This is a guest article by Curtis Allen…
NFL football is finally here.
The Seahawks have had an extraordinarily busy offseason. They re-signed Geno Smith, rebuilt their defensive line, added another great draft class and brought a Seahawks legend back into the fold.
Time to put it all together.
The team kicks off the regular season the same way they ended it last year — against a Los Angeles Rams team that is still suffering from a Super Bowl hangover and is no longer chocked to the brim with star talent.
Gone from last year’s team are Allen Robinson, Leonard Floyd, Jalen Ramsey and Bobby Wagner. They’ve not had a first-round draft pick in years to restock the roster. This year’s team is loaded with unknown and untested players in starting positions.
Cooper Kupp will miss the game on Injured Reserve. Matt Stafford is playing for the first time since November last year.
Their offensive line is once again being shuffled around. The defense can best be described as ‘Aaron Donald and a bunch of other guys.’
The Seahawks swept the Rams in 2022 and come into this game featuring what should be one of the NFL’s top offenses.
It could be the equivalent of a scrimmage game. You could argue the Seahawks couldn’t ask for a softer start to the season.
But you and I know better.
Seattle has always struggled with the Sean McVay-led Rams. Last year, despite playing a very depleted team, they needed a game-winning drive late in the fourth quarter in Week 13 to beat them with John Wolford at quarterback. In Week 18, the Baker Mayfield-led Rams – who had nothing to play for but pride – took them to overtime and nearly stole the game. That would have knocked the Seahawks out of a playoff spot.
It is clear this game should not be taken lightly. The Rams have demonstrated they can give the Seahawks a game no matter what their roster looks like.
Two years ago, we cracked the code of how to put up a tough fight against this team. While all those principles stand – starting well, committing to the run, winning the time of possession – the Seahawks finally have a serious talent advantage over the Rams. This game could and should be a clear demonstration of that fact.
How can they do that?
Use the Offense to Control the Game Script
This right here has been the Seahawks’ Achilles heel against the Rams. They have tried to play the game the Rams’ way for years — playing from behind, not running the ball very much and calling for deep passes that allow LA pass rushers to cause havoc.
No more. It is the Seahawks’ turn to control the game. It starts with the offense.
The Seahawks have to overwhelm the Rams defense with their talent by efficient use.
Let us start with the lowest-hanging fruit. Their defensive backfield is a bit of a mess, to put it lightly.
Starting on one side is old friend Ahkello Witherspoon, who had a decent 2021 but followed it up with an awful 2022, between his play and a hamstring injury that kept him out the bulk of the season. He is thrust into the starting lineup due to their lack of depth at the position. How bad is it?
The corner spot is a tossup between Derion Kendrick – he of the 43.7 PFF grade last year and who infamously ran a 4.87 40-time in predraft testing – and rookie sixth-round pick Tre Tomlinson, who is obviously green but has better deep speed and showed some preseason ability.
A small bright spot is nickel corner Cobie Durant, who had three interceptions and only allowed 59% of passes to be completed from his spot in about 280 snaps last year for a nice 73.3 PFF grade.
At Safety, it is not much better. Jordan Fuller (60.5 PFF) and Russ Yeast (57.4) are set to start after playing only sparingly last year. The Rams brought John Johnson back after Cleveland cut him and signed him to a veteran minimum contract with no guaranteed salary.
This poor group gets to start their season against Tyler Lockett, D.K. Metcalf, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Jake Bobo — plus the three tight ends. Geno Smith should have options all day long. This matchup alone could define the game for the Seahawks. As much as we relished the constant battles with Jalen Ramsey — Metcalf could have a big, easy day in this one.
This does not necessarily mean ‘bombs away’ the entire game (although that would be fun). It just means that the Seahawks should be able to deploy the offense to control the game and put the Rams in a bind. LA with their limited defense would love nothing better than to employ their offense to plod the ball down the field and control the clock, which – let’s face it – they can do against the Seahawks. Do not let them. Putting points on the board pressures their offense and introduces instability to their plan.
That does not mean the Seahawks should ignore the running game. On the contrary, they have consistently run well against the Rams. A good mix of the run and pass is essential to control the game.
Aaron Donald and to a lesser extend Michael Hoecht are the threats the Seahawks have to contend with to establish the run. While Donald is still an All-World talent, he has very little support. Bobby Wagner is gone and now Earnest Jones is in the lead at linebacker. That’s it. He is the only inside linebacker on their roster who was drafted. Jake Hummel and Christian Rozeman have seven snaps of NFL experience between them.
The Seahawks’ interior of Damien Lewis, Evan Brown or Olu Oluwatimi and Phil Haynes should be able to keep the Seahawks ground game moving. This matchup with Donald is the one the Seahawks would need to be concerned about most. Battling Donald to a draw would make this an extremely comfortable game for the offense.
The Seahawks have Ken Walker and Zach Charbonnet ready to take advantage. They have Will Dissly to act as an extra blocker and Noah Fant and Colby Parkinson to find all the pockets left open by the wide receivers drawing coverage help.
What we are saying is this side of the ball could determine whether the Seahawks coast to an easy win or struggle once again to get past a tough and determined division rival.
It is certainly more pleasant than talking about the tough challenge awaiting them on the other side of the ball.
Contain the Rams’ Running Game
Death. Taxes. The Rams running well against the Seahawks. These are three certainties in life.
Few teams have had as much success running on the Seahawks as the Rams under Sean McVay have. In fact, they have only run for under 100 yards against Seattle once in the McVay era. They ran for 82 yards in a 2019 game they lost due to Greg Zuerlein missing a 44-yard field goal try as time expired (that was the Tyler Lockett miracle toe-tap catch game).
Another illustration of how effective they have been? In the McVay era, they have averaged 141 rushing yards per game against Seattle. The rest of the NFL in that same time frame? 114 yards. The Rams are running 23% better than the average offense against the Seahawks.
That is a problem. It kept the Rams quarterbacks from having to do too much and kept the Seahawks defense on the field.
Cam Akers topped an excellent run to finish the season with 104 yards on 21 carries, including a 32-yard run. Tutu Atwell and Brandon Powell had big runs on gadget package plays.
This needs to be contained better. While the impulse is to say that this is the critical area the brand-new interior line needs to really show what they have, in truth, the Rams attack all parts of the defense in their run game.
Last year, you could see the Rams constantly exploiting the defense’s inability to set the edge with players like Darrell Taylor and Bruce Irvin. Assignments were abandoned, bad angles were taken and defenders were muscled out of position and the yards just came too easily.
It does appear from preseason games and the practices I attended this year that the edges have been coached well to hold their spot and not abandon it at the first sign of misdirection. Players like Boye Mafe, Uchenna Nwosu and Tyreke Smith played with discipline and stayed home when they needed to.
For certain Bobby Wagner will have shared some detail and strategy on defending this Rams running game and will be a better support than the linebacker group the Seahawks rolled out last season.
One Rams strength over the years has been adapting to what offensive line personnel they have available. They will need every bit of that skill this year as they are starting rookie Steve Atwell at left guard and it appears that $40million man Joe Noteboom has lost his left tackle job to Alaric Jackson and will move to right guard where he has virtually no NFL experience. There may be an opportunity for the defensive line to disrupt what the Rams want to do.
This game will be a big test for the Seahawks’ front seven. If they can at least limit the running game that will enable the Seahawks to further control the flow and dictate the tempo. It would allow the Seahawks to unleash their newfound pass-rush depth and let players like Dre Jones, Boye Mafe, Uchenna Nwosu and Darrell Taylor give the Rams a taste of what they have been dishing out to other teams.
Matthew Stafford will have to rely on throwing to an average group of wide receivers and with a short window of time, players like Riq Woolen, Quandre Diggs and Coby Bryant will have opportunities to make plays.
Win the Unknowns
Week One in the NFL always brings surprises. The Seahawks have to come out ahead in this category.
For all their faults, they have done very well in this area, particularly in the last three seasons. They have opened with impressive wins on the road in Atlanta, Indianapolis and of course the big win against Denver last year. They have been able to prepare well, throw wrinkles at the opposition that gave them an advantage and put them in a strong spot to win.
The Rams are badly depleted. They are starting players who would not start on most other NFL teams. Yet Sean McVay has a way of coaching these guys into competitiveness. The Seahawks can’t overlook them. Chances are they will not.
Join us after the game tonight for our ‘instant reaction live stream’
Thanks to YouTube, I was able to watch a collection of college games last night and today.
Some big QB notes coming this week…
A lot to like yesterday; so much potential in this class. Will be a fun year tracking who takes another step as the season moves along.
Lots, lots, lots to like yesterday
Multiple QB’s impressed
I have tape notes on eight QB’s who all played well
Cough * Rattler again *cough cough
He’s one of them for sure
Boy if that ain’t the truth.
Thanks for the breakdown Curtis. Great read as always. Must limit their run game by controlling TOP and by the LOS.
Games like this are the worst. It’s like the NFC south fiasco last year or a crumbling Raiders. The team has such a hard time handling its business.
It’s not a key to the game but I’d like to see old dog Carol learn some new tricks this year. He’s a legend motivating young rookies. And we’re almost always chugging along.
But his timeouts, clock management, blown challenges, bad in game decisions, and the big one, terribly slow game adjustments probably work out to something like:
.5 game of losses just on the clock management stuff to around two losses per year on the woeful in game adjustments.
Great write up, and sounds like the most logical keys to watch in this game.
I’m not sold that this will be a close matchup though, I’ve prepared for that mentally, it just doesn’t feel like it should be close.
Starter for Starter, the Rams have only 1, or 2, players who are clearly better than their opposite numbers. The Seahawks have vastly superior depth.
A sound drubbing of the Rams would be a signal that this team does have ambition to take things to the next level.
I’ll take a win. I don’t need a drubbing. I don’t know if any team has played down to its competition more than ours. The line was 5.5 points. Get that lead and hold it.
That’s what I want to see.
Agreed. Can’t recall a bigger roster mismatch between these two teams. I know nothing of the culture in the Rams’ locker room this season, but I can’t imagine it’s good.
I’ll be surprised if Seattle don’t win by double digits
I am hopeful but not confident that they will win at all. The biggest concern is a scenario in which the Rams running game runs over us and our D can’t get off the field. Much will be revealed today.
Good summary.
I listen to way too many Seahawk pods during the week, it’s great background noise while working. Was shocked to hear the optimism from Rams podcasters who were crossover guests on Seattle shows. One guy has them going 10-7 this year, another picked the Rams to win today. Sure both are possible, especially winning today, it’s week 1 and a division game. But the optimism with that team is certainly far different than the national narrative. Will be interesting to see.
I’m sure a lot will be made of Will Levis inactive and Willis #2 – and maybe rightfully so given where they drafted him and Willis the year before.
Tannehill is in his last year and not a long-term answer. I applaud the Titans for taking a longer view at the position, not rushing QB prospects to the field, allowing them time to develop and compete. Wouldn’t even be surprised if Willis is still the backup to Levis starting next year.
I’m also really happy with our picks and trust JS. Drew Lock appears mildly improved and an average league backup so difficult to justify another QB on the 53, but Levis will be a “what if” for me for a few years.
From ESPN:
Cynthia Frelund wasted no time resuming her pantsuit reign of terror.
It’s awful.
I would like to see the Seahawks get off to a FAST start, for a change, going up a couple of scores early in the game. That will force the opposition to pass more –and run less–. Passing more into this strong secondary will then be the source of forced errors & turnovers. **I predict a final score of 38-17**. The old PC tactic of staying close & waiting into the 4-th quarter to “magically” come from behind in all those close games they have every year needs to be retired. ——Score fast & score often—— should be the new team goal-IMO.
On a side note: Did anyone else watch ESPN’s Alabama/Texas game? The 4 or 5 “commentors” sharing 1/3 of the screen for the whole game? They were all “talking over” each other (typical) & making silly off-topic (to the game) comments (typical), some fine, others, not so much. If this is the future of college football on TV, I may have to consider watching a different sport or at least not watch ESPN’s coverage. NOTE: I always watch Seahawk games on TV with the audio muted while I listen to the game on radio. There is usually a 5-10 second delay for the TV broadcast, so by hearing the play on the radio earlier, I know where to look. Raible also is so much better at calling the game & providing names of who did what than ANY of the network guys -IMO.
Great post. With the run D likely being still suspect, forcing teams to pass more and run less can only be a good thing. Will Carroll see it?
AR first pass is a AR screen tk Downs, the SDB special. Then 3&out.
He has a rushing TD. It’s the Russell Wilson rookie playbook.
49ers looking good early.
Zach Ertz dropping an easy touchdown from Lou Dobbs.
Randy Moss was dead on about Brandon Aiyuk today.
Matt Prater with a 50+ yard field goal.
Does he get a Praetorian guard?
Hayden Hurst tosses Bryce young’s first NFL passing touchdown into the stands. He’s my kind of jerk.
Then Brock Purdy comes up with a Butt-Fumble-Recovery, I have never seen that before.
Starting to think maybe Pickett isn’t the answer for the stealers. Boo hoo. Screw that franchise
9ers look really good on both sides of the ball and that pissburgh D is no ’22 Lions/Seahawks.
Pittsburgh should seriously consider renting a trebuchet and flinging Matt Canada from the stadium at the half.
Also, thanks to cha for these weekly write-ups – always good stuff.
A lot of offenses are having a slow start to the season as predicted
Cardinals failing to tank, that’s a funny one.
Well yes and no. I have the Commanders −6.5 as part of a 2 game parlay. But yeah, I’ll sacrifice my $20 wager to see them not get Caleb.
The life of a British American Football fan in 2023:
— College Football no longer on British TV
— The NFL has given the Gamepass rights to DAZN, who charge you £150 for a subscription, lock you out of all of the games when the regular season starts, say your account isn’t recognised in their system, don’t do anything to help and basically tell you to f-off they’ll deal with it when they can be arsed
*cough* marrkystreams *cough*
I mean, you’ve paid for the games anyway…
With you Sea Mode. Fair is fair.
Where’s that?
https://v2.sportsurge.net/
Add a free VPN from google…or so I’m told.
https://markkystreams.com/
Some stuff from Twitter, mostly Schefter.
🏈Chargers and Seahawks each have won four straight season openers.
🏈Falcons have lost five straight season openers, the NFL’s longest active streak.
🏈Cardinals ended last season on a seven-game losing streak and Arizona hasn’t lost eight straight since 2006.
🏈Packers have won eight straight against the Bears.
🏈Raiders have won six straight vs. the Broncos, their longest win streak vs Denver since winning 14 straight from 1965-1971.
🏈Dak Prescott has won 10 straight starts vs. the Giants.
🏈The NFL will not have Tom Brady, Drew Brees, or Peyton Manning playing in Week 1 for the first time since 1997.
🏈Anthony Richardson will become the seventh different quarterback to start on opening day for the Colts in each of the past seven seasons. Their seven QB starters in seven years: Scott Tolzein (2017), Andrew Luck (2018), Jacoby Brissett (2019), Philip Rivers (2020), Carson Wentz (2021), Matt Ryan (2022), Richardson (2023).
Eyes on the 💰
And a Baby Steve Largent hit on an interception too.
The Colt’s Week 17 tank job to leap the Broncos pick may be one of the more defining outcomes by allowing the Colts to get Richardson instead of the Seahawks. He looks very poised in a game he should be redshirting. All his talent is on display.
Great debut from him so far
Imagine what he’ll be like when the game slows down…
Only a few moons past 21 years old no less.
I am going to hate the colts the rest of my life for that
I’m with you on that big Mike, the Colts Tanked and stole our QB. I fully believe the NFL need to start penalizing teams their first round picks for tanking. I’ve been absolutely livid about it all offseason.
The 49ers are winning the NFC West again
Utter dominance today
I’m not ready to hand them a Lombardi just yet for losing to one of the more overrated teams in the league. Let’s see what next weeks brings.
Inclined to agree. But then, they haven’t had their annual IR Party yet, either. It’s a tradition.
Yeah I think it’s just a formality at this point. Purdy looks like a 10 year vet. Always making the correct decision. D is bad ass again. And so on and so forth.
No real surprises
Inactive
Devon Witherspoon
Kyu Blu Kelly
Jamal Adams
Tyreke Smith
Anthony Bradford
Ben Brown
I guess Curhan has the versatility to be active over Bradford at this point.
LB Tyreke Smith, should have been active, he played well.
Do not want to seek Curhan in the game so here’s hoping neither of our guards get hurt.
Cody Barton had a tackle. That’s a surprise!
Bobo, I know I say this every offseason, but this one seemed to last a century.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfkfXcme5DA
Gettin close to game time fellas
Every time I hear Bobo I think of Nothing But Trouble. Bobo and Little Angel.
I am pulling for Bobo.
Did Burrow hurt himself signing that record contract? What a horrible, horrible game he’s having.
Anyone else happen to be in Spokane?
If so… can you watch Fox?
I’m getting a message about xfinity not having a contract with Fox, and it’s not allowing me to watch the 49ers game.
And then, apparently, the Seahawks game as well?
Anthony Richardson just got hurt on a scramble, Minshew is in the game.
Got cracked on his non-throwing shoulder.
Here we go! This season is all about the run, if they can be middle of the pack on D and top 10 on offense, will really get rolling. Please just roll the dice and play these young guys ASAP, especially on D-line. A season of good progress. I see 10-11 wins and a playoff win or two, but maybe some big upside if the young guys pop. Let’s go Hawks!
Can you imagine how much worse it would be if the 49ers had simply drafted Mac Jones and kept those R1 picks to further load their roster?
I was off in my initial assessment. They might be one of the two best teams in the League right now.
Feels like news of their hopeful demise might be overstated.
Agree with both of you
Gonna take the Ferrari out for a spin first
Nice pass blocking on that 3rd down conversion. Lots of time for Reno to find Lockett
The OL looks fantastic to start, especially in pass pro
Great pass pro on that third down
Nice block Haynes
Uninspired set of play calls here in the red zone
I didn’t like to run into the middle on first down
You don’t think it’s a good idea to go right at the only all-world player on the field?
Maybe I just don’t understand football but no it doesn’t seem like a good idea
Love a seahawks screen pass
Pretty effen tired of hearing Josh Allen tell me that’s not my best plan before asking me if I know what is
This year’s Aaron Rodgers State Farm commercial?
Wagner miffed on that Akers run
Have you studied the rosters butt fumble?
Charbonnet plays for Seattle dude
My 90 year old mother who uses a Walker could have hobbled through that hole
SIX DBs. Akers goes 8 yards before contact.
Oh FFS
Nothing in the middle. Nobody home
Looking good so far. 😂
Niiiiiice!
In truth though, younger Bobby makes the tackle too. At least he can still set it up
Seattle offense absolutely fun to watch. Seattle defense absolutely terrible to watch.
How many completions over the middle about 9-12 yards deep is that on this drive?
Why isn’t Chris Jones playing. 😂
Derrick Hall made that play practically all by himself
Nice to see Hall getting starter reps
Pete Carroll defensive head coach.
The same team as last year
But… but… Bobby Wagner!
Only the names on the defensive line and linebacker have changed
Making em earn it!
Oh dear. That was easy.
Worst damn out come possible for the defense on that drive but very predictable.
Who is ready for 200+ Yards Rush D in the first 4 Weeks? 😂
New season. Same old issues. Hammered in the run game. Killed in time of possession. Ho-hum.
16 plays. Get off the goddamn field.
At least four 3rd down conversions possibly 5
9:18 on the drive
Mario Edwards depresses the crap out of me
Absolutely horrendous and pathetic defense. Nothing has changed. No one can shed a block tackle or cover. Against the lowly Rams. Gonna be a long season.
2 down linemen on a goal line play. What else is left to say on that series by the Rams Offense?
It’s a good thing Pete is also a QB whisperer and offensive genius, or else this team would be screwed by his defenses.
You’re either coaching or letting it happen I remember a coach saying years ago. Pete and the defensive coaching staff the last few years have just be letting it happen year after year and I’m sick of it.
At some point Pete has to answer for this nonsense of a defense. it can’t all be Clint hurt or Sean Desai or whoever else they put on the sideline. At some point he has to take responsibility.
Geno ice
How does Geno miss Bobo?!?!?
I don’t know. Overthinking? That was bad…
Hope D adjusts.. It’s the same old D does not matter How much talent you add
Liking what I see from Walker a lot
Pass pro is looking pretty stout right now. Credit where it’s due.
O looks great
Geno making excellent decisions
That’s how it’s supposed to look boyos!
Watching the offense makes me younger. Watching the defense is gonna kill me.
100%
This offense is so good! I hate that we are probably going to waste it.
I need to see some sacks or at least some pressures, D.
First and 30 I give us a 50/50 chance of making them punt here
Hey, can’t get gashed by the run, right? Right?
Be nice to see something from our big offseason acquisition. C’mon Dremont this moment is for you
Face mask saved our ass lol
Why would McVay just give up against this defense?
great seeing Bwags back in a Seahawk uniform he’s comforting seeing on dee again
I’d like to say DK pantsed the Ram CB on that TD but that coverage…Rams need to call the Seahawks at halftime and see if they’ll tell Kyu Blu Kelly to fly back to LA with them for a pick…
I see your Kelly and raise you a Mike Jackson. “HE HAD THE BEST CAMP!”
They probably wouldn’t want Tre Brown based on his performance today
Nice return!
I’ll take that stop.
Grab the lead and hold it.
Okay, offense. Commence “Operation Throat Stomp.”
That’s my mofo!
Let the K9 bark!
Walker is amazing. Has a unique running style.
Has it been Brown at center all game?
So I have a suggestion: should we maybe block Aaron Donald with someone?
Dude, this team couldn’t block Donald on Twittter.
You win the internet for the week
Awesome
We tried that for a decade already
I know it’s early but Charbonet looks so much worse than Walker.
Well, Walker is Special. And he didn’t do much till his fourth game…
He’s had two runs in the middle, right into the teeth of the Rams defense
Ok 3rd and long….
Damn it they have us right where they want us.
Way to be, Special Teams!
That was fun to watch!
Covering DK Metcalf with a Defensive lineman?
Reed was pretty fired up right before the snap
Damn Reed can do everything. There is no way he can get injured
How bout DJ Dallas!
Why can’t we have nice things?
Just leaving an inferior team in the game as long as we can
C’MON. All that. No points.
What a terrible waste of a scoring opportunity
Running on second 5 was a poor choice
I saw the blitz coming on 3rd down why didn’t Geno change the play to find a hot?
Then a missed FG
Poor
Offense is leaving points out there with all the good field positions it has been starting with.
So… Waldron’s gameplan for that series was “let Deejay have it?” How about mixing it up a bit?
Yeah running him again on 2nd and 5 was not smart imo
It looks like we to blitz to generate any kind of pressure.
middle of the field has been open all day for the Rams, better make adjustments at halftime
Seahawks should have 20 to 24 points. Hope this doesn’t come back to bite us in the ass
Thankfully the rams want it less than us. At least for now.
Why is the middle of the filed so wide open!
How many more millions do.we need to pay our safeties?
It all be ok when Adams comes back dontcha know?
Keys to the second half:
Don’t hope the rams miss 100% of field goals. Score tds when Reed does cool stuff.
Oh my. Was Diggs on Twitter back there? Bailed out.
Zero pressure on Stafford so far
Hell yeah Jefferson….thank you
Our defense isnt bad when they drop passes and facemask our pass rushers
Keystone cops
Yes…and just as unfunny
Cha’s presser notes today:
Just gotta clean some stuff up.
Pete….”you know we’re almost there…it’s early we are still learning and gotta clean some stuff but we’ll get there and put it together and get this thing right
“
I’m so tired of the guy
“We competed like crazy”
“We’re really close”
“Guys are fighting,”
Tre Brown beat out Jackson for starts? Really?
If it wasn’t for offensive penalties, drops and missed field goals the Rams should have 28 points by now. Nothing the defense has been doing was stopping them only themselves.
This year will be better.
Man our D is awful
Well.. with the DB play so far, I do not feel like the Devon pick was a luxury type of pick anymore. We desperately need help on the backend. Also cant cover the middle at all. Hopefully Devon can make an impact.
But your backend is so dependent on some sort of QB pressure and we’ve generated zero.
Agreed. But stopping something at this point would work. This 20 db set is not working.
Sorry, Coby. The bench is looking pretty damned good.
Hey is anyone able to hear/see me? I’m standing in the middle of the Seahawks defense and all I can see is grass as far as the eye can see.
This defense is garbage. 4TH STRAIGHT YEAR, this team has ZERO PASS RUSH. 4TH STRAIGHT YEAR the front office does NOTHING to improve the abysmal pass rush. Every year this team CHEAPS out on the most important part of the defense and every year this defense sucks. This team isn’t winning anything.
Nope. Do not need this.
3 and out after a long drive by them
Perfect
And now the TOP gears start turning.
3 and out with a gassed D. Buckle your seatbelts.
Having a lot of offensive weapons is great…unless you dont use them.
Has Lockett caught a pass today?
3 or 4 on the first drive nothing sense
Oh, i missed that, trying to find a way to watch the game here in spokane
Channel 28 over the air
Yeah, im shopping for antennas online as we speak.
Am I misremembering, or did Artie Burns do the exact same thing last year? Had a dead to rights punt inside the five and couldn’t corral it to save his life?
Oh, please tell me we’re watching a replay of a game from last year.
This version of Geno feels like the exact version that Rob was concerned about in the last article
Geno….today I’m gonna be generous this is *peak* Seattle defense.
Where is the creativity with this team? Out schemed, out coached and out played.
If Jeff Fisher can outcoach Pete Carroll, which he often did, I think McVay is capable of doing so as well.
Looks like Geno is a pumpkin again
Why? Is he drawing up the defensive coverage? He’s been clean, so far.
Not changing protections, audibles, and that was what supposedly won him the job over Lock. Drops are not his fault, but setting protections and running the plays right is
We’re not down in the game because of Geno. Both our starting OT are now out. Is that on Geno, too? I don’t even believe in the guy but dogging him when there are way more pressing issues right now seems like bias justification.
He’s making over $30 million dollars, this was fine last year when he was making chump change, but Lock could do exactly what Geno is doing at a fraction of the cost.
I know it’s only the first game gents, but this game already seems like a looking glass into a very frustrating season.
Or a review of the last few seasons.
Or both?
Yep.
Here come the injuries….
On a positive note the run D looks solid this game, but unfortunately we sacrificed our pass rush for it. Stafford has allll day. What happened to the pass rushers?
Cross and Lucas out?
Lucas and Cross. Wtf…
Cross taken away on a cart. The Stone Forsyth era begins.
That’s Geno yelling OH MY GOD
https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/1700996662548918416
Nothing ever changes in Pete’era I guess. Here for another same.ols shitty long season
What an embarrassment. Losing to the Rams at home. This Rams team. Hurtt needs to go. He’s clueless. Defense is a joke.
Defense is absent. There went the Oline. Now all we need is for a RB to go down and Seahawks football is back in full swing baby! (shit happens).
Has any D lineman even touched Stafford?
Rams 8-11 on third down.
Seahawks 2-6.
Not good.
💩 actually
But you knew that
Can’t win like this.
I don’t think it’s fair to defensive coaches to call Peter defensive coach anymore. He’s Tony Robbins
I don’t think it’s fair to me to call Pete…peter😀
Sorry man. The voice Interpreter did me in
Imagine 14 years of autocorrect talking about our coach. Delete “r,” maybe 1000 times!!
Pete Carrol coached Seahawks are the definition of insanity
Thankfully Maher has had a bad day at the office.
Toe injury for cross. Knee for lucas. Hope neither are serious.
Injuries.
When was the last time a pass was attempted 10 yards down the field. Everything is short.
Can’t pass protect.
And now Lockett down 😢
Lockett hurt too?
Can you imagine what the Lions are going to do to this team next week?
Did Dre’Mont Jones get hurt and leave the game because he hasn’t done a damn thing
What a pile of of poop this is .
Butt fumble is correct why are we throwing 40 yd downfield when it’s third and four?
I mean didn’t we draft JSN for just that type of situation?
Yep
Or have 3 pretty decent TEs
And for the love of god can we all just stop talking about how tough it is to play in Seattle? That was buried years ago with the legion of boom. Seattle is a cupcake
Stafford leaving Bobby in his dust. Sad.
If you would have said Geno would have just over 100 yards and the Seahawks would have 178 yards at the end of the third quarter with all of the weapons I would not have believed you.
This is going to be a long season, this defense looks worse than last year so far. Pete and staff haven’t learned.
Nacua has almost as many receiving yards as Geno passing. Sad emojis only.
This defense is trash. For the FOURTH YEAR in a row.
Pete Carroll
Never fear!
There will be a few games in the middle of the season where we face backup QBs and look good, and everyone will feel good for a while.
Hope we don’t face Colt Mccoy
Touchdown drive here and the game is over. It may be over anyway but that would definitely put the knife in the back
A FG and it’s over. A TD and then it becomes how badly do they run it up.
Matt Stafford with positive rushing yards…
Stafford just out ran Wagner. Joke.
Seattle is a cupcake with no filling.
It appears that the Rams are exploiting a weakness in the middle of our defense.🤔
On a happier note if the Bears and Packers score 6 more points I win a 3 way parley and pocket $123 on a $20 wager
Root for me guys
Get some!!
Very nice!
Well look at that a little sunshine on a rainy day indeed.
No pressure what so ever.
Put Clint Hurtt on a ferry and let if slowly drift into the Pacific. Please.
Sadly if it was a Washington state ferry it would probably break down or run a ground not long after it left the dock.
And the problem is…..
He’d still be just off shore I want him shipped somewhere off in the middle of the Pacific!
Seahawks Defense is like Oprah. “You get a first down and you get a first down and you get a first down…”
This D turned Atwell into an NFL player lol
Our DBs and pass rush both horrible today.
More DB’s?
“Too much time to throw and too much open room,” Steve and Dave in the booth.
The good thing we might be only a few spots away from trading up for Caleb Williams
I’ve had enough. I’m to embarrassed to watch anymore.
Well we had to stop there goes that
Tre Brown, shit day
Tre Brown. Sucks. That is all.
Both lbs look confused…thanks Dave Wyman.
It’s early, but I don’t see any significant improvements on this defense.also, WTF is the offense doing against a suspect D.
Has anyone tried unplugging the defense, waiting 30 seconds, then plugging it back in?
Perfectly played!!
How many more years of Pete Carroll are we going to be subjected to?
That depends on whether we’re in Hell or not.
This. 100%. I’m tired of all the blame going to the coordinators. The buck stops with Pete.
Game over. Season over. When’s the draft?
Anybody heard from Dre’mont Jones today? (the 18 million dollar man)??????
Had never heard one whiff of the dude’s name before we signed him.
Good call.
Very little impact today.
Who dat?
One assisted tackle today per NFL.com stats. Obviously well worth the investment!
Bobby with a front row seat to Akers’ TD. Hope the jersey sales were worth it, Front Office.
WAY too slow to be on the field anymore…
What a terrible experience this game has been to watch.
It seems he’s only good at this point when he’s playing the seahawks
That’s all she wrote. Dandy Don is singing…
Good lord our D line is Horrific.
Boy I can’t wait for your post game stream!
We just need to wait until „Prez“ returns. Everything will be fine!
Most embarrassing home opener loss since Pacells and the Jets hammered them 41-3 back in 1997.
And we got Detroit week fellas.
What happens when we play a real team. The rams have actually sucked most of the game and have very few players compared to our legendary depth.
On a happier note I just won a $123.75 on a $20 bet because the Bears and Packers game just went over 43 and a half.
And it was thanks to a goal line stand by the jags at the end of the game to keep the Colts from scoring. I have Jacksonville −4 and a half and Atlanta −4 to combine with the over on the bears and packers.
Is my first ever 3 way parley win. I’ve won two team parlays several times but never a 3 way.
Ok. I’m done being happy with this crap going on.
Nice!!
On a happier note I’m missing the lions because me and the missus will be in Rome next week.
That’s awesome my friend! Hope you enjoy yourself. You ain’t gonna miss anything here.
Hammered in time of possession AGAIN!!!
Almost 2:1. Brutal. Rams with 10/13 on third down.
It’s a reoccurring theme. Defense can’t stop anyone. No pass rush. No creativity. Career days by average players.
This might be the single worst coaching performance I have ever witnessed. Seattles staff couldn’t coach a pewee league team to victory today. The fact that not a single local media outlet will say boo about the coaching only adds salt to the wound.
I can’t wait for the team to be sold. Until then, there’s no hope, because Jody tightened the purse strings and won’t fire Carrol.
This is shit.
Suck for Caleb!
Geno hasnt elevated the offense today.
And he wasnt even before the Cross/Lucas injuries.
Be silly bums for Williams?
We’re bad but not bad enough to get him.
Now we can focus on the 2024 draft
Started out looking good, but the short/intermediate passes are killing us.
With both starting tackles out, we can’t afford to let Geno get hit like that last play. We’ll be getting a look at Drew Lock if that keeps happening
Dumb penalty. Stamp your bingo cards folks.
Section 304 is emptying out with 9 mins to go. Can’t say I blame them
The glass half full take…the first round pick this year will be higher than we thought it would be just like last year.
Once again, we have an offseason of positivity, and belief and ‘this is a special place to play’ and these guys are ready and really jacked to get the season started.
Followed by ‘we’re still working on some things. I believe our guys will improve and I’m gonna kick ass on getting them ready.’
I’m going to ask again, how many more years of peak Carol do we have to put up with?
I’ll go ahead and answer my own question however many years are left on his contract because she will never pay someone to not work I promise you all.
So…you’re confident that she doesnt extend him?
No I certainly am not and that’s a very good point
That thought just sent a shiver down my spine.
Only good thing is hopefully we can actually draft a good QB and hopefully we will be bad enough that Pete will be done
Should done all we could to draft Richardson. Instead Pete and John got cute, waited, colts pounced on the opportunity, and we got stuck with a borderline 1st round talent diva CB who’s had injury issues.
what a f–cking embarassment
Nwosu down
Great, the only defensive lineman that’s done anything all day. Not exactly a high bar though.
When is the 2024 NFL Draft again? This looks like the team I expected to go 5-12 last year.
The Detroit game could be really ugly
Man, they are physically juat beating us up, too.
For all the hate on the defense, let take a minute to consider just how great Geno Smith has been. PATHETIC QB PLAY.
And the sad thing is the first couple of possessions he looked great
Yep. Wilting flower today.
Still time to pad the stats.
Sack stats for the rams?
Well, i was told over and over again that Geno’s poor play last year coincided with injuries to the offinsove line.
With Cross and Lucas out, i can hear the excuses already.
Rams over 400 yards of offense
Hawks under 200 yards of offense
My word. Without Cross or Lucas, can you imagine what Hutchinson is going to do to Geno next week?
They were rated the #30 OL by PFF with both available, so we can only guess.
Utterly dominated in the 2nd half. 1 first down in the 2nd half. ONE.
Put a fork in it.
This has been a Sean McVay masterclass. We stopped the run but didn’t make Stafford break a sweat.
As I said earlier when Jeff Fisher can outcoach you it’s not exactly a high bar for McVay to do so
Well the good news is our run defense has done well.
And apparently we could’ve just selected Nacua in the 5th instead of JSN.
Cheap ass football Metcalf
I am so tired of his immaturity. Bench this sore loser..!
Pete carroll’s last year.. calling it now.. he needs to be front office.. and call back someone that he can passs the baton to.. all his best coaches have moved on.. could this be dan quinn again?
I badly want you to be correct but I don’t buy it for one second. I truly hope I’m wrong
If Pete Carroll had 1 oz of testicles he’d have his ass on the bench right now for the rest of the game
💯
To be fair…its not easy to weigh your testicles.
The question in Rob’s article has already been answered. No one here can believe that Gino will lead this team back. That’s not what you pay off quarterback $40 million to be just a guy. Nice guy but really a poor man’s dak Prescott
To be fair Lucas and Cross are out. This isn’t on Geno.
Yep…just call it a season.
Geno can’t function at all if they are out.
But he can’t elevate. He’s a guy who functions within the scheme. You don’t pay 40 million for that.
Patrick Mahomes wouldn’t have elevated this team today.
Well shoot, Lock could do exactly what Geno is doing at a fifth of the cost
That is why I don’t like DK.
This game is the Divine Comedy.
At this rate we might be in position to get a top 10 pick for QB
Schneider with finally a chance to draft his qb, only to find out it’s the year he’s no longer the GM.
I exaggerate but it’s that kinda day
Could they really have shit the bed any worse today than they did?
Can’t wait to read Rob’s summary of this all-around shit show…
Waste of Rob’s time. Copy paste from any of the past 4-5 seasons of Pete
What a complete failure. I know it’s only week 1 but between injuries and coaching, how can you be optimistic. Looking forward to more DK meltdowns this year.
There is no optimism after this shit show.
None
Zilch
Zero
Nada
Supposed team leaders DK and Diggs losing their cool. Geno unable to lead the team and openly showing his frustration on the sidelines.
Things are falling apart fast folks…
What kind of tweets are we gonna get out of Diggs this week?
Rams out gained them 251-3 in 2nd half.
3 fi**king yards. I am shutting the TV off..
Complete and utter embarrassment. The Lions are going to TORCH us in Detroit next week.
I’m more convinced than ever that John and Pete are going to knee-jerk and trade too much for the DL help this team needs. Pete has a legacy to uphold, with little consideration for the clean up his eventual departure will cause.
What an undisciplined display of football by the Seahawks is last 5 minutes of this game. A total embarrassment on par with the way the team acted in the waning minutes in the Super Bowl against the Patriots.
No need for acting like sore losers when that’s who you are.
Hey our 18 million dollar defensive Liman did something look at that
What the f****
Pete Carroll: “I didn’t even recognize that. That didn’t look like us.”
Zzzzzz…
Make sure to turn in to brock and Salk to hear how this isn’t Pete’s fault and how he is still a top 5 coach
And be sure to listen to Dave Wyman so he can tell you that the Jamal Adams trade wasn’t horrible and that Adams isn’t done
Just watched Groundhog Day. I’m tired. I’m old and retired don’t have too many years left. But this is what it’s going to be because billionaires are just as averse to change as any of us. Jodi needs him because she thinks she needs him. She doesn’t know what else to do
💯
And I’m telling you I live in the Portland area and I promise you she will NOT pay someone to not work. She had to find a different way to get rid of the Blazers GM without pay after he should have been fired 2 years earlier. As long as she owns this team, Carroll will coach til his contract runs out.
To me the sad thing is I am convinced that if Paul Allen were alive Caroll would have been fired a long time ago
Agree with you 100%
At least get your ass kicked with some dignity, Seahawks.
It’s time to fire Pete and bring in Coach Prime.
Pretty much done watching this team while Pete is still the coach, they can’t do anything well. Just a pathetic team from ownership all the way down
Really wish we would have drafted a QB over Witherspoon, at least we’d something to look forward to this year.
Hated the pick the day of the draft, hate it more with every passing day.
See I can live with that. I can live with the Growing Pains of a rookie quarterback because we all can see that this team is not a Super Bowl contender and has years to go. So I can live with the quarterback growth but I can’t live with mediocrity. Mediocrity bores the hell out of me it doesn’t make the game fun. At least with a poor team I can look forward to growth and new energy new ideas new players. Gino appears like a nice guy but you don’t want to build a team around his ceiling so why do it?
That feels like an oxymoron..i dont hope for anything.. i just call as i see it..