RENTON, Wash. -- Just as the Seattle Seahawks are evolving offensively and appearing to find success, they have another problem emerging.In the last few weeks, Seattle cant get off the field on defense. And its not the best time to be struggling on that side of the ball about to go on the road, on a short week and face Tom Brady and New England on Sunday night.In the past two weeks, Seattle has started to display signs that maybe the wear of its overtime tie with Arizona on Oct. 23 is starting to impact its defense. Combined with an offense that seems to be abandoning their attempt at running the ball and controlling time of possession, the Seahawks defense has been asked to be on the field for an inordinate amount of time lately.Were playing a little bit more ball but at the same time I think were doing some good things, Seattle defensive end Cliff Avril said.While the players say this is not an issue and Seattle coach Pete Carroll is almost defiant that the amount of time the defense has spent on the field is a benefit, the statistics are telling a different story.And the biggest indicator is on third downs.Weve had 13 third-and-2 or less in the last two weeks. Thats really hard to win like you would like to on third down, Carroll said. We have to play better ball on earlier downs and then we have to get off when we have our chances. But it has been kind of a theme here allowing these third-and-shorts and not getting out of those. Thats really the focus.Over the past three weeks -- games against Arizona, New Orleans and Buffalo -- the Seahawks have allowed 31 of 53 third downs to be converted, a conversion rate of 58.4 percent. Buffalo was 12 of 17 against Seattle on Monday night and had 30 first downs, tied for the seventh-most ever against the Seahawks in the regular season. The inability to get off the field on third down, combined with the Seahawks own struggling to run the ball and sustain drives has led to three straight teams with 36 or more minutes of possession against the Seahawks.Arizona got it started when it dominated possession in the 6-6 overtime tie. The Cardinals held the ball for 46:21 and ran 90 offensive plays. New Orleans followed up a week later with 72 plays and 36 minutes of possession and on Monday night, Buffalo ran 82 offensive plays and held the ball for 40 minutes.Its a recipe for exhaustion, even if Carroll doesnt view it that way.I think were getting stronger, he said. If weve endured it, I think were in pretty good shape. If we can get a game of 60 or 70 plays, its going to seem like a lark. Well see if we can change it a little bit.The timing of the struggles on defense is troubling because the Seahawks appear to be morphing offensively and potentially exposing their defenders to even more time on the field. Seattle enters this week 30th in the NFL averaging just 75.4 yards per game rushing and in Mondays win had 26 passes and just 12 runs. No matter who is in the backfield, Seattle has been unable to establish the run and keep drives moving on the ground. Seattle has one offensive drive of longer than 6 minutes in the past five games and rank 25th in the league in time of possession.We have a lot of improvement to make and were just going to keep banging away at it, Carroll said. We know where were going, were just not quite getting on that track yet.Game notesSS Kam Chancellor (groin) was a full participant in practice and is expected to play Sunday as long as he doesnt have any setbacks. Chancellor has missed the past four games. ... RB Thomas Rawls (leg) was a limited participant in practice Wednesday but wont play this week. Rawls, who has been out since Week 2, is targeting next weeks game against Philadelphia for his return.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFLScarpe Asics Saldi . Thats not a comment on the suspension that banished the Portland Winterhawks general manager and coach from his Western Hockey League teams bench for most of the 2012-13 season. Scarpe Asics Scontate . - Connor McDavid scored 53 seconds into overtime as the Erie Otters came from behind to defeat the visiting Guelph Storm 4-3 on Saturday in Ontario Hockey League action. http://www.asicsscontate.it/ . 9. Price, heading to the 2014 Olympics for Canada, was named the First Star after posting wins in three starts with a 1.00 goals-against average and a .971 save percentage. Scarpe Running Asics Outlet . -- Sergey Tolchinksy scored his second goal of the game 3:56 into overtime as the Sault Ste. Scarpe Asics Uomo Offerte . Manuel was offered a position the day he was fired. He accepted earlier this week and the team made the announcement Friday.This story is part of ESPN The Magazines Oct. 31 NBA Preview Issue. Subscribe today!Vancouver CanucksOverall: 116 Title track: 111 Ownership: 90 Coaching: 114 Players: 107 Fan relations: 106 Affordability: 121 Stadium experience: 115 Bang for the buck: 112 Change from last year:?-3The Canucks free fall down our standings continues. Vancouver was No. 43 as recently as 2011, when they lost to the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup final. They repeated as Presidents Trophy winners the following season but still tumbled to 92 in 2012 -- and only continued to slip every year since.Whats goodNext to nothing. The product on the ice is terrible; the Canucks havent won a playoff series since that gut-wrenching finals loss, and they missed the postseason entirely in two of the last three years. Theyre in the triple digits in every category but ownership ... which ranks No. 90. Not good. Loui Eriksson was a nice summer pickup, and the classy Sedin twins remain the faces of the franchise. But they also just turned 36 and are nearing the end of their Cup-less careers.Whats badJust about everything. The Canucks play in the soulless 21-year-old Rogers Arena, which provides one of the worst stadium experiencees in professional sports (115th overall).dddddddddddd And Vancouver fans, who have never seen their team win a title in 45 NHL seasons, pay more than all but one of the 122 other teams in the four major leagues for the privilege. Thats an awful combination. Have we mentioned the team yet? Theyre second-worst in hockey in title track and coaching and fourth worst in players. Considering all that, its not hard to understand how only two NHL franchises (the Bruins and Maple Leafs) provide less bang for the buck.Whats newFan relations dropped 12 spots from a year ago - not surprising given that the Canucks offer the least frequent promotions, contests and giveaways in the NHL. And third-year bench boss Willie Desjardins clearly isnt inspiring much confidence around British Columbia after winning just 31 out of 82 games in 2015-16, with coaching slipping 22 places. At 114th, Desjardins is only six spots better than John Tortorella -- who lasted just one disastrous season in Vancouver -- was after being run out of town in 2014.Next: Toronto Maple Leafs ?| Full rankings ' ' '