Every play that the Seahawks have run in opponent territory this season
Seattle has run 3 plays past the 40-yard line in their last 6 quarters, resulting in one turnover and 13 yards lost
“We gotta get right. We gotta score, we gotta get some points…. We gotta make some points, and we didn’t do it.” - Pete Carroll, following the Seattle Seahawks’ 27-7 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in Week 2.
Carroll’s point of emphasis on Seattle’s offensive woes was to focus on the running game and penalties. That’s fair, because I think Carroll holds higher expectations for the Seahawks’ ground game than he does for the air attack.
Rashaad Penny, Kenneth Walker III, and Travis Homer combined to carry the ball 12 times and gained 34 yards, but right now the Seahawks are averaging 1.3 yards before contact, the third-worst mark in the NFL through two weeks. That number dips to 1.1 for just Penny, who so far has 18 carries for 75 yards.
Penny is averaging 3.1 yards per carry after contact, sixth-highest in the NFL.
You would assume that the Seahawks are facing an inordinate amount of eight-man boxes because Geno Smith doesn’t throw the ball downfield, but according to Next Gen Stats that hasn’t been the case yet: Penny’s 11% of 8MB is still relatively low.
That suggests that the Seahawks are doing a poor job of run-blocking and that teams can both play two-deep safeties (second-highest rate of such looks in the NFL so far) and stop Seattle’s rushing attack at the same time. That’s a really bad sign for the offense.
The Seahawks got off to a HOT start in Week 1 against the Denver Broncos, as all four of their first halve drives reached Broncos territory and Seattle scored 17 points—the fourth of those drives was an inch shy of setting up first-and-goal.
Regression is a bitch.
Over the last six quarters, the Seahawks have had 12 offensive drives, not including kneeling to end the game against Denver. In those 12 drives, the Seahawks have scored zero points and run a TOTAL of three plays inside the opponent’s 40-yard line: One interception, one intentional grounding penalty, and one blown up running play that was saved by Walker for a 5-yard gain.
Three plays inside the opponent’s 40. And two of those didn’t have the quarterback taking the snap. The one that did, he lost 13 yards.
Who do I blame? Who gives a shit?
“We gotta score, we gotta get some points”
This is every play that the 2022 Seattle Seahawks have run past the 50-yard line through eight quarters of football. They gotta get it right.
Week 1 vs Denver Broncos
Drive 1
1st quarter, 13:02, DEN46 - Phil Haynes false start (no play)
1st quarter, 12:19, DEN42 - Rashaad Penny, left, 4 yards
1st quarter, 11:37, DEN38 - Geno Smith pass, short left Will Dissly-38yTD
Drive 2
1st quarter, 6:19, DEN30 - Travis Homer, right, 2 yards
1st quarter, 5:33, DEN28 - Penny, left, 12 yards
1st quarter, 4:49, DEN16 - Penny, middle, 4 yards
1st quarter, 4:10, DEN12 - Geno Smith pass, short right Penny, 4 yards
1st quarter, 3:30, DEN8 - Geno Smith pass, short right Noah Fan, 1 yard
1st quarter, 3:00, DEN7 - Geno Smith run, no gain-TURNOVER ON DOWNS
Drive 3
2nd quarter, 10:13, DEN26 - Geno Smith pass, short right Homer, no gain (DEN PENALTY, no play)
2nd quarter, 9:51, DEN21 - Penny, left, 2 yards
2nd quarter, 9:14, DEN19 - Geno Smith run, no gain (HAYNES HOLDING, no play)
2nd quarter, 8:48, DEN29 - Geno Smith pass, short left DK Metcalf, -8 yards
2nd quarter, 8:04, DEN37 - Geno Smith pass, short middle Marquise Goodwin, 6 yards
2nd quarter, 7:25, DEN31 - Jason Myers 49-yard field goal GOOD
Drive 4
2nd quarter, 3:37, DEN47 - Geno Smith pass, short right Colby Parkinson, 18 yards
2nd quarter, 3:07, DEN29 - Geno Smith pass, short left Metcalf, 4 yards
2nd quarter, 2:31, DEN25 - Geno Smith pass, deep right Parkinson-25yTD
END OF HALF
Drive 5
None
Drive 6
None
Drive 7
None
Drive 8
Kneel
End of Game
Number of plays run in red zone: 4 (all resulted in TO on downs)
Number of plays run past DEN40: 13
Number of plays run past DEN40 by quarter:
1st-7
2nd-6
3rd-0
4th-0
Seattle didn’t run any plays past the Broncos’ 40 in the second half of Week 1. Their first drive of the second half ended with a DK Metcalf fumble at their own 46. The second drive also saw Smith fumble, recovered by Charles Cross. The third drive ended on Smith getting sacked.
Week 2 at San Francisco 49ers
Drive 1
None
Drive 2
None
Drive 3
None
Drive 4
2nd quarter, 6:08, SF42 - Geno Smith pass, short right Dissly, 2 yards
2nd quarter, 5:49, SF40 - Geno Smith pass, deep middle Lockett, 27 yards
2nd quarter, 5:01, SF13 - Ken Walker direct snap, right, 5 yards
2nd quarter, 4:17, SF8 - DeeJay Dallas pass, short right, INTERCEPTION
Drive 5
2nd quarter, 0:15, SF45 - Geno Smith pass, incomplete
2nd quarter, 0:11, SF45 - Abraham Lucas false start (no play)
End of half
The Seahawks gained totals of 22 yards, 15 yards, and 15 yards on their first three drives, the last of which ended in an interception. The fourth drive gained 53 yards (26 yards by penalty), ending with Dallas’s interception.
Drive 6
None
Drive 7
None
Drive 8
None
Drive 9
4th quarter, 0:36, SF49 - Geno Smith pass, short left Metcalf, 12 yards
4th quarter, 0:31, SF37 - Geno Smith pass, incomplete, Intentional Grounding (-13 yards)
End of game
Seattle’s first three drives of the second half gained eight yards, nine yards, and 15 yards, all ending in punts.
Number of plays run in red zone: 2 (no snaps to Geno Smith)
Number of plays run past SF40: 2 (same plays)
Number of plays run past SF40 by quarter:
1st-0
2nd-2
3rd-0
4th-1
Not good.
The Seahawks have been in the red zone twice and they have turned the ball over both times. The Seahawks have run a total of 15 plays past the opponents’ 40-yard line through two games. They have four penalties in opponent territory.
What’s amazing is that Geno Smith is 11-of-12 passing on that side of the field. However, that’s where folks are intentionally or unintentionally (most unintentionally) misleading fans into thinking that Seattle is having “success” in the passing game: because of completion percentage.
What good is completing the passes if it doesn’t lead to points? Of those 12 throws, 10 were short passes. Since his pitch-and-run 38-yard touchdown to Dissly on the first drive of the season, Smith has completed 10 passes in opponent territory that have gained a total of 78 yards. He has carried the ball twice and gained zero yards. Had an intentional grounding penalty. And the Seahawks put someone else behind center during their only two opportunities in San Francisco’s red zone.
Want to get angry at the running game? Sure, go for it. There’s plenty of blame to go around, but also this was kind of the expectation from the get-go. Carroll didn’t expect to be able to lead the NFL in passing touchdowns and explosive plays. He expected to be able run the ball and play great defense.
Instead, Carroll has turned to saying that the Seahawks need to be able to pass the ball deep down the field to save the running game and to take pressure off of a defense that is on pace for the most plays in a single season in NFL history. Will it work? I don’t know about that but Carroll is right about one thing…
“We gotta get it right.”
Sometimes you have to tip your hat to your opponent. The Niner's D is maybe the toughest one the Seahwaks will face all season.
But the trend over the last 6 quarters is BAD and something needs to change (maybe the QB???). I would really like to see Lock running RPO plays when he is actually a threat to run. Against 2 deep safety looks that would more than likely be successful.
Not only a lack of possessions inside the openents 40, a lack of possessions period. The big Stat that stands out to me is defenses are playing two high safeties even on our run plays. Penny has looked good grinding out the yards he can.
This is made to sound like we never called any deep shots, maybe that's true. The thing is when you go down 14 the run should be open to make first downs. Is it time to put Lewis back on the right side and start Phil Haynes on the left ? How have our tackles done in run blocking, I figure the tightends have been OK?