It’s so cliche to debate the merits of a “must-win game” in the first half of the season, so I won’t. Neither of these teams have been playing up to their standards recently, neither had won a conference game, the loser would have to take a significant step behind the winner.

It does not feel good to say that the 49ers ended up as the winners.

It would feel even worse to recount how the Seahawks became the losers.

Or in the words of Geno Smith as he was caught on the broadcast yelling to a teammate during Seattle’s final drive, “What the fuck are y’all doing?!”

Share

49ers 36, Seahawks 24

I like to get these newsletters out before 9 PM EST, so forgive me if this one is slightly truncated.

QB Geno Smith

I was told by multiple sources in the Seaside Joe live game chat that I was given the green light go-ahead to criticize Geno Smith tonight. Sorry, I need a minute to process this…It’s a rare moment when you hear the broadcast complimenting Seattle’s offensive line for solid pass protection against the 49ers.

But I’m not going to spend much time going off on Geno, it seems like that was done enough during the game tonight from some people who I thought would never do it.

Geno had another 52 pass attempts, which obviously had to become the plan at a certain point after the Seahawks buried themselves in a 23-3 hole. But here we are again. You almost certainly didn’t win the game if you had 52 pass attempts, so reporters who cite “completions” and “passing yards” as “good numbers” are missing the point.

I don’t think you can absolve Geno of either interception. He’d have nothing less than most of the blame. Which is not me saying, “Get ‘em!” or anything because I think in a way this performance (which might only be differentiated be 3 or 4 plays compared to an average Geno game) does not matter quite as much. Yes, the Seahawks could have taken a lead when they were down 23-17 and got the ball back in the fourth quarter…it was at that point that I saw a lot of comments online and in the chat, “This is Geno’s statement drive” or “This is where Geno sinks or swims”.

And that is when he threw his second interception.

However, it was a good TEAM EFFORT to fall behind 16-0 and 23-3 in the first place. What exactly were the Seahawks doing in the first half that was “good”? The defense allowed a 90-yard drive on their first appearance, lucky to leave only allowing a field goal but once again finding a way to play 13 snaps immediately.

The run game wasn’t going anywhere. The defense allowed a 76-yard touchdown to Deebo Samuel. Laviska Shenault fumbled the next kickoff and gave the Niners another three points. The Seahawks had a three-and-out. The defense then had a 14-play drive. Then Seattle’s red zone offense stalled again, settling for three points at the end of the half despite having three plays from the 2.

The first half had to be as bad as any half the Seahawks have played at home in the last decade.

So yeah, Geno Smith had a bad game. But so did the coaches. They had a terrible game. Mike Macdonald looked shook to me. Ryan Grubb’s response to “We gotta run the ball more” was 54 dropbacks and 19 rushing attempts by running backs, which again…I guess that’s what they “had to do”. Seattle fumbled twice. The Seahawks forced zero turnovers again.

The fact that the game was ever close in the fourth quarter is amazing, but the game was never “close”.

Leave a comment

Hot - P Michael Dickson

He did have a bad punt, but he had a few good punts and I have nobody else to award tonight so I feel like this will help repair the relationship a little bit between me and Dickson.

Medium - OT Stone Forsythe

He didn’t do that bad considering.

(This is also where I should have put Laviska Shenault)

Mild - Mike Macdonald

This is one on the chin. I think the Seahawks run defense might not just be worse than it was last year, but worse than its ever been. If that doesn’t show up in the rankings yet, it’s only because teams haven’t always taken advantage of all the yards that Seattle’s actually giving up on the ground.

This is not a doom and gloom post

Finally, I’m just writing about what I saw in the game. It was a really bad performance by the Seahawks. If I was writing about a team that wasn’t the Seahawks and they played like that, I’d say, “Wow, the Jets played really bad tonight.” That’s the same to me. It’s not criticizing the Seahawks personally or Geno Smith or Macdonald or Grubb. It’s just my observation of a bad night and given what I saw on Twitter and the live chat during the game, I think it’s more of a popular opinion tonight than unpopular.

I still think the Seahawks are in a revitalizing year. It’s going to take time to come together. But yeah, it was really bad tonight and especially the last few weeks on defense. So when Geno doesn’t play well, where do the Seahawks have to turn? That was the problem tonight and the schedule does seem to get harder from here on out.

Subscribe now

Thanks for hanging out at Seaside Joe regardless, through good and bad.

Most people probably still think the Seahawks are better than the Giants. But the race is certainly much closer after Seattle’s 29-20 loss at home and if you thought the Seahawks biggest problem on defense was just “the national media disrespecting them”, you were wrong. 

Leave a comment

1. The Seahawks misused funds

The Seahawks are 32nd in offensive line spending at $23 million this season, including $5.8 million for Charles Cross (rookie contract), $3.4 million for George Fant (IR), $3.3 million for Connor Williams (late signing), $1.4 million for Abe Lucas (IR), $1.2 million for Laken Tomlinson, $1.1 million for Anthony Bradford, $1.1 million for Stone Forsythe, and $1 million for Christian Haynes.

This exact same team decided that Noah Fant should get a two-year, $21 million contract with $11.5 million guaranteed, which means he counts $7.5 million against the 2024 salary cap.

That means that the Seahawks decided that they should pay Fant $7.5 million and they should pay the entire interior of the offensive line, including four players, should be paid $7.6 million. And almost half of that went to Williams because Seattle’s center competition was so underwhelming that John Schneider only felt compelled to sign a veteran center because he was an obscene bargain left on the market.

I know we can get really cute with this and talk about all the other players getting paid whatever-whatever, but that’s not necessary and it undermines a better point, which is that the Seahawks paid Noah Fant $11.5 million! That’s almost half of the combined cost of EVERY OFFENSIVE LINEMAN ON THE ROSTER.

If you think that this revelation will change Seattle’s long-standing history of not paying offensive linemen…why?

The Seahawks will probably be forced to extend Cross because he was a top-10 pick and maybe Williams, so the price of two players will go up, but I don’t expect Schneider to change Seattle’s longstanding strategy to use day two/day three players at guard. That’s assuming the team will even extend Williams (if they even should), in which case I’d expect the Seahawks to continue to be cheap at center also.

Leave a comment

2. Seahawks definitely have a cornerback problem

Not exactly sure yet how Devon Witherspoon played after last week’s underwhelming performance, but there was a lot of focus on Tre Brown “getting pick on” by Daniel Jones…Rare is the day that Daniel Jones can bully anyone…

We will find out what Brown’s final stats look like in a day or two, I certainly don’t think they will be good. Riq Woolen left the game with an ankle injury and Mike Macdonald’s post-game comments, while not very illuminating, didn’t sound optimistic. Nehemiah Pritchett stepped in and did get a key pass defense, however Macdonald said that’s something that Seattle’s corners would need to “compete” for as far as replacing Woolen. On a short week, it seems that Witherspoon, Brown, and Pritchett could start against the 49ers.

3. You’re the only Chenna see

Blink and you missed it. Uchenna Nwosu played for the first time in 50 weeks, then was ruled out before halftime with a thigh injury. By the end of the game, Derick Hall was also out with a foot injury. The Seahawks will need Boye Mafe’s return on Thursday. Hall had a sack, but it wasn’t really a sack; Jones tripped on his own tackle. I think that’s two sacks for Hall this season that he kind of walked into, but I could be miscounting. I’ll take them all.

Share

4. Ryan Grubb under fire

I understand that the offense has had to overcome fumbles by DK Metcalf that led to a touchdown in back-to-back games, and that re-dictates the pace and style of offense Grubb can call, but these last two efforts are not acceptable. This isn’t UW. You have to prove you can run the football effectively.

Kenneth Walker—quite possibly Seattle’s best offensive player—had five carries for 19 yards. Zach Charbonnet had 2 for 11.

The Seahawks had 56 pass attempts and 14 carries by running backs in Week 4’s loss to the Lions.

The Seahawks had 40 pass attempts and 7 carries by running backs in Week 5’s loss to the Giants.

I like to think I’m the last person to point fingers at the coordinators before talking about the players (and I’d still do that in this case) but these numbers—113 dropbacks by Geno Smith, 21 carries by running backs in the last two games—are not going to cut it.

Subscribe now

5. Mike Macdonald under fire

I am all in favor of the direction the Seahawks took this year, I support what Macdonald’s been doing, and I’m not panicking or encouraging panic. I am writing this down multiple times so that it’s very clear that this section is titled “Macdonald under fire” because there’s definitely a slight narrative perculating OUT THERE (not right here) that Macdonald’s defense was “exposed” recently.

I made a joke that Pete Carroll could have had the Seahawks 3-2 with a bad defense and an inconsistent offense—and that’s all it was, I still like where Seattle should be headed with Macdonald and Grubb. Do I stand by the joke that “Pete could have done this”? Of course. I’m not turning on the Seahawks coaching staff.

But the Seahawks just got obliterated by Daniel Jones, Darius Slayton, and Tyrone Tracy, six days after they let the Lions complete all 19 passing attempts.

The Seahawks didn’t play perfect defense in the first three weeks of the season, but they got near-perfect results because Seattle’s opponents didn’t appear to be formidable. Now the Seahawks play another opponent that most assumed couldn’t even score in practice and Macdonald’s defense was essentially annihilated by Brian Daboll.

Tracy has the most rushing yards (129) of any player in Week 5 and he did that on 18 carries. He had 47 rushing yards over expectation.

Slayton had eight catches for 122 yards and six first downs. He had 58 receiving yards over expected and averaged 11 air yards per target, so not exactly the dink and dunk danny offense we expected. The Seahawks were getting hosed by all angles against the Giants and if it were not for a fraction of an inch that led to a 100-yard touchdown, Seattle probably would have lost this game by multiple touchdowns.

So as a defensive coordinator, Macdonald has to look in the mirror and assess why his defense has not been acceptable over the last two weeks—especially because we think the best offenses Seattle will face are in their future, not their past. But he also has to look at himself as the head coach: The Seahawks have had back-to-back embarrassing days on defense. First Goff was perfect (not to mention a porous run defense) en route to the worst EPA by a Seahawk defense since 2010 and second the Giants just treated Seattle like they were…the Giants.

We have to be able to criticize the Seahawks—coaches and players—without being censored for it. I am all in favor of what the Seahawks are doing (save a few items that I believe are well-covered territory), I support the coaches and Mike Macdonald, and I’m not panicking over these last two games. The criticism coming from our end should be no different than the internal criticism I expect from Schneider, Macdonald, Grubb, Geno Smith, and so on. The whole team has to assess what they’ve been doing wrong in these five games—and yes, especially the last two—in order to have fewer things to criticize in the future.

Leave a comment

6. The DK Metcalf question nobody wants to address

I include myself in “nobody”! There isn’t an easy answer to the problem that DK presents to the Seahawks: Is it riskier to trade him…or to keep him?

If you try to bring up parting with DK after he scores a touchdown, forget about it. Not going to be allowed. However, DK leads all receivers in fumbles since 2019, including his eighth LOST fumble on Sunday. He leads all receivers in penalties since 2019. And I’d say that in about half of the games, he makes no discernible impact. Personally, I don’t think that Jake Bobo could replace Metcalf as the X (although I know some people do). However, do I think the Seahawks might survive with Bobo—and have fewer costly mistakes?

First the Seahawks must answer if they can move foward with DK. Then the Seahawks must decide if they want to pay DK’s next contract. Then the Seahawks must decide what they can get for DK in a trade. There appear to be an inordinate number of receiver-needy teams, and I think most of them would be more comfortable with DK than with Davante Adams due to their age difference, but are the Bills going to give up a first round pick for a receiver who played his way out of Seattle?

It may be a moot point because Metcalf is going to play this Thursday against the 49ers. If he has a good game, most will have moved on from these five games, all of which had at least one significant DK Metcalf mistake.

It’s a huge risk to part with a rare player like Metcalf. Would the Seahawks be 5-0 without Metcalf? Would the Seahawks be 0-5 without Metcalf?

It’s such a tough, tough question to answer. But if the Seahawks decide to keep Metcalf long-term, they must accept that these errors will continue. And if they can’t accept that, they must consider putting Metcalf on the trade block.

Share Seaside Joe

7. Seahawks linebacker issue

I’ll give a hat-tip here to Randall Murray in the SSJ live game chat for pointing out the linebacker misreads and poor tackling around the line of scrimmage when they happened. On one hand, Jerome Baker had an unbelievable first series by stuffing the Giants on third-and-Goal from the 1, then helping force the fumble on fourth down that led to Rayshawn Jenkins’ 100-yard touchdown return.

Baker led the team with 14 tackles, had a sack, and forced that fumble (although it seemed to me like the ball was working itself out without needing help). As to whether or not Baker actually had a good game for four quarters, or to what degree we should cut him some slack given that this was almost like his first preseason game, is up in the air. Whether it’s Baker or Dodson or the safeties, Seattle’s defense had little to be proud of by the end of the game.

Tyrice Knight missed this game and was dealing with a “personal issue” that caused him to miss practices. Will Macdonald be using Knight more moving forward in place of Dodson and/or Baker? It’s early in the season and there have been a lot of injuries, so that might happen regardless of whether it’s the right thing to do.

Give a gift subscription

I am a big fan of reading comments in the Seaside Joe live chat. It helps me follow the game from additional angles and getting alternative non-Twitter based opinions that I might miss or not even understand without the help of the community here.

Hot - S Rayshawn Jenkins

I’m legitimately not sure if Jenkins had an all-around good game, but if you return a fumble 100 yards for a touchdown—MORE TOUCHDOWNS THAN THE OFFENSE HAD FOR 58 MINUTES—you get an award from me.

Subscribe now

Medium - QB Geno Smith

This offense does feel like a repeat of 2022 and 2023, in that the Seahawks can have one or two great drives, but disappear for quarters at a time. I mean, DISAPPEAR. Seattle’s offense had 6 points prior to Geno’s touchdown pass to JSN with 2:13 left.

It was certainly a “good enough” game for Geno, I can’t say he was the downfall of the offense by any means or the reason that the Seahawks lost. But sometimes when you’re talking about “Is this guy going to carry his team on a bad day?” like you might get with only a handful of quarterbacks—I’m not saying it’s expected all the time—the offense still stalled out over and over and over again until the final minutes.

Then again on the last drive, resulting in the blocked field goal. It’s amazing that Seattle almost tied it, but surely we all agree that the Seahawks should not have let that drive end in a field goal attempt.

If at the end of the year we line up all of Geno’s starts this season, this one’s going to land somewhere in the middle.

Mild - Coaches

There’s plenty of blame to go around to players, but did Brian Daboll really just out-coach somebody? That’s frightening!

Leave a comment

Even though a loss in Detroit isn’t all that big in the grand scheme of things, the Seahawks being able to say that they were one of three remaining perfect teams would have felt like a throwback to Seattle’s more glorious days.

If you’ve read this far in the article then you know that the Seahawks are not one of those undefeated teams anymore. The Lions beat the Seahawks 42-29 on Monday night and that weird score doesn’t even begin to paint how strange the game itself actually was.

I don’t know if I’ve ever seen the Seahawks do more in a game that they in actuality never had a good chance of winning. I know what you’re going to say—”But the Seahawks probably would have at least been tied or within a score for most of the game if not for DK Metcalf’s fumble”—and I DO agree with you. Seattle was remarkably never out of it and yes, they gained more yards than Detroit, so in some respects you could say that the Seahawks had a chance of winning on Monday night.

Leave a comment

But fumbles…They are a part of the game. They’re just as meaningful in the outcome of a game and how good each player/team was as anything else that happens in a football game, like a touchdown or a yard gained or a yard lost or the many costly penalties on Seattle. So if you turn the ball over and you don’t force any turnovers and you let a quarterback have one of the greatest performances in NFL history, you have to own that just as much as you have to own the other reality which is that was still somehow a one-score game in the fourth quarter.

In my opinion, that’s only because it felt like the Lions were a bully drowning the Seahawks in three inches of water.

Share

There was never a single point in the game when the Seahawks would have been favored to win…

And Detroit’s win probability stayed around 90% or better for basically the entire last 45 minutes of the game. That was cut down to 80% when the Seahawks made it an eight-point game, but even when Seattle forced a rare punt by Detroit and got the ball back with a chance to tie it, that’s when the Lions seemed to perk up and realize they had to start playing defense again.

Tell me in the comments if your experience watching this game was anything like my experience of watching this game:

So the Lions immediately punt (great start), then the Seahawks punt (nothing to be worried about), then the Lions drive 93 yards in 7:21 and never face a third down until third-and-Goal from the 1, then Metcalf fumbled, then I pretty much just started oscillating between thinking of unlikely scenarios that might gift Seattle a lucky win and negotiating my emotions for how to handle this inevitable loss.

Leave a comment

Because the Seahawks were actually so bad on run defense on the second drive that I couldn’t think of very many probable (emphasis: probable, not possible) scenarios that would lead to Seattle overcoming a 14-0 deficit in Detroit without five defensive starters+six when Julian Love left with a thigh injury.

Subscribe now

But as I say, in spite of all of that the Seahawks were able to keep the game interesting down to the final and 56th throw by Geno Smith pretty much because Seattle has a lot of talented players and minds on offense and the Lions were also very banged up on defense.

I’m probably going to have a slightly different take on how the Seahawks defense played on Monday night than most people, which is that I think given the circumstances they played pretty good and in my opinion this game would not have looked that much different with one or two more healthy players. Based on how Seattle’s defense played in the first three weeks—not how they performed on the stats sheet but how they played, which was they did really good but were not playing against offenses that could punish them for some of their mistakes—I think the Lions were always going to be a massive challenge to the Seahawks defense.

Jared Goff went an NFL record 18-of-18 (the previous-best 100% completion night was 10-of-10) for 292 yards and two touchdowns, which doesn’t include Amon-Ra St. Brown’s touchdown pass to Goff.

Would Goff have gone 18-of-18 if the Seahawks had Uchenna Nwosu and Jerome Baker? I mean, maybe. He might have.

Would the Seahawks have allowed a 70-yard touchdown to Jameson Williams and three rushing touchdowns? Yeah, I would say that one or two additions to the front seven doesn’t really change the equation that much for me, although losing Julian Love mid-game was definitely a significant loss with respect to Williams.

Would the Seahawks still give up 42 points if they had all of their defensive players? Well, let’s all agree that at no point this season will the Seahawks have all of their defensive starters.

Will the Seahawks defense play better next week against the Giants?

Maybe the silver lining to this loss—besides all the attractive distractions like a hook and lateral, a one-handed sack by Derick Hall, and a couple of DK Metcalf’s best career catches—is that there’s no way that Seattle can overlook the Giants on Sunday by thinking about the 49ers next Thursday. Giving up 42 points is going to have Mike Macdonald’s coaching staff and the players very focused and grateful for the opportunity to go back to playing against terrible quarterbacks.

Here are the Hot, Medium, and Mild performances from Week 4.

If Seaside Joe is enjoyable to you at times like this, consider supporting the newsletter with a paid subscription or upgrading your paid subscription to Super Joes.

Subscribe now

Hot

QB Geno Smith

The headline is 395 yards on 56 attempts, but he looked pretty good with his legs tonight also. He did throw that interception on his last play of the game, as well as at least two others that should have been intercepted, but everybody’s chance of an interception will go up when you throw 56 passes. Plus, I’m looking for NO WRATH tonight.

Geno’s 395 yards is actually only the 11th-most in Seahawks history (I thought it would be higher), but the 56 attempts is a franchise record. Matt Hasselbeck went 30-of-55 with 427 yards in a 2002 game against the 49ers, another loss. Geno’s previous Seahawks career-high was 47 attempts and that was the win over Washington last season.

Throwing 56 passes is obviously not how any offense wants to play and wasn’t the intention until the game was 14-0 and I think Ryan Grubb is just very confident in his wide receivers to make plays and for Geno to get them the ball. That’s essentially how the Seahawks approached most of this game and for the most part it worked. It didn’t even really take that much away from Kenneth Walker and I think there’s definitely other scenarios in which Seattle dominates this game with Walker; However, I understand why that scenario didn’t play out on that way after DK’s fumble and the defense’s inability to get a stop. I hold no grubges.

This makes me consider a question I want to ask you:

Leave a comment

RB Kenneth Walker

By far my favorite Seahawk of the night. Walker had 12 carries for 80 yards and 36 receiving yards and you felt like he could really get a home run tonight. It almost happened on a 28-yard run, but at least we got this:

S Julian Love

Well, because I guess things just kind of FALL APART when Julian Love leaves the game.

Derick Hall

When I see a guy do something like this, I think to myself “Oh that’s a GREAT player”. Not play, player:

LT Charles Cross

Soon to be the highest-paid player on the Seahawks. Although I will add this graph by Next Gen Stats, which shows Aidan Hutchinson generating an NFL-season best 10 pressures against Seattle and you can see he did quite a bit of his work against the left side:

WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba

He only had 51 yards, but JSN made a lot of critical plays on Monday. He convereted third-and-8, third-and-6, third-and-5, third-and-8, third-and-1, and he did this:

All due respect to Geno Smith and Kenneth Walker, I don’t think the Seahawks could have scord 20 points without JSN on Monday. He was that important and he didn’t just do it all on one or two drives, it was throughout the game.

DT Jarran Reed

He seemed really good on first sight and considering the circumstances he really had to be, but it’s hard to ignore how bad the Seahawks defensive line was getting buried by Detroit’s offensive line in the run game.

WR Jake Bobo

He’s not held to the same standards as a starting receiver would be, so Bobo catching three passes for 30 yards (and key moments) is definitely hot.

Leave a comment

Medium

WR DK Metcalf

DK Metcalf embodies what it means to be “Medium” because my intention with this tier is that it’s players who do both good things and bad things. That’s DK Metcalf. He fumbled and he also did this:

And that might not have been his best play of the night. I just can’t help but wonder how a guy who is FAMOUS for flexing his muscles couldn’t be squeezing that ball so tight that it bursts.

LB Tyrel Dodson

I find it hard to believe that anyone in this area of defense (or any) was especially good on Monday night, but at least I remember Dodson making a few key plays and he led Seattle with 10 tackles. How many of those came on completions by Jared Goff? We will find out tomorrow.

EDGE Dre’Mont Jones

I’m in a generous mood with Jones while Seattle’s defensive line is the walking wounded, and he had a sack.

RB Zach Charbonnet

He only had two carries, but he got 15 yards on those and he had five catches for 39 yards. Most of all, I’m happy that the Seahawks have a good running back to spell Walker.

Share

Cold

DC Mike Macdonald

When the team loses players, fans tend to want to look to the coaching staff for answers. Surely Pete Carroll has had defenses with less talent than what the Seahawks had on Monday night and not allowed a QB to go 18-for-18 and almost 120 rushing yards. If I can only give Macdonald ONE “Cold” grade for the entire season, certainly we all agree this is a great candidate for it?

Penalties

Whoever the penalties were on, I don’t remember all of them.

TE Pharaoh Brown

Not to pick on anyone, but he seems a little bit slow and I’m curious if this type of tight end is really the direction the Seahawks are headed in. Conversely, A.J. Barner had two catches for 27 yards and could have been a “hot”.

Give a gift subscription

By the fourth quarter of this game, any play by the Dolphins that was going in the right direction started to feel like a Kyler Murray razzle dazzle touchdown. It never was a touchdown—the Seahawks kept Miami from reaching the end zone in Seattle’s 24-3 win at home—but nothing got Harlan and Green more fired up than third string quarterback Tim Boyle completing a pass, any pass, in the fourth quarter.

I have to apologize to you for underselling the importance of Tua Tagovailoa and overselling the potential of Skylar Thompson last week. If the Dolphins could have started Andy Dalton on Sunday, this game would have had a different score, if not a different result.

The Seahawks did not play as well as you’d expect of a team that beats a 2023 playoff team by three touchdowns.

The offense turned the ball over two times and failed to score points on six straight possessions, including an interception at the end of the third quarter that could have given Miami life again. Coincidentally in the Seaside Joe live chat, I sent the message “The Seahawks can’t lose this game unless they turn the ball over” a few seconds before they turned the ball over.

When it was 17-3 in the fourth quarter, Seaside Jay walked into the living room after a long absence and asked, “How is that still the score?” That sums up the mindset I was in between the 71-yard touchdown pass to DK Metcalf on the first play of the second quarter and the Zach Charbonnet touchdown run with five minutes left in the game that finally made it 24-3.

But it just didn’t really matter because Skylar Thompson did not play well enough to be considered a backup NFL quarterback and then after he left with an injury in the third quarter, was replaced by Tim Boyle, a quarterback with 10 career interceptions in five career starts who was added to the roster

I’m not going to stop writing that the Seahawks beat a bad team if the Seahawks did beat a bad team and the Dolphins have played like one of the worst teams in the NFL this season. However that really does not matter because Seattle’s only goal is to win the most games.

That’s it. There’s nothing in the rules that says you have to have the best wins or that certain wins have different win values.

Leave a comment

In the NFL, the goal is not to win every game, it’s to win the most games. It’s not even to win the most games. It’s to win the most games in your conference. And even then, sometimes you can have the same number of wins as three other teams and still get the number one seed in the playoffs. Best-worst case scenario, you just have the most wins in your division and you get to host a playoff game.

It does not matter if the Seahawks look good, bad, or ugly when they win. They just need to stack as many wins over the bad teams, the good teams, and the 49ers as they can and make sure it’s more wins than their opponents.

Now at 3-0, the Seahawks know that going into their toughest test of the season next week, a Monday night game taking them back to Detroit, that no matter what happens they’ll still be in first place in the NFC West in Week 5.

NFC West

Seahawks, 3-0

Cardinals, 1-2

Rams, 1-2

49ers, 1-2

Share

Here are the players who came out as Hot, Medium, and Mild in Week 3’s 24-3 win over the Miami Dolphins.

Hot

RB Zach Charbonnet

There were some moments there when I felt like I couldn’t possibly give Charbonnet a “Hot”, there’s no question that the burst isn’t there like it is with Kenneth Walker (getting run down by a DT on a screen play specifically), but how can I not after he had a touchdown run that RIVALS the best ones by Walker?

In the words of Jon Gruden, “There are good burgers and there are great burgers. There are good running backs and there are great running backs.” On that play, Charbonnet looked like a great running back. He also finished with 91 yards on 18 carries, so yeah we can clean some things up but this is his best career game.

WR DK Metcalf

In the vision board preview this week, I highlighted DK Metcalf for his rare ability to “physically dominate” any cornerback in the NFL and that was as apparent in Week 3 as it was in Week 1 and Week 2. His hands must have their own area codes because he holds onto this football like most of us would grip a pen:

Did DK Metcalf get any 10 or 15-yard penalties call on him?

But he also finished with 104 yards, including 71 on one play. I haven’t seen the leaderboards for most 50-yard touchdowns this season. It’s starting to look like with Ryan Grubb he could lead the NFL in 50-yard touchdowns.

With back-to-back 100-yard games, Metcalf’s season is off to the start he’s hoping for given that in many ways 2024 is a contract year. He seems more comfortable and has a higher awareness near the sidelines this year, plus his speed is showing up on those long touchdown plays as none of these NFL-quality athletes can catch him.

Mike Macdonald pass rush

The Seahawks finished with a total of six sacks: Derick Hall had two, while Jarran Reed, Dre’Mont Jones, Tyrel Dodson, and Boye Mafe each had one.

The Jones sack, it seemed like Thompson was out of his mind already because he mishandled the snap and was already fumbling after Jones had easily beaten left tackle Terron Armstead. Hall’s sacks, one of them it was like Thompson was blind or paying no attention. The Seahawks got the pressure and then Skylar Thompson helped them finish the play off in a way that Jacoby Brissett wasn’t willing to do last week because he’s selfish.

I think the Tyrel Dodson sack was the clearest example of “the Mike Macdonald blitz package” so far this season. This is what we want to see four or five times per game:

I give credit to the players and they might just be touching the surface of being comfortable with the playbook and the scheme. I just give the game ball to Mike Macdonald this week.

TE Noah Fant

For the first time in his career, Noah Fant caught every single target in a game in which he was targeted more than four times. Fant finished with six catches on six targets and gained 60 yards. Let the word spread to all the nearby villages: “Seaside Joe doesn’t keep players out of the Hot Zone just because he’s been criticizing them a lot lately.”

We saw all four tight ends get snaps on Sunday and three of them caught passes: A.J. Barner caught all three targets and gained 13 yards, while Pharaoh Brown made his debut and caught one pass for nine yards on two targets. I think Grubb feels more comfortable in his offense with having Brown back, and maybe Fant is better off when Grubb doesn’t have to use him in roles he’s not good at.

RT Stone Forsythe

Seaside Jay predicted that Forsythe would have a great game and I know he was getting shouted out in the Seaside Joe live chat for good play throughout. Can’t wait to find out what the people who talk about offensive line say about Seattle’s offensive line this week.

I’m cutting off the Hot Zone here because I am already behind, so if you think I’m leaving out an egregious and obvious “Hot” here, please tell me in the comments:

Leave a comment

Medium

WR Tyler Lockett, WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba

Lockett had 46 yards on five catches, JSN had 39 yards on three catches, which were all three targets he had on Sunday. I was surprised that the Seahawks didn’t lean on JSN more given how he played in Week 2 and that Seattle had such a long scoring drought. Neither of these receivers did anything wrong that I can recall, they just didn’t get a featured play like Metcalf did on the touchdown. Really the difference in how a player is perceived can often come down to just one play.

QB Geno Smith

How could any of us be upset with Geno Smith after watching 12+ quarters of Bo Nix, Jacoby Brissett, Skylar Thompson, and Tim Boyle from the other teams?

I actually was not too mad at Geno Smith for his two interceptions. The tipped pass at the line of scrimmage, that type of stuff happens every single game. With almost any quarterback there are going to be plays that balls get tipped or dropped that are intercepted or almost intercepted. If the ball wasn’t intercepted, we wouldn’t even remember the batted ball probably. The other interception was not necessarily a bad decision because we’d be praising Geno for the play of the day if the toss was accurate, and so the resulting tip and interception was a matter of inches.

If he takes the sack, the Dolphins get two points and the ball probably around their own 40-midfield. I do think that’s preferable to what happened, which was allowing a field goal, but maybe only because the Dolphins offense was so incapable of moving the ball with Thompson that we have to assume they wouldn’t have scored on their next possession.

At one point, Smith dropped a shotgun snap. It’s one of those moments that would turn most average quarterbacks into Will Levis, but Smith was pretty cool about picking up the ball and throwing a near-first down to the king of near first-downs. With so many quarterbacks losing games for their teams this season, Geno Smith is 3-0.

Subscribe now

CB Devon Witherspoon

I want to start by saying that one of Devon Witherspoon’s only “weaknesses” as a draft prospect was being too handsy and drawing more penalties than the average. He had at least a couple of them on Sunday and they were earned, from what I could see.

Both teams were penalized 11 times and the Seahawks lost 92 yards on those plays. It was an issue on both sides of the ball and those yards will matter in games against quarterbacks.

LB Tyrice Knight

No matter how the analytics or the film shakes out this week, Tyrice Knight was pushed into a start in his third NFL game and Seattle held their opponents to three points, which came on a 2-yard drive. I had no qualms with how Knight played and he finished with six tackles. Drake Thomas had some snaps on defense too, finishing with three tackles and a pass defensed.

K Jason Myers

Good from 56, not good from 53. That’s not a bad average from 53 and 56.

Who did I overlook for the Medium?

Leave a comment

Mild

G Anthony Bradford

From one disappointing Bradford to another. The penalties. The pressures allowed. The role he plays in Seattle’s turnovers and punts. At this point I’m less worried about Anthony Bradford’s ability to play in the NFL than I am about the guards behind him who don’t play. Not to make this a Kyler Murray post but his reaction to Aaron Donald retiring out of the NFC West could never ring more true than now.

P Michael Dickson

He’s been average, at best.

Injuries

These players are not mild, they’re hopefully just marinating. The Seahawks ruled out Byron Murphy II and Leonard Williams following injuries during the game. Williams missed most of the game with a rib injury, while Murphy came out in the second half with a hamstring injury. Macdonald didn’t have any relevant updates on either after the game.

I will post the rest of my post-game comments in the comments section at SeasideJoe.com.

Until roughly 9:30 AM this morning when it finally dawned on me that the Seahawks would have to beat the Patriots at home with a three hour time difference. That made me feel a little bit worried—I don’t think there’s anything wrong with acknowledging a disadavantage to play in these situations—but maybe Seattle is finally over the fear of playing east coast teams at 10 AM.

The Seahawks beat the Patriots 23-20 in overtime in Week 2, staying in control for most of the game, until eventually falling behind in the fourth quarter and needing clutch plays by Geno Smith, Jason Myers, Tyrel Dodson, Zach Charbonnet, Tyler Lockett, and DK Metcalf to tie the game, force a punt, and kick the game-winner.

These are the Hot, Medium, and Mild players and coaches from the team currently in first place in the NFC West.

Please consider subscribing to Seaside Joe for $5/month or $55/year to support these daily Seahawks newsletters!

Subscribe now

Hot

QB Geno Smith

As of the afternoon/evening games, Geno Smith leads all Week 2 passers with 327 yards. He went 33-of-44 with one touchdown, no interceptions, and no fumbles. He was good for the most of the game, but great in overtime.

Like him or not, Geno’s career earnings and general respect levels legitimately only suffer for one reason: Perception. With QBs like Trevor Lawrence, Tua Tagovailoa, and Deshaun Watson genuinely playing terrible football this season and making $50-$55 million for it, Geno has a legitimate gripe with his $25 million per year contract. And I mean that: Even if you think Geno is overrated, the only reason he’s not overpaid like those other QBs is that his reclamation project started too late.

Well, his loss is Seattle’s gain because the Seahawks are fortunate to pay half-price for sometimes adequate, sometimes good from Geno Smith through the first two weeks. I said last week that Geno could play better than he did against Denver and Sunday’s win over New England was one of his best starts since taking over in 2022.

Ryan Grubb took some heat for second half decisions, but keep in mind that Geno’s only touchdown was a wide open bomb to DK Metcalf, so I think that Seattle’s offensive success this week was a credit to both. When Grubb struggled, Geno made up for it, and when the Seahawks needed to call the right play, Grubb dialed one up more often than Shane Waldron seemed to do it in 2023.

K Jason Myers

I haven’t posted the special teams scores in the Close Your Eyes test yet, but sneak peek: I’m higher on Myers than most. He went 3-of-3 on field goals, including the game-tier and the game-winner. We can talk about the odd/even thing, but it doesn’t matter what the last number of the year is: Myers is as good as any kicker in those end-of-game situations.

WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba

The Seahawks only dailed up two throws to JSN last week, both early in the game against Denver, but Grubb made a statement against the Patriots: Jaxon Smith-Njigba is the receiver that Seattle probably trusts the most right now when they need to get the passing offense in gear. JSN finished with 12 catches on 16 targets, gaining 117 yards. That’s five more targets than his previous career-high and I would be surprised if JSN doesn’t get double-digit targets against the Dolphins in Week 3. He did have a crucial drop late in the game, but you take those with the incredible catches and ability to gain yards after the catch.

DL Leonard Williams

1.5 sacks. (I feel like Byron Murphy should get 0.5 of those.) Seems to impact the game against the run and the pass. Essentially the opposite of Dre’Mont Jones. Can you imagine if the Seahawks didn’t trade for Leonard Williams and Seattle’s best DE right now was supposed to be Jones?

(I know the Seahawks had to re-sign Williams, but trading for a player greatly increases the odds of your bid landing.)

DT Byron Murphy

As I said, he had his first sack (credited as 0.5) and I think we can start to have a conversation on how much he’s doing at the beginning of his career.

LT Charles Cross

I’m just going to go out on a limb again like I did last week and assume Cross was really good.

Medium

WR DK Metcalf

I know. But like I said, 56 of those yards, I think almost any starting receiver could have made that play if nobody’s going to cover him. On the other 13 targets, Metcalf had 9 catches for 73 yards. He also had more costly penalties after last week’s disaster and, you know, the career he’s had up to this point.

On top of the penalties, it feels like we were reminded again today the difference between Metcalf and true elite receivers: He got a deep bomb 50/50 go ball from Geno Smith and though he was blanketed by good cornerback defense, those are the types of catches I would expect A.J. Brown or Justin Jefferson to make. Don’t get me wrong, we’ve seen Metcalf make difficult catches before (Eagles last year) but at a lower rate than those upper echelon receivers. If he could improve on contested catches*, he’d be unstoppable.

*And penalties

C Connor Williams

He gave up a sack and I think that this is just a good time to open the conversation on how Connor Williams is doing with the Seahawks so far. It’s too soon to have a solid opinion because he is returning from ACL surgery and no offseason workouts, but observations are underway.

Leave a comment

OC Ryan Grubb/DC Mike Macdonald

Probably so-so games from both sides of the ball. I felt like the Seahawks defensive wouldn’t be as effective as they were against the Broncos if they continued to play at the same level against better competition; the Patriots aren’t even a good offense but they had a more capable quarterback, better running backs, and better run blocking than Denver.

Antonio Gibson ran for 96 yards on 11 carries, Rhamondre Stevenson had 81 yards on 21 carries, and Hunter Henry had eight catches for 109 yards. New England’s pass blocking is probably better than Denver’s, but Jacoby Brissett knew better than Bo Nix how to make a defense pay for not covering someone. (That someone was always Henry though: No other Patriots player had more than 12 receiving yards.)

Seattle’s run defense isn’t going to look so good after this one and next week the Seahawks play the most explosive rushing offense in the NFL last season: The Miami Dolphins. Seattle’s going need to cover DeVon Achane with Riq Woolen in order to be able to catch him.

I hated some of Grubb’s run calls late in the game given how poorly the Seahawks were doing on the ground, but I’m elated that Mike Macdonald didn’t actually go for it when Seattle was down 20-17. Kicking the field goal was the right decision, then the Seahawks did get the job done in overtime on both sides of the ball.

Share Seaside Joe

OLB Boye Mafe

On one hand, Mafe looks like Seattle’s best edge rusher through the first two weeks and maybe doesn’t have a close second (unless Uchenna Nwosu counts). Mafe had another sack, giving him two through two games, and he had a TON of pressures.

On the other hand, Mafe’s not going to be a complete player until he learns how to wrap, tackle, and finish. He could have had 3 or 4 sacks, at least. The sack he got was really more of a coverage sack. He could have prevented a 45-yard run, but he whiffed on a TFL in the backfield. He whiffs too often. Yet, what are the Seahawks to do when he’s so much better than Dre’Mont Jones? He has to play all game.

Mafe left the game with an injury but Macdonald called it a “knee contusion” and said he wasn’t too worried about it.

LB Tyrel Dodson

I couldn’t really say that I was watching Dodson for the entire game, so maybe he was great or maybe he was fine (his 8 tackles ranked second behind 9 for Rayshawn Jenkins), but Dodson made the game-winning tackle to stuff Rhamondre Stevenson for no yards on third-and-1 in overtime.

Subscribe now

Mild

G Anthony Bradford

“Why isn’t Christian Haynes playing?” Well, he came in momentarily and was immediately beaten for a near-sack. The Seahawks have a huge weakness at right guard not because of Bradford, but because of their entire collection of options at guard. Otherwise, if they had any reinforcements, well, we wouldn’t be watching Bradford, right?

He has had 4 (more?) penalties through two weeks, all costly, and that’s just the half of the story. I don’t know if Bradford is going to get a whole lot better. He couldn’t be a whole lot worse. Laken Tomlinson also gave up at least one sack.

RB Zach Charbonnet/Run Game Blocking and Play Calling

I went into last season thinking that Kenneth Walker III was for sure a better running back than Zach Charbonnet. I went into this season probably 50% more convinced that Walker was better than Charbonnet. I finish Week 2 feeling no hesitation to say that Walker is a lot better than Charbonnet. He’s more dynamic, more athletic, has better vision, and possess improv skills that Charbonnet almost certainly won’t learn this late in his development and that’s even assuming he has the physical ability, which he doesn’t.

You know, if you keep Charbonnet as the “jab” next to Walker’s “uppercut”, the Seahawks will be fine and he’d be great. But if a boxer just jabs, jabs, jabs, he’s going to be too worn out to finish until his opponent is thinking, “I felt nothing and you’re exhausted”.

It’s not that Charbonnet isn’t a starter in the NFL somewhere, it’s that he isn’t the starter that best fits this offense with Ryan Grubb and a poor blocking offensive line. Yeah, he had nowhere to run, the low YPC isn’t necessarily his “fault”. But he also isn’t good enough to make something out of nothing like Walker. He has seven more days to heal before the Dolphins and the Seahawks need him.

TE Noah Fant

I don’t want to say “Fant’s terrible” because he’s not terrible. However, when there’s this perception that because he’s a former first round pick with incredible athleticism that he’s “good” and then he plays like he’s a magnet for small mistakes, I really want to say “Fant is terrible!”.

He had at least two dropped passes (one third down drop would have still been short of the sticks, as usual) and he’s just not a weapon like he should be a weapon. Fant finished with one catch for 14 yards. Through two games, Noah Fant has caught three passes for 25 yards and of course, no touchdowns.

“Oh but he’s, like, a blocking tight end, right?”

No, he’s not a blocking tight end.

OLB Dre’Mont Jones

Last week, I said Dre’Mont Jones didn’t show up “for good or bad reasons”. I think he showed up for bad reasons this week. He has two tackles through two games and that feels so true: Is he ever around the ball? Does he know where to go? Is he always being blocked out of the play? Just seems like a very zero-impact player through the first two games.

Leave a comment

Share

I will put the rest of my notes in the comments section of this article.

Subscribe now

So that’s how important Sunday could be in the grand scheme of the season and by their record after beating the Broncos 26-20, Mike Macdonald’s first Seahawks team is off to the 1-0 start that Pete Carroll would have loved last year.

Hot, Medium, and Mild will spell out the best, worst, and middest performances by the Seahawks in Week 1. This series is brought to you by Wendy’s spicy chicken nuggets*…When your team is off to a hot start, kick it to a Wendy’s.

*just kidding, we don’t have any sponsors, we need your support by subscribing to the paid membership!

Hot

RB Kenneth Walker

The universe must also love Survivor like I do because you’re going to find out that it was an amazing week for Seaside Joe’s vision board: The request was 100 rushing yards and a 35-yard TD. Walker had 103 rushing yards and a 23-yard touchdown run.

My only request after the first half was to run the ball more and give it to Kenneth Walker. Even behind a shaky offensive line (not to discredit some of the lanes they opened up), Walker was able to come up with play after play when he got opportunities in the second half, including on his scoring drive. On the first drive of the third quarter, Walker ran for 5, ran for 6, ran for 15, ran for 4, and then ran for a 23-yard touchdown.

Read: Kenneth Walker is key for Seahawks offense

After an abysmal first half for the offense and the offensive line, Geno Smith need only throw one pass on the drive, a 13-yard completion to Tyler Lockett.

From there, the Seahawks took a 16-13 lead and didn’t look back.

Share

WR Tyler Lockett

The vision board asked for a game-winning touchdown from Lockett and instead he delivered this one-handed game-winning first down catch:

Not only was Lockett clutch in the second half, he also really needed to be clutch because Seattle didn’t end up getting much from their other receivers or tight ends.

Read: Do Seahawks have best WR corps in the NFL?

Leave a comment

Join Regular Joes and leave a comment!

S Julian Love

I haven’t posted pre-season grades for Seattle’s safeties yet, but I wrote most of it and Julian Love came out with a score of 4.0/5.0, one of the highest on the team. That surprised me, but then Love was one of the most valuable players on the Seahawks on Sunday, including an interception in the second quarter.

Vision Board shout out one more time: I asked for Bo Nix to throw two interceptions and get sacked four times. He threw two interceptions and was sacked two times.

Love also led the team with 12 tackles. Safeties do sometimes go from “role players” to legitimate stars in the latter half of their twenties and that could be the case with Love after switching teams in 2023.

Give a gift subscription

CB Riq Woolen

I don’t know when the right time is to get into the fact that I think Bo Nix had one of the worst games by a quarterback against the Seahawks that I’ve seen in a while, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to dock Seattle’s defense for it. I really don’t see it necessary to say that the Broncos “played well” in order to believe that the Seahawks played well…

BOTH THINGS CAN BE TRUE! AND THEY ARE!

Bo Nix reminded me of Justin Fields without the legs. Though he was decisive and showed off a strong intermediate arm, he was so inaccurate that there was almost nothing the Broncos could do in the first three quarters to get into scoring position…other than get safeties against Seattle’s offensive line.

When Woolen got his interception, he was just one of THREE Seahawks in position to make the pick. He was lucky enough to be standing in front of the other two.

All credit to Riq Woolen for getting one early in the year though, his first interception since Week 11. He’s had some close calls and no matter who was throwing the ball or who he was covering (including Tom Brady), it’s going to build the confidence that Mike Macdonald’s secondary can force as many turnovers in Seattle as it did in Baltimore.

Bo Nix finished 26-of-42 for 138 yards with two interceptions and one rushing touchdown, and I feel like even those bad numbers are still generous. I know he completed one pass that was thrown more than 10 air yards (a whiff by Tre Brown, I believe), but I don’t remember if he completed TWO. He really can’t throw the ball deep and I wonder how long Sean Payton would live with that if Nix doesn’t improve in the next 3-4 weeks. He plays the Steelers defense next week…

Again, I don’t really know what Bo Nix being bad has to do with the Seahawks defense being good. Seattle’s defense will have a hard time getting a serious grade against the pass until they face a quarterback and a supporting cast that will prove to be more dangerous in the intermediate and deep part of the field…Surely we do all agree that the Seahawks will face better offenses than this one, right?

Leave a comment

LT Charles Cross

To be candid, I don’t even know if Cross was that great. But I feel like this will help offset what I have to say about the other offensive linemen later in the article. I didn’t hear his name though, so he couldn’t have been that bad.

Run Defense

It seemed like Denver’s offensive line outplayed Seattle’s defensive line (to me), but the Seahawks still held the Broncos two running backs (Jaleel McLaughlin and Javonte Williams) to only 50 yards on 18 carries with one fumble. That’s GREAT.

Share

Medium

(This isn’t bad. It’s medium! Again, it’s NOT Bad!)

QB Geno Smith

To open the game with a trip, followed by an interception directly to the other team, and to still finish at “MEDIUM”, that shows what the Seahawks can eventually accomplish if they give Geno a running game and some defense. “That was about as ugly as you could start a game,” said Geno afterwards.

Surely nobody can be mad at me for this Geno assessment, right?

Smith finished 18-of-25 for 171 yards with one touchdown, one interception, and a 34-yard touchdown run, the longest of his career. He had some bad plays and he also had a lot of those plays that Nix can’t even come close to making so that’s why Seattle is comfortable sticking with Geno for as long as they can. I mean, if you think Geno is the best that Geno can possibly play, then maybe he does belong in “HOT” for somebody. But I think he can definitely play better than this.

Mike Macdonald’s Defensive Debut

I can give MM the head coach a “HOT”, but I give the defense a very fair “MEDIUM”.

Very rarely did I notice anyone on the defensive line getting pressure on Bo Nix. Of course, Seattle cleaned up their tackling compared to last season (I still noticed a few missed tackles, maybe multiple by Rayshawn Jenkins and Tyrel Dodson) and help an NFL offense to 16 points.

Without the aid of two safeties, the Broncos scored 16, including a 3-yard field goal drive to open the game and a 26-yard field goal drive. So six points were gifted to them. That’s 10 points to an NFL offense coordinated by Sean Payton!

This was a good debut, don’t get me wrong. The Seahawks forced three turnovers, matching their season-high from 2023, when they did it three times.

But Week 3 against the Dolphins. Week 4 against the Lions. Week 6 against the 49ers. The Seahawks are about to play three of the five best offenses from last season and that’s where I want to see Macdonald’s defense earn its stripes—especially this revamped front-seven because I don’t think the Seahawks are going to end up ranking high in QB pressures this week.

(Medium isn’t bad!)

Subscribe now

OC Ryan Grubb

He schemed up a 100-yard, 5.2 YPC day for Walker and a beautiful wheel (wheel-ish?) route touchdown for Zach Charbonnet. Walker had one 100-yard game in all of 2023.

I am already liking this offense more than the last iteration and it could STILL be a lot better than it was this week. I’m not so sure that getting 171 passing yards against Denver’s defense won’t end up being one of the Broncos best efforts of the entire season. It’s only been one game and teams do evolve over the course of a season…but IF the Broncos played like this for two months, it could lead to talks about getting the number one pick in 2025.

If the Broncos end up being a lot better than they were today, great good for them. It doesn’t matter to me or the Seahawks. All the Seahawks are focused on now is being better next week and against the next opponent, so they did end up getting the job done in Week 1 and that’s all that matters.

Leave a comment

Dareke Young shout out

Hey, if your one shot is to make a tackle on special teams, then Dareke Young capitalized on his one shot.

Other Medium-ish performances could be Boye Mafe and Derick Hall (finished with one sack each), Leonard Williams, Jerome Baker, Dodson, K’Von Wallace (forced fumble!), Tre Brown, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and Zach Charbonnet. You know, it’s like, Devon Witherspoon or most of these guys could be “HOT”, right? We’ll figure out as the season goes.

Ultimately the first game showed us that Lockett led the team with seven targets, followed by DK Metcalf and Noah Fant at 4, Charbonnet and Walker at 3 each, and JSN with only 2, both of which came early.

Give a gift subscription

Mild

Offensive Line

“Should the Seahawks be worried about their Week 1 offensive line?”, I wrote last week.

“Yes,” I say.

This is one of the pet peeves I might have about the line, “Well, Geno doesn’t have any time to throw…” And it has nothing to do with Geno….

Just to be 100% clear: This is the same offensive line performance I’ve been expecting all offseason long. So if you’ve been saying for the last two months that the passing offense would struggle because of the offensive line, then you’re not surprised. If you said that Geno/passing would be better this year, well, you should not be surprised that this was the level of protection he got on Sunday. It was as bad as advertised, not worse.

Laken Tomlinson gave us no reason to think he’d be good and he wasn’t. Anthony Bradford didn’t give us a reason to think he’d be good and he wasn’t. Maybe Christian Haynes will take over soon, I’m not sure, but it’s telling that he’s on the bench right now behind players doing this poorly. George Fant left the game early with a knee injury that doesn't sound good, but I don’t really think that he’s that much better than Stone Forsythe anyway.

Seattle’s hope is that Connor Williams (who allowed the pressure on Geno’s INT) gets better with a few weeks of play after a long offseason without playing, and Cross, and a swift return from Abe Lucas by Week 5. That’s their best hope really. However, I wouldn’t really expect it to get a lot better than this by next week.

Fortunately, it seems like Grubb found a way to somewhat overcome this weakness in the second half!

Share Seaside Joe

WR DK Metcalf

He had 29 yards receiving and I think 25 yards of penalties, wiping a Kenneth Walker touchdown off of the board and forcing Seattle to settle for a field goal. He also essentially let the Broncos back in it because of his holding penalty that set Seattle back on what should have been a game-ending drive.

PR Dee Williams

The muff was far more forgivable than trying to pick up the ball instead of falling on it. Still, this was the first play of Williams’ entire NFL career if I’m not mistaken, we and the Seahawks have to move past it.

OLB Dre’Mont Jones

I’m mostly just picking on him, to be honest, because this is really about Seattle’s ability to win the edge in general. Jones is the easiest person to pick on for that because he made no plays (finished with one tackle) and I think he was forgettable. There’s also that feeling that he doesn’t “look like” an edge rusher out there, so I wonder how this expirement will play out over a longer sample size. Jones has never been praised for his run defense, so has that improved enough under Macdonald to keep him afloat as a starter? Or will he need to start getting to the QB?

Must wait to find out.

Overall, this game made me feel like the Son of Baconator…Somewhat satisfied but hungry for more. Brought to you by Wendy’s. Snap it to a Frosty.

Final Notes:

• Anthony Bradford was called for holding on the first safety

• I would rather have QB School do a film study on Bo Nix than Geno, I want to find out more about what people think about that side of the game than the other way around…

• Derick Hall might have been the best edge defender out there? It’s encouraging also that the Seahawks did good without their best outside linebacker

• Devon Witherspoon was really active out there, just didn’t finish with any turnovers but had seven tackles and one PBU; Brown had the best PBU of the day

• Didn’t notice Byron Murphy II

• Geno’s TD run was like “Yes, finally” because he actually saw the yards in front of him and took it instead of forcing a pass

• Dodson had a nice shoestring tackle, but also dropped an “easy” INT

• Going to probably see Stone Forsythe for a while…again

• Yes, the tackling was way, way better this week than last season; the Seahawks defense actually got off the field!

I have much more important things to overreact to.

I know how good it feels that Seahawks football games are back, but these aren’t even dress rehearsals. A dress rehearsal would mean that all the actors are there, not their understudies. Imagine how much the line would move if Justin Herbert was ruled out of a real game and he’s just one player. With the exception of a few players for a few plays, this game involved backups and hopefuls, while coaches are keeping their secrets close to the vest until Week 1.

Subscribe now

These games are not rehearsals for the starters, they’re organized tryouts for the players and practice runs for the broadcast teams, the referees, the people we rarely talk about. I think preseason being just as much a warmup for the referees as it is the players and coaches was obvious in Saturday’s rarely-delayed-by-penalty 16-3 Seahawks win over the Chargers.

But even if the score result won’t impact Seattle’s chances of winning the division, the Seahawks playing a football game and not frustrating the hell out of us feels almost the same as if it would.

Share

Without overreacting to anything that happened on Saturday, here are seven overreactions I had anyway and how it will impact the Seattle Seahawks on their quest to choose a final roster and depth chart.

Well, P.J. Walker can’t be the backup

On Friday, I thought, “Hey maybe Walker can challenge Sam Howell to be Seattle’s backup”, and that idea has faded as quickly as it appeared. By watching Howell on Saturday, you could see why the Seahawks were so intrigued and traded for him (good arm, good mobility) and also why the Moons didn’t get a better offer somewhere else (inconsistency that could lead to soul-crushing turnovers).

Howell had a stat line, but I seriously do not think you need a doctorate in film study or a masters in analytics to have an opinion just from watching him play on Saturday: He was okay. If you watched the game, your opinion of how he played is just as valid as anyone else’s, and my opinion is that he was okay.

With the caveat that he wasn’t surrounded by starters, other than Jaxon Smith-Njigba for the first two series, Charles Cross for a minute (update: not Charles Cross, I think I saw a number and got it confused for Cross), Laken Tomlinson for at least a quarter I’d say, and I think that was it. The bright side is that if Howell had DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett and Kenneth Walker, the full offense, he could be good enough to start for the Seahawks. The word of warning is: none of the exciting tools matter if 2023’s leader in interceptions can’t be exciting without turning the ball over.

I still think that Howell’s preseason debut with Seattle is one that should make Seahawks fans optimistic about Geno Smith’s backup going into Week 1.

The Seahawks needed to see positive from Howell and they did. They didn’t need to see positive from P.J. Walker, and for the most part they didn’t.

Playing with an even less experienced and NFL qualified supporting cast, Walker was usually off-target and an inexcusable delay of game penalty in the fourth quarter. You could see a little bit of why he’s going into his eighth season, and a lot of bit why he doesn’t stay anywhere for very long.

Overreaction?

No. I don’t think that Sam Howell has anything to worry about. He should be the backup and Walker is probably going to be a free agent again after the third preseason game.

Leave a comment

Michael Dickson’s second All-Pro season

There has been talk recently of Dickson having his best training camp and if there wasn’t, there will be now. Dickson carried those rumors into an almost-perfect day against the Chargers, which I think is notable not only when your new special teams coach is Harbaugh, but also when the opposing coach is Harbaugh.

Jim Harbaugh should have his team as prepared as any for a precision punter, yet Dickson still had a day of consistently putting the ball inside the 10. Of all the preseason stats, punters and kickers are as close to “real ball” as anyone.

Dickson made the All-Pro first team as a rookie in 2018, but he has not even been to the Pro Bowl since. I don’t think that’s been a snub most of the time either; he’s been really good, not “the best in the world” good.

Overreaction?

No, I think Michael Dickson has proven he’s capable of being the best in the world. Why not now again?

Give a gift subscription

Kenny McIntosh is not in danger of being cut

Seattle’s 2023 seventh round pick was getting a lot of buzz prior to a knee injury before the Seahawks first preseason game, causing him to be on IR until November. He had the first NFL offensive snaps of his career on Saturday and I bet he looked even better than he did in offseason practices last year.

Again, the stats are whatever. If you watched the game, you saw how McIntosh got what was blocked for him, and then gained even more after first contact. Whatever the stats say, I can tell from my eyes that he played well enough to be the Seahawks number three running back: Elusive as a runner, a threat in the passing game. Plus, he is probably ahead of George Holani on the depth chart and in order of importance because he did get most of the reps in the first half.

McIntosh could also be used on returns, which the Seahawks might need if they cut Dee Eskridge and/or Dee Williams.

This is not to say that Holani was bad. He’s sort of more like a DeeJay Dallas, isn’t he? There wasn’t anything that stood out negatively about him as a runner—he helped spring Eskridge for a 21-yard run with a block—he just might not have the ultra-high ceiling, whereas McIntosh could at least be a ball carrier for an NFL team.

The word recently was that Holani had overtaken McIntosh, that wasn’t the case on Saturday.

Share Seaside Joe

Overreaction?

Yes, a little bit. McIntosh, Week 1, Denver Broncos starting defense, he’s going to be just as good against them as against L.A.’s backups? Well, that’s one thing. It’s not even the most important reason I’m overreacting, which is that George Holani could get the majority of reps next week against the Titans and look EVEN BETTER. It’s running back, which can often be a week-to-week doghouse position unless you’re really special. We’re not talking about starters, we’re talking about emergency starters. At least for now while Seattle has Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet.

And the possibility of the Seahawks carrying four running backs could be higher than the Seahawks carrying an extra receiver or tight end. Perhaps both will make the team.

Leave a comment

McClendon Curtis is not a starter OR backup right tackle

The Chargers didn’t play Joey Bosa or Khalil Mack, yet Seattle’s “backup” tackles seemed to get buried play after play in pass protection by Bud Dupree, Tuli Tuipulotu, and I’m sure others. Specifically Tuipulotu, who is definitely a good player just not the level of edge rusher that Curtis would typically be seeing in the regular season, was at times dominating McClendon Curtis at right tackle.

We’ve kind of been told that Curtis is the starter at right tackle if Abraham Lucas and George Fant are unavailable. I think it’s even been hinted that Curtis would start at tackle over Fant. Whoever the coaches are seeing in practice was not the player who was out there on Saturday.

This isn’t to say that Curtis could not be a good right tackle eventually, only that the Seahawks seem to be right back where they left off before signing George Fant.

I did not have a lot to say about Seattle’s other offensive linemen except that Olu Oluwatimi was out there until the third quarter. That’s a lot of playing time for a center who was leading the competition to start until the team signed Connor Williams. Tomlinson and Anthony Bradford were out there for a while too, probably giving Howell the best opportunity he could get, but it just doesn’t matter as much if the tackles can’t hold their end of the deal.

Overreaction?

For sure. These are reactions to a one-time live viewing of a Seahawks game and there are a lot of variables that draw your attention away from specific offensive linemen. That is until they give up a sack or a pressure. That happened to Curtis too often against backups, what could happen against a team’s top edge rusher? It’s Aidan Hutchinson coming up soon. Bradley Chubb, Matt Judon, Brian Burns, Nick Bosa…

Seahawks fans need good news on Abe Lucas.

Share

New coordinators are already changing the aura of the Seahawks

As I said earlier, coaches HAVE TO HOLD BACK in the preseason. We saw a glimpse of this in the first half when the Seahawks were stuffed at the one-yard line and turned the ball over on downs. I have faith that if it was the regular season and the regular players that Ryan Grubb would have dialed up a play with a higher degree of success…even if that’s just the exact same play but with Kenneth Walker carrying the ball instead of Holani.

The Seahawks having a dominant defensive day is nice and all, but I definitely won’t remember this game a year from now the same as if it was a regular season game. I probably won’t remember it at all!

But the sense of the Seahawks being different this year, including an aura that feels fresh, unpredictable, possibly even successful, was evident on Saturday. The box score says good stuff about Seattle’s defense, the eye test says that Easton Stick is not an NFL quarterback and L.A.’s backup skill players might actually be among the least good in the league. The stats don’t tell me nearly as much as watching the game led me to believe that Mike Macdonald is a really good defensive coordinator.

Overreaction?

No. I think the Seahawks are in a very enviable position with their offensive and defensive coordinators this year, including Macdonald’s support staff with Aden Durde and Leslie Frazier and Karl Scott. If for no other reason than Seattle’s game plan being far more unpredictable than season’s past.

Byron Murphy II is Defensive Rookie of the Year

Not a lot to say about Byron Murphy yet just based on these limited preseason reps, but from what we did see he was unstoppable.

The Seahawks have never had a Defensive Rookie of the Year. Now they’ve picked the second defensive player off of the board in back to back classes. It’s hard to win DROY as a cornerback, so Devon Witherspoon had a tough climb against Will Anderson. Riq Woolen lost out to Sauce Gardner in 2022. Murphy could put up the pass rushing stats as an interior player to possibly win the award if he’s as good as many people think he is.

Overreaction?

It’s ALWAYS an overreaction to give people awards based on one preseason week. There is a lot of football that needs to be played before anything like this could be a defensible statement, but surely Byron Murphy is in the conversation of who could be in the conversation and he might be too good not to start in Week 1. And by “start” I mean, you know, this is the guy you need out there on every third down, to say the least.

Boye Mafe playing a lot is a bad sign

I am in no position to say how I would feel if I was an NFL player…but if I was an NFL player, I think I’d be a little bit concerned if I’m going into my third year as a second round pick and coaches want me out there in the third quarter of the first preseason game. A week after I was listed behind Dre’Mont Jones on the depth chart, a player who moved positions and has missed about half of training camp.

Mafe might have been out there for so long for any number of defensible reasons, but Mike Macdonald was protecting other starters in a way that the team wasn’t protecting Mafe. Would we be having a conversation if Riq Woolen or Tre Brown were playing in the third quarter? I think we would.

I guess the question is, “What does Mafe have to prove to the coaches?” this deep into the off/pre-season that other “starters” didn’t have to prove to them? It could be better than it is for Derick Hall, who was playing in the fourth quarter.

Leave a comment

Overreaction?

Overreaction or not, I don’t think I would want to be risking my health in the third quarter of a preseason game if I just led the team in sacks last season and I am eligible for a contract extension next year. I found Mafe’s appearance that deep in the game to be troubling for Mafe, although it could be totally explainable and not a big deal.

Share

I know that I will even though what happened on Sunday was one of the least-thrilling thrilling finishes to a game in Seattle franchise history. The Seahawks completed their goal of the week, beating the Cardinals 21-20, but not their goal of the season.

Unfortunately, because of what the Seahawks could not control, there was not much celebrate when Seattle completed one of their most unlikely and otherwise “cool” victories of the Pete Carroll era, coming back from a touchdown deficit with under 2:00 minutes to go and converting a two-point conversion to win 21-20 after Matt Prater missed a last second field goal.

Had the Green Bay Packers lost to the Chicago Bears, or if the Seahawks had won any of the games they lost this season that they could have won, Week 18’s finish would go down in franchise annals as a monumental moment to celebrate. The Seahawks had a putrid second half, punting on their first four possessions with only 41 yards gained, and then Prater uncharacteristically missed a 43-yard attempt that would have sealed the win for Arizona.

The four-play, 68-yard touchdown drive to follow, with Geno Smith dotting the perfect pinpoint victory hole into Tyler Lockett’s arms for a 34-yard score make it 20-19, should have otherwise been a moment of tension followed by exhilaration. Pete’s decision to go for two felt, instead of being a bold decision, felt like an admission that Seattle had nothing to lose and the defense would almost certainly let the Cardinals back into field goal range anyway.

He was right.

Leave a comment

The Seahawks, sporting maybe the softest defense in the NFL this season, let the Cardinals climb from the AZ25 to the SEA33 in under two minutes and it was perhaps only Arizona’s last two play calls that cost them the game. The Cardinals went three yards backwards and Prater hooked a 51-yard attempt to the right. The first miss of his career in a game-tying or game-winning situation under 2:00 minutes.

Great. I mean, I’m happy that the Seahawks did not officially lose to the Cardinals on the scoreboard and won’t go 1-5 in the division.

On the other hand, at one point the cameras showed Geno on the sideline finding out that the Packers beat the Bears and though I’m only an amateur lip reader, I’m pretty sure he said “This is bullshit.”

It is. But it wasn’t any bullshit that Geno, his teammates, and Seahawks coaches couldn’t have changed with better performances earlier in the season, especially in close losses to the Bengals, Rams, Cowboys, and Steelers. The Seahawks, those who will remain, will have months to think about that bullshit.

Share Seaside Joe

Better yet, they can think about their not-close losses (Rams, Ravens, 49ers twice) and use those to measure just how far they are from Super Bowl contention again because if this season—and the previous seven—are any indication, Seattle is not close.

In fact, if the Seahawks are close to anything, it’s three last-second wins against the Eagles, Titans, and Cardinals over the last month that have propelled Seattle to a winning record; they’re that close to having lost their last EIGHT games overall. And their two wins previous to that were a game-winning field goal against Washington as time expired (the team picking second overall) and a game-winning touchdown to Jaxon Smith-Njigba against the Browns with less than a minute left.

So over the Seahawks last 11 games of the season, they went 5-6 and all five wins came in the final minute.

Winning season? Yes. Pete’s 11th winning season in 14 years? Yes. A Seahawks season I want to watch again in 2024? I just turned 41, I want to live to see 42, so I’ll have to pass on Seattle just running it back.

The Seahawks were a bad football team this season that happened to win nine games. They’ve done this before. They were a bad team when they made the playoffs in 2010, they were at least an overrated team when they made the playoffs in Geno’s first year as the starter, and they were worse overall this year than last season.

The defense is much worse, Geno was worse, the play calling and tackling was worse, the bad losses were much uglier and the good wins were less satisfying. I felt as if a psychological and emotional warfare was declared on me BY MY FAVORITE TEAM in all 17 games this season.

“Run it back”?

Somebody please, wake me up!

Seahawks pick 16th overall

The Seahawks secured the 16th pick in the draft with the win and not making the playoffs. I laid out this week why that could be the best case scenario, even if it’s not what I wanted to happen.

If the Seahawks had lost, they would have the 14th pick, which is not a notable difference. If Seattle wanted to make a bold and totally unprecedented, unexpected, unlikely trade up for a quarterback, they could do it just as easily from 16 as they would 14; the Rams traded up from 15 to 1 for Jared Goff in 2016, so it’s not unprecedented as far as a move goes.

The Bears could trade the first pick, but there will be many suitors ahead of Seattle in either case.

Despite losing the game, the Cardinals didn’t move up the draft order: They will pick 4th overall after the Bears (from CAR), Moons, and Patriots. That makes it a little more likely that Kyler Murray returns, but he could have receiver Marvin Harrison, Jr. when he does. Unless maybe the Bears trade down two spots with the Patriots and then they select Harrison.

Subscribe now

Pete Carroll’s future

Pete says he intends to be the Seahawks coach next season. If there’s a change on that, Seaside Joe will be the first to email you about it.

It’s the hot button issue of the last few weeks, so voice your opinions in the Seaside Joe comments about it:

Leave a comment

My personal opinion is that if the Seahawks fire Pete, they should have the next Pete Carroll lined up. That’s how they fired Jim Mora for Pete, they knew they were getting Pete even if it didn’t fit within the rules. The Broncos knew they wanted Sean Payton, nobody else’s interview was real.

There’s Jim Harbaugh out there and that’s the only name that interests me at all. If the Seahawks came back next year with Geno Smith at quarterback and Dan Quinn at head coach, that’s a worse version of the team. That’s maybe the worst team in the NFC. I don’t know, maybe that would be better for Seattle in the long run.

But I wouldn’t do it just to do it. I look at the Giants in the post-Tom Coughlin era. No, Coughlin’s not the coach you think of when you think of “two-time Super Bowl winner”, he still kep them relevant and now New York’s been the league’s worst team over the past 12 seasons. Unwatchable and rotating coaches for the last decade.

Maybe keeping Coughlin wouldn’t have been the solution. But I would say what managers always say when a subordinate makes a complaint: “Don’t give me questions, give me solutions.”

And right now it’s a lot easier for me to point to players who need to be replaced than the head coach, although I’m not actually against a dramatic change somewhere in the organization.

Rough game for DK Metcalf

It’s not that Metcalf was “bad”, just that he finished with one catch for 10 yards on 6 targets. If not for a first down penalty taking away one of his other catches, he would have a few more yards but not many.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba had three catches for 14 yards on five targets. That’s 11 targets that picked up 24 yards to Seattle’s two best receivers.

I don’t care if the blame is on Shane Waldron or Geno Smith or Pete Carroll (I don’t feel like blame goes to DK and JSN) but this passing offense can’t exist in my life next season. You’ve got these players around the quarterback position, do not run THIS back. Yes, the quarterback does fine when he has time to throw but also the best quarterbacks in the NFL do NOT have time to throw. The modern NFL passing game is designed to reward passers who perform well under pressure and on the run/moving the launch point.

All the resources spend on the offensive supporting cast in the last two offseasons went to waste this year. The defense is much worse than the offense, true, but the offense is hardly good enough.

Give a gift subscription

New linebackers next

One of the main priorities this year will be the middle of the defense. This should be Bobby Wagner’s last game with the Seahawks. We should have never had Devin Bush’s first game with the Seahawks. Jordyn Brooks is a free agent and re-signing him is a matter of what other teams are willing to pay him, not what Seattle is willing to pay him. I hope they are not going to overpay him because injured or not (and his injuries are a concern too), he got got by James Conner and Rondale Moore on Sunday and that was not a great look for the Seahawks linebackers.

Game Balls

Tyler Lockett. Devon Witherspoon. Ken Walker. Jason Myers didn’t miss his kicks. Michael Dickson had a 51.6 average and two pinned inside the 20. Will Dissly caught a touchdown. And I’ve got nothing against Geno’s game this week, but I’ll stay open to the Seahawks drafting a quarterback in the first round.

Are the Seahawks though?

Leave a comment

That guarantee no longer exists and the playoffs are out of the Seahawks hands.

The Seahawks lost to the Steelers 30-23 and were smacked with a reality check that says: “You can’t tackle”, “You can’t get out of your own way with penalties”, “You. are prone to busted coverages”, “You make bad decisions with challenges and timeouts”, and “You just might not be a deserving playoff team this season”.

I don’t have much to add about today’s game, I would rather ask you to share your thoughts on the Seattle Seahawks in the comments section below. Usually, comments are for paid subscribers only but if you have been itching to add your thoughts on this season and you’re a FREE JOE, now is your opportunity to try it out:

Leave a comment

What I will say about the Seahawks today:

I have been and will continue to be a Pete Carroll defender, but in case you’re wondering if I would ignore bad days to support my previously-held beliefs at any cost, I won’t…This felt like the worst-coached game of the season, if not one of the five worst in Pete’s tenure. The Seahawks should have won the game, maybe, but they also should have given themselves an OPPORTUNITY to win the game.

• Seattle’s two “trick play” attempts that I remember were utter disasters; I don’t care about calling a trick play (doing one that involves your center when your starting center is out is curious though) but if your players don’t even come close to executing it right, was it the right decision to call it in those critical moments?

• Pete Carroll challenged a call that wouldn’t have had a significant impact on the game and he should have been aware that losing the challenge—when your team is losing in the fourth quarter—could end up costing you a valuable timeout. The Seahawks lost in part because they didn’t have three timeouts.

• At the point of only having two timeouts and being down 10 points, I think the Seahawks should have either kicked a field goal when they were in range to preserve time before the two-minute warning OR kick it out of the end zone when there’s 2:01 left on the clock. The last thing that the Seahawks should have done is cut the lead to 30-23 and then attempt the most hopeless play in football, the expected onside kick.

• Players not tackling well is frustrating to watch as a fan and most responsibility should be on the players…but people will ultimately have a right to ask Pete, “Your players haven’t tackled well in years, what are YOU doing wrong?”

• Jaxon Smith-Njigba was targeted two times? Your running backs had 12 carries? How did that happen in a close game?

I’m probably forgetting some other points.

I mostly just think that the Seahawks players should be embarrassed about getting bullied by the Steelers on their home field. That’s on the players, to let Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren toy with you, to have them score two rushing touchdowns inside the 5 on plays where the pile was pushed more than five yards (and Riq Woolen avoiding contact with any Steelers), so for me that’s always going to be the stopping point with who is to blame for games like this.

However, I don’t have Pete Carroll glasses on. He gets an F for Week 17 and it could cost the Seahawks the playoffs this time.

The Seahawks want the Packers and Vikings to tie (or Packers win) on Sunday Night Football, then Week 18 becomes hopeful again. Realistically, either the Packers or Vikings will be 8-8 after Sunday night and then the Seahawks need to beat the Cardinals in Week 18 (after they just beat the Eagles today) and then hope that the rest of the games go as they hope they will.

Seattle had control of their destiny. They couldn’t wrap up though.

Leave a comment

Not only did the Seahawks beat the Titans, Geno Smith also had to match Lock’s last-minute touchdown pass to make sure there was no potential comparison left unturned.

The Seattle Seahawks are 8-7 and if they win their last two games, they will be in the playoffs. For the 11th time in Carroll’s 14-year tenure.

I made a comment this week that I would gladly take a non-thrilling win by Seattle. That wasn’t the case, but thankfully they got the “win” part right.

Similar to Monday’s win, the Seahawks put fans in the pressure cooker for three quarters and waited until the end to start scoring touchdowns. I know that you don’t win games in the first quarter, Pete. But could you at least try to sometimes?

After trailing 10-3 at halftime and 10-6 at the end of the third quarter, Seattle had a repeat of the win over the Eagles by keeping the game close enough with timely defensive plays and honestly a little bit of help from penalties by the other team. When the Seahawks don’t step on their own toes, good things can happen.

Seattle started their first drive of the fourth quarter at their own 5 and immediately got a 20-yard explosive play to Jaxon Smith-Njigba, then overcame a false start with back-to-back first down penalties by Tennessee. Geno and Ken Walker traded off plays until Smith went back to the Seahawks best all-around weapon recently, hitting DK Metcalf for an 11-yard touchdown to give Seattle their first lead of the game.

Then there was another nightmare defensive series that took almost 9 minutes off of the clock and ended in a touchdown; it was fortunate that Derrick Henry scored on first-and-goal from the 2 because the Titans could have run another two minutes off or forced the Seahawks to use their timeouts.

Leave a comment

With Lock watching from the sidelines and every fan keenly aware of what he did in the same situation six days ago, Geno had as good of a fourth quarter drive as he’s ever had as the Seahawks starter. Seattle converted third-and-6 on a pass to Tyler Lockett, then third-and-14 on an 18-yard connection to JSN. But the closer the Seahawks got to the end zone, the more stress on everyone—Geno, Pete, fans—to not let another drive stall where it mattered most. The Seahawks couldn’t settle for a field goal this time.

They wouldn’t even have to get to fourth down.

On third-and-5, Geno put it right where Colby Parkinson needed it and the Seahawks went up 20-17 with less than a minute remaining. It was only the second tight end touchdown all year by Seattle, and the first time the score happened in the red zone.

The game ended on Riq Woolen having what Pete said after the game was “the best tackle of his career”, pushing the Titans receiver out of bounds going the wrong way to guarantee the clock would run out.

The Seahawks are 8-7 and can guarantee a playoff spot by winning their last two game. The Steelers are coming off of a blowout win over a Bengals team that most consider to be pretty good. A not-thrilling win may not be in the cards next week, but I’ll take score results like Sunday’s any way that Seattle can get it.

Share

Geno Smith

As I sea it, a very typical game for Geno Smith. Ups and downs and the Seahawks squeak by a team that’s not having a very good season. Geno finished 25-of-36 for 227 yards and two important touchdowns. He did not do a good job of throwing those corner end zone passes, nearly getting Smith-Njigba hurt on the first one and not really giving his receivers opportunities to catch those throws. He needs to find touch on those throws.

Luckily he did everything right in the fourth quarter.

Subscribe now

Ken Walker

As I sea it, the box score won’t do Walker justice today. A hard fought 54 yards on 16 carries.

Offensive Line

As I sea it, there’s probably some concern that Charles Cross is getting beat by Arden Key, even if Key did jump early now and again. Cross is a top-10 left tackle pick, so I’m going to be harder on him than if he was a veteran stopgap or being asked to do too much. The game only just ended so take my criticism with a grain of salt, but I would say both him and Abe Lucas want to have some plays back.

All the more reason to me to think that the Seahawks may draft an offensive tackle next year, giving themselves more options if someone gets hurt or needs to be moved inside. What do you think of Cross’s career so far?

Leave a comment

Six sacks

As I sea it, the Seahawks would be lucky to have defensive days like today, but you do need to grade on a curve. Boye Mafe had two sacks (nine on the year), Jarran Reed, Bobby Wagner, Dre’Mont Jones, and Mario Edwards each had one. Leonard Williams had some assists in there and in our chat, I know that Cameron Young got a shout out. Jordyn Brooks left the game early and Devin Bush had six tackles.

The Seahawks know that they have Reed, Mafe, Jones, and Young coming back next year. They should re-sign Williams and they probably could re-sign Edwards with a little effort. They’ll also be getting back Uchenna Nwosu, hopefully.

So a lot of pieces are in place and Seattle was already short-handed (Devon Witherspoon and Jamal Adams didn’t play, although who know what role Adams even has anymore), but the Titans offense is on a curve. Ryan Tannehill isn’t playing at a high level, DeAndre Hopkins is the only real pass catching threat, and the Seahawks are probably lucky that Henry didn’t get more rushing attempts.

All in all though, Seattle’s defense did the job they had to do. Going on the road and holding the Titans to 17 points at home and doing so without Witherspoon or Brooks.

Subscribe now

Vikings lose

The Vikings lost to the Lions and fell to 7-8. That means that wild card teams are now 10-4 (Cowboys, playing Dolphins as I write), and the 8-7 Rams and Seahawks. Every other NFC team below Seattle and L.A. is 7-8 or worse. So if the Seahawks beat the Steelers and Cardinals, they’re in.

Next Week:

Falcons at Bears (root for Bears)

Rams at Giants (root for Giants)

Cardinals at Eagles

Lions at Cowboys

Saints at Bucs (root for Bucs, I think)

Packers at Vikings

If the Seahawks beat the Steelers they will be 9-7. Either the Packers or Vikings will be 8-8, unless there is a tie, which might be ideal? All Seattle can do is win. Thrilling or boring, winning cures all.

Give a gift subscription

Thanks for reading Seaside Joe, even when it’s the holidays. I’ll be back on Christmas, join me in the Regular Joes club if you haven’t already.

What the Seahawks needed more than anything else was inspiration and belief.

Seasiders…That’s what we got.

The Seahawks kept the game close after starting with a 10-0 deficit and Drew Lock, DK Metcalf, and Julian Love kept chipping away at the Eagles until finally Seattle took a 20-17 lead with :28 seconds left in the game. Love then intercepted Jalen Hurts for the second time in the quarter and the Seahawks snapped a four-game losing streak to climb back into the thick of the wild card hunt.

At 7-7 with a 6-5 conference record, the Seahawks still trail the Vikings (7-7, 6-3) and Rams (7-7, 5-4, 2-0 head to head record with Seattle) but they could get into the picture again by beating the Titans on Sunday. The playoff odds now sit at 55% and that number could jump to roughly 75% with a win in Tennessee.

But best of all, the Seahawks completed their best post-September win in any game over the last four years.

Share

The Eagles are not as good as they were last season; Hurts is not as good, the defense is a lot worse, and regression is taking its money back from helping Philadelphia beat a not-real 49ers team without a real quarterback in last year’s NFC Championship. And yet, the Eagles are 10-4 and once again have a roster loaded with Pro Bowl players…

Pro Bowl players who Seattle did a good job of containing on Monday.

A.J. Brown had 56 yards on 10 targets, DeVonta Smith had 50 on 5, and Hurts was held to 143 passing yards with two interceptions, but did rush for 82 yards and two touchdowns. After giving up a painfully long touchdown drive to start the game with 4 converted third downs, the Seahawks held the Eagles to only 10 more points, five punts, and Love forced those two key turnovers.

It was almost exactly like a Seahawks game, except for the ending.

Drew Lock was completely fine for most of the game. He had some good passes that were dropped, along with some bad passes that he may have got away with, but ultimately he had what fans have needed for years: A strong finish.

Needing to finally force feed their best receiver, Lock found DK Metcalf for 18 yards on the final drive, then six yards, then 34 yards to move Seattle from the 8 to the PHI 29. After not connecting with Lockett twice, Lock got back to Jaxon Smith-Njigba for a go-ahead touchdown.

He finished the game 22-of-33 for 208 yards and a touchdown, but it almost all came in the last two minutes.

The heroes for the rest of the game were Ken Walker on offense (86 rushing yards, 1 TD, 26 receiving yards and Seattle is 4-0 when he gets over 100 total yards), the offensive line mostly keeping Lock clean all night, Leonard Williams on defense, and Love’s two timely picks to give the Seahawks a chance at the end. There was also Michael Dickson, who averaged 56 yards per punt, and Jason Myers going 2-of-2 on field goals and 2-of-2 on extra points.

And thankfully we don’t have to talk about Pete’s timeout usage.

But you can talk about whatever you want, that’s what these post-game articles are for:

Leave a comment

As I Sea It, the Seahawks are 7-7. And though a loss may not have technically eliminated them from the playoffs, it would have sapped the last ounce of what this team needs even more than a win.

Belief.

I know, it sounds like the opening title card to a science fiction movie, but I am opening with “the year is 2023” today just in case anyone else feels like the Seattle Seahawks got their calendars mixed up. The year is 2023 and the Seahawks are nearing the end of their second season since trading Russell Wilson, the moment in which many fans thought the franchise had accepted the need to rebuild.

But based on how the last two seasons have gone, it’s as if this season should have been last season and last season should have been this season.

While 2022 felt like progress in the second or third year of a rebuild, 2023 feels like starting over.

Give a gift subscription

I wrote before the game that the Seahawks needed a “Super Bowl” to beat the 49ers in Week 14. Did we get that and what did we see from Seattle that is both encouraging and discouraging?

Read more

No matter which team you root for, you have to admit that the refs were an embarrassment to the NFL. If the league allows games like that to continue on their primetime stage on a regular basis, slowing down the action with ticky-tack penalties and procedural mistakes that make the NFL’s referees seem too amateur to have an impact on a professional sports game, then they won’t have as many people watching in the future.

I stopped regularly watching college football for similar reasons, but I always considered myself a pretty casual observer. I won’t stop watching the NFL because I’m not a casual observer, but I can’t speak for the millions with Amazon Prime who tuned in expecting to see the Seahawks play the Cowboys and instead got consistently interrupted by the refs. Yes, Seattle and Dallas are the two most-penalized teams in the NFL. That’s not what that was on Thursday.

How many times did they either pick up a flag or announce a decision, only to return and say that actually the team declined the penalty? What happened when they re-spotted Jason Myers’ field goal attempt and then moved the ball from the center to the right hash, causing a delay of game on Seattle? Why did it seem that the broadcast was in constant disagreement with the calls on the field?

Personally, here at Seaside Joe, I’m never going to stand for the excuse that the Seahawks lost a game because of the refs. To me, that’s just a lack of accountability that will constantly push blame on a third party that Seattle has no control over. The Seahawks had 10 penalties for 130 yards and the Cowboys had nine penalties for 127 yards.

The story of the refs on Thursday should not be sidetracked by “fairness” or “bias” because that just gives the NFL an excuse to ignore it again. “Oh, Seahawks fans are just mad because Seattle lost.”

Bullshit.

I’m mad that the Seahawks lost AND ON A COMPLETELY SEPARATE NOTE I’m frustrated that a league that takes in billions of dollars per year from fans can’t hire, properly train, and assist about 50 people in the entire world to be able to do these jobs well so that viewers aren’t subject to a broadcast that is 50% focused on the referees!

Share

It was unfair to both teams. It was unfair to all of the players. It was unfair to all of the coaches. And it was unfair to the fans who have to pay for Amazon, for Sunday Ticket, for ESPN, for NFL Network, for cable, for tickets to the game, for all the one million ways it takes to watch football games in 2023, to have to stop the game every other minute in order to explain their latest flag…and I would say about 25% or more of those were wrong?

It was a complete joke and I wish all I had to do tonight was write about why I’m pissed off by the outcome of the game. I had myself convinced that even if the Seahawks lost a game that was competitive I’d still be happy and that’s what happened. The Cowboys beat the Seahawks 41-35, but at least we got to watch until the final minute with something on the line.

Instead, I don’t know what to think because the whole game should be flushed down the toilet. As Tom Brady recently said, the NFL has “mediocrized” itself with defensive penalties. This was the worst possible time for the league to prove him right on a nationally-televised game.

Thanks for trying, Seattle. Thanks for nothing, NFL.

Subscribe now

The rest of tonight’s thoughts on Seahawks-Cowboys will be for paid subscribers. Throw Seaside Joe $5 to keep reading, to get a ton of weekly bonus content, to support a Seahawks newsletter, and to stick it to the NFL for whatever that was.

Read more

If not must win, the Seahawks were in a “should win” situation against the Rams on Sunday. They should have won. They did not win.

The Seahawks lost 17-16 after blowing a lead for an NFL-leading eighth time this season, as Pete Carroll was gifted about 40 extra seconds by Sean McVay and like $50 cash stuffed in a birthday card from grandma, chose to blow his newfound wealth on something he didn’t need.

In this case, a two-yard run by Zach Charbonnet.

Subscribe now

Seattle dropped to 6-4 with the loss and are now not only a game behind the 49ers, but only two games ahead of the Rams, a franchise that was so clearly focused on next season when they made all of their offseason moves in 2023.

If the Seahawks can’t put away the Rams, what can Seattle be expected to do against San Francisco, Dallas, and Philadelphia? What does it mean for the future of the franchise if they play the same against those teams as they did against L.A. in Week 11? As I sea it, it won’t mean anything good.

Give a gift subscription

Don’t blame Jason

As I sea it, the most questionable decision in the fourth quarter was to run a play and hand it off to Zach Charbonnet to setup the final field goal attempt. Geno completed a 21-yard pass to DK Metccalf and had a chance to spike it with first down at the LAR39 and over :25 seconds. Seattle should have clocked it and tried to gain at least another 10 yards, which they could have gained in the middle of the field with plenty of clock left. Instead, they ran it to Charbonnet for a 2-yard gain and asked Jason Myers to make a 55-yard field goal to win it.

Sean McVay gifted the Seahawks with enough time to win the game and frankly, Seattle blew a golden opportunity.

Myers has been great, I’m not concerned about his miss even if it did look like a shank, but that doesn’t mean that the Seahawks should have been so comfortable when they got to the 39. There was time on the clock, why didn’t you clock it and run one or two more plays?

Don’t build the whole plane out of the 2nd half

As I sea it, the worst offense in the NFL is the Seahawks against the Rams in the second half of football games. Prior to Geno’s final drive, here’s how Seattle has played in the third and fourth quarters against the Rams this season:

The Seahawks held a 13-7 halftime lead over the Rams in Week 1 and lost. The Seahawks held a 13-7 halftime lead over the Rams in Week 11 and lost.

Just as we shouldn’t be mad at Myers, we shouldn’t be mad at Drew Lock.

It wasn’t Lock who had 12 penalties. It wasn’t Lock once again tensing up as soon as Seattle crossed midfield and settling for field goals in the first half. The Seahawks should have had a much bigger lead when Lock entered the game. Lock’s interception was the result of trying to make a play on third-and-11, not playing hero ball or gunslinger.

Is Lock a good quarterback relative to the top-20 relative NFL starters? I doubt it! But there’s no reason to point the finger at him for Seattle’s loss this week and no reason to say that how he plays—good or BAD—has anything to do with how the Seahawks offense plays when he’s on the bench. Two things can be true at the same time: Drew Lock can be a backup quarterback AND the Seahawks can need to do a lot better on offense with their current starter.

The Seahawks have scored 29 points in two games against a bad defense. Not acceptable.

Leave a comment

Send him to the Penalty Hawks

As I sea it, the Seahawks have nobody to blame but themselves. I do not believe in NFL conspiracies. Mostly not.

Again, two things can be true at the same time: The Seahawks can be so undisciplined that they are their own worst enemy AND the refs can coincidentally appear to be favoring one side over the other.

Was it a fair penalty when Tre Brown was called for defensive pass interference in the end zone to give the Rams another opportunity to score a touchdown, which they did? It didn’t seem to be the right call. Was it a penalty when Riq Woolen was called for hands to the face on third-and-15, leading to L.A.’s go-ahead field goal?

YES! WHY IS ANYONE BEING COACHED THAT IT IS OKAY TO GET AGGRESSIVE AT THE LINE AGAINST AUSTIN TRAMMEL ON THIRD-AND-15?!?!

Almost every penalty that the Seahawks were called for sure looked like a penalty to me. Seattle could get away with penalties in 2013 because the team was so talented. They aren’t that talented right now and the Seahawks would be 7-3 instead of 6-4 right now if not for their own mistakes.

The Seahawks needed this win

As I sea it, this was the game that Seattle absolutely had to have during this current 5-game stretch. Up next are 49ers, Cowboys, 49ers, Eagles.

It’s brutal when you lose a game that you had almost the entire way.

If the Seahawks go 1-3 in their next four games, then Seattle will be 7-7 with three games left. That’s only if they win one of the next four.

The 49ers beat the Bucs 27-14 on Sunday and it wasn’t really that close. Brock Purdy went 21-of-25 for 333 yards and 3 TD. Are the Seahawks ready for Thanksgiving?

Share Seaside Joe

Identity crisis

As I sea it, the Seahawks lack an offensive identity. Ken Walker left the game in the first quarter and it would be surprising if he’s ready to play in four days against San Francisco just because he was ruled out for this one early with an oblique injury. In his place, Charbonnet had 47 rushing yards and 22 receiving yards on six catches.

But Seattle’s offense sort of feels like musical chairs and just like that game, there’s often only one winner.

Today, DK Metcalf had 94 yards and a touchdown, Tyler Lockett had 51 yards, Jaxon Smith-Njigba had 40 yards. With many of the Seahawks weapons, it’s starting to feel like they’re being wasted. Is three catches for 40 yards enough for JSN? Is four yards enough for Noah Fant? Is one catch each enough for Will Dissly, Jake Bobo, and Fant? There were no targets for Colby Parkinson and Dee Eskridge had zero catches on one target.

It would almost be favorable if the Seahawks had fewer weapons but each of them did more to contribute each week. It sure appears that Metcalf is Seattle’s “go-to guy”, especially in the fourth quarter of these last two games, but is there a Robin?

It seems like the Seahawks have a playbook instead of an offense. They need to know who they are instead of just believing they have plays for every situation. They clearly do not have enough plays because Seattle is one of the lowest scoring offenses in the NFL now, especially in the second half of games.

Share

Let other Seahawks fans know what you thought of the game in the Seaside Joe comments.

Leave a comment

Consider some of the quarterbacks who have been benched (Jimmy Garoppolo, Ryan Tannehill, Josh Dobbs in Arizona before a leading MVP candidate in two games with the Vikings) vs. others who have been treated with extraordinary patience like Daniel Jones, Kenny Pickett, Mac Jones, Justin Fields, Zach Wilson, Jordan Love, and Bryce Young.

This does not mean that teams need to draft first round quarterbacks in order to have success (2021 Rams, Stafford; 2020 Bucs, Brady) because there is more than one way to skin the pig. But it could be inferred that teams—and fans—are willing to have more patience with a quarterback that the franchise invested a recent first round pick in than one who developed somewhere else.

Kirk Cousins has practically been in a different league than Fields over the past 2.5 years, and has proven a lot more in his career before then, but it seems to me like there was a heavier push (prior to Cousins’ Achilles injury) for the Vikings to get an upgrade than there was for the Bears.

The only veteran quarterback not drafted by his current team who has been safe all year? Not Stafford. Not Cousins. Not Derek Carr. Not Russell Wilson. Not Deshaun Watson.

Jared Goff.

Not Geno Smith. Geno can’t go a quarter without turning half of the Seahawks fanbase against the other, then back the other way, depending on if this is going to be a drive that ends in a wasted opportunity because of procedural mistakes (end of first half) or a touchdown and game-winning field goal (end of fourth quarter).

Leave a comment

If Smith was 25 and Seattle’s first round pick in 2021, I think almost everyone would be on the side of accepting the bad with the good. Maybe because he’s 33, spent seven years as a backup, and offers little hope of the upside that would come if he cut his mistakes in half, this divide in the fanbase created by a QB controversy is never going to go away.

Rather than get involved in the arguments, I recommend doing nothing more than observation. We can’t control how different writers, podcasters, and social media accounts react to each game any more than we can control what Pete Carroll and John Schneider are going to do about the quarterback position in the next six months.

That lack of control is going to drive some people nuts—especially during games like Sunday’s 29-26 win over a Washington team that is counting the days until they blow it down to the ground and start over—as the Seahawks did just enough to survive their mistakes and improve to 6-3 with a continued share of first place in the NFC West. It’s another case of when Seattle wins, so all is not forgiven, but is forgotten.

Also known as a case of amneSieahawks.

Share

The quarterback missed some wide open players. He failed to see wide open players. In a rare third quarter touchdown, Ken Walker scored a 64-yard receiving touchdown with 64 yards after the catch.

The Seahawks went 4-of-14 on third down, likely sinking them even further down the league rankings than 30th, which is how they entered Week 10.

And of course, needing points to win the game after a defensive lapse, in itself a source of concern as far as how competitive Seattle is expected to be over the rest of the season and playoffs, Smith and DK Metcalf came up with two connections.

Good.

I wrote that the Seahawks would not bench Geno Smith until it was a matter of postseason contention elimination and I don’t see anything that happened on Sunday against Washington that would change that. The offense was as good—and as bad—as it has been for the last year. Washington entered the week with a bottom-three pass defense and quarterback Sam Howell actually plays better on the road than at home.

The Seahawks next face a Rams team that beat them 30-13 in Seattle in Week 1 and is expected to get back Matthew Stafford after three weeks of rest. Barring injury, we won’t see Drew Lock in that game, or at home against the 49ers four days later on Thanksgiving. That’s not how Pete is going to manage the quarterback situation (but would it be different if the Seahawks had drafted a quarterback?) and your soul is going to be tortured if you expect any different.

So I say, enjoy the ride and accept what’s true of any rollercoaster: You have no control.

Subscribe now

More Seahawks-Moons thoughts

• The Seahawks had 27 first downs, tied for their second-most of the season and the most that Washington has allowed in a game this season

• The Seahawks had a season-high 489 total yards, also the most that Washington has allowed this year

• “QB Wins and Passing Yards are not real stats”…unless you’re trying to make a point, in which case Geno Smith set a career-high with 369 passing yards in a win

• DK Metcalf pulled out of a rut but only at the last minute: Metcalf had caught just 10 passes on 27 targets over the past three games and was heading for another game like that until the final drive. He finished with 98 yards on seven catches and 12 targets. Tyler Lockett had eight catches for 92 yards and a touchdown.

• Offensive line penalties may be more costly than offensive line blocking and that’s a problem that started last season

• Noah Fant had two catches for six yards and he has six catches for 72 yards in the last four games. What will Seahawks want to pay him after the season? What will he expect to be paid?

As I sea it, the offense managed to have one of its better days of the season while simultaneously emphasizing and reiterating why games like last week’s 37-3 loss to the Ravens will happen sometimes. The Seahawks face the 49ers, Cowboys, 49ers, and Eagles over the four games after playing L.A. in Week 11.

The 49ers beat the Jaguars 34-3 on Sunday. What is really expected on Thanksgiving?

The other thing I sea is that the Seahawks need to figure out how to replicate DK’s good plays because the connection between him and the quarterback is so inconsistent that he can hardly be referred to as a “weapon” at this point. Or he is a weapon, but more like a very sharp spork. Speaking of sporks…

Share Seaside Joe

Defense

• Devon Witherspoon had three pass deflections and a key forced fumble but did even more than the stat sheet will indicate. In fact, he’s been so good that he makes it hard for revisionists to wonder if Seattle should have traded up for C.J. Stroud

• Bobby Wagner had 10 tackles and two pass deflections, but his coverage will be a talking point this week

• It’s great for the Seahawks to have Leonard Williams. He lines up everywhere and was responsible for at least two sacks, including one of his own. It’s gonna be a hard life for anyone who feels like “I’m going to root against any good play by Leonard Williams because I didn’t like that the team traded a mid-late second round pick” if the Seahawks do in fact re-sign him for another three or four years. That’s a lot of plays you have to pretend you didn’t like.

• Boye Mafe has a sack in seven straight games, a new franchise record

As I sea it, the defense can’t feel “back” after this one, especially with the Rams on deck. Consider this: The Seahawks defense had an EPA of -17.08 against the Ravens in Week 9, but they were even worse against the Rams in Week 1: -20.95.

The good great news is that Seattle looks like they’ll come out of this season with something that they needed even more than dominant wins right away: They have potential blue chip cornerstones in Witherspoon and Mafe. Plus, Dre’Mont Jones and Williams have flashed, which is something that the defensive line definitely needed.

Leave a comment

On Sunday, I watched the Seattle Seahawks.

Far be it from me to claim that the Seahawks are untalented—or Milli Vanilli for that matter, it wasn’t like producer Frank Farian chose them to be the face of other people’s voices for no reason… I mean, how many people can do this:

But people will say this week that Seattle got exposed in Baltimore, losing to the Ravens 37-3 and in reality probably playing much worse than the score indicates.

Subscribe now

The Ravens outgained the Seahawks:

• 29-6 in first downs

• 515 to 151 in total yards

• 75 to 47 in total plays

• 6.9 to 3.2 in yards per play

• 298 to 28 in rushing yards

• 7.3 to 1.9 in yards per carry

• 26 to 13 in completions

• 4 to 1 in sacks

• 40:04 to 19:56 in time of possession

And the Seahawks were on the road, so you can’t blame it on the rain.

Leave a comment

The Seahawks entered the contest with the defense actually playing an entire game’s worth of snaps more than the offense and now they’re up to almost two more games than the offense. This type of pace, as it was last season, is not sustainable and it will result in the Seahawks—as they did in 2022—being less effective and successful by December and January.

Bonus Article:

I GUARANTEE the Seahawks will bench Geno Smith for Drew Lock when THIS happens

Seattle has not allowed 29 first downs since November 21, 2021 against the Cardinals and they haven’t had as few as 6 first downs since October 11, 1992 (the fewest for a Pete Carroll team came in 2013, when the Seahawks had 7 against the Rams), but the team managed both of those marks on Sunday.

People can say that the Ravens are great, which they are, and that the Seahawks were dominated on the line of scrimmage, which they were, but this loss is a team effort with few exceptions and the problems will continue to plague Seattle’s chances of being as good as some said they were. Baltimore is 7-2 but they haven’t mowed down every team they’ve faced and though everyone is focused on how this result just happened to the Detroit Lions in the same environment, how is that honestly supposed to make anyone feel better?

The Lions are 6-2 and they’ve played better than the Seahawks in virtually every comparable performance other when than they actually played the Seahawks.

I do feel better based on the fact that I always expected Seattle to lose this game—the Seahawks goal for this part of the season has always been and continues to be beating the Moons and Rams in the next two weeks—but any hope for “oh-well-ism” is offset by the crash back to reality that a huge gap still exists between the Seattle Seahawks and the top tier of the NFL; the Seahawks needed as many wins as possible before facing one of the 49ers, Eagles, and Cowboys in four consecutive weeks.

The Seahawks are worse than those teams and girl you know it’s true.

Share Seaside Joe

As the win-loss record goes, the only remaining goal for the Seahawks in 2023 is to reach the playoffs and hope to win two games. I say two games because I think that the top of the mountain for this team would be to reach the NFC Championship and I wouldn’t even care how they got there, if that meant getting lucky against a roster beset by injuries or a lucky backdoor with this season’s version of the Giants.

That’s still kind of possible.

Despite playing as poorly as they did against the Ravens—the quarterback, the offensive line, defensive line, poor tackling, turnovers, another week when the offense stalls for most of the game, the worst run defense maybe ever under Pete Carroll….

—the Seahawks could actually win their next two games and finish strong and go 10-7.

Remember, Milli Vanilli wasn’t famous because they appeared on SNL or something…They had the number one song in the world and won a Grammy!

Maybe the Seahawks are not frauds. But this was an outcome that felt long overdue and it’s well past time for Pete to change his tune about certain starters, coaches, and philosophies.

It’s been a little more difficult than usual today to get the post-game newsletter out in the immediate aftermath, as you can tell, so I’ll just add a few more thoughts on then turn to the Seaside Joe community forum because I know many of you have wanted to vent frustrations and voice opinions after this game.

Leave a comment

And remember that no matter how the Seattle Seahawks play, don’t blame it on the Seaside Joe: Today is the 1,708th consecutive day that I’ve sent out a newsletter about your favorite team and that will continue, rain, shine, or losing by 34 points and getting embarrassed, exposed, and exfoliated. Therefore, if you want to help support the cause, it’s only $5 per month or $55 for an entire year of bonus content. Super Joes will have exclusive access to the Seaside Joe mailbag.

The Geno Smith stuff

As I sea it, I’ve said enough about what I think of the Seahawks quarterback situation, what’s the point in repeating myself week after week? I do not think that Geno Smith played any differently against the Ravens as he had in the vast majority of his starts with Seattle.

That’s my opinion and I am confident that I don’t have to make a case today because I’ve been consistent with my thoughts on this situation for most of the last year. I think Geno has strengths, no question, but also weaknesses and I think the latter is doing too much heavy lifting to be overcome by the former. I listened to The Athletic Football Show Week 9 preview podcast on Friday and hosts Robert Mays, Nate Tice said that Geno “plays the quarterback position as well as anyone in the league”.

If that’s true, the NFL is in crisis.

Induspitable fact: Geno Smith is on pace for 19 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. This isn’t a pace after three games, we’re halfway into the season. How those kinds of results would be “best in the league”, I absolutely can’t wait to hear those arguments being made in January and February.

Geno said after the game that he needs to play better. At least, I think this is a press conference from Sunday. It feels like it’s been the same press conference answers every week.

And to put a pin on this, I’m not mad at Geno. I’m not mad at Pete Carroll. We can make rational observations without having emotional reactions like “being mad”, right? Every time Geno Smith does something to get his team in a pickle and a fan voices some concern about the starter, I’ve noticed that the most common reply is “You’re an idiot if you think that Drew Lock would be better”.

What does any of this have to do with Drew Lock? You’re allowed to say that two guys aren’t the answer, you know?

Another common reply: “You don’t know ball.” This one comes straight from Robert Mays: “You probably don’t watch the games”.

I see a lot of fans who voice concerns with Geno Smith have been getting gaslit for it online. Fans who love Geno and the ones who greatly dislike him can both “know ball” equally…and they can freely share their different opinions about it amongst every other fan at Seaside Joe.

Leave a comment

Geno Smith final stats: 13/28, 157 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT, 1 fumble lost

That’s six interceptions and three fumbles in the last four games. Pete has said many times that Lock didn’t get the job because of ball security issues. Nobody can say that Lock should definitely start over Geno, but let’s stop calling the difference between them as being “turnover risk”.

Bonus Article:

I GUARANTEE the Seahawks will bench Geno Smith for Drew Lock when THIS happens

Receiver Distribution

As I sea it, these are always the ugliest numbers to see in a box score:

Jaxon Smith-Njigba dropped the first pass of the game, but then caught the next six and gained 63 yards, including a long of 35.

DK Metcalf caught 1 of 4 targets, meaning that he has caught 10 of 27 targets in the last three games. That’s 10 catches for 186 yards. I guess 18.6 yards per catch would be good if not for so many yards coming on that one play today. Worse yet is 186 yards on 27 targets for a number one receiver making $24 million per season.

I’ve voiced concern that there’s going to be dissension if this continues. Throughout history of the forward pass, receivers do not like it when their opportunities and stats start to be diminished.

After a good game in Week 8, Tyler Lockett had three catches for 32 yards on eight targets. He’ll be back below 7.0 yards per target after this game. Jake Bobo barely saw the field and he had zero targets. The tight ends had one target each (Will Dissly’s was less of a target and more of a bail out) and combined for six yards.

The Ravens have a great defense. Not this great.

Time in the pocket

As I sea it, there isn’t a universal understanding that a quarterback is largely responsible for sacks taken. The offensive line got manhandled by Baltimore’s defensive line, Charles Cross didn’t seem to be great, but I don’t think it was widely accepted enough that Geno deserves some responsibility for sacks taken and batted passes.

If you’re just that deadset on throwing to a certain receiver, it’s going to be that much easier for a defensive linemen to time his batted pass attempt.

If you’re not gonna get rid of the ball in under 2.5 seconds, it’s going to be that much easier for a defensive lineman to reach out. Offensive linemen can’t hold defensive linemen for very long.

This is more of a section to say “It’s not all on the offensive line” than it is to condemn Geno Smith again. There should be greater understanding that batted passes are not always “bad luck” and getting sacked is not always “the offensive line sucks”.

Give a gift subscription

Pathetic tackling

As I sea it, this is a theme that goes back years, not weeks. Riq Woolen seems to have put his career in reverse. He was supposed to be undependable as a rookie and then awesome in year two, instead he flipped it. Ravens running back Keaton Mitchell had 138 yards on nine carries. Him, Lamar Jackson, and Gus Edwards had 250 rushing yards on only 24 carries.

Tackling is not something that the Seahawks should be bad at anymore.

Boye Mafe

As I sea it, Boye Mafe gets one of the few game balls. He extended his streak to six games with a sack and forced a fumble to give Seattle a chance to score before the half.

As you know, they didn’t.

The Seahawks won’t make the playoffs if they continue to be one of the worst teams in the NFL in the second and third quarters. They won’t even win that many more games this year if they keep doing that.

Grab your spoons…

The Seahawks beat the Browns 24-20 and the 49ers lost to the Bengals 31-17, giving Seattle a slight advantage in the NFC West at 5-2. That and the fact that Geno Smith successfully threw a screen pass for a touchdown is by far the best Seahawks news of the week.

Subscribe to Seaside Joe to never miss a newsletter; support with a measly $5 per month:

I’m still fighting my itchy trigger finger to point out all the things that made me feel ill during the game, but in the interest of just enjoying a win that I honestly didn’t expect late in the fourth quarter, Seaside Joe will focus on the good first.

Jamal she wrote

A “he really used his head” pun? Too easy, I would never…

As I sea it, the Seahawks have a difficult decision to make with Jamal Adams next year.

Even though Adams didn’t necessarily have a dominant game, from what I could tell on the broadcast, he’s made impact plays during each of his appearances so far this season. Adams may have been a little lucky to get his head in between P.J. Walker and the intended receiver, but good players create their own luck.

Jamal Adams has an extraordinary $26.9 million cap hit in 2024, the second-highest on the team behind the $31.2 million of Geno Smith (more later on him and whether or not Seattle will actually pay that), and I’ve been consistent all year that the end is nigh.

But now I’m thinking…how?

Sometimes safeties are treated like the running backs of defense. “Replaceable” and “Cheap” and “Just use a third round pick”. Who have the Seahawks really had to boast about at safety since Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor? Marquise Blair was a bust. Ryan Neal wasn’t as good as PFF said he was and that’s showing with the Buccaneers right now. Tedric Thompson, Lano Hill, Bradley McDougald…Seattle has always had to move on.

Nobody other than Quandre Diggs has been worth extending.

At the end of this game, Adams and Julian Love combined for the interception to put the Seahawks offense close enough to not blow their last opportunity. Seattle has managed to discover a lot of quality players on the cheap lately, they may need to use that cap advantage to keep Adams even when he’s the highest-paid safety in the NFL.

Leave a comment

Double Darrell

As I sea it, the Seahawks will really miss having Uchenna Nwosu. Darrell Taylor came out with one of the most memorable plays of the day by sacking P.J. Walker on third-and-10 to all but end the game, but his deficiencies as a run stopper—and really Seattle’s lack of pressure on Walker all day—emphasized how much different this defense COULD look without Nwosu.

Taylor now has 2.5 sacks in the last two games after having zero in the first five.

Boye Mafe tied the franchise record for most straight games in a single season with a sack (5) and he needs one more to tie the all-time record. Jordyn Brooks had arguably the best play of his entire career by getting a strip sack off of Walker, leading to a Seattle touchdown and a 14-0 lead at the time.

Bobby Wagner led the team with 13 tackles, followed by Brooks at 10, Diggs at 9, and Adams, Mafe with 8.

Walker went 15-of-31 for 248 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. However, I would have to say that the Seahawks defense should be a little disappointed with their performance, especially by giving up 155 yards on 40 rushing attempts and 5.1 yards per play.

Seattle averaged 6.6 yards per play but lost time of possession 36:40 to 23:20.

This was a game not won because of the turnover margin so much as the turnover timing. Geno Smith had two interceptions, including another in opponent territory near the red zone, but lucky for the Seahawks he didn’t give the ball on the way on the last drive like Walker did.

Did P.J. Walker outplay Geno Smith? I kinda think he did. At best, it was even, which is interesting commentary given that Walker was cut by the Bears in the preseason and on Cleveland’s practice squad at the start of the season.

Give a gift subscription

We all scream for ice screen

As I sea it, the Seahawks figured something out with the screen pass game finally and iced the game with a successful screen. I had texted a friend over the weekend (and nearly put into the vision board this week but then forgot) that the Seahawks would score a touchdown on a screen pass. Then Geno Smith found Jaxon Smith-Njigba for the game-winning nine-yard touchdown with :44 seconds left.

(While I’m taking credit for things I DIDN’T do, I also meant to put on the vision board that the last team to have the ball would win, which was almost/kinda true.)

It’s kind of amazing that JSN gets the ball with an unblocked man in front of him but finds the edge and the rookie gave credit to DK Metcalf for the block after the game.

JSN had three catches for 36 yards; Tyler Lockett was the main attraction with eight catches for 81 yards and a touchdown; TEs still do not have a touchdown this season and Noah Fant was the only one targeted this week, catching two passes for 32 yards; Jake Bobo had two catches for 23 yards and rushed for a touchdown on a sweet cutback; but maybe the most interesting story is that DK Metcalf was targeted 14 times and only had five catches for 67 yards.

“Geno forces it to DK” is becoming a meme, which is maybe a little bit concerning because it follows a “DK is frustrated that he isn’t get the ball enough” narrative.

Metcalf had 43 yards on one play, meaning that the other 13 targets gained 24 yards. Okay, maybe no big deal against the Browns defense. Something to monitor.

Kenneth Walker only had eight carries and gained 66 yards (with a long of 45) and Zach Charbonnet had 53 yards (vision board) on five carries.

Riq and Meek

As I sea it, Riq Woolen is having a weird season, no? Sunday was a microcosm of what I see as an up-and-down for Woolen as he was a little careless on a hands to the face penalty that could have cost the Seahawks the win (Devon Witherspoon was caught with the same penalty earlier) and I’m just not sure he’s having the same type of shutdown year that he had in 2022. Yet he also had an interception and should have had another. I’m NOT worried about Woolen, but the season has been a little up and down I think.

Subscribe now

ABCDEFGeno

As I sea it, Twitter is starting to break. For the first time all season, I could see cracks starting to form with people who have been adament all year long that any fan who thinks that the Seahawks might need to bench Geno Smith is an idiot who “doesn’t know ball”.

The “you disagree with me? then you don’t know ball” is the most insecure response.

Sorry, Jacson.

Between the second touchdown drive (which took 41 yards because it came after a turnover) and the last touchdown drive (which took 57 yards because it came after a turnover), the Seahawks offense was as bad as any in the NFL. As bad as P.J. Walker’s Browns!

And that would not be concerning if it was uncommon because Cleveland does have a great defense. However, we all know around here at Seaside Joe that is it VERY common. It’s the norm!

The Seahawks offense has checked out of almost every game after the first quarter, and especially the first half.

I’m sick of blame. We don’t need to disagree or argue. We can all accept that whatever the reason, Seattle’s offense has been unacceptable and the biggest tests are yet to come: The Ravens are on deck in Week 9 and they are a much better team than the Browns…a much better offense and with a comparable defense.

The Seahawks go to Baltimore, L.A., Dallas, and San Francisco in four of the next six weeks. Seattle also plays the Moons and 49ers at home in that window. The 49ers have lost three in a row…I’m not writing them off because of it. I’ll believe that Geno Smith is good enough against the 49ers when it happens for the first time.

We can rest the talk that the Seahawks will bench Geno for at least another week, partly because we’re living on the high of a win, but the bad drives, bad throws, and now bad games are stacking up. The Ravens are first in points allowed, first in passing touchdowns allowed, and first in net yards per pass attempt allowed.

Here we go to Baltimore.

Leave a comment

Browns (4-2), at Ravens (5-2), Moons (3-4), at Rams (3-4), 49ers (5-1), at Cowboys (4-2), at 49ers (5-1), Eagles (5-1)

Even if it is sort of stretching the meaning of the word “strength” in the term “strength of schedule” to mention the Moons or Rams, the Seahawks are not in a position to think there are any easy outs coming up. Especially given how Seattle played against the 1-6 Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, writing them back as hard as they possibly could in the nightmare we call: Seahawks Second Half Football.

The Seahawks held on to win the game 20-10 and are now 4-2, proving that all any team needs to win while turning the ball over three times and giving up in the red zone is the Josh Dobbs Cardinals and a rookie undrafted free agent receiver who is faster than 5.00 seconds in the 40-yard dash.

Football is easy!

Seattle should be grateful for a 4-2 record given what’s on deck — the Browns defense had their worst game of the season this week and Deshaun Watson left the game early but Cleveland still won 39-38 — but Pete Carroll can’t ignore the broken record that is the second half Seahawks offense.

On their first drive of the second half, Seattle had first-and-goal from the 1 but settled for a field goal. The next drive, Geno Smith threw an interception inside the red zone when the team would have been grateful for the opportunity to try another field goal and make it a two-score game. On the third drive, Geno fumbled the snap from Olu Oluwatimi. On the fourth drive, the Seahawks lost two yards and punted while still hanging onto a 7-point lead.

It took a PITIFUL special teams trick play attempt by the Cardinals at midfield just for the Seahawks to get a nail-coffin field goal in the fourth quarter and that drive featured six runs by Ken Walker to two attempts by Geno, completing one for five yards.

In losing to the Bengals in Week 6, the Seahawks managed three points, two interceptions by Geno Smith, two turnovers on downs inside the red zone, and a punt in the second half.

In the second half of their Monday night win over the Giants, the Seahawks had two turnovers on downs, a missed field goal, a punt, and a field goal.

And of course in Week 1, the Seahawks had three yards in the second half of their loss to the Rams, with nine tacked on by Zach Charbonnet on the final meaningless play.

The Seattle Seahawks are 4-2 and that’s a much better feeling than 2-4. However, upcoming teams won’t be starting Josh Dobbs at quarterback and Emari Demercado at running back, won’t have their starting left tackle ejected in the first half, and will have better number one receivers than Marquise Brown and better number two receivers than Michael Wilson. The Seahawks won this game because of Ken Walker; the defense did take advantage of that opportunity — and could keep showing up with upcoming matchups against Cleveland, Washington, and L.A.; and because Jake Bobo decided, “I’ve had enough of this red zone shit.”

However, Bobo can’t bail out the offense every time and that was abundantly clear in the second half. Again.

If you remove the only two teams that have lost six games so far this season, the Seahawks are 2-2. Seattle’s other two wins are over Daniel Jones (his only win this season came against the same Cardinals) and a Lions team that lost 38-6 to the Ravens on Sunday, putting Week 2’s overtime result into a little different light.

But look…I’ll take an ugly win just as much as I’ll take a touchdown pass to Jaxon Smith-Njigba when there’s nobody within 20 yards of him. In the recent past, the Seahawks haven’t been as good as they should be because they weren’t consistently hitting the easy touchdowns or winning all the games they “should” win.

A 4-2 record through six games is good. It’s what we would have said before the season is acceptable, if not expected. Giving up 30 points in the last three games is GREAT!

I just think the season starts now with the Cleveland Browns and the throwback uniforms in Week 8. Luckily, P.J. Walker has been terrible and Deshaun Watson somehow looks worse. Seattle’s defense has been outstanding and they have another chance next week to keep their streak of dominant performances intact.

The Seahawks are going to need that from the defense, especially if the offense keeps their streaks intact.

That’s all I have to say in the immediate aftermath of the win, what are your takeaways?

Leave a comment

I’ll post more reflection on Monday for Regular Joes, so join premium for $5 to support the newsletter and more insights on the Seahawks. (I swear, many of them are positive!)

Then on the next drive, Geno went 0-of-3 from LAR 14 and the Seahawks settled for a field goal in the red zone. After the defense got Seattle’s offense the ball back down 23-17 with 2 minutes left, Geno was immediately picked off on a throw to Tyler Lockett to seal a win for the 4-1 Rams.

Perhaps everything that would come to be true of the Geno offense was telegraphed in that very first meaningful appearance: Glimpses of a team that can score points, sustain drives, and keep the game close, but somehow on ensuing drives with the same quarterback and supporting players can’t convert third downs, find the end zone from the red zone, and turns the ball over way too consistently to ever be a REAL threat to playoff caliber teams.

Could the Seahawks trade DK Metcalf? What they could get and when they could do it!

Geno Smith has made 26 starts for the Seattle Seahawks since that relief appearance against the Rams, dating from a 23-20 road loss against the Pittsburgh Steelers on October 17, 2021 to this week’s 17-13 road loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on October 15, 2023. If he has looked any better, if the offense has been remotely improved in those two years…I just do not see it.

This is it, fans. We’ve seen the pinnacle of the Geno Smith offense. It’s a 31-7 win over a 3-14 Jaguars team. It’s a 48-45 win over a Lions defense that gave up the most yards in the NFL last season. And now we’ve seen the floor.

It’s a 17-13 loss to the Bengals—with six points after the opening drive—and three points with an interception in the last four trips to the red zone.

But I would argue, it’s a floor we’ve seen before.

A pain we’ll see again.

Subscribe now

Typically after each game I write the As I Sea It column and cover several different takeaways from the contest. Of course, I could do that again today and write about positives (Tre Brown, second half pass defense, Tyler Lockett, Jake Bobo, Jason Myers) and other negatives besides the play of one player (Jake Curhan, Phil Haynes, penalties-penalties-penalties, play calling), but I don’t want to undermine what I think is the most important point that needs to be made after this loss:

Geno Smith will be benched.

Not today. Not next week. Knowing Pete Carroll, the benching of Geno Smith could take far too long and might come in the form of a 2024 offseason change…because according to everything that Pete has said about Geno, “He can do everything we need him to do”.

No, he can’t. And while we could make a ton of excuses about why Seattle’s offense was so bad against the Bengals TODAY, this is NOT ABOUT ONE GAME. This is as far as Geno will ever go with the Seahawks and we know that because he’s been the same quarterback for 26 starts.

It’s just. Not. Good. Enough.

Share Seaside Joe

From Pittsburgh to Cincinnati

Geno Smith’s first first half as a Seahawks starter in 2021 went punt, punt, punt, punt, punt with zero points and 55 yards.

The Seahawks would come back to tie the score, twice, and force OT after being down 14-0 at the half. But consider the opportunity Seattle had to win the upset if not for being so inept in the first half and Geno getting sacked from third-and-2 at the PIT 7 to force a field goal with a red zone opportunity.

Against the Saints the following week, the Seahawks were only in the game because of a rare 84-yard touchdown play opportunity for DK Metcalf on the second drive of the game. Geno’s offense punted on the four other drives of the first half and squandered three opportunities in New Orleans territory, coming away with only three points on those drives and losing 13-10.

Is “the Geno Smith offense” any better off when the quarterback has an entire offseason to prepare as the starter or two whole weeks to prepare for the Bengals, than when he was the backup getting spot starts for Russell Wilson in 2021?

I see no differences!

The Seahawks ranked 28th in red zone efficiency last season—Seattle scored 26 touchdowns on 55 red zone trips (47.3%)—and after Week 6’s loss to the Bengals, they will be trending back towards that mark: The Seahawks dropped from 58.8% red zone prior to Sunday to 50% (11 of 22) after going 1-of-5 in Cincinnati.

An average offense will score touchdowns on about 54% of their red zone trips.

A great offense will score touchdowns on about 68% of their red zone trips.

In Wilson’s final full season as Seattle’s starter, 2020, the Seahawks converted touchdowns on 73.2% of their trips to the red zone and ranked 4th. Then in 2021, the Seahawks scored on 64.6% of their trips and ranked third.

Since Geno Smith took over in Week 1 of last season, the Seahawks have scored touchdowns on fewer than 50% of their 77 trips to the red zone.

How is Seattle’s offense in any better hands right now than when Seahawks fans were terrified and dismayed at the prospect of Geno Smith taking over against the Steelers two years ago?

“So you’re putting the entire loss on Geno Smith?!?!”

NO! I’m not talking about Week 6. I’m talking about 2 years. It is up to everybody on the team to help a quarterback during a game. But it is up to the quarterback to help himself after two years at the helm and—let’s not forget this part—11 SEASONS in the NFL!

Give a gift subscription

The most recent Geno Smith

Geno Smith’s 2022 season+playoffs (Seahawks record: 9-9):

424-607, 69.9%, 4,535, 32 TD, 12 INT, 7.5 Y/A, 49 sacks, 9 fumbles/5 lost

Geno Smith’s last 18 starts (Seahawks record: 10-8):

417/624, 66.8%, 4,399, 28 TD, 13 INT, 7.04 Y/A, 51 sacks, 8 F/5 Lost

Over Geno’s first five starts last season, he completed 75% of his attempts with nine touchdowns, two interceptions, 8.31 Y/A, he had one fumble (not a turnover), and was sacked nine times, so about 2 sacks per game.

I want to emphasize that whether we are looking at his entire first season or just his most recent 18 games that a) Geno’s been about the same the entire time and b) has not been as good as he was in those first five weeks. And even in those first five games, the Seahawks went 2-3 (with wins over non-playoff teams Denver, Detroit, plus losses to non-playoff teams Atlanta, New Orleans) and Seattle couldn’t score a meaningful point against the 49ers.

And I understand that the Seahawks went into last season with a lot of question marks on the roster, giving us expectations that they would be much worse than a 9-8 team that barely made the playoffs, but Seattle has now had two offseasons to improve since going 7-10 in 2021. They’ve had two offseasons to get the right pieces in place and now the defense has allowed just 20 points in the last two games. The offense has two good running backs, four good receivers, and three good tight ends.

I think we could all accept Geno Smith being “fine”—IF he was at least better than he was at the beginning of his tenure.

It’s the fact that he’s “fine” after 26 starts of being “fine” that should tell us everything we need to know about how far the Seahawks will go with him as the quarterback. It’s the reality that Geno is potentially getting less fine—the quarterback has managed 11 touchdowns in his nine most recent starts—that should have fans worried about how many points this offense is going to be able score with the Cardinals, Browns, and Ravens on deck in the next three weeks.

The Seahawks won’t start Drew Lock against Arizona next week. Or the week after that. But at some point even Pete Carroll is going to realize that even if in his eyes that his quarterback isn’t the only problem, he should know that Geno also doesn’t have the answers.

I don’t bring up making a change at quarterback to be controversial or to start a war…it’s just time to do it.

Share

Geno Smith didn’t write back. Maybe it’s because he doesn’t have any new stories to tell.

Could the Seahawks trade DK Metcalf? What they could get and when they could do it!

Now October 2, 2023 could end up being the Seahawks best defensive performance of the season, as Seattle notched an historic 11 sacks, tying a franchise record that was set almost 40 years ago.

Skeptics will understandably point to the fact that the New York Giants likely had the worst starting five offensive linemen of any team so far this season, just as it was noted a year ago that the Lions had the NFL’s worst defense at the time of their loss to the Seahawks (and finished 32nd in total yards allowed). But the Giants are not the first terrible offensive line and Daniel Jones is not the worst quarterback* that Seattle has faced since 1986, and so 11 sacks should stand the test as a remarkable accomplishment, especially for a team that entered the week with five sacks in the first three games.

*he could be close though!

The Seahawks sacked Jones 10 times and Parris Campbell once during Seattle’s 24-3 victory on Monday night to improve to 3-1 entering the bye week. Here are some before and after sack totals:

Uchenna Nwosu: From 0 to 2

Jordyn Brooks: From 0 to 2

Bobby Wagner: From 0 to 2

Devon Witherspoon: From 0 to 2

Boye Mafe: From 1 to 2

Mario Edwards: From 0 to 1

Myles Adams: From 0 to 1

The Seahawks go to sleep tonight with six players who have at least two sacks now (the other being Jarran Reed), and Dre’Mont Jones was basically a half-yard in front the line of scrimmage from getting his second sack. Said Pete Carroll after the game: “It reminds us that we’re just getting started…We’re not a finished product.”

When the Seahawks next play it will be against a Cincinnati Bengals team that ranks 32nd in scoring, 32nd in yards, 32nd in passing yards per attempt, 31st in rushing, featuring a patchwork offensive line and a hobbled Joe Burrow, if he’s even available.

If Monday was Pete’s defense “just getting started”, then October 15th will be Seattle’s opportunity to keep it going.

Here is more of the 24-3 win, As I See It.

Your support of the Seaside Joe newsletter is imperative, so please consider adding your email for a FREE daily subscription if you haven’t already or going from free to paid for only $5 per month or $55 for the entire year.

I see Daniel Jones never played knifey-SPOONY before

As I see it, Devon Witherspoon bailed out the Seahawks at a time when injuries could have sunk them as they did the Giants. Witherspoon had plenty of doubters when Seattle chose him with the fifth overall pick — in a way, he was the “Ken Walker III” of the 2023 draft, as Twitter wanted Jalen Carter — fans who said that there was no way that “a small nickel corner” could impact the game like someone twice his size or I guess with half of the work ethic.

How could anyone have watched the NFL over the last ten years and not seen the value of a player with Witherspoon’s skillset and attributes defending the middle of the field? Better yet, how could any SEAHAWKS fans not see what Pete’s defense had been missing since age and injuries broomed the boom six or so years ago?

I’m not calling you out if you wanted Carter or were skeptical of Witherspoon. Carter is a great prospect, Witherspoon wasn’t on the radar…for most, and they are only four weeks into their careers.

But ever since his debut in Week 2, he’s had a noticeable impact on the field, something that could not be said for most Seahawks defensive players since 2016. We got an even better look at that impact on Monday night because Witherspoon got his first action in the slot, in the nickel, and the end result was a a player who is a practical “thirst trap” for being on the ball. Witherspoon seems to get physically mad when he’s not the one making the play and he made a lot of them against Daniel Jones:

Two sacks, several key run stops, and of course a pick-six that turned the game around from a potential 14-10 (if the Giants had scored from the SEA5) to a 21-3 Seahawks lead at the end of the third quarter.

On a night when the Seahawks tied a franchise record for sacks, the key play of the game was an interception by a player starting his third career game and getting his first-ever action at a “new” position. And that player ALSO HAD TWO SACKS!

I’m grateful for the chance to be tagged by someone who says that Devon Witherspoon reminds them of Seaside Joe every time he makes another play and I won’t make it a habit to bring this articles back when he does something good because then…I might never be able to stop. But I’ll say it again this one time, why I felt that Witherspoon was my favorite player in the draft, the perfect fit for Pete Carroll, and my prediction as who Seattle would choose even though there were SEVEN players who had better odds of going to the Seahawks on the morning of the first round.

April 11:

If you’re like me, you will start this article thinking, “Do I really want the Seahawks to use their first pick on a cornerback?” but by the end you’ll know that Devon Witherspoon is not a cornerback. He’s an attitude change that Seattle desperately needs and that Pete Carroll tends to gravitate towards.

Because if there’s a single player in the draft who exemplifies the character, competitiveness, and toughness that’s been missing from the Seahawks defense since Kam Chancellor retired, he is Illinois cornerback Devon Witherspoon. Though Witherspoon doesn’t have the magical 32” arm length and despite Seattle’s earliest cornerback pick under Carroll in 13 years being Shaquill Griffin at 90th overall, Witherspoon is also the top-ranked corner in a draft class that has enough questions about the top-20 prospects to think that this might be a time to make exceptions for someone who will alter the attitude of a defense that too many opponents see as “soft”.

Using this picture of Witherspoon’s workout day to point out the guy in the Seahawks hat, not the guy in the circle:

The only reason that I even researched Witherspoon is that three weeks before the draft I had deduced that the Seahawks would not draft a quarterback at #5. If not a quarterback, then who?

Well, I thought that Jalen Carter made sense for a lot of reasons, but nobody outside of the building could say for certain if he had been removed from consideration due to character concerns. A lot of people claimed they could know, but I just went with what I knew I DIDN’T know and so I said to myself, “If not Carter, then who?”

I figured that Will Anderson would be off the board before the Seahawks picked. If not Anderson, then who?

A lot of other people were speculating Tyree Wilson because of reasons I can’t quite explain. Just like I would eventually do with Witherspoon, I researched Wilson and came away hoping that he was not the answer, even if I did have some fears that if Seattle hadn’t changed their drafting philosophies of the past that they could end up with him. However, I also noticed that Seahawks had been operating differently since just before the Russell Wilson trade, so I thought maybe I could look somewhere that others felt would be impossible because of past draft decisions. If not Tyree, then who?

At that point, I just think that this exemplifies why it should have been easy for people to predict that Devon Witherspoon was high on Seattle’s draft board: Because the Seahawks were picking fifth, there weren’t many options to choose from. I had eliminated all but a couple, and since I did not think Seattle would select a running back, there weren’t many choices left.

Then I saw a video of Hall of Fame cornerback Ronde Barber comparing the top two cornerbacks in the draft—Witherspoon and Christian Gonzalez—and coming away with the opinion that not only was Spoon the best of the class, that it wasn’t even close. And he really liked Gonzalez!

Everything that Barber had said about Witherspoon, that he played with intensity, attitude, controlled violence, and was the most competitive player in the draft, screamed one thing to me: If you could build a Pete Carroll prospect with A.I., the output would be Devon Witherspoon.

So after a few more weeks of internal debate, and even though Carter was -230 and Witherspoon was +2200 to be the fifth overall pick, I predicted that the Seahawks would buck a 13-year trend and choose the cornerback.

Then the top-four picks were three quarterbacks, plus Anderson, and the Seattle Seahawks made Witherspoon their highest-drafted cornerback since Shawn Springs in 1997. After an offseason, training camp, and Week 1 of “will he, won’t he, where is he?”, Witherspoon has been the revelation on defense that many people—not just me, I was simply copying what others were saying!—predicted that he would be.

Not only for his literal play, but also due to the emotional impact and competitive energy that he’s brought to a defense that was listless, soft with tackling, and didn’t have 11 sacks in a game before he arrived.

It felt good to brush aside other prospects, to see Witherspoon, to want the Seahawks to draft Witherspoon, and then for the Seahawks to actually do it! That was the loudest I’ve ever screamed over a pick. But all I did was find out from other people that he seemed to be the most exciting prospect in the draft, especially among those who would be available at pick 5; literally all of the real work was done by Devon Witherspoon and Pete Carroll.

Subscribe now

Hopefully I’ve now buttered you up enough so far to get through everyone’s least favorite segment

As I see it, this game still managed to be an annoyingly sloppy performance by multiple Seahawks units and didn’t answer some important questions that will come up when Seattle doesn’t play arguably the worst team in the NFL.

1 - The Seahawks had eight penalties, including four in a row at one point, mostly by the offensive line

2 - The Seahawks were 3-of-12 on third down and 0-of-2 on fourth down, for a grand total of 3 conversions out of 14 opportunities (21%)

3 - The Seahawks allowed 6-of-16 on third down to the Giants and 2-of-4 on fourth down, a total of 8/20 (40%)

4 - The Seahawks defense was on the field for 74 plays and 36 minutes

5 - Jason Myers missed another field goal

6 - Geno Smith wasn’t awesome

Despite a 24-3 final score, this is essentially a game that came down to two turnovers: The pick-six by Witherspoon and a forced fumble recovered by Jordyn Brooks (shout out vision board!). Quandre Diggs also had an interception that led to a field goal.

Seattle’s offense gained -7 yards (punt), 14 yards (punt), 7 yards (TD drive following fumble recovery), and 13 yards (punt) on their first four drives.

It can be said that the Seahawks offensive line once again started Stone Forsythe and Jake Curhan (who was awful) at tackle, and that both Phil Haynes and Damien Lewis left the game with injuries. It can be said that Geno also got hurt in the second quarter and was temporarily replaced by Drew Lock.

And it can also be said simultaneously and without negating the other facts that Geno Smith wasn’t awesome.

I know that in the Seaside Joe live game chat thread that most, if not all of the comments in the second half were clamoring for a little more Lock. In the fourth quarter, the Seahawks went two yards (punt), 29 yards (FG drive following Diggs’ pick), 7 yards (TO on downs).

After the game, Pete called New York’s Leonard Williams and Dexter Lawrence “the best defensive tackles we’ll face all season” and that’s fine too. Maybe this was an abnormally challenging game for Geno due to the circumstances at MetLife. But it is hardly the last or most challenging game on the schedule, with upcoming dates against the likes of the Browns (the number one defense in the NFL), the Ravens, the Cowboys, the Eagles, and two against the 49ers, to say the least.

Pete also said that the team’s number one emphasis recently has been to improve on third downs, both offensively and defensively. I guess he hadn’t quite digested the totals from Monday night yet because they’re actually a little worse now. That’s not solely on Geno Smith (Geno went 13-of-20 for 110 yards with a touchdown), but third down and red zone is where PLAYERS, not PLAYS, make the difference.

The players, including Geno, will have to be better.

Give a gift subscription

Jamal’s well that ends…without another serious injury

As I see it, I don’t know what’s more surprising: How quickly Jamal Adams made his presence felt, or how quickly Jamal Adams was no longer present.

Pete said after the game that Jamal Adams is “gonna be okay” after leaving with a first drive concussion and made it sound as though he would be available after the bye week. The worst part is that this was the perfect environment for Adams to thrive in, but his injury had “forgot how to safely tackle someone” written all over it.

Pete also didn’t sound overly concerned about injuries to Geno, Jarran Reed, or Phil Haynes. He was a little more mum on Damien Lewis (ankle) and thinks that Coby Bryant could return in two weeks. If we’re looking at a potential “full picture” view of the depth chart when the Seahawks play the Bengals, fans might see Charles Cross back at left tackle, Adams back (again) at strong safety, and Bryant back in the secondary (with updates to come later on Tre Brown, Artie Burns). There’s a chance we could also see the debut of Jason Peters.

Going a little bit further ahead, Abe Lucas would be eligible to return after the Bengals game and Dee Eskridge will be back from suspension after the following game against the Arizona Cardinals.

Carroll also noted that Drew Lock was “jittery” in the beginning of his appearance, which tracks with what I saw. What else were people expecting? Lock hasn’t played in a regular season game since January 8, 2022. And he has only made three starts since the beginning of 2021. Pete called the opportunity for Lock to finally play, “invaluable”.

Finally, Pete noted that his biggest disappointment of the season is still the second half of the Rams game and that otherwise, he’s happy with every other half of football that Seattle has played so far.

Rams, Week 1

First Half: 13-7

Second Half: 0-23

Lions, Week 2

First Half: 7-14

Second Half, OT: 30-17

Panthers, Week 3

First Half: 12-13

Second Half: 25-14

Giants, Week 4

First Half: 14-3

Second Half: 10-0

So the Seahawks have outscored opponents 65-31 in the second half of their last three games. And Seattle could have scored even more points than this. If they start finishing their drives off more often in the red zone, they will.

The Seahawks defense did a lot of growing up on Monday. Now if the offense follows suit with more consistency on third downs, Pete Carroll may soon have the team that he’s wanted to get back again.

Subscribe now

One more reminder to hit that button^^^if you haven’t already!