Seahawks defeat Bengals in what felt like a loss

The Seahawks began the 2019 season with a win over the Bengals. But in a lot of ways the game did not feel like a victory.

The Seahawks beat the Bengals on Sunday in week one of the 2019 season. Trust me. I mean, don’t look at the statistics or anything because you will think I am lying if you didn’t watch the game. But a win is a win in the NFL and you move on to the next game. Seattle won 21-20.

This is how disjointed this win was. Tyler Lockett is expected to be the number one receiver for Seattle this year and he got two targets all game. One he caught for a 44 yard touchdown. The second was a perfect throw by Russell Wilson down the seam and Lockett unceremoniously dropped the ball. The drop came in the fourth quarter and could have set up Seattle to close out the game more easily.

D.K. Metcalf on the other hand is supposed to be a promising rookie who will take time to develop. But if Metcalf isn’t on the Seahawks roster in 2019 Seattle doesn’t beat the Bengals. He wasn’t perfect as he drew an offensive pass interference penalty on a third down. But he also had two important receptions and was physical. Overall, he had six targets and caught four of them for 89 yards.

Seattle didn’t have Ziggy Ansah who missed the game still recovering from injury. Recently acquired Jadeveon Clowney was good. But the best player on Seattle’s defensive lime was Quinton Jefferson who had two sacks, six tackles and two batted balls. And Rasheem Green was active as well and had a sack at the end of the game that forced Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton to fumble. The fumble was recovered by Seattle and basically ended the game.

Seattle did allow Dalton to have the game of his life, though. He threw for a career high in yards and completions. And this was without his best receiver, A.J. Green. John Ross could not be covered by Seattle’s secondary and that is worrisome. Ross had 158 yards receiving and two touchdowns.

Does anybody have any idea what Pete Carroll was doing with clock management at the end of the game? He called a timeout on third down with a little over a minute left instead of letting the clock run. Then Seattle was so confused when they came back on the field they then called another timeout. Awful.

Overall, the Seahawks did not impress. This certainly did not look like a team that can even sniff the playoffs. Of course, Seattle seasons tend to evolve in their own weird way. By week 17 Seattle probably will look completely different. I can’t wait for that. Watching Seattle get outgained 429 to 233 in total yards will make me look forward quickly and not dwell on the recent past.