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The Seattle Seahawks’ offense is struggling right now. Russell Wilson hasn’t thrown a touchdown in three weeks and, if it wasn’t for a fumble returned for a touchdown by Earl Thomas in the first quarter, the Seahawks might not have even been in striking range in the final seconds of a loss against the New Orleans Saints.
But even after a day of struggling to get any offensive consistency, Wilson came extremely close to pulling off a come-from-behind win as time expired. But his last-second lob caught by Jermaine Kearse in the back of the end zone came down just out of bounds.
The incomplete pass was the ninth play on a drive that went 58 yards in the final two minutes, but the Seahawks couldn’t get the last 10.
Wilson finished the day 22-of-34 passing for 253 yards with an interception. But the Seahawks didn’t have much of a ground game going, giving Christine Michael just 10 carries and C.J. Prosise only four.
With the loss, the Seahawks dropped to 4-2-1 and missed the chance to take a commanding lead in the NFC West, which has no other team with a winning record. Up next is a Monday Night Football game at home against the Buffalo Bills, followed by a road trip against the New England Patriots.
Prior to the 2016 season, Wilson had only been held without a touchdown pass in back-to-back weeks once in his career. In 2015, he went the entire season without once being held without a touchdown.
But he has been banged up and injured behind an inexperienced offensive line that looks like the team’s fatal flaw. The Seahawks have eclipsed 100 rushing yards just twice in the seven games post-Marshawn Lynch after bullying their way to 100 yards on the ground in 15 of 16 regular season games a year ago, even when Lynch was dealing with injuries.
Getting the offense going against the Saints shouldn’t have been so difficult. New Orleans entered the week dead-last in points allowed and No. 29 in total defense.
Wilson almost did enough to make up for another bad day of offense for the Seahawks, but couldn’t quite pull it off. And unless he can help Seattle turn the offense around, the Seahawks will continue to be a one-dimensional team that needs to win with defense.