The Seahawks have to get the ball to David Moore

The Seahawks exposed major problems in a bad home loss to the Saints. While those have to be fixed, a smaller issue is getting the ball to David Moore.

The Seahawks played very badly Sunday. If you want in-depth postmortems, you can read Lee Vowell’s grades here, Geoff Shull’s observations here, or my own rant here. I’m quite sure we’ve addressed the major issues in these pieces, although there were so many problems, it’s entirely possible we missed a few. One in particular that bothered me is the use of David Moore.

To be accurate, I should say the lack of use. In week one, Tyler Lockett was targeted a whopping total of two times. Odd for an alleged number one receiver. Russell Wilson and Brian Schottenheimer fixed this issue quickly, as Lockett was targeted 12 and 14 times in the following weeks. Lockett set consecutive personal records in both of those games. Good job, guys!

Except…there are still serious problems in the target selection. Lockett with 26 targets in two games, that’s a good thing. DK Metcalf with 19 in his first three games is also a good thing. Although as the season goes on, Seattle will have to keep on eye on his catch rate. Will Dissly is picking up right where he left off last season, with 14 targets (and 12 catches) in three games. No issues there.

But how did David Moore get just two targets Sunday, and Malik Turner get three? Granted, it isn’t as bad as nearly forgetting Lockett in the season opener. But for weeks we’ve heard about how important it was to get Moore back on the field. Wilson hit Moore with a beautiful 29-yard strike on their second drive, then only looked his way one other time. Jaron Brown was targeted six times. I like Brown, especially in the red zone, but he doesn’t have the ability of Moore to break a  game open. Brown has averaged 11.5 yards per catch in Seattle, while Moore’s average catch goes for 17.6 yards. That is a huge difference.

I expected Moore to stretch the field, and he did his part. The Seahawks have to follow through on theirs. It could well be that Moore’s injury was still bothering him. Or perhaps the Seahawks used him sparingly to let him shake off the rust. That 29-yard catch looked just fine to me, though. Regardless, Moore got just 20 snaps in his return while Brown was on the field for 62 snaps.

Whatever the reason, the Seahawks have to get Moore on the field more often and use him far more often as well. Even as far behind as the Hawks were Sunday, Moore could have made the difference if he’d been targeted a few more times. Lockett, Metcalf, and Moore could absolutely stretch the field as far as you’d like.