Seattle Seahawks safety Quandre Diggs.
The Seattle Seahawks’ four-game winning streak, unfortunately, came to an end in Germany. The team just couldn’t make enough plays to win, and maybe most surprisingly, they couldn’t get any sort of a running game going.
Tampa Bay was able to control the clock and run the ball. This is very shocking, considering they are one of the worst teams in the NFL in that regard. Another thing that was a bit surprising is that Tariq Woolen didn’t have a great game. He looked like the rookie that he is.
He did come away with his fifth interception, but that was about it for highlights of the day. The lowlight of the day was the onfield burial of Quandre Diggs. It’s always hard to know when to walk away from the game. And for Diggs, Tampa Bay’s rookie running back just threw him out of the NFL.
The Seattle Seahawks went one for nine in converting third downs. What a way to show a brand new audience the game of football by being awful on third downs. The only NFL team with a worse third down conversion rate than Seattle this season is Indianapolis.
They went ZERO for 14 on third downs against New England last week. Being put in the same sentence as Indianapolis is not something fans should be excited about. Indianapolis is currently a laughingstock of the NFL.
Conversely, the Seattle Seahawks were able to complete both of their fourth-down conversions. One of them was a fourth and one late in the fourth quarter, and the team was not only able to convert but also able to score a touchdown.
Coming into this game, the Seattle Seahawks’ defense had been playing really well. Unfortunately, the group forgot they had to play a game in Germany and that it was not a vacation. They allowed Tom Brady to complete 22/29 passes on the day. They also gave up a total of 161-yards rushing too.
Rookie running back Rachaad White ran for 105-yards on his 22 carries. Brady threw for 258-yards, two touchdowns, and one interception.
The Seattle Seahawks defense was also able to force the aforementioned Woolen interception when Tampa Bay tried to run a trick play. Brady’s interception came late in the fourth quarter and led to a Seahawks touchdown to make the score 16-21.
Unfortunately, the defense couldn’t make another stop to get the ball back. Tampa Bay was allowed to run out the clock to end the game. The defense fans saw the prior two weeks might just be a mirage. And 12s should get used to this defense not being able to stop opponents or even touch the opposing quarterbacks.
One of the areas that had been a pleasant surprise for the Seattle Seahawks was their pass rush. Boye Mafe, Uchenna Nwosu, Bruce Irvin (yeah, he’s back), and Darrell Taylor had been able to get after the quarterback all season. If they couldn’t sack him, they could at least pressure and move him off his spot.
This group did not do any sort of thing like that against Tampa Bay. Maybe they’ll remember how to rush the quarterback this week in practice. Or maybe 12s can get a repeat of this poor performance from them.
Coming into this game, the Seattle Seahawks had been operating a balanced offense. They were able to run and pass the ball both very well. The two aspects complimented each other and made the offense that much harder to defend.
However, in this game, the Seattle Seahawks couldn’t run the ball and relied heavily on passing to their main wide receivers. D.K. Metcalf caught six of nine targets for a team-leading 71-yards. And Tyler Lockett caught three of five targets for 42-yards and one touchdown.
Kenneth Walker III rushed only 10 times for 17 yards. However, he tied Metcalf in catches with six and finished second in targets with eight for 55-yards. Meanwhile, Geno Smith completed 70% of his passes for 275-yards and two touchdowns.
Unfortunately, he also impersonated Russell Wilson by holding onto the ball for a long time and getting sacked three times.
And he had a fumble that most definitely took some points off the board for the Seattle Seahawks. This game is one of the worst we’ve seen from this team all season. Their only worse game was the game against San Francisco in Week 2.
Something to look forward to is next week’s game against Las Vegas. Las Vegas is coming off a loss at home to Indianapolis, who just hired a former player with no NFL coaching experience. So, Seattle Seahawk fans have to feel good about their chances of getting back into the win column.