Winners and many Losers from Packers 17 Seahawks 0

The Seattle Seahawks scored as many points this week as they did last week.

They had a bye last week.

This season is pretty much on life support, with the only hope to cling onto is a wild card berth which would lead to the very obvious swift exit from the playoffs. They are not a good team and have seldom played great football on both sides in any game this season. They’re not in Arizona’s league nor the Los Angeles Rams and frankly they aren’t even close. Today was a great performance by the defense and a shambolic offensive display. A winnable game against the Green Bay Packers turned into the first shutout loss in 10 years.

Not a lot of Winners. Many Losers.

Winners

Jamal Adams

Actually I’d say the Seahawks defense as a whole but lemme single out some individuals. This was one of Adams’ best games as a Seahawk if not his very best. He was airtight in pass coverage, got his first interception in a Seahawks uniform, played the run extremely well and hurried Aaron Rodgers into a couple of incomplete passes. Adams also had 11 tackles (7 solo), which is actually not a great thing because they were out on the field for so many plays but he did his part.

Jordyn Brooks

That’s your team leader in tackles with 13 (10 solo), as well as a tackle for loss on a 3rd down run stuff that forced a Packers punt. Back-to-back quality games from the second-year linebacker after a rough start to the year.

Tre Brown

The rookie was seldom targeted by Aaron Rodgers and when called to task he made a brilliant 4th down stop on Allen Lazard, forcing him into an incomplete pass and a turnover on downs. It’s early days but he looks demonstrably better and more aggressive towards the ball than his Tre-decessor, Mr. Flowers.

Rasheem Green

Green had Seattle’s only sack, which had a major part in the Packers winding up with a missed field goal on their opening drive. But he also had a hand in Aaron Rodgers’ interception, as his late pressure (following Alton Robinson’s initial rush) had Aaron in pure panic. Unable to phone Joe Rogan as to what the next steps were to take, he flung one up and Adams caught it. Really good performance from Green, both against the run and pass.

Gerald Everett

Hey! You wanted tight ends involved in the passing game? You got it. He had 8 catches for 63 yards and the only mistake he made was not getting out of bounds in the 1-minute drill, but watching the replay it might not have been a total certainty he makes it to the sidelines. He’s the only offensive winner.

Losers

Russell Wilson

It’s miraculous that he came back from his injury that quickly. He was horrendous against Green Bay yet again. Was it rust from being out for a month? Who knows. But his decision making was poor, his accuracy was not there, and that he only had two interceptions out of this game was generous. A 20/40 for 161 yard, 2 INT performance is not what we expect out of Wilson. Maybe the injury had an impact on his accuracy but both of the picks he threw were unacceptable.

I don’t think we should lose sight of the fact that the offense was not lighting it up even with Wilson healthy.

Shane Waldron

Waldron was handcuffed a bit because the Seahawks didn’t run under center plays so as to not compromise Wilson’s finger. Alright, you deal with that. Why on earth did they throw as often as they did? I thought the running game was fine and Waldron pretty much didn’t even try to stick with it. He called consecutive runs just twice and those sequences were successful! Just baffling to me. Play-action was scarce, the quick concepts were figured out pretty easily, it was just a DOA gameplan from kickoff.

Pete Carroll

These 4th down decisions, man. His only saving grace might be that the Seahawks are such a bad 3rd down team it’s very possible they’d just continue that shittiness into 4th down, but at least going for it on 4th down is an intention that you want to score. Punting means you’ve given up on the drive. This is a consistent pattern for Pete and he’s been left behind by the rest of the NFL as far as being more aggressive on 4th down.

I’m tired of it.

DK Metcalf

He had just 3 catches for 26 yards and certainly one drop on what would’ve been a 3rd down conversion. but maybe two if you consider the first one to be still within his reach when it was slightly behind him. Then he topped it off with a pointless ejection because he’s “tired of losing.” It was a meaningless toss because the game was already up but his emotions are absolutely going to cost this team in a more pivotal situation at some point down the line.

Duane Brown* and Damien Lewis

The asterisk on Brown is that he ended up not finishing the game due to injury. When he was in the game he was bullied by Whitney Mercilus and looking every bit like a 36-year-old left tackle. Andrew Whitworth is the exception and not the norm. And unfortunately Seattle has no real viable backup plan given Stone Forsythe keeps getting healthy scratched and Jamarco Jones is Jamarco Jones.

Lewis was poor on the interior and while he shouldn’t have had a holding call against him at the end of the 1st half, he sure as hell got trucked. I’m sensing a sophomore slump by the LSU product.

Freddie Swain

He has to be gone from punt returner duties. On multiple occasions he passed up guaranteed yards with space in front of him to call for a fair catch. I don’t know what he offers up as a punt return specialist if he’s not dangerous on the run to begin with and fair catches when he shouldn’t.

Screen Pass defense

Oh I couldn’t escape this game without the obvious observation that the Packers killed the Seahawks on screens, as does every team... all while the Seahawks offense never ever ever ever runs screens properly. It’s an absolute joke how often this happens. Hallmark of a team that isn’t well coached.

The referees

Ultimately we know full well the offense was the reason the Seahawks lost, but the refs were pathetic. Whether it’s the “simultaneous possession” on what should’ve been an Aaron Rodgers lost fumble, or calling the Kevin King interception a catch, or the blindside block on the Packers that wasn’t called, or the numerous uncalled false starts on the Packers’ right tackle, or the reversal of the spot on the opening Seahawks possession when it looked like Wilson had the first down, almost every major call went against the Seahawks.

But maybe it’s just me, NFL officiating has never been worse in my lifetime. I could point to any stupid-ass taunting penalty or questionable roughing the passer on a weekly basis as my examples.

Carlos Dunlap

Throwing a Packers player’s shoe right in front of two officials is going to get flagged every single time. What a stupid penalty from a veteran player who should know better.

Final notes

• Dee Eskridge hardly saw the field and when he did he took a pop pass for -4 yards. May as well have not played at all.
• Speaking of not playing at all, Rashaad Penny didn’t have a single snap. He may be a healthy scratch moving forward.
• DJ Reed nearly had a pick-six on the opening drive then got beat by Marquez Valdes-Scantling on the next play. Tough break. He played well overall but the streak continues for the Seahawks’ corners failing to get an interception.
• It’s time to be very honest about the Seahawks roster. Don’t judge them on their potential, judge what they are now. They are nowhere near as talented as Arizona or Los Angeles. They are an average to below-average unit across multiple positions on either side of the ball. Do you see a top-10 OL? Or a top-10 DL? Or top-10 RBs (even with a healthy Carson)? I don’t. Hard to be a contender when you lack great players at key positions. Perhaps this team can make it to the playoffs but they would surely get smoked out and very quickly so. Just because they’ve rallied before and made late-season surges doesn’t mean they get to do it forever.
• In the long-term, we’re going to get a real test of where ownership sits with the state of the Seahawks. Things are seemingly crumbling with the Portland Trail Blazers both on the court and in the front office, and that may cost them their superstar player. Both franchises have spent years regularly making the playoffs and one of them won the damn championship. But what happens when the boat gets rocky and the wins stop coming? We’re about to find out the answer very soon.