The Seahawks didn’t look ready to play again today, as was the case against the Giants. I don’t write that glibly or without consideration.
As with the New York game, they flirted with a comeback. Yet they need to try and fight back because of the way they’re starting games.
And what about that ending? A 76-yard run to kill the game. Nothing sums up the current day Seahawks better than that play.
They gave up 229 rushing yards today, after giving up 175 against the Giants and 185 against the Patriots. Let’s be honest, the Lions could’ve run for way more than the 116 they earned — instead they leaned on Jared ‘no incomplete passes’ Goff.
A period of grace is fine for a new staff. Things need to improve though — and fast. The shoddiness of the play is being paired with confusing game-plans, bad execution and poor body language.
I hate to say it but after watching the defense against Detroit and the total team performances against New York and San Francisco, I’m beginning to worry. They look worse in the last three games than they did at their worst last season.
This feels like an inexperienced staff making a lot of mistakes and learning the hard way. That’s to be expected. But it’s no excuse for failing to get off a block, make a tackle, complete an easy pass to convert a third down or make a tricky catch.
Listening to jubilant 49ers fans chanting ‘let’s go Niners’ in Lumen Field was reminiscent of the Steelers fans celebrating last season.
San Francisco had their way with the Seahawks for long stretches here. It was close for a bit thanks to a kick-off return touchdown and a blown call by the ref’s not to give the 49ers the ball on a botched fair catch.
Don’t blame injuries. Every team has injuries — in particular the 49ers. They are decimated. The Giants moved the ball well enough without their top two playmakers last weekend. The Rams beat this 49ers team with far more serious injury problems than Seattle. The Cardinals also beat this San Francisco team.
At times they look like they’re allergic to tackling. They get pushed around. They never come close to forcing a turnover and rely totally on luck when one occurs (see: the Giants fumble return). They had no sacks today and the pressure felt anaemic. They look low-energy when things start to go wrong.
Mike Macdonald only had two seasons as a NFL defensive coordinator before becoming a Head Coach. It’s starting to show. He’s inexperienced. This is his defensive unit and at the moment, it’s awful. Nothing about what we’re seeing at the moment is encouraging. You need a reason to have faith for the future. At the moment they seem to be scrambled, searching for answers and not finding any.
The offense is a streaky, befuddled frustration. I’m starting to think the Lions performance was more a review of Detroit’s defense than anything else.
On Sunday they allowed a situation to happen where they only ran Ken Walker five times in a game tied at half-time. Today, they didn’t seem to have much of a creative plan at all. Run it up the gut, after spending all week telling the media they wanted to run more. I bet the 49ers didn’t see that coming. Here’s an idea — be balanced and creative in both games. Of course it also helps if the defense can get the ball back to the offense.
When the runs didn’t work, Geno Smith would throw an inaccurate pass and out comes the punting unit.
Smith wasn’t great against the Giants but he was bad here. He was inaccurate. He missed easy throws. He threw two interceptions and now has a 6/6 ratio for touchdowns and picks. He’s very capable of having streaks of absolute quality as we saw at the start of the season. Yet as with the previous two seasons, he also has sequences where he looks like he did today.
There was a stark difference between the two quarterbacks tonight. Brock Purdy was scrambling around, looking like a legit playmaker and dicing up the Seahawks. It did feel like he made up for some of the key San Francisco players missing.
Smith is an athlete but he’s not a big creative scrambler and extender. He felt locked into the pocket. His accuracy, for some reason, was really off tonight. Nothing’s changed for me. He’s a good bridge to the future — but the future the Seahawks must seek. He’s far from the only problem or the biggest problem, though.
I think I finally gave up on DK Metcalf ever reaching his physical potential on the downfield shot before half-time where he just seemed to have no idea how to use his size, length and hands to make a play. The drops, the fumbles, the inconsistent play. He’s a fantastic athlete and can be a brilliant home-run hitter. He’s not ever going to be the physically dominant force Mike Evans is and Julio Jones was.
This is a roster constructed after the Russell Wilson trade. That deal brought a bevvy of draft picks and cap relief. That the same issues continue to show up on both sides of the ball year after year, speaks to the possibility that they’re not as good as I and others have thought.
The Seahawks look a soft touch again. Finesse with a desire to be something different.
The form at home says it all. They’re no good in Seattle. Teams used to dread travelling to the North West. Now, year after year, it looks like a lovely day out for a lot of opponents. The sea of red jersey’s filling the expensive seats at the front is emblematic of a franchise that has lost its sparkle. It genuinely feels like the mystique of this former cauldron has all but gone.
This three-game losing streak worries me. There are so many questions and there’s little cause for optimism. They won three games they were supposed to win and they’ve failed every test since.
