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Seahawks defense makes the wrong kind of history in New Orleans

Allowing a 100-yard rusher is bad. Allowing two is worse.

NFL: Seattle Seahawks at New Orleans Saints Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports

The Seattle Seahawks’ horrendous defense once again got shredded, only this time Geno Smith couldn’t quite do enough to lead them to victory.

Even without Jameis Winston, Michael Thomas, Jarvis Landry, and eventually Chris Olave, the New Orleans Saints still got 438 yards of total offense and put up a season-high 39 points. Andy Dalton didn’t exactly light the world on fire with his 16/24 for 187 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception, but the Saints knew another way to break down this defense.

Gadget player Taysom Hill, the do-it-all fullback, running back tight end, quarterback, kick returner, etc. had the game of his life. He led all rushers with 112 yards on just 9 carries, three of which went for touchdowns. His 60-yarder in the 4th quarter proved to be a game-winner. As if that wasn’t enough, Hill’s only pass attempt was a 22-yard touchdown to Adam Trautman.

Meanwhile, Alvin Kamara returned from injury and put up 103 yards rushing on 23 carries, as well as 91 yards on 6 catches. Between him and Hill they combined for over 300 offensive yards.

But the main story here is the rushing success. Both Kamara and Hill exceeded the century mark and that is something that had never happened against any Seahawks defense until today.

Seattle allowed 235 on the ground overall and 861 yards on the season. We use advanced metrics a lot on this site but I won’t use them here because you can figure out that they are that bad.

If you want to chalk it up to a new scheme or young roster then fine, but there is no iteration of previous Seahawks defenses under Pete Carroll that have looked this inept on a weekly basis. And the worst aspect of this group, the defensive line, has considerable experience either within the Seahawks or in the NFL overall. Right now, they’re experiencing weekly ass-whoopings at the line of scrimmage.