It took Seahawks quarterback one game to solidify his spot on the depth chart

One play in Thursday's preseason game between the Seattle Seahawks and Las Vegas Raiders sums up why Jalen Milroe still has a long way to go before he can be seriously considered as the Seahawks’ starting quarterback. Fortunately, a lot of other plays offered glimpses of his very high ceiling and showed why John Schneider drafted him in the first place.

I say this as someone who is on record opining that Schneider should not have made the pick. I’ve seen too many quarterbacks enter the league unpolished, with limited college reps under their belt. Every so often, one of them clicks. Usually, they flop. It is hard to learn the basics of playing QB when you are in the NFL.

But on Thursday, Milroe played better and looked more at ease than I expected and that offers great hope, provided he is not pushed too far too fast. Milroe is already an elite runner, and he made several throws that showed off his powerful arm.

Jalen Milroe showed a few bad habits and an awful lot of good ones for the Seattle Seahawks

Offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak should be licking his chops designing a small package of plays, primarily run-pass options, that the former Alabama star can execute in regular season games.

Let’s start with the good stuff. As a runner, Milroe is lightning fast and shows excellent vision. He broke a couple of long runs (one was nullified by penalty), but perhaps his best run came in his first series when he felt pressure, made a decisive move to run up the middle of the field, then juked a defender right as he picked up extra yards and got out of bounds.

Not only did he show his physical ability, he showed his acumen. He got just enough yards for the first down and got out of bounds. It’s the kind of run we saw Jayden Daniels make all last season, always extending drives. Unfortunately, that run was also called back on a penalty, but if offered a tantalizing glimpse of how Kubiak might employ Milroe this year.

He also made a number of quality throws. None was better than the play he made early in the fourth quarter as he was driving the Hawks for their final score. With first and ten from the Vegas 26. Milroe rolled right and easily outran a couple of Raiders defenders (one of whom was Jah Joyner, who runs a 4.6 40 and has exceedingly long arms.

In other words, not an easy man to outrun.) Then, spotting Tyrone Broden, he delivered a strike on the run into a tight window for another first down. It was textbook quarterback play.

Now for the bad.

Milroe was extremely fortunate that his second throw of the night didn’t result in catastrophe. Facing third and 14  from his own 30, the QB went through his reads from right to left, then tried to connect on an out to Dareke Young. His reads were too slow, which resulted in him being late with the throw.

To make matters worse, he missed inside. Late outs that drift inside frequently turn into pick-sixes. Milroe was lucky that Young got his hands on the ball to prevent the interception.

That kind of play is standard for young QBs who are still adjusting to the speed and tight coverage windows in the NFL. They are more of a problem for QBs like Milroe because he is not consistently accurate. But this becomes a teaching moment, and I assume he will grow as a result.

But there was a play late in the game that signals a bigger problem.

With 4.17 remaining, Seattle faced a fourth and one from their own 45. They held a three point lead at the time. In the regular season, Mike Macdonald might have punted, but he wanted to see what his rookie could do.

The play was a designed roll to the right. That in and of itself makes sense. But there were only two receivers in the route. (Three actually, but one trailed the play and was not a realistic option.)

Ideally, with just one yard to gain, Milroe is going to sprint out and either beat the defense to the boundary or find a cutback lane and convert the first down. But Vegas was ready for him.

When he rolled, it looked like the entire defense was waiting for him on the right side of the field. Tight end Marshall Lang and Broden were running a little rub about six yards downfield. When Lang broke long, has was blanketed. When Broden headed for the boundary, safety Hudson Clark stepped into the throwing lane. It was just a well-executed defense.

At this point, Milroe has three options. He can put his head down and dive for the line to gain. If he does that, chances are he converts, but it’s no guarantee. And he will probably take a big hit.

He can stop running, plant his feet, and try to make an accurate throw to Lang in the tight window. Or – and this is what he should have done – he could bait Clark.

If Milroe runs hard right at the defender, he forces Clark to make a choice. If he comes up to tackle the QB, a throwing lane opens to Broden on the sideline. If he stays in coverage, Milroe runs for the first down. How many times have we seen Patrick Mahomes make that type of play in the past five years?

Milroe did none of that. What he did was slow his run to survey the field, then attempt a very low percentage jump pass downfield to Lang. It wasn’t close. Seattle turned the ball over on downs.

We can’t see inside a player’s head, but I suspect as he slowed down, MIlroe was panicking just a bit. He did not know where to go with the ball because he had not had enough experience. Compounded with his intermittent accuracy, it makes for a bad cocktail. Failure to execute that play led to the field goal that tied the game.

You can contrast this play to one that Raiders’ QB Cam Miller made with just a few seconds remaining. 20 seconds, to be exact. Vegas was still far out of field goal range and had no timeouts. Miller also rolled right and threw on the run.

But he found an open receiver 20 yards downfield on the sideline and delivered a perfect ball. Miller set up his team to win at the end, though Jalan Gaines made sure that wouldn’t happen when he blocked the potential game-winning field goal.

Cam Miller does not have anywhere near the upside that Jalen Milroe has. He doesn’t run as well. His arm isn’t as strong. But in college, Cam Miller completed more passes than Jalen Milroe attempted, and he completed them at a significantly higher percentage.

There’s a reason why Milroe was selected more than 100 spots ahead of Miller in the draft. If developed the right way, he has the potential to be a star. Miller is a journeyman backup. But right now, Miller is more prepared to run an NFL offense. Just look at their numbers on Thursday. Miller was more efficient.

Bottom line – Miller brought his team from behind by scoring 20 points in the second half while Milroe was managing just seven.

As I said, I think Milroe performed rather well in his first game. It makes me think maybe I was overly pessimistic in thinking he would have a hard time adjusting to the NFL. But no matter how good he looks in flashes, fans have to remember he still has a ways to go and should be brought along slowly.

If you forget, just queue up that play from the end of the Raiders game as a reminder.