There are countless ways to lose a football game. If there is such a thing as a “good” way to lose, it involves your team playing hard and well, but being outclassed or outlasted by a superior opponent. It can even be acceptable to lose a game to an inferior opponent—especially for a young team—if there are signs of improvement in problem areas and the ball simply does not bounce your way. The New York Giants are one of the worst teams in football. Their offense, in particular, is putrid. They had scored the 3rd-fewest touchdowns in the NFL entering this weekend, and were missing two players who had scored all but one of those touchdowns. Losing to that team is unacceptable in almost any circumstance. Seattle managed to do something worse than losing to a bad team at home. They looked unprepared, uninterested, and physically inferior. They say if you do not conquer your demons, you pass them on. Mike Macdonald enters another short week with the gates of hell unlocked.
Mortal sin #1: Lack of pride
The Seahawks defense got embarrassed on national television just a few days ago. Yes, they were missing more than half of their starters. Yes, their opponent is generally considered one of the best teams and offenses in the NFL. Yes, their opponent played a terrific game. None of that should matter when the schedule presents your defense with an opportunity to “make it right” against a terrible offense at home.
What you expect to see is pride kick in as a professional who wants to demonstrate what their standard of play will be and how quickly they can demonstrate the prior game was an aberration. Instead, we get this:
“Today there was too many guys holding their heads down, a little bit of bickering and stuff like that happening on the sideline,” said defensive tackle Leonard Williams to Mike Dugar of The Athletic. “I think we expected to come out here and beat this team, and I think, in a way, we kind of underestimated them and we didn’t throw the first punch. When we took the first punch, it made us be like, ‘Woah,’ as a team. You could kind of see it on peoples’ faces and stuff like that. We need to come out with a better mindset.”
And this:
“We didn’t play together, and that was the outcome,” linebacker Jerome Backer told Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times.
And this:
“They played harder,” quarterback Geno Smith said. “They wanted it more. They fought harder.”
Smith plays on the side of the ball that actually played well against the Lions, but his statement speaks to an overall lack of professional pride the team demonstrated. Forget what fans say. Forget what coaches or media says. You want people in any job who want to demonstrate their excellence at every opportunity. When there is a mistake or a poor performance, you want to at least see maximum effort to correct the errors. Show the world, this is who I am, this is who we are.
Overlooking a team happens in the NFL. It is not great, but it happens. Overlooking a team after you just got your tails whooped tells a far more concerning tale. It cannot happen. And if it does, you sure better find a way to respond in the moment instead of letting them beat you all afternoon.
Mortal sin #2: Being dominated physically
The fatal flaw of the teams John Schneider and Pete Carroll put together the last few years has been that they were too often overmatched in the trenches. Opposing teams could push them around.
That most often showed up when Seattle tried to defend the run or establish the run. Mediocre teams like the Pittsburgh Steelers could walk in Lumen Field with a terrible quarterback and just stuff the ball down the Seahawks throats. Good teams like the 49ers could gloat about not even needing to call a different play because Seattle was unable to stop them.
Macdonald talked about building a “run wall” this offseason as a top priority. They spent a first round pick on Byron Murphy. They paid Williams a ton of cash in free agency. They signed Johnathan Hankins to play nose tackle.
It looked promising in week one when the Seahawks stuffed the Denver Broncos running backs. It has been a problem ever since, and shows no signs of changing. New York, behind a mediocre offensive line, gashed the Seahawks time and again right up the middle. Their rookie late-round running back was spoiled for choice. He could choose one of a number of wide open lanes to run through on any given run.
That never stopped.
Offensively, Seattle barely even tried to run the ball. Ryan Grubb will get dragged for his run-to-pass ration this week (and season), but if folks think it as simple as just calling more run plays, they have not been watching the line.
The Giants have one of the best defensive line in football. They have the best interior defensive linemen in Dexter Lawrence. It was no contest against the Seahawks offensive line that remains in the conversation for worst in football. Seattle needs to find more balance, but be careful what you ask for in terms of taking the ball out of Smith’s hands. The passing game is one of the few things that has shown promise each week.
Speed and flashy pass plays dominate most highlights, but football is still a sport that is ultimately decided by trench play. Seattle has not been close to being competitive in the trenches for years. It has made them irrelevant. They are the precipice of the same fate.
Mortal sin #3: Not correcting mistakes
The NFL is cruel. When a flaw is exposed, they shine a light on it like a Mean Girl spotting a blemish on a freshman. Each team will point and laugh at you. They will use your flaw to elevate their worth. Your only choice is to either fix the flaw or accept your fate.
Seattle desperately needs an 80s montage scene to give them a makeover. Their problems do not appear as simple to solve, though, as removing a pair of thick black glasses.
Not only have the Seahawks been unable to stop the run, they have now sprung leaks in the secondary. Tre Brown was relentlessly picked on in this game. Nehemiah Pritchett came in after Riq Woolen left with an injury and he was an easy target as well.
Meanwhile, offenses seem to never be surprised by anything the Seahawks throw at them from a pressure perspective. Macdonald came to Seattle with the reputation of being a terrific play caller with particular talent in drawing up pressure schemes that confused opponents. It feels like almost all the pressure the Seahawks have created has been standard edge and interior rushers winning against their opponent.
When is the last time an opponent looked caught off guard by something Seattle did on defense? When is the last time a quarterback threw the ball into harm’s way because they were surprised by where a defender was located?
It has much more looked like it has been the Seahawks who have been on their heels the past two games. Gash them inside. Play action over the top. Rinse. Repeat.
Macdonald has almost no time to address these issues in this brutal stretch of the schedule. Nobody will be sympathetic. The beatings will continue until morale improves.
Mortal sin #4: Lack of leadership
The vibes were off in this game from the start. Smith, in particular, seemed more sullen and less determined than he normally is during a game. D.K. Metcalf was stone-faced throughout. Williams, Baker, Julian Love and others spoke to the state of the team mentality being suboptimal.
Nobody needs to be led when things are going well. Everyone lifts their heads looking for guidance when the ground starts to shake.
Macdonald formed a leadership committee with the players during the offseason. It is time for an emergency session. The body language of this team was awful against the Giants.
You want to see signs of defiance when adversity hits. Instead, you saw capitulation. Maybe this is where the seeds sewn this offseason with Smith come back to burn Schneider and Macdonald. They had opportunities to deepen their relationship with Smith and make him the center of their plan for the next few years, but did far more to shallow their ties whether through their open pursuit of Drew Lock or their decision to ignore Smith’s request for an extension.
It would be understandable if Smith might feel less reason to stand and fight for the team when the team did little for him.
Whatever the reason, this was a game where there was not the right energy from the jump. We saw that happen in New England as well. Who are the players or coaches who are going to bring the energy when it is lacking? Who is going to pull people out of a tailspin? Who is going to turn arguments and squabbles into productive energy?
Fans might want to see someone screaming on the sidelines. That can work in some cases. It can be just for show in others. It does not matter how they are effectively led in these moments. What matters is that someone is capable of doing it.
Macdonald has not shown signs of being a master motivator yet. That is something Pete Carroll did better than anyone. It is not clear any of the coaches fall into that category. There also do not appear to be players ready to step into those shoes.
Love says the right things, but do people listen? Tyrel Dodson might have some of that in him, but has not established himself yet. Devon Witherspoon seems like the right guy, but his play has not matched his talents yet.
Even if the Seahawks turn this around and start winning again, there will be more adversity. They have been proud of their resilience to date. This was a game where that failed them. Effective leaders must emerge.
Odd fan phenomenon
It should be clear by now that I recognize this as a very problematic game with some fundamental issues emerging. What has been surprising has been the large number of fans who are already calling for Macdonald’s head or abandoning all hope.
Macdonald was brought in as someone who would address the defense, first and foremost. He has talked about accountability and the importance of details. His preparation, game planning, and in-game adjustments were expected to be strengths. These last two games have left people rightly asking what they can believe in if those expected strengths are exactly the areas where problems are showing up. That is not a good look for Macdonald.
It has also only been five games, and the first three were mostly good. Some of the same people who are jumping all over Macdonald now are the folks who were dismissing their dominant defensive games earlier. They say, “See! They were playing bad teams!” Well, they just played a bad team and got smoked on defense. This notion that dominating bad teams does not count is flawed and feels much more like the agenda of someone who has not been supportive of this coaching change from the beginning.
Seattle had one of the best defenses in football after three weeks. That is an accomplishment no matter the opponents. They have now been awful the last two weeks. One of those games was against a terrible opponent. If anything, that adds more credibility to the quality of play earlier.
Hating Macdonald or wanting him fired this quickly is wildly irrational. Set aside that the team leads the division or that they’ve battled a ton of injuries, he was the first coach in franchise history to start out 2-0, let alone 3-0. That does not mean he is great or even good. It does indicate that even the most experienced coaches like Chuck Knox and Mike Holmgren and Carroll took some time to get things in order.
I have a lot of faith in who Macdonald is, and how hard he will work to correct what is wrong. The only question in my mind is whether he will be able to do it this season or will need another offseason of roster turnover to get the players he needs to succeed.
Season on the brink
There can be confidence in Macdonald as a coach and still acknowledge that this season in teetering on the edge. Seattle is now 0-2 against NFC opponents. They are facing a similarly desperate 49ers team on Thursday. It is a game they were likely to lose before all this occurred. Now, they would be looking at 0-3 in the NFC and 0-1 in the NFC West with two of those losses coming at home.
The schedule gets tougher from here. This Giants game was supposed to be one you could win even if you did take them lightly. That they did not means Seattle almost has to win this game on Thursday.
Time is not on their side, and their flaws happen to line up with some of the 49ers strengths. Beating San Francisco will not wash away all the sins of this past week, but it would start the healing process. Demons are walking the halls. Macdonald and the Seahawks have very little time to face them and beat them back before they take over.
