Setting expectations for the rest of Seahawks season

The Seahawks (3-7) will play in another Monday night football this week, traveling to Washington D.C. to play against Washington (4-6) at 5:15 p.m. Pacific Time. At the beginning of the season, this game looked like it would be an easy game on the schedule for Seattle. This game is essentially a toss-up according to oddsmakers, with some giving a slight edge to Washington since they are playing at home.

Based on the information below, which quarterback would you rather have starting for your team?

Quarterback CMP ATT PCT TD INT Sacks

Player A 61 105 58.0 3 3 12

Player B 65 95 68.4 5 1 13

Key CMP=Completions, ATT=Attemps, PCT=Completion Percentage, TD=Touchdowns, INT=Interceptions.

The totals above are the combined statistics of the last four games for each quarterback. Player A is Russell Wilson, and Player B is Geno Smith. The Seahawks will start Russell Wilson if he is healthy and will continue for the rest of the season. Don’t expect to see Geno Smith unless Wilson gets hurt again. This just shows how poorly Wilson’s last two games have been. If you’ve been watching the games, you can see that his arm strength is still there, but his ability to accurately place the ball is not where it was before the finger injury. Wilson’s poor play in the last two games has dropped his completion percentage for the year down to 64.9%. That puts him at 22nd out of thirty-eight quarterbacks.

The situation at running back isn’t much better. With Chris Carson out for the rest of the season and set to have surgery on his neck, the primary running back is Alex Collins. Collins ranks 29th in the league in attempts, yards, and touchdowns among NFL running backs. He is getting about ten carries a game and averaging forty-two yards per game. Rashaad Penny is listed as questionable for the next game as he suffered a hamstring injury against the Cardinals. Expect to see more of DeeJay Dallas and Travis Homer.

With only seven games left in the season, Seattle would probably need to win all of them for a chance to get a wildcard spot. In the three games left against division opponents, they are unlikely to be favored in any of them. That leaves this week’s game against Washington, an away game against the Houston Texans (2-8), and home games against the Chicago Bears (3-7) and the Detroit Lions (0-9-1) as possible wins. Even with wins in those four games, Seattle finishes with a 7-10 record. That keeps them out of the playoffs and results in a poor draft position. So, if you are a Seahawks fan, it’s time to alter your expectations and watch the remaining games this season with an eye on next season, hoping Russell Wilson gets fully healthy, the defense continues to improve, and someone emerges at running back.