Seattle Seahawks 'not playing like a Super Bowl contender' offensively

The staff at NFL.com came up with its game takeaways from Week 15. At Lumen Field on Sunday, the Seattle Seahawks edged the Indianapolis Colts, 18-16. It was the fourth straight win for Mike Macdonald’s club, and by a combined 111-49 score. However, coordinator Klint Kubiak’s unit has been a bit erratic in the team’s last two games.

“For the second straight week,” explained Bobby Kownack, “Seattle went into halftime with six points. On their first such occurrence, the Seahawks exploded for 31 second-half points to blow out the Falcons. It was tougher sledding against the Colts, but they still got the job done for an 18-16 victory despite being kept out of the end zone all day. Kenneth Walker III disappeared with just 1.9 yards per carry.”

In their wins over Atlanta (37-9) and Indianapolis (18-16), Seattle’s offense has reached the end zone three times while Jason Myers has connected on all nine of his field goal attempts. Still, a win is a win.

“Sam Darnold's stat line was clean,” added Kownack regarding the hard-earned win over the Colts. “He threw for 271 yards on 22-of-36 passing for an 84.4 passer rating, but he seemed especially out of sorts early on. He was also very lucky his second-quarter fumble went out of bounds instead of setting up the Colts in the red zone. Still, he made the plays he needed in crunch time, leading three straight fourth-quarter field-goal drives of 66, 82 and 25 yards, with each of the last two giving Seattle a lead…”

"(Jason) Myers made a remarkable six field goals,” said Kownack, “including a 56-yard game-winner, which was his fourth from 46 yards or more. Those boots delivered the Seahawks a win, but it’ll be an uneasy one heading into Thursday night against the Rams. Seattle has not played like a Super Bowl contender offensively in six of its past eight quarters.”

Thursday night’s rematch with the Rams at Seattle should be fascinating. In the 21-19 loss at SoFi Stadium in a game in which Darnold was picked off four times, the ‘Hawks scored only one touchdown while Myers connected on four of his five field goal attempts. It’s likely going to take a big offensive effort from the Seahawks to knock off Sean McVay’s club, which has scored at least 23 points in each of their three losses this season.

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