Seattle ran four legal plays on its third drive. Matt Hasselbeck found John Carlson for 11 on the first, Julius Jones ran twice for two and then confusion stalled the drive. Steve Vallos missed his signal from Hasselbeck. That caused a delay of game, and a reasonable third and six became a problematic third and 11. Jones received for seven on a screen. Vallos had no trouble pulling this time and Seattle set a good wedge for Jones to run behind. Kansas City was defending the first down marker. Chiefs swarmed around Jones, picked off his blockers one-by-one, and then tackled him well before the line.
Seattle is breaking in a new system. The preseason is effectively over for starters, but the Seahawks are still miscommunicating and making elementary mistakes. The line is disorganized on run plays and Owen Schmitt is having trouble distinguishing holes. Matt Hasselbeck is more comfortable making reads, but has yet to face regular season pressure. Seattle might stumble out of the blocks. If it were flying cross country to play the Jaguars, a sloppy loss wouldn't be too damaging. Instead, it's facing San Francisco and St. Louis. Teams it should beat and teams it needs to beat. Will it error its way out of vital interdivisional victories? It could. Should it risk health this Thursday to better practice its plays?