Fresh from their bye week, the Seattle Seahawks were poised to bounce back from their Week 10 defeat in the hands of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Germany. However, instead of being able to adjust their game to be able to push them closer to the playoffs, the Seahawks’ playoff dream was halted for the meantime in Week 12 in the hands of the Las Vegas Raiders.
The Week 12 overtime loss to the Raiders, accompanied by a Washington Commanders win, have the Seahawks on the outside looking in with regard to the NFC playoff picture. This is a crushing blow for the Seahawks who had been playing great up until Week 10. Now the Seattle Seahawks have to quickly find answers not to let this season slip away from their hands.
Leading to Week 10 against the Bucs, the Seahawks were looking like a playoff team, who seemed like they were finding the answers to some of their woes that were clouding them in the early part of the season. The Week 10 loss to the Bucs and the overtime loss in the hands of the Raiders in Week 12 proved that the Seahawks still have a lot of things to figure out both on the offensive side and the defensive side.
Seahawks lose to the Raiders: What’s next?
It will not be an easy road for the Seahawks as the season inch closer to the playoff run, as other teams are also gearing up for their own playoff push. This team is still a relatively young core, that must weather these storms along the way and learn from them quickly. As painful as it was to watch the Seahawks crushed at home, here are the three notes from that overtime defeat in Week 12.
Seahawks’ run defense gets run over
The early woes of the Seattle Seahawks came back to haunt them in this game against the Las Vegas Raiders. Everyone thought that the Seahawks found the answer to their anemic run defense that had been shredded by all of their opponents for the most part of the season. However, we were proven all wrong in this game, as running back Josh Jacobs and the Raiders crushed the Seahawks’ ultra-soft run defense to the tune of 229 rush yards with 2 touchdowns.
Josh Jacobs seemingly always finds some daylight on the ground all day against Seattle, culminating in the overtime run of 86 yards to the house to crush the hometown crowd in Seattle. It was the same old problem that the Seahawks were facing in the early part of the season, which had them near the bottom of the league in that regard.
Seattle cannot seem to wrap Jacobs down in this game. Jacobs was apparently not 100 percent as he popped up on the injury report late in the week with an apparent calf injury, but it did not seem like it had an effect on him in running wild over Seattle defenders. With the playoff on site, the Seahawks must find some answers on how to stop their opponents from running over against their ultra-soft, and ultra-thin run defense.
The Seahawks passing game is still on point
Despite the struggle of the Seahawks and their defense, the same cannot be said with Geno Smith and their passing game. Although at times, it makes us want to pull our hair out, Geno Smith still manages to keep the ball moving through the air in this game against the Raiders. Geno was able to spread the ball around much like their previous games, as both DK Metcalf (11 catches for 90 yards) and Tyler Lockett (3 catches for 68 yards and a touchdown) each had a good day.
Though not flashy, Geno always finds a way to get Seattle right back on track in the offense through the air. Geno Smith finished this game with 328 passing yards and 2 touchdowns with 1 interception. This was not the blueprint of Geno’s game, however, he is showing that he can handle being the number-one quarterback in this league.
The Seahawks will keep leaning on Geno, as their opponents try to sell on the run and try to stop Ken Walker III on the ground. By now, we should have no doubt that Geno Smith can get the job done, and try to guide the Seahawks toward the playoffs this season. Let Geno write back.
Seahawks running game was non-existent again
When running back Rashaad Penny went down with a season-ending injury in the early part of the season, the Seahawks had to put their trust in rookie running back Kenneth Walker III to carry the load for them. For the most part, the second-round draft choice was doing the job admirably, however, in back-to-back weeks, Walker has not been seeing much on the ground.
Yes, Ken Walker was able to find the pay dirt twice in this game, but he was only able to run for a minuscule 26 rush yards in 14 carries. That will not get the job done moving forward. Much of the blame cannot be solely on Walker, as the Seahawks’ offensive line does not allow him to see much of space to run to as he keeps running through a wall of Raiders defenders.
Time and again, Ken Walker keeps getting swallowed in the backfield as the Raiders kept getting penetration and easily getting to Walker before he can get started. Seattle did not show any creativity in the backfield up until the fourth quarter when they had both Walker and Travis Homer that allowed Geno to find Homer for his second throwing touchdown of the day.
These consecutive dud running games from Ken Walker and the Seahawks must be addressed immediately if Seattle is fully intent on making noise toward the end of the season and into the playoffs.