Here’s how the Seattle Seahawks grade out in their 30-23 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday at Lumen Field:
OFFENSE
Seattle quarterback Geno Smith was tremendous almost the entire game, tossing BBs to his targets despite being forced into awkward throwing positions, and despite his groin injury he was even effective scrambling. However, he held onto the ball a moment too long at a crucial point in the fourth quarter, as he was strip sacked deep in his own territory, gifting the Steelers the field goal that made it a two-score game. Running back Kenneth Walker III was effective, but his usage was limited because of the lingering shoulder injury that at one point had him back in the locker room. The inability to get into the end zone at the end after driving to first-and-goal from the 5 was damaging.
Grade: B-
DEFENSE
Sometime between last week and Sunday the Seahawks forgot how to tackle, as missed tackles by Seattle defenders was the story of the game. The Seahawks have struggled to stop the run the past six weeks, but it reached unacceptable levels Sunday as Pittsburgh rushed for 202 yards, symbolized by Najee Harris’ 4-yard touchdown run in the third quarter when he carried the entire Seattle defense into the end zone. The defense at least held the Steelers to a field goal following Smith’s fumble, which theoretically kept the Seahawks in the game. But the defense couldn’t stop Pittsburgh from converting two first downs on the game’s final drive, which allowed the Steelers to run out the clock. Pittsburgh, which has been awful offensively this season, gained a season-high 468 yards.
Grade: D-
SPECIAL TEAMS
Special teams did their part for the Seahawks. Kicker Jason Myers made all three of his field goals, including a couple 40-plus yarders. Return man DeeJay Dallas received an unusual number of opportunities on kickoff returns and although he didn’t break any big ones, he consistently gave Seattle solid starting position on drives. Punter Michael Dickson averaged 53.0 yards on his three attempts, but he didn’t have his usual magic as two of those bounced into the end zone for touchbacks. The Seahawks weren’t able to create any drama on their late onside-kick attempt.
Grade: B
COACHING
The offensive coaches were put in a difficult position, having to play almost the entire second half without two starting linemen (right tackle Abraham Lucas, center Evan Brown) because of injury, and they adjusted the game plan appropriately. The defensive coaches weren’t able to scheme any way of slowing down Pittsburgh’s run game, but there’s only so much difference a scheme can make when the players miss tackles. Head coach Pete Carroll cost his team a late timeout with a desperation challenge that failed. The decision to try for an onside kick instead of kicking deep with 2:01 remaining was probably the right one, but would it have been different had the Seahawks had all three timeouts remaining instead of two?
Grade: C
OVERALL
This was a bad result for Seattle. The Seahawks had the playoffs in their own hands, needing just to win their final two games against beatable opponents to earn an NFC wild-card berth. Now Seattle not only needs to win at Arizona next week, the Seahawks need help in order to get into the postseason. Even if everything falls in Seattle’s favor next week, this showing doesn’t inspire much confidence that the Seahawks can go on the road in the playoffs and give a division winner a game.
Grade: D
– Nick Patterson, Herald writer
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