The Seahawks had the rare Saturday night pre-season game over the weekend, a 24-14 loss to the Chargers down in Los Angeles. We saw our starters through the entire first half, watching many a promising drive end in futility, with a late comeback attempt for naught. The only injury was to D.J. Fluker’s finger, which is a good sign. Without further ado, let’s get into it.
What I’m Geeked Out About After Two Meaningless Pre-Season Games
Russell Wilson and Chris Carson look absolutely phenomenal. Unfortunately, due to mistakes around them, we haven’t seen the fruits of their labor translating into a ton of touchdowns, but words can’t express how excited I’ll be when we finally get to see full games out of these guys. This offense has the potential to really be something, and a lot of that production is going to fall to these two guys.
I think the receiving corps is in good shape. We haven’t even seen Doug Baldwin yet, and as long as his injury isn’t worse than expected, we’ll get him back for the regular season (you know, when the games actually matter). Tyler Lockett was given this game off, but he looks fast and ready to break out this year. The real question marks come when you look beyond our top two guys, and it’s there that I’m really happy. Jaron Brown had a couple of really nice catches for 74 yards, and David Moore had a couple of his own, for 71 yards. With Brandon Marshall drawing the attention he draws (and as a weapon in the red zone), I think these five guys should all make the opening day roster, and I think they should all prove to be pretty productive (Moore in particular, as his role could expand even further after this season, if Lockett signs elsewhere).
Also, how do you not freak the fuck out about Rasheem Green? One week after he netted 1.5 sacks and a tackle for loss against the Colts, he came back with 1.5 sacks and 2 tackles for loss against the Chargers! Requisite grain of salt and all that, this is a guy who without question can play in this league and be productive for this team right out of the gate. Never a better sight for these sore eyes have I seen in quite some time.
Other Things That Caught My Eye (In A Good Way)
Quinton Jefferson looks like the real deal (and just in the knick of time, too). He might never be a Pro Bowler, but just being a viable member of a D-Line rotation is all I’m looking for.
Naz Jones, however, may indeed one day be a Pro Bowler! He needs to stay healthy first, and if he does, watch out NFL! He could be one of the surprises of this season.
C.J. Prosise wasn’t especially effective, but he played most of the second half of this game and didn’t have to leave due to injury. That’s something! Now, we don’t know how his body responded – I’m still holding my breath, in case you couldn’t tell – but all signs point to him being okay. Let’s keep this going!
Finally, while still raw-looking, Alex McGough looked better. He had a nifty little touchdown drive late in the game, with a nice touch pass to the back of the endzone. Still more checkdowns than you’d like to see in a game if it actually mattered, but as far as a rookie backup quarterback is concerned, as long as he’s avoiding mistakes, he’s okay in my book.
Let’s Talk About Competitions
It’s time for the punter competition to end. John Schneider needs to take Old Yeller Jon Ryan out back behind the barn and put him out of his misery. It’s been a good run, MVP, but it’s time to go in another direction. Michael Dickson is the future, and by God, might indeed be the next Seahawks jersey I end up buying!
The kicker competition is still alive and well, and honestly probably too close to call. They both made some pretty short-range kicks, and no one attempted a PAT due to the score being what it was. It’s unfortunate that the #2 and #3 offenses are so fucking inept, as it’s seemingly impossible for these guys to get us into scoring position at all! Heading to Minnesota this week, obviously, isn’t a great opportunity to allow the offense to bust out, as that’s one of the deeper teams in the league.
Finally, as I alluded to, a pretty mixed bag when it comes to the QB2 spot. Austin Davis had two drives and went nowhere. He sucks. That having been said, I don’t know if I’m willing to throw this competition away just yet and hand the keys to McGough. Obviously, the team is pretty confident that they know what they’ve got in Davis, so they’re giving the bulk of the free time to McGough to gauge his development. As he is a 7th rounder, you know the team isn’t expecting a lot from him, hence the rumors about the Seahawks offering a 2nd rounder to acquire Indy’s backup. That’s obviously a terrible idea – as why would you give up something so valuable just for a guy who ideally will never see the field in the regular season? – especially when you consider we don’t even have another 2nd round pick until 2020! I think that rumor ended up being false, but nevertheless I wouldn’t be shocked to see the Seahawks in the market for a new backup as teams start cutting guys later this month.
Other Things That Caught My Eye (In A Bad Way)
This section could also be called, “God Damn It Germain Ifedi”.
What the fuck is wrong with this guy? Seriously!? I mean, it’s pretty plain to see that we’re not going to get even a minimal amount of improvement out of him compared to a season ago, which is just a disaster. Hell, at this point I can’t even promise he won’t get WORSE! His play, in EVERY facet of the game (but in particular his pass protection), is just the fucking worst. Now, obviously, the other four starting linemen look pretty okay, so if Russell Wilson just has to avoid one free rusher per play (as opposed to the usual 4 or 5 we’d let run wild in prior seasons) we should still be able to move the ball. But, this nevertheless puts our most important player in a precarious spot, and the odds of Wilson suffering an injury because of Ifedi’s ineptitude increases tenfold. We may look back on the right tackle injuries in that Indy game as a serious turning point in our season, on par with the George Fant injury a year ago.
Obviously, you have to hate that Will Dissly penalty, and you just hope it’s something he’ll correct going forward. This team can’t afford mental errors, as it’s less able to overcome them than in years past when we had more star players.
Ditto the Chris Carson fumble at the goalline. We need touchdowns, not field goals; and we need points, not turnovers.
Predictably, Philip Rivers carved us up early in the game. I thought the defense did a better job of settling down after that first drive, but the run defense was as sorry as I’ve ever seen it. There’s a slight chance this team’s pass rush will be better than I expected, but there’s a very good chance this team’s run defense will be much worse. What worries me is if the pass rush is indeed terrible, and so is the run defense. Could be a LONG season for that side of the ball.
I’m also going to bemoan the lack of turnovers the Seahawks generated, because I still think this team will need them to thrive. The secondary in particular looked far from impressive. Just a lot for this defense to work on, and not a lot of time left to do it.