The Seattle Seahawks snatched the win from the New England Patriots (and from Drake Maye's arm). Despite their second-half heroics, not everyone came out smelling like a rose. In fact, there was the distinct odor of a third-rate fish market hanging over some personnel. And we know that ain't Pike Place.
Let me preface this by saying that losing quarterback Sam Darnold in the first series of the game isn't exactly the optimal start to the new season. So one of my nominees here gets a bit of a pass. Like maybe a temporary hall pass. No, I was never one of those hall monitor snitches, wiseacre. If you were, well, thanks for your service, I guess.
Okay, let's snap back to reality, in the immortal words of Eminem. When I think about the prospect of the Seahawks repeating past mistakes, I'm reminded of another deathless line of prose from a masterful wordsmith: "Over and over and over and over and...". Throw in another 15 "overs", and you see how I feel about Seattle not having the right people in place. Hopefully that isn't the case here.
Three Seattle Seahawks that need to turn their games around
Running back Emanuel Wilson
As the designated hammer, Wilson failed to ring any bells. Jadarian Price looked solid in his debut, with 52 yards on 10 carries. George Holani was a decent alternative himself, adding 29 yards on eight attempts.
The recent addition from Green Bay appeared anemic, showing none of the burst he sported with the Packers. Nick Chubb may have retired, but when Zach Charbonnet returns, Wilson is going to be about as welcome as the last running back we brought over from the Cheeseheads. Notice I wasted no time referencing Eddie Lacy, my annual mea culpa.
Linebacker Chazz Surratt
On a night filled with egregious penalties, Surratt committed the worst. The offensive shift wiping out Cooper Kupp's score was pretty awful; there's no disputing that. But a new OC calling his first game, a backup QB taking the snap: those are mitigating circumstances. But Surratt has been a special teams standout for five seasons.
He's had 848 special teams snaps in his career, including 181 last year for the Seahawks. I'm pretty sure he knows not to risk running into the kicker. Yet he did, and instead of Seattle ball, New England had a first down and kicked a 50-yard field goal to move ahead 10-0. Dire straits indeed.
Offensive Coordinator Brian Fleury
As I said at the start, losing your starting quarterback on the first series isn't the best path to a win. Now factor in that your QB posted a 14-3 record for the past two seasons and didn't commit a single turnover in last year's remarkable postseason victory tour. Oh, and by the way, you've never called plays before; yet here you are running the offense of the Super Bowl champs. No pressure, right?
I say all that to give the Seahawks' new OC some grace. I wouldn't say he called a bad game - it was certainly better than anything this office-chair OC would call. But Seattle committed so many stupid penalties it was maddening at times. All too often, the play seemed to get in too late for the team to even get the ball snapped on time.
Maybe there were too many wrinkles being thrown in. Again, the offense was rushed and negated the Kupp touchdown because two players were in motion as the game clock was winding down to zero.
Will Fleury be better next week? I feel pretty confident that he will. It has to take time to find your rhythm and find the same for your players. When you suddenly have a mismatch in the personnel you've been prepping for months, that's going to cause problems. With a long week of practice, I picture that Fleury will turn in a much better performance against Arizona in Week 2.
Of these three, the Seahawks obviously need Fleury far more than the others. He's also the one member of the team who's most likely to make that quick turnaround. If I'm wrong, it could be a bit of a long season in the Emerald City.
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