemen in college.<\/p>\n

Then came the trade in the offseason that brought tight end Jimmy Graham to Seattle and sent center Max Unger back to New Orleans. <\/p>\n

Unger was a veteran who knew all the calls and had played enough to recognize various defensive looks. That institutional knowledge was gone after Unger was replaced by Nowak, who had never started a game at center until Week 1, coupled with Justin Britt moving from right tackle to left guard.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery game it\u2019s gotten better, our communication has gotten better inside out,\u201d Britt said. \u201cI know Drew\u2019s been talking really well, communicating really well, which a center needs to. It\u2019s just to make sure we\u2019re on the same page as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n

NOTES: Carroll said RB Marshawn Lynch\u2019s status won\u2019t be known until later in the week as he continues to recover from a hamstring injury. Lynch went through an extensive running workout before Monday\u2019s game against Detroit. \u201cHe did make a lot of progress last week,\u201d Carroll said. … DT Brandon Mebane is expected to play against Cincinnati after sitting out last week with a groin injury. … CB Marcus Burley will have surgery Thursday after suffering a broken thumb against Detroit. DeShawn Shead will likely be Seattle\u2019s third cornerback if Burley is out.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com\/AP_NFL<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RENTON, Wash. \u2014 There was no question before the regular season began that the Seattle Seahawks\u2019 weakness was going to be on the offensive line. A quarter of the way through the season that weakness is bordering on crippling, leaving quarterback Russell Wilson scrambling for safety at times and getting hit far more often than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-24225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24225\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24225"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=24225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}