Seahawks grades from tough loss to Rams in week 10

Special teams

Kicker

Sebastian Janikowski was perfect on all his kicks. He made his only field goal attempt and all three of his extra point tries. But he is a terrible onside kick guy. Seattle tried to sneak one in on Sunday and Janikowski might as well have just handed the ball to the Rams. When Seattle really needed to be successful with a kickoff near the end of the game, they let punter Michael Dickson have a go rather than Janikowski.

Grade: B

Punter

The Seahawks have a special punter in the person of Michael Dickson. Dickson averaged just 55 yards per punt because he kicked one for 40 yards that was downed on the Rams three-yard line. His first punt went 68 yards. In the air.

Grade: There isn’t a letter high enough that exists in human language

Returns

Seattle really wanted to get Lockett involved in kickoffs, but all but one of Rams kicker Greg Zuerlein‘s kicks went into the endzone. Lockett also was back to return punts and he did return one for 9 yards. He just didn’t have enough opportunities to make an impact.

Grade: Incomplete

Coaching

There honestly wasn’t much Seattle’s coaches could do against the Rams. Head coach Pete Carroll held on to all his timeouts and used them wisely at the end to force the Rams to punt the ball back to Seattle giving Seattle a chance to win.

Maybe risking an onside kick so early in the game was a poor decision, but if it had worked Carroll looks like a genius.

Offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer had his team well-prepared to play and called mostly a good game. Seattle’s offense did enough to win.

And defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. just doesn’t have the players yet to compete with the Rams.