The Seattle Seahawks came into Sunday's Week 8 matchup against the Atlanta Falcons with a determination to bounce back from last week's disappointing loss to the Baltimore Ravens. As they failed to contain Lamar Jackson last week, as the young quarterback rushed for 116 yards, the Seahawks were in for an entirely new battle this week facing Matt Schaub, yes, that Matt Schaub.
Although they were able to move to 6-2 on the season and stay amongst the NFC best, Seattle did not do so in convincing fashion as the Falcons were able to make a game of it late and could have been on their way to tying the game if they were to recover that onside kick.
Here are three takeaways from Seattle's Week 8 victory:
1. The secondary had another rough day
Coming in, it was no secret as to where Seattle struggled most on the defensive side of the ball. During their last three-game stretch, the Seahawks have given up an average of 277.7 passing yards per game and rank 27th in the league in that same department. However it was destined to pick up this week with Matt Schaub starting under center for the injured Matt Ryan, at least that is what most thought.
The 38-year-old quarterback, who had not started a game since 2015, torched the Seattle secondary for 460 yards. In fact, Schaub led all quarterbacks in passing yards during Week 8, and did so with nearly 100 yards more than the next closest QB. The defensive backs really let the Seahawks down on Sunday as they were lucky to escape Atlanta with a win after that kind of performance.
In order to compete with the top teams in the NFC Seattle must fix these issues because as great as Russell Wilson is, he won't be able to keep up if his defense is letting up 460 passing yards.
2. Tyler Lockett is as reliable as it gets
Many felt that the loss of Doug Baldwin would really hurt a Seattle team that didn't have that many reliable receiving options outside of the Stanford product. This season, Tyler Lockett has morphed into the faster, younger and newer version Doug Baldwin for Seattle.
Sunday saw Wilson throw the ball only 20 times with 14 of those being completed. Nearly half of those completions went to Lockett as the receiver caught every ball that came his way. Lockett totaled 100 receiving yards with six catches but these kinds of outings have been normal for the 27-year-old. When a scrambling Wilson has been in desperate need of a receiver to get open, it has been Lockett who has been that guy.
The Kansas State product has given everything that Seattle has asked from him and more.
3. Chris Carson is still eating up yards
Seattle did not venture off from their identity of being one of the run heaviest offenses in the league. They fed Chris Carson the ball 20 times as he was able to gobble up 90 yards and a touchdown. Although the back did not reach 100 rushing yards, as he did for three straight games before Week 7, he was effective enough on the ground to average 4.50 yards per carry.
Carson has been a work-horse back for Seattle and continues to be relied upon when it comes to picking up chunk yards in this and short situations. Carson has been as important to this offense as anyone not named Russell Wilson and the Seahawks will need him to continue that kind of production going forward.
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