Mike Jackson, of the Seattle Seahawks, returns a blocked kick for a touchdown.
Every week the Seattle Seahawks play, Pacific Northwest Sports will present our Dud and Stud of the game. It’s a way to pay tribute to those who played well and call out the players who didn’t.
Basic laws of physics tell us that what goes up must come down. And the Seahawks came crashing back down to Earth in Game 2.
Whatever could go wrong, did on Sunday. From turnovers to penalties, this game was the complete opposite of their emotional season-opening win.
All week 12s had hope that their team could pull off another upset. San Francisco was coming off a bad loss in Chicago, and their young starting quarterback Trey Lance hadn’t looked like an NFL-caliber signal caller. Any optimism quickly disappeared after kickoff.
Lance started the game adequately, leading his team to a pair of field goals. Unfortunately, a late first quarter QB run knocked him out of the game with a broken ankle.
The injury was unfortunate for two reasons. First, it’s a rough game, and Lance looked to be in a great deal of pain. As for the Seahawks, they quickly found out why the Niners kept veteran Jimmy Garoppolo, despite losing his starting job.
While Jimmy G. wasn’t at his most accurate, he was effective, taking San Francisco on three touchdown drives. Against a team that struggled to find any kind of offensive spark, it was more than enough.
Yes, the Seattle Seahawks scored a touchdown, but it had nothing to do with their offense. Their lone score came when rookie Tariq Woolen blocked a Robbie Gould third-quarter field goal attempt. Mike Jackson scooped up the loose ball and took it to the house.
Despite the loss, Seattle remains tied for first place in the NFC West with all of their division rivals at 1-1. Here are our Dud and Stud of the Week.
In one of the most awkward play calls of this young season, Pete Carroll chose a running back to throw the ball on second and five from the San Francisco 8-yard line.
Carroll used a wildcat look with three running backs in the backfield. But the wildcat “quarterback” handed it off to DeeJay Dallas, who then proceeded to throw a lame duck pass which was picked off by Charvarious Ward.
If the plan was to catch the defense off guard, it didn’t. Dallas threw it directly into Ward’s hands to end Seattle’s promising scoring drive.
This was a questionable play call from the get-go, considering that Dallas had only made two passes in his collegiate career, and he wasn’t able to complete either of them.
Rookie right tackle Abe Lucas had a few very costly penalties throughout the game and was a liability in protection.
An ineligible receiver downfield call negated a fantastic 14-yard catch by D.K. Metcalf. Later on, Lucas had a false start to make it 2nd and 15 right before the end of the first half.
Ultimately Seattle wasn’t able to score before halftime because of that penalty. It took them out of field goal range, and they had no choice but to settle for a dump-off completion to Travis Homer that Homer turned into a 17-yard gain as time expired.
In a game where seemingly everybody on the Seahawks side of the ball qualified as a dud at one point or another, it was difficult to narrow it down to one main dud.
Ultimately Bryan Mone was our choice because he was the player that fell on Trey Lance’s ankle. It was his impact and the awkward landing from Barton’s tackle that caused the “fibula fracture and ligament disruption.”
It’s hard to blame Mone because what he did was blatantly intentional or anything like that. You would have to ask Mone yourself if he meant to do it or not. However, it was his impact that caused Lance’s season-ending injury.
Up to that point, the Niners only had 6 points. Jimmy G came off the bench to rally San Francisco’s offense and win the game. Had Lance played the full game, maybe the Seattle Seahawks had a chance.
In an ugly loss like this, it was hard to find anything resembling a “stud,” but we tried.
Edge rusher Uchenna Nwosu was on point in San Francisco. He made himself a general nuisance in the 49ers backfield all game.
It started early when Nwosu knocked down a Lance pass intended for Deebo Samuel. That must have fired him up. In addition to defending that pass, the Seattle Seahawks edge rusher had 4 tackles and 3 quarterback hits.
Next week, the Seahawks will expect him to come after Atlanta QB Marcus Mariota with the same intensity.
Blocking a 6-4, 330-pound pound man is a difficult task. Stopping that monster when he’s determined to make a play is a lot to ask from any offensive lineman.
Overall, Al Woods had a strong performance anchoring the Seahawks’ interior defensive line. He had the most non-middle linebacker tackles on the team (7) and led Seattle with 3 tackles for loss.
Number 99 was hard to miss on tv. He frequently appeared in the television picture, even when not tackling a San Francisco player.
We’ll give the big man a pass on his 15-yard face mask penalty because it wasn’t intentional. That was also the drive when Seattle blocked Gould’s 20-yard field goal attempt and ran it back for a touchdown.
Seattle Seahawks fans like to heap praise on D.K. Metcalf, and rightfully so. Sometimes 12s (and opposing defenses) forget about Tyler Lockett. Sunday was one of those games when @TDLockett12 reminds everyone about who he is as a receiver.
Lockett led both teams in receptions and yards, accumulating 9 and 107, respectively. Geno Smith relied on the 8th-year pro from Kansas State heavily as Lockett was responsible for over half of the quarterback’s passing yards.
While he didn’t have a play for more than 27 yards, Lockett didn’t have a bunch of garbage receptions either. Seven of his 9 grabs went for first downs. They accounted for half of the Seahawks’ total for the game.
There is a reason why we have “(as a WR)” in the heading. The usually reliable punt returner muffed one late in the second quarter that San Francisco cashed in for a touchdown.
Next week the Seattle Seahawks host winless Atlanta at Lumen Field.