By Bob Condotta Seattle Times
That was not how the weekend was supposed to go for the Seahawks.
On beautiful of a fall day and part of an electric Seattle sports weekend, and a game played in front of most of those selected as the Top 50 in team history, the latest version of the Seahawks was supposed to assert themselves as legitimate contenders in the NFC and stay atop the NFC West.
Instead, what had been one of the team’s strengths – its defense – collapsed, in part because of the weight of injuries that by the end of the game had five starters or significant contributors sitting out.
That required the offense to be just about perfect.
When the offense faltered at the end, the result was a disheartening 38-35 loss to Tampa Bay that dropped the Seahawks to 3-2 and a game behind the 49ers in the NFC West.
What were the main defensive issues? And did anyone play well?
### What was the most perplexing issue for the defense?
Injuries that shelved three of the four primary starters in the secondary (safety Julian Love and cornerbacks Devon Witherspoon and Riq Woolen, the latter injured in the third quarter) help explain why the Seahawks had coverage issues in the back end.
Woolen’s replacement, Nehemiah Pritchett – who had played just eight defensive snaps this season before Sunday – allowed three receptions on three targets for 40 yards and two touchdowns, according to Pro Football Focus.
A drop-off at that spot after Woolen left was to be expected. But what coach Mike Macdonald didn’t expect was the Seahawks again struggling with tackling.
They were listed with 10 missed tackles, via PFF, about on par with its average for the season. The Seahawks have 53 in five games.
PFF has the Seahawks rated as the seventh-worst tackling team in the NFL.
Those listed with the most are safety Coby Bryant (seven), linebacker Ernest Jones IV (six) and linebacker Tyrice Knight and Woolen (five each).
Jones had the most Sunday with two en route to getting a team-worst defensive grade from PFF of 28.2 while eight other players had one each.
“Our tackling right now is not our standard,” Macdonald said Monday during his radio show on Seattle Sports 710. “It’s not good enough. We work it every day, (but) the dots are not getting connected right now, so that’s something that we are evaluating as we speak. We have to address it because it must be better. There’s way too many hidden yardage out there where it’s putting us in more defensive positions and guys are getting leaky yards on us. So it needs to improve.”
Some have cited changes in NFL rules governing the amount of tackling and full contact allowed in practices as hurting tackling throughout the league.
Macdonald noted that’s relative, with every team having to play by the same rules. As he noted, the Seahawks are failing in that challenge right now.
“For the amount of things that we invest into this we are not getting the returns,’’ Macdonald said. “So something needs to change.”
### How much did the defensive numbers take a hit?
The most notable was scoring defense. The Seahawks entered the game second in the NFL in points allowed at 16.8. Tampa Bay scored more that twice that many and the Seahawks ranking fell to 17th in the NFL at 21 points per game (105 in five games).
That does allow some to question whether the Seahawks’ early defensive numbers were built in part by playing some struggling offenses.
Each of their first four opponents remain among the bottom half of the NFL in scoring. Tampa Bay was the first team the Seahawks played that ranks in the top half, standing at seventh overall at 27 per game.
In allowing Baker Mayfield to throw for 379 yards, the Seahawks fell from 17th in passing yardage allowed (207.3) to 26th (223.8).
The 370 net passing yards Tampa Bay gained was 51 more than the Seahawks have allowed under Macdonald – the Rams got 319 in the season finale in 2024.
It was the most they had allowed since giving up 375 to the Lions in a 48-45 win at Detroit in 2022.
### Did anyone play well on defense?
Four defensive players got above average grades from PFF – defensive lineman Byron Murphy II (83.3), rookie safety Nick Emmanwori (81.4), safety D’Anthony Bell (who got a 71.2 grade for playing one snap on which he blitzed and got credit for half a sack) and Bryant (69.6).
Woolen was next at 61.5.
The high grade for Emmanwori is encouraging given that it was the first full game of his career after he suffered a high ankle sprain against the 49ers on the first series and missed the next three games.
According to PFF, Emmanwori played 39 of a possible 61 snaps. Of those, 32 came on passing plays. He was in coverage on 25 of those while he rushed the passer seven times. Emmanwori allowed four receptions on four targets, but for just 13 yards.
As noted, bringing up the rear was Jones at 28.2 with Pritchett just above him at 31.8, with Derion Kendrick at 35.6 and Knight at 49.7.
Along with two missed tackles, Jones was also assessed as giving up five receptions on five targets in coverage for 101 yards with 41 coming after the catch.
Almost everyone had their troubles with Tampa Bay rookie receiver Emeka Egbuka, the Steilacoom High grad who appears a budding star. He had seven receptions on seven targets for 163 yards.
Via PFF, those came against six different Seahawks. Pritchett allowed two receptions for 29 yards and a TD while five players allowed one each – Josh Jobe (57 yards), Knight (25), Ty Okada (24), Jones (19) and Kendrick (nine).
The Seahawks played better against the run, holding the Bucs to 56 yards on 24 attempts.
Interestingly enough, Woolen had the best run defense grade at 75.4 with two tackles on 11 run defense snaps followed by Emmanwori at 72.3 (one tackle on seven run defense snaps).
### Who shined on offense?
We’ve gotten this far without mentioning the positive – that’s what happens after losses. That the Seahawks’ offense was able to stand toe-for-toe with the Bucs was the encouraging news of the day.
The Seahawks are fifth in the NFL in points scored at 29.2 per game, eighth in yards at 358.4, fifth in passing yards at 245.4 and still first in passing yards per attempt at 8.6. Even the rushing is up to 4.0 per carry from 3.3 just two games ago, ranking 23rd.
They had 11 offensive players with better-than-average grades from Pro Football Focus, including tight end AJ Barner at 87.9, running back Kenneth Walker III at 83.5 and quarterback Sam Darnold at 79.3.
PFF was surprisingly harsh on the middle of the offensive line given the raw stats. Right guard Anthony Bradford was 17th of the 19 offensive players with a grade of 42.3. Barely above him was left guard Grey Zabel at 44.0 and center Jalen Sundell at 47.5.
That was made up for by more solid play by right tackle Abe Lucas (81.3) and left tackle Charles Cross (75.5).