Inside the NFL Film Room: What is Wrong With Seattle?

After a Sunday night loss to Arizona, Russell Wilson and the Seahawks find themselves in uncharted waters: Fighting for their playoff lives.

By Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe)

After back-to-back Super Bowl appearances, including a championship in 2013, Seattle now finds itself against the ropes in both the NFC West and conference at large.

With their loss to division rival Arizona Sunday, the Seahawks now sit at 4-5, a full three games behind the Cardinals (who own the tie-breaker over Seattle, for now) with just seven games to play. Perhaps even more shocking is that, if the season ended today, Seattle would miss the postseason. Seriously, the Seahawks are two games behind current Wild Card leaders Green Bay and Atlanta (both 6-3), and are currently losing conference tie-breakers with Washington, Tampa Bay and St. Louis, who would all be in line for the postseason before Seattle in a log jam of seven teams at 4-5.

So, what's been the major problem for Seattle? When you first look at the stats, it's not that easy to tell. Sure, many will blame the re-modeled offensive line for not protecting quarterback Russell Wilson, but Seattle's sack percentage (the percentage of pass attempts that end with the quarterback getting sacked) sits at 8%, or, right about where it usually is. In fact, Seattle allowed sacks on 8.4% of Wilson's drop backs during its championship season of 2013.

Inside the NFL Film Room: Could the Bucs Be Sneaky Good?

With a reinvigorated running game led by Doug Martin, could Tampa Bay be a spoiler in the NFC?

By Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe)

Look, I don't want to jinx Florida teams coming off wins (my piece on the Dolphins' new offensive and defensive schemes came just days before the Dolphins were throttled by New England), but Tampa Bay may not totally stink.

Seriously.

While they are in last place in the NFC South, the Buccaneers are 3-4 with a young and talented team that is improving and discovering its strengths each week. This may not be a playoff team this year, but if rookie quarterback Jameis Winston can continue to develop, Tampa Bay could mess up things for a bunch of teams left on its schedule.

Let's take a look at what the Bucs are starting to do right.

The Return of the Muscle Hamster

After a fantastic rookie campaign in 2012 that saw Doug Martin rush for over 1,400 yards and 11 touchdowns, the Tampa Bay running back formerly known as Muscle Hamster fell off a bit the last two seasons.

Part of that was health. Martin played in just 17 combined games in 2013 and 2014, but Martin and Tampa Bay's woes on the ground went deeper than that. Averaging just 3.7 yards per carry over that span, Martin saw his production sink to just 45 yards per game in 11 starts last season, a far cry from the 91 yards per game he churned out as a rookie, and way down from the 4.6 yards per carry he averaged in 2012.

But now Martin is back, though he doesn't want us to call him Muscle Hamster anymore (too bad, because that's the best nickname ever). Martin is again averaging 4.6 yards per carry in 2015, and rushing for 87.5 yards per game in seven starts. He's on pace for 1,400 yards this season, but how has Martin gotten back on track?

Inside the NFL Film Room: How 'Bout them Dolphins?

Finding new ways to get Jarvis Landry the ball is just one of the ways Miami is turning its season around.

By Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe)

The Miami Dolphins entered their fourth season under coach Joe Philbin with playoff expectations.

Miami had finished 2013 and 2014 with matching 8-8 records, enduring mini-collapses to end both campaigns.

2015 was supposed to be different, as quarterback Ryan Tannahill entered his fourth season as well, now with a revamped receiving corps that included budding young stars Jarvis Landry, Rishard Matthews and DeVante Parker, along with veteran Greg Jennings, and tight ends Jordan Cameron and Dion Sims.

Another unit expected to make a leap was the Dolphins offensive line, which was now two years removed from the Richie Incognito-Jonathan Martin bullying saga that tore it apart in 2013. Led by star center Mike Pouncey and left tackle Brandon Albert, along with a pair of promising young guards, the Miami line seemed poise to lead the way for a big year from Lamar Miller.

And that was just on offense.

The expectations were even higher on defense, as Miami opened up its wallet this past offseason for All-Pro defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, signing the former Lion to a 6-year, $114 million deal that made him the highest paid defensive player in league history. Adding Suh to an improving defense that included revitalized pass rusher Cam Wake, and a promising secondary led by Brent Grimes surely made this a playoff team, right?

Unfortunately for Dol-fans, Miami's season began to fall apart almost instantaneously.

Inside the Film Room: Breaking Down Key Plays from NFL Week 5

Dion Lewis has given the Pats an unexpected boost this year, but how did he get free Sunday against Dallas?

By Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe)

This will serve as the first edition of what I hope will be a weekly series breaking down some of the biggest plays across pro football, using the coach's tape, or as it is now more popularly known, the "All-22" film.

Each week we'll take a look at not only game-changing plays, but also plays that utilized interesting schemes or simply showcased dominating talent. I won't bore you any more, here are the breakdowns from Week 5.