Seahawks vs. Cardinals: Special teams and coaching grades

The Seahawks won on Sunday in a game where Seattle needed a last-second field goal to win in. But missed field goals put them in that position.

The Seahawks won a football game on Sunday, though in many ways it felt like a loss. Seattle was in control of the game until the fourth quarter. But two missed field goals early made it where Seattle could never comfortably put the game away.

Plus, the offensive play-calling, though run heavy, was inconsistent. If Seattle had a made a few changes, they could have controlled the clock longer and possibly simply allowed the Seahawks to run out the clock.

Here are the grades for the special teams and coaching from Sunday’s win over Arizona.

Special teams

Punter

Michael Dickson has been great. But he hasn’t been the best punter of all-time. I think this is what at least half of the 12s believed would be the case in 2018. Since week one, Dickson has been in the bottom half of the league in net punting. On Sunday he was a bit better with a net average of 42.5 yards per punt. This was his best net yardage in three weeks.

Grade: B

Kicker

Well, this is the weird part, right? Sebastian Janikowski missed two early field goals and then made two later ones. This included the game winner. Which was a weird kick simply because the Cardinals, who had three timeouts left, didn’t try to make Janikowski think about it.

But Janikowski proved, even with the early misses, he is much better than Blair Walsh. Walsh had mental issues. Janikowski does not.

Grade: B (Because he won the game on a 52-yard kick)

Returns

Rashaad Penny got to return kicks for the first time in his professional career as the main guy. He didn’t do a whole lot on three returns. He averaged 21.7 yards-per-return with a long of 21.

Tyler Lockett had an average day returning punts. His long was 19 but even that wasn’t too exciting.

Grade: C

Coaching

The Seahawks defense has been solid. Ken Norton Jr. has done a good job this year. No matter what happens Sunday against the Rams, Norton has gotten what he can out of a mostly banged-up defense in 2018.

Brian Schottenheimer calls a lot of run plays but then has Russell Wilson drop back and pass on third-and-short when a first down could have put the game away for Seattle in the fourth quarter. Schottenheimer has never been a good play-caller. That has failed Seattle this season.

Grade: C