Seattle Seahawks Week 2 Report Card: Some bits of excellence mixed with some hope

Special teams: 2.5/5 stars

Michael Dickson is a superstar (that isn't breaking news) and has been fantastic through two weeks. He leads the NFL in yards-per-punt (55.4) and is sixth in nets-yards-per-punt at 46.3. Except for an awful play by Artie Burns in Week 1 when he failed to down a punt inside the five, Dickson would rank third in net-yards-per-punt. He also has the longest punt in the NFL through two games at 73 yards.

The issue is kicker Jason Myers. He is 3 for 6 on field goal attempts in 2023 and was just 1 of 3 in Week 2. Sure, one was from 56 yards, but the other was from 48 yards and NFL kickers get paid a lot of money to make those. Through two weeks, Myers has the same number of missed field goals as he had through all of last season. Myers signed an extension with Seattle this offseason and is signed through 2026.

Rookies: 3.5/5 stars

This rating would be a bit higher except for cornerback Devon Witherspoon got beat for a touchdown on a flea-flicker. The Lions used Witherspoon's aggressiveness against him as Witherspoon bit on the run leaving Lions receiver Kalif Raymond wide open for a 36-yard touchdown. Witherspoon should learn from that while also maintaining his high level of aggressiveness.

Still, Witherspoon played extremely sticky coverage mostly and clearly doesn't mind hitting people. He got called for a bad pass interference call (the referee had a bad angle to look at the play and made a bad call), but he made it very difficult for Goff to complete passes when he was targeted. This was especially true on a fourth down in the second half when Witherspoon got his arm in to make sure the receiver couldn't catch the ball.

Receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba had 5 catches on 6 targets, but for only 34 yards. Seattle seems to still be figuring out how best to use him. He will get better as the season goes on, most likely.

Running back Zach Charbonnet ran hard but only got 4 carries and caught 2 passes. Backup safety Jerrick Reed II played excellently on special teams and got a huge hit on Lions punt returner Kalif Raymond. This rookie class might not yet be at a 2022 level, but they are clearly going to make a big impact on 2023.

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