Seattle Seahawks are promising but not better than Kansas City Chiefs

The Kansas City Chiefs take to the road to face Seattle this week, but a Seahawks expert says the team is not yet experienced or exciting enough to beat K.C.

Which version of the Seattle Seahawks is to be believed?

Last Sunday, the Seahawks laid an egg against the San Francisco 49ers—a team they’d not only beaten two weeks prior by 27 points but also a team expected to vie for an early draft pick next April.

Before that, however, the Seahawks had reeled off 8 wins in 11 games, a streak that flummoxed experts who assumed that Pete Carroll’s team was too inexperienced to cause any real damage in 2018. This is a team dismantling the Legion of Boom and enduring a rebuild. Yet somehow they’re also in control of their own playoff destiny.

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Given how hard it is to get a good read on this Seahawks team, we asked Lee Vowell, an expert from 12th Man Rising, just what he thinks about the team’s chances in Week 16 against the Kansas City Chiefs. Even at home in primetime, it turns out there’s a limit to the optimism in the Pacific Northwest.

The Seahawks have enjoyed a nice surge as of late. Just how good do you think this roster’s ceiling is?

I think the Seahawks are exceeding expectations this season simply because most people weren’t sure what to expect from this roster. Some parts we knew were good, like Russell Wilson and Bobby Wagner. What we weren’t sure of was how good the younger players would be.

Rookie corner Tre Flowers still has learning to do but is far better than one would have thought so early in his career, for instance. In fact, he may be Seattle’s best corner already. And because of players like Flowers, Chris Carson and Tedric Thompson, the Seahawks do have a high ceiling. But that ceiling will not be reached in 2018.

I still expect some rookie and second-year player mistakes to happen and they could come this week against Andy Reid‘s Chiefs. Reid will expose any weaknesses in Seattle’s young defense.

What have you learned about Pete Carroll this year that you didn’t know before?

Carroll has been around so long it may be difficult to learn anything new about him, but the team’s success this year has reinforced just how good of a coach he is. That is especially true with young defensive players. Carroll can mold players to fit his style of defense and do it quickly.

I have no doubts that Seattle’s defense is only as solid as it is because of Carroll. Few coaches could have done what he has done with so many rookies and second-year guys starting on defense. That said, he still does weird things with clock management near the ends of halves and games that make fans scratch their heads.

How tough was the loss to the Niners last week? Do you think that derailed the momentum that had developed?

It was a strange game. I could be a poor sport and blame a lot of the loss on the officiating, which was atrocious, but to be honest the 49ers just seemed better prepared for the game than did the Seahawks. I don’t think the loss halts momentum. I also do not think a loss this week against the Chiefs would either. A lot of this team may be so young that they are not yet aware of how much better they are than people thought they would be this season.

Seattle needs one more win to clinch their spot in the playoffs. Actually, a Seattle win would be more important against the Cardinals in the final week of the season than a win would be this Sunday, oddly enough. If this team can make the playoffs, anything can happen if they play well enough defensively.

What’s the Achilles heel for the Seahawks?

Seattle’s Achilles heel is a true lack of pass rush from any players other than Frank Clark or Jarran Reed. This is the biggest concern I have going up against the Chiefs. If Patrick Mahomes can simply sit back and choose whom he throws to the game will be a blowout. Reed will get interior pressure; He is too good for any team to really control all game. But Clark can be limited. I think the Chiefs scheme for this and have a big day offensively.

Any predictions on the final outcome?

I have hopes that Seattle can run the ball effectively against the Chiefs and use some play-action for Wilson to throw downfield to Tyler Lockett and Doug Baldwin. I don’t have high hopes, though, that Seattle’s defense will not give up a lot of points.

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Seattle will score if Wilson plays really well and keeps Seattle in the game until the fourth quarter. Of course, if Wilson has a bad first half then the Chiefs will win by three touchdowns or more. Either way, I can’t see Kansas City not winning on Sunday in Seattle.

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