The Seattle Seahawks entered Thursday night at 3-2 and attempting to recover from a loss to the San Francisco 49ers just four days ago. A loss marred by turnovers, just as was the case against the Washington Moons in Week 3. The Seahawks had something to prove against the Denver Broncos on Thursday, one way or the other, and prove it they did.
This team has too many flaws on offense that lead to turnovers, and Seattle can’t win games when they give the ball away multiple times.
The Seahawks lost to the Broncos in overtime 17-14.
Sam Darnold threw two interceptions and Rashid Shaheed fumbled for the third time this season.
This is typical, but atypical Seahawks football
Yes, there were a lot of things that felt “normal” about the Seahawks on Thursday night, and some of those things are actually good, but fans should avoid treating this one night as a microcosm of the entire season despite the three turnovers.
It’s atypical for Jason Myers to miss a field goal from inside of 50 yards
Grey Zabel had the worst game of his career (minimum of three quick pressures allowed* was a career-high)
Seattle’s defense had two bad drives in the first half but was otherwise perfect—both touchdown drives by Denver necessitated incidental penalties and/or fourth down conversions
Michael Dickson had one pretty bad punt in the first half, if I recall
*this is a stat I heard midgame, so it could be even more
For the third time this season the Seahawks lost a game that they deserved to lose but still should have won. This is no less than the mark of an underachieving team, not the mark of a bad team.
I’m not necessarily confident that Seattle will beat the Chiefs next week because Kansas City is a difficult team to beat. However, the Seahawks still have an elite defense and it has obviously kept the team competitive despite so many hair pulling turnovers by the offense.
Sam Darnold shouldn’t be benched
If you think Drew Lock would have thrived under Thursday’s conditions, we just have a fundamental disagreement about what went wrong. I won’t spend a lot of time defending Darnold because he’s not blameless, but nobody should think that the Seahawks have ONE problem on offense.
It’s the opposite actually:
Jaxon Smith-Njigba may be Seattle’s only strength. As in literally the only one.
Abraham Lucas, Zabel, and the right guards are all having bad seasons
There might not be a single starting quality receiver on the offense other than JSN
Sam Darnold’s scramble hit 17.8 MPH, which is faster than Emanuel Wilson’s fastest run of the night
The running backs and Shaheed have combined for NINE fumbles in six games
I don’t what to do about A.J. Barner and he’s still by far the best tight end on the roster
This offense is essentially carried by JSN, Charles Cross, and Jalen Sundell. Brian Fleury’s career is off to a bad start, but again, if you’re under the impression that play calling is the only issue at hand then I think we need to have a long discussion about how scheme and decisions are responsible for offensive linemen blocking each other, constant duress for Darnold, receivers running bad/wrong routes, fumbling the ball, and virtually every skill player being a below-average NFL athlete save a few.
If Fleury told Darnold to throw those two picks at the end of the game, then there’s something to discuss. But I can’t fathom that Jake Peetz is better equipped to handle the offense next week or next month.
A midseason change at offensive coordinator would be fascinating given the fact that the head coach is not an offensive coordinator, nor is Leslie Frazier, so I don’t know where Seattle is meant to pivot to there. I guess Justin Outten would be the only option because he’s the only one who has experience…with the Denver Broncos…in Russell Wilson’s first season in 2022.
I’d say Fleury’s got a long leash.
Changes will happen
That being said, change feels necessary at this point. The Seahawks could get Zach Charbonnet back in Week 7. There hasn’t been much talk about Anthony Bradford lately, but perhaps he will return in the near future.
Shaheed made a few good plays this week, but is a questionable starter as a receiver, especially given how limited Cooper Kupp is at this stage in his career.
A trade is possible and the season has a lot of games left to recover, but the NFC West title is nearly out of reach. If the 49ers get to 6-0, that puts Seattle three games back with a loss in the head-to-head battle. Things looked pretty dire last season too. However, the Seahawks need to be near-perfect or perfect for the rest of the year.
In the last few games, they’ve been far from perfect.
I'm not opposed to benching Sam Darnold in the future this season sometime. I think the pivot point would be the Cardinals game in 3 weeks. If he deserves it during or after the Cardinals game, then fine. I just don't see Drew Lock acing the test under the conditions behind this OL and with zero run game and one good receiver.
Without making excuses for Darnold, his ass made a lot of pinpoint throws tonight because he's got a gun. I don't think Lock has the same intermediate velocity, but idk, that could be a misread. Lock is more of a flutter passer in the 10-20 range with a nice 25-yard ball. I don't think his arm is nearly as good as Darnold's.
I'll give you one. This is not a Drew Lock throw:
https://x.com/NFL/status/2110930278436708646?s=20
I feel like I've seen enough Drew Lock at this point to know he ain't ever making this pass/completion .