Seahawks looking to improve red zone efficiency against the Titans

After a near win in which the offense struggled to execute inside the red zone and quarterback Sam Darnold threw four interceptions, the team is  now focusing on the basics. There were plenty of positives to take away from the loss to the Rams, just as there were plenty of negatives. The key, according to head coach Mike Macdonald, is finding a balance and sticking to the team’s growth process without changing your identity.

“If you start walking around talking about process over result, and then all of a sudden, some result happens that you don’t like, and then you start talking about the result, then what are we doing? It’s kind of like coaching the result, like, ‘Hey, tackle better.’ Well, okay, how are we going to get that done? We’ve got to run the ball better; well we can’t just tell Klint (Kubiak) to call better plays that are going to work,’ said Macdonald.

“ You have to go back through the whole process of what goes behind all those things. So, if we’re going to back up what we’ve been saying, we’re just going to dial in our process. Those things can change, like we’ve changed a little bit of how we’re going to practice this week because of what we feel like the team needs to take the next step.

That’s going to be our approach, but the mentality, all those principles that we talk about, that will stay the same, and our goal is to continue to get better. We realize it’s a great opportunity to get better. You leave the game saying, ‘Man, we can get better, and we need to do it in a hurry.’ There needs to be a sense of urgency now because we’ve got to start playing our best football, we’re in the second half of the year going into the last quarter of the season.”

After settling for four field goals, the  Seahawks offense scored its lone touchdown in the fourth quarter and nearly pulled the upset win were it not for a missed 61-yard field attempt  by Jason Myers.  Regardless of the victory one way or the other Macdonald was adamant about the  teams need to improve it’s redzone execution

“We knew going into the game, we needed to be able to convert in the red zone. Great red zone teams run the ball in the red zone, and I felt like we put ourselves in some tough situations to throw it, added Macdonald.  So, we’ve got to be able to move it down there and finish drives.”

 High numbers with no results

Going into the Rams game the Seahawks offense was ranked 10th in the NFL for red zone touchdown scoring percentage. The offense racked up  414 yards with 135 of those yards from the ground game. Both numbers were the third-highest totals of the season.  If the Seahawks offense is to return to being proficient in the red zone, there needs to be an attention to detail and a mindset shift.  

“ It is all about  being  on the same page the whole drive, late in the drive, whether we are huffing and puffing, we have to finish it, “ said center Olu Oluwatimi, who will get his second consecutive against the Titans after Jalen Sundell’s known injury . “ I just have to remind the guys to be better in the redzone, I could be better in the redzone, it is about finishing as a team.”

TITANS PRESENT A BOUNCE-BACK OPPORTUNITY

Sunday’s opponent provides an opportunity for the  Seahawks to bounce back. The Titans’ defense is ranked 24th overall and is allowing 353 yards(24th)  and  27.3 ( 30th)  points per game. Tennessee’s pass defense is allowing just 217 passing yards per game and is led by Jeffrey Simmons, who leads the team in sacks with 5.5. If the Seahawks  are able to establish a running game against the Titans, they  should be able to put up big numbers on offense


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