Another Sunday, another loss, and yet another week with lots of questions about the Seahawks.
So let’s get to it, with another Seahawks Twitter mailbag (with questions edited slightly for clarity).
Mark Haroldson asked: What’s up with #52 (Darrell Taylor)?
This was a question addressed here last week as well, but seems relevant again after another poor showing from the Seahawks defense. Coach Pete Carroll said on Monday that Taylor could be one of the early players whose playing time could be affected as Seattle makes some adjustments.
The Seahawks had hoped that Taylor, a third-year player out of Tennessee, but in his second season after essentially missing the 2020 season due to a foot injury, would emerge as a consistent standout this year after a promising 2021, When he had 6.5 sacks.
Taylor got his first sack of 2022 in a 27-23 loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.
Otherwise, it wasn’t the start of the season one would have wanted.
It’s not that the grades of a pro football focus are everything, but they are an objective measure of an organization attempting to view every team and player through the same lens. and Taylor is 103rd through three matches.third 88 out of 104 edge players in the NFLth Out of 90 in run defense, and the lowest grade of any Seahawks defender.
Carroll hinted on Monday that rookie second-round rookie Boy Maffee and recently acquired lead player Darryl Johnson could get more time at a potential cost to Taylor.
And especially on the early ups, which potentially means Taylor more streamlined as a pass-rusher.
“He continues to be the bright spot on the show that we need to see,” Carroll said on Taylor’s Monday. “He had a great crowd, and great forced rumble, great sack. He had some really good plays and some really good hits. I love hanging out with our players in this position and we’re there for the right mix. Trying to figure out. With Boe playing better and showing some good signs and we’re falling for Bam (Daryl Johnson), how do we mix those guys up, it’s really something we’re going to zero in on. trying to.”
Seahawks in Taylor 48 . have invested significantly asth Choose overall in 2020, so they’ll eliminate every opportunity for him to become the player they thought/think he/could be – and we’re just three games into his second real season.
But they want it to happen sooner and not later.
bdgiddens6: Any practice squad player making enough noise to call up the active roster?
A practice squad player worth keeping a close eye on is veteran linebacker Christian Jones, who signed with the Seahawks on September 14 and had a game-day elevation against Atlanta, playing 12 snaps on special teams.
Jones, who played for Florida State, has been in the NFL since 2014 and made 74 career starts with the Bears and Lions. He started 20 games for the Bears from 2014–16, when current Seahawks defensive coordinator Clint Hurt was an assistant there.
Jones, 31, started a game for the Bears on the inside linebacker last season when Seahawks’ associate head coach Shaun Desai was the coordinator for the defense.
So, while the depth chart currently reads that Nick Baylor and the Tanner Muse are the only backups on the two ILB spots behind Jordan Brooks and Cody Barton, Jones may be a more valid option if Seattle really has someone else to fill – Or need to provide competition – given your overall NFL experience and the system Seattle is now running.
“He can play OLB, ILB for us, so he has great position flex to be able to provide some depth and again, another special team guy,” Hurt said two weeks ago when Jones signed . “…he knows defense, so it doesn’t take him much to get up to speed. Most of the terminology and things like that are the same for the most part, so it should be a quick study for him.”
Could Jones have pushed Barton to play time?
It may be too early to say. But Carroll noted that Barton missed some plays against the Falcons on Sunday.
“Cody, yesterday he had some play he needs,” said Carroll of Barton, who is ranked 71stscheduled tribe Out of 78 linebackers through PFF, and 74 . Isth 77 against runs. “In general, he’s been consistent. He got a lot of exposure on the stuff (Sunday), and he just needed to be in better fit on a few runs. In the passing game, he hit a few shots at third down where the ball went around him. He didn’t have a full week’s practice (due to injuries). Whether that mattered, I don’t know, but we are counting on him to come forward.”
rfm_732 asked: Why does the offense look so good in the first half. Then nothing in 2?
If there really was an easy answer, it wouldn’t be. But of course, numbers through three games – a small sample size – give an indication of the true story of the two halves. Seattle has scored 37 offensive points in the first half and just three in the second (along with other TDs on special teams). And the stats are equally stark—Seattle averages 6.7 yards per game in the first half, 3.5 in the second.
Seattle has hit a lot of big plays in the first half — 23 yards or five passes in the first half — and no more than 20 yards or more in the second. It could be that Seattle actually has some well-designed plays that worked in the first half of the games (like Colby Parkinson from the 36-yarder against Atlanta).
Another big factor is the opponent’s rush of passes – Geno Smith has yet to be dismissed in the first half this year, but has been dismissed six times in the second half, five times in the fourth quarter. Is the offensive line just getting worse? Opponents getting more aggressive?
Another factor is that in the Denver and Atlanta games—the only two relevant games here because the Seahawks didn’t do anything in a 49ers game—is that the Broncos and Falcons each got the ball and started the third quarter and then went. On the long drives, meaning that Seattle actually had only three drives combined in the third quarter of those two games. And he fixed it on them, getting a field goal on a drive against Atlanta and driving his 10 to Denver field on one of his full drives that quarter before failing DK Metcalf.
Penalties have also been a factor – Seattle received just one offensive penalty in the first half of the Denver/Atlanta games, but four in the second, with the last three weeks proving crucial.
All things to clean, of course.