Seattle Seahawks grades: Pretty awful again in week 11

The Seattle Seahawks fell to 3-7 with a pitiful performance in week 11 against the much better Arizona Cardinals. The final was 23-13 but felt worse. Seattle looked so bad, in fact, that it is hard to imagine them winning another game this year. And 2022 doesn’t look much better.

Maybe this is a bit of an overreaction but all the key players on this current team will be key players next year. The core group simply doesn’t look good enough anymore. Plus, the coaching, especially both coordinators, is not good.

This offseason there needs to be lots of changes to the team. But this won’t make 2022 a lot better, but hopefully 2023. The NFC West takes no prisoners and Seattle is by far the worst team in the division at this point.

Seattle Seahawks grades for week 11 loss to Cardinals

Quarterback

Russell Wilson just seems in between. He missed receivers who were open over the middle (one drive deep in Cardinals territory in the second quarter, Wilson missed Freddie Swain on one play and Gerald Everett on another and both might have gone for touchdowns), doesn’t seem to know when to run and forces the ball to outside receivers when maybe he shouldn’t. This could be the coaching and direction he is getting or his digressing athletic ability not letting him move around as well anymore and for the first time in his career Wilson’s height seems to be an issue as he seems to have issues seeing open receivers in the middle.

Wilson was sacked 4 times and didn’t get picked off but finished 14 of 26 for 180 total yards. If not for Tyler Lockett, I am not sure Wilson would have gotten to 100 yards passing.

Grade: C-

Running backs

Rashaad Penny started the game and got through for 18 yards on his first carry but also, to no real surprise, seemed to hurt his hamstring again on the play. DeeJay Dallas looked quick when he got some chances to carry the ball late and scored Seattle’s lone touchdown of the game. Combined, the running backs averaged 4.94 yards a rush on 17 carries.

Grade: B

Receivers/tight ends

There is a Tyler Lockett grade (A) and then a grade for nearly everyone else. Lockett caught 4 of his 5 targets for 115 yards. He had a 36-yard catch and a 48-yard reception. But D.K. Metcalf caught just 4 of his 8 targets for 31 yards. Gerald Everett was OK with 3 catches for 37 yards. But Will Dissly had a disastrous drop in the third quarter where it looked like he could have run for days. If he had caught the ball, the play might have changed the way the game played out.

Grade: (Besides Lockett) D

Offensive line

This group run blocks so much better than it pass blocks but Seattle doesn’t run enough to get the effectiveness of this. Instead, the Seahawks rely on Russell Wilson to try and beat teams and that isn’t happening anymore. Wilson got hit 6 times and the line allowed 4 sacks and 5 tackles-for-loss.

Grade: D

Defensive line

Seattle got 7 quarterback hits on Cardinals quarterback Colt McCoy but just 3 were from defensive ends (if you want to count Kerry Hyder, Jr. as an end). Bryan Mone was very good with 4 tackles, 1.5 sacks and 2 quarterback hits and Poona Ford had a half-a-sack and 3 tackles but by far the best part of the defensive line in week 11 was the interior. The majority of the ends on this team have been inconsistent or non-productive all season long against the pass.

Grade: D

Linebackers

Yes, Jordyn Brooks and Bobby Wagner each had at least 14 tackles. Brooks had a quarterback hit and a tackle for loss. Wagner should have had one but blew a chance to tackle a Cardinals running back for a 6 yard loss on a third down in the second half. And neither Wagner nor Brooks covered well enough over the middle where Colt McCoy made his living in week 11. For example. tight end Zach Ertz has 8 catches for 88 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Grade: C

Secondary

A backup quarterback, Colt McCoy, had the time and confidence to throw 44 times against the Seahawks and completed 35 of his attempts for 328 yards and 2 touchdowns with no interceptions. His quarterback rating was 112.9. Yes, Seattle played without D.J. Reed and Tre Brown got hurt early but would it have mattered for Seattle had both players played? Very unlikely. This is a bad team with a bad defensive coordinator.

Grade: F

Special teams

Jason Myers made both of his field goals but then started off the second half by having his kickoff go out of bounds. Michael Dickson was great with an average of 51.4 yards a punt and three of his five punts downed inside the Cardinals 20-yard line. Seattle continues to get very little out of its return game, though.

Grade: B-