Seahawks Film Review: 4 of Seattle’s best pass plays vs. Vikings

The Seattle Seahawks are coming off of a strong 24-13 victory against the Minnesota Vikings in their first preseason game. Now we of course have to temper any expectations that we developed from Thursday’s performance because it was the first preseason game with mostly backups. However, there were certainly some strong performances from multiple rookies and key depth pieces that should excite Seahawks fans. Down below we are going to review four plays from last week’s game that highlight those players and see if it can be a sign of things to come this season.

Jake Bobo crosser

As I highlighted earlier in the off-season, Jake Bobo is a name that Seahawks fans should be keeping an eye on because of his potential to be the team’s fourth or fifth receiver this season. He is not close to a DK Metcalf type athlete or even Tyler Lockett for that matter, but what he lacks in deep speed he makes up for in his intelligence as a route runner and strong hands.

This play encompasses the first of those as he runs the route at the exact depth and tempo it needs to be in order to result in a big completion. With all three Minnesota hook zone defenders crashing on the play-action pass, he flattens the route out slightly. Then once they flip their hips he starts to gain depth, which effectively takes all three out of the play from covering him. As he gets closer to the massive soft spot in the zone he begins to slow down a bit, which enables him to give Drew Lock a more presentable target, making it an easier throw and completion.

Bobo’s touchdown

Once again, this is a beautifully and intelligently run route by Bobo. He slow plays it off of the snap with a step and a half to the inside and once the defender Andrew Booth Jr starts to open his inside hip, Bobo snaps it off to the outside and creates a ton of natural separation. These are the types of routes that Seahawks fans should come to expect from Bobo. He is never going to win off of the snap or at the stem with pure athleticism, but it is safe to assume that he is going to be able to create separation with body feints and other types of movement.

Easop Winston touchdown

This touchdown is all on Drew Lock and his perfect execution on the play. Off of the snap he immediately looks to his left; this in turn forces the right hook zone safety to slide to his right to prevent anything in-breaking. Once the defender moves out of the equation, Lock then looks to the inside and delivers an inch perfect ball into the hands of Easop Winston.

One of the biggest questions over the past year has been Lock’s overall ability to manipulate and hold defenders, something that is extremely prevalent on this play. Of course one play is not going to show Lock’s capabilities as a quarterback, but if he can continue to show this skill, he at minimum will be a very strong backup for this Seahawks team.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba on the slant pass

There is obviously nothing fancy to this play, but it is a route that we can expect JSN to run a lot in this offense, especially when Metcalf and Lockett are running over the top of him. The rookie receiver is a fantastic athlete and is going to be able to rip off massive chunk plays after the catch. He is more than capable of running routes on the outside for this offense, however, we should expect the majority of his work to come from the slot this season.