Seattle Seahawks receiver Jake Bobo makes an outstanding TD catch.
Two points each for these half dozen Seattle Seahawks ballers who showed out for the 12s.
1. Wide Receiver Jake Bobo earned the highest grade of any Seattle Seahawks player from Pro Football Focus this week, with an elite 88.5. Bobo made a big third down catch down the sideline, a beautiful toe-tapping TD in the corner of the end zone.
The rookie also broke tackles for another third down conversion. He is a tough receiver and run blocker with a bright future in this league.
2. Kenneth Walker was tearing up yards on the ground in the first quarter before slowing down a bit in the second. It wasn’t all sunshine. K-9 dropped a swing pass and was stuffed at the goal line twice in a row in the third quarter.
Later, the Seattle Seahawks super soph broke a 9-yard run and absolutely TRUCKED Starling Thomas. He busted some plays in the 4th to bounce back and go over 100 rushing yards and steamrolled Marco Wilson for good measure.
3. Stone Forsythe earned a higher grade from Pro Football Focus than any Seattle Seahawks offensive lineman not named Charles Cross (and he may have been better than Cross. Forsythe had some nice run blocks starting in place of starting right tackle Abe Lucas. Despite mostly playing on the left this year, he helped the offense move more fluidly.
4. It was another good showing from inside linebacker Jordyn Brooks. He made a statement with his hits and closing speed in a near-dominant and demonstrative attacking performance.
Brooks looked like a young Bobby Wagner out there, leading the defense with 9 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, including 0.5 sacks, and 1 pass deflection. It may be more accurate to say he looked like a young K.J. Wright from the will linebacker position, entering “Flow State,” as the Seattle Seahawks legend himself put it.
5. Boye Mafe‘s coming out party continued. The second-year Seattle Seahawks edge rusher from Minnesota flew in to make a nice run stop for minimal gain to force a third down, had a QB pressure, and a sack when he beat Paris Johnson. It was his fourth straight game with a sack.
He made a huge misstep with his questionable swat to Josh Dobbs’ head that negated Devon Witherspoon’s interception (which was a total bummer). He could’ve added another sack before the half, but he jumped to swat a pass instead of making a run at the quarterback.
6. Nose Tackle Jarran Reed had pressure on the QB on a third down stop of Arizona but couldn’t stay upright. He and Dre’Mont Jones later combined on a nice run stuff. Reed also made a big sack on fourth down of the Cardinals’ final drive.
These comments are not a life or death sentence, but these Seattle Seahawks players will have something to prove after a game like this.
The man formerly known as Tariq Woolen let the much smaller Rondale Moore break his tackle, and then he made a sad tackle attempt on Dobbs’ TD run. His weak little bump attempt caused Quandre Diggs to whiff as well. In addition, he had a (somewhat controversial) defensive holding penalty that wiped out a turnover in a rough game for the avatar.
The Seattle Seahawks’ top edge rusher, Uchenna Nwosu, lost contain on Dobbs on the first drive, then missed on a tackle that Jamal Adams set him up with that could’ve redeemed him on the same play. Nwosu had a nice QB pressure that forced an incompletion on the second drive but then lost contain again on a 19-yard run play.
As Seattle’s lowest-graded player last Sunday, it was a tough way to go out. A pectoral injury will sideline Nwosu for the rest of 2023.
Cross returned for the first time since Week 1 and didn’t make any news until the third quarter when he got called for holding at the goal line. He also stopped blocking momentarily (even though Geno did hold the ball for a long time) and whiffed on a defender who hit Smith’s arm on the QB’s INT. More is expected of a cornerstone left tackle.
These three defied expectations or showed another dimension to their games.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba caught his highly anticipated first career TD, wide open in the middle of the field! He also converted a key third down later but dropped a third down conversion late that could’ve sealed the game.
The first wideout taken in the draft showed signs of progress. JSN led Seattle (and all players) in receiving yards with 63.
Lil Spoon would’ve had both an interception if Dobbs wasn’t (questionably) roughed on a play by Mafe, as well as an incredible, winding pursuit of a sack if it weren’t for an (extremely questionable) illegal contact foul on Woolen. Witherspoon almost decapitated Moore with a hit that made me exclaim out loud while watching as if to say that he’s got more in the bag. He is now the highest-rated cornerback in the league this year, according to Pro Football Focus.
The Seattle Seahawks’ temporarily pink-haired speed demon had a pretty third down pass breakup at the line of scrimmage but also bit on a fake handoff that allowed Dobbs to score a rushing TD and lost contain on another run play.
Darrell Taylor‘s game is a rollercoaster ride of good and bad at times, but the Seattle Seahawks will need him to step up with the loss of Nwosu. Taylor almost made the Stock Down section, but any first half hasty conclusions look premature. Later, the former Tennessee Volunteer forced a holding penalty to push Arizona out of field goal range, helping Brooks clean up a sack and getting a solo sack on Dobbs!
1. Geno Smith had 2 scoring throws and a 113 QB Rating (he ranks 11th in the league so far in this category) but showed much room for improvement, as he should’ve been intercepted by Kyzir White. Fox had a graphic showing Geno is third in the league in completion percentage and sixth in yards/attempt without pressure.
He started the game 7 of 7 for 83 yards and was under little pressure. Late in the third, he was pressured and threw a terrible INT in the red zone to a player making his NFL debut, then fumbled a snap for his second turnover.
2. Rookie center Olu Oluwatimi’s development continued. He blocked one defensive lineman, then picked up a blitzing linebacker on the same play to help Walker pick up 5 yards on first.
3. Arizona was dead last in pressure percentage coming in but got to Geno twice and intercepted him. They also had the fourth-worst rushing total against coming in, but Walker ran below his career yards per carry average (although he was still solid, going over 100 on the ground at 4 ypc).
Let’s hope the Seahawks’ offensive line gets healthier quickly after seeing a sloppy, herky-jerky offense that belies the potential of Seattle’s deep arsenal of varied and dynamic playmakers.
4 Tyler Lockett made a handful of clutch catches, at least two of which came on third down. 12s should appreciate how special a player he is while he’s still tapping his toes in Lumen Field.
Arizona had an interior offensive line combo sporting flags of Mexico (Hernandez), Denmark (Froholdt), and Puerto Rico (Colon). Pretty cool.
5. Jamal Adams was flying around and made a few nice tackles for minimal gains on the opening drive. He did miss a tackle of a scrambling Dobbs, but that is nothing to be devastated about.
The cameras showed “The Prez” wrapping his knee in ice on the sideline, but he may have caused a few ball carriers to have to do the same after the game, collecting 6 tackles (5 solo).
6. The Seahawks’ defense looked confident and ferocious, only giving up 25 yards (compared to Seattle’s 121) in the opening quarter. Their secondary locked down the airways all game (under 150 yards passing against and 8 different Seahawks with a pass deflection).
Arizona didn’t even have one possession that went for longer than 26 net yards. This is an exciting young defense with tons of potential in their development.
7. Did anybody recognize former Seahawks safety Joey Blount out there causing a forced fumble on kickoff? He was on the squad mere months ago but is on the ground floor of a rebuild. I’m sure if he and L.J. Collier had both been out there, they’d look to get as much revenge as they could exact wearing Cardinal colors.
8. Without Nwosu, this Sunday is the Seattle Seahawks chance to rotate Derrick Hall, the newly re-signed Frank Clark, and maybe even (practice squad elevation) Levi Bell across from the rotation of Mafe and Taylor to see what you’ve got. Worst case, Seattle Seahawks GM John Schneider will get a small window to consider trading for reinforcements before Tuesday’s trade deadline.
Next week the Seattle Seahawks host Cleveland at Lumen Field.