Seahawks grades from Wild Card game loss to Cowboys

The Seahawks lost to the Cowboys on Saturday in their Wild Card playoff game. Here are the grades for Seattle.

The Seahawks could have won on Saturday. They didn’t. The game wasn’t a blowout and Seattle’s offense was held back by way too conservative play-calling but Dallas earned the win. That Seattle made the playoffs this year was great. But the way the season ended was disappointing. Here are the grades for the Seahawks in their loss to Dallas.

Offense

Quarterback – Russell Wilson

Wilson wasn’t asked to do enough. Seattle’s quarterback threw 27 times but the way the Cowboys were scheming on defense, Wilson should have thrown 35 times and done so earlier in drives. Wilson made some great throws late in the game to Tyler Lockett and Doug Baldwin and had Brian Schottenheimer called a better game, Seattle would have won.

Grade: B

Running backs

Chris Carson did what he could do. With Dallas loading up against the run and Schottenheimer never adjusting, Carson was forever limited in what he could do. Rashaad Penny provided a spark on one run but that was it. Seattle ran for just 73 yards on 24 carries and most of them were obvious plays.

Grade: C

Wide receivers/tight ends

It’s too bad the season ended early in the playoffs because we did not get to see more Lockett. Lockett, even more than Baldwin, was the best receiver Seattle had this season. Baldwin is a possession receiver at this point and Lockett is more versatile. Lockett had another great game with 120 yards on four catches and put Seattle in a position to get them close at the end of the game.

Grade: B

Offensive line

The line gave up one sack. Time and again they were simply outnumbered on Seattle’s run plays. Plus, J.R. Sweezy and D.J. Fluker were both not 100%. This isn’t an excuse. The line simply wasn’t helped by the play-calling. Seattle’s line will be even better next season, so that is a plus.

Grade: C

Defense

Defensive line

The line followed the same script as almost every other Seahawks game: Frank Clark and Jarran Reed were good and applied pressure and no one else did. Seattle had four quarterback hits on Dak Prescott. All of them were from Reed and Clark. If Seattle improves on defense in 2019 it will be due to the fact they found Reed and Clark some help.

Grade: B

Linebackers

K.J. Wright played a game that proved Seattle needs to re-sign him this offseason. He made a great play on an interception in the Cowboys endzone. But he also had a costly pass interference on the drive that sealed the game for Dallas.

Bobby Wagner was great as always even though he only was in on five tackles.

Grade: B+

Secondary

The secondary wasn’t terrible but they needed to be great. Amari Cooper of the Cowboys had over 100 yards receiving and Prescott completed 66% of his passes. For Seattle to get back to their dominant defenses of earlier this decade, the secondary needs to become LOB 2.0. They are far from that right now. Justin Coleman had a bad pass interference penalty and Tre Flowers and Shaquill Griffin simply did not put fear in the Cowboys throwing the ball.

Grade: C

Special teams

Michael Dickson had an average of 51.4 yards per punt but continued a recent trend of out-kicking his coverage. This needs to stop. Kicker Sebastian Janikowski pulled a thigh muscle on a long field goal attempt before halftime and couldn’t kick in the second half. Due to age and efficiency in 2018, Janikowski needs to be a one year rental with the Seahawks.

At least Lockett has a 52-yard kickoff return.

Grade: B-

Coaching

Brian Schottenheimer called a terrible game. He only adjusted to what the Cowboys were doing on defense on Seattle’s last drive. Time and again, Schottenheimer called run plays when he could have done play action or screens or anything else. Schottenheimer’s game plan alone could be blamed for Seattle’s loss.

Ken Norton Jr. got his players prepared enough on defense to win a playoff game but untimely penalties kept the last Dallas drive alive and doomed the Seahawks.

Pete Carroll will be the coach in Seattle for the next several seasons and deserves to be. Seattle may have lost a playoff game in a year they were not expected to get to the postseason and Carroll will have them better next year. There are good things to come for this Seahawks team.

Grade: C (Schottenheimer gets an F though)