4 problems Seahawks must fix before facing 49ers on Thursday Night Football

I could easily have titled these 34 problems the Seattle Seahawks must fix before Week 6, but I'm trying to be positive here. After the disappointing loss to the Giants, it may not be easy, but we'll give it a try.

Hey there, fellow 12s! Great news! The Seahawks easily handled the Giants in a cakewalk and are enjoying a short week of fine-tuning to prep for their first division game of the year. See, that was supposed to be my opening for this article, so I didn't want to let it go to waste.

In reality, the Hawks played their worst game of the season. Head coach Mike Macdonald told the media, "Talk about not doing the things in all three phases to win a football game. Got to give the Giants credit. They outplayed us today." That would be putting it as mildly as possible. Seattle has a truckload of issues to fix before they take on the Niners Thursday night.

Seattle Seahawks have more problems to fix than ever

Wow. Where do we even start? There are certainly more than four Hawks to share the blame for this loss, but these were certainly the most egregious. Johnathan Hankins should be a rotational player, and he showed that against the Giants. Stone Forsythe proved once again that he's a third-string tackle. I don't blame either of these players for coming up short in the loss.

Cornerback Tre Brown is another story, though. He's been a starter, deservedly so. But he was awful against New York and didn't seem to feel any need to hold himself accountable. Letting Darius Slayton run wild and then pushing back against criticism from the 12s isn't just a bad look. It makes me wonder if Brown realizes just how bad he was.

That points out the first problem. The Seahawks' backups are not getting the job done. The "next man up" concept seemed to be in full swing for the Giants, who were playing without budding star Malik Nabers. No problem; a guy who had 10 catches for 122 yards in his first four games will explode against the supposedly solid Seahawks secondary for eight balls and another 122 yards. That would be Slayton, of course. For Seattle, we get performances like Hankins and Forsythe's.

I'll just drop the obligatory callout of the offensive line here. As usual, Geno Smith had no time to throw. The holes for the running game were virtually nonexistent. And the blocked field goal was inexcusable. Laken Tomlinson decided to search Lumen Field for pebbles on the play - or seemed to - as he managed to dive under the Giants' rush. To be fair to Tomlinson, the Hawks didn't deserve to win the game anyway, as poorly as they played. Perhaps he was simply playing the role Fate assigned him.

The coaching has to get better everywhere

I mentioned the running game. Okay, that's giving it more credit than it deserves, but at least I didn't call it the rushing attack. No, the line didn't open any holes. Then again, maybe with more than seven attempts, they would have broken through with a good play. It is unconscionable for an offense that is supposedly built on establishing the run to set up the pass to run just seven times. Ryan Grubb just needs to admit he's in love with the pass play and go empty backfield for the rest of the season.

I can understand passing a lot versus the Lions since the team fell behind so early. It was still ridiculous to not use Kenneth Walker more. I guess those 58 pass attempts by Geno Smith got Grubb excited. 40 passes against the Giants versus seven runs from your backfield is inexcusable. After the easy win over the Dolphins, head coach Mike Macdonald praised Zach Charbonnet for wearing down the Miami defense. Ummm, is there some reason you forgot that concept?

Mike Macdonald has created the biggest problem of all. He isn't reining in Grubb for his pass-happy offense. Their vaunted defense has collapsed for two straight games. Yes, I know they only allowed 23 points to the Giants. Their season-best showing was 21 points against the miserable Browns, and that was with Nabers catching two TDs.

To his credit, Macdonald holds himself accountable. If you'll note, he also said, "We need to get the ball to Ken more." Assuming he wasn't making a clumsy pitch for Sears appliances, he's right. And when have we heard that before? Do we need to bring Chuck Knox back from the afterlife to get the Seahawks to run the damn ball?

So, in summary, fix the O-line, fix the defense, fix Ryan Grubb, fix Mike Macdonald. No problem, easy-peasy. Actually, there is one solution for all of it. Well, one that would help the most. I'll answer that next time. I'm pretty sure the more astute 12s already know. No, it's not benching Geno Smith.

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