Seahawks Report Card

Another game, another loss. 3 in a row now. It’s getting tough to not just get completely frustrated with this team each week. I still believe that there’s plenty of talent on this team, but it’s just not showing at this point. Too much inexperience, and not enough coaching at this point to see results. Lets see what grades the Seahawks earned this week:

Tarvaris Jackson: D

Jackson was unmasked by Dallas on Sunday. He’s still a below average QB. He’s had a couple good games and had a bunch of people fooled into thinking he was legit, but he’s not. Even in his good games he still held onto the ball too long. He still had  inconsistent accuracy, and he still locked on to his primary receiver too often. Team just weren’t making him pay for it. This weekend, Dallas did.

Jackson is going to have games like this. He’s simply not good enough to avoid them for too long. (At least he’s not Whitehust)

Marshawn Lynch: B 

Had to argue with the results this week. Lynch went for 135 yards and had a 5.9 yard average. Seems I was critical of him at just the right time. Maybe he read my post about him not getting to the line fast enough and decided to do something about it. (ok, I know it’s not likely. Just give me my moment). i’m not sure Lynch can ever get an A though. He’s just not worthwhile in the passing game at all. he doesn’t block well, and isn’t a threat out trying to get open.

O-Line: B

This was the best, most complete performance by the offensive line all season. The run blocking was by far the best it’s been, and even the pass blocking help up against an aggressive 3-4 defense. Granted a lot of the lines success was because the Seahawks kept Zack Miller in to block on almost every down, but lets not split hairs. This is an improved unit, that has the talent to get pretty darn good with some experience.

On the other hand there were all those penalties… again…

Run Defense: D

After watching Murry run for 139 yards and a 6.3 yard average, you’re probably expecting an F grade. It’s actually a D, and that might be a bit low, because it really wasn’t a problem with the run defense. The coaches had both safeties committed to helping the corners in pass defense, even on running downs. Even the LBs were occasionally bailing out of run stopping duties in order to try and help corners. It’s clear that the injuries at CB are a bigger problem than most people think.

Pass Defense: D

The Seahawks sacrificed the run defense to try and help out in pass defense. It didn’t help much: Zero sacks, 279 pasing yards, and the Cowboys weren’t even really trying, as almost every play in the 2nd half was a running play. Did I mention the 9.0 yards per pass averag, or the fact that 3 different receivers had catches of over 30 yards? It could have been worse, but it was still really bad.

Special Teams: C

No big returns given up. That’s better, right? Not really. Still not a lot of success in the return game of their own. The Seahawks have good specialists, but the coverage and blocking units aren’t getting it done. And the penalties. Oh the penalties…

Coaching: D-

I’ll admit, this was originally an F grade just because the coaching can’t get a handle on all the penalties. Penalties are about attention to detail, and it starts from the top. There’s a reason why the Raiders are always last in the league in penalties, and the Patriots are always one of the best. It’s about the coaching. Holmgren would have benched people over it by now. Carroll needs to get this problem under control.

The reason why it’s not an F grade? Because the offensive coaches were smart enough to keep Zach Miller in to help pass block; because they finally found a way to get running game going; and because the defensive coaches didn’t put Sherman and Browner on a island on the outside. Keeping the safeties back hurt the run defense, but it was the right thing to do to help the corners.