Field Gulls
The Seattle Seahawks defeated the Carolina Panthers 27-10 in a weird and terribly officiated road game. They also just found their recipe for the offense in the postseason.
This team steadfastly refuses to score in the first half, putting up three points against Carolina yet again. However, another 24 point-second half sent this game out of reach.
Along the way, a growing trend revealed itself further, one which may serve Seattle well as they anticipate a postseason run amid some recent offensive struggles.
This team needs desperately needs one more hero, but it may have two. Dear Klint Kubiak: may I suggest to you, Zach Charbonnet and AJ Barner.
The Seahawks are still where they are in large part because of Jaxon Smith-Njigba. It’s not only that I don’t know where the team would be without him, I’m not sure where Sam Darnold would be. He’s proven himself to be comically first-read dependent this year. Smith-Njigba had 12 targets to anyone else’s three.
But AJ Barner has been about as reliable as it gets this year, and there’s a facet to his game that Kubiak and Darnold will need to rely on against playoff defenses.
Barner posted a mild 43 yards on 3 receptions, but his real contribution is that every touch seems to be big time. He had the only receiving touchdown on the following play:
And his yard after catch ability is ridiculous. In the third quarter, Barner converted a 3rd down by going for 16 yards and resolutely refusing to go down at first tackle. He routinely does this. I couldn’t yet find footage of that play, but you’ve seen many like it before.
Not to mention how sure-handed he has been all year. Both years, really.
Oh and 14.3 yards per touch was the most explosive mark by either team, by over six yards per. This is the real reason we’re highlighting Barner. Deep explosives to Jaxon Smith-Njigba have been drastically eliminated by two factors. On the one, by defensive bracketing. On the other, New Darnold’s hesitation. Can’t quite seem to pull the 45+ yard trigger.
But you need some form of explosives. Technically the nerds will tell you thats a 15+ yard pass, but we are not nerds. We are football fans. Fans of good football plays. Barner does these.
Since the deep threat is diminished, since Cooper Kupp’s hands have become like dead butter twice a game out of nowhere, Barner is the second best option for this passing offense. Barner should be the second best option. Specifically because play-action to tight ends still works well in this offense, and Barner has proven ability to make more of every single touch he gets. This is a big deal for a team that’s seen Darnold’s YPA drop from over 9.2 earlier in the season to 8.7 and declining.
It has happened. It took two and a half years, but I now believe that...
