The Seahawks offensive line is not good. Statistically, it’s been the worst in the NFL for awhile now. Based on the numbers, it did not have a very good day against the Redskins during a 17-14 loss. According to Pro Football Focus, Russell Wilson was under pressure on 34% of his drop backs.

Jokes were made…

A video of the Redskins pressuring Wilson with a one-man rush made the rounds on social media, giving everyone another opportunity to shame the Seahawks line…

But that play doesn’t expose the Seahawks line in anyway; it jut goes to show how quick NFL fans are to blame any bad play on the offensive line. Watch that play again, and pay attention to how deep Wilson drops. He’s a good 13 yards behind the line of scrimmage…

Offensive lineman are NOT taught to block for a quarterback who drops back that far. That pressure is on Wilson, not Germain Ifedi.

And that wasn’t the only play where Wilson created his own pressure on plays his offensive line played well. This is his first dropback of the game…

Here’s his second…

Two dropbacks, two good pockets and two “pressures” given up by the line. Wilson did turn the second play into a positive one, but that’s not reflected in the offensive line’s stats.

There are more of these plays…

…a lot more…

…all from the same game.

Even some of the legit pressure Wilson faced can’t be put on the line. The Redskins do not do a very good job of disguising this blitz before the snap.

The safety might as well be carrying a “This guy’s blitzing” sign when he lines up directly behind the linebacker. Sure enough, that’s what happens…

Wilson doesn’t adjust the protection. The line slides away from the blitz, and the linebacker has an open path to Wilson.

Who gets the blame? That terrible Seahawks offensive line, of course.

Seattle is lacking talent on the offensive line and line coach Tom Cable hasn’t done a very good job of developing his players, but Wilson could do a lot more to help out his guys up front. The frustrating thing is Wilson shows the ability to do it … at times. Here’s an example from the Redskins game.

Wilson helps out his tackles by climbing the pocket rather than trying to escape out the back door, which he’s done so often in his career.

He’s given the opportunity to do so again later in the game — and would have seen a receiver streaking across the field wide open if he had — but he scrambles instead and misses out on a big play.

Wilson has had a lot of success playing sandlot football and his ability to improvise makes him one of the better quarterbacks in the league. But those plays are hard to produce consistently, which could explain why Seattle’s offense has had trouble finding week-to-week consistency throughout Wilson’s career.

The offensive line will continue to be blamed for the Seahawks’ offensive problems no matter how well it plays. And that’s pretty much true for every offensive line across the league. Fans will blame the faceless offensive line for a team’s problems rather than the skill players they have grown attached to. That’s not likely to change anytime soon.