Seahawks report card: Grading Seattle in Week 4 victory

The Seahawks went to Detroit and put on a clinic offensively. But the issue is that Seattle’s defense was awful again. Here are the grades from Week 4.

It is almost sad that the Seahawks needed to have an almost perfect showing on offense to beat the Detroit Lions. Almost being the important word there. Because what we saw from the play-calling to the production on the field by the Seattle offense was astonishing in Seattle’s 48-45 defeat of the Lions.

No, not every team is going to have a defense as bad as the Lions. In fact, unless the Seahawks somehow play themselves this year, I doubt any defense will come close to how bad these two teams are on that side of the ball.

But at least we know the offense can truly be great. And we know that Geno Smith is playing just as well as Russell Wilson would have in 2022 so far.

How did the Seahawks grade in Week 4?

Quarterback

What more can we ask of Geno Smith? He went 23 for 30 for 320 yards, threw for 2 touchdowns and ran for another. In fact, Smith ran for 49 yards and was in complete control of the offense. Maybe the best part is the offense never stalled in the second half as it has done in every other game this year.

Grade: A

Running backs

Rashaad Penny looked like the Rashaad Penny of late last year. He found a couple of holes, mostly through the middle or behind tackle Abe Lucas on the right side of the line and once he burst through, he was gone. He finished with 151 yards on 17 carries and 2 touchdowns. Ken Walker got some spot duty and looked like eventually, he might be very good. But few backs in the NFL are as good as Penny is right now.

Grade: A

Wide receivers/tight ends

DK Metcalf looked the way he should when used correctly. He didn’t score a touchdown but caught several long passes and finished with 149 yards. Tyler Lockett had a bad fumble on special teams but did catch 6 passes for 91 yards.

The tight ends were pretty good once again. Will Dissly and Noah Fant each caught a touchdown pass and Colby Parkinson has been a good receiver.

Grade: A

Offensive line

The Seahawks averaged 8.8 yards per play. Geno Smith wasn’t sacked and hit just 3 times. Abe Lucas punished whoever was opposite him.

Grade: A

Let me pause here for just a second to remind everyone that the Seahawks never punted and scored on every drive but the last one when they ran out the clock. If some unit of the offense gets a B by anyone, they are simply being nit-picky and not fair.

Defensive line

This is where the bad stuff comes in. Lions quarterback Jared Goff dropped back to pass 40 times and was sacked just once. The defensive line had just 2 quarterback hits (both by Quinton Jefferson). The Lions averaged 5.8 yards a carry and were playing without their best running back, D’Andre Swift. Detroit’s longest run of 51 yards was more on the linebackers than the D-line, however.

Grade: D

Edge rushers/linebackers

Uchenna Nwosu had another sack but he is getting zero help from the other edge rushers this year. Darrell Taylor has been a disaster at both run defense and rushing the passer. But the most glaring and obvious issue was that Lions tight end T.J. Hockenson looked like a Hall of Famer with 8 catches for 179 yards and 2 touchdowns. Embarrassing.

Grade: F

Cornerbacks/safeties

Maybe the issue with Jared Goff throwing for 4 touchdowns (2 to a tight end, however) and 378 yards was more bad scheme and poor play by the edge rushers and linebackers who can’t cover. But if not for Tariq Woolen’s pick-six, the Seahawks might have lost (again, the Seahawks offense was dominant to it was score for score for a while. And Detroit was without its best receiver, Amon-Ra St. Brown. Coby Bryant still needs to be better in coverage but he did force a key fumble that the Seahawks recovered.

Grade: D

Special teams

Tyler Lockett fumbled a punt that set the Lions up for an easy score after the Seahawks had stopped them on the first drive of the game. Michael Dickson didn’t have to punt. And Jason Myers made a 56-yard field goal that would have good from 65. He did miss a field goal but the issue appeared to be the snap and not the kick.

Grade: B- (due to the fumble)