Seahawks are already cooked in the NFC West with or without Russell Wilson | Launderer report

Russell Wilson chose a hell of a time to be human.

Without a doubt, the biggest scenario in Seattle’s 26-17 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday night was the dislocated finger that forced the Seahawks quarterback out of the game in the second half.

To say this is a serious injury (even if it’s a minor injury) is an understatement. If the 32-year-old superstar is sidelined for a while, Seattle is baked in the toughest division in the NFL.

Having said that, here’s the thing. The Seahawks are already cooked in the NFC West. They won’t close a two-game gap with the Rams (with a head-to-head loss). Or a three-game gap with the division-leading Arizona Cardinals.

The Seahawks are in the NFC West. Not because of Wilson’s finger.

Because their defense stinks.

The moment everyone will be talking about happened around the middle of the third trimester. While shooting a deep pass that was almost a long touchdown to Tyler Lockett, Wilson’s hand hit Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald.

The result was a finger on Wilson’s hand that was left pointed in a way the fingers would not normally point.

Wilson would try to give it a go with a wrapped finger, but after another streak he gave way to Geno Smith.

This is where fans will rationalize that if Wilson hadn’t fallen, the Seahawks could have come back and won the game. Russell Wilson owns Thursday night football, after all. He would have put on his cape and led the Seahawks to a victory from behind.

But that last part is the problem. Wilson has to be Superman pretty much every week for Seattle to win games. For what it’s worth, Smith wasn’t that great. Yes, he threw the pickaxe to seal the match. But Smith was 10 of 17 for 131 yards and led Seattle on a 98-yard touchdown.

Not bad for a guy whose last significant NFL gaming action came in 2017.

Smith was not the problem. Nor was the fact that Alex Collins had to replace injured Chris Carson, although he only managed 3.1 yards per carry.

The problem was, Seattle’s defense was horrible, again.

Prior to Week 5, there wasn’t a team in the league allowing more yards per game than the 444.5 the Seahawks were giving up. Seattle allowed the fifth most passing yards per game (292.5) and the most rushing yards per game (152.0). The Seahawks had nine sacks and four takeaways in the first four games while allowing the opponents to convert on 40% of their third downs.

Before a week 4 meeting with the rival 49ersSeattle defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. insisted to reporters that all his defense really needed was time.

“Defense is chemistry, it’s emotion, it’s technique,” ​​Norton said. “It’s all of those things that come together. So guys have to get used to playing together.”

Then the Seattle defense gave up 457 yards to a 49ers team that had rookie quarterback Trey Lance in the first extended playing action of their professional career. Once again, the writing was on the wall. Seattle’s defense was terrible.

That handwriting was splashed with seven-foot-tall neon green letters all over Lumen Field against the Rams.

Despite a bad finger, quarterback Matthew Stafford had 25 of 37 passes for 365 yards against the porous Seattle high school. Wide receivers Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods did whatever they wanted, combining 19 catches for 242 yards.

The Seattle Pass Rush? There were none. One sack and three QB hits. The safety of Seahawks superstar Jamal Adams? Abused in coverage, as has been the case with far too much regularity in 2021.

Darrell Henderson Jr. and Sony Michel combined to rush for 119 yards and a pair of touchdowns. As a team, the Rams amassed 476 yards of attack and averaged 7.1 yards per game.

These are not new problems either. At the start of the 2020 season, the Seahawks fielded a historically terrible defense. And as StatMuse pointed out, this is again déjà vu.

This year, the odds of a second half “rebound” in 2020 are not as good. Because John Gilbert wrote to Field Gulls last week, last year’s improvement was a mirage born from facing bad quarterbacks.

Of Seattle’s last nine games in 2020, there’s exactly one quarterback (Arizona’s Kyler Murray) who’s still on the same team this season. The Seahawks didn’t play any better. They played against worse.

This year’s NFC West is not a division with an injury-ravaged 49ers squad collapsing the Cardinals squad and the Rams-limited quarterback squad. The Niners had a high yardage season against Seattle a week ago. The Cardinals are the last undefeated team in the league. The Rams just beat the Seahawks in Seattle.

Never mind the next non-divisional clashes in Pittsburgh and Green Bay.

Defense isn’t Seattle’s only problem, either. With Carson sidelined by a “long-term” neck injury, the Seahawks were held up to less than 100 yards on the ground. Seattle entered Week 18 in a rush, which was one of the factors contributing to the ranking of the team last in possession of the ball.

If the Seahawks don’t have the ball, the other team has it, and that terrible defense is being cut.

The offensive line isn’t great, but it’s not great either. We are indeed back to where we were a year ago. Wilson must carry the whole team on his shoulders.

Only now he has to do it in a brutal split. With a broken finger.

There will be those who laugh at this as Chicken Little-ing. Wilson will be back soon, maybe even next week. Seattle won’t face a team with a winning record until it heads to Lambeau Field on November 14. Russell Wilson has missed the playoffs only once in nine seasons. He’s not about to start now.

But it’s not panic. It’s reality. The Seahawks were exposed as a rotten defensive football team (again) on Thursday. There might be a bandage for Wilson’s finger, but there is no bandage to cover this mess.

Seattle has no chance of winning NFC West. With that defense, he could miss the playoffs altogether.

And if so, the next offseason might make this last one look like a picnic.