The Seattle Seahawks, the NFL’s reigning NFC champions, have started the season 0-2, and their vaunted defense is struggling, especially against the pass. An All-Pro strong safety who would help them a lot is sitting at home, embroiled in a contract dispute.
The safety, the three-time Pro Bowler Kam Chancellor, has a $28 million contract through 2017 that includes $17 million guaranteed. But Chancellor is holding out, demanding more money moved to the front end.
Seattle lost its opener at St. Louis 34-31 in overtime, and its pass defense made Rams quarterback Nick Foles look like Kurt Warner. On Sunday night, the Seahawks lost again, to the Green Bay Packers 27-17, essentially reversing the result of last year’s NFC championship game.
Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was well aware of the missing safety: “In the middle of their defense is where you can find some soft spots; that’s kind of what we targeted there,” Rodgers told The Associated Press.
“You can’t quantify it,” cornerback Richard Sherman told The Seattle Times, referring to Chancellor’s absence. “At the end of the day, I have to tackle better, I have to play better. That’s all you can do.”
Coach Pete Carroll said little had changed in talks with Chancellor. “I’m just disappointed, like I know he is and everybody is, that it hasn’t found a way to get him here,” he told Reuters.
Many Seattle fans, frustrated at the team’s start, have turned their vitriol on Chancellor, demanding that he fulfill his contract. Others have noted that because NFL contracts are not guaranteed, teams have the right to essentially break them anytime. The website Monday Morning Quarterback collected a list of 50 players the Seahawks have released with money remaining on their contracts this year alone.
Chancellor’s absence is being felt on the scoreboard. The Seahawks gave up the fewest points in the league last season but have given up 61 already this year, tied for third most in the league.
Playing without the Packers’ top running back, Eddie Lacy, who was injured after three carries, Rodgers found the Seahawks’ secondary accommodating, completing 25 of 33 for 249 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.
Seattle has also been mediocre offensively. Quarterback Russell Wilson is 16th in the league in passing yards and only 25th in adjusted yards per pass attempt. The team’s top back, Marshawn Lynch, ranks 16th in yardage, and its top receiver, Doug Baldwin, is 32nd.
It may turn out to be only a sideshow, but the Seahawks’ troubles were underscored by, of all people, Lynch’s mother, Delisa. After Lynch was stopped on the last play of the game against the Rams, she described offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell as the “worst play caller ever."
Later on Twitter, after acknowledging that she might have chosen the wrong venue for her remarks, she twisted the knife again: “When I see a fourth and 1 ran out of a shotgun formation against a good Rams defensive line, as a FAN it makes me wonder what the coordinator’s logic was.”
On Sunday night, Lynch had 15 carries for 41 yards.
After the game, Rodgers apparently could not resist a troll of his own. “I think God was a Packers fan tonight, so he was taking care of us,” he said. The remark was widely interpreted as a shot at Wilson, who after the NFC title game had credited God. At the time, Rodgers had said he did not think God was much of a football fan.
Not all is lost in Seattle, of course.
“We’re a veteran group; we’ve been here before,” Sherman told The AP. “We’ll be fine."
The Seahawks were one of five teams that had the misfortune of starting the season with two road games. Those teams are 2-8. Seattle returns home next week against the Chicago Bears and should be a comfortable favorite, especially with Bears quarterback Jay Cutler potentially injured.
Chicago has defensive troubles of its own. The Bears have given up the most points in the league through two games.
Expect a lot of scoring in Seattle next week. The Seahawks will hope to be on the right end of the shootout for a change.
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