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The Seattle Seahawks face off against the 1–9 Tennessee Titans in Music City this Sunday. After their loss to the Los Angeles Rams last week, the Seahawks need a “get-right game,” and they have the perfect opportunity to get one. Seattle’s offense was rolling before their matchup with the Rams, then Sam Darnold threw four interceptions and the Seahawks lost 21–19. If there’s any lack of confidence in this offense (there shouldn’t be), this week is the perfect chance to get back on track. The Titans don’t exactly have the best defense by any means; they’ve given up the ninth-most yards per game and the third-most points per game.
The Titans are led by rookie quarterback Cam Ward, who has had his share of growing pains, and Tennessee just lost receiver Calvin Ridley for the season with a broken fibula. The Seahawks had a huge injury scare last week when rookie left guard Grey Zabel went down late in the game. Zabel was limited in practice on Thursday, but it’s still unclear if he will play on Sunday.
Kenneth Walker scored his fourth touchdown of the season last week and his first since Week 3. The Seahawks have had a balanced rushing attack all season with Walker and Zach Charbonnet splitting carries, with Charbonnet mainly handling the red-zone and goal-line work. Head coach Mike Macdonald said Walker has earned more carries, so it’ll be interesting to see if Walker continues to work into Charbonnet’s workload.
As always, here are my keys for a Seahawks win,
Protect the ball
Okay, this was obvious after last week’s game. But seriously, the turnovers have got to stop. The Seahawks lead the NFL in turnovers, and that’s not a winning recipe. I said in my recap that it says a lot about the defense that they were able to keep it a close game even after turning the ball over four times. But you can’t keep relying on that. The Seahawks need to take better care of the ball if they want to win.
Execute in the red zone
The Seahawks had to settle for four field goals last week. If they had been able to put up six points instead of three on a couple of those drives, the outcome could have looked a lot different. Seattle has the tenth-best red-zone offense in the NFL at 62.86%. They definitely have the weapons to put the ball in the end zone. We’re entering Week 12 and the Seahawks are in a tight playoff race, and the teams that go far are the ones that capitalize in the red zone.
Force turnovers
The Seahawks have an amazing defense, no need to explain that. The Titans’ offense isn’t the greatest, and in my opinion, this game is about the Seahawks offense getting back on track. In order to do that, they need the ball. The Seahawks defense has to force turnovers and make Ward uncomfortable in the pocket as much as possible to create mistakes and get their offense back on the field.
Kickoff is at 10 a.m. PT at Nissan Stadium in Tennessee.
