Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba disputes an offensive pass interference at the goal line in the second half against the Chicago Bears on Monday at Lumen Field in Seattle. (Dean Rutz/ / Seattle Times)
Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba disputes an offensive pass interference at the goal line in the second half against the Chicago Bears on Monday at Lumen Field in Seattle. (Dean Rutz/ / Seattle Times)
SEATTLE – The answer is always, “watch the film,” or “watch the tape.” Before dissecting all that goes wrong in a defeat, the stock response from NFL players is that before any explanations or maybe blame can be assessed, the game tape must be reviewed.
The film from Monday night will not be kind to any part of the offensive operation of the Seahawks. From the play calling down to the execution, it was a dismal performance that resulted in a 34-17 loss that continues to create lingering questions about the direction on that side of the ball.
The Seahawks are not a bad offense eight games into the season. But they’re not great, either, displaying too much inconsistency in the run game, too much reliance on Jaxon Smith-Njigba through the air and a continued ineffectiveness at extending drives to be considered among the better groups in the league.
And there seems to be a realization sitting at 4-4 that watching the tape is fine, so long as there is improvement that follows.
“The sense of urgency for us to improve right now is high,” Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said.
Even with some significant changes along the offensive line and in the offensive backfield for this week, eight weeks of inconsistency is enough evidence to recognize there are some concerns that aren’t going away.
The addition of Quenton Nelson and returns of Jadarian Price and Zach Charbonnet did nothing to improve the run game. The Seahawks were again awful on third downs, most of them third-and-long situations. They had 2 yards receiving from someone other than Smith-Njigba in the first half and he accounted for 118 of their 188 yards receiving.
Quarterback Sam Darnold was flustered and rushed, and lacked the decisiveness he played with a week ago against Kansas City, leading to a significant number of hits and a passing game that was disjointed.
And offensive coordinator Brian Fleury seemed to struggle finding the right buttons to push or plays to call to fix the problems that were evident almost from the outset.
On a night the Seahawks defense that has carried a disproportionate amount of the responsibility the past couple seasons wasn’t at its best, the offensive side failed badly in helping out.
“Didn’t execute well, plain and simple,” Smith-Njigba said. “Execution is key in this league, especially getting started early. We want to start early. We want to start fast. Get the ball rolling. Executing on third down. We didn’t do that tonight.”
The Seahawks finished with 252 total yards, one shy of the season low of 251 against San Francisco, also a loss. They had 81 yards rushing, but only 61 of those from running backs. While the return of Price and Charbonnet was a boost emotionally, it didn’t translate into results on the field.
The Seahawks had one run play from a running back longer than 10 yards and picked up only one first down on the ground — the first time since 2023 that they managed just one first down via rush.
That game in 2023 was against Baltimore. The defensive coordinator for Baltimore that day was Macdonald. He knows what a bad run game looks like.
“We came off of last week feeling good, and then obviously we have some change-up in our offensive line,” Macdonald said. “I expect us to get back and get better, but I don’t have a great answer for you right now.”
The problems with the run predicated other issues. Darnold was tasked with more throws and when those didn’t connect, the Seahawks found themselves facing long third-down conversion obstacles.
The Seahawks went 1 for 11 on third downs; nine times they faced third-and-7 or longer, sometimes much longer. It’s the fourth time in eight games the Seahawks have been 25% or worse in converting third downs.
“Got to improve very quickly in the run game,” guard Grey Zabel said. “Got to get back to running the ball, take the pressure off our quarterback and wide receivers and our play caller, and got to be able to move the line of scrimmage.”
At what point in all this inconsistency does play calling become the reason? It’s the part of the equation we don’t know in the immediate aftermath. Fleury could be making the right calls, but the execution isn’t there, a wrong decision is made or the defense simply wins the play.
“I thought it was fine. I mean, there’s a lot of areas, and we need to look at and point the finger to,” Smith-Njigba said of the play calling. “I think we all take the blame and we all can get better.”
Darnold spoke briefly postgame about his evolving relationship with Fleury. Again, though, he needed to watch the tape.
“As the season goes on, there’s always room to grow and continue to learn each other. I feel like the last couple of weeks we’ve been continuing to develop that relationship. I feel like it’s been going good,” Darnold said. “Again, for whatever reason today, again, we got to watch the tape, but just wasn’t good enough, and we’ll continue to dive deep into it, be very honest with each other really throughout the next day going forward.”
In theory, this should improve. It’s a short week ahead for the Seahawks, but more time with Nelson involved and Zabel in his new position should help the performance of the offensive line. Charbonnet and Price said they felt good in the immediate aftermath. Each should be better equipped going into a second game as the primary options in the backfield.
It helps, too, that on the short week the Seahawks are playing a familiar opponent in Arizona that they stomped 31-7 in Week 2 and rolled up nearly 400 yards against.
But it was supposed to improve this week, too, and build off what happened against the Chiefs. It didn’t and that’s a worry.
“Just not playing, not holding up our end, I guess,” wide receiver Cooper Kupp said. “We’ve got to be better than that and find some solutions.”
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