The Seattle Seahawks are certainly at a crossroads for their 2023 season. Pull off a miracle or two in the next two weeks, and Seattle might still have a chance to make the postseason. Lose as expected and the team will be 6-8 and focusing on the 2024 NFL Draft a bit more.
So what exactly has gone wrong for a team that began 5-2 but has since gone 1-4? Is there an easy fix? And, most importantly, does Seattle have the talent and coaching ability to fix their ailments?
Below are three areas of concern for the 2023 Seahawks. I have not mentioned the inconsistency of kicker Jason Myers, though that would have been easy. If none of these areas improve, Seattle could easily finish 8-9.
1. Seahawks horrible struggle with penalties
The Seahawks have had issues for years, so that seems to imply that head coach Pete Carroll is OK with the amount of flags Seattle gets. The issue is that while the Seahawks had the talent and the scheme to overcome penalty problems for many years, especially in the mid-2010s, that same situation does not really exist anymore. Basically, Carroll needs to fix the problem, but he has never proven capable of doing so.
In 2023, Seattle is the most penalized team in the league through Week 13. They are so bad at being disciplined that the team is sixth in penalties that have been declined and fourth in offsetting penalties. Seattle leads the league with 91 penalties and 808 penalty yards. Seattle is 13th in penalties they have benefitted from so basically Seahawks games, as any 12 knows, are simply non-stop flags.
Another issue is that the Seahawks haven't gotten better at not being penalized as the season has gone on. Both of their highest penalized games have come in the last three weeks. In Weeks 11 and 13, Seattle received 130 yards in penalties in each game. That is extremely unacceptable and a lot of the blame should go toward Pete Carroll because since 2010 Seattle has only finished outside the top-nine penalized teams twice.
2. Inconsistent quarterback play
Maybe the issue with Seattle's inconsistency isn't one person or player. Maybe Geno Smith (and Drew Lock when he has played) and offensive coordinator Shane Waldron are just combining to lead the group into mediocrity. Smith's numbers aren't terrible, but they also are worse than in 2022 when he was a full-time starter for the first since 2014.
Smith is 19th in quarterback rating (89.1), 10th in the NFC in touchdown passes (15), 17th in interception percentage, and 12th in passing yards. In 2022, Smith ranked 5th, 1st, 11th, and 8th in those categories, respectively. There is no real reason for a big decline as Seattle has added wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba and the offense line is about as bad last year. Seattle's offensive design just seems off.
Whether by scheme or intent, the tight ends are getting the ball less in 2023. Seattle is running the ball less - the Seahawks are sixth in pass percentage in 2023 (61.4 percent) compared to 13th in 2022 (59.4 percent) - and seem to have important drives, especially in the second halves of games, where there is zero attempt to run the ball.
The game-planning seems lacking as Seattle has started slowly a number of times, and the play-calling has been sketchy. Geno Smith has also missed more throws this season. The real frustration, however, comes from Seattle being able to score 35 points against the Cowboys but just 29 points total in two games against the Los Angeles Rams.
3. Questionable defensive play
The defense has matched the offense in terms of inconsistency in 2023. Seattle, though, hasn't gotten any better in defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt's second year as DC and one would expect with added talent, such as Seattle bringing back Bobby Wagner and drafting Devon Witherspoon, that Seattle would take a leap in 2023. Instead, the team gives up more points this year - 23.6 in 2022 versus 24.2 in 2023.
In 2022, Seattle also had a very good four-game stretch between Weeks 6 and 9 where the defense allowed 329 total yards or fewer, but the defense allowed an average of 361.7 yards a game overall. This year, the Seahawks had a great three-game stretch between Weeks 4 and 7 where Seattle allowed 249 yards or fewer, but they still allow 353.7 yards a game overall. Sure, a bit better, but only by 8 yards and they still rank 25th in the NFL in total yards allowed.
Plus, Seattle hasn't exactly faced a large amount of great offenses. They allowed 418 yards and 31 points to the Detroit Lions in Week 2, 515 yards and 37 points to the Baltimore Ravens in Week 9, and 411 total yards and 41 points to the Dallas Cowboys in Week 12. Seattle did give up just 377 yards to the San Francisco 49ers in Week 12, but 377 is still much higher than the league average.
Maybe Seattle will be better in 2024, though what would be one's evidence that would occur? Even if Seattle drafted a high-end edge rusher or defensive tackle or safety, there is no guarantee they would succeed in the Seahawks scheme. But for the sake of the next several seasons, we should hope Clint Hurtt finds a way to improve.