The Seattle Seahawks hadn’t lost to the Minnesota Vikings at home since 2006. That’s 18 years of different rosters and coaching staffs, but the result kept coming. I always talk about playing a competitive game against great teams. The scoreboard shows that Seattle kept the game close, but the countless errors show why Seattle won’t make the playoffs. It’s impossible to go far with so many shots in the foot.
All data used in this article was taken from PFF. For the film breakdown of Seattle’s rookies, check out Tuesday’s article.
The Bad
The team’s discipline/execution
The Seahawks had 11 accepted penalties, resulting in 77 yards and 2 TDs. Obviously, the stat doesn’t show the TD value I put, but just watch the game. The Seahawks lead the league in offensive holdings and are second in false starts.
Tre Brown commits an absurd penalty. He’s a CB and committed an offside. The natural thing to think is that it was on a play in which he was blitzed, but that wasn’t the case. His infraction negated a sack and on the next play he was beaten in a 1v1 against Justin Jefferson.
It’s sad how in the NFL you can go from 0 to 100 so quickly. In Seattle’s case, from 100 to 0. This could have been the most important sack of the season for rookie Byron Murphy II. However, a facemask was called (although not as intense as this one) and, on the next play, again, the Vikings scored the TD, in this case, the winning one.
Pharaoh Brown was hired only to serve as a blocker for the run. He makes a hold due to lack of technique. It’s his fourth of the year, tied with Anthony Bradford, who is on IR. At the end of the drive, Seattle ended up scoring, but he negated a 13-yard run and a first down, turning it into a 2nd and 16.
Even playing “at home” the Seahawks never tire of committing false starts. There were 4 in this game. The first was with rookie Sataoa Laumea, who turned a 3rd and 2 into a 3rd and 7, Geno had an incomplete pass and we went for the punt.
Two-minute drill. Seattle has a first down on a pass to DK. Charles Cross gets out first and, to avoid losing 10 seconds of clock, the team is forced to use a timeout. The drive ended with a TD by JSN.
Another rookie, this time AJ Barner. On the first play of the drive, he moves first and makes another false start. He redeems himself the rest of the drive with a beautiful reception for 9 yards and an incredible TD.
55 seconds on the clock, the team needs a field goal. Time for everyone to get focused, right? Wrong. On the first play of the drive, Abe Lucas gets out first and moves Seattle from the 17 to the 12 on their own field. On the next play, Geno is intercepted to end the game.
Ken Walker is one of the best RBs in the league. He is heading into the final year of his contract and has yet to solve a problem that has plagued him since college. He refuses to accept and do the simple. Of course, many of his highlights have come from plays like this, where he did the unexpected. However, in the NFL it is increasingly difficult to do that. So, even though he is a master at turning negative yards into positive ones, there are times when he has to accept what the defense gives him. A short 1 or 2 yard advance is better than the “live by the big play, die by the big play” mentality.
Defensive Mistakes
The Seahawks offense has a hard time moving down the field. They eke out to score TDs, and it seems like their opponents can do it without the same degree of difficulty. Take a look at Geno’s 3 TDs. Pure talent from the pass and receivers. Not to take away from the Vikings’ excellent offense, they capitalized on the defense’s mistakes.
Here’s the first TD to Jordan Addison. The Seahawks are in nickel, with Rayshawn Jenkins in the big-nickel role. He is sent on the blitz while Uchenna Nwosu drops in a short zone. The problem is on the other side. The LBs seem to quickly identify the play action, but for some reason Ernest Jones IV moves too far to the right of the defense, and seems to be almost in the same zone as Tyrice Knight. As a result, there is a big gap in the middle of the defense and Sam Darnold makes the connection.
The second TD, the pass goes to Justin Jefferson, after a penalty by Tre Brown. He is isolated in the 1-on-1 and is unable to turn to fight for the ball. Maybe it is asking too much for Josh Jobe’s backup to guard a WR of Justin Jefferson’s caliber.
Finally, the last and most glaring mistake, another TD by Justin Jefferson. After Byron Murphy II’s face mask, the Seahawks line up in Cover 2 and since there are no threats to Riq Woolen in the flat, his main assignment, he makes the longest drop, to help the safety. However, he does it with no sense of urgency and no notion that it could decide the game. In a way, sloppy and lazy. However, without a shadow of a doubt the biggest guilty party is Julian Love. Justin Jefferson was the only threat in that part of the field, he takes too long to get there and, just like it was in Deebo Samuel’s embarrassing TD, he misses the target and allows the game-winning TD to the Vikings.
Geno Smith, the bad
People who are pessimists see the glass as being half empty.
That’s having Geno’s experience as your QB. He throws fantastic passes like the 3 TDs and other Nathan Peterman-style interceptions, week after week.
Geno is very inconsistent. In a later topic, we will talk about an incredible pass he made. A play that few QBs would be capable of and one of the most beautiful plays of the season. However, on the next snap, he makes a pass like this. He has time in the pocket/space to step up and he throws a pass that has a good chance of being intercepted (note: play was nullified due to a Vikings penalty).
The problems range from some small adjustments to blatant mistakes.
There is not much to say about this interception. Geno simply should not pass the ball here. Play the game, not play the snap. The defense managed to limit the turnover to just three with an important sack. It is worth remembering that Seattle lost by three points.
The pressure arrived, as we will talk about later, and this made Geno read only one side of the field and apparently release the ball before DK’s cut. This made life easier for the defender who made the interception that ended the game.
He had some ball placement problems during the game. On this play, Noah Fant is marked by an EDGE, which is a favorable matchup. Geno sees this, but throws a poor, short pass. Noah Fant also fails to fight for the ball, which is common for him.
Excellent call by Grubb against the man-mark. DK Metcalf and JSN’s routes cross to create separation. No. 11 has already managed to separate, but the pass is short and he has to go back to try to fight for the ball. The CB appears to commit an uncalled DPI.
The Vikings are in what appears to be a Tampa 2 – Invert. Geno gets stuck on JSN’s read and doesn’t see an open DK. Furthermore, JSN waits for a pass further ahead. The pass is short again and this gives the safety a chance to make the play.
When I watched this play live, I thought it was a Zone-Blitz and that Geno hadn’t seen a DL who had dropped to the mark. Watching it again, it’s scary that he didn’t see the LB on this play.
Ryan Grubb, the bad: Atrocious play-calling
I don’t think the calls themselves were bad, except for a couple of them. The biggest problem is a conceptual issue. A huge imbalance between 43 passes and 13 runs drawn (taking out of the equation Geno Smith’s scramble and Julian Love’s run on the fake punt).
When you’re way behind on the scoreboard, it’s justifiable not to run as much. However, last week, even two possessions behind the Packers, there was no reason to abandon the run game. Imagine against the Vikings when the team was basically down by three points in the second half.
It doesn’t make sense and puts too much pressure on their OL, which is extremely fragile. Even with all the history with OL and run game that he has, Grubb seems to have become allergic to running the ball.
Seattle has a 1st and 5 after a Vikings defensive penalty. Grubb calls a fake toss screen that doesn’t fool anyone on the opposing defense, since DK has never been used in this type of play, the team loses six yards. Second down and an incomplete pass. The team calls a timeout because Geno can’t pass the play to the team in time, playing at home. All this to be sacked.
I believe Grubb is a very promising guy. Maybe he had to bite off more than you can chew. It would be better to start in another position on the coaching staff, like QB coach, Passing Game Coordinator and move up to OC, after adapting.
He has a lot of difficulties with the difference in hashmarks. You can’t use boundary formation snap after snap and he’s not got Rome Odunze against a random CB from an FBS team, this is the NFL.
Before signing Grubb, Tanner Engstrand and Arthur Smith were approached by Seattle for the OC position. There is a possibility that Grubb is a John guy, and the GM now has to accept the mistake and go with Macdonald’s mentality. Remember Macdonald’s interviews earlier in the season. They wanted to be a physical team on both sides of the ball. That means having a strong running game offensively. Grubb wouldn’t be the best fit for that philosophy. With Ben Johnson’s departure imminent, Engstrand could be a target next year. Add to that the Giants’ Mike Kafka who has also been interviewed before.
The offensive line in critical moments
The Vikings, who are a blitz-heavy team with two excellent EDGEs, managed two sacks and six hits. Considering what our OL showed in other games, it was more than satisfactory. Especially when you remember that Seattle passed the ball 43 times in the game.
However, in two important moments the OL failed and that cost the game.
The first was a failure of the unit, but Brian Flores’ call deserves much praise. Andrew Van Ginkel lines up as LB, but comes on the blitz, together with LB Blake Cashman. Ginkel threatens to attack the EDGE and Abe Lucas positions himself to do so. But, in reality, he comes on a stunt attacking two gaps inside. Sataoa Laumea takes a while to identify the stunt and RB Kenny McIntosh makes a good play catching No. 51, but Andrew VanGinkel has free space for the sack that took the team out of field goal range of the 10th highest paid kicker in the league.
The second one is inexcusable. Knowing that Seattle would only try to pass the ball and that they were starting at the 12-yard line, the Vikings only sent three players to pressure. Olu Oluwatimi quickly lost the 1v1 and the pressure got to Geno.
You can argue who was to blame for the interception. What is not to be argued is that because of this hit, Geno didn’t even have a chance to look to the other side of the formation, where he had good options.
The Good
Jaxon Smith-Njigba has 1,000 yards
Jaxon Smith-Njigba is undeniably the best player on this offense and is having an incredible season. He broke 1,000 yards for the first time in his career and joins a select group of 9 other receivers to achieve this feat for Seattle:
Steve Largent: 8x (1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986);
Brian Blades: 4x (1989, 1991, 1994, 1995);
Tyler Lockett: 4x (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022);
Joe Galloway: 3x (1995, 1997, 1998);
Darrell Jackson: 3x (2001, 2003, 2004);
DK Metcalf: 3x (2020, 2022, 2023);
Doug Baldwin: 2x (2015, 2016);
Bobby Engram: 1x (2007);
Koren Robinson: 1x (2002);
JSN: 1x (2024);
JSN has more records to break. If he catches 8 passes and has 215 yards in his final two games (Bears and Rams), he will set franchise records for receptions and receiving yards in a season.
Geno Smith, the good
People who are optimists see the glass as being half full.
After the movement, Geno realizes that Jake Bobo was accompanied by the EDGE, Andrew Van Ginkel. In other words, a favorable matchup for the offense. He makes the pass and places the ball in a way to protect Jake Bobo from the CB’s hit.
The OL does a good job against the blitz and Geno moves and makes the pass against the body movement. Kudos to DK who kept possession after the big hit.
This was one of the most beautiful passes I’ve seen Geno make. I think it was right below those long TDs to Tyler Lockett against the Saints. Here Geno identifies the two safeties deep in the field, since JSN beats the CB he has a place to pass the ball. He fits the pass in a small window and the WR makes an incredible reception.
Ryan Grubb, the good: Passing attack
If you want to look for something positive, the passing attack found some good opportunities throughout the game. Against blitzes, they used a lot of checkdowns, just like the game against the Cardinals.
The routes put LB No. 51 (Blake Cashman) in conflict, he prefers to help with JSN. Smith accesses the checkdown right away. Ken Walker needs to make better decisions.
A fake toss to Ken Walker slows down the pass rush a bit and gives Geno more time in the pocket. The threat of the checkdown with the RB and Noah Fant blocking also keeps the defense honest. DK Metcalf runs an excellent route and only shows his hands at the right moment to receive Geno’s great pass.
Tyler Lockett comes in motion to set up man-to-man coverage, which is what this call was used to beat. The Bunch formation routes (AJ Barner, Tyler Lockett, and JSN) cross paths to create the pick play. JSN gets the separation and Geno hits the pass.
Final Thoughts
If you hadn’t watched the game, and I told you that the Vikings only beat the Seahawks 27-24, it wouldn’t seem possible, especially watching the Packers game. The score shows that the game was evenly matched.
However, the Seahawks played against the Vikings and themselves in this game (and against the officials). This makes easy games like the Jets game harder and difficult games, like the Vikings game, almost impossible to win.