Trap games are real. There’s really no reason the Seattle Seahawks should have lost Sunday’s game against the Washington Commanders, and if you look at most of the stats, they didn’t. Seattle outgained Washington 437-258.
They had an average yards per play that was almost three yards better than the Commanders. Fewer penalties, more sacks, and more tackles for loss. Those numbers suggest a comfortable win.
If only it weren’t for the fact that Seattle scored 31 points and Washington scored 33. The final score was the result of several key factors, but here’s the first takeaway.
Seattle Seahawks prove that no matter how good you are, you cannot survive too many mistakes
Trap games are real. Seattle simply looked out of sorts from the outset. The travel and time zone change, and the downtrodden opponent, may have been culprits. I don’t know about you, but I felt something was off just a few minutes into the game.
Michael Dickson, punting from his own 48-yard line, put the ball in the end zone for a touchback. It was his first of the season. On a play where he would normally pin the opponent deep, Dickson let them off the hook.
Bad omen.
The most obvious takeaway from the loss is that Seattle won’t win if they lose the turnover battle 3-0. Actually, it was more like 4-0 because of Seattle’s red zone failure just before halftime. That’s a de facto turnover. Any way you count it, it’s a losing proposition.
But you know that already. You saw it last season in the first Rams’ game. So let's move on to several takeaways that were perhaps a little less obvious.
Anthony Bradford matters
This is, week in and week out, my least popular take. But I will stick by it. I’m not suggesting that Christian Haynes and Beau Stephens played poor games as Bradford’s stand-ins. But Washington does not have a great run defense. They were down a starting linebacker in Frankie Luvu and lost his backup, Leo Chenal, during the game.
Still, the Commanders held Seattle’s rushing attack to just 44 yards -2.4 yards-per-carry. I realize Bradford doesn’t move in space as well as offensive coordinator Brian Fleury might like and that he struggles in pass protection.
But Bradford is a bulldozer. In his rookie year, he overpowered Washington’s defensive tackles, one of whom – Daron Payne – is still on the team. Seattle will struggle to run the ball as long as he remains out.
The red zone offense is a work in progress
Brian Fleury is still feeling his way. His red zone offenses have not been good this season, and that was the case again on Sunday. I say that even though they converted on four of their five trips inside the 20. When they needed it just before halftime, it simply wasn’t there.
Right now, Seattle has one play from in close. Throw the ball to Jaxon Smith-Njigba. That’s a really good play, but they desperately need to diversify the attack.
The running backs aren’t good enough yet
Jadarian Price can bounce plays outside the way Kenneth Walker did last year. But he has fumbled a couple of times now, and clearly there are trust issues with the rookie. He had five carries on Sunday. That is a major problem because he is far and away the team’s best runner.
Emanuel Wilson performed well against a tired Cardinals defense last week, but he was utterly stymied by the Commanders. One thing we learned is that Wilson does not have the burst to take runs wide. He needs to keep pounding inside. This looks like it will remain a problem until Price regains the coach’s trust and/or Zach Charbonnet returns to action.
There is in fact a limit to the depth at safety
With Julian Love and Ty Okada out, and Bud Clark on IR, the Seahawks safeties were exposed in the passing game. And they didn’t make a lot of tackles near the line.
We may have reached the point where Mike Macdonald and Aden Durde will have to return Nick Emmanwori to his original safety role, at least until Love or Okada returns to add stability to the back end.
The interior of the defensive front is great … but not great enough
This is a tough one. Byron Murphy II, Leonard Williams, Jarran Reed, Rylie Mills… they played excellent games. At times, especially late, they were dominant. The problem is, they should have been even more dominant.
The center and guards for Washington have been problematic for the Commanders all season, and it was even more dire on Sunday with their best guard, Sam Cosmi, out. Seattle should have controlled the line of scrimmage for sixty minutes, and they did not.
The Commanders didn’t exactly tear it up on the ground, but they made enough plays. Marcus Mariota played a great game. He shouldn’t have been able to. There should have been pressure in his face all day. This is the best part of Seattle’s team (apart from the Smith-Njigba fellow), and they need to dominate games like this.
It was nice seeing Tory Horton out there
Thought I’d end with a positive. Horton made a couple of very good catches on balls thrown behind him. He also got a punt return. I suspect this means we will see more and more of him moving forward, and that is a good thing.
I am not prepared to write off Rashid Shaheed. But he has never been a great receiver. He is more of an all-around weapon. Horton should see a bigger role as a receiver, while Shaheed gets some of the more creative plays directed his way.
One loss isn’t going to matter very much. Mike Macdonald’s job is to get his club ready for the Chargers. They are another winless team that will be desperate. Playing at home, and with this disappointment against Washington still fresh, I trust we will see the Seahawks team we have come to expect next week.
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