Popular opinion to the contrary, I don’t think Riq Woolen had the worst opening day of any member of the Seattle Seahawks’ franchise last Sunday. The fourth-year cornerback was burned badly on a couple of game-changing plays, but he was still just one of eleven on a defense that held a Kyle Shanahan offense to 17 points.
That is normally good enough for a win in the NFL. It wasn’t against San Francisco because the Hawks’ offense managed just 13. That’s why the worst day award goes to new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak.
This was not the new-look, run-heavy offense we were promised. Seattle’s running attack was miserable. 26 carries for 84 yards. That’s 3.2 yards per carry. Adjust for two of the longest running plays, [both Sam Darnold scrambles](https://12thmanrising.com/sam-darnold-poised-smash-seattle-seahawks-records-2025), and that number drops to 2.9 yards on scripted runs.
How to fix the Seattle Seahawks' moribund offense
-------------------------------------------------
The passing attack, as we have detailed throughout the week, was no better. None of the new pass catchers brought in to support WR1 Jaxon Smith-Njigba had any impact on the game.
Nothing on offense worked. JSN was good as usual, but he had a key fumble that stalled a drive. Zach Charbonnet ran [better than Kenneth Walker III](https://12thmanrising.com/mike-macdonald-left-obvious-kenneth-walker-decision-seattle-seahawks-loss), but for all his promise, Charbonnet still didn’t crack 4 yards per carry.
So nothing worked – but there was one area that was especially bad, and it is something that Kubiak has to fix immediately. The new OC got virtually nothing out of his second down calls. That in turn led to difficult conversions on third down and a corresponding inability to sustain drives.
If you simply glance at the numbers, it is easy to be fooled. Seattle did gain 104 yards on 18 second-down plays. That’s quite good, especially considering they had just 230 total yards for the game. That stat makes it look like second down was Kubiak’s most successful.
The numbers lie. As you begin trimming down to the core, you see it more clearly. Take the middle of those 18 plays. Throw out the six best and the six worst and look at the six in between. Then the second down yards-per-play drops from an excellent 5.8 to a miserable 2.7.
The reason is simple. There were outliers. The two biggest plays of the game, both passes to JSN, came on second down. Darnold's longest scramble also came on second down. But if you look at the other end of the spectrum, Seattle ran seven second-down plays that gained zero or negative yards.
In all, half of Kubiak’s second-down calls resulted in two or fewer yards. That is simply incompatible with a good offense.
But there is good news in these numbers. There is a solution, or at least a suggestion of where to look for a solution.
The three best plays Seattle ran on second downs against San Francisco – JSN’s 40 and 22-yard receptions and Darnold’s nine-yard scramble – all came when Seattle was in its two-minute offense.
The Seahawks ran ten plays in their two-minute offense – five each at the end of the first and second half. They gained 102 yards. In the rest of the game, they managed just 128 yards on 40 plays. Ten yards per play in the two-minute offense. Three yards per play the rest of the time. Spot a trend there?
Of course, it isn’t quite so simple. Two-minute offenses function based on how the defense approaches the situation, which is not the same during the rest of the game. And as effective as it was, ultimately, Darnold did fumble away the game at the end. Turnovers are a bigger risk in the frantic chaos of a two-minute offense.
But Kubiak needs to figure out why it worked on Sunday when everything else he tried failed, and needs to at least introduce some two-minute principles into his game plan this week. Playing with tempo, switching to no-huddle, and taking more deep and intermediate shots to a variety of receivers should all be part of the script this week.
It’s one week. Kubiak is smart. There is absolutely no need to panic just yet. But a second straight uninspired, anemic performance against Pittsburgh on Sunday may get Seahawks’ fans dusting off that panic button for use down the road.