3 quick takeaways from Seahawks mock game on Saturday

The Seattle Seahawks held their first mock game of 2022 on Saturday. Here is the good, the bad, and the ugly from what happened.

Our beloved Seahawks finally saw some game action Saturday. At least, there was an offense and a defense on a field, and somebody kept track of what was happening. So, there was kind of a game. The good news is, the Seahawks won. Some of them won more than others, though, as we’re about to see.

We actually did get some good news from the mock game. In perhaps the best news of the day, we had a Richard Sherman sighting. No, I’m not kidding. Tall guy, dreads, played a little press he coverage back in the day? Yes, it really was him. It’s great to see Sherm back in the fold, of course. But imagine if gets to spend some time with Coby Bryant and Tariq Woolen. I’m liking that a lot!

Seahawks saw the good, the bad, and the ugly Saturday

We’ll take these in inverse order, if you don’t mind. Who wants to end on a sour note? Or an ugly one, for that matter. The ugliest part of the game had to be Geno Smith’s performance. Yes, he’s been the leader in the QB competition since camp started, but that may have changed with this game.

According to Greg Bell’s account in The Tacoma News Tribune, Smith completed just 10 of 19 passes. Worse, he failed to throw a touchdown pass and nearly threw a  pick. Sorry 12s, there’s a paywall for the article, but, come on, it’s Gregg Bell.

Anyway, it got even uglier for Smith. While he did lead two scoring drives, three of his five series were with the first unit offense against the second unit defense. When you have that kind of advantage, you have to do more than wind up your day with three straight drives that end in punts.

As for the bad – other than Geno’s day – none of the running backs had a big day. D. J. Dallas led the group with 19 yards on five carries. Rashaad Penny and Ken Walker each scored once, but neither back topped four yards per carry.

Now for the good news – and there was a lot of it, 12s. Corner Tariq Woolen got a lot of time on the field with the Seahawks first unit, subbing for the injured Sidney Jones. Woolen was explosive to no one’s surprise. The great surprise was that his coverage skills looked much sharper than we’d heard. Maybe Sherman’s presence had more of an effect than we thought. Woolen did give up the only touchdown catch of the day, but he had excellent coverage on the play.

Darrell Taylor continued his hot summer with another great performance in the scrimmage. Quoting from the same Gregg Bell article in the News Tribune, Pete Carroll had this to say about Taylor:

"He’s flying off of the football,” Carroll said. “He’s so much more at ease and comfortable with what we are asking him to do. He’s way ahead now. He’s seeing things way better than he was a year ago. He will be able to take advantage of sets, formations, and opportunities."

A few special teamers have to be included in the good news. Jason Myers was three for three on field goals for the day, including a pair of 45-yard kicks. Michael Dickson averaged just under 46 yards on his four punts, so all was right with the world.

And Nick Bellore – yes, the fullback/linebacker/special teams beast – got in some work at linebacker, and broke up two passes over the middle. Expect him to lead the city planning commission and a symposium on open-heart surgery next week. I mean, why not Nick? You do everything else.

The best of the good – the goodest, if you’ll allow me that – had to be Drew Lock’s performance. I’ll leave the detailed analysis for another time, but Lock played like the QB the Seahawks thought could win the starting job. He threw the only touchdown pass of the day and led three scoring drives to Smith’s two. Oh, and Lock played with the second unit offense against the first-team defense on four of his five drives. Lock was the clear winner Saturday, and that may translate to more Sunday wins for the Seahawks.