There was much meaning to be found in a meaningless preseason loss to the Steelers if you knew where to look. Seattle said goodbye to the final pillars of their championship team this offseason when trading Russell Wilson and releasing Bobby Wagner. The moves made the Seahawks significantly less talented in the near-term, with the belief that the resulting draft picks and cap space were necessary to raise the ceiling of the team beyond their perpetual early playoff exits. It was undoubtedly a risky gambit. For it to pay off, John Schneider must walk a tight rope with no net, nailing draft choices and free agent signings in a way he simply has not done since his first few seasons in Seattle. This draft class must be great. This first game provided some evidence it may be exactly that.
Not all positions are equal. Not all position groups are equal. Not all draft choices are equal. Left tackle is a foundational piece to any offensive line, and among the most important positions on the football field. Charles Cross was taken with the 9th pick in the draft, which was part of the compensation for trading Wilson. He was the last of three premium offensive tackles available when Seattle picked. A lot could go right with the rest of the draft class and if Cross washed out as a mediocre or worse left tackle, the Seahawks path back to contending would have become far more treacherous and unlikely.
Cross has been the great silent story of camp. There may be no player picked as high by Seattle who has received such little attention or media coverage. The hope was that was a good sign. No news is generally good news for the offensive line. People tend to notice you only when mistakes are made. There was some concern that maybe Cross was benefiting from facing a weak Seahawks pass rush and he might be exposed in game competition. What we saw instead was a wonderfully steady performance that belied his youth.
Cross appeared to handle all his pass protection duties with ease. He had no false starts. No holding penalties. He blocked well in the run game, which was a question mark for scouts as he played in an air raid offense in college that was heavily slanted toward throwing the ball.
He never appeared off balance or in trouble. Pittsburgh could send ferocity his way, and he would parry the attacks as calmly and gracefully as Master Oogway, the elderly tortoise in Kung Fu Panda. Cross will need to stack snap after snap, game after game, season after season to prove he is the player Seattle needs at that spot, but it is hard to be anything but excited after his first outing.
If left tackle is the most important position on the offensive line, the line itself is possibly the most important position group the team needed to reshape as part of their reboot. The pick that had me most excited in this draft was that of tackle Abe Lucas in the third round. Lucus is a terrific athlete at 6’6″ and 315 lbs, with good speed and power. He would have been a reasonable selection in round two. Getting a player with his kind of upside at the tackle position opposite Cross gave this draft a chance to be the definition of foundational. Two good starting tackles on rookie deals would make any draft a success.
Where Cross had a zen-like performance that covered himself and his opponents in a cloak of invisibility, Lucas played more like Thor, God of Thunder. Lucas, like Cross, played in a pass heavy air raid offense in college and scouts had doubts about his run blocking. He may have erased all of those doubts on one glorious play in the first quarter.
Lucas subbed in for Jake Curhan at right tackle to start the series. Seattle had a 2nd and 7 with the ball on the Steelers 44-yard line. The handoff was to Travis Homer over the right side. Lucas was blocking down to create a crease behind him. He engaged his defender at the line of scrimmage and drove him five yards downfield before pancaking him into the turf with ferocity.
It was one of the best displays of power and nastiness we have seen from a Seahawks right tackle in a long time. Lucas has the physical attributes to be one of the top right tackles in the game. The biggest question was about his run blocking, which is a crucial part of the job at that spot. His pass protection did not appear quite as clean as Cross, but was solid and he did not have any noticeable mental errors.
There is every reason to leave this game feeling like Seattle may have won the lottery with their two rookie tackles. The arrow is pointing straight up for both, and that is massive news.
We also saw Phil Haynes join the starters at right guard in place of Gabe Jackson. Haynes played almost the entire game at either right or left guard. He appeared to have another good performance. Haynes has always been solidly above average in pass protection, which is a rare quality in Seahawk guards the past 10 years or so. He is only 26-years old, and can absolutely be a part of a young offensive line with the two tackles, Damien Lewis and even Jake Curhan. Curhan started at right tackle and moved inside to right guard.
There is a pretty good case to be made that the “second team” offensive line was better than the first. I put that in quotes because Cross, Haynes, Austin Blythe, and Curhan were all starters who played with the second line. Curhan shifted to right guard, Lucas played right tackle, and Haynes shifted to left guard.
The whole group played mostly error-free football for the game. Penalties were not an issue. Pass protection was good-to-great, allowing just one QB hit through three quarters. The run blocking may have been better, as every back was enjoying lots of yards before contact from a defender. Rashaad Penny may have housed a few had he played.
As great as the offensive line played, we entered the game with maybe the most questions about the pass rush. We have not heard a lot about second round pick Boye Mafe or top free agent signing, Uchenna Nwosu. It has been painful to watch how ineffective the edge pass rush has been in past years.
The normal refrain had become that preseason games are not always a good measure because, “we are not game-planning for opponents” and, “staying vanilla in our looks and pressures.” The truth has been Seattle simply did not have the difference-making edge rushers who could beat their man 1v1 on any regularity.
What we saw in Pittsburgh was a ton of activity from Darrell Taylor, who did not have a ton to show for it, but flashed the speed and agility to be a breakout player in what is functionally his second season (he missed his rookie year due to injury). Double digit sacks is the goal for Taylor, and it looks like that could happen.
We also saw the great enigma that is Alton Robinson show up with multiple quarterback hits. Robinson is a bit of the forgotten man, but he has shown up to camp lighter, and hopefully in a place where he can finally find regular snaps.
Nwosu did not play a ton, and did nothing exciting in his time on the field.
The real star was Mafe. He finished with two sacks, including a strip sack and a tackle for loss. He also ran down a returner on a punt to save a touchdown. He is not as twitchy as a guy like Taylor, but he is quick off the ball and shows promise in being able to turn his speed into power rushes.
I can’t be sure, but I believe he was playing behind Taylor, so his snaps would likely be limited during the regular season. I did not see how he held up against the run, which is going to be important in this defense. He looked like a guy who may wind up becoming a starter at some point in his career. I did not see attributes that show a Pro Bowl ceiling, but it is very early, and a starting edge player who could net 5-9 sacks in a season would be a great value in the second round.
One other quick note was that Shelby Harris flashed as an interior rusher, which was nice to see. He came over in the Wilson trade and could play an important role on this defensive line.
The news was not all rosy on defense. Missing starting corners Sidney Jones and Artie Burns, multiple young players got a chance to make their case for snaps in the secondary. Tariq Woolen and Coby Bryant both started and both had somewhat disappointing debuts.
Woolen gave up a touchdown on a blown coverage where he was supposed to be in zone, and instead was in man and left a player wide open. Bryant gave up a touchdown on a great throw and better catch. Woolen did have a very nice play on a deep ball early in the game where he walled off his man, playing it perfectly. Bryant got snaps outside and at slot corner.
This was not a disaster for either player. They both demonstrated physical traits that are promising, and neither looked overmatched. Their level of play to this point in camp has raised expectations extremely high. What we will find out is if those expectations were unreasonable or this first game simply was a case of rookie jitters and adjustment.
Seattle has solid starting options in Jones and Burns. It is fine if Woolen and Bryant spend this year as backups. I believe they will be more than that, which would be a major development for 4th and 5th round picks.
I like Bryant in nickel. We already know Ugo Amadi is not the answer. Marquise Blair is unreliable. Justin Coleman had an awful game, worse than either rookie. The door is open for Bryant to snag that spot.
Michael Jackson also got extra snaps with the injury situation. He played just okay. He is a longshot, but one I have my eye on after his play the last two games of 2021.
Flipping back to offense, there was a mixed bag for the other draft picks. Ken Walker was arguably the least impressive the running backs who played. He did not do anything bad, but he really did nothing particularly noteworthy either. Where guys like Homer and Deejay Dallas were ripping off big runs behind a line playing really well, Walker averaged less than four yards per carry and did not show much in the way of burst or wiggle or power.
There is no reason to write him off. He comes in with a big reputation, and maybe his results would have been different later in the game. My eyes saw a guy with pretty typical physical attributes for an NFL running back. I would like to see something special from him to justify his selection.
Rookie receivers Bo Melton and Dareke Young were picked at the end of the draft, and both had flashy moments in this game. Melton took a short pass and turned it into a 39-yard gain with his speed. Young was the one who really caught my eye. He is a chiseled 6’2″ and 224 lbs. He looks like a tight end out there at times with his size, but moves like a receiver, and comes from an offense where he was asked to run the ball a lot. His body types and array of talents make him intriguing.
He finished with 4 catches in 5 targets, including a touchdown. His upside would appear higher than a guy like Freddie Swain, but he is unrefined and is most likely someone who would have to shine on special teams to earn a spot, or else a guy they try to stash away on practice squad.
Missing on defense were names like Quandre Diggs, Jamal Adams, and Jordyn Brooks. It was a chance for Cody Barton to demonstrate why the team chose to do almost nothing to push him in terms of competition for the second starting inside linebacker spot. Instead, Barton looked like a below average backup at a point in his career where he should be shining in preseason games.
Barton looks like he will easily be the weakest link on this starting unit. His tackling is weak. His diagnosis of plays is slow, rarely putting him in position to make a play at the line of scrimmage, let alone behind the line. His coverage, supposedly his strength, was poor in this one as well. I hope he starts to show why the team and many fans believe in him. I see mediocrity on repeat.
Speaking of mediocrity, the two quarterbacks put together decent games. Drew Lock high the highest highs, with some really nice throws and good reads. I particularly liked his touchdown pass to Dallas that came when he quickly came off his downfield read and delivered an accurate and on-time short throw to Dallas as he came out of his break. Dallas did the rest of the work to get in the end zone, but Lock deserves the bulk of the credit for giving his back a good chance to make a play.
I also liked his pass to Colby Parkinson in the end zone over one defender and between two others. It was a perfect throw in a tight window, but Parkinson closed his hands a bit too quick and was only able to grab a portion of the ball, which made it impossible to hold on once he was hit.
Lock was definitely more fun to watch. He brings youthful energy to the field. He also brought some youthful mental mistakes. He missed a pre-snap read on what should have been the game-winning drive that resulted in a strip sack turnover and a loss. His job is to count where the rushers are coming from and make a check at the line to slide protection to wherever the rush is overloaded, or alternatively, audible to a hot read so the throw could be made before the free rusher reaches him. He did neither. Game over.
To his credit, he took responsibility for the mistake in his post game press conference. Those are the type of unforced mental errors that fans either do not notice or wave off as “just one play,” where coaches give it a double minus in big red ink.
Playing QB in the NFL is so tough. It becomes almost impossible if you beat yourself. Coaches want to believe the guy they have in there is going to take their play calls and hopefully make them better by diagnosing the defense pre-snap and making the right line calls and right coverage reads, or possibly changing to a better play. If the QB is actually a hinderance to getting the right play called and run, coaches lose faith.
My guess, and it is only a guess without being in the room, is that Geno Smith probably graded out better on the nuts and bolts aspects of getting the team in the right plays and protections. That would explain why Smith continues to get all the reps with the first unit even when Lock has better stat lines and flashier throws.
There is probably an even greater emphasis on that aspect of the position after having a quarterback who made his living off of unscripted greatness. They likely want a guy who is going to run the play that was called, and make the requisite pre-snap adjustments. A good run game, with good defense, and a well managed passing game is their winning formula this season.
Smith was far from great. He also avoided mistakes.
I don’t much care how the quarterback competition shakes out. I do not believe either of these guys are capable of taking this team back to Super Bowl contention, so they are irrelevant to me. I see slightly more downside to Lock playing as the team could convince itself to sign him to an extension, and that would be a massive mistake. The roster is setup to add a rookie QB and benefit from a rookie QB contract. I do not care who plays this season, as long as they get out of the way next year.
Schneider and Pete Carroll had to be happy with the showing by their young players. The process continues this Thursday in Seattle. Expect to see Lucas start that game, and keep an eye on whether Haynes gets another start. The performance of the young linemen, the young pass rushers, and the young corners will continue to be the most important indicators of building back a championship roster.