Key observations in Seahawks loss to Saints week three

The Seahawks lost week three in a disastrous fashion. Whether it be time management on coaching, ball security by the offense or tackling by the defense, it was a truly frustrating game to watch.

The Seahawks lost in ugly fashion to the Saints in week three. Here are some thoughts.

Seahawks Offense:

The Good:

• Russell Wilson yet again had another good game for the Seahawks. Wilson finished the game posting over 400 pass yards with 2 passing touchdowns and 2 rushing touchdowns. The first time with a rushing touchdown since the 2017 season. It was an impressive performance by the league’s highest paid player. My only critique would be ball placement, I continuously saw the ball placement to be low ceasing any forward progress/ run after the catch ability.
• Tyler Lockett for the second week in a row broke his record for most receptions in a game. Lockett ended the game with 11 receptions on 14 targets for 154 yards and 1 TD. It’s safe to say the number one WR spot is firmly cemented in for the star wide receiver.
• Will Dissly again reminds us just how special he may be. The big man has soft hands and can catch anything thrown his way. He ended the day with 6 catches for 62 yards and a TD. Dissly also successfully shut down Cameron Jordan on multiple plays where he was matched up again the star edge rusher 1v1. An impressive feat for any tight end in this league.

The Bad:

• Chris Carson for the third week in a row coughed up the football. While the Seahawks may not publicly announce it, I anticipate he will lose touches because of it. If Penny comes back healthy this week, I would expect a much heavier workload from the second year back. The staple of the Pete Carroll era is to win the turnover battle. With the Seahawks failing to get turnovers on defense and forming a trend of giving it up on offense, something has to give. This being said, I am a firm believer in Carson long term. In my opinion this is just head and he needs to get his head on right. In my opinion he is a top 10 back in this league if he can get over this turnover problem.
• Coach Carroll had a rough game. To start the day off, in pregame Cody Barton threw a pass and hit Carroll in the face, he ended up needing stitches. Carroll also struggled with time management, Russell threw a perfect deep ball to DK Metcalf with two second left on the clock. Carroll and the coaching staff failed to run down the ref and call a time out in time. Effectively leaving the ball at our opponents 12-yard line as the play clock expired for the half with nothing gained other than yardage.

Defense:

The Good:

• Bobby Wagner finished the game with 18 tackles, tied for second all time for the Seahawks behind Kam Chancellor at 19. Wagner was all over the field mainly trying to contain the Saints running back Alvin Kamara.
• KJ Wright was back to his 2015-2017 form registering 13 tackles and where he excelled in pass protection. He ended the day with only 1 pass defend however, he was matched up with Michael Thomas much of the first half and effectively shut him down.

The Bad:

• Defensive line recorded just 2 QB hits (both by Jefferson) on Teddy Bridgewater. This is a two parter: One, the Saints offensive line is one of the better in the league, and Two, Bridgewater got rid of the ball very quickly (2.44 seconds on average). Regardless, if we are planning on winning games the defensive line needs to generate more pressure and hits on the QB. We had a chance to sack Bridgewater for a safety early on and we missed multiple tackles allowing him to gain 10 yards on a 3rd and 13. The play may have died, but we missed a huge opportunity for a tone setting play.
• The entire team outside KJ Wright and Bobby Wagner need to go back to the drawing board and relearn how to tackle. Yes, Kamara is one of the most elusive backs in the NFL. However, he should not be able to bounce off 2-4 tackles just about every time he had the ball. It was disgusting to see an RB completely shred the entire team play after play.

https://twitter.com/thecheckdown/status/1175887678421647360

Special Teams:

https://twitter.com/thecheckdown/status/1175870393460019200

The Good:

• Cody Barton redeemed himself for hitting Coach Carroll in the face pregame by snagging a fumbled punt return. The play showed good awareness and body control for him to grab that ball as he was falling.

The Bad:

• The team took bad angles on tackling on multiple special teams plays. The worst of the plays resulted in a punt returned for a touchdown. We are supposed to have a much-improved special teams’ unit. For us to win, these errors simply cannot occur.