The Seahawks had more than a few players come up short in their loss to the Buccaneers. I’ll try to cut it down to three, but no promises, 12s.
Let’s get this out of the way at the outset. I’m sure that if you had asked any member of the 12s if they’d be happy with the Seahawks sitting at 6-4, they’d cry tears of joy. Yet after this game, 6-4 has a very bitter taste. For the first half of this contest, the Hawks played as poorly as they have all year. And no, I’m not forgetting the game against the Niners.
Seattle didn’t put the ball in the endzone until the 10:48 mark in the fourth quarter. Yes, Geno Smith came to life and led his team on another great drive to pull the Hawks within five, but that’s as close as they’d get. As usual, there’s plenty of blame o go around in a loss, just as there’s always a lot of credit to be shared. But this game…wow. There were a lot of bad plays.
Seahawks corner Coby Bryant gets my first ugh
Now I expect that by Monday, we’ll know more about exactly who was responsible for the busted coverage that allowed Julio Jones to coast into the endzone for the Bucs first score. He was so wide open, I think the nearest Hawks defender was in Berlin. Now, exactly who’s to blame for that is still open to debate. Tariq Woolen had the initial coverage and passed him off as he left his zone. Woolen is off the hook for this one.
I know Josh Jones was still about five yards deep in the end zone by the time Julio crossed the goal line. Jordyn Brooks ran to Jones late, very late. Quandre Diggs may have called out an adjustment, but if he did, it was too late as well. Plus Diggs was absolutely schooled by Tampa Bay rookie RB Rachaad White on a 29-yard run that saw Diggs backpedal for almost 10 yards, only to get stiff-armed.
But I’ll have to go with Coby Bryant here. The announcing team said that Bryant looked like he was playing man while everyone else was in zone coverage on the Jones touchdown. He did have four tackles and an assist, but no picks and no pass defenses.
Seahawks center Austin Blythe made all the wrong calls
Now, I’m not privy to some exclusive 12thManRising Austin Blythe mic ‘d-up broadcast. For all I know, he called the correct blocking schemes on each of the Seahawks 50 plays. Yes, they only ran 50 plays, compared to the Buccaneers 74. Odds are the Hawks offensive woes were due more to execution than scheme. Still, the center is the ostensible leader of the offensive line, and they were awful in this game.
At least, they were awful for the first 50 minutes. Rookie sensation Kenneth Walker III slipped a few times, but he had virtually no running lanes. He had 10 carries and only managed 17 yards. He did add 55 yards receiving, so it’s not like he didn’t perform once he had space to operate. That tells me that Seattle’s absolute absence of a run game falls on the shoulders of the O-line.
The lack of a run game was matched by Seattle’s awful passing game through the first three quarters. Geno Smith wound up with some pretty sweet stats – 275 yards, two TDs, and a 115 passer rating – but virtually all of his success came in the fourth quarter. Seattle punted on each of their five possessions in the first half, and Smith had only 69 yards passing. He wound up getting sacked three times and absorbed nine more hits. The offensive line was terrible, and that falls on Austin Blythe more than anyone else.
Seahawks defensive line turned in their worst performance
Listen, I warned you at the start that I might not be able to single out three players. Could the linebackers have played better? Well, Uchenna Nwosu and Darrell Taylor combined for two tackles and zero pressures. But we need to balance that with Jordyn Brooks, who had 14 tackles including one for a loss and broke up a pass. Coby Barton played well too, with nine tackles, a pass defense, and a critical interception of Tom Brady.
The secondary certainly had its issues too, but it all starts with the defensive line. After the past few weeks, you could be excused for thinking the defensive front had truly jelled. Poona Ford, Shelby Harris, Al Woods, and Quinton Jefferson had nine sacks among them, 18 QB hits, and 15 tackles for a loss.
Today, they had zero sacks and zero tackles for a loss. Shelby Harris had the only hit on Brady all day, so he gets a bit of a pass. Now, Brady is renowned for his quick release. He could probably get rid of the ball before Cool Papa Bell could jump into bed (google it, 12s, you’ll love it). But he had been sacked 14 times and hit another 23 times coming into this game. And the Hawks basically did nothing to him.
If that was the Seahawks only failure, it might not have been so bad. In fact, we know it wouldn’t, as Seattle couldn’t stop Tamp Bay’s running game at all. The Bucs came into the game averaging an abysmal 60.7 yards rushing per game. They were on pace for a historic low. So of course, they ran for 161 yards versus the Hawks. Think about that, 12s – Tampa Bay came into the game with 546 yards rushing, and left with 707. They improved their rushing total on the season by nearly 30 percent. No pressure on the QB and a complete inability to stop the run. That earns the entire D-line my final ugh of the game.