At the midway point of their season, Seattle has as many questions as they do answers in year one of the Mike Macdonald regime.
The Seahawks don’t run the ball nearly enough (27th in attempts) and they are not effective when they choose to run, averaging 4.3 yards per carry. The best rushing teams average at least 5 yards per carry, and they stay committed to the run. The top rushing team in the league has a hundred more rushing attempts than Seattle in the same number of games (8), and they have a higher average at 6.2. You might assume the best rushing team is probably not one of the top passing teams – and that’s not true. The Baltimore Ravens are the top rushing team in the league, and they are also 4th in passing.
Running the ball isn’t the only issue. So is discipline. Seattle is 6th in the league in penalty yards; through eight games, they have just 238 more rushing yards than penalty yards given back.
If you think issues with the offense are a Ryan Grubb problem, you’re not far off. Grubb ran the Huskies offense the last two seasons, and what you are seeing from Seattle right now is very close to what he was getting from their collegiate neighbors. Sure Grubb is creative and aggressive in ways Shane Waldron could never be, but the NFL is full of creative and aggressive play callers.
This team needs a great playcaller who can also prevent his team from giving yards and points back to the opponent. Grubb can still be that guy, but he’s not there yet.
The Huskies ranked 106th in rushing yards per game last year. Their rushing attempts were even worse, as they finished 131st in the nation. They had a good number of rushing scores, though, ranking 37th. They did have their issues with penalties, finishing with the 7th-most penalty yards per game.
Washington was one of the top ranked passing offenses in the nation last season, finishing second in yards and 10th in touchdowns and were very good at avoiding turnovers, averaging just one per game. They were 13th in the nation in points, with 36 per game.
Seattle is among the best passing offenses in the league if you only look at yards. Seattle is a double-edged sword in the truest form, as they are one of only five teams with more than 2000 yards and the only one with single-digit touchdowns at 8. They have the most yards through the air and the third-lowest scoring rate through the air. They score more on the ground but not at a high enough clip.
Unlike their neighbors, Seattle does not finish drives with points or protect the ball well. They are 8th in the league in turnovers through eight games, with 12. They are a top-10 team in scoring, but they give their opponents too much to work with. This could be a top-5 offense if they can just get out of their way.
If they are going to win without a top offense, they will need their defense to play at a championship level, and that’s not what they are getting.
Seattle has the #23 defense in total yards and #20 in points. They are 17th in passing yards allowed and 23rd in touchdowns allowed. They are 29th in rush yards allowed and 22nd in rushing scores allowed. They give up a scoring play on 36% of their drives.
This team not only allows a lot of scores, but when they are not giving up scoring plays, they are not taking the ball away. They have just five interceptions in 8 games and get a turnover on just 8% of their drives.
This Seahawks defense just doesn’t look like they are all on the same page yet. Their secondary has one of the lowest rates of air yards per completion in the league, but they give up the 8th most yards after the catch.
Seattle is in third with 6.2 average yards per attempt and 9th in sacks with one of the lowest blitz percentages league-wide. They are 7th in QB hurries (getting the QB to throw earlier than expected) and 3rd in QB pressures (knockdowns and hurries that don’t result in a sack). They consistently force the QB to play faster and throw shorter than they were planning to, all without sending extra defenders.
You might wonder how a team that is so good at getting pressure on the QB gives up so many big plays without letting them throw the ball farther than a few yards at a time.
It comes back to discipline again.
So far this season, this team has 50 missed tackles, 6th most in the league. More than six missed tackles per game – that’s way too many. You have probably been watching them play and wondered how so many Seattle jerseys can let the opposing player by without pushing or diving at them. I promise you Mike Macdonald has noticed. And opposing teams have definitely taken notice.
The plays are being called correctly, and they have the right players in the right spots to be a dominant defense, but instead, they consistently give up chunk plays because they are not good at swarming to the ball and getting a stop.
Their rushing defense is bad, allowing the 5th most yards per carry. They allow the third most yards overall, giving up a whopping 148 yards per game. Some of this can be attributed to their revolving door on the defensive line, but if those same players are getting so much pressure on the QB, shouldn’t they be getting stops in the run game?
This team needs to focus on fundamentals. They don’t run the ball enough, they don’t finish drives through the air, they don’t protect the ball, they give too many yards back with penalties, and they miss a ton of tackles.
These are all issues you can correct during the season, but if they wait too much longer, these mistakes will either keep them out of the playoffs or cost them a potential victory.
They have a chance to claim the division lead this week, and then they have their bye week to try to tighten up some of the issues plaguing them. Anyone who regularly watches Seattle knows this team has a ton of talent, but it’s being wasted because it doesn’t play like a fundamentally sound team.
Teams that lead the league in missed tackles, giveaways, low running yards, and negative plays generally do not find success late in the season. This team is too good to be bad, and they have too much season left to turn away now.
The path they are on now is the same purgatory they were in before he got here – good enough to beat bad teams but bad enough to lose big games against good teams. Good enough to make the playoffs but never bad enough to get a high draft pick.
Mike Macdonald needs to take the reins and get his team on track to success, and he is running out of time to do it.
