The Morning After: Seahawks Slide Continues Versus 49ers

Game Rating Offense Defense Special Teams Coaching Reader Rating10 Votes 2 49ers fans streamed into Lumen Field from every direction. Buoyed by their team’s surge and enabled by a waning passion from wary Seahawks fans who were happy to sell their seats, San Francisco fans made this look like an early Christmas with red jerseys speckling the stadium. They came expecting to see their team blow the doors off the weakening Seahawks. This was an unfair fight. The talent imbalance, […]

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49ers fans streamed into Lumen Field from every direction. Buoyed by their team’s surge and enabled by a waning passion from wary Seahawks fans who were happy to sell their seats, San Francisco fans made this look like an early Christmas with red jerseys speckling the stadium. They came expecting to see their team blow the doors off the weakening Seahawks. This was an unfair fight. The talent imbalance, even with all the injuries to San Francisco, was immense. Seattle’s offense, their strongest unit, was so overmatched by the 49ers defense that it felt like a victory every time they got through a play without turning it over or getting sacked. That the visiting fanbase never got to revel in the blowout they expected was the closest Seattle was going to get to a win on this night.

I had been dreading going to this game. I can handle watching the Seahawks lose. I can even handle watching them lose to the 49ers. What is really tough to tolerate is getting blown out by our biggest rival while being surrounded by obnoxious 49er fans who pretend to be faithful but rarely show up their team stinks.

The final score of this game was misleading, but appreciated. The Seahawks were never really close to winning this game. Yes, Travis Homer had a massively costly fumble that led to what was essentially the dagger touchdown at the end of the first half. Yes, Quandre Diggs dropped an easy interception. Play in, play out, the 49ers were the better team, and on the cusp of a big play each time.

Homer did not just drop the football. He was crushed by two defenders. He still should not have fumbled, but when you get hit that hard, that often, one of your players is usually going to cough it up as some point. Geno Smith fumbled and Seattle was fortunate to get the ball back.

Seattle does deserve credit for playing with such effort and courage against a superior opponent on short rest with meaningful injuries at key positions.

I expected a far worse outcome. I expected a far more helpless defense. Even without Al Woods and Bryan Mone, the Seahawks front seven played with as much physicality as they could and slowed down a dominant San Francisco rushing attack.

Jordyn Brooks went out late and Tanner Muse came in at linebacker. Tanner Muse. The sight of Muse and Cody Barton at linebacker puts only fear in the hearts of Seahawks fans, not opposing offenses. That said, Muse tackled well in his short stint.

There was nothing we saw in this game that indicates the Seahawks problems are solved. It is not even clear to me they can repeat this performance against other teams the rest of the way. This was a bit of an Alamo moment, where you could feel the players giving their all. To put your body on the line like that and still lose, can make it hard to recapture the motivation to do it all over again.

I feel for those guys, and appreciate what they did Thursday night. It reminds me a bit of moment of pick-up basketball I had with a friend many years back.

A player on our team that didn’t know yelled at my friend for not jumping high enough to catch what this guy thought should have been an easy pass that sailed over his head out of bounds. I defended my friend by saying, “That’s all he’s got.” My friend gives me shit about saying that to this day.

When Myles Adams and Shelby Harris and Poona Ford and L.J. Collier are your defensive line, and Barton is one of your linebackers, there is just a limit to how good you can be. The only cure for this defense is an infusion of young talent. That simply will not happen this season, so I am mostly done whipping them, especially in games where they clearly put in maximum effort.

Now, guys who play below their skill level and show less effort will still catch my eye and likely the eye of coaches. Quandre Diggs fits in that bucket.

Forget dropping the interception. His effort on trying to tackle George Kittle multiple times was lacking to the point of looking like he was either making a “business decision” to not put his body on the line or his body no longer allows him to make the plays the NFL demands. Either way, it is looking increasingly like it is time to move on.

Both he and Jamal Adams can be cut after June 1st with positive cap implications. I am definitely ready for them to step away from Diggs, and it’s probably the right cap decision to move on from Adams. Ryan Neal has played well but I don’t believe he has the ceiling we should be shooting for. Neal is a high effort player with physical limits. I love having him on the team. I just think a great defense has him as a third safety, not a starter.

The price of Geno Smith is dropping each week. This game was not his fault, but he is also not playing like an elite quarterback lately outside of that Rams game. There is still zero doubt that re-signing him and using our top picks on defense and interior offensive line is the best way to approach the rebuild. Give Smith a better defense, a more reliable running game, and better interior pass protection and he is plenty good to win a bunch of games.

This defense needs upgrades at 7-8 positions. That must be the focus.

The running game secretly got back on track last night. It made little sense to me why Shane Waldron used it so sparingly. Seattle finished averaging 5.0 yards per carry, and that was not just an explosive play. They were consistently getting at least 3 yards and often got 4-5. Maybe they were unsure of Kenneth Walker’s durability as he was playing through an injury.

One Pro Bowl level player on the interior would be such a massive lift for this team. Austin Blythe continues to be a liability in the middle. Seattle never prioritizes the center position. I hope that changes this offseason.

The Seahawks have a mini-bye week ahead of going to Kansas City where they will play the best player in football and one of the best offenses. They will not win. They likely will not win against the Jets either.

The rest of this season is not about winning or the playoffs. It is about evaluation. Dareke Young should get more snaps, and sadly will due to the injury to Tyler Lockett. Tre Brown should get more snaps. Bring up practice squad players to see if any flash. Give John Rhattigan a chance at linebacker. See if Jon Abram has anything to offer. Sign people off other team’s practice squads.

Pete Carroll probably will not do these things because he believes the team can still win. They will not. We can just hope the Broncos keep losing and the 49ers do not win the Super Bowl. That’s all we got.