The Seattle Seahawks came back from a week off and they looked rusty, at least offensively. Seattle’s three-game winning streak came to a screeching halt on Sunday, as they fell to the Cincinnati Bengals 17-13 on the road.
Defensively, the Seahawks played well enough to win, but were let down by an offense incapable of getting anything meaningful going after the first drive of the game.
This was one of the more frustrating losses in recent memory, as the game was ripe for the Seahawks to take. Unfortunately, they did not capitalize. As such, here are the Duds and Studs from Seattle’s Week 6 defeat.
No. 1 Dud - Geno Smith
Since Geno Smith has been the starter for Seattle, he has played remarkably well. But on Sunday, we saw a rare clunker from the Seahawks quarterback, and it’s hard to pin the top reason for the loss on anyone but him.
One of Smith’s key strengths this year has been his pocket presense, which was shockingly absent against the Bengals. Smith held on to the ball far too long at the end of the game, leading to bad sacks and throwaways which amounted to nothing. In the end, Smith finished the day 27-of-41 for 323 yards, but no touchdowns, two interceptions and took four sacks. Although the offensive line struggled overall, they gave Smith plenty of clean pockets and he simply couldn’t take advantage.
No. 2 Dud - Red zone offense
Seattle’s top sports teams seem to have a clutch scoring issue. The Mariners have been incapable (for a few years now) of scoring when the bases are loaded. The Kraken can’t seem to take advantage of the power play. Now, the Seahawks have their own – finishing in the red zone. This has quietly been a concern all year, but on Sunday it was brutal.
Seattle was a measly 1-for-5 in the red zone, and again were 5-of-12 on third down. When a team is that unsuccessful in the red zone, the blame is spread all around. The Seahawks simply must find a way to correct this major weakness moving forward.
No. 1 Stud - The entire defense
What makes Sunday’s loss as frustrating as it was, is because the defense played lights out. On the road, against one of the most dynamic offenses in the NFL, the Seahawks shut down Joe Burrow and Co.
After a shaky start where Burrow had completed ten-straight passes and threw for two touchdowns, Seattle’s defense tightened up. The Bengals scored 17 points, with only three coming in the second half.
Devon Witherspoon had three pass defenses. Tre Brown had an interception. Jarran Reed, Dre’Mont Jones and Boye Mafe all recorded a sack. While it’s certainly annoying this effort didn’t ultimately result in a win, it is encouraging to see this unit play so well.
No. 3 Dud - DK Metcalf
Oh, DK, this act is wearing thin. On Sunday, Metcalf had yet another dumb penalty for a dirty hit and him being a hot head. And yet again, he cost the Seahawks another 15 yards with a flag for unnecessary roughness.
Metcalf also hurt Seattle’s offense due to miscommunication between him and Smith, which was costly. Metcalf stopped running his route, leading to Smith’s second interception of the day.
Statistically, Metcalf did have 4 receptions for 69 yards, but he was targeted 10 total times.
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