It wasn't all gloom and doom for the Seahawks offense
Yes, the Hawks offense fell down on the job on third down. and on fourth down. And in the red zone. Yeesh. I don't feel one bit better, but I can hardly ignore it. So, that being said, the Hawks did generate some offense today. They generated 381 yards and 25 first downs. Neither are earth-shattering numbers, especially as Cincinnati fields what has been a mediocre defense. But through the first five games, the Bengals surrendered averages of 350 yards and 20 first downs. That's not a stout defense by any means, but the Seahawks put up even better numbers. You know, other than on the scoreboard, which are the only numbers that truly matter.
Individually, the Seahawks were a mixed bag on offense. Kenneth Walker III ran for 62 yards on 19 carries and one score. As usual, they were all tough yards for Walker. He was also called for illegal blocks twice, both of which contributed to killing drives. So yeah, that's quite the mixed bag for Walker alone. Geno Smith added 20 yards on four carries, so it was good to see that aspect of his game reassert itself. I'll have more to say about his overall performance in a bit. For some reason, the Hawks only handed off to Zach Charbonnet twice in this game. They did throw his way a couple of times, but considering what we've seen from him so far, he has to get more than four touches in a game. Especially in a game when the offense struggled so much in crunch time.
The passing game was much the same as what we saw on the ground. It was as much about missed opportunities as successes. Well, more, considering that the Seahawks lost. Tyler Lockett was Mr. Reliable as always, hauling in six of his eight targets. DK Metcalf had the kind of game we see crop up between his spectacular performances, as he caught just four of ten targets. Most notably, he and Smith missed the connection on Geno's critical second interception of the game.
On the plus side, we had more Jake Bobo sightings, as he caught two passes for big first downs. Even better, Jaxon Smith-Njigba got on track as we expected, bringing in four of his five targets for 48 yards. That one missed target was a big one; again, we'll get to that. After a few weeks of heavy involvement for the tight ends, they were on a bit of a hiatus again. Colby Parkinson caught three balls for 16 yards, while Will Dissiy and Noah Fant combined for just two catches and 13 yards. It makes no sense to come out of the red zone with just one score out of five trips and give your tight ends so few targets.