By receiving a pass in Week 7, Will Dissly has now made it further into an NFL season than he ever has before.
The fourth-round tight end for the Seattle Seahawks previously had two scorching starts in 2018 and 2019 before suffering season-ending injuries. This time, behind an expensive Greg Olsen, Seattle has been content to ease Dissly back in slowly, splitting time.
But after Dissly’s performance on Sunday - especially with what could have been - he’s extremely close to re-emerge as the Seahawks’ third receiving option.
The receiving statline from Seattle’s first loss is rather amusing - one of the most lopsided box scores you’ll ever see.
Again, ridiculous.
Dissly’s stat line is modest: 2-38 on four targets. Then again, everyone’s was this week. But after keeping Dissly firmly behind Olsen, this was his first mini-breakout of 2020. He was ahead in targets, and led the team in ypc, specifically encouraging because they sent him downfield multiple times this game. This was something he surprisingly excelled at last year and will be quite helpful if he can do it again.
But the real kicker is where Russell Wilson hit Dissly in the red zone. Not once, but twice, was the tight end within inches of a late-game touchdown.
Fourth quarter, from the 11 yard line, Dissly makes the catch a yard out of bounds.
Then, two plays later, from the three yard line:
Still not entirely sure how he missed that one. It was truly unfortunate for him, though Tyler Lockett made good on the drive.
So technically, Dissly couldn’t have had a line of 4-51-2 because it was the same drive, but probably should have come away tied for second on the team with receptions and his own TD. That’s two late-game and significant throws that Wilson sent his way.
It’s not like this team really needed a massive jump on offense, being first in the NFL in many categories. But tight end production has not been among the strengths as of yet. If this defense can only improve marginally by season’s end, Wilson and Co. need all the firepower they can get. They’ve ridden a ridiculous 203 points to their 5-1 record, and that’s on six games compared to the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ seven games, the only two teams with more points scored this year.
Snap counts this week revealed a near dead-even split, with Greg Olsen at 52 snaps and Dissly at 49. In Week 1, Olsen played 66% of the snaps at 41 while Dissly only saw 25. As hometown favorite Uncle Will grows in play time, it will only help this team.
I’ve said before I’m disappointed in the Olsen signing, exclusively for the money spent and the immediate disappearance of Will Dissly for a couple of games. His trickle forward back into the game plan is stellar for the Seahawks, who seem to need the 34 points per game they’re scoring right now.