This is a guest article written by Curtis Allen

Record: 4-0

Thoughts

What a turnaround.  A 1-4 second quarter that ended with a thud in an overtime loss against the Rams that they should have won, followed by a bye week of reflection.

I don’t think any of us could have predicted what followed.  Beating their nemesis in San Francisco and sandwiching a sweep of a hot Cardinals team around a comeback against the Jets in one of the most bizarre games of the NFL season.

The Seahawks are not the finished article.  Far from it.  Yet fan optimism and faith has been rewarded heavily with a major turnaround on defense and a suddenly competent offense.

MVP

1. Leonard Williams

How could it not be the Big Cat for his performance this quarter?

Two solid games sandwiched around two incredible, Defensive Player of the Year-type games.

He harassed the quarterback (4.5 sacks, six pressures, three passes defensed).

He tackled ball carriers (eight tackles for loss and 21 tackles in this quarter alone!).

He blocked a PAT attempt.

And he might have completely turned the Seahawks’ season around with this pick-six:

Men that big and that strong are not supposed to also be blessed with the hands to snare passes and the feet to run like a sprinter.

The Seahawks have spent a lot of capital to acquire him (draft picks, cap space) and put complementary pieces around him (Dre’Mont Jones, Byron Murphy, Roy Robertson-Harris).  He is rewarding all of that investment handsomely.

2. Jaxon Smith-Njigba

JSN had a four-game stretch that rivals any great Wide Receiver in Seahawks history:

— 25 catches on 27 targets for 343 yards

— 17 first downs for a 68% rate per catch / 63% rate per target (both league top-five)

— Two touchdowns

— Zero drops

None of those first down catches were cheap.

Putting your slot corner on him does not work.

The Seahawks have a star on their hands. Ryan Grubb has a weapon he can deploy all over the field.

3. Ernest Jones

The Seahawks have found the linchpin of their defense.

The run defense has stabilized since Jones arrived.  Tyrice Knight has started to shine.

Jones had a terrific interception against the Cardinals.

His best feature might be this. Before Ernest Jones?  Free Safety Julian Love was averaging 7.85 tackles per game.  Strong Safety Coby Bryant in his first real starting role against the Falcons had 11 tackles.

After Ernest Jones?  Love is at 5.67 per game.  Bryant has never had more than six tackles in a game.

Jones is complementing the defensive line in keeping the back of the defense clean and enabling the safeties to roam a bit and cover for their teammates.

The scary part?  The Seahawks have yet to try using Jones as a blitzer.  Which we know he can do.

Rookie Of the Quarter

1. Tyrice Knight

— 35 tackles and two tackles for loss

— Two pressures, a sack and a QB knockdown on six blitzes

— A fumble recovery

Where the ball is, Tyrice Knight is not far behind.  He engages with his assignment but always keeps his eyes up for the ball carrier.

Four of his six career starts were this quarter.  He is still learning but he is doing it on the field while playing at a better level than the two veteran linebackers the Seahawks parted abruptly parted ways with this season.

2. Sataoa Laumea

It might be a bit too early to say the Seahawks have found their Right Guard of the future.

But just the fact fans are thinking that after the dreadful play of Anthony Bradford and the non-existent play of Christian Haynes is a huge benefit.

Laumea has had key blocks in two of Zach Charbonnet’s touchdown runs this quarter.

He has made mistakes to be sure but his play and potential is more than offsetting them.

3. A.J. Barner

Eight catches on eleven targets, three first downs, one touchdown, a key block on a Charbonnet touchdown run and one fool trucked.

Honorable Mention:  Byron Murphy is not flashing all through the game but is excelling at the dirty work that every team needs players to do to be a productive defense.  A ‘quieter’ rookie season followed by a full off-season of work and training is perfectly acceptable.

Successes

This quarter’s successes distinctly match the goals we talked about in our second quarter report card.

1. Put Together Back-to-Back Solid Efforts

Check.

The San Francisco game and the Arizona game featured closed-circle football.

The defense in the Niners game kept Christian McCaffrey from running wild.  They even bailed out Geno Smith for an interception in their own zone, holding the Niners to a field goal.  They then stuffed McCaffrey twice and forced two incompletions to give the ball back to the offense with enough time to mount a game-winning drive by Smith that was masterful.

The Arizona game was a brilliant defensive display.  The run-heavy Cardinals were kept in check and the pass rush savvy of Devon Witherspoon forced Kyler Murray into a Pick-six by Coby Bryant.

2. Figure Out a Way to Improve the Offensive Line

Check.

Abe Lucas has stabilized the Right Tackle position.  He had a terrific first game back against San Francisco, and has since been slightly uneven at times.  But he has not had a physical relapse, and has brought the tough spirit wes all know he has back to the offense and jailbreaks from that side of the field are far less regular.

Sataoa Lumea has been excellent at Right Guard.  As we said above, the position is not solved.  But he has excelled at what the Seahawks have asked him to do and in two games has produced highlight-worthy blocks that his teammates at the position have not.

Make no mistake, the line still needs significant work this offseason.  But for this quarter, the Seahawks have made as much progress as they possibly can.

3. Win A Division Game

Check, check and check.

The Seahawks got the Niners monkey off their backs and swept the Cardinals.  They exit the quarter at the top of the division.   

Challenges

1. The Special Teams Nightmare in New York

So, that happened.

The most head-scratching part of this particular challenge?  Most of it was preventable.  Dee Williams had shown that he has trouble as a returner, both in gauging the defenders coming at him and holding on to the ball.

The Jets’ kick return touchdown was by a practice squad player and the Seahawk defenders had chances to tackle him.

The Seahawks had an extra point attempt blocked.

Thank goodness for Leonard Williams and his Pick-six.  This disastrous performance can now be relegated to the ‘character-building chapter’ in the book of the Seahawks’ 2024 season.

2. Execution Issues on Offense

Short yardage challenges reared their ugly head once again.  Geno Smith making questionable decisions and being *just slightly* inaccurate under pressure came up again.

In the first Arizona game, the offense only managed ten points.  This after the defense forced six punts and delivered a pick-six.

The Seahawks won the Jets game on a 71-yard drive in which the Jets committed 46 yards of penalties, with two of them coming on fourth down.  They tried shooting themselves in the foot, but the Jets would not let them lose this game.

I know four straight wins after the previous quarter is fantastic and nothing to complain about.  But the defense’s dominance should have led the way to blowouts instead of somewhat comfortable wins.  The offense still has progress to make.

That’s it.  There is no third challenge.

Fourth Quarter Games

Green Bay (SNF)

Minnesota

@ Chicago

@ LA Rams

Goals for Fourth Quarter

1. Stay On Their Current Trajectory

The Seahawks have rounded into form.  The win in Arizona demonstrated what they can do with a complete effort from all three phases that are mostly error-free.

The competition is going to ramp up with games against three playoff hopefuls in the Packers, Vikings and Rams and a Bears team with nothing to lose.

Four wins seals the division crown and that would be a fantastic accomplishment.

This stretch should be about continuing their growth as a team though.  That is a far more important long-term goal.  They have made great strides on defense and the running game has suddenly come to life and been complemented by a very sharp quick-passing offense.  Special Teams did not have any major blunders on Sunday.

It is easy to say all problems have been fixed from here on out.  Harder to actually execute that.  Particularly in the crucible of the home stretch, where the weather will likely be cold and rainy in three of the four game locations, and the running game and execution on Special Teams will be ever more critical.

A backslide is very possible.

We have found out a lot about this team.  This quarter’s discovery is this — they can beat up a banged up Niner team.  They can beat a good but undermanned Arizona team.  Twice.

Can they expand their vision to beat the Packers, with top runner Josh Jacobs?  Or the Vikings with their fantastic pass rush and a suddenly hot Sam Darnold?  They got the Niner monkey off their backs, can they get the Rams one off too?

We will see.

One very specific thing that will go a long way towards success…

2. Win the Turnover Battle

This has been a challenge all season.  The Seahawks went +2 this quarter which has them at -4 on the season.

All four of their opponents this quarter are in plus territory for the season AND for their last four games.  In this one area, they have been far better than the Seahawks.

Geno Smith has not thrown an interception in the last two games, the only two-game stretch he has gone without one.  That streak needs to continue.

The defense needs to continue creating turnovers.  An aggressive, attacking pass rush and strong-punching tacklers like Ernest Jones, Tyrice Knight and Devon Witherspoon matched with ballhawks Coby Bryant and Riq Woolen can turn just about any game in the Seahawks’ favor.

And the bonus factor here:  The defense and the offense must support each other post-turnover.  The defense needs to hold fast and turn almost-sure touchdowns into field goals.  The offense must punish the opposing offense for their lack of ball control by turning prime opportunities into touchdowns and not settling for field goals.

3. Tap Into the Team’s Depth of Underused Players

Can they find a mix of reps for Zach Charbonnet and Kenneth Walker that can be productive for both players?  This year’s inability (or unwillingness) to run has not given us a proper platform for this discussion.  Charbonnet sure looked like a lead horse against the Cardinals.  Does the team need to settle on a “Zach gets x reps and Walker gets y reps” plan or can they manage their depth to exploit both players’ talents?  Walker is a very underrated route runner.  How about a series with both on the field, which has Charbonnet as the lead back and Walker motioning out to reveal the defense?

Noah Fant is not far behind his career-worst pace of 2023 and has not scored a touchdown in almost two years.  He has only been targeted more than four times in two games this season.  Fant is a definite talent whom the Seahawks should be able to find some plays for.

We talked above about Ernest Jones not yet being used as a blitzer.

They badly need Uchenna Nwosu to make an impact in this quarter.  Boye Mafe and Derick Hall have contributed lately, but not at the statistical level they were earlier this season.  A run-stopper with real pass rush talent at OLB may be just the chess piece this defense needs to ascend even further.

D.K. Metcalf has only three touchdown catches this season.  Can a recently stable offensive line give Geno Smith enough time to find him downfield?  A couple well-timed deep touchdown throws can turn any game on its ear and shift playoff seedings and fortunes the Seahawks’ way.

Jake Bobo.  Cody White.  Chris McIntosh.

The offense has depth and talent.  Pulling out some of the plays they have worked on for these players at key moments may prove fruitful.