Field Gulls
The Seattle Seahawks beat the Jacksonville Jaguars last week on the road and now have another game against the Houston Texans. Despite trailing Jacksonville in the AFC South race, I believe Houston will be a much tougher game. I think this is the biggest challenge the Seahawks have faced so far. The Texans have a cornerback truly capable of covering Jaxon Smith-Njigba in Derek Stingley, and Kamari Lassiter is also an excellent CB. Furthermore, they have the best edge duo in Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson. On the offensive side, the pass rush will be tested with an attack of fast concepts.
Finally, it’s worth remembering that the Texans come into this game after a bye week and essentially without any starters mentioned in the injury report.
It’s going to be a great matchup.
Let’s go!
It’s well known that our offensive line has its ups and downs (sometimes more downs than ups). Charles Cross is certainly the most solid and consistent name so far. He’ll face an elite duo against the Texans. And that means Anderson or Hunter will be lining up against Abe Lucas, who hasn’t yet performed at the level we expect from him. Could this matchup be the chance for a change for Lucas? A chance for Cross to show he can play against elite opponents?
The interior of the defensive line isn’t often discussed, but Tim Settle and Sheldon Rankins are good players, especially against the run game. Jalen Sundell, Grey Zabel and Anthony Bradford need to play a lot more than they have so far, in both phases of the game. The run game needs to be there to take the pressure off Sam Darnold, who, again, needs to avoid turnovers and release the ball quickly.
A game to test Klint Kubiak’s capabilities., see what he’s made of.
Can he put together a good game plan?
Can he adapt during the game?
The Texans are the best team in the NFL when it comes to defending play-action, which is the main factor in the Seahawks’ offense’s success. Another point is that JSN will face the best cornerback duo until now. The Texans could even use Derek Stingley on JSN for every snap. Let’s take the game against the San Francisco 49ers as a starting point, which was arguably the Seahawks’ worst offensive performance. Even so, JSN had 13 targets and 9 receptions, clearly being Darnold’s go-to man. With him potentially being neutralized by Stingley or double-teamed with Jalen Pitre, can Kubiak give the QB other options?
I believe this game is a good opportunity to include Elijah Arroyo more in the middle of the field and other options to produce in yards-after-catch situations, taking advantage of the high number of missed tackles by the Texans, especially in the secondary. Furthermore, the 12-man personnel should be present, and the team...
