For Pete’s sake: 3 Seahawks that were awful in Week 2 loss

The Seahawks lost badly to the 49ers in Week 2 and looked bad doing it. Three pieces of the team were particularly awful for Seattle, however.

I mean, don’t get me wrong. The Seahawks meltdown versus the 49ers was nearly a complete team effort. Offensive coordinator Shane Waldron made a bone-headed decision and defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt wasn’t able to fix the holes along the defensive line.

Waldron’s decision was to let running back DeeJay Dallas attempt a pass inside the 49ers red zone in the first half. Seattle tried to run a few trick plays during the game and tailback passes can sometimes be good but not normally inside the red zone. Dallas threw an interception and it ended by far Seattle’s best offensive threat.

But which parts of the team stood out as possibly the worst in Week 2? Maybe the three that follow.

Three Seahawks that Pete Carroll can’t be happy with after Week 2

Defensive tackle Poona Ford

I like Ford a lot as he was an undrafted player who deserved better after being great in college. Through his first few seasons in the NFL, Ford has consistently been a fantastic run-stopper. Seattle has wanted a bit more from him when it comes to chasing down opposing quarterbacks, though, and Ford might not be capable of doing that.

But through both games in 2022 so far, it would understandable if someone in the Seattle locker room went through it and played Marco Polo but replaced the Marco part with “Poona!” Ford has been invisible through both games.

And what Ford does best – stopping the run – hasn’t been good either. In Week 1, Pro Football Focus (subscription required) gave Ford a run defense grade of a staggeringly low 40.3. Against the 49ers, Ford looked even worse. He was in on just 2 tackles even though he played 63 defensive snaps – 82.9 percent of the Seahawks defensive snaps in Week 2.

If Ford doesn’t start playing better really soon, teams are going to run all over the Seahawks this season and the losses will pile up.

Every Seahawks receiver not named Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf

I am cheating a bit here but that is more the fault of the Seahawks receivers than mine. Ideally, I could point to one or two players who could be third options at wide receiver for Geno Smith and how those players should be better.

The real issue is that literally, every other receiver currently on the team not named Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf has contributed next-to-nothing. Even Metcalf hasn’t done very much in 2022 but that appears to be more scheme than ability.

There is nothing to show that the entire receiving group except for Lockett and Metcalf are very good at all. Dee Eskridge is in his second season, and missed a lot of 2021 with injuries, but through the first two games has been targeted 3 times, has 2 catches for a total of…wait for it…6 receiving yards.

Veteran Marquise Goodwin was targeted once in Week 2, couldn’t make the catch, and now also has 3 targets through two weeks with 2 catches and only has 22 yards receiving.

Besides Goodwin and Eskridge, there probably are other receivers on the team. We just wouldn’t know it. To be fair, Penny Hart has only played 1 offensive snap through two games and Dareke Young just 4. Still, anyone – anyone – but Metcalf and Lockett have to make a play or two in a game and I do not think Seattle has a receiver capable of that.

Seahawks linebacker Darrell Taylor

There is no real reason that Darrell Taylor can’t play the run because in college at Tennessee he basically played the same position he does now with the Seahawks. And Tennessee plays in the SEC which is for all intents and purposes a minor league system for the NFL. If you can be good in the SEC, you should be able to be decent in the NFL. But Taylor not only is bad against the run, but he has also issues tackling as well.

As the game grew on in Week 2, Taylor did make a couple of decent plays against the 49ers but the game was long over by that time. Taylor struggled in Week 1 versus the Broncos run. Heck, Denver seemed to intentionally run to their right side as that is where Taylor plays. In Week 2, the 49ers ran to the right side a lot and picked up chunk yards doing so.

On one play in the first quarter with the 49ers up just 3-0 with a 2nd and 8 on their own 26-yard line, Taylor had a chance to stop Samuel for a 5-yard loss which might have helped end the drive. Instead, Samuel made Taylor look silly and ran for 51 yards.

Taylor started his career last year with 4 sacks in his first five games and then didn’t do a lot after that. If Taylor can do one thing well, one should assume that would be getting to the opposing quarterback. But Taylor hasn’t done that in 2022 yet either. But the way Taylor has played the run, he deserves to take a seat on the bench and be a rotational pass rusher only.