How the Bolts can strike down the Hawks

When Lightning strikes, Flying critters are usually found anywhere but the air. When the Chargers travel to Seattle to match up against the Seahawks, they may want to bring a storm over Qwest field, as that's the key to victory on both offense and defense. Injuries have set the Seahawks back in recent seasons, but they come into 2010 with health in all but one area: First round pick Russell Okung.

On Offense, Matt Hasselbeck has been exploited as mistake prone when under heavy pressure. To limit their passing game, Ron Rivera will probably bring pressure, and do so frequently. With both their starting left tackle and backup left tackle out, Shawne Merriman could have a field day pressuring Hasselbeck, assuming he plays healthy. Chances are, protection will slide left, which should leave an opening for cross blitzes up the middle and the right edge. Of course, Seattle may want to counter with screens or quick passes to standout TE John Carlson, but that will only go so far. Mike Williams, a similar player to Malcom Floyd, seems to be their only real deep threat, so forcing Hasselbeck into quick throws will be ideal, assuming Jammer and Cason can contain the outside. It's also possible for the Seahawks to try and spread the field with trips formations and wide 3 and 4 receiver sets to see if Hasselbeck can move the offense up the field with quick timing throws. Hasselbeck averages 10.5 yards per completion, so the first 15 yards from scrimmage will be key to stopping their offense in all aspects. If the passing game is halted and the Lightning Bolts can ground the Seahawks, well, lets just say birds aren't very effective on the ground.

Defensively, the Seahawks are a little better than on offense. They allow just 57 rushing yards per game, however, it's probably due to allowing so many passing yards, at 259 per game. The key to beating their defense will be to test their run defense, and look for big yards on playaction passes. If their front 7 proves to be as stout as they've been so far this year, then Norv Turner can dial up his "lightning" to scare the defense into defeat. Philip Rivers, or Zeus, in this case, should have no trouble finding receivers behind the suspect secondary. As a team, they have only defended 8 passes so far this year. The Chargers twice as many. If Rivers can throw up a storm, the Seahawks will fall out of the sky and suffer another defeat.