Seahawks Week 16 power rankings: Seattle needs to clean up its offense, and fast

Last week, after defeating the Atlanta Falcons in a rather dominant manner, the Seahawks maintained the same average power ranking. Could a sloppy victory over grandfather, Philip Rivers and the Indianapolis Colts potentially drop the Seahawks down?

Surprisingly, the five national media sites did not overreact to the close game against the Colts. Of the five national media sites polled (NFL.com, Pro Football Talk, Bleacher Report, ESPN, and CBS Sports) one site kept Seattle at the same ranking, three moved them up, and one dropped them down. Let’s see who did what.

Last week, Bleacher Report (BR) dropped the Seahawks down from 4^th to 5^th. This week they are keeping them at 5^th. In their ranking, BR noted that Sam Darnold needs to play his best ball this last month of the season, as the last few weeks his accuracy has taken a downwards turn, completing less than 62 percent of his passes in three of the last four games.

CBS Sports and Pro Football Talk (PFT) had the Seahawks ranked as the 4^th best team in the league a week ago. This week both sites remain in lockstep, moving Seattle up one spot from 4^th to 3^rd in the NFL. CBS Sports, similar to BR mentioned that Seattle’s offense needs to step it up in order to beat the Rams in Week 16. PFT, simply stated “bring on the Rams.” Interestingly enough, both sites has the Rams as the 2^nd best team in the NFL as well.

NFL.com has routinely been the Seahawks biggest supporter, at least in terms of numerical power rankings go. However, this week, NFL.com is the only national media site to drop the Seahawks down, from 2^nd to 3^rd. In their rankings, NFL.com also made note on the sluggish offensive performances of late. Since Week 10, the Seahawks have totaled only 12 first quarter points. A total of 12 points 5 games is an extremely low number, a number that they will likely need to top in one half if they want to beat the Rams in Week 16.

Lastly, ESPN has moved Seattle up one spot this week, from 3^rd to 2^nd, only behind the aforementioned Rams. As ESPN does every week, they ask a question and provide an answer applicable to each team. This week was who the most likely extension candidate is. For Seattle, the answer was left tackle, Charles Cross who has played consistent, though not top-10 level over his first four seasons in the league. Seattle has the fifth year option they picked up on Cross, however it would make sense that the Seahawks would look to extend the young tackle before to lock up their bookends, with right tackle, Abe Lucas signing an extension before the season started.

After week fourteen, the average the average power ranking between the five sites (NFL.com, PFT, Bleacher Report, ESPN, and CBS Sports) was 3.6. After week fifteen, the average power ranking between those same sites is 3.2, a very slight increase. Overall, the national media has not changed their attitude much on Seattle. They are projected to be a Super Bowl contending team, however the offensive struggles over the last month quickly need to change if they want to make it to the big game. All of that starts with the Week 16 re-match against the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday Night. Though this game does not officially determine anything, it is very likely the winner of this game will be the heavy favorite to win the NFC West, and the NFC.