Seahawks defensive grades vs. 49ers: Thank goodness for Bobby Wagner

The Seahawks defeated the 49ers on Sunday to move to 7-5. The offense was great. But the defense, not so much.

Seattle is exceeding expectations in 2018 so far. But the way the team is winning is beginning to flip a bit. Earlier in the season, the Seahawks defense was solid and kept Seattle in games when the offense was still learning their way. Now, the offense seems to set the tone.

And lately the secondary hasn’t been playing nearly as well as in the first few weeks of 2018. On Sunday, the 49ers passed for over 400 yards in a 43-16 loss to Seattle. This was without several decent but injured 49ers receivers.

Bobby Wagner was a complete freak against San Francisco, though. More on that in just a minute.

So how did the defense grade against San Francisco?

Defensive line

As opposed to the previous game against the Panthers, the Seahawks line was able to hit the opposing quarterback. 49ers quarterback Nick Mullens was hit by the Frank Clark and company 15 times.

Jarran Reed had a sack and six (six!) quarterback hits. If Reed doesn’t make the Pro Bowl in 2018 there is no justice in the world.

Grade: A-

Linebacker

So this Bobby Wagner guy is pretty good. My feeling is that he got a bit upset by being outplayed by Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly the week before. Wagner wrecked the 49ers offense in week 13.

Wagner had a 98-yard interception return for a touchdown – the longest in Seahawks history. Plus, he had a sack, forced a fumble and had 12 tackles. Wagner may have just proven again that he is the best linebacker in the NFL.

Grade: A

Secondary

And here was the issue with Seattle’s defense. Maybe a lot of the passing yards came in the second half when the game was no longer in doubt. (Actually, it was no longer in doubt midway through the second quarter.) But with all the receivers that San Francisco was missing, giving up 400 yards to that 49ers offense is not good.

Bradley McDougald played well. After that, the rest of the secondary missed a lot of tackles and made former-Washington Husky Dante Pettis look like Jerry Rice.

Grade: D