Field Gulls
Oof, that one hurt. The Seattle Seahawks came into Week 1 riding some preseason momentum, while the San Francisco 49ers came in wounded and into hostile territory. What felt like it should have been a “changing of the guard” game, instead turned into San Francisco reminding Seattle who’s the big brother.
A brutal 17-13 loss in the final moments at home (again) now leaves the Seahawks in a difficult early hole, and that week one hope feels like a distant memory.
Let’s break it down.
1st Down- It’s only one game, but it feels more than that
You may disagree and believe that in a 17-game season, losing week one isn’t the end of the world, but I don’t know how you don’t feel immense disappointment after that loss.
This wasn’t just a season-opening loss, this was another home loss to your bitter rival. This was a loss to your bitter rival who was depleted across multiple positions and lost their two best receivers during the game.
A home loss to a division rival is the quickest way to falling behind and staying behind in a divisional race, but that is beside the point. This was the weakest and most vulnerable of a chance for the Seahawks to get the 49ers and you still let them off the hook.
2nd Down- Rough first game by Klint Kubiak and the offense
Expectations were drastically raised for the Seahawks after an impressive preseason performance that saw a ground and pound attack that looked like the Seahawks were all in on playing bully ball. Everything was on the table for Klint Kubiak to continue this momentum into the season, and against his mentor.
In the first two drives, it appeared that was the case. An awkward decision/timing to bring in Jalen Milroe for his first snap messed up the rhythm and likely cost the Seahawks points. On the second drive, we saw a physical offense with timely passing that saw Zach Charbonnet plunge into the end zone and show that Seattle early on had an advantage at the line of scrimmage.
For the next 45 minutes, other than the two-minute drills, Kubiak and the Seahawks offense looked lost and timid. There are clear issues with this scheme’s fit with Kenneth Walker compared to Charbonnet. Other than Jaxon Smith-Njigba trying to carry the passing game, we saw absolutely nothing from the rest of the roster.
A good chunk of that can go on the players, but the play calling by Klint was uneven at best. Where did the inside runs go in the second half? Where were the bootlegs and easy roll outs to the tight end, staples of his father’s offensive philosophy. The screen game was Darell Bevell level of bad.
The feeling of them abandoning their run game and philosophy was never more felt than when Mike Macdonald elected to kick the field goal in the final minutes rather than go for it on 4th down and a yard.
Yes, the field...
