Get This Offense Working!

Browns at Seahawks | October 12, 1980 | Action! PC Football

Where’s the Offense?

We won this game easily, 28-7. That’s no surprise, actually. Seattle has a pretty lousy team this season, and we were able to stifle them for the most part.

The “rubber band” defense managed to solidify today, congealing into a sturdy wall that prevented Seattle from doing anything that it wanted to do.

The defense gave up a total of 306 yards to Seattle, most of which came in the air. Zorn passed for 272 yards, but only managed a single touchdown, largely due to 6 interceptions by our secondary.

Brian Sipe, on the other hand, only managed 192 yards of passing. It makes sense, though: we had a big 21-0 lead at halftime and decided to keep the ball on the ground and simply run out the clock.

Having said that, we really need to figure out a way to get this offense clicking right.

Game Stats

You wouldn’t know it from the final score, but the Seahawks actually dominated this game to an extent. We did have more time with the ball, but they had more plays overall, and outgained us by a slight margin. They had 24 first downs to our 17, though we were able to make big defensive plays to spoil their plans on several occasions.

I guess it was the sort of game that we didn’t really need to dominate in the end. We had a big lead from the start, and all we needed to do was hold on and see the game out. In that sense, I’m happy with how we played.

However, we should be doing better than this.

Sipe had a good quarterback rating despite his 7 incomplete passes. 2 touchdowns and 192 yards will do that for you.

We went to Pruitt early and often. Once again, when he averages over 3 yards a game we’ve got a good chance of winning.

I probably went to Ozzie Newsome more frequently than I should have. He was a famous member of this team in real life, but he hasn’t really lived up to his hype in this replay. This was another quiet game from him.

Cockroft missed his only field goal attempt, and he can’t blame the weather for this one.

Other Action

Redskins 27, Broncos 17: At Denver, Washington’s defense held strong against that excellent Denver running attack, taking advantage of 5 Bronco turnovers in a big win.

Rams 13, Cardinals 10: In St. Louis, a 46 yard Los Angeles field goal provided the difference in this one.

Packers 29, Buccaneers 28: In Tampa Bay, the Packers rallied from 12 down with under 6 minutes left in the 4th quarter to pull a victory out of the fire.

Vikings 41, Bears 17: In Minnesota, the Vikings scored 20 points in the 4th quarter to turn a close game into a route.

Chiefs 16, Oilers 13: In Kansas City, a frenetic last-minute rally by the Oilers was not enough to overcome the Chiefs.

Steelers 47, Bengals 0: In Pittsburgh, the reigning World Champions dominated Cincinnati.

Lions 30, Saints 20: In Detroit, a late 4th quarter comeback attempt by New Orleans fell short.

Colts 24, Bills 21: In Buffalo, Baltimore pulled this one off with a 22 yard field goal deep into overtime. The Colts had managed to tie the game with only 1 minute left in the 4th quarter after an 11 play, 88 yard drive that took less than 2 minutes.

Patriots 30, Dolphins 3: In New England, the Patriots creamed Miami.

Cowboys 41, 49ers 13: In Dallas, the Cowboys dominated the San Francisco defense.

Eagles 21, Giants 14: In New York, Philadelphia scored 2 touchdowns in the last 10 minutes, including one with only 50 seconds left on the clock, to shock the Giants.

Falcons 52, Jets 17: In Atlanta, the Falcons manhandled the hapless Jets.

Raiders 38, Chargers 14: The Raiders dominated from beginning to end, allowing two 4th quarter touchdowns after the game was already well out of reach.

Standings

I hate to say it, guys, but I don’t think we’re going to catch the Steelers. Pittsburgh looks simply awesome so far this season.

We played well this week, but we have to remember that Seattle is a really bad team. We host the Packers next week, which will be a much bigger challenge.