Field Gulls
The Seattle Seahawks bounced back from their home loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, beating the Jacksonville Jaguars in Florida. The Jacksonville team was 4-1 with two close wins against the Kansas City Chiefs (on the final drive) and the San Francisco 49ers (riddled with injuries), a loss to the Cincinnati Bengals with Jake Browning, and a win over the Houston Texans, our next opponent.
The defense put on a strong pass-rush performance, recording seven sacks on Trevor Lawrence, a number that could have reached double digits given the missed opportunities. However, the secondary made serious mistakes that left the game open until the final drive.
Speaking of keeping the game open, the Seahawks offense did the same. After the first drive of the second half, the team did nothing and only converted one third down on twelve attempts.
So, despite the positives, there are lessons to be learned for the upcoming games.
All data used in this article was taken from PFF.
The Seahawks had 26 carries for 60 yards, an average of 2.3 yards per carry. Especially in the second half, the Seahawks were conservative at times and decided to run the ball, which resulted in losses.
There were execution errors and planning errors. The Seahawks insisted on running outside zones (a run the Jaguars had previously struggled to defend) and didn’t make the best use of their running backs, primarily putting Zach Charbonnet on runs in space, rather than using him on more inside runs.
Against the Bucs, Ken Walker had no runs for negative yards and only one run for zero yards. Against the Jags, four runs resulted in zero or fewer yards, and Charbonnet had five more attempts for the same result.
In the play above, there’s no planning, no running back who can achieve success. Abe Lucas clearly misunderstood the play and blocked on the opposite side of the play, leaving the RB with no options of what to do and resulting in a loss of yards.
I’ll take a break from the running game to talk about Abe Lucas. The re-signing was a great move, a low-value move compared to other RT deals. However, he hasn’t performed well this year. The game against the Cardinals was perhaps his worst, but he rebounded against the Bucs and had another step back in performance against the Jaguars.
On this play, he uses his standard pass set and patient mindset to wait for Trevon Walker, but the edge manages to change the timing and prevent the RT from positioning his hands. The result is that Lucas is thrown into the quarterback and ends the snap on the ground. The Seahawks desperately need him to return to the level we know he’s capable of playing.
Jalen Sundell should be moving upfield to block LB No. 23, but he can’t. Anthony Bradford takes a step to the wrong side, delaying his arrival at the second level...
