Seahawks report card: Grading Seattle in Week 5 loss to Saints

The Seahawks are now 2-3 after a loss in Week 5 to the Saints and the schedule is about to get a lot tougher. Let’s hope the defensive grades improve moving forward.

If not, and with the loss of running back Rashaad Penny, a season teetering on the brink of collapse might get there very soon. The Seahawks play the Cardinals in Week 6, then the Chargers, then the Giants and so on.

Seattle, even as good as the offense has been through five games, might wind up with 4 or 5 wins because of the dismal defense.

How did the Seahawks grade in Week 5?

Quarterback

I literally don’t know what else Geno Smith can do to make this team better. Every week that goes by he proves he’s worthy of being QB1 on many teams, not just the Seahawks. Against the Saints, Smith was 16 for 25 for 268 yards and 3 touchdowns. Smith should have had another touchdown pass too had DK Metcalf not dropped it.

Grade: A

Running backs

Seattle’s running backs average 8.6 yards per carry. Ken Walker had a run of 69 yards for a touchdown where he was extremely explosive. Rashaad Penny gained 54 yards on 8 carries with a long of 32. The offense overall was good enough to win the game, including the running backs.

But Rashaad Penny left in the second half with a broken tibia that would probably ends his season. (I am assuming as I am writing this before there is an official announcement.)

The running backs didn’t catch any passes but weren’t as needed as in previous games.

Grade: B+

Wide receivers/tight ends

Tyler Lockett was brilliant with two long and beautifully thrown touchdown catches. He caught 5 of his 6 targets for 104 yards. DK Metcalf had 5 catches for 88 yards and a touchdown but had a horrible fumble on the Seahawks first drive of the second half and deep in Saints territory. Metcalf also dropped a touchdown pass.

The tight ends caught 5 of their 8 targets and Noah Fant had his best game of the season with 3 catches for 49 yards.

Grade: B

Offensive line

Abraham Lucas wasn’t terrible but had likely the worst game of his rookie season. He had a penalty but gave up a bad sack. Charles Cross was called for an iffy holding call that negated a touchdown pass. Overall, the Saints had 3 sacks and 5 quarterback hits. Still, Seattle averaged 8.1 yards per play.

Grade: B

Defensive line

Please excuse Al Woods from this grade. The 35-year-old was brilliant once again. He was in on 5 tackles and had the Seahawks only sack of the game. Bryan Mone also had 5 tackles. But just 1 of Seattle’s quarterback hits came from the defensive line and the line was gashed consistently whenever the Saints had Taysom Hill take a direct snap.

Grade: C-

Edge rushers/linebackers

Seattle did have those 5 quarterback hits. The pure edge rushers had just 1 of them, though. Uchenna Nwosu was also called for a bad penalty near the end of the game that helped the Saints keep control of the ball. And Alvin Kamara had 6 catches for 91 yards and that is a linebacker issue.

Grade: D-

Cornerbacks/safeties

Tariq Woolen is getting better and better and will one day likely be one of the better corners in the NFL, if he isn’t already. He had another interception – his third in as many games – and recovered a fumble. But Woolen should have tried to force Hill out of bounds on Hill’s 60-yard touchdown instead of going for the strip fumble. (Not that it would have probably mattered as Seattle’s D is so bad they likely would have allowed New Orleans to score anyway.)

Coby Bryant forced the fumble that Woolen recovered and had tight coverage most of the time. Bryant also appeared to have good coverage on a pass that appeared to be knocked out but was called a touchdown for the Saints.

Safety Ryan Neal played a bunch and was in on 8 tackles. But Mike Jackson, after a promising preseason, looks bad as does anyone not named Woolen, Bryant, Neal or Quandre Diggs.

Grade: C-

Special teams

Jason Myers made a 56-yard field goal. Great! But what in the world were the Seahawks thinking in having Michael Dickson try a fake punt deep in Seattle territory? That alone earns this group a deserved bad grade. Pete Carroll said after the game that the play wasn’t meant to be a fake and that Dickson was trying a rugby kick that Dickson thought was going to be blocked. The issue is the play before had a penalty called on Seattle and it also looked like it was going to be a fake.

Grade: F