Snap Reactions: Darrell Taylor shines in expanded playing time

Sunday the Seattle Seahawks added another tally in the win column, starting off the 2023 calendar year with a 23-6 win over the visiting New York Jets. In what turned out to be a relatively low scoring affair, the Hawks put ten points on the board in the first quarter and then never looked back, a formula that has worked well for the squad this season.

In the process of moving the ball up and down the field, the Seahawks turned to a tight end heavy rotation, with both Colby Parkinson and Noah Fant outsnapping every wide receiver not named DK Metcalf. The gameplan for the Hawks on offense seemed to be to use Metcalf to occupy the best defenders in the secondary of the Jets, allowing Fant, Parkinson and Tyler Mabry to combine for eight catches for 83 yards and a pair of touchdowns as Tyler Lockett played the second lowest number of snaps in his career.

On defense, Seattle fans have been calling for less playing time for Coby Barton all season, only to watch starting linebacker Jordyn Brooks go down with a knee injury, leading to Barton playing his second highest number of snaps this season. Also notably at linebacker, both Darrell Taylor and Boye Mafe finally saw more playing time than Bruce Irvin, and the results from Taylor were promising, whose 2.5 sacks were the first ever multi-sack game of his career.

On the flip side, it is not encouraging to see the team turn to the soon-to-be-30 Justin Coleman for nine defensive snaps while second year cornerback Tre Brown did not play on defense and saw the field for a single special teams snap.

On special teams it was Nick Bellor, Tanner Muse, Jon Rhattigan and Godwin Igwebuike leading the way, with Dareke Young and DeeJay Dallas also making significant contributions.

And now it’s on to Week 18 and the Los Angeles Rams with a trip to the playoffs on the line, depending on the outcome of the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions showdown.