The fact that the Seattle Seahawks lost their first preseason game to the Dallas Cowboys should not bother any of the 12.
Teams that are rebuilding, teams breaking in a new quarterback, teams that have new head coaches --- those are usually the clubs that place a higher value on the actual outcome of games that do not count. None of that applies to the Seahawks. Well, with one possible exception.
Brian Fleury was calling plays for the first time in his career as Seattle’s new offensive coordinator. With Drew Lock at quarterback, he got off to a great start, finding the end zone on his very first drive.
Should fans worry about the Seattle Seahawks' anemic offense in Brian Fleury’s first game?
That drive was abetted in no small part by two penalties on Cowboys’ second-year cornerback Caelen Carson. The first one was largely created out of whole cloth by Cody White, who exaggerated minimal contact into a defensive pass interference, thereby converting the first third down of the game. Still, Fleury’s offense scored a touchdown on its first drive. No problem there.
After that…. problem.
After that first drive, Seattle’s offense was virtually non-existent. Their remaining seven drives netted a total of 74 yards. 74 yards – over three-and-a-half quarters of football. Three of the seven drives actually went backwards.
Of course, there are plenty of mitigating factors. The most obvious one is that with the possible exception of Elijah Arroyo, Seattle did not play a single starter on offense. In some cases, they didn’t even play a primary backup.
Had this been a regular season game, they would have kicked a field goal rather than try to convert a fourth-and-four at the beginning of the final quarter.  And were he in regular season form, Jason Myers probably wouldn’t miss his attempt at the end of Jalen Milroe’s first drive of the game. So the Seahawks would have scored more points.
But there were other obvious causes for concern. They numbers were ugly.
156 total yards. You know the last time a Seahawks’ offense was that bad, preseason, regular season, or postseason? I think it was Week 9 of 2023. The 37-3 humiliation at the hands of the Baltimore Ravens.
Fleury’s offense averaged 3.0 yards-per-play. They had 49 yards passing, at an average of 2.0 yards-per-attempt. Their 3.8 yards-per-rush was inflated by Milroe’s unscripted scrambles. On designed running plays, the offense did not crack 3.0.
Worst of all, after that successful first drive, Fleury’s offense was zero-for-three in red zone conversions.
None of that is good. But a lot of it can be explained away. Not only was Fleury using second- and third-team talent, but he was also calling a rather bland game. That was almost certainly by design. There is no value in showing off a lot of tricky plays and clever concepts in the first week of preseason. This was a time to evaluate players in fundamental situations.
So, what should fans worry about and what should they simply brush off?
Montorie Foster Jr. had a great game, but the inability to identify any other receiver could be a problem. Jake Bobo, Ricky White III, and Cody White had seven targets, four catches, and 17 yards for the game. Foster had seven targets, five catches, and 36 yards on his own.
That overreliance on a single pass catcher may not be so bad if the receiver in question is Jaxon Smith-Njigba, but last year, Seattle’s offense was at its best when other options were more involved.
Arroyo’s relative absence is concerning. He had one nice play early on but was otherwise invisible. He should be a larger part of the passing game in his second season.
There did not appear to be much creativity in those red zone situations. This was most obvious after the Cowboys gifted Seattle with the ball on the five-yard-line after a muffed punt midway through the fourth quarter. Three straight runs yielded four yards. Then on fourth-and-goal from the one, Milroe dropped back to throw. The play never had a chance.
Again, Fleury is not going to show off tricks in a meaningless preseason game. The coaches want to see which of their depth pieces can shine in the fundamentals. Through most of the game, none of Seattle’s offensive players passed the test.
And that includes the new coordinator. Of course, there is minimal concern at this stage. Brian Fleury did nothing in this game to make fans lose confidence. But the flip side of that is equally true. In his first game as offensive coordinator, Brian Fleury did absolutely nothing to inspire great confidence either.
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