The Seattle Seahawks found a new way to play ugly this week. Unfortunately, they lost this time. Hey, we'll take 20 penalties as long as we get the winning version of ugly games. These Seahawks all played major roles in the loss, and all are seeing their stock slide after Week 5.
Man, this was painful to watch. I don't buy into the whole "the other team wanted it more" narrative that gets thrown around so often. These are professional athletes. They all want to win. It's a matter of how prepared and focused they are, and how they execute. The Seahawks absolutely failed to execute against the 49ers. Well, I guess they managed to execute themselves.
Four turnovers against a good team won't get the job done. It's a testament to Seattle's defense that they were in the game at all. The Niners had touchdown "drives" of 18 and 11 yards in the first half. Add the awful fumble in the Seattle end zone, and San Francisco was gifted 21 points. Without that, this is likely a 29-10 (or 11 if they still go for the two-point conversion) Seahawks win. Let's get to it,
These Seattle Seahawks are charting down, and hard
Sam Darnold
Darnold played like he was having flashbacks to his years with the Jets. With two more interceptions, he's now thrown five picks in basically three games. Both of this week's picks were on Darnold, as he locked in on his receivers on both plays. He's still missing open receivers and simply isn't seeing the field well at all.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba took the blame for the huge missed opportunity on third and 10 with less than a minute to play. Yes, he should have caught the ball. But Sam Darnold should have made a better throw. He didn't drop the ball cleanly into JSN's hands, as he has so often. Smith-Njigba had to twist right and go up for the ball. Typically, an easy catch for him. But Darnold could have made it easier.
Darnold threw to the inside when he targeted AJ Barner on the previous play. It would have been a great catch, yes. But again, Darnold could have made it an easy catch if he'd thrown to Barner's outside shoulder. No, Darnold isn't going anywhere. By that, I mean he isn't headed to the bench. But if he doesn't get this right soon, the Seahawks might not be going anywhere, either.
George Holani
Holani wasn't exactly effective coming into this game (averaging just 3.2 yards per carry), but at least he could hang onto the ball. Against the Niners, he managed just seven yards on four carries and demonstrated the ball security of a toddler at recess. Fumbling the ball is bad enough, but in your own end zone? Guess I was right not to trust him in this game.
The offensive line
I cheated and went with the entire offensive line as a unit. The stalwarts of the Seattle offensive line, Charles Cross and Abe Lucas, allowed at least one sack each. Quarterback Sam Darnold was sacked five times and hit eight more. The Seahawks' running game wasn't as invisible as it was versus the Commanders, but 68 yards on 24 carries by the RBs isn't good enough. The line needs to open holes.
Obviously, Seattle can't replace the entire line, so maybe it's disingenuous to say their stock is slipping. I did laugh when, during the broadcast, Kevin Burkhardt said the Seahawks had one of the league's best O-lines. Maybe he watched film from 2005. This line entered the game ranked 10th by Pro Football Focus (subscription required). Well, the B students flunked their exam today.
Josh Jobe
That game-saving interception against the Patriots seems like it happened years ago now. Yes, he was often going against future Hall of Famer wideout Mike Evans, but he might as well have been sitting on the bench for all the good he did for Seattle. Which might not be that far off in the future if he doesn't get his mojo back.
By the way, remember all the chatter about the penalties? Seattle committed just five for 46 yards this week. So Seattle cleaned up one problem, only to create another, with those four turnovers. Maybe the short turnaround this week may help them shake it off and get back to work against the Broncos. One can dream, amiright?
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