Seahawks grades versus Chargers in unsettling loss

Defense

Defensive line

Except for Frank Clark and Jarran Reed, the Seahawks can get no real or consistent pressure on opposing quarterbacks. Reed and Clark each had another sack in the game. Both are having near-Pro Bowl caliber years. The rest of the line has not been good enough to make the playoffs. On Sunday, the line couldn’t stop the Chargers from running the ball. And yet Los Angeles didn’t score in the second half so how bad was the line really?

Grade: C+

Linebackers

I already mentioned that Wagner and Wright were excellent in coverage. After a hot start, Philip Rivers ended up completing only half his passes and threw for just 228 yards. The linebackers are the defensive core of this team and played well enough to win the game. And Bobby Wagner was in on 13 tackles.

Grade: B

Secondary

Again I want to go back to the fact that the Chargers offense did not score in the second half. Rivers completed just four passes. But he started off well and the secondary seemed a bit lost. Two easy scores of drives of 94 and 83 yards and a lot of it on cross patterns means the secondary wasn’t ready to play.

And though Bradley McDougald has been fantastic in 2018, he wasn’t really missed in the second half. And one could take this as a positive. Delano Hill hasn’t gotten a lot of reps in his young career and played pretty well in place of McDougald.

Grade: B-

The Seahawks may not have won on Sunday. But the fault lies with the offense and not with the defense.