First Half Observations: Vikings 13, Seahawks 0

Minnesota did an outstanding job of playing keep away from Russell Wilson in the first two quarters, holding onto the football for nearly 20 minutes during two long scoring drives to head into the locker room with a two-possession lead.

For the first time in this young 2020 season, the Seahawks have finally met their match offensively, failing to put any points on the scoreboard while falling behind 13-0 to the visiting Vikings on Sunday Night Football.

Under duress throughout the first half, Russell Wilson absorbed four sacks and finished with just 31 passing yards in the first half despite completing all six of his pass attempts. In total, Seattle was limited to 45 total yards on offense in a dominant first half performance by Minnesota, who held onto the football for more than 20 minutes and ran 25 more offensive plays thanks to a 17-carry, 65-yard first half by running back Dalvin Cook.

Here are some quick thoughts from the first half at CenturyLink Field:

1. Getting off the field continues to be problematic for Seattle.

The Vikings only converted three out of eight third down opportunities, but all three of those came on 3rd and 7 or longer. In two other cases, Minnesota converted on fourth down to continue each of its first two scoring drives while chewing up a ton of clock. All three of the Vikings scoring drives were at least 11 plays in length, including a final drive in two-minute drill to tack on a 46-yard field goal by Dan Bailey. Those kinds of drives gas a defense, particularly one like the Seahawks missing a few key players and struggling to slow down opponents in general. For Seattle to have any chance at coming back, the defense will need to generate some quick stops, slow down Cook, and hope the offense finds traction.

2. Being set behind the sticks killed all four of Seattle's drives.

Wilson hasn't thrown an incompletion yet, but he hasn't been able to find any receivers open downfield despite the Vikings entering Sunday ranked 30th overall in net yards per pass attempt. Weather conditions didn't help, as it rained throughout the first half. But most importantly, the Seahawks kept ending up in third and a country mile situations, thwarting a couple of promising drives. After the Vikings punched it in with Cook on the opening drive, Wilson promptly marched the Seahawks past midfield. But a false start and a sack on Wilson pushed them back to 3rd and 22 and they wound up punting. On the next drive, another sack set up the Seahawks with 2nd and 19 and they punted again. Then towards the end of the second half, back-to-back sacks by James Lynch and Yannick Ngakoue ruined a drive that started with excellent field position at the 40-yard line.

3. This feels like a game where Seattle might want to lean less on Wilson's cooking skills.

Seattle will need Wilson to connect on some explosive downfield throws in the second half to be able to stage a comeback. But to take pressure off of the star quarterback, offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer should steal a page from Minnesota's playbook and feed Chris Carson early and often. The standout back has only three carries, but he's picked up 13 yards and the Seahawks' offensive line should be able to create push at the line of scrimmage against a defense that had given up the eighth-most rushing yards in the NFL coming into this week. If Carson gets established, the play action game should be more effective and Wilson may be able to resume cooking.