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Sport
Bob Condotta

Seahawks' offense looks to revive itself vs. Panthers

The Seahawks aren't so much seeking revenge from last year when they host the Carolina Panthers on Sunday as they are searching for redemption for last week.

And if they regain an offensive identity along the way? That'd be nice, too.

That the game is a rematch of a playoff contest from last season _ and the seventh time the two teams have played in five years _ will undoubtedly be mentioned quite a bit during the NBC national telecast.

And sure, the sting of the two losses to Carolina last season in what has become something of a rivalry will likely creep to the surface for a few Seahawks.

But last Sunday's 14-5 loss at Tampa Bay showed that Seattle has more pressing immediate issues than simply settling an old score against a going-nowhere Carolina team.

"Nobody was happy with how the game turned out last week," said middle linebacker Bobby Wagner. "So everybody is kind of itching to get back on the field and itching to play and put that feeling behind us and show that it was just one of those games that we have."

Indeed, that's the real key _ proving the Tampa Bay loss is an outlier and not a sign of things to come, as coach Pete Carroll began predicting from almost the minute the game ended, a theme he repeated at every turn all week.

"We were just clearly off," Carroll said. "This was Game 11 for us _ I think this was the first time we really felt like that. I'm going to go with what we know and how we know to be, and we'll get this thing fixed and get back on track."

That's exactly what the Seahawks have done after their other rare late-season losses the past few years, such as desultory home defeats to Arizona in 2013 and the Rams last year.

The Seahawks, in fact, have not lost two in a row after October since Russell Wilson became the quarterback in 2012.

Little went right for Seattle last week in a loss that was a stunning face-plant after a three-game winning streak seemed to indicate the Seahawks' typical second-half-of-season roll through the NFL was off and running.

The defense, while hardly the biggest offenders overall, let Tampa Bay drive 78 and 62 yards for touchdowns the first two times it had the ball, with the Bucs never again less than two possessions ahead of the Seahawks.

"They out-executed us," defensive coordinator Kris Richard said this week. "That's something to where it really doesn't ever make a difference if it's beginning of the game, end of the game. If we're not out there handling our responsibility, then a majority of teams are going to be able to expose us."

Offense, though, was where the game was really lost and where the worries truly lie. The offensive line was overwhelmed throughout with Wilson being sacked a season-high six times and throwing a season-high two interceptions

Seattle ran the ball decently, though, with a newly mobile Wilson rushing for a season-high 80 yards on eight attempts. With Thomas Rawls also rounding into shape _ it will be his third game back _ the Seahawks figure to try to run the ball more against Carolina than against Tampa Bay, when they had a pass-to-run ratio of 33-22.

Carroll later lamented, in fact, that the Seahawks didn't adjust quickly enough against Tampa Bay to go to the run more.

One factor, though, is the Seahawks had success the previous three weeks with a game plan placing more of an emphasis on midrange and deep passes.

That it worked well enough to allow Seattle to score 88 points the previous three games had the Seahawks thinking they'd found something they could rely on for the rest of the season.

Instead, Tampa Bay's pass rush didn't give Wilson or the receivers time to make it work (that center Justin Britt, the team's most dependable offensive lineman, was out with an ankle injury surely played a factor. Britt will be back against the Panthers.).

Offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell acknowledged this week the team's offensive style "keeps going back and forth" between the quick-hitting emphasis of late last season and earlier this year, and the explosive attack of October and November.

Ideally, the Seahawks would be able to do a little bit of everything, Bevell said.

"You can keep dinking and dunking it, but at some point you are going to have to make those important plays," Bevell said.

More plays of any kind will be welcome.

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