Late Season Injuries Fatal for the Seahawks?
Written by Aric Schroeder, Former Student on Wednesday, December 16, 2015
At 8-5, the Seattle Seahawks have their eyes on what could be their third straight super bowl. Bringing a strong showing to their most recent games, the Seahawks have a statement for the NFL.
Although the Seahawks are in contention for the number one wild card seed, they still have one major roadblock in which they are faced the road ahead.
Injuries.
With an injured Marshawn Lynch now missing 6 games in the season due to accumulating injuries, he is still questionable on when his return will be. With the hope to find a good temporary replacement for Lynch, the Seahawks look to Thomas Rawls, an undrafted free agent which they picked up May 8 2015. With Rawls now out for the season with a fracture and torn ligaments in his ankle, the Seahawks once again had to find a temporary replacement to fill the hole in their offense in the absence of Lynch. DuJuan Harris, who is now the second person they bring in due to Marshawn’s absence, appears to be having some struggles in terms of moving the ball with the same success as Rawls and Lynch.
The Seahawks had high hopes of incorporating their newly acquired tight-end Jimmy Graham, which they received in a trade with the New Orleans Saints. This trade involved Seattle trading their renowned center Max Unger and their draft round picks. While Seattle’s offensive line clearly took a hit from the removal of Unger, they hoped to compensate the loss with Graham.
With early season struggles, the Seahawks finally learned how to utilize the addition of Jimmy Graham. By week 12 in the game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Graham was living up to his potential. Unfortunately, in that same game, he got a season-ending knee injury.
On paper, the injuries on Seattle would theoretically hinder them from their efforts to finish the season strong.
Despite all the injured players, even on the main roster, Seattle still has shown an overwhelmingly dominating performance in recent games. This is mainly due to Seattle’s quarterback Russell Wilson. Game after game, he has proven to be the man to watch out for on the field.
Wilson knows how to pick up yards, whether he throws a 50-yarder to his leading receiver Doug Baldwin, or scrambles and runs for the first down himself. Wilson has proven that he is one of best quarterbacks in the league.
Now with three games left in the regular season for the Seahawks, fans ask how long their glory will last. With three games left, and if all goes well for the Seahawks, there will be a healthy Lynch in the line-upm, and it will be in Seahawks hands whether they succeed in the wildcard game and dominate playoffs.
