Cam Ward kind of worries me

Remember the #1 Pick?

The Internet (social media, YouTube, people like me) is to blame for a lot of wrongdoings so why not put one more on there? The number one overall pick in the draft has been vastly overshadowed by the 144th overall pick. Before the draft, during the draft, six month after the draft:

Cam Ward can’t get out from under Shedeur Sanders’ shadow.

It has not seemed to matter that Ward was better in college, better as a draft prospect, and has played every snap at quarterback for the Titans this year…I bet there were more videos made about Sanders’ first 16 throws this week than there have been made about the number one pick all season.

Ward may not be good, but I know he’s not that bad.

Ward may also be good.

Ward has faced a lot of the NFL’s top pass defenses.

His head coach had to give up play calling duties three games into the season and then was fired three weeks later.

His supporting cast is wow levels of bad. He’s been sacked an NFL-worst 41 times. His receivers wouldn’t start anywhere else, maybe including Calvin Ridley, who just on IR anyway.

And even with that many obstacles working against him, Ward seems to be getting better. Ward threw a game-tying touchdown with 1:40 left against the top-ranked Texans defense last week, only to have Tennessee’s defense lose the game.

The talent has been on display every week, but the stats (6 TD in 10 starts) and the wins (1-9) haven’t followed because he’s a rookie quarterback on the worst team in the league. But every worst team has its day (I’m reminded of the 0-13 Jets beating the 9-4 Rams in 2020) as nothing in this league is handed to you. The Seahawks have been great against bad teams this season and that needs to continue this week against the Titans because one of these days Ward’s going to remind folks why he was the number one pick.

People seem to be forgetting that because his dad is…I don’t know, James Ward? Stanley Ward? We don’t even know who his dad is. Is that allowed?

(Calvin Ward. I googled it and he works in the energy industry.)

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Danno: The prevailing opinion coming out of the Seahawks/Rams game seems to be the Rams are the Super Bowl favorite from the NFC. I’m not sure if that’s an actual fact, or just the opinion of experts paid to talk about these things. “The Rams defense is awesome! The Rams offense is awesome! Stafford is MVP!” I beg to differ.

(Many good stats by Danno cut for time.)

I do not see this as a ‘Super Bowl’ offense. Do you? I hope my notes on this are accurate. Please think twice about jumping on the Rams as the NFC Super Bowl team.

Ryan Fitzpatrick would agree with you about the Seahawks. He said that this game made him even more confident that Seattle is the best team in the NFC:

Personally for me, I do struggle to care what people think of the Seahawks or the Rams. I haven’t read power rankings in years, I don’t know what purpose they serve. Various things make it onto my screens by chance that have indicated to me that a lot of people do think the Rams are the best team in the league after Week 11. That’s fine with me.

-If the Seahawks get swept by the Rams and win the Super Bowl, that’s fine with me.

-If the Seahawks lose their last four games by 150 points but still make the playoffs and win the Super Bowl, that’s fine with me.

-If the Seahawks win the Super Bowl but are called “the worst Super Bowl team of all-time”, that’s fine with me too. People criticize the Eli Manning Super Bowl teams…they don’t even remember the teams that lost to the Giants in the NFC playoffs.

-When the Seahawks beat the Packers on the “fail mary” and everyone said that they deserved to lose, that was also fine with me.

This is just my personal choice though and for many fans I know that it matters and that’s OK too. If anything, I’m the weird one.

As far as my opinion on how far the Rams can go, I think any team in the playoffs is a threat. We don’t know who they have to beat or who could be injured by then or which teams will catch fire in six weeks.

The Seahawks are one of the teams vying for a playoff spot and they’ve proven that they can beat anybody. That’s good enough for me. The only comparisons I’m paying attention to are the standings.

West Seattle Tim: How big is the Rams game this week for the Seahawks chances? Or am I just spiraling after the lose to the Rams last week? What do you think our chances are to win the division now? I am still super positive about our chances, but being prepared is a thing I like to do. Plan for worst case, but hope for best case.

Thanks to Mad Dog Mattis for the life advice. “Be professional, be polite, and have a plan to kill everyone in the room.”

The Rams have done more to knock the Seahawks out of the playoffs or out of playoff contention than all the other teams in the NFL combined. (That’s LITERALLY not true, but they’re the most responsible team by far.)

If the Seahawks don’t win their own games, including against the Rams, then nothing else matters.

Even if Seattle wins and L.A. loses to the Bucs (plausible), the Seahawks won’t be in first place because of head-to-head. The 49ers are also a threat again at 7-4 with the Panthers, Browns, and Titans on deck; San Francisco could be 10-4 with their own head-to-head win over Seattle.

Based on their NFC West losses and how the rest of the schedule plays out it will be difficult for the Seahawks to win the division. They’ve overcome longer odds before though so we’ll check back in on this in a couple of weeks.

JohnnyLondon: On Sunday Kupp caught 3 of 7 for 23 yards, Shaheed caught 2 of 5 for 27 yards. No other wide receiver not named Jaxon (9 of 12) was targeted. With Barner leading the team snagging 10 of 11 targets, how much would you put this down to the Rams continued dominance over the Seahawks offense, and how much down to the lack of a genuine no.2 receiver on game day?

I see a lot of variables converging into an answer there:

• Jaxon Smith-Njigba has led the league in target share% all season and it hasn’t been a bad thing for the most part

• Seahawks still ran it over 30 times

• The Rams do have a good defense and Seattle’s interior OL was in the worst shape it’s been in all year, creating more havok on QB

• Rams used Dime defense (5+ defensive backs) at an extraordinarily high rate, daring Seahawks to run the ball 30+ times

• A.J. Barner is a good player

• Sure, Cooper Kupp is not a very good WR2

Somewhere in a previous Seaside Joe, I wrote that Kupp really showed signs of wearing down in the second half of last season. That trend has continued and then some in 2025, which we could see coming given the probability of a 32-year-old receiver being a relatively bad starter.

Since the last time Kupp was targeted 10 times in a game (Week 12, 2024) he has played in 14 regular season games. In those 14 games, Kupp has 41 catches for 552 yards and 2 touchdowns.

When we throw in the two Rams playoff games from last year (6 catches for 90 yards on 8 targets) that’s a total of 642 yards in 16 games, which is essentially a full season. Kupp has had 3 or fewer catches in 11 of those games.

He’s toast.

Maybe he’s like a flax seed, 8-grain, no butter toast because he’s generally good for you (blocker, mentor, coach, friend) but he’s not a “genuine no. 2”, no.

Rashid Shaheed still looked fairly uncomfortable in the offense this week, especially in terms of getting set on those last two drives in the fourth quarter. Maybe that starts to change this week.

The Rams threw their entire secondary at the Seahawks and it worked this time. We may see other teams now try to copy that formula, but I wouldn’t bet they match up or coach up as well as the Rams do so it might be too soon to hit the panic button. Certainly the Seahawks could draft a receiver in 2026.

Scott M: You touched on it but almost no one commented...but we need to talk about ‘spoon. He seems to be steadily declining over the years. He used to be so impactful and now he seems to be good but not always great. Is his aggressive nature being used against him? Is he still injured? Is he regressing in a new defense? Are coaches using him poorly? It’s just my eye test, but it’s what I’m seeing...

Missing tackles, over running the play, over committing and getting caught on double moves...again none of this is overly concerning but I just get the feeling he’s not having the same impact he used to have.

Burgdawg: I just came to the comments to ask a very similar question to Scott about what’s going on with Spoon. I’ve been thinking about what you said Ken that Spoon is good but not elite, citing his lack of ball hawking skills as an example. And then it seems I have not been hearing his name very often during the past couple games. It does seem he’s playing more corner and not hearing his name could mean he’s really doing his job. It’s just I expected him to be a more central piece to the defense and I’m not sure that’s happening. Curious about your thoughts.

In a strange way I’m almost relieved that Devon Witherspoon isn’t a little bit better because then the Seahawks might overpay him and end up in a Sauce “we liked him too much, too soon” Gardner situation.

I’d only want a lot better to the point of being undeniably great or whatever he is right now so at least Seattle has to stop and consider what he’s worth long term.

There’s an undeniable “Want to have it!!!” factor with Witherspoon and in my opinion that’s why the Seahawks drafted him so high. The defense was lacking swagger, confidence, and leadership and Witherspoon has that so Seattle wanted that. Mike Macdonald must have been happy to inherit Witherspoon, but you have to wonder what he would have done if he was helping run that draft instead.

Macdonald is using Witherspoon like he used Marlon Humphrey in Baltimore, but does he actually believe Witherspoon is the best fit for that role? Or would he have targeted someone like Christian Gonzalez instead? (Gonzalez was the next CB drafted after Witherspoon in 2023 and his value in coverage has been far superior over the last two seasons.)

Gonzalez just trailed Emeka Egbuka for an entire game and held him to 3 catches on 9 targets over 32 routes. Egbuka killed the Seahawks. Witherspoon wasn’t playing that day but just imagine if the Seahawks had a corner like Gonzalez for those matchups. Then we’d be talking about the checkbook…

^Witherspoon 2025 game log—top row is most recent, bottom row is Week 1^^

Witherspoon hasn’t demanded those talks yet but he’s playing more outside and less slot since he and Nick Emmanwori have both been healthy. In the past two games, Witherspoon has been targeted 8 times and allowed 4 catches for 38 yards and no touchdowns, per Next Gen Stats.

Is this because of favorable matchups?

Is it because he’s not a good slot guy? (Passer rating allowed in the slot is 137.5 compared to a rating of 75.0 when aligned outside.)

Is Emmanwori the more valuable defensive back now?

The good news is that the Seahawks don’t have to be in a hurry to find out the answers to any of those questions. Witherspoon is signed through 2026 ($10.1 million cap hit next year) at least and through 2027 if Seattle decides to pick up his fifth-year option. Unless the player is a bust, teams generally pick up those options for top-5 picks and Witherspoon is not a bust.

Witherspoon’s projected 5th-year option: $20.85 million in 2027.

That’s a lot of money but here’s something you probably didn’t know: As of now, Witherspoon is the only 2023 first round pick to have made multiple Pro Bowls without being an alternate.

Jahmyr Gibbs is the only other player to make 2 Pro Bowls and one of those was as an alternate.

This is an important distinction because fifth-year options increase in dollar value if a player makes the original Pro Bowl roster. Witherspoon is the only 2023 player in the >1 Pro Bowl category. I even have to ask if he’s actually pricing himself out of the fifth-year option.

The Seahawks could have two more years after this to evaluate Witherspoon’s long-term value, but they at least have one. If his recent games since returning from injury are the start of a trend, then I’d say they still made a good decision.

Grant: When he chooses to call it a career, should Russell Wilson retire as a Seahawk? Would the organization and/or fan base celebrate that gesture, or is the awkwardness and time apart too much to overcome?

The answers to this question are divisive and personal to fans on a case by case basis. My answer would also be based solely on my own experience as a fan, which is that as far as his association to the Seahawks I basically only pay attention to what happened between the 2012-2021 seasons. I do know that Wilson’s been going through a drastic public humiliation ritual over the past four years and he doesn’t really have another organization to tie his legacy to.

As far as signing a one day contract to retire with the Seahawks, it has happened most recently with Jon Ryan and K.J. Wright. I guess it’s for those situations when a player feels like it made no sense for him to be on another team for a minute, like nobody’s going to remember that Wright played for the Raiders. This doesn’t apply to Russell Wilson. It makes sense that he didn’t retire as a Seahawk because of all the reasons.

Will Wilson be honored in other ways after he retires? Of course, he’s the best quarterback in the history of the franchise and he won a Super Bowl. Some time will pass before that happens but it’s going to happen. The Packers put Brett Favre in their ring of honor six years after he retired from the Vikings so maybe that’s a reasonable timeline.

Charley Filipek: Seaside Joe never stops, ... but KenJoe, if you get sick (God’sEye takes away problems) or one must attend to an important Family matter, Please, please don’t hesitate just to keep The Streak going. You’ve sent SO many bonus posts we All will understand. Gratitude.

Dave Stamey: Begaw?

Gratitude (and begaw) back to you guys. Nothing like that has come up so far in the last 6.5 years and isn’t that the most important streak of all?

I could not be happier than getting to write about the Seahawks every day and “the streak” hasn’t really been on my mind the last thousand days or so other than when I’m trying to consistently update this number at the bottom of every newsletter:

Seaside Joe 2453