Last year was supposed to be painful. A journeyman quarterback leading a team of youngsters with no Legion of Boom members was expected to struggle their way into a top ten pick, far from the playoffs. The script they wrote was different. It started with a stirring victory over their former quarterback that left fans delirious with joy, thinking that would be their season highlight. They managed to chart a course well beyond reasonable hope into they playoffs, finding a new franchise quarterback and a stunningly talented rookie class along the way. Their glaring weakness was a run defense that was among the worst in the league. It seemed like a good problem to have and relatively straightforward to address, especially with a draft pick windfall.
The 2023 Seahawks made their case for being the inverse of the inspiring 2022 rendition. They defended the run well, and were a disaster in pretty much every aspect of the game, on their way to a humiliating season-opening home loss to a depleted Los Angeles Rams team. This loss was bad enough, with no meaningful contributions from any of their 10 draft picks or their exorbitantly paid free agent defensive lineman, and a giant step backward from their fairytale quarterback, that the Seahawks must now prove this wasn’t the most bungled offseason in franchise history.
On one hand, it is week one of a long season, and the team is expected to get back players like Devon Witherspoon and Jamal Adams. Leaders like Geno Smith and Bobby Wagner should be able to help right some wrongs. The coaches have plenty of time to make adjustments.
On the other hand, this was arguably one of the most winnable games on a very tough schedule. The coaching staff had all season to improve their awful run defense last season and never could do it. Expecting them to fix a pass rush that was so bad that it generated the least amount of pressure of any Seahawks defense in the past five years (and there have been some bad defenses during that stretch) against one of the least impressive offensive lines they will face seems generous. Thinking the offense will improve when they lost both their starting offensive tackles and will face far more talented defensives also feels generous.
Imagine they turn around and beat the Lions on the road next week. What would that say about this week one performance?
There has to be a limit on how many times Pete Carroll can be out-coached by Sean McVay. There has to be a limit on how many consecutive years the Seahawks can be among the worst defenses in the NFL. Seattle has been 22nd or worse in yards allowed the last four years. They were still in the bottom half of the league the year before that. They have not been a top ten defense in either points or yards allowed since 2016.
For this Seahawks fan, there is no more leeway. There are no more excuses. I will forever be a fan of Carroll. I cannot abide another pushover defense. No more fixing the run defense to be gashed through the air. No more fixing the pass defense to be gashed on the ground. No more inability to get off the field on third down. No more embarrassingly wide open players in the middle of the field. No more allowing explosive downfield passes on 3rd and long. No more.
They say pass rush and pass coverage work in unison. They also work in opposition. Seattle never bothered Matthew Stafford in this game. The coverage, decent at times, became wholly ineffective in the second half.
Tre Brown got the start opposite Riq Woolen and was beaten badly multiple times while also being flagged for a tough penalty that led to the nail-in-the-coffin touchdown. Woolen got beat badly on a 3rd and 4 for a first down. Julian Love was beaten repeatedly. Quandre Diggs made roughly zero plays. Coby Bryant was abused.
This was shades of the Quentin Dunbar secondary that was so hyped prior to the season and became one of the worst secondaries in the league. I do not believe this group will suffer that fate, but the performance on Sunday was worthy of the comparison.
Getting Adams back will not fix the pass coverage. It may help some on the pass rush. We do not yet know what we have in Witherspoon. My expectations remain high, especially given how bad Bryant has been in the slot, but it is asking a lot for a rookie to come in and transform the performance of a whole position group.
The pass rush was the most concerning. There were inactive players who impacted the game as much as Dre’Mont Jones. This man was paid $17M per season to be a difference maker on the interior line. He did absolutely nothing. Darrell Taylor rotated in on passing downs and had a couple of pressures, but was mostly his absent self from the first half of last season. Uchenna Nwosu had a few tackles for loss, but was stymied as a pass rusher.
There was no juice.
This Rams offensive line is bad enough that beat reporters were cracking jokes days before the game that the team had not even finalized their starters. That they thoroughly dominated Seattle on the road was shameful.
Are we going to hear that the Seahawks made alignment and scheme changes to improve the run defense that is now hurting their pass rush? Do not fall for it. Either coaches are building winning game plans or they are not. Nobody gets to make six years of excuses for awful work.
The most generous analysis I can offer is that Stafford was getting rid of the ball quickly, making it hard to generate a pass rush. Guess what helps in those situations? Interior pass rush that can push the pocket into the quarterback. It will be hard for Seahawks fans not to notice Jalen Carter finishing with 7 pressures and a game-sealing sack in his debut for the Eagles.
There was a lot to like about the run defense. Wagner posted 19 tackles, and a number of them were positive plays instead of the downfield tackles we saw last year from the linebacking crew. You could see him read and anticipate plays multiple times. There were not the gashing runs we saw last year. If the team can continue to be stout against the run, there is some hope of building from there.
Offensively, Smith came out calm and composed as he led the team methodically down the field for scores on their first two possessions. He seemed intent on not forcing passes. There was a heavy emphasis on the run game, and Kenneth Walker did pretty well.
The problem was the offense never got out of first gear. They were slow and methodical the whole game, showing no explosive passing whatsoever. They finished with just 12 yards of offense in the second half, the least amount of offense in any half for Seattle since the early 90s, according to ESPN. Maybe those throwback uniforms are having unintended side effects. The ghosts of Stan Gelbaugh and Kelly Stouffer are possessing the body of Geno Smith.
Smith finished with a microscopic 112 yards passing on barely over 4 yards per pass. The team averaged 3.4 net yards per attempt. That was the lowest since 2021 when the Seahawks got shutout in Green Bay 17-0 and Russell Wilson threw a couple interceptions.
I still believe in Smith. I still believe in these receivers. I still believe in Walker. Losing both starting tackles throws everything up in the air.
Abe Lucas left with a knee injury, that alarmingly is something Carroll said Lucas has dealt with for a long time. That sounds, by definition, to be a chronic knee problem for our young second year tackle. Those do not usually get better with more use.
Charles Cross had a toe injury that was bad enough to be carted off the field. X-Rays were negative, but turf toe can keep players out for eight weeks or more. It may be less of a problem for a tackle than a skill player who needs to plant on the foot a lot. It would be the most painful when drive blocking on run plays. Regardless, it probably will be a while until he can return.
Stone Forsythe had an awful preseason. Maybe they can benefit from the early week five bye week and get Cross back after.
Smith needs to find a better balance of the daring downfield assassin he was last year with the cautious take-what-they-give player he was on Sunday. It will not be easy in Detroit.
It is also worth spending a moment on the antics of D.K. Metcalf. He has shown immaturity over the years. He did again in this game. He played past the whistle multiple times and took a cheap shot on a former teammate. Carroll must demand that his players respect the game and their opponent. Metcalf should not be on the field if he cannot play channel his fire into productive fuel. He is clearly not going to change this behavior without consequences. Playing time is Carroll’s strongest point of leverage. Correct this now before it happens in a game that really matters.
Expectations are a dangerous thing. Carroll took a team with rock-bottom expectations last year and delivered a rousing playoff surprise. Had the team done what we all expected, this loss against the Rams would not have hit so hard. Carroll has never shied away from expectations. He craves them. He celebrates them. Well, sir, you’ve got them. What we saw yesterday was one of the most damning cases to be made against a Carroll-led team since he arrived. Nearly every offseason move they made looked regrettable. They were out-coached and outplayed by a team with less talent. After this latest pratfall, I have one more expectation for Carroll: step up or step aside.