Seattle Out For Redemption on the Road

Following two frustrating losses, Earl Thomas and the Seattle Seahawks will look to get back on the winning track this Sunday when they travel to Charlotte to take on the Carolina Panthers.

Life has not been easy for the defending Super Bowl Champions as of late. The past two weeks have seen Seattle (3-3) drop close contests to the Dallas Cowboys and the St. Louis Rams while accumulating injuries in the process.

But the Seahawks aren’t letting a speed bump early in the 2014 season phase them and in his press conference on Thursday, ET III continued to stress the importance of positivity and encouragement.

“There’s only one way you can handle something like this and that’s just to keep focusing on the process and keep encouraging guys,” No. 29 said. “You can’t change who you are because you’re facing some stuff that’s not working out for you. You’ve got to stay true to who you are.”

Sunday’s game presents a great opportunity for a turnaround, as the Seahawks combat a Panthers (3-3-1) team against whom they’ve had recent success, looking for their third win in Carolina in as many years.

Both of the previous meetings were tight, low-scoring affairs.

In 2012, ET III had two tackles, deflected a Newton pass and was part of a defensive unit that not only kept the Panthers offense out of the end zone, but also held Carolina to under 200 yards of total offense and the Seahawks emerged victorious, 16-12.

Then, in Week 1 of the 2013 campaign, Earl had a monster performance as the Seahawks prevailed again, 12-7. No. 29 notched a game-high 10 tackles and forced a fumble that saved the game for Seattle.

The game hung in the balance after a relatively uneventful three quarters and Seattle entered the final 15 minutes of play trailing 7-6. But on their opening drive of the quarter, quarterback Russell Wilson connected with Jermaine Kearse for a 43-yard touchdown reception to give the visitors a 12-7 lead. That left the game in the hands of the Seattle defense.

With just over 10 minutes remaining in the game, Carolina marched down the field and Newton and Co. looked poised for a comeback as the Panthers ate up clock and advanced all the way to the Seattle 24-yard line.

On 2nd-and-2, DeAngelo Williams ran up the middle and deep into Seahawks territory. But as Williams scampered toward the red zone, ET III delivered a crushing blow and punched the ball loose. Tony McDaniel recovered the fumble to give possession back to Wilson and the Seattle offense, who ran out the clock to secure the win.

It was the finish to another dominant performance by the Seattle defense as Earl and the Hawks once again made life difficult on Newton, who completed just 16 of his 23 pass attempts for 125 yards.

But Earl and the Hawks will have their hands full on Sunday as they again try to contain Newton, who has improved every season he has been in the league.

The former Heisman winner and first-overall pick exploded onto the scene in 2011 with his unique blend of passing and running skills that puzzled defensive coordinators. Newton rushed for over 700 yards and threw for more than 3,800 yards in each of his first two seasons, including more than 4,000 yards passing in his rookie year.

With defenses now more accustomed to Newton’s style of play, the fourth year quarterback has not had as much success on the ground in 2014. Newton rushed for 590 yards last season, but has only run for 190 heading into Week 8, leaving him on track for a major decrease in those numbers this season.

However, while Newton has been forced to cut down his rushing attempts, his passing efficiency has improved early in the 2014 season. The Carolina signal-caller is completing a higher percentage of passes and boasts a higher quarterback rating than in years past. Newton is also averaging 245.3 passing yards per game, just shy of the mark he earned in his rookie season, among the best in his career.

He’s been aided by the emergence of rookie wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin, who has accumulated 477 receiving yards along with five touchdowns so far this season. His other main target, tight end Greg Olsen, has nearly identical numbers (493 yards, 5 TD).

Though his ground gains have been limited more often this season, Newton has still shown the propensity to be dangerous both on the ground and through the air. In an Oct. 12 matchup with the Bengals, Newton rushed for 107 yards on 17 carries while throwing for 284 yards and two touchdowns. With a little more than two minutes remaining and his team down 34-31, Newton led a drive that resulted a game-tying 26-yard field goal that sent the game to overtime. The game ended in a 37-37 tie.

But the former Rookie of the Year is coming off of his worst performance of the season. In a 38-17 loss to the Packers last week, Newton went just 17-for-31 and garnered just 205 total yards. Newton was sacked three times by Green Bay, resulting in a loss of 25 yards and Carolina’s offensive line has had a difficult time protecting their quarterback all year. He has been sacked 15 times total for a loss of 131 yards in six games.

In his Thursday press conference, Panthers coach Ron Rivera specifically singled out ET III as a player to watch in Sunday’s matchup, noting that No.29’s most dangerous attribute is his aggressive nature.

“He’s a physical football player. He plays downhill, he attacks the football and he’s a smart football player. He understands the game,” Rivera said. “I think if you overlook him you’re making a huge mistake. He’s a solid football player.”

TIED ON A STRING

A major issue for the Seahawks of late has been penalties and over the past three games, Seattle’s been flagged 32 times.

It’s not an entirely new issue for the Hawks, who led the league in penalties last season with 152. But their self-inflicted wounds were not nearly as costly in 2013 as they have been in the team’s most recent games.

Sunday in St. Louis, Seattle committed 10 penalties for a loss of 86 yards. Those flags, equally split between the offense and defense, hindered Seattle’s performance in all aspects of the game.

Three defensive penalties on a Rams drive at the end of the first quarter, including one on 3rd-and-4 and another on 2nd-and-22, bailed out the home team and resulted in a five-yard touchdown reception from Benny Cunningham. Offensively, a delay of game penalty moved a 1st-and-goal from the St. Louis 7-yard line to the 12-yard line in the second quarter, and Seattle eventually had to settle for a field goal.

“It’s strictly on us,” Earl said. “We’re just not being disciplined. I’m seeing it all the way through. We’re not finishing plays. We’re not finishing games, as far as the defensive side of the ball.”

For Earl, the most pressing issue facing his defensive unit is a lack of communication.

“If you see something, you have to tell a guy,” ET III said. “You can’t just let them go out there on Sunday, or whenever he gets his opportunity and he’s not seeing the details like he’s supposed to. You want to be tough on guys because we understand we’re going to take criticism from each other, but at the end of the day it’s about us. We understand that.”

Seattle’s injuries have not helped this cohesion. That should improve this weekend as Seahawks Coach Pete Carroll said cornerbacks Byron Maxwell and Tharold Simon should be ready for Sunday’s contest. In addition, Earl’s backfield partner-in-crime Kam Chancellor is returning to full health after battling through yet another injury against the Rams.

“He’s tough,” No.29 said about Chancellor. “He battles. There was one play last game where he tweaked his ankle and you couldn’t really look at it. It looked like it hurt him seriously and next thing you know, he’s back out there, playing through the pain.

“This guy does a lot of dirty work for this team. He doesn’t get a lot of credit, but it just speaks volumes. I’m honored to play with a guy that has that old-school mentality that I can feed off of.”

Middle linebacker Bobby Wagner will still be sidelined with a toe injury. However, ET III said the defense’s main problem stems not from injuries, but from a lack of understanding assignments and roles.

“To be totally honest, we’ve struggled at times when Wags was in the game,” Earl said. “It’s just about understanding what you have to do. You’ve got to be gap-sound. Everybody’s tied on a string.”

With the defense getting back to full strength, Earl said that he hopes the Hawks will return to their ball-hawking mentality and force turnovers from Newton and Co.

“You want to get back to that,” No. 29 said. “It’s more than that, but it kind of adds up when you have those guys encouraging each other. In this scheme, guys have to understand that if you play your role right, you’ll allow other people to have success and pretty soon, everybody’s going to be hitting on all cylinders and all the special stuff is happening, the ball is coming out, Kam is smacking people.

“Everybody is getting excited because everybody is really happy for each other. That’s about the relationships that we have to build, to understand that this is my brother and I want to play for him.”

On the other side, Wilson, running back Marshawn Lynch and the Seattle offense will look to bounce back and exploit a Carolina defense that ranks 30th in the league and has let up 195 points thus far. Earl believes both sides are ready to click this weekend and stressed his assurance that the defending champions will overcome their current adversities, starting with Sunday afternoon’s contest.