The Seahawks continue to sink. Today’s loss to the 49ers was their fifth in their last six games and the first four-game losing streak in the Pete Carroll era. Let’s break it down and see who deserves praise and who deserves blame.
Here are our studs and duds for Week 14.
Stud: QB Drew Lock
The Seahawks saw a lot of good from Drew Lock in his first start for them today. Lock showed off his arm talent, his ability to throw on the run and his hyper-aggressive instincts. He completed 22 of 31 pass attempts, totaling 269 yards and two touchdowns despite facing a lot of pressure.
Dud: QB Drew Lock
However, those familiar with his game know that often when Drew Lock giveth, Drew Lock also taketh away. That was the case once again in today’s game, as Lock was sacked four times and threw two bad interceptions. He was also very fortunate that he didn’t wind up throwing four or five picks thanks to drops by 49ers defenders and dumb luck.
Stud: WR Tyler Lockett
It’s been a relatively quiet season for No. 16 so far, but Tyler Lockett came through with a big game day. While he didn’t score a touchdown, Lockett did manage to catch all six of his targets from Drew Lock (no small feat) and totaled a team-high 89 receiving yards.
Dud: WR DK Metcalf
Unfortunately, Lockett’s much-larger buddy couldn’t keep it together. After scoring a 31-yard touchdown in the first quarter, DK Metcalf grew frustrated with his lack of targets and finally blew up yet again in the fourth quarter. He was eventually ejected for starting a fight with Fred Warner. Metcalf finished with two catches for 52 yards.
Stud: S Julian Love
He got beat in coverage a couple of times, but Julian Love more than made up for it with a couple of huge game-swinging turnovers. First, Love caught another interception off a tipped pass. Later, he made the hustle play of the season by chasing down Brandon Aiyuk and forcing a fumble on what could have been a touchdown.
Dud: SS Jamal Adams
Jamal Adams is still doing positive work around the tackle box. However, it’s being completely overshadowed by his shortcomings in coverage. Adams allowed several big passing plays, including a back-breaking 54-yard touchdown to Deebo Samuel. Adams looks too slow to cover virtually anybody and the fanbase sounds ready to ship him off to Siberia.
Stud: DE Leonard Williams
Overall Seattle lost at the line of scrimmage, as per usual against this Niners team. One refreshing exception to the rule was the play of defensive end Leonard Williams, who’s becoming this team’s most-consistent defender. Williams made a significant difference as a pass rusher, posting four QB hits. No other defender had more than one.
Dud: The run defense
On the first play from scrimmage, Christian McCaffrey broke off a 72-yard run that set the tone. While they rebounded for a little while, the dam soon broke again and McCaffrey wound up posting yet another ridiculous line against the Seahawks. He finished with 145 rushing yards on 16 attempts, averaging over nine yards per carry.
Dud: RB Ken Walker
Seattle’s own run game wasn’t any good, either. Ken Walker did manage one cool highlight play, but overall he was ineffective against San Francisco’s run defense. Walker managed just 21 yards on the ground on eight carries (2.6 yards per attempt), with a longest run of just 12 yards.
Dud: HC Pete Carroll
We can talk about how mismatched these teams are at the line of scrimmage all day. The greater mismatch is the one on the sidelines, where Pete Carroll is consistently getting out-coached by his division rivals. Going back to surrending on fourth down is bad enough, but Carroll’s team has now lost five straight matchups against Kyle Shanahan, who seems to shred Carroll’s defense in familiar ways in every meeting and consistently keeps winning the battle of in-game adjustments. Until that changes, it’ll be really hard for the Seahawks to win this division again.
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