Seattle Seahawks Week 10 Review: The Return of the King Was Underwhelming

Seahawks’ tight end Will Dissly moves up field with the ball (Rod Mar/Seattle Seahawks)

I usually do extensive breakdowns of all the Seattle Seahawks play, but I won't be this time. There are multiple reasons why. First and foremost, I hate the Green Bay Packers. Seeing that team beat my Seahawks makes my stomach churn. Secondly, the Seahawks suffered their first scoreless performance on offense in the Russell Wilson era. Thirdly, I'm embarrassed by how this team played offense--humiliated even. I thought I would break down what I liked and disliked about the game and go from there.

Today marked the return of Russell Wilson, and as I predicted, he wasn't 100%. Russell looked downright uncomfortable running the Seahawks offense and couldn't find any sense of rhythm. Tyler Lockett had a catch for six yards, and Metcalf looked like a child after throwing a hissy fit after coming back into the game in the final minutes. In Wilson's defense, the offensive line played horribly. There wasn't a single thing the offensive line did that was positive. They allowed Wilson to be pressured on almost every single pass attempt, and they also failed to make acceptable running lanes for Alex Collins. However, you can only blame the offensive line so much. There were times when Wilson had the protection to go for his patented deep ball, but he either overthrew his target and it:

A) Landed just out of reach of his receiver

B) Landed way out of reach of his receiver

C) Found its way into the hands of the defender

So, there is no excuse for poor decision-making on Wilson's end.

Bobby Wagner tackles Packers running back Aaron Jones (Rob Mar/Seattle Seahawks)

Then there is the Shane Waldron issue. Waldron has been abysmal as the Seahawks offensive coordinator, and I'm being polite with my descriptions. Week after week, he comes in and fails to do anything that envokes inspiring or hopefulness with this Seahawks unit. You could make the argument that he was working with Geno Smith for 3 1/2 games, but I would point out that two of those 3 1/2 games were entirely winnable. Why did we lose to the Steelers? Because Shane Waldron's offensive play calling was terrible. In his defense, he was able to switch things up and rally the offense in the second half, but had he been competent at his job for a full 60 minutes, the Seahawks don't lose that game. The same could be said about the Saints game. Shane Waldron should be put on wanted posters because he stole millions of dollars from the Seahawks organization pretending to be a competent play-caller and offensive coordinator. At least with Schottenheimer, the offense was fun to watch for five weeks; with Waldron, watching the Seahawks offense is like pulling teeth without anesthesia. 

I would also like to take some time to congratulate the best player the Green Packers had on the field--the officials. The refs in this game were just downright awful. There is a laundry list of choices to pull from, such as numerous false starts on the Packers offensive line and holdings. But by far, my favorite was when Damien Lewis was called for holding on the Seahawks offensive line, but he was being bull rushed by the nose tackle. Damien Lewis had lost his balance and fell, and there was no hold. That infuriated me, and I knew I was in the right when the announcers said the same thing I did. Again, good job, Packers. Your best player really showed up to play in this one.

Jamal Adams registers his first interception as a Seattle Seahawk after picking off Aaron Rodgers in the endzone (Rob Mar/Seattle Seahawks)

Now that I've vented about this putrid example of an NFL offense, I can talk about the positives of the game--the defense. The Seahawks' defense has been great the past couple of games, and I genuinely mean that. Tony Romo pointed out that they are 31 in the NFL in total yards allowed on defense--not good--, but they're top 10 in third-down defense and red zone defense. That shouldn't go overlooked. To make things even better, the Seahawks were harassing Aaron Rodgers all day long. He was pressured by the defensive line and was forcing throws that our defensive backs were able to read like books and break up. Speaking of defensive backs, they were all phenomenal today. D.J Reed and Tre Brown may be little corners, but they did an excellent job defending the pass. And how about our safeties? Quandre Diggs and Jamal Adams keep proving game after game that they are the best safety tandem in the NFL, and if y0ou want to argue with me on that, please feel free to contact me. Jamal and Quandre had excellent games all over the defense. Both were breaking up passes, making crucial tackles, and to top it off, Jamal got his first interception as a Seahawk--it took him long enough. I may have been harsh on Ken Norton Jr. in the past, but he was really rallied this defense, and they look like a professional unit. The special teams also looked formidable, but they always do, to begin with--shout out Michael Dickson; he's still my favorite Australian.

All and all, this game sucked to watch. If I were to do my usual breakdown, you would cry from boredom, I promise. It was punt after punt with a few Packers scores trickled in. In all honesty, if the Seahawks managed at least a safety, I might've taken the time to write a 3,000-word article, but oh well. 3,000-word articles are meant for teams that are capable of scoring points on any given day. I've already looked ahead and my predictions for the Seahawks' remaining schedule, but I wasn't expecting to get shut out by a Packers team that lost three players in the game due to injury. Oh, that reminds me, Duane Brown--the Seahawks' best offensive lineman--left the game ealry with a hip injury, so that's fun. I'm deeplu upset by this performance because we could've won this game had the offense shown; all we held the Packers to 17 points, all we had to do was score a measly 18drivests to ends--that's six offensive drive that end in field goals. Is that so much to ask for? I guess it is. Go 'Hawks.