The Seahawks turned the ball over three times vs. Washington, couldn’t run the ball, lost the field position battle and failed to take away the ball or make key stops on defense – and they still lost by just two points.
That tells you how good the Seahawks are. They know it – and figure to prove it emphatically at home against the 0-3 Chargers this week.
The Seahawks’ first loss in 13 games – 33-31 at Washington in a 10 a.m. game – exposed a few weaknesses and/or concerns. But it also showed they are such a dominant team that it takes THAT many things to go wrong for them to BARELY lose.
As Mike Macdonald said, “It’s mixed emotions. It’s an excitement about the type of team that we can have and aspire to be, that it’s there. And it’s also a sense of urgency and a little bit of a kick in the gut that we’re not there yet and that we have room to grow. But the exciting thing is it’s early in the season and we have an opportunity to go make it right.’’
Let’s look first at the things people are concerned about – and end with the upbeat outlook that has us still predicting a 13-win season.
Concern: Running game
The right side of the offensive line struggled mightily, with the ballcarriers netting minus-1 yard on eight carries (vs. 33 yards on eight runs to the left).
To the Commanders’ credit, they are the No. 1 team against the run in DVOA after three games. They stonewalled Seattle so much that Brian Fleury abandoned the run in the fourth quarter, despite it being a one-score game for much of that period.
Abe Lucas is not off to a great start this season, and the right guard situation is not ideal either. On the “Triple Option Podcast,” Rob Rang said the Seahawks are making a mistake rotating Christian Haynes and Beau Stephens. He said Haynes should be the main guy there while Anthony Bradford is out.
We shall see whether the Hawks change that or throw out this bad performance against a strong run defense.
Concern: Special teams
Jay Harbaugh’s units had an inconsistent day. They did not turn the ball over or commit any bad penalties, but Jason Myers landed a kickoff short of the landing zone and the kick coverage teams gave up 32 yards per return.
Myers’ mistake, which gave Washington the ball at the 40, led to a field goal. Washington started inside the 30 just four out of 13 times. On top of that, Tress Way averaged a whopping 49 yards on his seven punts, including a 60-yarder, and pinned Seattle inside the 20 three times.
Field position was key to Washington’s win.
The Seahawks are off to a rough start on kick return coverage, ranking 30th through three games at 30.1 yards. And opponents have started at the 30 or beyond on 10 of Myers’ 15 kickoffs.
Macdonald said special teams “isn’t good enough.”
Concern: Price’s fumble problem
Jadarian Price has lost a fumble in back-to-back games. The Commanders turned this one into a quick 7-0 lead, starting from the Seattle 21-yard line.
Price was known for fumbling at Notre Dame and has now fumbled five times in his last 141 carries over 15 games (dating to last year with the Irish), per Mookie Alexander.
“He understands what’s going on (that) he needs to take care of the ball,’’ Macdonald said. “There’s some things fundamentally where we can focus on. And we’re going to continue to give him the ball. We trust him. We know that he’s going to work hard to do his part as well.”
Concern: Missing Love
With Julian Love out with a sudden calf injury, A.J. Finley started – and Marcus Mariota seemed to pick on him a fair bit.
We think Love probably would have been in the vicinity when Terry McLaurin beat Josh Jobe for a 30-yard yard touchdown in the third quarter that put Washington up 24-10. Instead, Finley and Rodney Thomas II were seen belatedly running toward the play at the goal line. Finley also lost track of Treylon Burks on his 11-yard score in the second quarter.
With Ty Okada also out, the Hawks really need Love to return.
“It’s a day-to-day thing right now,’’ Macdonald said of Love. “We’ll see how that shakes out. He did some extensive work this morning and it went well. We’ll see how that translates to Wednesday and move forward.”
Concern: Where’s Shaheed?
Some fans are wondering why the Seahawks paid $17 million a year to Rashid Shaheed if they are not going to get him involved.
Fans argue that he should have had more than three targets vs. Washington and should have been involved more in the fourth quarter. He caught two passes for 14 yards and also drew a personal foul when he was hit hard on the sideline (although replay showed that the hit looked legal).
We tend to side with the fans who point out Shaheed had 106 total yards, including 63 on two kick returns and 20 on three punts.
Shaheed will end up winning a game or two for the Seahawks this season. We’re not concerned.
Reasons for optimism
While the Seahawks certainly need to fix some of those bad early-season trends, they also have plenty of reasons to think all will be just fine.
The Seahawks are No. 1 in overall defense (228.7 ypg), No. 1 in pass defense (141.7 ypg), tied for third in scoring defense (16.7) and third in yards per pass (8.1).
Jaxon Smith-Njigba is setting records every week. He put up another 100-yard game and scored twice. He leads NFL receivers with 405 yards and six touchdowns. The only other player to hit those numbers in the first three games was Marvin Harrison (1999). The only other player to go over 120 and score in each of the first three games was Jerry Rice (1989).
Yes, Darnold threw two picks (one bounced unluckily off a helmet), but he also threw for 379 yards and four touchdowns, and he moved around very well to buy time. He is ready to roll. (No more pick-sixes though.)
Fleury leaned into his tight ends. AJ Barner and Eric Saubert both scored, and Barner finished with five catches for 69 yards (on nine targets). Fleury also used a couple of fun tight end screens with Barner, who gained 47 yards on them.
Tory Horton pulled in three catches for 48 yards, with two of those grabs coming on balls thrown behind him and in traffic. If he can stay healthy, he should get more play.
The Hawks are determined to bounce back.
“I’m proud of the mentality that we’ve had today,” Macdonald said Monday. “You can tell they’re upset, which they should be. But you can feel the resolve, you can feel the eagerness to get back at it on Wednesday.”
That spells trouble for the Chargers when they come to Seattle on Sunday.
