What do the Seahawks do well? Maybe let’s start there.
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Yeah, I dunno. I can’t really look at anyone and say they’re making a huge positive impact. Maybe Darrell Taylor, but he has a neck injury that’s at least serious-enough to keep him out of an important Monday Night Football game.
Start at the top: Pete Carroll, bless his heart, those rose-colored glasses must be fading to a putrid brown sludge at this point. I don’t know what he sees in this team, but Bubba, it ain’t there!
I understand the thinking against the Steelers: they’re teeing off on our quarterback, so let’s emphasize the run in the second half and get something going. Well, that wasn’t going to work against these Saints. For starters, we just don’t have the dudes along the O-Line. They’re TERRIBLE! Oh my God, if I never have to watch a center on roller skates again, it’ll be too soon. They can’t pass protect, they can’t run block, but they can sure as shit be overpaid and useless!
The play-calling left a lot to be desired, though Offensive Coordinator is too easy of a scapegoat, and I’ve already got my work cut out for me bitching about the Washington Huskies right now, so I’m just going to give Shane Waldron an F and move on with my life.
The quarterback play is what it is. Geno Smith is Geno Smith; there’s a reason why he’s a backup. That reason is: he hasn’t had to play any meaningful football since 2017 and everyone forgot why he was so terrible in the first place. Do you know what it’s been like being a Seahawks fan since 2019 and living with the delusion that we have “one of the best backup quarterbacks in the NFL”? Of course you don’t, because we’ve all been in a medically-induced coma! This groggy, depressed feeling we’re experiencing now? It’s like just waking up after chugging two bottles of NyQuil. Geno Smith is that abrasive old-school alarm clock yanking you out of sweet, sweet R.E.M. sleep.
Not that I think Russell Wilson would’ve done remarkably better last night – he does, after all, struggle mightily in the rain and windy conditions – but the way the Saints were getting after it, I don’t know if anyone would’ve endured last night. Nevertheless, I figure we would’ve had a chance with Wilson. As soon as it was clear the Seahawks weren’t going to win the game 7-0, it was time to write the game off.
You can point to that 7-0 advantage and say, “Well, what about D.K? He’s good, right?” I mean, sure, if you like aggressive hotheads. Sometimes you’ll have games like last night where he gets into the heads of his opponents and earns some 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalties; but, sometimes he’s the one losing his cool and getting flagged. Just as he’s someone who drops sure completions. Just as he’s someone who will try to get extra yards instead of going out of bounds before fumbling the ball. Just as he’s someone who will disappear for long stretches of games – like last night – when going up against elite cornerbacks.
And don’t even talk to me about Tyler Lockett, because I didn’t even see him last night, did you? I saw some imposter who dropped what should’ve been a long gain. I saw a guy who never really got open when that’s supposed to be his thing. I saw someone wearing his number who caught 2 balls for 12 yards. But, I didn’t see Tyler Lockett.
What about Gerald Everett? You mean the other hothead who cost us 15 yards and a possible scoring drive by being a fucking moron who tossed the football he just caught to an opponent, in a clear taunting violation that has nothing to do with the rule emphasis of this year? It looked like he was TRYING to get kicked out of this game with the number of times he had to be restrained by his own teammates! With Geno Smith and that O-Line at the helm, 15 yards is a BIG FUCKING DEAL!
Even Alex Collins couldn’t save us, bless his heart. Rashaad Penny is the bust of all busts, though, so to hell with that guy (6 inept carries for 9 yards). Chris Carson is probably overpaid based on the fact that he’s missing multiple games every year. No one good from this group.
Moving onto the defense, where there’s nary a competent defensive end in sight. Remember when we were all extremely excited to get Carlos Dunlap back? Yeah, he just got his first half-a-sack last night in his seventh game of the season. Putting him on pace for negative-45 sacks so far; don’t as me how the math works! There’s just no one on the edge who does anything. Alton Robinson disappeared. Rasheem Green was never there. And apparently L.J. Collier is so bad he’s been a healthy scratch most of the season and now finds himself on the trading block. Ooo, I can’t wait to turn this former first round draft pick into a future 7th round nobody!
Bobby Wagner is old. Jordyn Brooks is not a first-round talent. That’s all I have to say about the linebackers.
I’m done shitting on the secondary, because I just don’t care anymore. They had an okay game against the Saints, because the Saints have zero receivers. That doesn’t change the fact that Jamal Adams is the most overpaid defensive player in football. That doesn’t change the fact that our cornerbacks have 0 interceptions on the season.
If you want to get into specifics on this game, as usual the defense was hampered by critical mistakes. Marquise Blair leading with his helmet on a quarterback who was already wrapped up for a Bobby Wagner sack. Al Woods with multiple offsides penalties, including one that turned a field goal attempt into a fresh first down for the Saints to run off more clock. Not triple-teaming Alvin Kamara because he was literally the only weapon on their team worth a damn, and literally everyone in the world knew that except for Ken Norton and Pete Carroll.
Oh, and we can’t forget about our kicker missing two field goals he should have made. I don’t care that it was raining and shitty out; you’re a field goal kicker in the NFL, just make the fucking kicks. In a game we lost 13-10, you know what two missed field goals adds up to, Jason Myers? TRICK QUESTION, IT’S ZERO YOU NUMBNUTS, BECAUSE YOU MISSED THEM BOTH!
I’m tired of joking how our punter is our best player; I don’t even know if that’s true anymore. Pound for pound, dollar for dollar, are we getting ultimate value out of the punter position? I’m guessing probably not.
Which is why my lone kudos are going to Tyler Ott, the long-snapper. If there was ever a game where a bad long-snapper could’ve made things a billion times worse, it was that one. Keep him forever! Sign him to a lifetime deal! Have him start training his children to be his eventual replacement one day! I want generation after generation of Ott long-snappers leading the Seahawks to long-snapping glory!