Seahawks offensive and defensive grades from week four victory

The Seattle Seahawks improve to 4-0 on the year after defeating the Miami Dolphins on the road.

The Seattle Seahawks once again went to the east coast and picked up a victory over the Miami Dolphins, 31-23. Although it was not pretty, they got the job done and most importantly, the secondary had their best game.

Here, we grade the overall performance of the team en route to their 4-0 start.

Offense

Russell Wilson finally showed us he was human yesterday by throwing an interception that was his fault. For that, he gets an A instead of an A++. Regardless, Wilson played a great game and many will find it disappointing that he did not throw for 5 more touchdowns, but he did tie Peyton Manning for most touchdowns (16) thrown in the first four games of the season.

Wilson completed 24 of 34 for 360 yards, threw for 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. The most impressive throw of the day was right before half where Wilson, rolling out of the pocket, hit WR David Moore, on a beautiful pass that later set up the touchdown pass to HB Travis Homer, to put the Hawks up 17-9, right before half. The most impressive drive of the game occurred after the Dolphins scored to cut the lead to, 17-15. Russell Wilson lost communication with offensive coordinator, Brian Schottenheimer. Calling the plays himself, Wilson led a 6 play, 75-yard drive capped out by a touchdown pass to David Moore.

The Seattle Seahawks nearly rushed for 100 yards in three straight games. They tallied up 98 rushing yards in the win over the Dolphins, but received an A grade because they were short-handed in doing so. Although our lead back, Chris Carson, was available, he was injured during the game. We saw rookie DeeJay Dallas, make his debut yesterday who rushed 2 times for 8 yards. Travis Homer also scored a touchdown out of the backfield as a wideout right before the end of the half.

Chris Carson took a beating. He was once again injured during the game but continued to play and he did so at a high level. On the day, Carson rushed 16 times for 80 yards and recorded two touchdowns. He scored the first and last touchdown of the game for the Seattle Seahawks. Granted, the Dolphins are one of the worst rush defenses in the league, the Seahawks were able to establish the run and turn to the run late in the game. Overall nice performance by our half backs.

After coming off a monstrous game against the Dallas Cowboys, WR Tyler Lockett, was quiet in the win versus the Dolphins. Lockett was targeted 4 times, in which he caught 2 passes for 39 yards. But, his teammates were able to pick up his slack and overall, have a nice game through the air. WR DK Metcalf, led the way with 4 catches for 106 yards. TE Greg Olsen also got involved, recording 5 catches for 35 yards. Olsen had many crucial catches on 3rd down showing why the Seahawks brought in the veteran.

The star of the wide receiver group was David Moore. Moore had 3 catches for 95 yards and 1 touchdown. He made a big play right before the half, breaking free up the sideline later setting up a touchdown. He also capped off the Russell Wilson led drive with a touchdown in the back of the end zone to increase their lead to, 24-15. The rookie out of Florida, Freddie Swain, was once again used as a weapon in the jet motion showing off his speed.

The Seattle Seahawks offensive line has been better than expected. Coming into the year, they were one of the many issues that the team tried to fix in the offseason. Thus far, they have done a good job in both the pass and run game. Numerous times, Wilson has had plenty of time in the pocket to make a play down the field or extend it with his feet. Yesterday, was no different. The offensive line once again held its own and earned an A grade.

Wilson was sacked twice and also hit four different times. What impressed me the most was the fact that they did not receive any false starts and/or holding penalties. In the first couple weeks of the season, rookie G Damien Lewis struggled with false starts. In fact, it was something I mentioned week after week while grading the performances. Yesterday, the offensive line played a clean good game in both protecting Wilson and allowing Carson to rush for 80 yards.

Defense

The Seahawks defensive line showed some potential in last week’s game towards the end applying pressure on Dak Prescott. In yesterday’s game, they allowed Ryan Fitzpatrick to escape from the pocket on multiple occasions. Fitzpatrick led the team in rushing yards, carrying the rock 6 times for 47 yards and 1 touchdown. The run defense, which is the second-best in the league was stellar.

But, it was the amount of time that Fitz had in the pocket that allowed him to escape and run for first down yardage. While the Seahawks did reel in 1 sack and 6 hits on the quarterback, there wasn’t enough pressure to earn them a grade of a B+ or higher. Rookie Alton Robinson was quiet in this game after a nice debut, but I still expect big things from him next week. They need to get more pressure on the quarterback as the season goes on.

Outside of the slants and hitch routes, there were effective against the cover 3 defense, the Seattle linebackers played fantastic yesterday. It is such a luxury to have both Bobby Wagner and KJ Wright side by side. Wagner had 10 tackles yesterday and he played a big part in stopping the run. Miami’s lead back, Myles Gaskin had 10 carries for 40 yards. The Seahawks are the second-best rush defense and Bobby Wagner deserves most of that credit.

His running mate, KJ Wright, should have had two interceptions yesterday. Of course, he dropped both, but he is a linebacker for a reason. He was excellent in coverage and against the run. He had his best of the game of the season. Most importantly, the Seahawks contained Dolphins TE Mike Gesicki. He is a weapon for that Miami offense and yesterday, he was held to just 1 catch for 15 yards.

Yesterday, the Seattle Seahawks were missing Jamal Adams, Quinton Dunbar and Lano Hill. Throughout the week, the Seattle secondary was getting bashed for their poor play on the year and that they need to improve if they want to win the Super Bowl. Well, they answered the bell yesterday and this kid, Ryan Neal is starting to earn his stripes with this defense. In back to back weeks, he has had interceptions and he seems to be all over the field.

CB Shaquill Griffin also had an interception yesterday, making it back to back weeks for him as well. While the Dolphins passed for over 300 yards, this Seattle secondary stepped up yesterday and continually held them to 3 points. The classic slogan of “bend, but don’t break” was in full effect yesterday. Loved the effort and intensity I saw from the Seattle secondary, especially with all the injuries they been dealing with. Shaq Griffin gave a nice fiery speech to the DB’s before the game that got them all fired up and ready to prove the doubters wrong.

All stats provided by the NFL Gameday.