Mike Macdonald's Seattle Seahawks have won three straight games and are now 7-5 and in sole possession of first place in the NFC West. The schedule does get tougher over the next few weeks, however. How well Seattle does against the Arizona Cardinals, Green Bay Packers, and Minnesota Vikings will determine how the season will end.
Still, Seattle looks a lot better now, especially defensively, than they did before its Week 10 bye week. The team had lost five of six games. One of those was to the terrible New York Giants.
Maybe things are fixed a bit now, though. Perhaps the defense finally understands what Macdonald wants from them. Still, just imagine how good the Seahawks would be if the offense was working extremely well.
Three overreactions about the Seattle Seahawks from their Week 13 victory against the New York Jets
Ryan Grubb has not been a good offensive coordinator for the Seahawks
As part of the coaching purge this past offseason, Seattle did not bring back former offensive coordinator Shane Waldron. Waldron was hired by the Chicago Bears to be the OC, but he failed again and was fired midseason. While Seattle's offense is certainly struggling, the statistics under Grubb compared to Waldron are a mix of good and bad.
Seattle's yards per play is .1 less than in 2023 so that's a wash. The Seahawks are struggling to run the ball and averaged just 3.9 yards a carry, but last year, the team was only at 4.1. Seattle's drives are longer this year, and third down conversions are up (37.2 percent in 2024 and 36.2 last season). Seattle is also averaging a bit over one point per game more in 2024.
Still, those differences are not so high of an increase that the argument could be made that Grubb is a lot better than Waldron. The truth is that both coordinators were (and Grubb is) hampered by bad offensive line play.
The Seahawks struggle greatly in short-yardage situations because the offense line does not get a push in the run game and cannot protect quarterback Geno Smith long enough to have quick plays develop. Grubb does need to improve in short-yardage play-calling, but he'd look better with a better O-line.
Jay Harbaugh has made the Seahawks special teams worse
This one gets weird. The Seahawks' special teams was a horrible mess in the first half of Week 13. Seattle botched three kickoffs - two of the fumbles ended up in the hands of the Jets, had an extra point blocked, and allowed a kickoff return for a touchdown and another of more than 40 yards. Seattle did block an extra point as well, though.
Entering the game, Seattle actually led the NFL in fewest average yards per kickoff return. That would imply what the Jets accomplished was a one-off. Seattle has shown to be better than they were against New York. Perhaps if Jason Myers were told to kick the ball into the end zone, which he has proven he can do, that would help. Again, though, Seattle was mostly having success in kickoff coverage before Week 13 so while Myers was only getting touchbacks on 47 percent of his kickoffs, the scheme was working.
Harbaugh, like Ryan Grubb, might still be adjusting from what worked in his college coaching career to what works in the NFL. Myers is having a good season, though, while punter Michael Dickson is not compared to many of his previous seasons. Does the credit (or blame) go to those veteran players or Harbaugh? One thing is certain: Seattle cannot afford another special teams meltdown like we saw versus the Jets.
Ernest Jones IV is a long-term answer at one starting inside linebacker spot
Jones has certainly been an improvement over Jerome Baker, who Jones was traded for midseason. He is not much better than Tyrel Dodson was, but at least Dodson being released opened a spot for Tyrice Knight to play and Knight has been OK. Jones has also been active and plays solid run defense, but a lot of his value in 2023 with the Los Angeles Rams came from designed quarterback pressures and Jones won't do that in Seattle.
The inside linebacker also had arguably his worst game as a Seahawk in Week 13. He whiffed on three tackle attempts - a rate equal to missing 27.3 of all his tackle attempts - and once again did not have a quarterback pressure. Jones is a good player, but whether he is worth whatever his asking price will be in free agency next offseason (especially when the Seahawks have little money to spend) is in question.