Seattle quarterback Geno Smith used the phrase “championship-level football” to describe the team’s aspirations following the Seahawks’ 16-6 victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday at Lumen Field.
It’s a term that might have sounded ludicrous a few weeks ago when the Seahawks were in last place in the NFC West at 4-5 heading into their Week 10 bye, but it’s phrasing the team has never shied away from, and that will continue to be the case now that they control their fate at 6-5 atop the division with six games remaining.
Seattle’s defense still has room to grow, but it is trending in the right direction. Over the last three weeks, coach Mike Macdonald’s defense has played like a top-10 unit, allowing just 16.3 points per game since Week 9. The run defense has done a complete 180, inside linebacker Ernest Jones IV is commanding the middle with force, cornerback Devon Witherspoon is all over the place and defensive tackle Leonard Williams is leading the charge up front.
After a Week 8 disaster against the Bills, Seattle’s defense made strides against the Rams and 49ers, then had its best game of the year on Sunday against Arizona.
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Williams, the star of the show on Sunday, cited a meeting among the team’s leaders ahead of the 49ers game as the springboard for this turnaround. Williams said they came together and decided every remaining game is essentially a playoff contest.
“That made it crunch time for us,” Williams said. “We just understood the urgency of getting the job done and taking it week by week.”
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The defense’s urgency is obvious, and the primary reason Seattle leads the division. To remain in first place, the offense has to match that energy.
“When you’ve got a defense that plays the way they play, when they’re shutting down offenses the way they are at a high rate week after week, it’s going to give you a shot to win every single game,” Smith said. “We go out there and play clean and we manage the time of possession, do great on third down, finish in the red zone, give those guys a lead to play with, they’re going to be even better.”
Smith, Macdonald and offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb are believers in the notion of process over results. They’ll gladly take these last two results, of course, but they also know the offense’s contribution in the last couple of games doesn’t live up to that championship-level standard.
The Seahawks haven’t scored more than 20 points since Week 7, which was also the last time they had an above-average game by EPA per play (all stats provided by TruMedia unless stated otherwise). Sunday’s win was another underwhelming output. Seattle’s offense had nine full drives and produced just 10 points.
Smith had an efficient day, completing 22 of 31 passes for 254 yards with a touchdown toss to receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba in the second quarter. But Smith also threw his third red zone interception in as many games, and the run game was ineffective. Ken Walker III and Zach Charbonnet totaled 63 yards on 22 carries. Seattle’s running backs haven’t combined to reach 100 yards on the ground since Week 3.
The Seahawks rank third in early down pass rate in neutral situations, according to RBSDM.com, which removes blowouts and the final two minutes of each half from the data. In other words, when the game is reasonably within reach for both teams, the Seahawks pass at one of the highest rates in the league, behind only the Bengals and Browns. On designed runs, Seattle ranks 31st in yards, 28th in EPA per play and 27th in success rate. The rushing attempts are few and far between, and the results on the runs they call don’t meet the team’s expectations.
The run game has been a point of emphasis on both sides of the ball. The defense has turned a corner there. The offense is still trying to find itself.
Two drives in the second half Sunday spoke to Seattle’s issues with approach and execution. After safety Coby Bryant put Seattle ahead by two scores with a pick six in the third quarter, the defense came back on the field and forced a punt after four plays. Seattle took over on its own 9-yard line, leading 13-3 with 4:56 left in the third quarter. The entire playbook was open at that point, but teams that say they want the run game and physicality to be at the core of their identity tend to use two-score leads in the second half as opportunities to impose their will.
The Seahawks came out in an empty formation and ran the same screen pass to Smith-Njigba that set up his touchdown. The Cardinals were prepared and batted the ball at the line of scrimmage. The play call “shocked” color analyst Mark Sanchez, who said, “based just on field position, the momentum in this building” and the way Seattle’s defense was playing, he would have come out running the ball.
“Just pound the rock, man,” Sanchez said. “You’ve got to be able to get back to (Ken) Walker and get him the rock.”
Seattle’s next play was a 4-yard pass to DK Metcalf, again out of an empty formation. Grubb mixed runs and passes throughout the rest of the drive, including a pair of shotgun carries on consecutive plays by Walker (3 yards) and Charbonnet (12 yards) that put the Seahawks in scoring position. But that drive ended when Smith scrambled out of the pocket and threw an interception on third-and-6 targeting Tyler Lockett in the end zone.
Garrett Williams picks off Geno in the end zone! @AZCardinals ball ➡️
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Smith leads the league with 12 interceptions and has thrown five in the last three games. Some of those turnovers have been more bad luck than poor decision-making, but Smith’s pick six against the Rams, his interception in the third quarter of a one-point game in Week 11 against the 49ers and Sunday’s throw to Lockett on Sunday were examples of the quarterback unnecessarily putting the ball in harm’s way.
In his opening remarks after the game Sunday, Macdonald said he talked with Smith about making smart decisions and taking care of the ball in the red zone. Smith called the interception a “terrible” mistake and “something I’ve got to clean up.”
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The Cardinals went 76 yards and trimmed the deficit to 13-6, and Seattle began its next drive at the 19-yard line with 10:03 remaining. Before the first play, Sanchez said, “Now we’re going to see some runs.”
Instead, Smith faked a handoff, checked the ball down to Walker and was nearly intercepted again after the ball ricocheted off the running back’s hands. Linebacker Kyzir White was inches away from setting Arizona up in the red zone. Smith moved the chains with completions of 4 and 7 yards to Walker and Smith-Njigba over the next two snaps, then Seattle went to the ground game and earned 7 yards on a pitch to Walker — only for it to be called back because of a holding penalty on receiver Jake Bobo.
To Seattle’s credit, the offense bled eight minutes on that drive and eventually found something in the run game once it crossed midfield. Smith even checked to a run on third-and-4 at the Arizona 44, and Charbonnet picked up 6 yards. Then the next three plays were runs to set up Jason Myers’ 50-yard field goal that iced the game.
The Seahawks weren’t exactly running the Air Raid the entire second half, but one of the reasons Sanchez lamented their play calling on the final two drives is because he recognizes the high degree of difficulty when trying to put teams away through the air.
The Seahawks know this as well, which is why they’ve spent most of the season expressing a desire for the run game to be their bread and butter on offense. It’s perhaps too late in the season to expect a complete philosophical shift, but with the defense hitting its stride, the offense just needs a credible run threat to play the complementary football Macdonald and his players keep talking about. Seattle has not run the ball well and has been among the worst in the league at it when it does. That must change if the team wants to be serious about treating the final six games like a playoff run.
Finding balance on offense would accomplish many things, but the Seahawks stand to benefit in two key areas. First, they would be getting more out of Walker, the team’s most explosive offensive weapon. And the team would be lessening the burden on Smith and the passing game. Smith leads the league in passing yards, but he’s in the top 10 in interception rate and sack rate.
As long as the defense and special teams are holding up their end of the bargain, the offense must do its part to meet the championship-level standard Macdonald has set for the entire team.
(Photo of Geno Smith: Steven Bisig / Imagn Images)
