Here’s a sign that expectations are high for first-year head coach Mike Macdonald, Geno Smith and the Seahawks: No one was happy after Monday’s 42-29 loss at Detroit.
Overshadowed by Jared Goff’s flawless statline, Seattle quietly set its own offensive records, with its most total offense (516 yards) in two years and most first downs (38) in franchise history. The Seahawks were the first NFL offense in 11 years to reach 500 yards and 38 first downs in a game, since Peyton Manning’s Broncos on Dec. 8, 2013.
Here’s the significance for objective observers: The Seahawks (3-1) enter their date with the Giants (1-3) on Sunday (4:25 p.m. ET, CBS) knowing they’re able to move the ball on any defense. Now, it’s just a matter of getting their own defense healthy.
“Coaches and players can’t use injuries as an excuse,” said senior team reporter John Boyle Thursday on the Seahawks Insiders podcast. “They can’t say, ‘Oh, we were missing X, Y and Z, and that hurt us.’ Because, A, it makes the guys who are playing feel bad; ‘Oh, they don’t trust us.’ And then B, what do say if those guys are out again this week? It makes it sound like, ‘We don’t trust anybody to get the job done.’”
Seattle didn’t have a choice but to trust its healthy players last week. The Seahawks opened without five of their best defensive players and then lost safety Julian Love to a thigh injury with Detroit up 21-14 in the third quarter. After Love left, Detroit executed its four most explosive plays, including Goff’s 70-yard touchdown pass to Jameson Williams.
But while the Giants are likely without their best offensive weapon this week, Seattle’s injured defense is slowly returning to practice (the Seahawks had 20 players on their injury report Thursday). And Smith and the offense are happy to keep moving that ball. In fact, Smith passed for a career-best 395 yards and set a franchise record with 38 completions on Monday. Wide receiver DK Metcalf has strung together three 100-yard games, also a franchise record. Not even Hall of Famer Steve Largent, who retired in 1989 as the NFL’s all-time leader in receiving yards, had 100 yards in three straight games.
What’s also unique about Seattle’s offense, as co-host Jen Mueller noted, is the Seahawks don’t feel like a one-dimensional team. Even before Kenneth Walker returned to action Monday and summersaulted his way to 6.7 yards per carry and three rushing touchdowns, Seattle was getting good production from Zach Charbonnet while Walker was out with an oblique injury. One of six NFL teams to reach 300 total yards in all four games this season, Seattle has at least 100 rushing yards in three of those four. The Seahawks also entered Week 5 leading the league with 159 pass attempts.
Mueller this week asked Macdonald about offensive balance.
“We’re not shooting for a number of passes or whatever going into each game,” he said. “I think it’s just what it takes to be successful, trying to put our guys in best positions. I think Geno’s operating the offense at a really high level where we’re getting in and out of certain plays that’ll dictate run or pass in certain situations. But I think the guys are confident. I think there’s a lot of great execution out there. I’ve seen the O-line start to come together. So, we’re moving in the right direction. I’m not really worried about the pass-play numbers right now.”
Neither is Boyle, who noted that Seattle’s offense is different because offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb doesn’t enter every game looking to establish the run to set up the pass. If the defense is giving the Seahawks looks conducive to the pass, Seattle will pass first. And, like Monday’s loss, if the defense adjusts to take away the pass, Seattle will run in the second half, even when behind, as the team did in Monday’s loss.
That Seattle offensive line faces a stiff test on Sunday against one of the NFL’s better defensive linemen, the Giants’ Dexter Lawrence.