Seahawks vs Titans: overachiever and underachiever of the game

The Seahawks have no shortage of candidates for underachievers in their loss vs the Titans. Happily, there was definitely an overachiever. Sometimes you have to get through the bad stuff to get to the best.

Hey there, 12s. I don’t know if you heard yet, but the Seahawks didn’t exactly play a complete game in their home opener. For a team that is noted for fourth-quarter heroics, this game was a real head-scratcher. In fact, I’m pretty sure my scalp is still bleeding. There’s certainly no shortage of blame to go around for the loss. I won’t dwell on those players for long, though. I’d rather focus on the one member of the Seahawks who did all he could to bring the 12s a win.

Okay, first the distasteful task of naming the underachiever of the game. As I said in the opening, there is no shortage of candidates here. My dishonorable mentions have to begin with cornerback Tre Flowers. Yes, he was going against a future Hall of Famer in Julio Jones, but six catches on eight targets for 128 yards is still egregious. In case you think it’s just me, Pro Football Focus wasn’t very impressed, either, as you can see from their game grades, listed here from the Seahawks Wire on USAToday.

Overachiever and underachiever for the Seahawks in week 2 loss

Worse still was linebacker Jordyn Brooks. He dropped off from seven solo tackles against the Colts to three versus the Titans. Picking up an unnecessary roughness penalty that gave the Titans a first down at the Seahawks 14 wasn’t exactly the best move possible, either. Pete Carroll agreed, benching the second-year player on the next series. As the Seahawks head coach said on 710ESPN’s Pete Carroll Show:

"“The bench is a great ally for you as a coach when you have to use it and make a point,” Carroll said. “I thought that the one for Jordyn was so clearly out of bounds that that was one where I needed to make sure that we’re going to keep going and this needs to stop."

All that being said, the word underachiever indicates past achievement. Flowers has been competent, but not great. Brooks will be great but isn’t there yet. However, the Seahawks have a certain wide receiver who has been great and who could become the best in franchise history. So far in 2021, DK Metcalf has not been that player. And no, I’m not bitter because I took him instead of Tyler Lockett on my fantasy team. Not too bitter.

Metcalf was decent in Indianapolis, not great. There’s no doubt he underachieved in the Seahawks home opener. Against Indy, Metcalf was flagged for taunting. Yes, the NFL’s taunting rule is ridiculous. But the players were warned about the tight enforcement, and they saw it in the preseason. That isn’t the problem here.

The third-year standout was flagged three times versus the Titans. Two penalties were for offensive holding, with one of those declined for the worse infraction of offensive pass interference. So technically, the Seahawks were penalized just twice, but he screwed up three times.

The first holding call was declined, as the play left Seattle with third and 14. The Titans wisely declined to give Russell Wilson an extra play. The second penalty eventually didn’t matter either, as a few plays after Metcalf’s miscue, Freddie Swain took an unaccompanied stroll past the Titans defense with a 68-yard Russell Wilson bomb. So, no harm, no foul, right?

Totally wrong. The fact that the Seahawks were able to overcome that penalty doesn’t negate the poor play. Oh, did I mention that Metcalf only caught six of his 11 targets, the longest for just 16 yards? Freddie freaking Swain caught all five of his targets. Yes, I know DK was drawing double coverage for virtually the entire game. He’s 6’4″, weighs 235 pounds, and runs a 4.33 40. He needs to get open and get his head in the game.

Now that I’ve raked a few of the Seahawks, it was just one game. I have absolute confidence that Flowers will get better, that Brooks will be great, and that Metcalf will explode for 36 fantasy points next week. I mean, he’ll be awesome for the Hawks. Let me talk a bit about the overachiever of the game so we can all leave happy.

As with underachievers, an overachiever has established a baseline performance level. Someone who’s already been great will have to really do something special to overachieve. You can see where I’m going with this, right 12s?

I think it’s safe to say that knocking down 20 tackles – that’s right, twenty – in an NFL game is one heck of an achievement. So of course, my overachiever just has to be linebacker Bobby Wagner. I’ll have a lot more to say about his stellar performance very soon, as he serves more than just a few brief comments.

So we had some underachievers and one phenomenal overachiever. As I said, I absolutely believe we’ll see much better games from the three players I mentioned. And as hard as it may be to believe, we’ll see even better games from B Wags. It doesn’t seem possible, I know, but the Seahawks leader tends to make the impossible plays routine.