'I was wrong about Kubiak': Seahawks fan reactions to preseason win

Special teams woes, offensive line pros, and Jalen Mil-roes.

Hiring Klint Kubiak to be the offensive coordinator felt similar to the time that Dan Quinn hired Kyle Shanahan to be the offensive coordinator of the Atlanta Falcons in 2015. We may have forgotten that prior to Matt Ryan’s MVP season in 2016, Shanahan was put through the same “nepotism hire” barrage of criticisms that we’ve heard about Kubiak and Jay Harbaugh.

And Shanahan, now considered the gold standard of offensive scheming to a lot of people, was even more boring than Kubiak because his career as an OC prior to Ryan’s MVP season was in a rut after stints in Washington and Cleveland.

Could Kubiak be breaking out of his cocoon with the Seahawks, his fifth different team in the past five years? Our first glimpse of Seattle’s offense with almost all of the starters — and the ensuing four quarters of an effective rushing attack — has many fans eager to find out against the 49ers in a few weeks.

After Friday night’s game, I asked Seahawks fans to give their immediate reactions to the team’s 33-16 win over the Chiefs. We had over 70 comments, so here’s just a sample of what you wrote. Join Regular Joes and start adding your own comments at Seaside Joe to share your thoughts on Kubiak and everyone else:

Barry R Carlson: When I heard we hired Klint Kubiak as our new offensive coordinator my first thought was "fine, we just go a Ford when we could have gotten a Ferrari". There was so much more out there. It looks like I was wrong. Those Ford GT 40's manhandled the Ferraris at Le Mans and it looks like our Ford, Klint Kubiak, may turn out to be a G 40, also.

Loved the offensive show. Bring on crow.

Although his resume doesn’t seem that exciting on paper, he’s had a lot of experience and not all of it was with his dad Gary. This is his fifth straight season as an OC or a pass game coordinator, which in itself is a difficult streak to maintain at the NFL level, and IF Seattle’s offense looks as good in the regular season as it did on Friday, that still won’t be Kubiak’s “breakout” moment.

Just a year ago, Kubiak was the OC star of the NFL with the New Orleans Saints. The problem is that an abnormal wave of injuries decimated what might have been after Week 2.

The Catch-22 of it all is that if Kubiak continues to be this good, the Seahawks won’t keep him for long. It’s not like GMs or owners will have questions about Klint Kubiak like they do with many other head coaching candidates…he’s a known guy and they’re just waiting for his “Matt Ryan moment” before hiring him as a head coach. I think fans are okay with that trade-off if it means a rushing offense like Friday night.

CabMcnabb: Preseason don't mean much, but comparatively, more impressive scheming this year than any I can recently recall. Optimistic

Definitely. Don’t miss the latest from All-22 about Kubiak’s scheme:

Rich: I saw great blocking by the OL.

You were not alone. Lots of comments encouraged by the offensive line, especially given the absence of Charles Cross and Olu Oluwatimi. Where Olu stands in competition with Jalen Sundell, nobody knows, but his return gives Kubiak options.

Scott M: We're not perfect, if you get critical there's a few things that need to get cleaned up. I saw several no calls as holding was going on, both sides that likely will get called in the reg season. Kupp whiffed his first block attempt if he hits it Charbs might score on the first play. Abe Lucas got beat and he just held and quickly pushed and got away with it. Overall, looked awesome.

I like Scott’s comment here offering a few counterpunches. There’s nothing wrong with pointing out areas for improvement and preseason is the perfect time for it.

Bob Johnston: I must have my rose-colored glasses on because I thought Milroe played well given he was charged with running out the clock. Two rollouts to the left and his passes did a great job of not leading his receivers out of bounds. He didn't force anything and the pass to the RB didn't actually seem that off. If I were to give him a grade I'd give him an "Incomplete" because he wasn't asked to make many plays.

Here’s what Mike Macdonald said about Milroe after the game:

"Thought he played well. Things to work on. A couple of throws he needs to work on. Missed some opps in the red zone and still some operation errors. Moved the chain. Finished with a great touch down there."

It’s okay for Jalen Milroe to need to work on his passing game before being ready for the NFL, that’s exactly what was expected from him when he was drafted. It doesn’t make him any less of a prospect because he’s still working on being a Sunday-level passer a few months later.

Ray: Anthony Bradford looked pretty darn good, and Abe Lucas looks like he's going to the HoF. I'm anxious to watch the videos SSJ will post later today (Saturday) so I can understand what I thought I saw on TV last night. Overall, I think the 49ers are going to start the season with a loss.

Here’s another one, just posted:

Lots of comments on a “vanilla” defensive plan, so it’s interesting to see what All-22 says about it.

Brendan Schwartz: The whole team vibe was encouraging. Sustaining drives and imposing their will on a good defense minus Chris Jones of course, but still exciting to see the running game excel and all QBs looked pretty under control. TEs look legit and our FB is gonna be great.

Tight ends were standouts. We thought that the 13 personnel from 2023 were insanely good, but this group feels like an upgrade from that group that caught 74% of their targets and combined for over 800 yards.

Nicholas Donsky: Hate to sound like the skunk at the picnic, but if our ST coach Harbaugh Jr. doesn't tighten up the return defense he might get a new job as a water boy for his daddy.

If one thing was apparent from the comments, it’s that nobody wants a defense of Jay Harbaugh. So consider this breakdown of Michael Dickson’s three smacks (4 if you count the penalty) as merely an explanation, if nothing more, and not a defense: If #46 D’Eryk Jackson or #85 Tyrone Broden don’t whiff their tackling attempts, the Seahawks basically have a perfect punting night on special teams.

And although those two players stood out for what they did not do (and Broden’s not making the team obviously, while Jackson is also a long shot) it definitely takes all 10 players (Dickson didn’t do anything wrong) to have screwed up that coverage. Nobody talks about the coverage being “the 2s” but Broden and Jackson would indicate that these were not the 53-man roster coverage players that we will see in three weeks.

Pat: I know I’m getting way ahead of myself; in 2013 the Seahawks beat the Broncos 48 - 10 in the preseason, then met them again in the Super Bowl… dare to dream!!!

Somehow I did not know that.

zezinhom400: Seemed Bradford has figured something out — won almost every snap. Huge falloff to Haynes who looked quite winded and a little fat to me. Wonder if relative conditioning is why Bradford is our starting RG but regardless, Bradford looked as good as I’ve ever seen from him.

If Anthony Bradford is not the starter at right guard in Week 1, that would be surprising. It is definitely not a competition when one guy gets consecutive preseason starts with the 1s and the other guy is put with the 2s and 3s.

huevobueno: Really excited about that tush-push play!

Seahawks were attempting a tush push in 2024 with no success. Hopefully this year it will continue to work after the regular season begins and the defensive lines are better.

Chuck Turtleman: Robbie Outz is going to be a fan favorite. I've already put my neck out enough for Horton, so I will just say that I hope his injury was minor. Bobo doesn't seem a cut candidate as some have been saying -he's the best wr blocker on the team.

Seemed like all the starting receivers, including Marquez Valdes-Scantling, were executing their run blocks albeit on a small sample size. Bobo should also have security given the earlier comments about players competing to be on special teams coverage.

Tim McConnell: 2 games, 80 runs, 438 yards, almost 5.5 yds a carry. And as far as I could tell, we only had one running play that was for less than a yard.

Yeah that’s pretty nuts, even for August. If nothing else, it doesn’t make the opposing players and defensive coordinators feel good about the preseason.

Rozone: The sidelines are as, if not more, interesting to me as the action on the field and this group is full of pure enjoyment…So, I can't contribute to the discussion of individual merits but I sure do appreciate the things I learn from everyone else here.

As do I! And yeah, I was telling someone during the game that I wish I knew the feeling of being as happy for a person as players are for their teammates when they do something good. I mean, I’m happy for people, but I don’t know when the last time was that I jumped up and down screaming out of joy for something that a friend did.

Maybe this happens to some of you sometimes? When and why:

Seaside Joe 2358