3 biggest overreactions to Seahawks Week 1 preseason game

The Seattle Seahawks are into their second week of preseason games. The team will play the Tennessee Titans on Saturday. The game will probably be a watered-down mess after Seattle participated in a couple of joint practices with the Titans during the week.

12s should not expect to see many starters at all against Tennessee. This will be a great chance for the players trying to earn a roster spot to make an impact. Or possibly lose a roster spot altogether.

This might also mean what we saw in preseason Week 1 against the Los Angeles Chargers is much closer to the truth of how the 2024 season will play out. If so, there is still a bunch that might be misleading. Here are three likely lies we witnessed against Los Angeles.

The Seahawks defense is much better

First of all, this could be true. Mike Macdonald's much more aggressive mentality should be a good fit for the players on the Seahawks roster and they were ill-used under Pete Carroll and Clint Hurtt. Macdonald also has shown that his scheme works. The problem is that we cannot assume the defense is going to be a lot better this year simply based on the first preseason game.

Seattle started the first two series with its healthy presumed starters while the Chargers had a backup quarterback who wasn't good. LA did play four of its assumed five starters, but that doesn't mean Los Angeles' starters are any good either. Seattle might have just been playing a bad team.

The Seahawks did look faster and more attacking, but once the real games begin opposing offensive coordinators will know the tendencies of Macdonald's defenses and try to attack those. A month full of practices does not mean Seattle's defenders understand everything they need to do. Maybe they do, but we shouldn't assume that based on what happened against the Chargers.

Sam Howell is better under the bright lights

Sam Howell was fairly bad throughout the early part of training camp. He was inaccurate, late on passes, and seemed to have zero rapport with the starting wide receivers while Geno Smith sat out a few practices because of hip and knee issues. Howell was better against Los Angeles but he was also playing against backups for the most part.

In other words, if the NFL season dissolves into everyone getting injured and the bottom of the rosters are the ones left to win games, Seattle should be fine with Howell. That is not likely to happen, however (hopefully!). Instead, the Seahawks' QB2 might need to prove what he can do with the first-teamers in preseason Week 3 against the Cleveland Browns.

In preseason Week 2 against the Titans, neither Tennessee nor Seattle is probably going to play many of their starters. The fun will come in the joint practices the teams hold. 12s would learn by watching that instead of the preseason game. Let's hope Howell looks solid in practice when the bright lights of the game aren't on.

The offensive line is a mess

Against Los Angeles, Seattle averaged 4.1 yards per play. That matched the worst output in the NFL in 2023. There were a few positives, though. The offense held the ball for 39 minutes and went 11 for 20 on third downs. Those are massive improvements over last year.

The truth is that while the Seahawks did play veteran Laken Tomlinson, most of the rest of Seattle's offensive line did not look how it would appear in Week 1 of the regular season. Left tackle Charles Cross did not play at all. Center Connor Williams was recently signed and he will probably be the starter in the first game of the real season. Right tackle was not manned by George Fant or Abe Lucas.

The offensive line might be much better this season and we shouldn't let the Chargers game lie to use. Plus, Christian Haynes looked pretty good. Now, if the offensive line looks bad again against the Denver Broncos in Week 1, there will be issues.

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