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Wilson In The Worst Passing Slump Of His NFL Career
As ESPN.com's Terry Blount suggested on Tuesday, it seems a little bit like an afterthought after the team rushed for a franchise record 350 yards Sunday, but quarterback Russell Wilson is in the worst slump of his career as a passer.

And now he goes on the road to face the Kansas City Chiefs, who have allowed the fewest yards passing in the NFL this season at 205 per game.

For the first time in his career, Wilson has gone back-to-back games without throwing a touchdown pass. He had Jermaine Kearse wide open in the end zone Sunday and badly overthrew him.

In the past three games, Wilson has averaged only 183.6 yards passing with a quarterback rating of 65.3. His QB rating Sunday was 53.7, just the second time in his past 24 games he posted a rating under 60.

He had only 172 yards passing Sunday, but 60 of those came on one improvised deep throw to Kearse off a scramble. He threw two interceptions for the first time in 19 games (counting the playoffs last season) and only the third time in his career.

It’s clear Wilson misses having starting tight end Zach Miller as a target, but Blount maintains that Wilson has been off target on too many throws. For now, the Seahawks need to run some quick-hitting routes, short turn-ins, short crossing routes and bootleg throws on the run to get Wilson back into a rhythm.

But get away from the bubble screens to the wideouts. It had stopped working with Percy Harvin, and it definitely isn’t working now.

Despite the less-than-ideal output, head coach Pete Carroll isn't worried.

“I’m concerned that we run the football and keep adding that factor to our style of play,” Carroll said. “We’ve been in a mode where it’s been really focused in on the running game, trying to make sure that we get that done, and it’s worked out. I think it’s helped us.”

The Seahawks are bucking the league trend. Teams have averaged 242.5 yards passing per game, which is a league high since the merger in 1970.

One reason is the lack of rushing attempts. The average NFL team is on pace to run the ball 428.8 times this season, which would be the lowest number in the past 45 seasons. But the Seahawks are on pace for 496 carries, which likely will go up based on the last two games, when they had a total of 83 carries.

But the Seahawks want the running game to open up things in the passing game.

“We haven’t been quite as sharp there,” Carroll said of the passing game. “We have not relied on it as much.”

Wilson rushed for 107 yards against the Giants, including nine plays that were designed runs for him, the most of his career.

“You saw Russell execute the game plan really well of attacking the perimeter,” Carroll said. “[The Giants] allowed it to happen, so we just kept taking it. Some of that was off the hard downhill running game and some of it was off the read game, and it all just fit really well. He was really on his reads, and with Marshawn [Lynch] running like his hair was on fire it made for a great match.”

So Carroll isn’t fretting about the passing game woes for now. He believes the strength of the rushing game will help the pass attack in the long run.