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Swerving Points K.J. Wright Jersey , Week 5: Seahawks almost almost, but don’t quite Moral victories suck, because they’re not actual victories. They’re losses, and this one will probably prove fatal to the Seattle Seahawks’ chances to reclaim the NFC West title from the Los Angeles Usurpers Rams. Three games and a tie-breaker doesn’t look like a climbable mountain in 11 weeks’ time. But Seattle probably beats 28 or 29 other NFL teams with last Sunday’s performance. And that has* to give you hope.(*no such requirement exists)Everyone’s talking about the timeout, so before we get to the real under-the-radar plays and topics, a word or 200 on that unfortunate end-of-game sequence:Pete Carroll requested the timeout before the measurement to save 30-35 precious seconds. To fail to call timeout before would have been criminal.He was given the option to rescind it after the measurement. Had he done so at the 1:39 mark, he runs the game clock down to one minute. A timeout is worth less than 35 seconds of game clock when there are only 90 left to play and you need to get in field goal range. Again, call the timeout reflexively, please.Obviously if Carroll knew Sean McVay would make the bold call — but clearly the correct call, as QB sneaks on 4th and 1 are nearly automatic —then he would’ve let the clock run. Maybe. One hopes. But absent an ability to read minds, Carroll opted for the clock-saving choice, and I find it exceedingly hard to blame him for valuing seconds over a chance McVay would gamble.There would have been an advantage to letting the clock run and force the Rams to quickly get their offense out, or punt, or take a delay of game and surely punt. But I refer us back to the mind-reading ability, which Carroll has yet to perfect.Now that that’s out of the way...Drop kicks: here to stay?Week 5 marked the second and third drop kicks executed by Michael Dickson on kickoff opportunities. After big returns on the Rams’ first two possessions gave them average starting field position of the 40-yard line, two drop kicks gave the visitors average starting position of their own 23. That’s more like it. Field Gulls writer Sean Clement is going to explore the drop kicks in more depth later this week. Just know that a return team that gives the Seahawks fits could find themselves facing more drop kicks from Dickson, if Sunday’s results are any clue. They provide a change of pace, they sometimes bounce, which throws the whole return off Cheap Doug Baldwin Jersey , and intuitively you’d like to think they results in turnovers more often. We’ll see,A costly, costly, costly PI callPlenty of talk of how the defense ballhawked again, with two interceptions and two forced fumbles. If they do that every week...However, one defensive misplay cost the Seahawks six points in a two-point game. It’s, of course, that somewhat forgotten moment, between the emergence of Bradley McDougald as Earl Thomas disappears, the revival of the running game, the high-level play of Russell Wilson, the final-drive mistakes and the fateful fourth down — the pass interference on fourth down and 2 that led to a Rams touchdown.Shaquill Griffin will be a star. He’s no Tre Flowers, but he’ll get there. /sarcasm off. On fourth-and-two, from the SEA 10, first play of the final quarter, Griffin collides with Robert Woods a split second before the ball arrives. First down LA.Three things to note about the play above.A) Griffin will time his arrival better; he has before, and he will in the future. It just didn’t work out for him that day.B) The ball could have been ruled uncatchable. But it was borderline, so it’s hard to fault the referee for making a judgment call.C) If the ball is even remotely catchable, it was clearly PI by Griffin. Sometimes a good player makes a bad play. The sequencing just hurt the Seahawks a maximum amount this time. Maybe they’ll escape the same level of dire consequences the next time a DB arrives too early.Almost almostWe know Germain Ifedi picked a very very bad moment for his only penalty of the game. We know D.J. Fluker outdid him.Look again Justin Britt Jersey , if it’s not too bittersweet, at one of the biggest plays of the third quarter, the catch that should’ve set Sebastian Janikowski up for a go-ahead field goal.I mean, it got them to the 27. Damn. Anyway. Play action strikes again. On Sunday, Wilson was a machine — a robot! — on play action.Some analysts cited as many as 13 of the Seahawks’ dropbacks as play action. Others 11. It’s not an exact science. What is, though, is that it works. The team could run it even more!This isn’t what Brian Schottenheimer’s detractors are gonna want to hear, but... Seattle is doing exactly that.Through four weeks (note date on tweet):Then, the Seahawks went to PA on half their dropbacks. They’re paying attention to what works. P.S. Item: George FantThe second Tom Cable converted offensive lineman on the roster (admit it, J.R. Sweezy kinda slipped your mind, so very much water under the bridge) played 12 snaps against Los Angeles. He was an eligible receiver, as the sixth offensive lineman tends to be, on most plays. He didn’t catch any passes, but then again, neither did Garry Gilliam, until he suddenly did on the biggest stage. Fant’s return and continued development is another example of how Mike Solari has built actual depth onto this Seahawks offensive line. Yes, quality depth. Joey Hunt filled in at center for Justin Britt and Seattle went 2-0. Ethan Pocic has 11 starts under his belt when he returns. JaMarco Jones could be a legitimate NFL tackle; at the very least, he furnished hope after a strong preseason showing. A competent offensive line moves like this and looks like this:Watch Lockett if you want. I’m far more mesmerized by the discipline, precision and tenacity of the linemen Cheap Ethan Pocic Jersey , at the end of a day when Seattle rushed 32 times for 190 yards. There exists a strong possibility that the Seahawks have nine competent offensive linemen under contract. When was the last that time that happened?Don’t answer. Please don’t answer. Let’s start with the finish:That was the consensus on Jarran Reed heading into the 2016 NFL Draft. Reed was seen as an elite run-stopper but in a passing league that cares not that much about run defense, the type of player that Reed was projected as is simply not a first round value. One could point to Brandon Williams of the Baltimore Ravens as an example of a great defensive tackle with 5.5 career sacks in six seasons.Williams is valuable to the Ravens, but he’s also 17th in APY for defensive tackles and has never made a Pro Bowl. He’s beloved in Baltimore but won’t be confused with Aaron Donald or Geno Atkins on a national level, and I think that’s warranted, because it’s not like Donald and Atkins don’t also play run defense. A three-down defensive tackle with a significant pass rush game is a top-10 pick and few people saw that third down coming for Reed because it never happened in his two years at Alabama.The time for Reed to show potential as a top-10 pick would have had to happen going into his final year of college, and since that never happened, Reed slipped out of the first round. Though some thought that was a huge mistake.WalterFootball did think he should be a top-25 pick. Mike Mayock had Reed ranked third at his position, behind only DeForest Buckner and Sheldon Rankins. Todd McShay noted that Reed improved in pass rush during his time at Alabama, registering eight QB hurries in his senior season.Reed was also a standout at the Senior Bowl:At the end of the first round, the Seattle Seahawks ended up taking Germain Ifedi, having traded down from 26 to 31 with the Denver Broncos, who wanted Paxton Lynch. In moving down, the Seahawks added a third rounder (Nick Vannett), but in the four picks between Lynch and Ifedi, an unlikely three defensive tackles went off the board: Kenny Clark, Robert Nkemdiche, and Vernon Butler.Defensive tackle was a major need for Seattle — as it really has been since Pete Carroll and John Schneider arrived in 2010 — specifically one who has a pass rush aspect to his game. Did the Seahawks F up by moving down four spots and losing out on three defensive tackles, including Nkemdiche, who many considered a top-10 talent with character concerns? I saw one place list him with 26 QB pressures in his final season at Ole Miss Duane Brown Jersey , a much higher number than eight. Clark had 11 TFL and six sacks in his last season at UCLA. Butler was also seen to have a high ceiling as a pass rusher.Instead, the Seahawks wound up with Ifedi, a choice that confused and upset many Seattle fans. No first round defensive tackles were coming to this defense.As the second round transpired, Chris Jones went to the Kansas City Chiefs at pick 37. Jones has been a rather fantastic interior pass rusher in his NFL career. Then Austin Johnson went to the Tennessee Titans at pick 43. Then the final insult as Reed’s own defensive tackle teammate A’Shawn Robinson went off the board to the Detroit Lions at pick 46. Not only had eight defensive tackles gotten drafted before him, but Reed was the very last pro prospect left in the green room at the event.Which hurts even more given that Reed’s suit game was on point.Photo by Kena Krutsinger/Getty ImagesFinally, Seattle saw their opportunity.Having acquired an additional third rounder already, the Seahawks felt even more comfortable making a decision to move up for the defensive tackle that they actually coveted. Schneider used a fourth round pick to move up from 56 to 49 to select Reed; afterwards, Schneider admitted that they contemplated taking Reed at pick 31 instead of Ifedi. Seahawks area scout Jim Nagy called Reed the “alpha dog” of a national championship defense at Alabama. Mike Bar wrote here at Field Gulls that Reed was the steal of the draft and that his ceiling was perhaps not Michael Brockers or Eddie Goldman, to whom he was often compared, but Kawann Short of the Carolina Panthers, a player who has annoyed and disrupted the Seahawks all too many times.Short and Reed are both 6’3. Both weighed around 300 lbs at the time of the draft. Short has longer arms, Reed has bigger hands. Short is maybe a little faster. Reed maybe jumps a little higher and farther. Short was voted a captain at Purdue, so he was also seen as one of the team’s leaders. And that’s something Carroll predicted would happen for Reed earlier this year.Reed has responded with a six-game start to this season that rivals and compares favorably to the third year of Short, when he recorded 11 sacks and made the Pro Bowl, helping the Panthers go 15-1 and win the NFC, including a 31-24 win over Seattle in the playoffs. On the second offensive play of the game for the Seahawks, Kawann Short pressures Russell Wilson into throwing a pick-six to Luke Kuechly. On Seattle’s sixth offensive play, Short sacks Wilson for a loss of 10. The Seahawks went down 31-0 and even though they nearly made the comeback, the message was as clear as ever: Not only does Seattle need to stop Short Cheap Shaquem Griffin Jersey , they need to find Short. A few months later, they drafted Reed.Not a coincidence, and he kinda looks the part, doesn’t he? After just three sacks in his first two seasons, Reed is on fire.Reed had five tackles and a QB hit in Week 1. He had two sacks in Week 3. He had a sack and two TFL in Week 4. He had six tackles in Week 5. He had five tackles and a sack in Week 6. Here are your leaders in sacks by a defensive tackle this season:Geno Atkins, 6DeForest Buckner, 4.5Reed, Aaron Donald, Fletcher Cox, 4How’s that for company? Since Week 3, no defensive tackle has more sacks than Reed. And this guy was only supposed to be the best run-stopper in the 2016 draft. What if instead he’s also as good of a pass rusher as Buckner, the seventh overall pick? Reed has more sacks in the last four games than he had in his first two seasons. He has matched his career-high in TFL. He’s halfway to a new career-high in QB hits with 10 games to go. Short had five sacks in his first two seasons and then 11 in year three. Last April, Short signed an $80 million extension.What’s next for Reed, who will be entering the final year of his deal in 2019? And who doesn’t have a fifth-year option because for better or worse, he was not a first round pick. The Seahawks considered taking him there and they didn’t. It allowed them to get a right tackle who is also enjoying a breakout season, but it may cost them a slightly cheaper fifth season — but it has also perhaps gotten them the best defensive tackle Carroll has ever had in Seattle.Last in the green room in 2016. First to the quarterback in 2018.