Seahawks-Jets: 5 points about the game
How Kenneth Walker, Jordyn Brooks, and the playoffs look after Sunday: Seaside Joe 1399
Going into their Week 17 game against the New York Jets, the Seattle Seahawks knew they had a playoff pulse, but couldn’t waste time worrying about the results of other games. That opportunity went out the door after going 0-4 against the awful NFC South and dropping a home game to Derek Carr’s Raiders.
Multiple times this season (well, this is probably a yearly occurrence for most competitive teams) I heard fans say that the “Seahawks didn’t deserve to make the playoffs” after those difficult losses. So it would be a waste of energy to now start counting tiebreakers and “What if” scenarios given that Seattle blew their chance to be in control.
The Seahawks were not in control of their playoff fate. Even after beating the Jets 23-6 on Sunday, they are not in control of their playoff fate. The Seahawks once again can’t worry about what the Green Bay Packers do in Week 18 as it relates to their playoff fate. Pete Carroll should have only one goal left for the 2022 season: Finish with a winning record.
If the Seahawks make the playoffs, cool. If the Seahawks miss the playoffs at 9-8, that’s still fairly cool.
These are five points about the game. Thank you to everyone who has helped support the Seaside Joe project with $5/month. Consider upgrading or giving the gift of Joe to a Seahawks fan to keep the free daily streak alive. Tomorrow is 1,400 straight days of Joe!
Read next: Seahawks updated 2023 draft order and thoughts on C.J. Stroud, Jalen Carter, and Anthony Richardson!
Packers control the playoffs
To make the playoffs as a wild card, the Seahawks need to beat the Rams, and the Lions must beat the Packers. I consider that a coinflip.
The Rams lost 31-10 to the Chargers on Sunday, dropping to 5-11. Seattle has to prove that they’re better than this version of the L.A. Rams, as they’ll be without Aaron Donald, Matthew Stafford, and Cooper Kupp.
The Lions beat the Bears 41-10 on Sunday, they remain a formidable offense. Detroit beat Green Bay 15-9 in Week 9. The Packers have won four straight games and I will not bet against Aaron Rodgers over Jared Goff. However, both teams are fighting for everything and the Lions won’t go out quietly.
The Seahawks can’t worry about Lions-Packers. They need to take care of business against a division rival and then they can hold their heads up high(er) after the conclusion of the regular season in any case.
Geno Smith shouldn’t factor into decision to draft a QB
This was one of Geno Smith’s better starts of the season and certainly an improvement over the previous three. Geno finished 18/29 for 183 yards with two touchdowns and he had 18 yards on five carries, but he could have had better numbers with a little more help. Tyler Lockett entered the game with a finger injury and missed part of the contest with a leg injury, finishing with two catches for 15 yards; DK Metcalf only had one three-yard catch on five targets; DeeJay Dallas’s 41-yard shovel pass reception was more receiving yards than any of his teammates had total!
It was not a great game by Geno, it was also not a game that makes you panic if Geno is starting for the Seahawks next season. And the idea of Geno starting for the Seahawks next season should not make you panic…but whether you do or don’t worry about Geno’s potential 2023 return to Seattle should not factor into whether or not the Seahawks can draft a quarterback this year.
The concepts of keeping Geno Smith and drafting a first round quarterback should be mutually exclusive.
Sunday was a continuation of Geno being a perfectly capable starting quarterback but not one who will ever be on the upper echelon of those who consistently elevate their teams into being playoff teams. Case in point, the Green Bay Packers control their fate in the playoff race and the Seahawks do not. The Packers did not draft Aaron Rodgers at a time when they “needed” a franchise quarterback.
Seattle may have a gift with their extra first and second round picks and I’m comfortable with any outcome: Drafting a QB, not drafting a QB…It’s good to have a quarterback who doesn’t make fans panic at the position, but the Seahawks must remain open to quarterbacks who might make their opponents panic in the future.
Seahawks probably without Jordyn Brooks now
Jordyn Brooks had a bad looking knee injury and Seattle had to give extra reps to Tanner Muse. It seemed that this was one of the better games of the season for Cody Barton, a 2023 free agent.
When you see a box score with Muse, Johnathan Abram, Teez Tabor, Myles Adams, it’s a reminder that the Seahawks are down a few names on defense at this point in the season. And that Seattle will be looking for a few new starters in 2023.
A significant knee injury for Brooks at this point in the year means a lot. It means that the Seahawks have to be prepared for having a different starting inside linebacker in Week 1 of next season. It means reconsidering the fifth-year option for Brooks, which is a decision they have to make in the coming months. It means considering drafting a linebacker at his position in the first or second round; which is different than saying that Brooks is out of a job in the future, because Seattle could use help all over the defense.
In the right now, it appears that the Seahawks will be starting Tanner Muse in their season finale and if they get anymore games after that.
Mike White is not a good quarterback
However you think the Seahawks defense played on Sunday—six points allowed, 4-of-13 on third down, 0-of-2 on fourth down, 279 total yards allowed, 4.1 yards per pass allowed—the grade has to come with the context that Mike White is horrible.
White has played in eight games in his career and he’s thrown multiple interceptions in five of those, including Week 17 against the Seahawks. White went 23-of-46 for 240 yards, two interceptions, and was sacked four times for 36 yards loss. Darrell Taylor had 2.5 sacks, Quinton Jefferson had 1.5 sacks, and Seattle combined for 10 QB hits and a forced fumble.
Taylor now has 8.5 sacks with one game to go. Jefferson now has 5.5 sacks, a career-high.
Bringing back Uchenna Nwosu, Taylor, Jefferson, and Boye Mafe in 2023 is an interesting start to Seattle’s front-seven edge unit. Adding a first round pick to that group is another wrinkle that could push the Seahawks into being a good pass rushing unit again.
I want to pair Kenneth Walker with another starting RB
I had a 70-yard run by Walker on my Vision Board this week and he immediately had a 60-yard run. So close!
Walker finished with 23 carries for 133 yards, his second-straight game over 100 yards. He now had 936 yards going into the season finale, 64 yards shy of a 1,000-yard rookie campaign and he missed two games.
But I would still love to see the Seahawks either re-sign Rashaad Penny, bring in a big name like Josh Jacobs, or draft a running back on day two. It’s a lot of pressure on Walker to put the team on his back and it’s better for everybody to continue to use him in tandem like the Browns do with Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt.
The game stats were surprisingly close with two exceptions. We turned them over three times and we had the ball for seven more minutes (although we only ran four more plays).
We had a running game and equal time of possession then voila!, Geno is a good QB again. Imagine how much better he can be with starting caliber tackles. Cross is okay for a rookie and Forsythe got beaten like a drum. None of our four tackles is currently starting caliber. Unless Bryce Young falls (he's going first overall) we should not use our first pick for a QB and we shouldn't pick a QB just to say we did.
Were we better without Jordyn Brooks or did Muse/Barton simply benefit from a team playing from behind with a bad QB? This would have been a far different game if the Jets had fielded a competent QB; not great, but at least average.
How does DeeJay prove he's a worthy complement to K9? I thought he looked really good today; certainly good enough to let Homer walk. Igwebuike also looked good in his short stint. That doesn't mean we shouldn't draft a RB on day 3.
Has Taylor cemented his status as a situational pass rusher or can he learn to play the run?
DK needs to grow up and take responsibility for being a $72 million receiver. He was terrible today.
Whatever the front office chooses to focus on this off-season as a priority, I think we need to keep ourselves as much as possible of judging from hindsight. Whether we go QB or D-line or even WR we need talent everywhere. It'll be exciting to try to predict where they go.