cover-2":16ow5bdj said:
IMO we need to draft a big WR or TE that will be a great red zone target.
Our red zone scoring % was good for 11th in the league.
Our mainstay ability to run the ball was good for 12th in rush yds/att. We were 2nd in rush % of total plays. If anything, I'd suggest we boost either our running game or our rush defense.
Not that you can't address more than one aspect. But this years' rushing production was not as effective as it should have been for a team whose identity on offense is to run more than pass. This year, we had more issues between the 20s instead of in the red zone.
Adding rushing effectiveness also has the effect of boosting your red zone scoring. Adding a big WR for jump balls really doesn't help you in other avenues. It's not like we couldn't use a big bodies receiver. But ultimately it has limited value for a predominantly running team that isn't reaching it's efficiency goals.
Overall, I think our rushing production was not as effective as we should have expected. And that impacts the play action passing game. Everything we do feeds off the run and it wasn't producing at a level that a team like us should accept. We dropped nearly 30 yards per game over last year (161/gm to 136/gm).
Nearly every metric for rushing was down from last year. Our numbers as far as rankings go were still very good. But I do think it was a testament to how far above elite we were in 2012 in that department. That's kind of where the Seahawks want to be philosophically. Dominate the run game.
Our defense was better this year by a good margin. And yet we dropped from 4th in TOP down to 19th in the league. We were first in points allowed, points per play, yards allowed, yards per play -- all better over last year. And yet we held the ball less than our opponents. The offense, and in particular our ability to run the ball and suffocate opportunity for other teams by smothering the TOP battle was not acceptable for a team built to win like us. Getting a red zone target doesn't fix that.
If we're going to pin that reduction on losing OL players, well we're probably losing one of them (Giacomini) to UFA. What are the chances Okung plays a full 16 games next year? So let's just assume we're going to have the exact same attrition at tackles next year. Offensively, we need to be better at what we do. Not look for some magic pill as a quick fix for our ills.
If you understand what kind of team we are, and how we want to win games, then one should come to the conclusion that our rushing offense should be better. It's not sexy. It's not a one pick panacea for getting value or impact. But if we want to look at improving this team in a meaningful way -- then we should address the missing bread and butter. Not add more jam to the table.