Each week KIRO 7 Sports Director Chris Francis previews the Seahawks matchup with his Steps to Victory. These are featured on the weekly Scouting Report which airs Saturday at 730 p.m. In Week 9, the Seahawks look for their third straight win as they head out on the road to meet their toughest opponent of the season, the 6-2 Baltimore Ravens.
- Step number one: Are there Lamar Rules? Like the NBA’s Jordan Rules from the 90′s? A book on how to slow him down enough to pull off a win? The Pistons tried to rough Jordan up, it worked for a couple years then he adapted and nothing worked. We might be at that stage with LJ. No one has been able to slow him down. In 2023, he’s on an even better pace than his MVP season of 2019. How about 1,700 yards passing with nine touchdowns and just three picks, he’s completing 70%? Crazy numbers. Add to that his 380 yards on the ground (a 5.1 yard avg) and five rushing TDs. The only thing that has slowed the Ravens is turnovers. They lost the ball twice against the Colts and 3 times vs the Steelers, their only 2 defeats.
- Speaking of turnovers, Step two: No Geno Gifts. He CANNOT continue to give the ball to the other team. He has thrown five interceptions over the past three weeks and fumbled a snap from center. Now a couple of those picks and the fumble might not be entirely his fault (DK, JSN and Olu share responsibility) but the others were clearly Geno forcing throws. Anyway, the Hawks were lucky to win two of three in a span when the turnovers outweighed the touchdowns thrown, 6 to 4. I guarantee you the Seahawks will not win if that ratio continues. Smith knows he has to play cleaner, can they do it this week against a top defense? They beat Cleveland, which was the #1 defense at the time, maybe Baltimore is #1 right now.
- To help Geno out, Step three: K9 and Zach. We all wondered after the win Sunday why the Seahawks stopped running the ball after a successful few plays with Ken Walker vs. the Browns vaunted front. Coach Carroll said it was because they were protecting better than they thought possible in the passing game so they took what they could get there. Problem is that still put more pressure than needed on Geno. And look what happened late in the game. Zach Charbonnet chimed in with 53 yards and a couple of nice runs to loosen things up for the game-winning drive. You’re starting to see a nice tandem develop here, use those guys. Even if it looks bleak at first, if your defense can keep it close, pound away, it could once again pay dividends late in the game.
So, there you go, the Seahawks STEPS TO VICTORY for Week 9 at Baltimore.
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