Seahawks report card: Grades from week 2 loss to Titans

The Seahawks lost a game in week 2 that feels every bit as horrible as it was to watch it. The Titans should not have won but they did. Maybe Seattle lost it more than Tennessee won the game but Derrick Henry might disagree with that.

Either way, at halftime Seattle looked like it was on its way to a 2-0 start to 2021 and would keep pace with the rest of the NFC West. That didn’t happen and as things stand after week 2, the Seahawks are last in the division and the only team with a loss.

Funny how things can change so quickly. Week one was a good feeling as a 12 and week 2 seems like the end of the world.

Grades from Seahawks loss to Titans in week 2

Quarterback

Russell Wilson’s numbers weren’t bad but if someone watched the game with real eyes then Wilson seemed a bit off even from the beginning. He wasn’t putting receivers in the proper spots. Tyler Lockett had a deep catch early but if Wilson has led him it would have been a touchdown. Wilson’s numbers were inflated because of a 68-yard touchdown pass to Freddie Swain that even I could have caught and a 63-yard touchdown pass to Lockett where Lockett did a lot of the work.

Grade: C

Running backs

This grade is more about the use of the running backs than the backs themselves. Chris Carson ran hard but had to generate yards on his own but then had no targets receiving. Alex Collins ran once for 25 yards and then never got the ball again. What? What the backs didn’t do is more to blame on Wilson or the offensive play calling or the offensive line.

Grade: B-

Receivers/Tight ends

Tyler Lockett gets an A+ and Freddie Swain gets an A.

Then there is everyone else. D.K. Metcalf isn’t a bad guy but those penalties that were called against defensive backs after the play against him last year are getting called on Metcalf this year. Metcalf had three penalties called on him in week 2, one was accepted. But he seemed more fixated on causing mischief than being productive.

Shane Waldron simply forgot about the tight ends and that is unacceptable.

Grade: C

Offensive line

The rushing attack for Seattle averaged 4.3 yards a carry. Sounds good, right? But take away the one Alex Collins run of 25 yards and that drops to 3.06 yards per carry against a Titans defense that was bad in week one. Russell Wilson had a couple of bigs throws but if you take away the two long touchdown passes, Seattle’s yards per play overall drops from 7.6 to 5.3. That’s not good.

Grade: D

Defensive line

Pro Football Focus had Al Woods and Poona Ford graded at 80.5 or higher in week 2. If you completely trust PFF, those numbers should let you know you should not truly trust PFF. Titans running back Derrick Henry ran at will against Seattle in the second half. Maybe you can blame that on lack of containment but the middle of the line wasn’t that good either.

Seattle had 4 sacks, 3 from the defensive line but when the drives mattered in the second half, Seattle didn’t get enough pressure.

Grade: C-

Linebackers

Bobby Wagner was in on 20 tackles, had 2 quarterback hits, a sack and a tackle for loss. Wagner is the only sure first-ballot Hall of Famer on the Seahawks. Wagner gets an A+.

Jordyn Brooks was a disappointment with 3 solo tackles and had a personal foul penalty and Darrell Taylor was in on one. Besides Wagner, the linebacker group gets an F.

Grade: C

Secondary

Tre Flowers was picked on early and got lucky that A.J. Brown and Julio Jones both had some drops. Flowers reverted back to his old ways of laying back and letting completions happen in front of him. The problem was when Tennessee threw downfield, their receivers were more physical than Flowers and Flowers’ physicality is basically his only good attribute.

D.J. Reed was just meh. Jamal Adams hasn’t had a tackle for loss or a sack all year and Quandre Diggs got outsprinted by Henry on a 60-yard touchdown run. If you were the hockey coach on Letterkenny, I know what your response would be.

Grade: D+

Special teams

Michael Dickson punted long but too far and was not downing balls inside the 10 so he seemed just a bit off. Jason Myers missed an extra point that ended up being huge at the end of the game.

Grade: D