3 biggest overreactions to Seahawks Week 2 preseason game

The Seattle Seahawks are through two preseason games and not everything we think might be true about the 2024 team is so. Except for the joint practices Seattle held with the Tennessee Titans ahead of their preseason Week 2 game, fans have not seen many of the starters play. This is especially true of the offensive starters.

That might change in preseason Week 3 against the Cleveland Browns. Both Cleveland and the Seahawks are expected to play their starters a bit. Cleveland has a good defense so how well Geno Smith and the rest of the offense does might be telling.

A few things we saw in preseason Week 2 might be easy to overreact to, however. In a couple of cases, because we have mostly seen backups versus backups, some productive players might not be able to transpose that kind of success over to real games. It is simply too easy to overreact to preseason games.

Three easy overreactions to Seahawks preseason Week 2 loss to the Tennessee Titans

Jason Myers might be a problem

The problem with Myers through the first two preseason games is not his ability to kick the ball really far. He can do that. He has made all four of his field goal attempts, including three of 48 yards or more. The two-time Pro Bowler is one of the better kickers in the NFL and he is paid like it.

The issue has been his extra-point attempts. Myers is just one of three on those kicks so far in the preseason. Sure, these are basically meaningless kicks - although his missed extra point against the Tennessee Titans was the difference between a tie game at the end and a Titans victory - but it also doesn't take much for a kicker to begin having the yips with certain situations.

Besides last year, Myers has always missed multiple extra-point kicks each season of his career. The fact is that almost all kickers do because extra points are not as easy as they used to be. Myers should be fine once the real games begin.

Sam Howell is back to being a solid quarterback

As a first-time full-time starter behind a terrible offensive line with the Washington Commanders in 2023, Howell threw 21 interceptions, but he also threw 21 touchdown passes. If not for his athletic ability, he could have been sacked 80 times. Still, Howell needs to cut down on his mistakes if he hopes to be a long-term starter in the league.

For the first part of training camp, Howell did not make the Seahawks feel good about trading for him this offseason. He was inaccurate and late with passes. He didn't seem close to the quality of starter Geno Smith and appeared to be the kind of quarterback a team hopes never plays. The hope became that Howell would be more of a gamer than someone who was good in practice.

Against the Titans, Howell started slowly - he missed a wide-open Jake Bobo by five feet on third down on the first series and then had a fumble of the second series - but overall, he was quite good. He completed 11 of 14 passes and the offense moved decently. The problem is that Howell was going up against Tennessee backups the entire time. We don't yet know if Howell is ready to play QB1 snaps.

Kenny McIntosh cemented a spot on the roster

Through the first two games of the preseason, McIntosh has flashed speed and quickness plus the ability to catch the ball well. While he has also played mostly against backups, he has proven he is better than they are. The question is whether McIntosh is good enough to play RB1 or RB2 reps if something were to happen to Kenneth Walker III or Zach Charbonnet, the top two backs on Seattle's depth chart.

The other important question is how many running backs Seattle keeps on the 53-man roster - three or four. If the answer is four, McIntosh's job seems safe. If it's three, he might need to be worried.

Rookie George Holani has shown to be good in pass protection and can grind out a few yards when needed. Holani did not play as much in preseason Week 2 and that could be a sign that the coaching staff likes what they have seen and he doesn't need to prove more. McIntosh might need a brilliant game against the Cleveland Browns to protect his roster spot.

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