The Seahawks allowed the Lions to covert a whopping 75 percent of their third downs on Sunday. (AP)

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For the defenders, the field begins to stretch out in a Hitchcock-esque fashion, creating a feeling of nauseating vertigo. The opposing players' eyes glow red and their heads spin around. The field feels like quicksand and the air gets thick and humid, making it hard to breathe. Seahawks fans sitting in front of their flat screens break into a cold sweat.

It's third down, and it has taken on a horrifying life of its own.

Of course this is absurd, folks. I entirely reject the notion that third down is a problem and write it off as pure happenstance. Besides, the Seahawks have enough to fear with a 4-4 record and the 49ers and Bears on the schedule to be worrying about a problem that doesn't have one logical explanation.

That may sound insane considering the Seahawks defense couldn't get off the field Sunday in their 28-24 loss to the Lions. Yes, Detroit converted a whopping 75 percent of the time on third down. Yes, the Seahawks defense is bottom-of-the-barrel in that category. But the former player in me does not accept that it is different than any other down.

It's just a play and ultimately it's just a number.

Sure, stopping an opponent on third down means more than stopping them on first or second down. You force a punt, you've done your job and you get the ball back to your offense. But in the mind of a player, you have the same goals and execute the same technique and go every bit as hard as you would on first or second down.

If you don't believe me, let's see what the numbers say.

The best third-down defense in the NFL belongs to the Dolphins, whose opponents are converting just 22 percent of the time. The worst team is the Bills at 47 percent. The Seahawks currently rank 27th, allowing third-down conversions 44 percent of the time.

Even though the Seahawks' struggles in that category have taken center stage this week, it certainly hasn't been the reason for each of their losses this year. The fact is that the Seahawks defense has been good if not great on third down in each of their other three losses. Against Arizona, St. Louis and San Francisco, Seattle's defense went 30 percent, 38 percent and 27 percent on third down, respectively. Their average third-down percentage in those three games (32 percent) would rank third-best in the NFL.

Additionally, that particular statistic is not terribly monumental in defining a defense's success. The aforementioned Dolphins rank 24th in points allowed (25 per game). Conversely, the Steelers are ranked second in total defense and their third-down percentage is the same as the Seahawks' – 44 percent.

Another reason not to fear the dreaded third down statistic: in the Seahawks' most dominating win of the season, a 27-7 trouncing of Dallas, their defense allowed the Cowboys to convert on third down 54 percent of the time.

I'm not denying it's a head-scratcher nor am I denying it was a problem on Sunday. Even coach Pete Carroll, who has been coaching football since 1978, can't explain it. He told "Brock and Salk" on Monday, "It wasn't against any one coverage or any one thing."

The Seahawks have pressured in that situation, they've dropped back into coverage in that situation and they've run both man and zone coverage in that situation. At this point, it's unexplainable.

Defensive coordinator Gus Bradley can't put a name on it and no player or fan has yet to come up with a valid reason or explanation for this problem. The best response I've heard came from cornerback Richard Sherman and it wasn't an explanation at all. A few weeks ago, we asked him about the Seahawks' problems on third down during "The Huddle" and he answered, "It's not anything specific or identifiable. If it were, everyone would run those plays against us all the time and we wouldn't be leading the league in all of these different categories."

Brilliant. Thanks, fellow Stanford guy!

I won't tell you that it's not troubling. It's human nature to want an explanation for things like this. We want to connect the dots and makes sense of the world in our simple little minds. I know I do.

Sometimes bad things happen but they don't happen for very long to a good defense like this. If it is just by chance, I predict a significant positive correction on third down for the Seahawks defense in the second half of the season.

In the meantime, Seahawks fans, try not to fear third down. It's not an entity that has taken on a life of its own and it certainly is not a barrier that stands in the way of a successful season.

Follow Dave Wyman, 710Sports.com contributor

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  Seahawks314 wrote...

  Nailed it.

  November 1, 2012 3:22 pm

  Seems that way on 3rd and long for me anyway. I had gotten over my cold sweats and vertigo on 3rd downs when the Seahawk defense was on the field. The doctor had helped me out quite a bit. But then the game in Detroit comes along and that sent me back. I regressed and the cold sweats and vertigo are back. My doc is depressed now too. But we are hoping and counting on the Vikings game to make it all better. Thanks to Dave Wyman, Stanford guy, for his article.

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  Andrew Farhat wrote...

  Dolphins and Steelers Have Better Offense

  November 1, 2012 4:56 pm

  Wyman points out that the Steelers and Dolphins are also doing poorly on 3rd dow but still winning. The difference between us and them is they are also ranked higher then us in their passing game. With our run first, ball control, game management, limited possessions offense, getting off the field on 3rd down is more critical then for other teams. Our offense is not designed to score quickly.

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  Hawkin wrote...

  Now I have to

  November 1, 2012 10:55 pm

  reprogram the TV to show 3rd down.

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  Cbrew wrote...

  It's not a big mystery really... Just look at the film

  November 2, 2012 8:42 am

  In 3rd and long situations, we generally drop back in zone coverage. On 3rd down we generally pressure less and rely on pass defense, Our secondary is great, they are not the problem but on 3rd and long we have to rely on our young LB's to drop back into zone coverage as well and take away the short/medium routes... unfortunately despite being GREAT tackling LB's both Wagner and KJ are not that good at defending passes, they are often out of position, if you watch some of the game film you'll see that on 3rd down situations our LB's will drop too far back in coverage I.E. behind the 1st down marker... they try to tackle after the ball is caught, they don't try to break up passes. That's fine unless you're giving them too much room and they can juke you once they have the ball, this is why the checkdowns are so effective against us... Also watch the footage and you'll see KJ or Bobby Wagner repeatedly miss the TE or LB coming out of the backfield, they're supposed to pick them up as they come out of the backfield but often times they don't... It's all coachable issues and yes LB's aren't supposed to be GREAT at defending the pass but if they improve it will improve our 3rd down defense and stop us from having all of those check downs that end up being big gainers.

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  clevesside wrote...

  A Big Play game at home is overdue....

  November 2, 2012 11:22 am

  ... and execution is crucial to getting past 3rd down issues. Mr. Stanford is right, so a tip of the helmet due then and a nudge at the alluring schedule, for the next 2 games at the CLInk. No one would think a defense as highly rated as ours would extend a letdown into consecutive games. Would Pete allow that?! Each game has its own personality, thats the beauty of pro football. I'd expect a low-scoring, defense dogfight in the windy, filthy rain, highlighted (in the highest hope) by Seahawk Big Plays. Even if it means li'l guy Red Bryant can score again!

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