Gameday Grades: Seahawks versus Vikings

Seahawks offensive grades

Offensive Line: (C)

 A healthy dose of concern is certainly warranted given the current status of the offensive line. I wasn’t thrilled with the line’s play overall. The push in the running game seemed to be lacking at points, and the pass protection was downright scary.

Germain Ifedi continues to struggle and I’m beginning to wonder if he is a starter in this league. I believe he can be good, but right now it appears his confidence is severely shaken. Let’s hope the second year player can get it turned around real soon. To be honest, I might have given the line a lower grade had it not been the second preseason game. They simply were not good enough against Minnesota.

Of course there is the eleFant in the room with the news that starting left tackle, George Fant will miss the season with a torn ACL. This is a big blow to the Seahawks offensive line which was already the biggest question mark heading into the season. Losing Fant is a bummer, not only because his role is as important as any, but because of the journey he has had to get to this point. Converted basketball players don’t usually morph into starting NFL tackles in a matter of two years. I’m rooting for Fant to come back in a big way next season.

QBs: (B) 

This grade is mostly thanks to Russell Wilson, who by himself would’ve earned an “A”. 13 completions on 18 attempts and two touchdowns has me very excited about where Wilson is at early in 2017.

Trevone Boykin was okay, but he didn’t make any big time plays throwing the ball. I really liked what I saw from Boykin last week, but he needs to show more consistency.

Austin Davis played sparingly and completed just two passes.

Running Backs: (B-) 

This group needs to be better. I understand that Thomas Rawls and C.J. Prosise were out, but given their track record of availability that might often be the case throughout the season. The main person I’d like to see step up is Eddie Lacy. He’s running hard but I think there’s more out there for him. I was disappointed with how early he was cut down on a few of his carries. As I mentioned, we don’t know what the availability of Rawls and Prosise will be in 2017 because those guys have missed a lot of time in the past. Lacy needs to have the mentality that this is his job and start running through tackles at a higher frequency. Lacy wasn’t bad, but I want to see more.

Mike Davis and Chris Carson were the most efficient runners against the Vikings and continue to make cases for themselves. I think Carson is a lock to make the Seahawks roster at this point.

Another quick note I’ll add about the running backs is the play of Alex Collins. He had some nice runs, but most of that was negated because of his lost fumble. Collins has flashes, but is far too inconsistent at times and is in real danger of not making the final roster. I like Collins and want to see him succeed, but he is not playing like the back we saw at Arkansas just a couple of years ago.

Tight Ends/Receivers: (A-)

I liked what I saw from this crew. Doug Baldwin was electric and had Minnesota’s DBs tripping on their own feet. Baldwin is in midseason form and it’s beautiful. The guy gets better every year and he is already one of the top receivers in football.

Kasen Williams continues to catch everything in his zip code and is going to make the Seahawks roster without a doubt. On top of that I believe Williams will be starting by midseason, if not before. Williams has absolutely shown he is capable of using his larger frame to go up and get contested balls. He reminds me of Chris Matthews a few years back. Matthews wasn’t able to stick, but I think Kasen can.  Jermaine Kearse could find himself benched in favor of a fellow UW grad if Williams continues to make plays.