The best thing about today’s game was that it was over.
A sparse crowd watched truly vile football even in preseason when the Seattle Seahawks fell 24-0 behind and eventually lost 11-27 to the Chicago Bears. If last Saturday’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers was reasonably fun even in a loss, this game looked sub-AAF quality. Yes, a lot of starters didn’t play, but they certainly did on offense and defense and on special teams, and the results were appalling.
Winners and losers will treat winners very lightly.
winner
Darwin Thompson
The jump was cool and he scored a touchdown on a night when he had 6 carries for 34 yards. At the very least, he’d be a candidate for the practice squad. I wouldn’t be surprised if he made it into the team just with the uncertainty surrounding Kenneth Walker’s health.
josh jones
Especially with the injured Ryan Neal, Jones looks like a goalkeeper as an added reassurance. He had a tackle for loss and actually bothered to attack players.
Coby Bryant and Tariq Woolen
Bryant almost had an interception and called off a touchdown. Woolen played tight cover throughout the game. I am happy.
Alton Robinson
Probably the only Seahawks pass rusher to actually get into the backfield with any consistency. I like stripped down Alton. His pressure led to the dismissal of Myles Adams.
Damien Lewis
A latecomer to the list for avoiding a serious ankle fracture. When you see the car and the aircast, it usually means “season over”. but luckily it’s just a lateral sprain.
loser
Marchioness Blair
I think the wrong nickel corner/extra security was traded away. Injury issues aside, Blair’s ceiling looks a lot like special teams because everything else is just an accident waiting to happen. I’ve lost count of how many missed tackles and overtakes he’s had and once again he’s been penalized for a headshot. There’s no two ways: The defensive side of the 2019 Seahawks class was a big net negative. Cody Barton can help make that at least neutral, but other than that you don’t get anything from poor defensive performances.
Blair was just one of many Seahawks gasping and huffing, but in my opinion he was the worst performer.
Geno Smith
That’s not to say Smith played terribly — he was unlucky on a few drops — but he’s done very little in two preseason games to take the starting quarterback job convincingly. We’re looking at 10 points over four quarters, with that one touchdown coming in the two-minute practice. It can be argued that he doesn’t have his top two running backs or more than three snaps from DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett, but the other team eventually gets to play their first team players as well. By preseason standards, the Seahawks have far more starters on offense than most other teams, and passing play was predictably painful even with good pass protection. The ceiling on that offense, which isn’t high anyway given the QBs on the roster, is just so low with Geno, and that’s the nicest way of putting it. The floor? Spring…
Shit, the third to last is supposed to say missing FG
— Seaside Joe: Daily Seahawks Newsletter (@seasidejoenews) August 19, 2022
charles cross
Five penalties is five penalties no matter how good he looked blocking Robert Quinn. Not only did Cross start wrong, but he always did when Seattle was in overdrive. I’m optimistic that’s fixable, but in terms of his discipline, that needs to be fixed.
The receivers are vying for places 4 and 5 at WR
Let’s assume that Metcalf, Lockett and, all through injury, Eskridge are the blocks to make the 53. Freddie Swain had a brutal drop. Dareke Young had one. Penny Hart is probably the only one who did anything notable with his 41-yard catch, but even he committed a special team penalty. JJ Arcega-Whiteside and Bo Melton both dropped touchdowns. Cade Johnson let the brutal special teams muff for a touchdown. The low end of the receiver depth map did not fare well. Partly because of this, some of us have been clamoring for more investment (capital design and free reign) in wide receiver for years.
Joel Dublanko
I can’t imagine giving him the last preseason game. Seattle’s inside linebacker depth is an absolute shambles.
Jason Myers
After hitting the post and getting a lucky jump on a field goal last week, Myers missed a 47-far right. His job shouldn’t have gone unchallenged this offseason, and the Seahawks need to seriously consider his future as the preseason stink of 2021 hasn’t gone away. Seattle saves $4 million by releasing him.
Stone Forsythe
To my untrained eye, he was the underperforming offensive lineman of anyone who played the entire game. Chances are he’s just too slow to compete at the NFL level. He got the business from third-stringers.
Justin Coleman
What the hell happened to this guy? Last week he was tough, but this week even worse. Coleman couldn’t land a punt at the 1 if he had room to do so, and he was a liability in secondary. Coby Bryant may be the default favorite for the nickel corner spot because everyone else failed to impress.
Special Teams unit as a whole
what a wild night This group forced a fumble, recovered from a botched punt return, but also missed a field goal, failed to land a punt on the 1 without pressure, and allowed huge runbacks on kicks and punts. That was such a pathetic performance from one of this Seahawks team’s strengths in recent years.
All degenerates who bet over 40 scored
Don’t bet on pre-season football would be my advice. But that was hard to take when you watched the Seahawks have numerous near touchdowns only to end up having no touchdowns.
Closing remarks
- Travis Homer looks so much more comfortable as an all-down back. He had one of the rare highlights on a 33-yard scamper that included an Abe Lucas pancake block.
- Good for Jacob Eason to get some traction in the state where he played his senior year of college. He’s not accurate and his pocket awareness is a mess, but he got at least one touchdown drive and should have had two. Seattle may still keep him around, but he won’t get higher than QB3 any time soon.
- All the best to Drew Lock, whose COVID case seems particularly rough. Forget football for a moment and hope this virus doesn’t have a long-term impact on his well-being.
- I think Pete Carroll’s job is safe because he traded Russell Wilson and didn’t get another quarterback besides Lock. If the team is bad, the catch is they just draft a (hopeful) stud rookie next year. My only caveat to that is if the regular season comes around and the Seahawks make a lot of effort that looks like that shit show vs Chicago, we might just see one change. Better to see a better performance against Dallas next week or I suspect the confidence poll we do in SB Nation Reacts will look different than last week’s soaring optimism.