The Seattle Seahawks gave up a touchdown on the opponent's opening drive for the third straight week. Unlike those games, Seattle wasn't able to respond. Things got worse from there, largely by awful miscues by two of their stars, Geno Smith and Riq Woolen,
The Hawks came out firing on no cylinders on the Packers' opening drive. Green Bay running back handled the ball on nine of their ten plays on that drive. That should come as no surprise, as Jacobs completely destroyed the Seahawks the last time he faced them. I think 229 yards on the ground and another 74 yards receiving qualify for destruction, right?
I was worried that the Hawks might not be up to the challenge of playing the Packers. In their four-game win streak, Seattle had only beaten mediocre teams, while Green Bay had only lost to the league's best teams. I hoped I was wrong, of course Unfortunately, the Hawks proved me right. Two players appeared to work very hard to prove my point.
Geno Smith and Riq Woolen put the Seahawks too far back to come back
The Seahawks followed the Packers opening drive with a quick three-and-out of their own. The defense, which had played much better over the last four games, reverted back to their pre-bye week form. The Packers drove the length of the field again. After 13:06 of the first quarter, Seattle was down 14-0.
The Seahawks and Pack traded field goals to get the score to 17-3. Seattle's offense finally looked like it was clicking, as Smith completed six passes to four different receivers. Seattle was set with second and nine at the Green Bay 12-yard line. After a solid night, Geno Smith decided the time was right to be the bad Geno Smith.
On second down, he was nearly picked off as he tried to force the ball to Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Not satisfied with a pretty bad play, he went into Week 9 mode and threw a terrible ball on third down. He forced the ball into double coverage on Noah Fant and hit the wrong jersey. The Packers got the ball out to their own 14.
Smith was knocked out of the game later, but by then the Packers had a 20-3 lead. One of the biggest reasons Seattle trailed was their star cornerback, Riq Woolen, Although the way he played tonight, he looked much more like a former star player.
On Green Bay's first drive, Woolen added 15 yards to a 13-yard completion to Josh Jacobs. He blew up QB Jordan Love for absolutely no reason, well after the ball was away. Just because you don't get to blitz the quarterback very often, that doesn't mean you get to hit him no matter what.
On Green Bay's second drive, Woolen was victimized again. It was second and eight at the Seattle 13-yard line. Jordan Love hit Joshua Doubs over the middle at the seven, with Woolen in tight coverage. instead of dropping down to make the tackle, Woolen tried to wrestle him down by the shoulders from behind. Doubs had all the momentum going forward, while Woolen had none. Julian Love came in, but Woolen actually helped push Doubs into the end zone. That isn't exactly the greatest tackling technique I've ever seen.
Woolen wasn't done, either. He completely misplayed a deep ball on the Packers' next drive. Jordan Love threw down the left sideline for Christian Watson. Woolen got turned around and let the ball sail over his head for a 35-yard strike. Yes, Watson made a terrific catch, worthy of Tyler Lockett. But Woolen should have been there.
Between those awful plays, the Hawks fell behind 17-3. The defense picked it up later in the game before folding at the end. The Seahawks dropped to second in the division as the Los Angeles Rams turned the San Francisco 49ers back on Thursday night.
We all knew how big that Week 9 loss was, and it looms even larger now. The issue was that was not Seattle's only bad loss. Losing to the New York Giants in Week 5 is simply unforgivable now. A victory over that now-2-12 team would still have the Seahawks in first place in the division currently.