The Seattle Seahawks are about to begin their 2023 season! Sweet! After months that feel like years of waiting, another season is upon us.
2022, of course, saw Seattle far exceed expectations which means expectations in 2023 are higher. This is especially true as Seattle appears to have chosen another good rookie class. Some of those players, such as Jaxon Smith-Njigba, should augment an already playoff-caliber team.
But which players need to ball out in Week 1 to get Seattle off to a good start? Seattle's Week 1 opponent, the Los Angeles Rams, might not have as much talent but their coach, Sean McVay, knows the Seahawks too well for LA not to be a dangerous team for Seattle. That said, here are three players that need to be great in Week 1 for Seattle to win.
Seahawks need Dre'Mont Jones big in Week 1
All right, Mr. Jones. Seahawks general manager John Schneider spent a lot of money on you thinking you could be a transformative player for the defensive line. Sure, you need to stop the run, but you need to chase down quarterbacks at an even higher clip than you have done in the past. But stopping the run might need to be your focus in Week 1.
Rams coach Sean McVay is no idiot, of course. He knows how to exploit any weaknesses in a defense, even if his offense doesn't have as many weapons as it has in previous seasons. Plus, there is a good chance that receiver Cooper Kupp doesn't play in Week 1. This will be a diminished Rams offense that can still probably do one thing well: Run the ball.
Have I mentioned Los Angeles will want to run the ball? Seattle was atrocious stopping the run last year, as 12s all know. And Jones didn't grade out all that well himself at run defense, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required). But many Broncos watchers in 2022 have said Jones' grade was wrong and he can be a disruptor. He will need to prove he can be in Seattle's first game of 2023.
Seahawks need Geno Smith to be accurate Week 1
Geno Smith doesn't need to hit a career-high in yards-per-pass in Week 1. He just needs to be efficient. And much of that efficiency will come through accuracy, of course. Smith led the league in accuracy last season, though he slipped a bit near the end of last year. That said, Smith still led the NFL in completion percentage at 69.8.
Against the Rams in 2022 (and Los Angeles always seems to give Seattle fits no matter how much talent LA has), Smith threw 4 touchdown passes against 3 interceptions. That's not a great ration. In the final week of last year, when Seattle absolutely had to have a victory to have any chance of making the postseason, Smith struggled at first and then threw a beautiful touchdown pass to Tyler Lockett in the third quarter.
For Seattle to be victorious in Week 1, Smith needs to be much more of the quarterback who threw the pass to Lockett than the one in the early part of the game. The Rams are probably not going to pass the Seahawks into oblivion, but rather try to play solid defense and control the clock offensively. Winning a close, short game is probably the Rams best chance.
Or Seattle could flip the script on Los Angeles and try to win behind the excellent running of Kenneth Walker and a bunch of Smith passes for 10-15 yards. I'd rather see a Geno Smith game of 70 percent of his passes completed and 260 yards than 400 yards and 2-3 interceptions. But a win is a win.
Seahawks need DK Metcalf to be explosive Week 1
OK, so while I meant what I said on the previous slide, let's put that aside for a minute. Los Angeles traded cornerback Jalen Ramsey this offseason and the Rams have no one that should be able to shade DK Metcalf. Of course, Metcalf had some excellent games against Ramsey and the Rams because he gets up for challenges like that. Could Metcalf be slightly less motivated in Week 1 because the Rams don't have Ramsey?
Or DK Metcalf could begin the 2023 season red hot and carry that throughout the remainder of the year. I still think if the Seahawks have to have one pass completed that Tyler Lockett is a safer bet over Metcalf because Lockett has the hands of a god, but Metcalf is capable of being the more explosive player. Maybe Lockett leads the team in catches in Week 1, but Metcalf could have the better numbers overall.
In 2022 with Metcalf facing Ramsey, he had two completely different games. In the first meeting - Week 13 - Metcalf had 8 catches for 127 yards and a touchdown - but he was relatively shut down in Week 18 with only 3 catches for 40 yards. Again, there is no Jalen Ramsey this year for the Rams, but Los Angeles still has Aaron Donald and could be capable of limiting the time Geno Smith has to throw.
Obviously, if Geno Smith doesn't have much time to pass then Metcalf's deep routes have less time to develop. But I am going to assume Seattle's offensive line is better this year and, therefore, the pass blocking is better. My guess is that Metcalf has three explosive catches of 25-plus yards and gets over 100 for the day.