The Seattle Seahawks’ defense was mostly as advertised against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday. They harassed Brock Purdy much of the day, picking off the Niners’ QB twice. Taking on a team with Purdy, Christian McCaffrey, a good offensive line, and multiple solid receivers is not an easy task.
San Fran did lose George Kittle early, but the Seahawks played most of the game without Nick Emmanwori.
The bottom line is that Seattle got a couple of turnovers and held their opponents to 17 points. That has to be a win in a divisional home game. It wasn’t because Seattle’s offense still has a lot of work to do.
The Seattle Seahawks’ passing game is far too one-dimensional
The running attack that was supposed to get a boost from new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak and an improved offensive line didn’t show up. But I’m not as worried about that as I am about the other part of the offense. It’s still very early, but Seattle’s passing attack looks scarily anemic.
I suspect the running game will actually improve as the offensive line gels, but after the showing against San Francisco, I’m not sure Seattle’s air game has any kind of ceiling. At least not as it currently exists.
Essentially, the Seahawks have one player who can perform as a pass catcher. Apart from Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Seattle looked to have absolutely no one who could make plays in the passing game.
The single most disappointing statistic from Sunday’s loss was targets. Sam Darnold dropped back to throw 23 times. He was sacked once. Of the 22 balls he threw, 13 of them were directed at JSN. Do the math. That means that nine balls – NINE – were thrown to all of the other receivers combined.
It is not sustainable to have an offensive scheme in which more than half the passes are thrown to one player. No other team in the league even came close to the kind of number in the opening weekend. In Seattle’s case, JSN got almost 60% of the targets.
Look at the other heavily targeted receivers from this weekend.
Kansas City’s Marquis Brown had the most – 16 in his team’s loss on Friday night. Brown may be the Chiefs number 3 wideout but was forced to take on much larger role because they are without Rashee Rice due to suspension, and Xavier Worthy, who was injured three plays into their game against the Chargers.
Even so, Brown’s 16 targets accounted for just 42% of Patrick Mahomes' total throws. Mahomes threw to eight other players. Sam Darnold threw passes to just four players, not named Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
Atlanta threw 15 passes to Drake London but 27 to other receivers. The two most heavily targeted receivers after JSN this weekend were Baltimore’s Zay Flowers (47%) and the Jets’ Garrett Wilson (43%). They were both more efficient than JSN, catching 78% of their targets and each scoring a touchdown. Smith-Njigba caught 69% and failed to score.
But even if JSN were more efficient against San Fran, this simply won’t work long term. Defensive coordinators can always take away one receiver – if they only have to worry about one receiver.
The best wideouts in the league – Ja’Marr Chase, Justin Jefferson, A.J. Brown – they all have excellent complementary receivers. They tend to also have good tight ends and pass-catching backs as well. The receiving options work together.
If defenses devote too much attention to Chase, Tee Higgins makes them pay. Jordan Addison and T.J. Hockenson – DeVonta Smith and Dallas Goedert – everyone thrives in those systems.
Seattle does not appear to have that. The invisibility of Cooper Kupp was disturbing against the 49ers. Seattle has invested a couple of draft picks in its two starting tight ends over the past two seasons. Combined, they saw three targets on Sunday. Another draft pick, Tory Horton, never saw a pass thrown his way.
Is this Sam Darnold’s fault? Is it on Kubiak? Most importantly, is there enough talent on the roster to fix the problem? Seattle does not have explosive receiving options stashed away on the bench or on the practice squad. If Kupp is a dud – if Arroyo and Horton can’t quickly step up – the Seahawks are going to have major problems scoring points.
Having a more effective running game would help. The Hawks managed just 3.2 yards per carry on Sunday. But they held San Fran to just 3.3 yards per carry. The difference in the offenses came through the air.
Purdy completed passes to eight different players. McCaffrey received 29% of the targets, the most on the team. Two other players had at least 15% of the throws. For Seattle, after JSN”s 59%, nobody had more than 14%.
This can’t work. Kubiak, passing game coordinator Jake Peetz, and Darnold have to fix it it soon. Hopefully, the roster offers enough talent for there to be such a fix.