Seahawks report card: Grades from a nice victory in week 8 over Jaguars

The Seahawks defeated the Jaguars in week 8 to move to 3-5 on the 2021 season. The Jaguars proved once again they are a terrible team but Seattle didn’t play down to the competition and that was good to see as Seattle has had a habit of doing that over the last 10 years.

Seattle now has a bye week and could get Russell Wilson back after that to hopefully jumpstart the season and maybe Seattle can make a run at the postseason. The NFC is a very top-heavy conference and there is an extra game this year so the Seahawks still have 9 games left to play.

So how did Seattle grade in its week 8 victory? Here is the way I saw it.

Grades from the Seahawks defeat of the Jaguars

Quarterback

Geno Smith was extremely accurate overall and started with 14 straight completions, the most of any quarterback so far in 2021, and not all of those were dump-offs. Smith was put the ball exactly where it needed to be on his first touchdown pass to DK Metcalf and hit Tyler Lockett downfield several times. Jacksonville’s pass defense is terrible but Smith still played as well as any other QB this year against the Jags as he went 20 for 24 for the game and also scored once running the ball.

Grade: A

Running back

Seattle didn’t do much running the ball and try to force the ball in within Jacksonville’s 3 yard-line and would have been stuffed except for a leap on fourth down by Geno. The Seahawks averaged just 2.8 yards a carry on 25 rushes and the backs caught just one pass.

Grade: C

Receivers/tight ends

I would still like to see the tight ends get much more involved as once again Will Dissly did not get targeted and Gerald Everett had 2. But this was a DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett day where the two star receivers combined for 18 catches on 19 targets for 2 touchdowns and 186 yards. Hard to argue with that.

Grade: A

Offensive line

To be fair to the run-blocking, one thing Jacksonville is defensively decent with it with stopping the run. The Jaguars rank among the best in the league in yards-allowed-per-rush. Geno Smith got sacked three times but one was when he held the ball a bit too long. The communication seemed better with Ethan Pocic at center, though.

Grade: B-

Defensive line

While Carlos Dunlap didn’t get a sack on Sunday, he still played his best game of the season. He was active in hurries, batted two balls down and had a quarterback hit. If he is good, that makes the line so much better. Darrell Taylor had two more quarterback hits as did Kerry Hyder, Jr. The interior of the Seattle line with Al Woods and Poona Ford and others was fairly stout against the run.

Grade: B

Linebackers

Bobby Wagner and Jordyn Brooks were in on a combined 22 tackles. Brooks is playing better each week and seems to be more and more comfortable as a starter. This has helped the entire defense be much better in the last three games. The test will come in week 10 versus Green Bay.

Grade: A

Secondary

Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence threw for 238 yards and needed 54 pass attempts (4.1 yards per pass attempt) to get there. Quandre Diggs was once again terrific and has been by far Seattle’s most productive and consistent secondary player this season. Ryan Neal had a sack and two quarterback hits and Jamal Adams was in on 10 tackles. And Sidney Jones had his best game as a Seahawk with 2 passes defended.

Grade: A

Special teams

There is nothing really to complain about here either. The Jaguars tried a ridiculous onside kick near the end of the game down 17 and Travis Homer picked it up and returned it for a touchdown. Jason Myers made his only field goal attempt and made all his extra points. Michael Dickson averaged 45.2 yards a punt and three of his five punts were downed inside the Jaguars 20 yard line.

Grade: A