Three Things (Plus a Little More) to Know About Seahawks
The Tennessee Titans and Seattle Seahawks don’t end up on opposite sidelines often, but in recent years both have finished in the upper reaches of the standings with remarkable regularity.
They are, in fact, two of three NFL franchises that have finished with a winning record in each of the last five seasons or more. Seattle has the longest current streak with nine winning seasons, and Tennessee is third with five in a row (Kansas City is second with six).
Sunday, they match up at Lumen Field (3:25 p.m., CDT), where they have played just twice previously (each side has one victory) in Seattle’s first home game of 2021 and Tennessee’s first on the road.
Here are some things to know about the Seahawks (1-0).
Russell Wilson’s next win will be his 100th as a starting quarterback. If it happens in this game – or at any other point this season – Wilson will join Peyton Manning as the only quarterbacks in NFL history to win at least 100 games in their first 10 seasons. If it is this game, he will be the third-fastest to 100 wins, in terms of games played, behind only Tom Brady and Joe Montana.
Wilson, who has started every contest for the Seahawks since he entered the league, is 99-45-1 and never has had a losing season.
“For me, the biggest thing is to keep going and keep winning, that’s what the game is about,” Wilson said. “Anything else is not in my mindset so every day I wake up it’s to win, help our team win, provide, have great habits in our approach, and do things at the highest level possible.”
The Titans are not the only team in this game with a new offensive coordinator. Seattle hired Shane Waldron in the offseason to replace Brian Schottenheimer, who was fired after three seasons in that role. Unlike Tennessee’s Todd Downing, who was an offensive coordinator for one season with the Raiders (2017), Waldron never had called plays before last Sunday, when Seattle beat Indianapolis 28-16.
Waldron, 42, was the Los Angeles Rams’ passing game coordinator for the previous two seasons and broke into coaching as an assistant with the New England Patriots in 2008.
“It’s been a dream of mine and it’s lived up to any expectations you might have of what it means,” Waldron said. “There are going to be different highs and lows throughout the season. It started off well but that doesn’t mean a whole lot going into this week.”
Seattle has one of the NFL’s top 10 active players in career sacks. Carlos Dunlap II is not going to get to 100 this week – if he does it will be a real disaster for the Titans – but the fact that he is ninth among active players with 87.5 career sacks is notable given what happened last week, when Chandler Jones blew past 100 and into second place on that list with five sacks.
Dunlap spent 10-plus seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals before he was traded to Seattle last October and is one of just two players with at least six sacks each of the last nine seasons. He has sacked Ryan Tannehill three times in his career. Of the 52 different quarterbacks he has sacked in his career, there are only for he against whom he has gotten more.
“We really feel like (the defensive line) is the strength of our unit,” defensive coordinator Ken Norton said. “We have so many good players at that position. It’s important for us to have a good rotation and keep everybody fresh and playing at a high level.”
Quick hits: In stark contrast to the Titans, Seattle enjoys consistency with its placekicker. Jason Myers has made 35 straight field goals, a franchise record. … Seattle has won its last 12 home-openers, the longest current streak in the league. The average score of those games was 24.5-10.3. … Running back Chris Carson has 12 100-yard rushing performances since the start of 2018, fifth-most over that span. Derrick Henry, with 18, has the most.
