In a span of 11 days, the Seattle Seahawks went from a surprise 3-0 team to a skidding 3-3 squad with glaring problems to fix.
What’s the Seahawks’ biggest problem right now? Bump weighs in
The slide began with a shootout loss to the Detroit Lions. Seattle faced an uphill battle in that game, with half of its defensive starters out for what was already a challenging matchup against an elite offense.
The past two losses were much more concerning. On Sunday, the Seahawks were outplayed by an underwhelming New York Giants team. And on Thursday night, they were outplayed again and committed a slew of critical mistakes in yet another loss to the division rival San Francisco 49ers.
During Friday’s edition of Brock and Salk on Seattle Sports, former NFL quarterback Brock Huard summed up the Seahawks’ latest defeat in one word.
“It was sloppy,” Huard said. “The Giants game felt like the Giants punched you and imposed their will and just played with more of a desperate edge. Last night just felt sloppy.
“There was effort and there was want-to, … but from the beginning to end, (there were) all of these self-inflicted mistakes of penalties and missed routes and poor technique and guys just not on it. And so in general, 30,000-foot level, the word I would use is just sloppy.”
Indeed, it was a parade of errors for the Seahawks on Thursday night.
Geno Smith threw two interceptions – one that cost Seattle a shot at a field goal and another that led to a 49ers touchdown. Laviska Shenault Jr. lost a fumble on a kickoff return, which gifted San Francisco three points.
Late in the first half, the Seahawks burned a timeout to avoid a delay-of-game penalty. That timeout would have afforded them more play-calling options in the final seconds of the half, when they ultimately had to settle for a field goal after three incompletions from the 2-yard line.
In the game’s closing minutes, an illegal-shift penalty nullified a long touchdown pass to DK Metcalf. The Seahawks went on to score later that drive, but the penalty ultimately cost them three valuable minutes.
Dee Williams also muffed a kick return that cost Seattle field position and Devon Witherspoon later blocked a San Francisco player into Williams on a botched punt return that should have been ruled a recovery by the 49ers.
Those mistakes were far from the only reason the Seahawks lost. San Francisco outplayed Seattle on both sides of the ball, flexing its wealth of talent while rolling to a 483-358 advantage in total yardage – including a jarring 228-52 advantage on the ground.
But against a perennial powerhouse like the 49ers, the margin for error is slim. And Seattle simply made far too many gaffes.
“You can’t make as many self-inflicted mistakes as they made last night,” co-host Mike Salk said. “Absolutely, we could talk through the talent gap that potentially leads to you just being outplayed. You can’t give up that many yards on the ground. But just by my count last night – just as a layman watching the game – I counted 16 self-inflicted mistakes that you just can’t have.
“I’m not talking about mistakes that were made because you’re not as good as them. I’m talking about mistakes you made just because of you. Add those to being outplayed. Add those to the talent gap. Add those to being run over. Add those to the good things that San Francisco did. … When you put it together, it’s no wonder that you got your butt whooped.”
Listen to the full conversation on Brock and Salk at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Tune in to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.
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