The Seattle Seahawks lost to the Los Angeles Rams 20-10 on Tuesday and are now 5-9. Seattle isn’t 100 percent eliminated from the playoffs (that will happen in the 49ers beat the Titans on Thursday) but realistically there is no hope.
And there shouldn’t be. Seattle is not a good team. They have some very good pieces but overall they simply aren’t good enough to compete in the NFC West. They will finish last in the division for the first time since 1996. And to be harsh, 2022 doesn’t look like it will be much better as the other teams in Seattle’s division aren’t going to suddenly get much worse.
Russell Wilson was not good (again) in Week 15. Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford wasn’t perfect either. The difference is Stafford has a much better team around him and that is unlikely to change in the near future. Seattle needs to be fixed and the question is, How long will it take to do it?
But here are the grades from Week 15’s Seahawks loss to the Rams.
Seattle Seahawks report card: Bad grades offensively in Week 15
Quarterback
Russell Wilson was 17 of 31 for 156 yards and an interception. He was sacked 3 times for 22 yards. Those sack yards are important because one sack late in the second half was for 11 yards when Wilson had time to throw the ball away and didn’t.
He’s always had a history of holding on to the ball too long, of course, but he uses his legs to run for first downs less than he ever has (2.8 rushes per game in 2021 and the year with the next fewest was 2018 when Wilson ran 4.2 times a game). Wilson also underthrew several passes last night and looks like a shell of his 2015 version.
Grade: D
Rest of the offense had its good moments
Running backs
The Seahawks don’t have any idea of how to run their offense. They weren’t blown out last night so never needed to go away from the run. But as they have all year, they give up on the run quickly. Seattle run blocks better than it pass blocks so Seattle needs to run more.
On Tuesday, Seattle threw 31 times and ran 19 times. 8 of those runs came on one very impressive drive to open the third quarter that ended in a touchdown. Seattle threw just 3 times on the drive. This means the 31-19 pass-to-run ratio was 28-11 for every other drive. Seattle also averaged 4.2 yards a run but just 3.9 yards per pass. Shane Waldron needs to be fired.
Grade: C (the coaching brings this grade down)
Receiver/tight ends
The tight ends? Remember them? They can catch too and not only be blockers. So can the running backs. In fact, the Seahawks tight ends and backs caught 10 of their 11 targets against the Rams. They need to be thrown to more. Of course, this means Wilson was just 7 of 20 when throwing to the receivers. Bad.
Grade: D
Offensive line
How bad is this line when one of the strengths of the line on Tuesday was rookie right tackle Jake Curhan who went undrafted this year? Damien Lewis, very good last year, was called for holding twice. Duane Brown got beat for a sack. One of the biggest issues with this team (once again) is the offensive line. O-lines take time to build cohesion and this line needs to be nearly completely revamped. This means they won’t be good again in 2022 either.
Grade: D
Defense and special teams were solid
Defensive line
Take away one 39-yard run by Rams running back Sony Michel and Los Angeles’ running backs averaged 3.21 yards on 24 carries. All 4 Seahawks sacks came from the defensive line. Carlos Dunlap (finally playing more at defensive end than at linebacker) had 3 sacks. Sadly, Seattle’s pass rush has been so bad this year that with those 3 sacks, Dunlap moved up to second on the team in sacks for the entire season (he now has 4.5).
Grade: B
Linebackers
Jordyn Brooks led the team in tackles with 11 and is now third in the NFL in tackles in 2021 (146). Bobby Wagner is first (158). Brooks had 2 tackles-for-loss and leads the team with 8. The linebackers do need to get much better in coverage but I think a lot of their problem is how they are being coached and they aren’t dropping back far enough on pass plays.
Did Brooks get beat a few times by Rams receiver Cooper Kupp? Yes. (Brooks also batted a ball down on 4th-and-2 for the Rams, though.) But Kupp beats very good corners all the time. It’s unfair to have a linebacker cover him very much.
Grade: B
Secondary
Quandre Diggs is going to want a lot of money after this season and he deserves it. For the second year in a row with the Seahawks he has 5 interceptions. He had another against the Rams on Tuesday near the Seattle goal line that saved Seattle from being down a touchdown early. Seattle’s secondary overall did OK. Even down three starters (D.J. Reed would have greatly helped in Week 15), Seattle allowed just 6.3 yards a pass attempt. This would rank 23rd in the NFL for 2021 if this were the Rams average for the season.
Grade: B
Special teams
This unit was solid but didn’t make any game-changing plays. They got no kick returns and Freddie Swain averaged 9 yards a return on two punts. Jason Myers made his only extra point attempt and his only field goal attempt. Michael Dickson was great as always, though, with a 49.5 yard average on 6 punts with 3 downed inside the Rams 20-yard line.
Grade: B+