Saturday, October 1, 2011

Seahawks Looking to Make It Two in a Row

By Wyatt Lyles
The Seahawks will be taking on the Atlanta Falcons tomorrow afternoon in Seattle. Coming off of last week's win over the Cardinals, hopefully the Seahawks can use that momentum to make it two in a row. 

Quite frankly, this is just about the best time that we could be facing the Falcons. So far this season, they just haven't looked like the same team that had the best record in the NFC this past season. They're also 1-2, and have played some sloppy football thus far. This is definitely a game that I think the Seahawks can win. 

Last week, the defense went out there and gave another impressive performance. The run defense was firing on all cylinders with Red Bryant back to his old self. The pass rush also did well with Chris Clemons and Leroy Hill knocking guys around left and right to get to the QB. It was an awesome thing to watch. The guys back in the secondary looked great as well. Earl Thomas made several nice plays throughout the game, as did Kam Chancellor, who had the game-sealing interception with about a minute left in the game. Brandon Browner also looked pretty good out there, and performed better than most expected while matched up with Larry Fitzgerald. 

Overall, the defense played very well last and that will be the key to winning again tomorrow. If the defense can play like they did last week, this is a very winnable game. Putting some pressure on Matt Ryan to force to make mistakes and create turnovers will be big. 

While the defense will be able to keep us in the game, the offense needs to pick up the slack. Granted, they did score last week, but it came from an 11-yard run from Tarvaris Jackson. Not that this is a bad thing, but someone else should be scoring touchdowns for this team. And 13 points a week will not get you a win against most teams. 

The run game did vastly improve last week, they need to translate this into touchdowns. We need to see a running back get a rushing touchdown, which has yet to happen thus far. In addition to that, we need to see another passing touchdown from Jackson. He did have two back in week one, but he hasn't had one yet. Hopefully the return and continued presence of Sidney Rice will help on that account. 

Looking at injuries, the Seahawks don't have too many at this point. There is one key injury that could have an impact on tomorrow's game, though. Kam Chancellor is doubtful with a "deep thigh bruise." If he can't go, that means Atari Bigby would most likely get the start in his place. Nothing against Bigby, but I don't think that he'll be as good as Kam has been so far this season. I'm ready to proven wrong, though. Also doubtful is CB Byron Maxwell (ankle). OT Jarriel King (ankle), FB Mike Robinson (ankle), and LB Matt McCoy (shoulder/head) are all probable for the game. 

This is a game that I really believe the Seahawks can win. The Falcons aren't doing all that great so far this season, and while the Seahawks aren't doing amazing, I think they're improving. For them to win this game, the offense needs to continue to get a rhythm going. If they can't do that, they won't win this game. I think that they will, though, so I think the Seahawks win this one and go to .500 on the season. 

Seahawks 20 - Falcons 14

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