Showing up unprepared and unable to execute as expected on either side of the ball, the Seattle Seahawks ran out of time to orchestrate a late comeback as the New York Giants outmuscled them at home in a 29-20 upset defeat on Sunday.
Doing his best to will his team back from a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter, Geno Smith completed 28 out of 40 passes for 284 yards and a touchdown, while Tyler Lockett led the team with 75 yards on four receptions. Defensively, Rayshawn Jenkins opened the game with a record-setting 102-yard fumble return for a touchdown, serving as the lone bright spot in a game where Seattle surrendered 420 yards to an undermanned New York offense and allowed the opposition to convert on seven out of 16 third down chances.
Stunned on their own home turf and dropping to 3-2 on the season, here are five takeaways from a dreadful showing at Lumen Field:
1. As good as Geno Smith has been, the Seahawks are hamstringing him with an unbalanced approach.
Heading into Sunday, Smith led the NFL in passing yards in part due to offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb building the offense around him and a talented receiving corps. Given the team's weapons, such an approach makes sense - to an extent. But for a second straight game, Grubb seemed to forget Ken Walker III existed, giving the star running back a grand total of two carries for two yards in the first half as Seattle dropped back to pass on 15 of its 17 offensive plays. With no threat of a run game whatsoever, the offense consistently found itself in third and long situations, converting just once on four attempts before halftime while playing into New York's strengths with a talented defensive line on the opposite side of the ball.
Coming out of the break, Grubb continued to stubbornly drop back at a high rate with Walker only having four total carries midway through the third quarter. Not surprisingly, Smith took four sacks in the second half as the Giants teed off on him with no respect for the run game, finding himself under constant fire with no semblance of balance. By the time the Seahawks tried to get Zach Charbonnet going a bit in the early fourth quarter, it was too little too late trailing by 10 points with too much urgency to continue establishing a ground game. Overall, they carried the ball 10 times for 94 yards and 53 of those came on Smith scrambles.
2. Unprepared for New York's pressure packages, the offensive line continues to be a sieve for Seattle.
Based on the final stat line, it's remarkable Smith managed to get off as many passes as he did with the offensive line struggling to keep pass rushers out of the backfield all afternoon. Right tackle Stone Forsythe kept getting put on a spin cycle by standout rushers Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux, while Dexter Lawrence created havoc from the interior feasting on guards Anthony Bradford and Christian Haynes, who each had issues dealing with his raw power as pass protectors. On top of that, the offensive line had three false start penalties that set drives behind the sticks and allowed pass rushers to tee off to a tune of seven sacks.
Throughout the game, Giants defensive coordinator Shane Bowen seemed to be a step ahead of Grubb, catching the Seahawks with four and five-wide sets with exotic blitzes that frequently hit home, leaving Smith hanging out to dry. Few adjustments, if any, were made over the course of the game, as the quarterback's quick trigger was the only thing that kept the team alive late in the fourth quarter as he tried to mount a rally against a hungry front line that got after him early and often.
3. The Seahawks may need to go back to training camp practices after forgetting how to tackle Daniel Jones and the Giants' running backs.
Back in Week 1, the Seahawks came flying out of the gate defensively, swarming the football against the Broncos and missing few tackles, showcasing a dramatic improvement from last season. Unfortunately, bad habits often revert in time and over the past couple weeks, more and more plays have been left on the field with defenders not wrapping up ball carriers and/or taking poor pursuit angles, leading to big chunks of yardage in the run game after contact and in the passing game after the catch. With the exception of the forced fumble that led to Jenkins' record-setting return, to the dismay of Macdonald, that trend continued on Sunday afternoon.
Controlling the line of scrimmage, particularly in the first half where they held the ball for more than 25 minutes to play keep away from Smith, the Giants pounded the Seahawks with a run game that had been punch-less in recent weeks, racking up 175 yards on the ground with a breakout performance from rookie Tyrone Tracy Jr. and Jones calling his own number for 38 yards. Both runners slipped through numerous tackles to pick up extra yardage and extend drives throughout the afternoon, doing damage between and off tackle as they bounced off of defenders left and right. A quick fix will have to be found or a porous run defense will once again sink this team as it did the last couple years.
4. With Riq Woolen ailing, Seattle's cornerback depth didn't handle an unexpected test against a Malik Nabers-less New York offense.
Without Nabers, who remains in concussion protocol and didn't suit up on Sunday, the Giants didn't have another receiver active with more than 196 receiving yards this year. But based on how things unfolded on Sunday, the Seahawks looked as if they ran into prime Joe Montana with Jerry Rice as Jones and Darius Slayton torched them for 122 yards on eight catches. Much of that damage came against Tre Brown, who endured arguably his worst game as a pro allowing a 41-yard catch and 30-yard touchdown to Slayton along with committing two blatant defensive holding penalties that prolonged scoring drives for the Giants.
As Brown continued to get picked on by Jones in the second half, Riq Woolen shuffled in and out of the lineup with an ankle injury, forcing rookie Nehemiah Pritchett into extended action for the first time. Slayton beat the fifth round pick on a fade route in the third quarter on what should have been a touchdown, only for Jones to overthrow him. The young defender did come through with a clutch pass breakup in the closing minutes to give Smith and company one last chance to tie or win the game, only for the Giants to block Myers' attempt and put a dagger in the home team. With big plays galore allowed against a passing game that is not a juggernaut, it's back to the drawing board with hopes Woolen is okay.
5. Whether fair or not, the Seahawks looked to have eyes on Thursday night and got burned.
In the first four games of the year, even with numerous players sidelined on Monday night against the Lions, the Seahawks haven't had any issues getting up to play for Macdonald. In fact, they had not given up a touchdown on their opening defensive drive prior to Sunday, consistently showing up prepared and ready to play. But that was far from the case against the Giants, as the unit came out sleep walking from the outset, whiffing tackles, botching gap responsibilities, and failing to execute coverage assignments with receivers coming open, allowing the opponent to march 79 yards down the field and come up inches short of a touchdown before the key fumble by Eric Gray that Jenkins took back for six points.
Normally, such a play would be the only spark needed to wake up a defense that started slow. But after forcing a three-and-out on the next drive, Seattle allowed New York to chew up huge chunks of clock on back-to-back scoring drives in the second quarter, tallying 139 yards on 20 plays while scoring 10 points to move out in front 10-7 on the scoreboard. Then, out of halftime, the Seahawks let the Giants air it out at will on them with Brown giving up back-to-back catches for 71 yards and a touchdown, once again coming out flatter than a burned pancake. While it may have just been an off day, the fact a matchup with a division rival loomed on Thursday shouldn't be overlooked when examining the team's struggles in every phase in an embarrassing loss, as they appeared to play as if they would coast to a win over an underdog. Ultimately, that didn't happen.
