The Seahawks pulled off another last-second win to keep pace in the NFC West. They still have several problems to clean up if they expect to take over first place in the division. They can win despite these issues, but it would be a heck of a lot easier if they fixed this stuff.
If you had told me just two weeks ago that Seattle would be in position to take over the lead in their division in Week 12, I would probably have had you committed for observation. Or even more likely myself for listening to you. Let's see where the Hawks were. Hammered by the Bills, can't handle an upper-echelon team; check. Completely self-destructed against the Rams, can't handle themselves in adversity; check. Lost five of their last six games, and the sole win looks more suspect with every passing week; check.
Then the Seahawks played another solid defensive game. They had their lapses, just as they did against the Rams. But overall, the Hawks D did a terrific job of containing the Niners offense. Geno Smith made another critical error that looked like it could have crippled their chances at the win. Then all he did was lead another spectacular last-second winning touchdown drive. Let's see if they can make things easier on themselves this week.
The Seattle Seahawks have to clean up some areas. Some are very big issues
Cover the secondary wide receiver
No, I don't mean start playing Riq Woolen on offense and giving him a nice warm blankey. The Hawks had just one defensive flaw versus the 49ers last week. It wasn't a a failure to contain Christian McCaffrey, for once. Seattle kept Deebo Samuel under wraps as well. Four catches for 22 yards, are you kidding? The Seahawks secondary had him shrink-wrapped.
No, the issue against San Francisco was the third man of their offensive options, Juaun Jennings. Full disclosure: I lived in Tennessee for over 30 years. While I never attended the school, I'm a big fan of the Tennessee Volunteers, and Jennings was one of their stars in his senior season. As a seventh-round pick, it's hard to root against the guy. Since he's a Niner, yeah, I boo a little every time he catches the ball.
That's what he did all day long against the Hawks. With Brandon Aiyuk out for the year since Week 7 and George Kittle out, the 49ers turned to Jennings. He got separation on virtually every play and caught 10 of his 11 targets. That simply can't happen. Entering the game, he was something of the co-third option with Samuel behind Kittle and McCaffrey. He's had good games and absolutely destroyed the Rams in Week 3. So yes, he's more than capable of stepping up when needed. But he's not that guy. Keon Coleman of the Bills came into the Hawks with 16 catches and hauled in five when Buffalo came to town. The Hawks need to shut these guys down.
Get Geno Smith and his receivers on the same page
Yes, Geno Smith has thrown some interceptions that made you want to kick your TV. Happily, he's been able to come back from those assaults to the senses, literally. But the Seahawks aren't going to go anywhere but home after this season if they can't fix this issue. 11 interceptions in 10 games isn't anyone's idea of winning football.
It certainly isn't Smith's. After his horrendous performance against the Rams, he apologized to his teammates and the 12s. Apologies are nice, but they don't fix the problem. On a few of Geno's picks, such as both of those versus Los Angeles, you have to assume he was in some alternate dimension. There was no way he thought there was a receiver at the spot he was throwing the ball. On others, guys are making cuts too soon. Regardless of the cause, it needs to be fixed. Oh, and there's one other little problem I'll address in a few moments.
Commit to the running game with the right player
It doesn't help your team to have one of the best running backs in the league if you dont' use him. That would seem to be an obvious statement, right 12s? Yet it still escapes the collective minds of the Seattle coaching staff. per Pro Football Focus (subscription required), Kenneth Walker III is a better back than Zach Charbonnet in several key measurables. If you needed a stat site to tell you that, yikes. But the stats make it even more clear than you might think. Let me put it to you this way. I'll show you the stats of two running backs. You tell me which one should get at least 80 percent of the carries.
Player | Avg Yards | Avg YAC | MTF/100 | Breakaway% | Elusiveness |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Walker | 4.00 | 3.14 | 38.05 | 28.80 | 106.2 |
Charbonnet | 3.32 | 2.94 | 24.62 | 0.00 | 76.7 |
I'm sure you know YAC, but if not, that's Yards After Contact. The others need some definition. Missed Tackles Forced per 100 carries makes sense when spelled out. It's simply a count of how many times the back makes a defender miss a tackle, times 100 to make it easier to see the difference. Breakaways as defined by PFF are runs that gained at least 15 yards. Elusiveness is a proprietary PFF stat defined as measuring the success and impact of a runner independent of blocking. Yes, we'll get to blocking.
If some doubters dispute that Walker is one of the league's best backs, PFF ranks him as third overall in the league and second in pure running only to Derrick Henry. He ranks second in Elusiveness, which to me is odd as he's actually first in the percentage of Missed Tackles Forced. The Cardinals James Connor ranks first in Elusiveness at 120.2, but stands at 30.82, well behind K9. As if you didn't have something else to worry about Sunday.
So you have two backs. One is among the very best in the NFL, the second ranks 37th. The starter breaks off big runs more than a quarter of the time. The other hasn't had a single carry for over 13 yards. You're going to let the best take you to the win every time, right? Oh, not if you're Seattle. You're going to run them in a 63-37 split. Absolutely, I want to take valuable carries away from one of the top three backs in the league and give them to the guy who wouldn't be starting anywhere else.
Zach Charbonnet is a good player and an even better person. As harsh as it sounds, changing colleges to be home with your ailing sister doesn't help your team win games. He's a better pass blocker than Walker, and if he had an offensive line that could open holes, he'd be far more effective. The sooner Ryan Grubb and Mike Macdonald realize Charbonnet is a role player, the sooner the Hawks will win.
You knew it was coming: block somebody, please
This clown car finally played better in Week 12. The return of right tackle Abraham Lucas had a lot to do with that, of course. Olu Oluwatimi had a good game as well. Between them, they allowed just three pressures. Yes, Lucas gave up a sack, but for his first game in nearly a year and Nick Bosa flying at him, he was exceptional. The problem -well, one of them - lies in who was literally between Olu and Abe.
Yes, it was my favorite player and yours, Anthony Bradford. He wasn't blown up in the passing game as he often is, but he had zero push in the running game. For that matter, Laken Tomlinson was bad, and even Charles Cross turned in a subpar game. Nothing makes it more clear just how awful this unit has been than reading Bob Condotta give the O-line a B grade for this game. PFF rated this as their second-best pass-blocking performance and their third-best run-blocking game.
Let's put that in perspective, shall we? The Seahawks offensive line allowed four sacks, a quarterback hit, and 13 pressures in all. They also gave their running backs virtually no room to operate. Walker averaged 0.9 yards before contact and was held to a 3.86 yard average. Charbonett had zero -yes ZERO - yards before contact and had a .75 yard average overall. That's how awful this line has played this season. They turned in a performance that would make Bills fans riot, and they're congratulated for what? Not tripping on every play?
With another week under their belts, both Lucas and Oluwatimi should be even better. Cross has rarely had a bad game, so I'm confident he'll bounce back. Tomlinson's been okay too, for the most part. And Bradford - well, at least he doesn't quit. I have no doubt that he's giving his best effort on every play. This team may still have many issues, but quitting isn't one of them.