Here we are, over a week after the Seattle Seahawks won a sloppy Monday Night Football against a tough Houston Texans team, and still they have yet to make any trade. I won’t lie. I am pretty surprised that they haven’t, and I might even say that I’m a little bit annoyed.
The bye week felt like the optimal time to tweak the roster a bit with an addition (or two), and have those players ready to practice before flying to DC for a Sunday Night Football match against the struggling yet formidable Washington Commanders. Guess I misread the tea leaves on what Seattle would be doing this past week.
They could still make a trade, of course. The trade deadline is exactly one week away from today. I just felt like this past week would have been more ideal in getting a newly acquired player out here and settled into practicing.
There is also the possibility that Seattle sees things differently with players they already have, and believe that they have all the pieces necessary to compete for the division title. After all, they currently rest tied for first place in the division, and will have three of their top defenders returning to their already top shelf defense. They will also have impressive rookie fullback Robbie Ouzts returning to their offense to help put a little extra mustard in their run game with possibly second year guard Christian Haynes returning from IR to practice at right guard behind the somewhat struggling Anthony Bradford.
The return of Ouzts will definitely get any diehard Seattle Seahawk fan’s excitement level up some, but the idea of Haynes mixing in with Bradford probably isn’t going to get even the most optimistic fan’s juices flowing. When thinking about trade scenarios in regards to the Seahawks, most fans will probably point to right guard with all the Tik Tok videos gone viral ripping on Bradford, and the fact that Haynes was never able to beat him out last Summer during training camp, in the first place.
The problem is, however, that bad interior offensive line play is a league wide epidemic. The 49ers, for example, have a horrendous offensive line situation that they surviving despite of, and the list is long filled with other teams behind them in a similar boat. In my opinion, a bad team is less likely to part with a decent offensive lineman because that player will be seen as a building block for next season.
Even Wyatt Teller, the 30 year old pro bowl guard for the Browns who is set to be a free agent this offseason, could be hard to pry out Cleveland. The common fan might assume that he wants out of there, and the Browns in a lost season would be sellers, but Kevin Stefanski is a good coach, and the Browns might be well positioned to draft their next quarterback next Spring with how their season is going. In short, Cleveland might be holding onto hope that Teller will be a pending free agent that they can convince to stick around.
As I look around the league at other bad teams, I don’t know if I see another offensive lineman worth trading for who will likely be better than what Seattle already has. Second year guard/center Jackson Powers-Johnson appears to be on the outs with Pete Carroll in Vegas, but if he can’t vibe with ultra positive player friendly Pete, is he going to be a guy who Seattle will take interest in? 35 year old pro bowler Kevin Zeitler might like to get out of Tennessee, but would the Titans want to trade their best offensive lineman in a year where they are trying to develop their star rookie quarterback?
Even Cesar Ruiz with the Saints, a player I have mentioned multiple times as a potential trade target for Seattle (given the familiarity OC Klint Kubiak has with him), feels like a pipe dream trade scenario. He’s young and contracted for multiple years, and NOLA is trying to build a new foundation with their young head coach in place. Trading away a 26 year old right guard who has played decently in the past feels too counterproductive to what they want to do moving forward.
Sticking with the Saints, you could say that Trevor Penning, their former 2022 first round pick who busted out at tackle and has shifted to the left guard role for them, could be a reasonable target. Maybe, but maybe not if NOLA wants to continue taking a good long look at him at guard. Again, poor interior offensive line play is a league wide issue, and teams with young talent are probably more apt to want to see them developed through the trials and tribulations of a season then wanting to trade these guys away for a bag of peanuts and make a bad situation worse.
Think of it this way; Anthony Bradford might be the most suspect player on Seattle’s starting offensive line, but what exists behind him might be way worse. For as bad as some of these selectively edited Tik Tok videos are of him, he has the size and strength to win on initial contact against bigger defensive tackles in the league regularly while run blocking. It is just him climbing to the second level of a defense where things can go comical for an online content creator. If you take away Bradford with this offensive line, and insert Haynes or someone else, there is no guarantee that player wins regularly on initial contact, and therefore, you make a not so great situation worse. Same goes for bad teams trading away offensive lineman.
The hope for every team with a bad offensive line situation is that young players grow together through the course of an NFL season. The hope for NOLA is that Penning and Ruiz develop together in a lost season. The hope in Tennessee is that Cam Ward is protected enough with Zeitler on the line, that he grows as a passer as a rookie. The hope in Vegas is probably that JPJ can be reached by Carroll and Chip Kelly. The hope in Cleveland is probably that they can convince Wyatt Teller to sign an extension next offseason instead of collecting a mid to late round pick for him now.
The hope here in Seattle is probably that Anthony Bradford can settle in more at right guard coming out of the bye week, like it, or not. This doesn’t mean that Seattle won’t try to search for a good veteran guard option on the trade market if a bad team suddenly says uncle in the eleventh hour of the trade deadline. It just means that maybe that type of trade isn’t likely coming, and Seattle has to look at other means to maybe further fortify their team heading into the second half of the season.
If I were in GM John Schneider’s shoes right now, with the trade deadline approaching, I would stay on the offensive side of the ball, and figure out a way to improve my team’s third down success rate which as drastically dropped in the last two games from somewhat respectable to bad. I think perhaps the best way to do that is to give Sam Darnold one more weapon to throw the ball at on obvious passing downs.
With the kind of year that Jaxon Smith Njigba is having, it might sound a bit weird to suggest that Seattle needs more at receiver, but when you look at what is behind JSN, I am not so sure. Cooper Kupp is great in the run game as a perimeter blocker, and he provides a decent option for Darnold to throw at on first and second downs, but on third and long, he lacks separation needed when defenses know Seattle needs to pass. Tory Horton had a promising start to his rookie season, but has quieted down considerably over the past few games, and against the Texans on MNF, Darnold’s connection with him seemed noticeably off. I think Jake Bobo just sorta is what he is, and he will never be a quick separation guy on critical third downs.
It feels more unlikely now that NOLA will trade away Chris Olave, so I am kissing that pipe dream scenario away bye bye for Seattle, but I am wondering if his mate, Rashid Shaheed, could be a viable draft target. Shaheed knows Klint Kubiak’s system, and is a speed demon receiver who I think Seattle could use quite a bit on all three passing downs, if they needed to pass more.
He’s a natural run after catch guy, and he’s a field stretcher. His presence on third downs, with JSN, and Kupp would likely give a defensive coordinator a thing or two to think about. He’s also a great returner and would provide extra special teams value to an already good special teams situation.
Another receiver that I think might be a viable option for Seattle is disgruntled Raiders receiver Jakobi Meyers, and I do wonder if a player for player move would be almost inevitable for him. While, personally, I wouldn’t trade away Riq Woolen at this point given the injuries Seattle has endured in their secondary this year, the return of Devon Witherspoon to the defense does open up some possibility of it.
I can imagine Carroll wanting to add Woolen to his defense given their background together. I can imagine Seattle seeing the addition of Meyers as a rental player for the second half of their season being a spark for their obvious passing down offense. I can see Meyers seeing at opportunity to further spark Seattle’s offense as they aim for the playoffs being a better opportunity to cash in as an NFL free agent next Winter than sticking around in Vegas during a wasted season would be for him. I can see a scenario where a third down three receiver set of JSN, Kupp, and Meyers would have an exciting feel for Seahawk fans.
Another benefit of adding Meyers or Shaheed to this offense on second half of the season rental contracts is that either addition wouldn’t necessarily impede Tory Horton’s development as a potential future WR2 to JSN. I’m still a Horton believer, but it is noticeable how quieted down he became in the last two games where he didn’t catch a single pass while being targeted. That’s not good enough, but it is worth noting that in the last two games, Seattle faced two top end defenses.
This leads me to think Seattle doesn’t need to break the bank for a Chris Olave, or a Garrett Wilson, or even a AJ Brown. They just need a veteran who made gets this offense a bit more than a rookie fifth round pick, and maybe in that, adds a bit more of a secure third down passing option for Darnold.
I would be awesome to get a stud offensive lineman, but I am not holding my breath on it. I think that is probably a move for next offseason.
But I do think giving Darnold another viable target on third downs could be the difference between being a playoff contender to being a championship worthy team this year with this defense, and the explosive nature of this offense on first and second downs.
I have been around this planet for many years now. Football isn’t new to me. Baseball isn’t new, either. When I was a kid, I thought a guy named Mean Joe Green was the coolest dude on the planet, and Reggie Jackson was my other guy based on commercials I saw on TV as I collected KISS trading cards while I was playing with Kenner Star Wars action figures in the living room while my father sat in front of his TV watching Howard Cosell on Monday Night Football.
If you have no idea about what any of that stuff is in that last sentence, then you are probably biologically young enough to be my child. So please take this to heart when I say that I’ve been around the block a few times, I have seen a lot of games on television, and in person, and I cannot recall an evening like this one on Monday night, when I was glued to Mariners playoff game in late October, and then by about the 6th inning, I started watching the Seattle Seahawks, my most favorite team on the planet, kickoff a late Monday Night Football game that I felt was a very important one for them to win.
Thank God for modern technology, and split screen capabilities that allowed me to track both games. I have no idea what I would have done back in 1999, if this rare situation had presented itself. I suppose I would have had one game on the television while the other one was blaring on the radio, but even in this technological easy way to track both games, I felt myself wildly pulled by emotions and events.
First off, my apologies if you feel like I am not as big of a Seattle Mariner fan as I am a Seattle Seahawk one. It is true that the Seahawks are, and have always been team number one for me, and this blog reflects that, but I had deep investment in the Mariners this year.
I badly wanted them to defeat the Toronto Blue Jays, and advance to the World Series for the first time in franchise history. I wanted it for this region, for the millions of deeply devoted Mariner fans, and I wanted it for myself to experience a World Series played in my hometown for the first time ever.
I also really, really wanted to see the Seahawks play dominant on Monday night at home against a tough Houston Texans team, and get a quality home win, which they haven’t been getting enough of in these past few years. For as much as I wanted the M’s to get past Toronto, I equally was invested in a young Seahawks team showing up big on prime time at home. This is how I chose to sports fan on my Monday night, and at times, it felt like I was on a mushroom bender with a few lines of cocaine added for good measure.
I would watch one side of the screen, seeing Sam Darnold easily guide Seattle’s offense down for a score against the top scoring defense in the league, turn attention to the baseball game for a moment, and then turn back to the football game only to see Cooper Kupp inexplicably throw a dumb interception in the red zone. I would be glued to the Seahawk defense kicking ass on CJ Stroud only to notice the Blue Jays belt in enough runs to take a 3-4 lead over the Mariners in the final innings of the game.
I couldn’t tell if I was loving this fan experience or if I was tortured by it. It felt like the few relationships I have had with women who carried with them borderline personality disorders. I was traumatized and mesmerized simultaneously.
Don’t ask me to explain sports fandom to anyone. For those who don’t sport, they are not likely to get it, and while I am a sports dork, I don’t always understand why I place so much importance on my teams, and the deeply imbedded need to see them to win.
If I were to get to the root of it for me, myself, personally, I would probably say it has a thing or two to do about region. I am deeply provisional in my love of the PNW. I spent my whole life up here being constantly reminded that it isn’t Texas, or California, Florida, or New York by everything I watched on TV. In the late eighties, I became a fan of Twin Peaks not because of David Lynch, but because it was set in rural Washington State, and its quirkiness vibe to the region felt correct.
My love of the PNW comes with deeply embedded calluses. It is the fact that we are so much more isolated away from the rest of the country, and there is this perpetual chip on the shoulder we will often carry around because of it. The Pacific Northwest is a gorgeous kick ass region in North America with all kinds of natural beauty, and industry, but the rest of the continent tends to forget about us here. This makes me dig into local teams more than maybe I would otherwise have an inclination to have.
I mean, if I had grown up in Southern California, I probably would’ve been a douchey surfer guy more consumed about my body waxes and girls in skimpy bikinis than what the Lakers or Rams were doing. I wasn’t going to evolve into that in Ferndale, Washington, as a teen.
So while I am not really that much of a baseball fan, I am a Seattle Mariner fan. Now that they are out of the race, I doubt I will watch any of the World Series games between Toronto and Los Angeles. I will just watch more football games because I am a football fan, not just because of the Seahawks, but because I truly do love the hyper violent, ridiculous, car crash nature of the sport.
I will say this about the 2025 Seattle Mariners, though. I am really proud of this team. They brought me back to baseball in a way that I haven’t felt since 2001. I think they had a kick ass year, and I think they are in a great window of at least a few more years to finally get a World Series. I will be heavily invested in them as they strive for that level of contention. I believe they will do it.
I am not here to second guess Dan Wilson’s decisions in game seven with his pitching rotation. When shit doesn’t work, it is very easy to criticize. I think if someone were to tell any Mariners fan that this team would advance as far as game seven of the ALCS back last Spring, they would have gladly signed up for that. I know I would have.
What I will say is that if anyone says “same old Mariners” in reaction to this painfully raw game seven loss, you have my permission to kick them as hard as possible in the baby maker region of their anatomy. Just square up nail them as hard as possible.
This team was far from the “same ol M’s.” Dan Wilson had this team rocking all season long, Cal Raleigh became a household name, and the Mariners front office made bold moves necessary before the trade deadline to potentially put them over the top. They were inspiring this year. They just fell a bit short.
As for the Seahawks against the Texans, they did what they had to do to get an important home win, and extend their record to 5-2, and that is all I cared about for this game. It wasn’t all together pretty, Sam Darnold didn’t have his finest game going against the top scoring defense in the league, but he did enough, and the Seahawk defense was kick ass, yet again, without three of their top players.
This game came down to a win that I thought was going to be probable for Seattle. There would be struggles on offense against a very strong Texan defense, and Seattle’s defense would take advantage of a Texan offensive line that is horrendously bad. For as up and down and Darnold and company were, dropping 27 points on a Texan defense that previously held Baker Mayfield and Tampa Bay to 20 points is something I would gladly take.
For the Seahawks moving forward into this bye week, I would love to see them take a page out of the 2025 Mariners playbook. I would like to see GM John Schneider make a couple trades to help them win this highly competitive NFC West division this year.
I think they have their quarterback situation solved with Darnold, so go get him another piece on offense. Watching this game against the Texans, I say go get him another receiver to pair with Jaxon Smith Njigba. Maybe make a big trade for Saints star receiver Chris Olave, or see if they can get his mate Rashid Shaheed added to mix in with JSN, Cooper Kupp, and Tory Horton. Both have played for OC Klint Kubiak and would come in during the bye week knowing this scheme, and both would be exciting additions.
The other move I would make is for the defense. I would love to see Seattle add one defender of significance to make a promising defense potentially the top overall defense in the league this year. That could mean first round picks for Maxx Crosby, or it could mean a lockdown cornerback, or a top level safety, or linebacker. Just give me one guy who transforms this very good defense into a truly elite one.
As much as I want to second guess Kubiak’s play calling on offense against the Texans, I understood why he continued to dial up pass plays late in the second half that led to a couple fumbles and an interception. Seattle has a quarterback and receiver duo that you want to stay hot with, and you don’t want to shut that down, and turtle neck against a top defense. So give Darnold another target, and give JSN another mate as this season rolls along against a number of tough defenses remaining on this schedule. Ride the hot hands, I say, and add to them.
But also give me one more defensive piece, and I almost don’t care what it is. Last week, I thought they needed to go get a weak side linebacker, but over the past two games, Drake Thomas has been playing pretty damn strong. Maybe it is a corner with Devon Witherspoon being banged up. Maybe it’s another safety with Julian Love’s hamstring situation.
Maybe it is a big bold move for Crosby. Wouldn’t that be fun?
What an incredible weekend for Seattle sports fans. On Friday Night, the Team Of Destiny Seattle Mariners defeated the Detroit Tigers in 15 innings of gritty baseball to advance to the ALCS, and on Sunday evening, they took game one in Toronto against a well rested Blue Jays team. On Sunday morning, the Seahawks kicked off against a talented Jaguars team in Jacksonville, and they beat them down, 20-12, to advance to 4-2, and a three way tie for first place in the NFC West.
After losing a tough high scoring shootout battle against the Tampa Bay Bucs last weekend, I had a lot of Sunday morning nerves about the Seahawks chances in Jacksonville. The Jaguars have been the big surprise storyline in the NFL this season, thus far. They have been winning by playing smart football, establishing the run, and playing impressive defense. Their defense, in fact, had been leading the league in creating turnovers heading into Sunday. Trevor Lawrence, while not at the red hot level of Sam Darnold, or Baker Mayfield this year, felt like a talented young quarterback finally starting to turn the corner as a pro.
Seattle’s defense, last week, played like wet butt against Baker Mayfield, to be brutally blunt. For Seattle to win this game, I thought we would have to rely on Darnold playing another strong game, and we would have to hope that Seattle’s defense would find with within itself to hold it together while missing three quarters of its starting secondary again for the second straight game. That last part felt like a big ask.
Well, apparently Mike Macdonald still knows a thing or two about coaching NFL defenses because Seattle’s defense kicked the snot out of Lawrence, and company on their home turf. Didn’t see this coming, but it was a sight to see. On Sunday, Seattle had the better quarterback and defense, and they won because of that.
The defense wasn’t perfect, and neither was Darnold, but they were pretty damn close to it. Darnold had one bad play where he put the ball in harm’s way at a critical time late in the game, but he was otherwise brilliant as a passer, yet again. In terms of the defense, I still think there remained issues on the backend with coverage minus starting safety Julian Love, and corners Riq Woolen and Devon Witherspoon, and this game showed it. I also think that there remains some concerns with linebacker, as well, but holy smokes did Seattle’s pass rush show up big time when it was desperately needed.
I don’t think it is hyperbole to state the Seattle has perhaps the top DT tandem in the league with Leonard Williams and Byron Murphy pass rushing together inside, and the return of edge rusher DeMarcus Lawrence was sight to behold with how he stopped the run and pass rushed.
Still, with all the talent that Seattle has on their defensive line, it was clear that Mike Macdonald felt they had to blitz Lawrence in order to effect Jacksonville’s passing attack. Up until this game, Seattle had not been known as a big blitzing team in the league. Macdonald loves to rush four and drop seven. Against Lawrence, however, perhaps Macdonald sensed a opportunity to go after him a bit more knowing he’s still not the most polished passer in the league, and the blitz would help his depleted secondary some.
This was the sense I got out of this game. If Seattle was in a match with a top tier quarterback, they might have done things differently, and lost like they did last week. This is the main reason why I believe that sitting at 4-2 now, in a wide open NFC, Seattle should look to deal for an impact defender, or two. I want two more pieces, and I want them now.
It is clear that through six games, Seattle has one of the best quarterbacks in the league playing for them. Sam Darnold has played through six games, against six really good defenses, and by most metrics, he’s played elite against them all. I think the chances are that as this season progresses, he and his receivers will only get better.
Would it be fun to add Chris Olave who played for Klint Kubiak last year? Sure. Is it necessary? Not as much as adding a quality linebacker next to Ernest Jones, or safety depth.
Jaxon Smith Njigba feels like a better receiver than Justin Jefferson now, and perhaps the top receiver in the game (not hyperbole). Cooper Kupp is proving a solid complimentary piece to JSN. AJ Barner has significantly progressed as a starting tight end, and Tory Horton remains an intriguing third receiver. Ken Walker and Zach Charbonnet are playing better within this scheme now, and feel like a very solid one two punch together as runners. This young offensive line, while still needing work as a run blocking unit, has been a revelation in terms of how it has pass blocked together.
Then there is Darnold, who is Pro Football Focus’s favorite quarterback. Everything he is doing feels sustainable in this offense, and he feels like he can be the guy here in Seahawk blue for the next six to seven years pretty easily.
All of this leads me to the place of feeling very strongly that Seattle should not feel queasy about surrendering draft picks in 2026 to fortify their defense more. To my eyes, the Seahawks should look to improve their situation at weak side linebacker, and depth at safety. For as much as it was fun to see the pass rush return against Jacksonville, I would love to see them make a big splash at edge rush, if they can, as well, but for my money, I want a quality starting WILL linebacker next to Ernest Jones, allowing Tyrice Knight and Drake Thomas to be quality backups, and I need stronger insurance at safety in place of Julian Love being out, and the potential of Coby Bryant getting banged up, too.
The NY Jets are now starring at 0-6, and they have quality players on their defense despite their losing ways. Veteran linebacker Quincy Williams would be an ideal addition to Mike Macdonald’s defense, but the 49ers have lost All Pro LB Fred Warner for the season with a broken ankle and their DC is Robert Saleh, formerly the head coach of the Jets. With Seattle and San Fran tied for the division lead, it seems destined that both teams will be now looking at making trades, and it seems natural that Saleh would look towards a former player of his, but there are other teams pretty much out of contention now that the Seattle could look towards.
The Miami Dolphins, in particular, are now 1-5, and their head coach is on the verge of getting fired. They have former Seahawk Jordyn Brooks who John Schneider wanted to bring back last year, but couldn’t get a deal done. Miami plays a defense that features a very similar scheme to what Seattle deploys and Brooks played a lot of WILL and MIKE backer in his time. I wouldn’t be surprised if Seattle looked to reunite with him.
Speaking of former Seattle Seahawk, the Titans have also now dropped to 1-5, and Quandre Diggs is playing safety for them. He was a popular player in Seattle for a spell, and at the very least would offer valuable veteran leadership and depth. Could Seattle look to reunite? It’s an interesting thought.
Another former Seahawk defender with the Titans is linebacker Cody Barton who blossomed more in the league after he left Seattle. He’s played well for a good Bronco’s defense last year, and is a natural WILL linebacker who has been good in coverage. I think he’s a consideration.
The Saints are also now 1-5, and they have two talented veteran linebackers that they could look to deal, and they have a very interesting edge rusher in Carl Granderson who would be a fun addition to Seattle’s pass rush, if they want to further bolster it.
Then there is the 1-5 Baltimore Ravens, the team that Mike Macdonald was the defensive coordinator for. The Ravens already dealt off one of their young edge rushers, but what about star linebacker Roquan Smith? He was a Macdonald favorite in Baltimore, the player they traded for from the Bears who solidified his defense into being the best in the league. Could Seattle be eyeing him to come in and partner with Ernest Jones? It’s an extremely interesting thought.
One more Macdonald favorite from Baltimore would be safety Geno Stone who is currently on the 2-4. He was an intercepting machine for Macdonald in 2023. Maybe he’s a guy they now make a play for? It would make sense.
One thing to keep in mind for Seattle is the wild card of hybrid rookie player Nick Emmonwari who through two games since coming back from his week one injury, as been playing on fire for the defense. Emmonwari plays exclusively a Big Nickel role, which if you do not know what that it, it is like a hybrid of a safety/nickel corner/linebacker. He is being groomed into being the ultimate chess piece in Macdonald’s defense that mostly plays in a 4-2-5 front, and basically, while Emmonwari lists on the roster as a safety, he functions almost more like a linebacker who covers slot receivers and tight ends.
The main reason why I bring this up about Emmonwari is that it is unreasonable to assume that he’s going to take over either of the deep safety roles of this defense anytime soon, if at all. Same with an idea that he could fill in at WILL linebacker. His niche is this Big Nickel spot that will likely be the single most unique trait to the Seahawk defense moving forward. He is Macdonald’s eraser in the flat, making life difficult for tight ends, running backs and receivers in a specific area of the field while also providing blitz abilities. If anything, as he gets more comfortable in this role, his presence might relegate Devon Witherspoon to a more pure outside corner position moving forward.
Which leads me to the Seahawk cornerback position, and my uncertainty whether they need do go out and acquire more talent there. I think this game against the Jaguars showed that if you can get enough competent safety and linebacker coverage play, cornerback for this particular defense might be more plug and play that I had been thinking in recent weeks. If Seattle has two really good coverage backers, and really good safeties, and Emmonwari, perhaps they can survive on Josh Jobe, Derion Kendrick, Shaq Griffin, along with Spoon coming back, and perhaps Riq Woolen can be a player dealt for a veteran at another spot.
Final thing before I close this one out. I have listed linebacker and safety as my biggest needs for this team, and side mentioned edge rusher. I don’t want to dismiss the idea of Seattle making a big shocking move for a big named edge rusher who might be out there on the Market. The Bengals are 2-4 and so are the Vegas Raiders.
Trey Hendrickson is a name long been tossed out as a potential trade target for the Seahawks dating back to training camp. He is 30 years old and is on the last year of his contract. I don’t know if he is someone the Bengals will deal or be very stubborn about, but I don’t think the trade for Joe Flacco is going to save their season, and if Seattle offered their third round pick for him as a rental with a chance to sign back in the offseason, that feels like a pick that could prove valuable to the Bengals as they look to build more through the draft than ever with all the big contracts given to their receivers and quarterback. This would feel like a very John Schneider move to make now, and maybe Macdonald just sees winning with top shelf pass rush as the way to win the division more so than linebacker and safety or corner help.
Then there is the Raiders with one Maxx Crosby, who while he is Mr Raider, at age 28 how much longer does he really want to wait out this team finally getting competent?
They could have pursued Sam Darnold last offseason, but Tom Brady stepped in and waived that away, wanting 35 year old Geno Smith, instead, who has been awful for them. They beat the lowly Titans, 10-20, but again, Geno didn’t look great, and they now have to face the gauntlet of facing the Chiefs, Jags, and Broncos over the next three games. They could easily be 2-7 in a few weeks with a busted season.
It was reported that Schneider asked about Crosby in the Geno trade and was willing to deal DK there in addition for him last offseason. What if Seattle offered Vegas a couple first round picks for Crosby? Vegas would have the draft capital necessary to find their next quarterback, and more properly fill out their roster, and Seattle would get to add a star edge rusher who is contracted through 2029. It feels win win for both organizations.
This is an idea that was floated out last week by Rob Staton of Seahawks Draft Blog, and I think it is a really interesting one. I just don’t know if the Raiders front office would be ballsy enough to trade their most popular player, and supremely piss off the majority of its fanbase, but it is a fun thought for Seattle in terms of going all in.
And, at this point, why not go all in on this team this year? The Rams, Seahawks, and 49ers are all resting at 4-2, so why not create a NFC West arms race battle for the division?
Seattle’s arguably got the hottest quarterback in the division right now, and certainly one of the hottest ones in the entire conference and league. They also have the hottest receiver in the league in JSN. They have an offensive line that is generally not terrible and is actually pretty decent at pass blocking, and I think their run game is showing some signs of turning the corner. While I would love to see them trade for an upgrade at center or right guard, I don’t see quality centers or guards being available on the market.
So, why not make a good defense an absolutely terrifyingly defense now?
I think John Schneider and Mike Macdonald should think big about what might be out there, and go get it. Roquan Smith added to this defense sounds fun. Maxx Crosby sounds franchise altering. I’m ready to think big for this team, and I hope the front office is, too.
This game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers yesterday was one that had my mind filled with emotions, and thoughts. It was the Seahawks 50th Anniversary Game with a halftime celebration of the 50th best players in franchise history, and I would have loved to have been there for that. Due to the significance of it, I really wanted to see Seattle win this one. Then there is the issue with the quarterbacks.
I was very much looking forward to seeing a QB duel between Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold. I liked both quarterbacks a lot coming out of the 2018 draft, and when Seattle was looking towards trading Russell Wilson, they were the two quarterbacks out there who I was most interested in seeing Seattle acquire. I felt either would have been well worth a shot to see if they could be the guy. So, with this particular match, I was really into seeing how these guys would play against each other, and it did not disappoint. I just didn’t love the outcome.
I would also say that Emeka Egbuka was very much a player that I was interested in Seattle drafting last Spring. Given that he was a local kid who grew up a Seahawks fan, that Seattle had some need at receiver, and he was very good at Ohio State, I loved the idea of it (even though I preferred them drafting guard Grey Zabel given the bigger need). So, I could say that his stellar play in this match has given my views on him further credence, as well. Imagine him and JSN together up here with Darnold throwing them darts.
Overall, my biggest reaction to this game is that it was a shame Sam Darnold’s last play in this game ended with a pick over the middle on a pass deflected off of a helmet. Aside from that moment, Sam was having his best game as a Seahawk, and was poised to have perhaps the best game of his career with an opportunity to lead a game winning drive with a minute left to go. Up until that point, he had been damn near perfect throwing for 4 TDS, over 300 yards and completing over 80 percent of his passes.
I imagine there will be some wee bit of dumb talk on sports radio this week and maybe some chatter online that Sam Darnold is not really a franchise quarterback because of that pick. I couldn’t disagree more. Not only do I believe that the Seahawks have their franchise quarterback in Darnold, I would say that I feel even more optimistic about good things coming around the corner for this team, if they properly build it around him.
Let us keep in perspective what Seattle was faced with in this game. They were hosting a very talented and scrappy Tampa Bay team led by one of the hottest quarterbacks in the league. Seattle entered into the game without their pro bowl free safety (Julian Love), without their best edge rusher (DeMarcus Lawrence), and without their best corner (Devon Witherspoon). In the course of the game, they also lost their other starting edge rusher (Derick Hall), and they lost their other starting corner (Riq Woolen). When Darnold and Baker were playing a shootout game, Seattle’s defense was without five of its eleven starters on the field. That’s nearly half of the starting defense.
Still, if it wasn’t for a missed 42 yard kick by the usually dependable Josh Meyers, and a very stupid option play that led to a lost fumble by Jalen Milroe with a red hot Darnold being pulled off of the field for it, Seattle might have won this game in a shootout a bit more easily. In a game that was going to be close, they made more mistakes than Tampa did, and this was the difference.
That said, Seattle appears to now have a formidable offense emerging. With the play calling of Klint Kubiak, the quarterbacking of Darnold, the receiving talents of JSN, Cooper Kupp, AJ Barner, and Tory Horton, and the running styles of Ken Walker and Zach Charbonnet, there is reason to feel very optimistic, especially with a young offensive line that is showing clear signs of improvement. Generally speaking, I feel very good about this offense. This is the silver lining coming out of this game.
The concern, however, is that Seattle’s defense showed its alarming lack of depth when numerous starters are out of the game against a talented offense. If they had played against a bad Titans team, they could have possibly gotten by, but the Bucs right now feel like a proper contender, and this is what happens against a proper contender when you are running a platoon of two players at WILL linebacker, and your safety and cornerback depth is exposed.
Last week, I wrote a piece about the Seahawks making a trade before the deadline, and most of the players I suggested were offensive fellas. After this game, however, if I were John Schneider, I would probably be getting on the phone with teams that who have four losses or more and discuss trading for a defender, most likely a quality veteran cornerback, another middle linebacker, or edge rusher. Perhaps even a safety, even, if a special player is there, and maybe consider shifting rookie Nick Emmanwori to WILL linebacker duties in nickel packages.
The Ravens are now 1-4, so are the Browns, the Saints, the Giants, the Dolphins, the Raiders, and the Titans, and the Jets are now 0-5. Could cornerback Marlon Humphrey, who Macdonald knows well, be pried out of Baltimore? Could they bring corner Denzel Ward into this defense from Cleveland? Could Bradley Chubb be had from Miami? How about former Seattle LB Jordyn Brooks with the Fins, or Saints MLB Pete Werner? Or Fins safety Minkah Fitzpatrick? How about Kayvon Thibodeaux of the Giants?
This can be a very long list of possibilities if I wanted to waste more space on this post. The point is, I suspect there will be deals to be had, and Seattle should be very active.
If it were me, I would say that enough is enough at the split duties at WILL linebacker next to Ernest Jones, and go trade for a quality proven off ball linebacker who can play the run and pass. Then, I would say go get another edge rusher. I wouldn’t be upset at all if they traded a second round pick to Cincinnati for Trey Hendrickson at this point, to be honest, or Thibodeaux, for that matter.
Then there is this issue with the secondary that sorta has me feeling some extra dread after this loss. If I am to be honest, I would say the news of Julian Love and Devon Witherspoon missing this game against the Bucs after ten days rest coming out the TNF game against isn’t the most encouraging.
Against Baker Mayfield and these Tampa receivers, the Seahawk defense needed all hands on the backend yesterday, and who knows how severe and how long Spoon and Love will be out. We need better clarity here with them in order to project what Seattle might look to do next.
At the very least, I think Seattle should now call up Shaq Griffin from the practice squad to get some veteran stability active on game days. He certainly can’t be worse than what Nehemiah Pritchett was in relief duty, and in all probability, I think he would provide a solid fourth option on game days.
But what about safety if Love is going to miss further games? Should they look to the free agent market for a veteran such as Justin Simmons or former Raven safety Marcus Williams? Or is there an opportunity out there in a trade?
I wasn’t necessarily thinking this would be an easy game against the Bucs, and I certainly didn’t foresee a shoutout, but this shootout was encouraging enough to think that perhaps Seattle now needs to get very greedy about their defense. Mike Macdonald was not hired to coach this team to win shootouts. He was hired to coach a team that wins with a dominating defense, and while it is good to know that Darnold and company can play admirably in a shootout, it is time to make sure this defense is more fortified.
So, let’s get back to winning defense, again. Time for John Schneider to cook.
As the Seahawks sit this week at 3-1, many people seem surprised by this, but not I!
I have written many times over that this season could be an exciting one for Seattle, with a strong defense that could be tops in the league, and an offensive that could be better at quarterback and scheme. Thus far, my projections for this team are looking good, and we are now nearing the point of the season where John Schneider has often times made trades to help give his team a boost.
It was around this time of the season, in 2010, where Schneider sent a 4th round pick to Buffalo for Marshawn Lynch who became disgruntled with the Bills. This was also the time of the year back in 2017 when he traded a third round pick to the Texans for veteran left tackle Duane Brown to cement Seattle’s bid for the playoffs. He also plucked safety Quandre Diggs out of Detroit close to this time of year some years back in exchange for a mere 6th round pick.
Aside from the Russell Wilson deal to Denver, I would argue that Schneider’s best trades have generally come mid season for this club. With teams quickly finding themselves out of contention, the value for players generally becomes much better for the buyers as sellers look to acquire as many draft picks as possible while staring at a rebuild. John has proven to be very good at determining what his team’s deficiencies are, and finding good value to correct. Leonard Williams, Duane Brown, Marshawn, Carlos Dunlap, and Sheldon Richardson have all been big name players that he has been able to bring in.
As it stands right now, Seattle is sitting on a rare amount of salary cap space to get a bit splashier with trades this season, if they so choose to do it. Given Schneider’s track record, I am almost certain that we will see a move of two in the coming weeks, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a move comes sooner.
As we know, it has been reported by Ian Rapoport that several teams are sniffing around cornerback Riq Woolen, and this makes sense. Seattle has a rare jog jam at cornerback, and Woolen is in a contract year, and has played probably too inconsistent for the Mike Macdonald’s tastes. He’s still an elite athlete at a highly coveted position, however, and he’s young. This makes him probably a player that Seattle could get some decent value for in exchange, maybe not so much in draft capital, but perhaps in a player for player swap. So, there’s this to think about, as well.
At any rate, here are some players rumored to potentially be on the trade market that I would love to see Seattle consider bringing in at this time. I would venture to say that if anyone of these fellas becomes a Seahawk in the next few days and weeks, I would find it pretty gosh darn exciting.
Saints Running Back Alvin Kamara
I understand if Alvin Kamara to Seattle is a bit of a left field idea for you. Seattle has two talented young backs who split duties, so why bring in an expensive 30 year player to add to this mix? Here is my reasoning.
Ken Walker is a highly talented running back who is in a contract year like Riq Woolen, and has yet to really prove that he is a fit for the zone blocking scheme of Klint Kubiak. Not only is he still showing a tentativeness behind the line of scrimmage that leads to negative plays, I have seen film breakdown of him against the Cardinals on TNF where he showed an inexcusable laziness running a check down route that led to Sam Darnold having to dirt the ball away instead of getting an easy completion under pressure. This had to have been a play where his coaches probably didn’t love that, and it stands to wonder how many more plays like this he has before he has reached Woolen status with Macdonald and Kubiak, as well.
Let me explain this to you in the easiest terms I can use regarding Seattle’s offensive scheme. It is fully designed to marry the pass game to the run, and it requires quick decisions from the QB, receivers, and runners. QBs need to make quick reads, and make fast and accurate throws. Receivers need to run quick and precise routes. Running backs must hit their holes decisively, and have the vision to see lanes, however minuet those creases might be, to make cutback moves for positive gains.
Some backs have very natural instincts for this, and other backs struggle with it, but you cannot play hesitant behind your blockers no matter how muddy it is in front of them with defenders. Any hesitation behind the line of scrimmage by a running back can seriously fuck up an offensive series, especially against a good defensive front.
This is the negative impact that K9 can have on the Seattle offense if he cannot get these tendencies out of his game. I see little evidence, thus far, even with that nice game against the Steelers, that leads me to believe he can fit this thing here. I think Zach Charbonnet can, but when K9 is in the game, it feels very boom or bust on a series. He will make plays that will lead you to believe he’s one of the very best backs in the game, but then he will do things that will pull your hair out in frustration. I, for one, am tired of that frustration.
I don’t think Seattle would get much value to trading away K9 right now, so I am not suggesting that Seattle should necessarily deal him away. I will say that I lack trust in him as Seattle’s featured runner, however, and I feel more trust in Charbonnet.
The problem with this two headed monster for Seattle, in my view, is that it appears that the coaches prefer Charbonnet as the third down back because of his better pass blocking and maybe receiver skills. This means that they probably want to preserve this role for him, and use K9 more on first and second downs, and right now they are living with the potential collateral damage of K9 doing some weird ass thing on any given play in the hopes that he hits it right.
Alvin Kamara understands Kubiak’s offense, having played in it last year. He had nice production in it last year for the Saints, and at age 30 with an expensive contract, the trade compensation for Seattle probably wouldn’t be much. In fact, Seattle could deal Riq Woolen probably straight across for him, and maybe even get something in addition back, as well. The Saints would then have the rest of the season to see if Woolen is someone who they would want to extend long term, and Seattle would get better stability in its the run game.
I just know that, in this particular scheme, Seattle needs running backs that get it, and can offer positive plays with regularity. Karama is still a talented runner, and he’s a good pass catcher. You can rely on him, even at age 30. That’s why I am into this idea for Seattle. I really like it a lot, and if this creates a log jam at running back, that is a log jam worth having for this offensive philosophy.
Saints Receiver Chris Olave
What if I were to tell you that in next few days or weeks, Seattle deals Riq Woolen to Vegas for a third round pick, and then they send that third rounder and maybe a late round pick to New Orleans for wideout Chris Olave who also played for Klint Kubiak? Would you get excited about that?
Or how about Woolen and a 5th round pick to straight across to NOLA for Olave? How would that make you feel?
Sam Darnold would have Jaxon Smith Ngijba (who is having a sensational start to the season), Olave, Cooper Kupp, promising rookie Tory Horton, and Jake Bobo all as viable passing targets to carry forth his own impressive start to the season, and he would have Olave signed through 2026. I think this is a pretty fun thought.
Olave knows the system, has played with JSN back in their Ohio State days, and offers youthful proven insurance for the potential of Kupp wearing down, or JSN getting injured. He has the speed to stretch defenses, and like JSN, he can run every short to intermediate route, as well..
His concussions are a concern, and probably to the extent of hampering his trade value, but with the depth Seattle would have at receiver with his addition, he likely wouldn’t be asked to be The Guy. JSN is The Guy in this offense. Darnold also has chemistry with Kupp and growing chemistry with Horton. Olave could come in without the pressure of having to be at the forefront right away, but rather being the guy who can provide big catches as the season wears on, and potentially being the Sundance Kid to JSN’s Butch Cassidy in future seasons.
For these reasons, I really dig this idea a lot.
Saints Guard/Center Cesar Ruiz
I am going to stay with New Orleans one more time here and suggest that if they drop to 0-4, and begin a fire sale, perhaps Seattle could decide to take the opportunity to fortify their young offensive line by trading for Cesar Ruiz who is currently the Saints starting right guard but also has a lot of center in his background. Anthony Bradford has been playing well for the Seahawks this year at right guard, but what if Klint Kubiak sees an opportunity to land Ruiz and have him play center here?
Ruiz hasn’t played very well for the Saints this year, but last season was his best year as a pro while he was coached by the bulk of Seattle’s offensive staff. He knows this blocking scheme, and he knows the offensive line coaches very well. The Saints have Erik McCoy as their starting center, and he’s one of the best ones in the game, so Ruiz had to find a home at guard to get on the field. He played center in college, however, and it isn’t hard to imagine that he could take that position over for the Seahawks now, and have it solidified for the next several seasons.
This move could see Jalen Sundell in the role of a valuable swing offensive lineman capable of playing all five positions on the offensive line in a pinch. Sundell has not played terrible for Seattle this year at center, but sometimes I wonder if he’s got enough premium strength inside to hold up to bigger stronger DTs in the league. Center is not a position that requires the strongest guys on the OL, but having a strong ass M’fer inside at the position doesn’t hurt, either. Ruiz is that kinda player, and he is very familiar with the zone blocking scheme.
An offensive line that consists of Charles Cross, Grey Zabel, Cesar Ruiz, Anthony Bradford, and Abe Lucas feels potentially very young and formidable. Jalen Sundell could provide the ever valuable swing player in that group as he came into the league as an undrafted left tackle and impressed Mike Macdonald with his intelligence and athleticism.
I don’t know if the Saints would entertain parting with Ruiz even in his struggles this year, but they might. Therefore, a player for player trade of Woolen for Ruiz straight across doesn’t seem all that crazy to me. Perhaps both players need new landing spots.
Dolphins Receiver Jaylon Waddle
Like the Saints, Miami is a team that appears on the verge of being early sellers at the trade deadline. They host the Jets on MNF. If they drop to 0-4 after that game, I think there’s a decent chance their head coach gets fired, and they go into a fire sale mode.
People are pointing to Tyreek Hill as being a high probable trade candidate for clubs, but Seattle won’t likely be suitors. Under Mike Macdonald, they are even more character driven as a club than they have been in year’s past, and Hill’s character is simply not a fit up here.
But could Jaylen Waddle also be a potential trade option? Waddle is younger than Hill, less of a headache, and would probably net more value for the Dolphins who could be staring at a major rebuild yet again.
Given the fact that Waddle also comes with a bit of an injury history, like Olave, I don’t think that trade compensation for him would be very backbreaking for an NFL front office. A mere third round pick might be enough to do it, and if that is all it is, Seattle would acquire a guy who is a field stretcher, and plays in a similar scheme, and would be locked into a contract through 2027. One would think that perhaps player for player trade involving Woolen might get it done, as well.
It’s a fun thought on par to the Chris Olave idea.
Dolphins Middle Linebacker Jordyn Brooks
I am going to stay with the Dolphins here and switch to defense for a moment. Seattle’s defense has pretty much been lights out through four games, but depth at the inside linebackers spots still make me a bit nervous. I love Ernest Jones as a Seahawk, and I am happy with how Tyrice Knight and Drake Thomas have platooned at weak side linebacker together.
I’m nervous as to what happens with Seattle’s defense should Jones get injured. Knight and Thomas feel like classic, run, cover, and hit WILL linebackers, and I am not sure if they could handle the MIKE spot.
Seattle had an interest in re-signing Brooks during the 2024 offseason. They lost out on their pursuit for him, however, to the Dolphins when they were in an 11th hour period of heavy negotiations to extend star defensive tackle Leonard Williams on the eve of official free agency. It felt like a rare dropped ball by John Schneider, and one he admitted to being disappointed that they couldn’t get it done with him.
Is the Dolphins are to soon be big time sellers, does it not make sense for Seattle to explore getting Brooks back up here? I think it does.
He’s proven to be a very good run and hit WILL linebacker and he’s also proven that he can handle the MIKE spot, as well. Having him and Ernest Jones roaming the middle of the field is a fun thought, and I don’t think there was ever any ill will between Brooks and the Seattle’s front office. He just chose the sunshine and views on Miami Beach over the overcast damp days of Seattle in the Fall.
If Seattle doesn’t make a move on offense to strengthen its depth at receiver, or running back, decides that linebacker is an area they see an opportunity to further strengthen, I would not be upset with that, and I don’t imagine that the mid season trade value for Brooks would be that high. It wasn’t for Ernest Jones last year at mid season, and Jones is a better player. Riq Woolen for Brooks straight across feels very fair, if not altogether funny from a Seattle perspective.
Cowboys Defensive Tackle Mazi Smith
Mazi Smith was the first round pick for a Dallas Cowboys in the 2023 NFL Draft. He is a massive human being at 6-3, 337 lbs, and he’s got unique athleticism for his size. He has not lived up the billing for the Cowboys, however, and the team acquired pro bowl defensive tackle Kenny Clark from the Packers in the Micah Parsons trade.
There is a lot of speculation that they are ready to punt on Smith who is now in his third season, and they are also a team that happens to have a need at cornerback in order to improve their defense. I think this is a scenario where Seattle could deal Woolen to Dallas in exchange for Mazi Smith and maybe even get another pick or player in exchange, to be honest.
Smith played his college ball for Mike Macdonald when Macdonald was the architect of that impressive Michigan defense that featured Aidan Hutchinson. Macdonald knows him as a player, and the Seahawks defensive coordinator Aden Durde also knows him from his days coaching Dallas defensive linemen.
The strength of the Seahawks defense is their defensive tackles and their secondary. I think there is value in the idea of making your strength even stronger, however, and Seattle would have a season and a half with Mazi Smith to see if they can turn him into a quality starting nose tackle. In the meantime, adding him now would provide an even deeper DT rotation which I think would be pretty darn sweet, especially if you might get a bit weaker at corner after a Woolen trade. You can never have enough quality defensive linemen, especially the big ones.
Look at what the Eagles did last year with their deep DT rotation. They won the whole damn thing with it. They dominated. I want to see Seattle dominate teams on defense again. This is why Macdonald was hired, and that is why I am into this idea.
Giants Edge Rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux
To be honest, I’m not sure Seattle would have much interest in Thibodeaux even though he’s a young player at a premium position, and he played college ball in the PNW. There were some rumblings a while back that when Seattle had a top ten pick in the 2022, he was a player who was off their list of prospects. Thibodeaux came out of Oregon as a guy with a bunch of hype, and a vibe that perhaps he was more concerned with his off field brand than being “all ball” on the field.
Being a LA kid, he also seemed inclined to prefer a destination that offered him a lot of bright lights, and a scene. That’s not Seattle, Washington, and I suspect that the Seattle front office, after dealing with high maintenance Russell Wilson for years wasn’t much interested in investing their first round pick on a player such as that. He was taken before Seattle picked, but the rumor is that Seattle wouldn’t have taken him if he was there, anyways.
Over recent years, the NY Giants appear like maybe they are ready to move from him. They traded for Brian Burns, and they drafted Penn State star edge rusher Abdul Carter.
Thibodeaux hasn’t been a bad player for the Giants, but he’s not been the type of spectacular athlete that you would expect from a high NFL lotto pick, either. Personally, I don’t think he’s any better than Boye Mafe who Seattle took early in the second round of the same draft he was selected in.
So why would Seattle any have interest in acquiring him now?
Well, the Giants picked up his fifth year option on his rookie contract and he’d come to town with two years left on a rookie deal when Mafe is set to be a free agent, and that’s something in a salary cap driven game. Another thing is that you can never really have enough quality edge rushers.
Also, DeMarcus Lawrence is 31 years old, and Uchenna Nwosu has been very injury prone, as we all know. Derick Hall and Mafe appear to be the future, but what if Seattle is leaning more towards choosing Hall over Mafe in terms of contract extensions, and that will lead a hole on the roster next offseason as they allow Mafe to enter free agency. They could use the presence of Thibodeaux here in that scenario, and maybe a change of scenery and getting with a great defensive head coach is the thing Thibodeaux will crave as he looks to ascend as a player before he hits free agency in 2027. He’s played college ball up here in the left hand corner of the USA, so he would know what to expect even if it lacks the glitz he prefers.
Again, I don’t know how likely this would be a thing for Seattle. They might be very out on him still if those rumors were true, but you never totally know.
I think trade compensation would be fairly steep, easily a day two pick, but what if Seattle and the Giants discussed a Riq Woolen for Thibodeaux scenario? Seattle gets another talented young pass rusher, and the Giants get a young cornerback who still possesses the rare physical traits to be one of the better shutdown corners in the game, and they can look to franchise tag next offseason to work out a long term contract with.
Mike Macdonald seems to especially love his defensive line, and wants it to be a deep and rich rotation, and he seems to know what he likes at cornerback and the backend. It’s early in his tenure here, but it feels like he prefers to emphasize strength in the trenches. This is the main reason why I wouldn’t rule a trade like this out for this club.
Closing Thoughts
These are trade scenarios that if Seattle made in the next week or so that I would get pretty excited about. I am sure there’s other possibilities out there, as well, that make decent sense, but these are the type of moves I want to see the Seahawks go attack.
In addition to these proposals, I could see Seattle having particular interest in Saints receiver/returner Rashid Shaheed, who knows the Kubiak system, and is a legitimate deep threat. I could see Macdonald especially liking his special teams value on top of improving receiver depth, and not necessarily taking reps away from promising rookie Tory Horton, either. He’s one to watch for Seattle.
It’s also worth noting that Raider receiver Jakobi Meyers wants out of Vegas with a new contract, and if Pete Carroll covets Riq Woolen, Meyers for Riq makes sense for both clubs, although I think Meyers and Cooper Kupp on the same team together has a redundant vibe. Right now, I’m sorta so so on that idea, but I could warm to it.
I suppose one should never rule out Seattle pursing Cincinnati edge rusher Trey Hendrickson, either. I wouldn’t hate the idea. He’s a great pass rusher, and would definitely be a spark up front as Seattle looks to preserve leads late in games. I just don’t know how altogether well he would fit Macdonald’s hybrid front that asks its edge rushers to play end and linebacker. Hendrickson has only ever played in standard 4-3 defensive fronts, and asking him to do exotic drops at 6-5 270 pounds might make him limited on the field in certain situations. Seattle’s scheme requires ends who can also legitimately play linebacker, and I don’t know if that is in his game. I know it is with Thibodeaux.
Of these players mentioned, the two that I have the strongest interest in are most definitely Alvin Kamara, and Chris Olave. Both players know this scheme well, and I feel alright for Seattle to continue developing Sundell and Bradford at guard and center, and seeing where that goes. I would love to add more stable weapons around Sam Darnold as he leads this thing further along the coarse of the season. Either one of these guys would be an exciting get.
If I had to choose one single player for Seattle to go get, however, it is most definitely Alvin Kamara based on what I’ve seen through four games on the year. Seattle has got to get it’s run came going consistently through the remainder of the season, and it is fairly reasonable to expect that a young offensive line with some decent talent now with much better coaching will settle in better, but then it comes to the running backs here. I think we can be much better there.
I’ve been very harsh on K9 in this blog, perhaps too harsh, but in my view, his issues simply have not progressed enough entering into his fourth season here. He makes me nervous. I don’t want to see Sam Darnold play in a lot of third and long situations this year, I want to see mostly third and short, or at least third and manageable. I want runners who know, and trust, and have instincts for this particular scheme. I want running backs who know how to net positive yards even if the blocking isn’t totally there on a play. Alvin Kamara, I feel, is still very that type of player in this league.
So, I say go get him.
Woolen for him straight across? I would not be upset about that.
As we approached this NFC West battle in Desert on Thursday Night Football, I had a sinking feeling that we would be in for a fiercely fought defensive battle between two divisional rivals with strong defenses in desperate need of getting a win to keep up within a very tough division. The Arizona Cardinals lost a tough fought game against the 49ers, and I felt they’d be very determined to defend their home turf against a Seahawks team coming off of a huge blowout win against the Saints. Additionally. from their perspective, I felt it was likely that they would carry extra motivation in getting the monkey off their back with all the games in a row they’ve lost to Seattle in recent years. When a divisional rival has your number, you mark that home game against them on your calendar with the intention of taking it to them with extra pepper in your hot sauce.
So, I really didn’t feel that, in anyway, this game on TNF would be a gimme for Seattle even though they seem to have the Cardinals number. In fact, heading into the match, I felt that if Seattle was going to pull off their third win in a row, it would probably come with perhaps a 17-13 type of result.
Thursday Night games are typically very weird. Often times, they are very sloppy with slop coming from both teams. If the game is fairly evenly matched, the team that usually win these short week games is the one who commits the lesser about of mistakes, and gets the better play out of their quarterback.
We can lament the INT return fumble that Coby Bryant coughed up and gave the ball back to Kyler Murray and the Cardinals in good field position. We can also pull our hair out of the illegal blocking penalty called on Jaxon Smith Ngijba that took away a late TD from Zach Charbonnet that would have collectively put the game out of reach for the Cardinals, and forced us to settle for a field goal. I think both of these mishaps kept this game more within reach than I would have liked to have seen on the road against a decent Arizona club.
It also chopped my hide quite a bit seeing Ken Walker get drawn into a stupid taunting penalty by a defender that cost us points. It was also infuriating, as the game progressed, seeing him run backwards circles behind the line of scrimmage into tackle for losses. Just bang the bloody thing up towards the line of scrimmage as best as you can, for goodness sake. Not every run will be a success, just don’t turn the flipping thing into a worse play by trying to make chicken salad out of chicken shit.
And perhaps even more infuriating than K9’s needless collection of pirouettes into lost yardage was seeing Riq Woolen continue to draw penalties in coverage and give up explosive passes. After watching Seattle’s defense pretty much handle Murray for three quarters, seeing the plunky little passer purposefully target Woolen when the Cardinal offense went into desperation mode in the fourth and finding plenty of success gave me a full dosage of PTSD from opening weekend.
A couple weeks ago, I wrote a piece pondering whether the Seattle Seahawks had a K9 and Riq Woolen problem, and a lot of my concerns went away after a quality win on the road against the Pittsburgh Steelers when K9, in particular, had a great game. After watching this game against the Cardinals, however, my concerns about both players have returned. I think K9 is one of the most schizophrenic runners I have ever watched, fully capable of exciting runs that get you pumped up, and then within the same game, he’ll do things that make you want to see him pulled. With Woolen, I just find his lack of consistency too souring for my taste, especially when Seattle appears to have strong depth behind him.
Okay, these are all the negatives in this game that I have gotten off my chest. I could include a couple offensive play calls from Klint Kubiak that I didn’t love, and a missed field goal from the otherwise sensational night of Jason Meyers, but that really would be nitpicking.
The Seattle Seahawks won this game because they made less mistakes than the Arizona Cardinals did, and they won this game because Sam Darnold was a better QB than Kyler Murray was on Thursday Night. It is that simple.
I thought both teams fought very hard on defense, and both offenses showed out in their moments, but Seattle did what they needed to do better than what Arizona needed to get done. While the game should have been won more handsomely by Seattle in many respects, they did just enough, and they fucked up less. I will take it.
Winning in the NFL is always a good thing, and losing always sucks. Now we get a breather of ten days before Seattle faces yet another tough opponent at home against Tampa Bay.
Here’s some of my more positive takeaways for Seattle heading out of this desert battle. As much as it sucked watching their quality lead evaporate late in the game, there are also some quality silver linings coming out of this one.
Sam Darnold Continues To Shine
I really dig how Darnold has played these first four games of the year for Seattle’s offense. I think he’s shown a lot of command and poise, and I love his timely playmaking abilities when he extends out of the pocket making throws downfield, and out of pressure, at critical junctures. This is how you want to see your QB1 play.
He was also the best player on offense on Thursday night, between both clubs, and I don’t think it was close between him and Murray in terms of QB play. Darnold showed better accuracy, poise under pressure, and he put up better production on significantly less passing attempts than Murray did, and it did this against an equally tough defense.
Make no mistake, Arizona has a very good defense with a much improved defensive line, and their linebackers and safeties are all very good football players. Generally, I thought Darnold boxed very smart against a defensive scheme that can be tricky to pass on. He largely took whatever was there, but he was also savvy enough to recognize when there were opportunities further downfield. His pass to JSN down the sideline with less than thirty seconds to go for a chance to kick a game winner was a big time money throw from any NFL quarterback, and he delivered it on the dot.
The more I watch Sam Darnold play in this offense, the more I feel like he’s a quarterback that Seattle will want to hang onto for the longer haul, and build around. He’s only 28, and there is a reason why he was taken third overall in the NFL draft in 2018. He just feels like an NFL prototypical franchise quarterback, and I genuinely look forward to watching him play.
Elijah Arroyo And AJ Barner Flashed Big Play Potential
On the night, I thought both of Seattle’s tight ends played really good games. AJ Barner had three nice grabs and a beautiful touchdown, and rookie Elijah Arroyo had two impressive grabs for 44 yards.
I know that Barner is a pretty good tight end, but Arroyo is a big target at TE with insanely gifted abilities to get downfield on vertical throws, and explosive catch and run opportunities. When Seattle drafted Arroyo, I got excited because I knew these sort of downfield plays would be coming from him, eventually.
Last night, against a tough Cardinal defense with great safeties, he really flashed, and this was, in my opinion, one of the hidden little gems of the game. As we get further into games this year, I think we are bound to see more high level playmaking from this youngster, and get ready for that fun to take place.
Let us remember that he is still a rookie, and tight end is a position in this a scheme that has a lot on its plate. Once the lights come on for this guy, and he has the pass and run plays in his bones, he has the physical talent to be a superstar tight end in this league right up there with the guy who plays in Arizona and the fella who plays in the Bay Area.
I look forward to seeing Arroyo and Barner continue factoring in as pass catchers in this offense. This was a good sign.
The Seahawks Sacked The Shit Out Of Kyler Murray And Intercepted Him Twice
First off, Chenna Nwosu posted a terrific game against the Cardinals both in terms of a pass rusher and run stopper. That was very timely, too, as Seattle lost their regular base defense speed rusher DeMarcus Lawrence early in the match with a hamstring injury. Chenna’s play spoke a lot for him, but also for the quality depth, in general, that Seattle currently has on their defensive line.
Seattle’s defense dropped Kyler Murray six times in this match, and they picked him off twice. Despite giving up 20 points in the end, I think these stats alone proved how really dominant Seattle’s defense largely was for the night.
If it weren’t for some offensive mishaps late in the fourth quarter that took points off the board and gave Arizona new life, and Murray a chance to make plays with his legs and arm, I think Seattle’s defensive effort would have felt greater. In the end, they did enough against a dangerous quarterback.
I say this also acknowledging that I personally don’t have that much belief in Murray as a quarterback, and have been out on him for a few years now. The main reason why is because, while I see him as a rare bonafide playmaker, I think his tendencies are to play big games early in the season, and then go cold later on after wear and tear takes hold. He’s like a little Bruce Lee video game character through the first eight games of the year, but by midseason, after being hit numerous times by defensive tackles and edge rushers who run like BMWs, he becomes a different player.
But early in the year, Kyler Murray can be a scary ass little fucker to play against, and he is still one of the very best athletes in the league who can threaten to take over games if you allow him to do so. In this game, Seattle did a lot to harass him and keep him largely ineffective until the fourth quarter. This should be celebrated despite the late game collapse in coverage by Woolen and company.
The next time these two teams face each other will be mid November, when Kyler starts to typically turn into his annual second half of the season pumpkin. Really glad that we have Sam Darnold, though.
For the night, Murray had to pass 41 times to collect 200 yards through the air with 2 late scoring TDS and 2 INTs. You tell me if that was a great night for him early in the season when he is known to play his better ball.
By Winning, Seattle Is Awarded A Valuable Mini Bye Week
After dropping a disappointing home opener against the hated San Francisco 49ers, Seattle’s schedule was to play three games in eleven days with two of those games in the road against quality opponents. The Seahawks have now won all three of those games. This is quite a contrast to last year when Seattle dropped three games in a row in the span of ten games.
Scheduling matters in the NFL. It matters especially to the human bodies that play this violent sport. Seattle has sustained itself very well in this stretch, and will have ten days to properly prepare to host a tough Tampa Bay team.
This is going to benefit Seattle. It is going to allow coaches to self scout the team more and make corrections. It will allow these players a chance to rest and heal. It will allow the players and coaches to study the Buccaneers a bit deeper.
This mini bye could allow the John Schneider and the front office an opportunity to bring in other players from outside via trades, or free agency. It feels to me that the New Orleans Saints could be on the verge of selling if they lose in Buffalo this Sunday, and we are probably all expecting that they will. It is worth keeping in mind that Klint Kubiak was their OC last year, and knows their offensive players very well.
Could the long time Seahawk terrorizer Alvin Kamara be had for a mid round pick? Could Chris Olave also be made available?
As I continue to find myself flummoxed about K9’s play, part of me wonders if an older back quality like Kamara would help settle him down. As for Olave, I know that his concussions concern, but the thought of what Sam Darnold could do in a passing attack with JSN, Cooper Kupp, Tory Horton, and Olave entered into the mix entices quite a bit. Could both players be had?
It’s an interesting thought as we approach a point in the season were really bad clubs start eying their rebuilds. For now, however, I suggest that you enjoy this win against the Cardinals, if you are a diehard Seattle Seahawk fan.
And if you are not a diehard Twelve, why on Earth are you even reading this stuff? Seriously.
It has been a long while since the Seattle Seahawks have faced an inferior opponent at home, and have handily taken care of business in a big, thorough ass kicking sorta way. In recent years, they would face a bad team like the New York Giants, or the Carolina Panthers at home, and they would lose in a very sloppy lack luster way. They did this numerous times in the last few years of Pete Carroll, and they did this very thing last year under Mike Macdonald.
The big residual effect of these type of home losses, over time, is that Lumen Field has no longer been the house of horrors for visiting teams that it has long been known to be, and now visiting opponent fanbases have felt more eager to make the long trip up to Seattle. The Seattle Seahawks needed to start putting a stop to this, and a very solid 13-44 ass kicking of the New Orleans Saints is a solid way to begin this very process. Bravo.
As I sat in my seat provided to me by my very special Seahawk Santa Buddy that is not too far away from the Seahawk benches, I soaked in all the vibes of the day. The crowd was full and very engaged, the Seahawk sideline was joyful, and together, and the level of team play on all three phases of the game was fantastically electric.
This felt like an important building block home win that Mike Macdonald and crew have been waiting for. If Seattle manages to be a playoff team this year, this might be the game we circle back towards and say “it started right here.”
If Seattle can manage to beat the Cardinals in Arizona on Thursday Night Football, they will have a mini bye week before they face a quality Tampa Bay Buccaneers team, and if they manage to beat the Bucs at Lumen Field, traveling fan bases might begin to think twice about pouring into this town. I know this sounds like a lot of putting a lot of the cart before the horse with this young season, and but it’s a fun thing to think about as a Seahawk fan who wants nothing more than to really see Lumen Field return to being a proper home field advantage again.
I’m not in the mood to nitpick a big time beatdown of the Saints, so folks can talk about the whacked out time of possession, and a lack of a run game if they wish, but I’m not so much into it. Instead, allow me to offer my thoughts about some of the big time contributors out of this win, and why their contributions potentially loom big moving forward.
Sam Darnold is proving to be a solid fit in this Klint Kubiak offense
Make no mistake about it, this was one very solid outting from Sam Darnold. No, he didn’t throw for gaudy yardage, or a ridiculous amount of touchdowns, but he didn’t need to do that, either. Instead, he needed to be the model of efficiency, poise, and timely playmaking-ness, easily guiding Seattle’s offense to 37 points against a defense that was selling out to stop the run, and forcing him to pass.
As I watched from my seat, I thought his effort against the Saints defense was very reminiscent of the game Jared Goff had against the Seahawks in Detroit last year on MNF. In that game, Goff was a perfect 18 of 18 passes for 292 and 2 TDs, and he pretty much did whatever he wanted to against the Seattle defense that was down a few starters. In this game yesterday, Darnold was 14 of 18 passes for 218 yards and 2 TDs, earning a near perfect 154.2 QB rating while completing 77.7 percent of his passes. He was very good.
The narrative that Sam Darnold is a pressure sensitive quarterback is starting to look more like a massive pile of horseshit that’s been heaped on him by lazy narrators. Over the past two weeks, against good defensive fronts, he has made big time throws under pressure, and Pro Football Focus had him rated as the second best quarterback throwing against pressure in the league last year.
I get it that this is only three games now, but it my eyes, Darnold feels like a very solid fit for the Klint Kubiak offense, and he feels like a guy who could continue to be a good fit here for a number of years, playing well into a second contract. He’s big enough to see the entirety of field, easily targeting all areas. He’s plenty mobile, and throws well on the run. He’s accurate downfield, and he gets the ball out quickly.
He could be for Seattle everything that Goff has become for Detroit. I believe that, and I would gladly take that.
I think this game was an important one for him to show everyone at home “hey, I got this.” Let’s keep it going.
Tory Horton is going to be a big factor for Seattle’s passing and return games.
Sunday morning, I texted various friends that I felt this game against the Saints would be Horton’s coming out party. I wasn’t wrong.
Tory Horton is a playmaker. After this game, his high level instincts as a returner are now known to casual fans who didn’t follow him at small college Colorado State. Fans are also becoming increasingly aware of his keen abilities as a receiver, as this game has proven, again, how adept he is at catching touchdown passes, and passes across the middle of the field.
He is showcasing here what he showed through college; good hands, dependable route running, speed, and natural athleticism, and a run after catch ability that is vital to a timing based passing offense.
In his podcast last night, Richard Sherman described Horton as the steal of the entire NFL draft, and I don’t think that’s hyperbole. I think Sherm is just excited about the reality that he sees.
Had Tory Horton not injured his knee during the season last year, and tested fully healthy during the scouting combine, I think Horton probably would have been a high second round pick, possibly a fringe first rounder. His talent and production in college would have warranted that. Instead, teams got nervous about his knee and also probably the fact that he played at a small level college, and he slid to Seattle’s pick in round five. He could be this year’s Puka Nucua, though, and it is interesting that, like Nucua, he has the very sage Cooper Kupp here as a mentor working with him.
While I wouldn’t mind seeing Seattle be a bit aggressive going after another established receiver through a trade over the next few weeks, I also have a sneaking suspicion that Horton’s role in this offense will only increase more as the season unfolds, and he gets more and more comfortable in this scheme. He has a look and feel of a classic Sean McVay style receiver who can stretch a defense as well as run every pattern with precision underneath.
I am very excited about this guy.
Jaxon Smith Njigba is officially the Rising Superstar of this Team
In terms of Seattle baseball, it can easily be said that this is The Year Of Cal Raleigh. The Mariners are red hot at the time when it matters most to be red hot as the playoffs approach, and nobody in Seattle sports is hotter than Cal Raleigh is right now. This has been a historic year for him in terms of home runs, and it feels like a historically special year for this much maligned baseball franchise that people love dearly up here.
It is, again, very early on the Seattle Seahawks football season with just three games played, but Jaxon Smith Njigba is on pace for about 1700 receiving yards this year, which would make for an incredible season. He registered 124 yards against the Niners, 103 yards against the Steelers, and on a day when he was battling the flu, he caught 5 passes for 96 yards, and a touchdown against the Saints, and he was pulled by the fourth quarter when the game was well in hand. So, it stands to reason that his production could have been much more, and if he sustains this level of production, it could easily be said that this is the Year Of JSN, as well.
I don’t know why more Seahawk fans are not more over the moon excited about JSN, thus far. Maybe it is the years of Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf playing in tandem here following the many Doug Baldwin years, but for my money, JSN looks like a guy who has everything a receiver needs to be a top end, annual pro bowler in this league for a very long time. He’s a superb route runner with great hands and enough speed to do every route asked out of a playbook.
Perhaps it is because he is so natural and fluid as a receiver, and catches so many routine passes over the middle that fans are a bit lulled by his steadiness. Maybe not being paired with a playmaking height disadvantaged quarterback like Russell Wilson, we haven’t seen the circus toe tapping sideline catches out of him yet like Baldwin and Lockett became famous for because Russ couldn’t see and did not target much the mid areas of the field. At any rate, I think the dude is fucking awesome.
Like Sam Darnold, he feels like a perfect fit for this Kubiak style west coast offense that values precision over top end physical traits. I’ve written this before, but I think if you look at the history of top shelf receivers that have come out of west coast offenses over the decades, for the most part, they share a lot of commonality with JSN in terms of physical stature, pass catching abilities, and abilities after the catch.
So, I am just going to say that I think it is now okay to put your DK or Tyler Lockett jersey in cotton balls for now, maybe save them for your kids when they grow older, and go get yourself that number 11 Seattle Seahawk jersey. If kick ass receivers is your football jam, I think you should.
The Offensive Line played better than your eyes told you they were in this game and that’s sweet
Ken Walker had a struggle of a day running the football. I won’t sugar coat it. He didn’t have many creases to hit it up inside, and every time he tried to stretch it to the outside, every Saints defender seemed very ready for it.
The Saints defensive front felt sold out to stop him, forcing Sam Darnold to beat them through the air. The mindset of defensive coordinator Brandon Staley seemed to be “if we take the run game away, I don’t believe Seattle’s QB and receivers will beat us.”
Seattle’s quarterback and receivers torched the Saints defense, and Seattle’s offensive line very much played its part in that process. Against yet another good defensive front, they passed blocked well again. This is the proper lens you need to look at this game with.
Now, perhaps as the season wears on, defenses will be leery to commit extra players in the box knowing that Seattle does, in fact, have a quality veteran quarterback helming the offense, after all, and Seattle’s run game with open up more. Until then, however, let’s applaud this young line for hanging in there to help out the passing offense.
Darnold looked quite comfortable dropping back, and firing the ball out quickly against a defense that was trying its best to send extra his way. That is a testament to him, for certain, but that is also a testament to a young offensive line that appears to be quickly developing a nice pass blocking chemistry with each other, which is not something I was expecting right out of the gates in this young season.
I think they are finally getting proper NFL coaching with this new staff. In fact, I think it is looking more and more like the talent was there for a decent offensive line to emerge, but the coaching simply was where it needed to be to make it happen for them.
Through three games, against three good defensive fronts, Anthony Bradford has looked really good in pass protection. He has been the exact opposite of that in previous years. This new staff appears to be reaching him where previous staffs have failed. If you can turn Bradford into a respectable pass blocking right guard, you know a thing or two about coaching and developing offensive linemen.
Seattle’s offensive tackles, again, looked like a competent tandem this Sunday, and against yet another quality defensive line. When was the last time you have seen this in Seattle? 2013, maybe?
Yeah, don’t underestimate how valuable it is for Seattle to have their O line looking this un-bad this early in the season with all the offseason changes that took place between the coaches and players. This is positive stuff that we should now start feeling good about.
As the season wears on, I think we will see better consistency out of the run game. It was a tough one against the Saints, and it might be a tough one on TNF against a good Cardinals defense, as well, but I am encouraged by a lot of what I see, so far. Each game is an opportunity to build cohesion, and if that has to be against tough defensive fronts, so be it.
The Mike Macdonald Defense Is Becoming The Badass Motherf#ckers We Need
Admit it. When you saw the free safety Julian Love wasn’t going to be playing in this game, you got nervous about that, didn’t you?
Already down Devon Witherspoon, and Nick Emmawori, you got uncomfortable thinking about how Spencer Rattler and Chris Olave could potentially come into Lumen Field and spoil your afternoon, especially with the history that Alvin Kamara has against Seattle defenses.
No, Devon Witherspoon? Well, let me introduce you to Derion Kendrick who through two games, has filled in and looked outstanding at nickel cornerback. Let me also introduce you further to Josh Jobe, who has been playing boundary corner like a solid pro bowler.
No, Julian Love? Well, here’s this Ty Okada cat who laid heavy hits against Saint receivers, and was second on the team in tackles and gathered a half of a sack.
To Rattler’s credit, I thought he played admirably in a tough situation, down big on the road, but Seattle allowed shallow underneath stuff while generally stopping up the run pretty well, and forcing him into bad throws on third downs. In many ways, this defense looked very vintage Legion Of Boom in this game, allowing some yards and time of possession, but not allowing many points, and at times, looking like an overwhelming swarm of bad intentioned orcs being shot out of cannons into the fray of bloody combat.
Through two games, Seattle has been without their best cornerback on the field, and a rookie defender who they view as their special weapon against the run and pass. Against the Saints, they were without their top safety.
They held the Saints and Steelers offenses to a grand total of 30 points in these two games (a 15 point scoring average). This is a level of defense that you can win a championship with, and soon enough they will have Spoon, Love, and Emmanwori all back in it together.
Mike Macdonald knows how to coach a motherf#cking defense. He does this by having his hoard of talented defensive tackles in proper positions that allow linebackers and defensive backs to make plays. He does it by having his defensive backfield properly knowing assignments and diagnosing plays. He does it with badass alpha dogs like Ernest Jones and Leonard Williams wrecking the afternoons of running backs. He does it by hurrying quarterbacks into desperate heaves of the football.
When Seattle made the hire of Macdonald, I was good with it, but this is the defensive effort that I needed to see come to life out of the hire. Right now, it feels like a brilliant move from John Schneider bringing this bright young coach to Seattle.
If you can consistently play defense like this, Seattle will be winning more games at home again, and Lumen Field will feel like a nightmare for visiting fans. Yesterday, Lumen was the loudest that I have heard it in a while, and the Saints felt genuinely overwhelmed with it all. It is right in the world that this level of defense should be the ring leader of it all.
Seattle’s Special Teams is special!
Seahawk fans can stop stressing out about Jay Harbaugh, and start celebrating the young coach. He has Seattle’s special teams looking badass-tical.
From Tory Horton’s franchise record breaking-ly long punt return for a touchdown, to D’Anthony Bell’s blocked punt, to Chazz Suratt’s heady punt return blocking and coverage tackling, to Jason Meyer’s dependable field goal kicking, Harbaugh is shaping Seattle’s special teams into a top shelf unit in this league, thus far.
It has been a long time since I have sat in a seat at Lumen Field, and felt this out of mind excited about what I was witnessing out of the Seattle Seahawks special teams in this level to totality. As if the strong defensive effort wasn’t enough, or the complete efficiency that Sam Darnold played with, Seattle’s special teams could easily be considered the star of the day.
Through three games, Seattle has had really grand special teams play. This is as good of a recipe as any to winning football moving forward. Let’s keep this going.
Fans need to let go, and let Jay Harbaugh into their hearts. He’s a good coach. He’s got this area of the team going in ways the further make football a fun watch. Embrace it.
Final thoughts
Vitally important win against these Saints. It is vital to get winning ways back to Lumen Field again, especially after a bad home record last year, despite going 10-7 on the year. Now, let’s start stacking up home wins while winning on the road.
As this season progresses, Seattle’s already strong defense should only get better with getting key players healthy again. Their defensive line rotation is deep, and their secondary and linebackers are well coached. Your eyes should be able to tell you this by now, and you don’t need to hear it from me.
Seattle has played against three pretty good defensive fronts, and their offensive line has held up against them, for the most part, pretty well. That should breed confidence in them as they will have more good defensive fronts in coming games.
Sam Darnold, and these receivers, and tight ends are showing signs of clicking together nicely. The more success they have the less likely defensive coordinators will feel an impulse to crowd the box to stop the run. This is something to keep in mind as we get further into the season.
K9 didn’t have a great day running, and really neither did George Holani, but rookie Jacardia Wright got action late that was interestingly productive when the Saints knew Seattle would run the ball to kill clock and yet he still broke off nice gains. This poses an interesting thought in my mind, as well.
I think this was a game where Seattle could have used Zach Charbonnet maybe more than K9 who was looking to hit it outside more instead of cutting back inside. I know K9 had the big game against the Steelers last week that we all marveled about, but part of me continues to wonder if this zone blocking thing is for him. It is hard to tell because of how dedicated NOLA was at stopping him, and how that opened up opportunities with play action from Darnold downfield, but it bears some consideration.
Seeing the way Wright ran late made me wonder what a healthy Zach Charbonnet would have brought to the game. Hopefully we get him back for the Cardinals on Thursday.
It also made me wonder if Wright is someone who warrants more consideration as a runner in this offense moving forward. I thought he looked awesome in the preseason. He did nothing against a strong Saints run defense late in this game to make me think his preseason success was any aberration.
But that is neither here nor there. This game, yesterday afternoon, was the thorough kick ass win against New Orleans we needed to see as fans, and the team needed to feel at home. It felt like a building block win, in fact. So, let’s build off of that.
Now let’s go get it done against Kyler Murray and the Cardinals. Let’s host the Bucs and make that game a nightmare for Baker Mayfield.
Let’s make Lumen Field a house of horrors again for the opposition. This is what Seattle Seahawk football at home is meant to be about.
As I sat down, and watched the John Harbaugh vs Pete Carroll on Monday Night Football, as I am sure a high percentage of other Seahawk fans did, I was left with the distinct impression of PTSD watching Geno Smith, on the very first play of the game, force a bad throw into coverage for an interception. Geno would go on through this game forcing numerous other passes into unfavorable coverage, ending the game with 3 interceptions, 0 touchdowns on 24 of 43 passing attempts for 180 yards and the league’s worst passer rating over the weekend. He could have had even more interceptions on the night with the amount of turnover worthy throws he tossed.
Now, I do not want to put too much into one game, and I think it is possible that this could be the year that Justin Herbert and the Chargers finally overtake Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs for the AFC West division, and Geno Smith could have a nice bounce back game this weekend, but I will also say that I have watched a lot of Geno Smith over the past few years, and the game he had on Monday Night was symbolic of why I was okay with Seattle trading him off into the loving arms of Pete Carroll. That game felt like the type of Geno Smith game he has when things go awry against a quality defense.
When things get tough against a good defenses, I’ve often seen him get impatient with the football, wanting to force things downfield instead of taking the simple underneaths, and when turnovers and sacks generate through the course of the game, and they are losing badly in the fourth quarter, I’ve seen many camera shots showing him sulking on the bench in a manner that maybe you don’t want to see out of your team leader, as was the case last night in Vegas, yet again. This is what Geno is prone to in games against strong opponents.
Now, I don’t know about you, different people are into different things, but one of the things I really loved about watching peak Russell Wilson in Seattle was his innate ability to stay calm and neutral under immense pressure packed situations. He wasn’t always perfect as a passer in games such as this, but I think his ability to keep his emotions in check helped Seattle win a bunch of high pressure games through the course of his time here. In the three years that I watched Geno as his replacement, I never got that same sense, and often times, I saw the exact opposite, and I say this as a person who regularly defended Geno on this blog.
Geno Smith has world class abilities to throw a football. His arm talent is elite, and he is one of the most athletic quarterbacks in the league, even at age 34. There is just an inner composition about him, though, that gives me a lot of pause.
I think the truth about Geno Smith is that, while he might be one of the best pure passers in the league, he comes with maybe the largest scale of arm arrogance; this belief that he can make every highlight level throw he attempts against dicey coverage. Then when shit goes south in games as a result, so does his demeanor, and leadership. The Raiders will win numerous games this year because of his arm talent, but they will, no question, lose games this year because of his tendencies, too.
Conversely, I think the QB situation here in Seattle is an interesting one for the Seahawks, and it is one that I will be willing to stay patient with as the season unfolds. I am not willing to say that Sam Darnold is definitively an upgrade over Geno Smith, or Jalen Milroe is destined to develop into the next Jalen Hurts, but I will say that I really like Seattle’s processing of making a shift at quarterback with the hopes of finding a longer termed solution than the probably felt they had with Geno Smith.
And I totally get it if you are not overly enthusiastic about Sam Darnold, if you have doubts about whether Jalen Milroe can ever blossom into a quality NFL starter, and Drew Lock is an after thought. I understand it if you are going to have a strong eye on the quarterbacks in college this year with a belief that if Seattle ends up with a losing record in 2025, it wouldn’t be the worst thing.
I am not here to sway doubters of Darnold and company as to whether Seattle has their long term quarterback already rostered. I am just here to say that I find the quarterback room of these three guys kind of a cool one, and I do have some optimism that someone can emerge, and fit what Mike Macdonald wants at the position long term. All three guys have athletic traits that can work well in a run heavy play action offensive attack. All three guys have some variance of youth on their side. All three guys have multiple years on their deals.
Let me quick profile each one to help explain why I dig ’em as much as I do.
Sam Darnold; his floor is Derek Carr, and his ceiling is Jared Goff
Talent wise, I think Sam Darnold is, in many ways, fairly similar to what Derek Carr was in this league. He’s tall, with a good arm, good mobility, he throws a pretty deep ball, and he can get the ball out on time. With good pieces around him, he can win you games, and get you into the playoffs, and that was proven pretty decisively last season in Minnesota.
Carr never got enough credit that I think he deserved as a NFL quarterback, and I think a lot of that was due to injuries, and being part of a bad Raiders organization. If Carr had been drafted by a better organization with great coaching, like the Rams with McVay, and the 49ers with Shanahan, he could have had a very different outcome in his career, I believe.
At the very least, for a few years, anyways, I think Darnold can have Seattle clicking in a quality game manager role much like Carr was in 2022 with the Raiders when he led them into the playoffs. I also think he can be a lot more here if things really do take off for him in terms of further development, which they might, in fact, do.
As I wrote this, I was very tempted to make the ceiling comp for Darnold that of one Matthew Hasselbeck. Hass was at the same age of 27 in Seattle when the game finally clicked for him after years of struggling. As we know, once the lights came, he enjoyed long a nice run as Seattle’s franchise quarterback, and part of me definitely believes this sort of success can be had for Darnold here with a good support cast around him, and proper coaching.
For the purposes of what Mike Macdonald wants this offense to truly be, however, I think a very fair ceiling comp for Darnold is present day Jared Goff, who I would label as perhaps the best game managing quarterback in the league right now. I think peak Jared Goff is exactly who and what Darnold can be here, if all goes well, with the caveat that Darnold possesses more athleticism that what Goff offers and can therefore do a bit more as a runner.
As we know, Detroit runs a very run heavy offense that relies mostly on building play action passes off of the run. It will be scorched into Seahawk fans’ minds for a long time that MNF game last Fall when Seattle went to Detroit and Goff was a perfect 18 for 18 for 292 yards and 2 TDs.. ALL OFF OF PLAY ACTION PASSES while the Lions ran for 120 yards on the night (talk about PTSD).
Like Goff, Darnold very much wants to function in a play action offense. At this stage, Goff is, by far, the more polished passer, but Darnold probably has the stronger arm, and he definitely has the superior athleticism. All he might need now is a coaching staff who believes in him, and an offense that is tailor built for what he does best as a passer.
While fans can fantasize about the upside of Jalen Milroe, it is very possible that Darnold’s scars in the league are very good scars at this point, nicely built up calluses that help him properly process against the league’s defenses, and he will only get better over time, seeing the game faster, and being more in command of this offense year to year. With an offensive philosophy that suits his strengths, there is a distinct reality out there that he grabs hold of an opportunity, he doesn’t look back, and he has a nice long-ish tenure here.
Drew Lock; his floor is Drew Stanton, and his ceiling is Ryan Tannehill
Drew Lock isn’t much on the mind of most Seattle fans these days. Most are probably more likely to be day dreaming of Jalen Milroe being ready to take over in a year or two, or they are slowly warming up to Darnold more after this nice win on the road against the Steelers, or they are just day dreaming about drafting Arch Manning.
That said, Lock has fans inside the front office of Seattle, and he has a big fan in GM John Schneider. If you were to watch all three of these passers throw in gym shorts throwing against air to receivers, it would be more easy to see why he has front office fans. He very well might have the best pure arm talent out of the three, and he has athletic traits to match it, as well.
The throw he made two years ago, in the fourth quarter against the Eagles, down the sideline to Jaxson Smith Njigba against tight coverage, was high level NFL stuff. He might not ever materialize into a starter again, but I will always remember that throw from him.
It is throws like that one that can have a GM and a coaching staff believing that there is something there in him that can be further developed. It is just that, in his few times as a starter, he can also make throws that leave you wondering what he was even thinking about.
As it stands, I would say that it is a long shot that Drew Lock ever develops into a quality NFL starter, but I do think he can have a long Drew Stanton type of career as a quality backup. This would be a very safe and reasonable floor comp for him.
Years ago, the Arizona Cardinals ended up with Carson Palmer as their QB and they were a royal pain in the ass for the Seahawks and others in the division. Palmer bounced around from Cincinnati to Oakland to AZ before finally having some quality success, and Stanton proved a great backup for him. In games when Stanton played, he played pretty admirably in place of Palmer, I thought. I can see Darnold and Lock having a similar dynamic in Seattle for a while.
I can also see a wee bit of a scenario where Lock takes over for maybe a injured Darnold, and plays well enough in this run centric play action scheme where the coach wants to stick it out with him, and suddenly we have a Tennessee Titan Ryan Tannehill situation from a few years back when free agent Tannehill took over for presumptive starter Marcus Mariota, and then didn’t look back. While I don’t think this is a very likely scenario, you never know.
In 2012, we all know that John Schneider was into drafting Russell Wilson, but he was supposedly also very enamored with Tannehill, and was hoping to draft him in round one, if he fell to Seattle. Tannehill wasn’t the greatest pro, but he had very similar toolsy traits to Lock. He was tall, athletic, with a live arm that could effortlessly flick it downfield.
We know Schneider likes Lock a lot, and he is a great locker room guy. What happens if Darnold gets seriously injured, and Lock steps in and plays well enough to make Seattle a quality playoff team? I dunno, but I suspect that it could make for an interesting offseason.
Jalen Milroe; his floor is Taysom Hill, and his ceiling is Jalen Hurts
I would love to make Jalen Milroe’s ceiling comp that of one Lamar Jackson. It would be really fun to say that, and then try to dream that glorious ceiling into existence. I think we have to be realistic about this rookie, however.
I appreciate it that Milroe appears to have a fan in the head coach, and Mike Macdonald knows what a quality duo threat quarterback does to any defense. Macdonald has seen first hand what Lamar does on Sundays, and he just watched what Jalen Hurts did in the Super Bowl with top defense and run game.
I also think it is somewhat fair to suggest that Milroe could grow to become a quarterback like Jalen Hurts, someday, but it will likely take a lot of work in terms of his development for him to get there. I think it is highly unrealistic to think of him someday becoming Lamar Jackson, however. It would be like me saying that ceiling comp for Sam Darnold is Josh Allen, and that ceiling comp for Drew Lock is Justin Herbert.
I also am dubious to believe that the Kubiak scheme would ever be a proper fit for Milroe. This is a scheme entirely built on timing, accuracy, and anticipation throwing, and I don’t know how much Milroe can consistently ever do that. Peak Russell Wilson had problems doing that, and I think Super Bowl winning Hurts has issues with that, as well.
If he was thrust into the QB1 role right now, Seattle would have to depend even more so on the run game to stay ahead of the chains and away from third and long. Kubiak would probably have to limit his playbook, significantly.
In fact, I sorta believe that, for Milroe to ascend to QB1 in Seattle, and excel at it, the most realistic path might be for Kubiak to leave for a head coaching gig with perhaps Sam Darnold following him via a trade. Maybe then Macdonald would look towards Milroe, and decides to bring in a new offensive coaching staff who would run a Hurts style offense with more emphasis on designed QB runs and run pass option stuff to get Milroe comfortable doing what he naturally does best. In a situation such as this, maybe Milroe excels much like Hurts, and this becomes very exciting stuff for all Seahawk fans moving forward.
I would say, at the very least, while he develops behind the scenes, Milroe can carve out a very vital role in the Seahawks offense as a Taysom Hill style quarterback who comes on the field in short yardage situations, and in change of pace moments. In that, however, I think Kubiak and Macdonald must be smart about it.
I didn’t love how quickly they rolled out with the Milroe Package in the first offensive series against San Fransisco, and his QB draw was immediately snuffed out in result. It felt very forced to me, and ill timed.
I also found it interesting that Seattle chose to make him an inactive player against the Steelers this weekend, opting for tight end AJ Barner to serve in the tush push QB role, instead. It could be a sign that Milroe needs further behind the scenes development just to dependably become a Taysom Hill player for Seattle.
If Seattle someday does simply get Taysom Hill like production out of Milroe, and nothing more, then his selection in the third round last Spring will have been a good one. If he actually does blossom into a quality NFL quarterback, however, then that puts John Schneider into the Hall Of Fame for being able to find two starting quarterbacks for this franchise in round three.
Right now, I think the jury is needs to be appropriately out on him. If Darnold gets unfortunately injured, Drew Lock will be the starter in his place. The team is very clear on that. This is the right way to handle Milroe. He needs a proper redshirting.
But for now, it is fun to dream about what Milroe could someday become here in Seattle, if the window of opportunity ever opens for him, and he grabs hold of it, and never lets go of it. Until then, however, a whole lot of things need to line up for him to get there. We should be real about that.
Closing thoughts
Nobody knows what is going to materialize out of this quarterback room, and I think that is perfectly fine. Seattle is not tied long term to any of these guys, and that is smart.
But I like their processing of punting on Geno Smith and bringing in these guys for a good long look. It seems, tactically, very smart by John Schneider to do this, taking educated gambles that don’t hinder the franchise long term until someone emerges as The Guy.
Personally, I think it would be a huge boost for this team if one of these QBs emerges as the long term answer, though, and I don’t really care which one it is. If I were a betting man right now, I think I would be more apt to wager on Darnold than the others, but let’s see how the whole season goes first.
At the end of the day, I just think it would just be great if we have the position settled, and are annually picking impact players in round one of each draft either for the trenches, or elite skill player athletes. I think this is as good of a way as any to succeed in this league.
Not every great NFL organization is built around a young quarterback who was a high first round pick. Kyle Shanahan has never turned the keys of his offensive off to this type of player. Philly didn’t just win a Super Bowl with one. The Lions are relying on a quality retread QB, and the Rams have never drafted a QB high with McVay as their coach. Coach Holmgren never had one in Green Bay or Seattle with all of his successes. Peak eighties 49ers had a former third round pick leading their team, and nineties 49ers had a first round pick bust who they traded for leading them to titles.
And we all know what happened for the Patriots decades ago when they turned to little known sixth round pick Tom Brady in favor of injured established starter Drew Bledsoe. Rewind to nearly a quarter century ago, and virtually nobody saw that coming.
This is my food for thoughts about Sam, Drew, and Jalen, though, however which way this shakes out. I think these are all pretty likable dudes who will be easy for most fans to root for.
Each guy has talent, and question marks. It is what it is, and while it might not be an ideal situation for fans because of the unknowns, I am comfortable with not knowing what we really have right now.
One thing is for sure, however; whoever sits at the QB1 situation for Seattle long term is destined to play with a kick ass defense under Mike Macdonald. Maybe that is what we really should all be getting excited about more and more. It’s a fun thought.
Today is a very good day to be a Seattle sports fan. The Seattle Mariners have swept the Angels to gain full leadership of the AL West, and the Seattle Seahawks traveled to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and pounded the dreaded Steelers significantly enough to show football pundits that perhaps their offense isn’t as anemic as the narrative was built up to be after a tough home loss to San Francisco last weekend.
A few days ago, I wrote a piece about Ken Walker and Riq Woolen that was possibly the single most critical article I have ever taken to write about individual players on this blog. While my intention wasn’t to make it a total hit job, I wanted to illustrate a number of reasons why I felt perhaps they weren’t working out in the new schemes Seattle has adopted under Mike Macdonald. I questioned K9’s ability to fit inside a primarily zone blocking scheme, and I questioned whether Woolen had the discipline needed to operate consistently in Macdonald’s complex defense.
Towards the final moments of the game yesterday against the Pittsburgh Steelers, I joked with friends that K9 must had read my blog. Of course, he did not, but I am sure he heard the criticism that was all over radio waves last week, on podcasts, and written by much bigger fish out there than what this little blog is.
Walker had himself a critically important game on Sunday in Pittsburgh. He played with purpose, and with such a decisiveness that I cannot even recall the last time I saw this out of him. Maybe his rookie year?
He didn’t dance behind blockers waiting for a big whole to open up so he could run to daylight. He didn’t look hesitant or unsure. He hit creases, violently, and for most of the day, carried Seattle’s offense on his back. A total reversal of what he showed last week against San Francisco, and in many stretches last year.
This is the type of running Seattle needs to fully see their offense open up. This is an offensive scheme that is entirely built on the run, and K9 has the type of talent at running back that he could be one of the brightest ones in this league, if he plays pissed off for greatness on a regular basis. When you have a back doing that, it opens everything on the offense up for a reliable veteran quarterback such as Sam Darnold.
Football is not a game for the hesitant. It is a sport dependent on the willingness to stare violent intentions in the face, and throw it back on the opponent. It is a blood sport with helmets and shoulder pads, and with strategy that resembles conventional warfare.
It is a game that scares soccer moms, and speaks to the inner barbarianism inside us that compels us to take muay thai classes. It is the yin to our yang.
If Ken Walker has now understood that his mission to a big free agent pay day is to trust his offensive line enough to play decisive with bad intentions on second level tacklers with regularity, he will undoubtedly seize the RB1 role in this offense over Zach Charbonnet. If both guys can bring it like this, then I think we could be looking at something special brewing in Seattle this year.
When linebackers and DBs are thinking about K9, it gives Cooper Kupp catch and run opportunities as was on display through much of the game. It also opens up tight ends, and it allows JSN to get downfield on one on one situations for deep shots such as the one that Darnold brilliantly hit him with late in the game to set up K9’s backbreaking outside toss run to the end zone that stunned Steeler Nation.
All of this happened on Sunday, in a tough road environment for Sam Darnold, who, save for a couple bad interceptions, had himself a quality day guiding the Seattle offense. It was important for him to have this type of outing, as well.
Darnold was, without a doubt, the better quarterback in Pittsburgh yesterday. He looked more poised than Aaron Rodgers did, and as the game wore on, he looked like the passer who would prove better down the stretch. He was decisive, gritty when he needed to be, and I think this is a quality game for him to further build chemistry with Kupp, and company.
As mentioned in a piece I wrote after the loss last week, this offense will likely take time to find itself this season, and in that, it will take a number of games for Darnold to find his chemistry with his receivers. In this game, he looked like he was taking encouraging steps forward with that. Now let’s build off of it, and get those two INTs out of our game.
Rodgers, however, to my eyes, from the get go, appeared old and flustered, and typically salty enough for Steeler fans to now be a bit concerned. This was from the opening series that the Steelers had the ball and he led them to a field goal score, as well.
He doesn’t move like he used to, his efforts to get outside the pocket feel more labored, and it felt like he knew he was going to be in for it all game long against Seattle’s dominating defensive tackles and quick edge rushers. He was, and by the end of the game, he looked like he wanted to retreat into a hippie yurt somewhere in central Oregon to meditate about his next appearance on the Joe Rogan Podcast.
Seattle didn’t blitz him much probably because they were without their do everything corner Devon Witherspoon, but they really didn’t need to blitz him, either. Their front four rushers did enough. You know you have something when you can dependably rush four to affect the passer. We will touch more on that in just a minute, so hold this thought in your mind a bit.
As for Riq Woolen, I thought he had himself a good bounce back game, as well. Like K9, he needed this to be a quality outing.
On the whole, I thought all the defensive backs shined in coverage, and it appears that perhaps Seattle’s depth at cornerback is better than folks were anticipating with Spoon being out. This, in my mind, might be one of the more sneakier encouragements to come out of this game.
Josh Jobe continues to be one of the best kept secrets in the league at cornerback, and Shaq Griffin held in admirably, as well, as did newcomer Derion Kendrick (who was a late addition waiver claim from the Rams). Kendrick, in particular, seems to have picked the complexities of the Macdonald defense up fast, and if this is so, he gives Seattle a depth at corner to where Seattle see an opportunity for decent mid season trade, potentially.
Could the Raiders come sniffing around Riq Woolen with Jakobi Meyers on the table who has requested a trade out of Sin City? Would Miami come calling about Riq offering Jaylen Waddle in exchange?
Even though Cooper Kupp had himself a quality bounce back game in Pittsburgh, demonstrating his intended role in this offense, do we trust him to hold up for an entire season, or does Seattle look for opportunities to add a veteran receiver from another team who fits what Seattle wants to do, offensively?
I think these are interesting questions to keep in mind as we get further into games and it is better revealed to us what these Seattle Seahawks are this year. Right now, even though I loved what Kupp did in this game, what JSN continues to do, and what rookie Tory Horton showed, I still wonder if this offense is one receiver away from really getting to where I think Kubiak and Macdonald want it to go this year.
I know this is just two games into the season, and we still don’t totally know what we have in the Seahawks right now, but here is the Big Positive Thought that I have brewing.
I believe the Mike Macdonald defense is getting pretty legitimate in Seattle, right now, this season. Not legitimate in the “yeah, pretty good” sorta way, but in the legitimate “holy shit, I do not want to see my quarterback play against that” sorta way.
Last week against the 49ers, Brock Purdy was hurried and flustered much like Aaron Rodgers just was. Had Woolen not made a couple critical mistakes in coverage late in the fourth quarter, I think Seattle would have walked away with a win despite their offense not doing much. In fact, part of the problem against the 49ers was that Klint Kubiak kept a pretty safe dialed back approach to the offense with Darnold, and it wasn’t until points were needed late, that we really saw the passing opening up more downfield with Darnold delivering.
Sam Darnold, even with the Jets, has always been a good downfield passer, and this week, on the road in a very tough environment in Pittsburgh, Kubiak opened up the offense more, and allowed Darnold to push it downfield against a pretty good Steelers defense. It wasn’t perfect with that one bad INT intended for Cooper Kupp, in particular, but got multiple players involved, and it made the offense more of a scoring threat, and generally, Sam delivered.
There will be a host of games on this schedule where Seattle will not be playing defenses that are nearly as good as they have played in back to back weeks, and there will be offenses who won’t be as good, either. As Kubiak’s offense starts to settle in more, I think there are likely going to be games this season where Seattle could look pretty dominant as a young football team, barring significant injuries.
Will that be enough to win the division?
Maybe, the season is long, and I think there are still question marks as to how healthy Matt Stafford can stay with the Rams, how healthy the 49ers can be, and how real the Cardinals are.
I do not want to get ahead of my skis with the Seahawks right now, but I will say that I feel much better about them winning ball games when I know that they have a defense that can consistently pressure the quarterback by playing a two shell defense, and also stop the run with those backend looks. Seattle has a lot more talent up front than I think they are being recognized as having, and their backend looks like they are being coached at a very high level.
Coaching matters in the NFL, and it matters more than any other team sport, in my view. I think Mike Macdonald is a really, really good football coach, and people are eventually going to start seeing that more and more the further we get into games this year.
In this game, in Pittsburgh, Aaron Rodgers saw it. You could tell, from the get go, that he could see it, and he wasn’t feeling easy about it, either.
And DK Metcalf couldn’t do jack shit it with it, as well. He was largely shut down, and from a fan perspective, for a guy who wanted out of Seattle for supposed greener pastures, that was quite a delightful watch. Have fun being expensive and mid in Pittsburgh where fans won’t likely be as forgiving as they are out here.
I had a feeling heading into this game that Seattle would play Pittsburgh pretty tough, and maybe sneak out a quality win on the road. I didn’t necessarily see this level of ass kicking, though.
I dig it, and while I am sure some will say that this final 31-17 score on the road is deceiving with that botched kickoff return by the Steelers that gave Seattle seven extra points, Seattle’s offense still managed to score 24 points in this one, and might have managed more if not for a missed field goal and a dump fourth and one play in the red zone that led to Darnold’s second INT. Things to clean up, for sure, but damn..
Gimme more K9, and for the love of everything good in the world, please keep Robbie Ouzts on the field in front of him. We can do good things with that, I think.
Is it time to rip the K9 bandaid off this offense?
While I am reluctant to put too much stock into a week one loss at home against a tough division rival in the San Francisco 49ers, enough time as passed where dust has settled on a couple thoughts that I have regarding the Seahawks as a team this year.
One thought is that, if it weren’t for the misfortune of a small hand full of bad plays (an early third down drop by Cooper Kupp, a run after catch fumble by JSN, a couple bad coverage plays by Riq Woolen, and Abe Lucas getting trucked into the throwing hand of Sam Darnold by Nick Bosa), the Seahawks could have walked out of Lumen Field with a quality win over San Francisco. Things feel bad after any loss, and they feel worse with a loss at home against a hated rival, but often times, the game itself may not have been as bad as it initially felt. I really believe that this game was one of those.
The other thing that I have been mulling over is that perhaps now is the time for Mike Macdonald to turn the page on a couple of Pete Carroll holdovers who simply haven’t been living up to the hype, and fitting these schemes. I wonder if running back Ken Walker is, at all, system fit for Seattle, and I have the same concern over cornerback Riq Woolen.
Firstly, let’s have a good old fashioned glass half full look at last Sunday’s game
As mentioned in a game recap piece I wrote on Monday, even though the final score of this 17-13 loss at home to San Francisco felt grim, I left the game with an impression that maybe Seattle didn’t really play as bad as some would think, and in another match, they might have easily walked away with a quality win. Today, with more dust settled, I feel more steadfast in this belief.
The Seahawk defense was set to be the star of the day. They pressured Brock Purdy more than he had ever been pressured in a game, and that caused two interceptions. In a world full of coulda woulda shoulda, had Riq Woolen sustained his technique on a sideline ball to Ricky Pearsall, or had he made a dedicated attempt to intercept a desperation throw by Purdy in the corner of the end zone, Seattle could have held San Francisco to 10 points, and walked away with a gritty win where the defense would have been the major storyline.
As for the knee jerking fans who wanted to dump on Sam Darnold afterwards (I saw a lot of your online), the advanced analytics of Pro Football Focus had him graded has the fourth best performing NFL quarterback in week one with an elite 82.6 grade, and he was the top performing Seahawk offensive player in the game, just ahead of Charles Cross, and JSN. While I recognize that in the divided society that we live in, people use PFF analytics to support views on players that they want to defend, and then they want to dismiss PFF grades as hoo-ey when they don’t align with their narratives, I tend to put a lot more stock in their metric grading as the truest judge in the court of public opinion.
Their metric system isn’t just raw data, it looks at the data inside the prism of what plays were called and what the intention was behind them. With this in mind, PFF had concluded that Darnold pretty much did everything he was asked to do to go win a ball game. He took care of the football (the strip sack wasn’t on him), he was decisive getting the ball out to the right places, and he was generally pretty accurate.
Had Cooper Kupp been able to haul in an early third down pass that hit his hands, then late in the game made a stronger attempt to stretch out for a critical third down that kept possession, had JSN not coughed up the football on a catch and run screen towards the red zone, Darnold’s raw stat lines probably would have looked a lot better. He was not the problem for Seattle’s offense.
Now for the K9 bad stuff on Sunday and thoughts as to what Seattle should do moving forward
I think Ken Walker was problem this last Sunday against the 49ers, and I think he’s been a problem for a while. Let me expand my thoughts.
Brian Nemhauser of Hawkblogger mentioned on his podcast the other day that Seattle uses different blocking concepts for when Zach Charbonnet is in the game than what they do for Ken Walker. On top of that, Field Gulls just came out with an article displaying how K9 has a tendency to misread a lot of the zone blocks in front of him, and his impulse is to always look to kick things to the outside instead of properly going where his blocking should lead him towards.
Okay, let’s think about this and really breakdown what happened on Sunday.
Seattle’s lone touchdown scoring drive happened when Charbonnet was the featured runner. Let’s review the plays that happened on that drive.
First play of that series was a six yard run by Charbonnet. Second play was a five yard Charbonett run, and first down. Third play was a 21 yard Darold pass to JSN. Then it is another five yard Charbonnet run. Ken Walker mixes in for a four yard run (good). Third and one, tight end AJ Barner is used as a wildcat QB (interestingly not Jalen Milroe), they gain two yards, and a first down. Four yard run by Charbonnet, followed by another four yard run by Charbonnet, followed by a negative gain by Charbonnet on third down that forces fourth and goal.
Seattle passes on fourth, draws a pass interference, and a new set of downs at the goal line. Next play was Charbonnet punching it in at the one yard line behind left guard Grey Zabel. This concluded a lovely, well managed, well executed touchdown scoring drive.
None of the runs by Zach Charbonnet during this drive were super flashy, but most of them were good positive gains that any offensive coordinator would be happy to take, especially on the early downs getting them to third down and manageable situations for a mature NFL quarterback to operate out of. They were strong, and decisive runs, too.
Decisive is the operative word that I want to use for Klint Kubiak’s offense. It requires it from its quarterback, but it equally requires it from its runners, as well. See the right read quickly and hit it. This touchdown scoring drive is pretty much how you would like to draw it up for this scheme.
Now, let’s look at some of K9’s day on Sunday in comparison to the drive described. Fair warning, it is not fun.
The third possession of Seattle started with a toss run to K9 on the outside right that 49er linebackers read well, and it was a one yard loss, and the next to plays were incompletions that led to a punt. This series was the exact opposite of the touchdown drive led by the running of Charbonnet. The fourth offensive series that followed was even worse.
In the fourth series, the first play was a screen pass to K9, again to the outside right, that All Pro linebacker Fred Warner read well, and it was a negative five yard play that put Seattle in second and fifteen. Adding insult to injury, the very next was an inside draw to K9 that was a minus three yards making it third and eighteen. The third down pass was yet another minus three yard pass to K9. Yikes.
In this damning series, it was three plays, all directed to K9, that led to a whopping negative eleven yards for the Seattle offense. It felt like the San Francisco defenders were completely inside Kubiak’s playbook, possibly knowing exactly how Seattle would try to get K9 going, and they attacked it accordingly.
Now, let’s go back to this notion that Seattle uses different blocking methods for Charbonnet and K9 to fit what each runner’s strengths are, and comfortabilities. I want to break down their final possession just before haft time for you.
Seattle gets the ball back with a chance to grab the lead. First play of the series is a six yard run up the middle by Charbonnet, and it is followed by a 22 yard pass to JSN, there is a nine yard pass to Kupp, a 4 yard run by Charbonnet, an incompletion, and then a brilliant nine yard bootleg run by Darnold that sets up a Jason Meyer field goal that gives Seattle a halftime lead, and good vibes heading into the half.
Notice, if you will, that at that critical juncture in the game, the Seattle coaches trusted Zach Charbonnet over K9 to be on the field executing plays that led to a go ahead score before the half. Let that firmly sink into your mind, and think about why that was the decision.
I am not going to go into all the offensive stats that generated during the second half of this game, but it was basically a lot more of the same as described above. The first offensive possession for Seattle included a K9 run for no gain, and the next time they had the ball Charbonnet gained six yards on a carry, was stopped for no gain, Darnold made a nice third down throw to JSN, and it eventually led to the JSN fumble that was costly. The greater point is that it was largely a continuation of positive results when Charbonnet was featured as a runner, and troubling results when Walker was the guy.
This is purely my opinion on both Seattle running backs, but it is backed by what I saw last year, and what I saw out of this game on Sunday. I think Zach Charbonnet is the guy who you should take to the alter and marry in this offense, and Ken Walker is a fella you can be compelled to flirt with because of some top shelf athletic intangibles, but you maybe should not commit towards, if you want this offense to run optimally as designed by Klint Kubiak.
Charbonnet will give you significantly better decisiveness as a runner, he will offer significantly more toughness inside, and he’s got enough wheels on him to kick it outside, as well, when it is required for him to do so. He does more, he offers more, and most importantly, he does what this scheme asks him to do. He is who you marry.
Far too many Seahawk fans and members of Seattle media have gotten too swept up by the memories of K9’s rookie year, and the home run threat he provides in open space, but there has been enough time, and history that has shown that, with each year with him here, he has gotten less, and less productive as a player. Part of that is definitely due to injuries, but even in that, I wonder how much of his history of injuries has led to more indecisiveness out of him, and how much unwillingness he has to firmly stick his nose inside like Charbonnet does for tough gains.
If he is playing protective, seeking out the big play instead of the tough yards required, he is a problem. If he just does not have the innate instincts as a runner to see the proper places he needs to go, and needs different blocking than Charbonnet does, I think he is also a problem, and ultimately, Mike Macdonald has to be the one to make a tough call.
I know that this is just one game to start the season, and maybe this weekend he does some cool stuff on the road against the Steelers that makes up for it, but I wouldn’t be willing to bet much at that, at this point. The Steelers bring a very physical brand of football on defense, and I think they are more talented up front than the 49ers are in totality.
If I were Mike Macdonald, I would be calling upon on a lot more I formation featuring Robbie Ouzts in front of Charbonnet than I would mixing in Walker. I would consider sticking with that format and using more George Holani with it, as well.
But I am not an NFL head coach, and I don’t know all the ins and outs of play calling. I just see what I see on my television set, and whenever I am at games. I like what I see a lot more from Charbonnet than I do from Walker, and I have felt this way for about a year, now. His flashy is not as flashy as K9’s flashy, but his style just feels more dependable, and reliable.
Even more importantly to the bigger picture of this team, I also think that it is highly problematic if the coaches are having a young offensive line block one way for Zach, and another for K9. It is putting more on their plates, and it is giving defenses very obvious tells as to what to expect when each back is in the game.
If a major goal for this team this year is to get a young line gelling together and becoming good together, wouldn’t it be best for them to put less on their plates when run blocking? And is it not a massive hinderance to the development of the line to tell defenses that Seattle will do one thing for Zach when he is in the game, and then something completely different for K9?
Part of the beauty of this whole Kubiak/Shanahan/McVay style offense is to keep looks the same, but then run different things off of those looks, building, and orchestrating a variety of plays of them to keep defenses unsure and on their toes. There is a rhythm to that designed to lull defenders, and then surprise them. If the defenders see that certain things get called for one back, and other things get called for the other, does that not diminish the ability for this offense to function in its truest intents?
I don’t like it at all. This is why I am out on K9 right now.
Now for the Riq Woolen issues
As for Riq Woolen, I feel like I am equally ready to turn the page on him. I will be very blunt about that, and I have always been drawn to his big play potential.
Like K9, he has all world physical traits to be a dominant player, but he just lacks way too much consistency for me to want to rely on him figuring it out, and if Mike Macdonald really does love Josh Jobe, and he likes others on the roster, as well, I am ready to move on. I am squarely to this point.
This is year four for Woolen, and he had a full season under Macdonald to learn the complexities of this defense scheme. He has also had a full offseason to further grow even further in it, and while I know this is just one game to start the season, good lord, he still showed lapses in basic fundamentals that other DBs in this scheme do not seem to show.
Josh Jobe, like Charbonnet, feels more reliable, and I suspect that if Shaq Griffin got into games, he would offer more consistency in coverage and against the run, if not any real big play potential that Woolen provides. On top of this, I don’t know how much of this particular scheme depends on big play potential at cornerback over doing all the fundamentals correctly. In Baltimore, I don’t think Macdonald had any big play shutdown guys playing cornerback in his league leading defense in 2023. His playmakers were his safeties, and inside linebackers.
Riq Woolen will always tease with his high level playmaking abilities. His length and athleticism makes him a league wide rarity, and the fact that he’s a former receiver, he has very natural abilities to make plays on the ball once it is launched downfield, and he finds himself in decent position.
The main issue is playing with the requisite discipline to put himself consistently in good position. If he could just do that, he has the talent to be the best cornerback in the league, but going into year four now, he has yet to show he can.
Personally, I don’t think it is that hard to imagine that had Shaq Griffin (who played decently as a starter for the Vikings last year) been covering Pearsall down the sideline last Sunday, he would have kept better position, and that the play would have resulted in an incompletion. I think it is also possible that had he been in coverage in the corner of the end zone as Purdy carelessly lobbed up that pass, his veteran instincts would have taken over and he would have made a stronger play on the ball than the half hearted attempt Woolen gave on that play which contributed to a fluky touchdown grab.
If most fans are willing to place most of the blame on Sunday’s loss to Woolen, I wouldn’t argue against that. He has too much talent to not live up to his potential, and this is year four for him to prove that he deserves a big payday on the 2026 offseason.
These two brain farts should not happen him at this stage, and that fact that they occurred in the season opener at home, against a fierce rival, in a contract year to boot, feels almost more unforgivable, and damning. If we see him benched next week, I wouldn’t be upset.
That said, I have a split mindset when it comes to him, as well.
On one side of my brain, I would hope that the embarrassment for being viewed as the main culprit for a tough loss would be the thing to finally make him pissed off for greatness as a player through the remainder of this year, and on Sunday, in Pittsburgh, he plays his ass off against DK Metcalf and Aaron Rodgers. If I am to wager anything of significance that this would happen, however, I would be incredibly stressed out by that, however.
This leads to my more dominant mindset on Riq which is heaped in great reluctance to ever trust that he will ever put forth all the necessary efforts to be consistently great. I am so hestitant about him that if Pete Carroll came sniffing around dangling a third round pick like he did with Geno Smith, and he was dealt next week, I think I would be feeling pretty good about it for Seattle if that deal were made.
I do believe that Woolen, given his youth, his physical traits, and the premium position that he plays as an outside cornerback, would net significantly more value for Seattle in a trade than Ken Walker would, at this point. In a more simplified defensive scheme, that doesn’t ask as much out of defensive backs as Macdonald requires, I think it is possible that Woolen could do better somewhere else than here.
Here, in Seattle? I am dubious to see it with him, at this point. He should know by now what is required out of him by Macdonald, and he should be more serous minded than what his play demonstrated last Sunday.
Josh Jobe appears to get it. Woolen should, by now, get it, and be playing his ass off in a contract year. This feels like a turning point for him here now where he must decide if he is in, or out.
My conclusive thoughts on what I most need right now out of the Seahawks come hell of high water
At the end of the day, while I would love to see this roster comprised of blue chip players everywhere with elite traits shooting out their nostrils, I want a roster full of what I think Mike Macdonald guys are. I want good football players, who above everything else, are smart, disciplined, serious minded guys, and committed to playing the best brand of football together as they can collectively do.
I don’t need a world class athlete at quarterback if he is not ready to properly read and dissect an NFL defense. I don’t need a wildly athletic runner if he cannot properly see the holes, and lanes he is supposed to attack. I don’t need some long freaky fast corner if he cannot stay fundamental in his coverage skills, and I do not need a tall burner receiver if he cannot run required routes and catch with reliable hands.
I need good, dependable football players across the board, and if there is a smidgen of blue chip talent in there at a few spots, then I think that should be enough to make this team a truer contender down the line. This is the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions.
Right now, I am good to see what we got with Darnold. I love what we got with JSN. I am eager to see Zach Charbonnet assert himself as our featured runner, and I feel better about Josh Jobe at corner than I do today with Riq Woolen. There is a long list of other guys on this team that I feel good about, too. I love me some Big Cat Williams.
I just need this team to comprise of 53 Mike Macdonald players to suit up every Sunday, and once that happens, I will judge more sternly what kind of coach I think Macdonald is. This year, even more so than last year, must be about this very thing.
It is time for Mike Guys, and you are either in, or you are out.
12th Life 