I’m not going to call out any individual on the Hawks defense, as at some point, literally every player on that side of the ball came up short on this night.
Seattle allowed 136 yards rushing on 34 carries, a 4.0 yard average.
That apparent early-season improvement is now clearly an illusion created by their schedule.
It’s also true that the Seahawks defense held the Cowboys to just four scores in eight trips to the red zone. That’s impressive.
Sadly, it’s more impressive to Dallas fans that their team rolled for 411 yards and 4 points.
Even when the Hawks made a big play, they shot themselves in the foot. Quandre Diggs had a key interception at the Seattle five-yard line, but an offsides penalty negated the turnover. Of course, the Boys scored.
Such was the night for the Hawks defenders.
I’m not so sure that Seahawks offensive coordinator Shane Waldron called a great game.
Yes, Seattle had one of their best offensive games of the season. But was that a function of an improved design, or more that Geno Smith was getting rid of the ball more quickly?
Yeah, I know, that could very well be strictly the result of plays designed to get the ball out faster.
Or, maybe it was Geno Smith making decisions more quickly.
I mean, Smith himself said that he’s been holding on to the ball too long. All I saw from Waldron was the same handoff to Zach Charbonnet on fourth down that failed, again.
Still, it’s hard to fault the OC on a night when the offense rolls as the Hawks did. Again, the penalties in this game were atrocious.
Some of that comes down to discipline on the team, certainly. But as our own Sara Marshall noted, the Cowboys had nearly the same number of penalties as the Seahawks.
They were hurt about as badly as Seattle, so it’s not as if the game completely changed on one call and the other team got off easy.
This loss is on the Hawks, absolutely, but it would be nice for a professional league to have officials that match the expertise of the players.
Your Seattle Seahawks travel to Dallas in Week 13 to play a good Cowboys team. We assume they are good because they are 8-3 though they have not beaten a team with a current winning record. Still, Seattle isn’t playing that well, but let’s hope that completely changes on Thursday.
What is it going to take for Seattle to win? I have a few guesses, though if I knew I would be coaching in the NFL instead of sitting here at my keyboard.
Do you want to hear my guesses? No? Well, here are a few quick ones anyway.
The Seahawks need to get their tight ends more involved again.
Since Week 4, Seattle’s tight ends have combined for an average of only 5 targets a game. Seattle also needs to run the ball more early in the game and then stick with the run through the game.
Lastly, a couple of miracles – such as the catch Jaxon Smith-Njigba made in Week 12 – would be nice. Here is some news for game day.
In Week 11 against the Los Angeles Rams, Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith had his arm hit on a pass and that irritated his bicep.
There was no injury to the arm, other than pain and some swelling.
Smith had to leave the game for most of the fourth quarter, though he did try to lead Seattle to a late score after re-entering the game.
The issue was that Seattle played the San Francisco 49ers just four days later and Smith didn’t practice all week before the game.
This was likely a perfect storm for Seattle as they were facing a great team with an injured quarterback.
The Seahawks offense had very little chance of truly succeeding, though Smith was still a better option than any other quarterback Seattle had available.
The positive is that this week head coach Pete Carroll has said the difference between Geno Smith last week and this week is “night and day.”
As opposed to not practicing, Smith is actually “running practice and putting on a show.”
Carroll also said that the Seahawks didn’t want to make a “big deal” about Smith’s injury ahead of the 49ers game, though.
If there was anything that screamed Geno Smith is going to stay the starter for the rest of 2023 over Drew Lock, Carroll’s comments might be it.