No innocent parties in Seahawks complete meltdown versus Bills

Mike Macdonald should be embarrassed by what the Seattle Seahawks did against the Buffalo Bills in Week 8. His team was not prepared and beaten in a way that 12s have not seen since Seattle lost to the Baltimore Ravens in 2023. Macdonald wasn't the coach then, of course. Pete Carroll was. And one of the reasons Carroll is no longer with the team is because of losses like the one to the Ravens.

Macdonald was not the only guilty party, though. Few Seahawks would not share in the blame. Punter Michael Dickson was great. Safety Coby Bryant was not awful. Tight end AJ Barner was fine. Otherwise, Seattle looked like a JV team to the Bills' varsity.

12s should not be free of guilt, either. Seahawks fans diminished in the face of the more vocal Bills Mafia. At Lumen Field, mind you. 12s were slow to come back from halftime, for instance. Perhaps some fans had given up. The team was terrible in Week 8, but 12s weren't very loud from the beginning. It was a sleepy performance by all involved.

Seahawks and Mike Macdonald need to be embarrassed by Week 8 performance versus the Bills

The frustration of the players boiled over as well. Edge rusher Derick Hall was called for a penalty late in the first half to keep a Bills drive alive, and Hall and defensive tackle Jarran Reed got into a spat on the field and then a shoving match off it. Reed was seen using the moment as a teaching moment for Hall later, but the damage was done.

Quarterback Geno Smith was so frustrated in the second half that after a run of eight yards, Smith tossed a ball at a Bills defender and he was called for taunting. There was no reason for Smith to toss the ball, but Seattle fans could probably understand the way he felt. This is especially true after Smith threw another interception that was not his fault. An attempt at a screen pass to Kenneth Walker III was tipped at the line and then landed in the arms of a Bills defensive lineman.

Smith had to watch balls get snapped over his head, saw veteran tight end Pharaoh Brown line up incorrectly a few times (Jake Bobo clearly had to explain to Brown where Brown was supposed to be), stood and watched as his team's defense fell apart once again versus the run, and be obviously overmatched.

Week 7 was a lie. Seattle is not a good team, even though they beat a decent Atlanta Falcons team. Week 8 was reality. Seattle might be able to beat bad teams, but they cannot consistently defeat good ones as they are not a good one themselves. Mike Macdonald is not prime-time ready. Neither are the 2024 Seahawks.