The Seattle Seahawks' sloppy 13-9 win against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday was anything but impressive. This is a bad Panthers team, and with Cam Newton playing by far his worst football since the middle of 2013, the Super Bowl champs should've had an easier time. Instead, it took the only positive drive the offense managed all day to finally take the lead, with 0:47 left in the game.
In looking for reasons for Seattle's regression, pundits have pointed to poor play by the offensive line, somehow forgetting just how bad the early 2013 version of the Seahawks' line was, and also attributing the decline to a reduced workload for Marshawn Lynch -- despite his percentage of carries being only 2 percent lower than last season (57 percent of rushing attempts to 59 percent). A 4 percent difference in the run-pass ratio can be noted, but given they've been chasing games far more often than they did last season, that's hardly significant.
Here are the three biggest reasons the Seahawks are struggling right now:
1. Net loss in free agency
Golden Tate does not have the unbelievable electric talent of Percy Harvin, but he is at least in the ballpark -- as we were reminded during the Lions' comeback victory over Atlanta at Wembley Stadium.