How to Survive Behind the Seahawks O-Line (if Your Name Is Russell Wilson)

On their first play from scrimmage Sunday, the Seahawks lined up in a heavy three-tight end run formation. Thomas Rawls was stuffed for a loss of two. 

On their second play from scrimmage, the Seahawks tried to run again. Justin Britt flopped at a linebacker's feet. Bradley Sowell whiffed on a second-level block. J'Marcus Webb got beat on the backside of the play. Rawls was stuffed for a loss of nine.

On their third play from scrimmage, the Seahawks attempted a screen. Sowell gave Robert Quinn a free shot at Russell Wilson. Christine Michael gained seven. And the Seahawks punted from deep in their own territory.

Sing along with me:

Five! Block-ing! Sleds!

Four flopping Britts,

Three measly points,

Too many hits.

And if things keep up, Russell Wilson hiding in a pear tree!

The Seahawks offensive line has been slowly deteriorating since the team's 2013 championship run. It wasn't spectacular even in the glory days: Left tackle Russell Okung and center Max Unger were great, everyone else stood around and waited for Wilson, Marshawn Lynch and a system laced with options and screens to make them look OK.

Okung, Unger and Lynch are all gone. Wilson has a sprained ankle that has reduced his mobility from "Michael Vick 2004" to "slightly friskier Joe Flacco." That's a catastrophic problem, because the Seahawks offensive line currently consists of:

• Left tackle Bradley Sowell, a former undrafted free agent, longtime backup and budget-friendly free agent replacement for Okung. Sowell made so many mistakes against the Rams that I lost count at 11. L.A. defensive end Robert Quinn routinely beat him around the edge, causing Sowell himself to slam into Wilson at one point. Sowell got crossed up during blitzes and ended up blocking nobody. Sowell's pass protection strategy is to take a hyper-exaggerated kick step to the outside to avoid getting beaten. Defenders will begin using that kick step to beat him inside once they grow bored of beating him to the edge anyway.

• Left guard Mark Glowinski, a second-year fourth-round pick. On Sunday, he got bull-rushed by defensive tackle Dominique Easley and knocked down in front of Wilson's face by DE Cam Thomas. And as for Aaron Donald, he did too many awful things to Glowinski to list. On one play, Donald took on a Glowinski-Sowell double-team and powered right through them on a stunt to lay a hit on Wilson. Eugene Sims, the unblocked defender who was supposed to provide the pass rush on the play, just stopped and watched with an "I guess they won't be needing me" posture.

• Center Justin Britt, aka former heir apparent to Okung Britt, starting right tackle Britt and starting left guard Britt. He could be seen Sunday on the ground at least once per quarter, having either gotten pushed aside (Michael Brockers tossed him away like a bag of marshmallows at one point) or simply slipped in the act of trying to reach a linebacker.

• Right guard J'Marcus Webb, an almost legendarily bad offensive lineman (ask Bears fans about him). Webb's specialty is getting pile-driven into the backfield on running plays.

• Right tackle Garry Gilliam, a converted tight end and offensive line coach Tom Cable's pet project for two years running. Gilliam gets beaten by speed rushers and by defenders on the backside of running plays frequently. But his specialty is trading off a dangerous defensive end to the blocking back so he can engage a defender he thinks might be blitzing. Nobody blocks nobody on a pass play quite like Gilliam.

There is little hope that this line will get better. Rookie Germain Ifedi is penciled in to replace Webb once he recovers from a sprained ankle, but the Seahawks have problems a rookie right guard cannot solve.

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Wilson's ankle, meanwhile, isn't going to recover quickly when he's taking nine hits per week in the pocket and hobbling for his life at least a dozen other times per game. Wilson began rushing his throws and staggered out of a clean pocket a few times against the Rams. He's losing what faith he had in his protection, which is the kind of problem that can snowball if the Seahawks are not careful.

So what are the Seahawks to do? Here are some survival suggestions to get them through Wilson's injury crisis.

Snap, Plant, Throw. The one thing that Wilson can still do effectively behind this line is execute quick throws: slants, flats, smashes and screens. Anything that takes more than 0.8 seconds is out of the playbook, because 0.8 seconds is about how long it takes a defender like Quinn to beat Sowell inside with a swim move and wallop Wilson.

Doug Baldwin, the Seahawks' best receiver and top short route-runner, suffered a knee injury on Sunday. If he's unavailable, Wilson may not even have quick hitters to fall back upon. So the Seahawks need some backup plans.

Max Protect Is Not an Antiperspirant Brand. The Seahawks don't use max-protect schemes (two or more extra blockers assisting the offensive line) often. The Football Outsiders database lists only 20 seven-man protection schemes for the Seahawks in 2015, most of them in the Week 11 game against the 49ers; the typical team uses max protection about 45 times per season, depending on the defense, game situation and so on.

The Seahawks prefer to protect Wilson by spreading the field and using his rushing threat to slow the pass rush. But that's off the table with Wilson gimpy. It's time to for the blocking backs and tight ends to do their part.

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One problem, as noted above, is that both Gilliam and Sowell seem to interpret extra help on their side of the field as a signal to take a down off. Against the Dolphins last week, the Seahawks tackles left Mario Williams and Cameron Wake to the tight end and running back on one play (see diagram). Gilliam chipped Wake and then stood there, while Sowell watched linebackers drop into coverage and then turned around to enjoy Wilson's frantic escape. That may be a Cable coaching mistake or a pair of player mistakes. Either way, it's a good way to land your quarterback on the IR.

This Is the Time to Be a Hero. Wilson, Lynch and others generated yardage with minimal offensive line help in the past. Now, it's up to players like Michael.

This video clip shows what's possible. The entire right side of the line can be blown backward and knocked over. Britt can once again (ugh) slip and fall en route to a linebacker. Yet with a stutter-step, a quick cut and a stiff arm, Michael can manufacture 10 yards.

The Seahawks just aren't capable of driving the length of the field right now. In addition to the backs, it's up to speedsters like Tyler Lockett and Paul Richardson and once-dominating money furnace Jimmy Graham to break tackles, weave through defenders, win jump balls and do whatever else it takes to cook some big plays from scratch.

Remember General Nathanael Greene. Greene was one of America's greatest generals during the Revolutionary War. His favorite tactic was to line up ragtag militiamen against highly trained British regulars. The townsfolk would fire off a few musket balls, then turn and run like hell. The British would get overaggressive in pursuit and chase the militia straight into an ambush: Greene's best soldiers were hiding in the brush, waiting for the British to break formation and get sloppy.

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The Seahawks need to think of their offensive linemen as untrained 18th century cannon fodder whose best trait is their ability to inspire overconfidence in their opponents. Screen passes, draws and misdirection plays can use a defense's own pursuit against it. If offensive linemen whiff on their defenders on every pass play, it won't look suspicious when they do it to sneak off and block for a screen.

An offense cannot survive, however, on a diet of screens and draws. Those plays are designed to slow the opponent's pass rush. Once opponents stop attacking aggressively, the Seahawks will face another problem: Opponents don't need to blitz, lose gap containment or sell out to get to Wilson. They just have to show up.

It's important to note that Greene rarely actually won battles; he just forced the British to use up resources and stretch supply lines until their southern forces were short-handed and low on morale. The French aren't going to arrive to help Russell Wilson like they did for Greene; Lemuel Jeanpierre isn't even on the roster anymore.

At some point, all the screens, draws, quick passes, beefed-up protection schemes and individual heroics in the world won't save the Seahawks offense. Their five offensive linemen will have to line up, avoid mistakes and win some individual matchups.

If they cannot, the Seahawks organization must determine why its offensive line has grown into an ever-worsening three-year problem, and it should hold someone accountable while Wilson is still capable of running and playing like Wilson.

Mike Tanier covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @MikeTanier.