Preseason is over, and the Seattle Seahawks didn’t win a game. What was won on the night was a starting job for quarterback Geno Smith, but I think most suspected that was a formality reading between the lines. We saw an abundance of players working hard to stay in the NFL and it made for a crazy game even by preseason standards.
Let’s dive into Winners and Losers for the final time this month.
Winners
Geno Smith
You may not like it but at least for now he’s the starter. Smith is the “boring” option and he’s not very good, but why get worked up when neither he nor Drew Lock is likely to be the starting QB in 2023? Anyway, I thought this really simple play to Tyler Lockett was encouraging.
DeeJay Dallas
He’s been a bit of a preseason all-star in each of his three seasons but he’s looked the best in this particular exhibition stint. Dallas rushed for 75 yards on 13 carries and a touchdown, with the bulk of his success coming on a drive in which he touched the ball 10 times out of 11 plays. Both him and Travis Homer have performed so well that it should be re-assuring that the Seahawks have quality running back depth.
Jason Myers
Hey, I can’t knock 4/4 on field goals and 2/2 on PATs. Myers was on his game and wasn’t having close shaves on any of those kicks, either.
Myles Adams
Adams had a tackle for a loss and a half-sack and several QB pressures. I liked him last preseason and the big man on the interior has made a really good case for being on the 53-man roster.
Michael Jackson
Jackson played the whole game, which meant a slew of excellent Michael Jackson-song puns made by Michael Robinson and Michael Bennett. The outside cornerback was solid on his assignments all night and made a critical play on the ball late in the 4th quarter to give the Seahawks one more shot at a win (which they immediately squandered). I believe Jackson will make the roster… but will he start Week 1? You never know. Jackson and Josh Jones have been two preseason standouts.
Charles Cross and Abe Lucas
They might be your two starting tackles come Week 1. Cross was penalty-free and I thought he looked outstanding. I don’t pin Geno Smith’s sack on him, as Smith pretty much ran into it in a poor man’s version of Russell Wilson’s worst sacks. He looks the part of an NFL left tackle and I can’t wait to see him against first-team competition. Ditto for Lucas, who is trying to be the pancake king. I’m more of a waffle man, myself.
Losers
Drew Lock
There has been a lot of defending of Lock’s performance tonight that puzzles me. I’ll give him full marks for the touchdown pass as that’s him at his best and that’s what Pete Carroll surely wants out of this passing attack, but beyond that? Yeah that was not a good audition. I think the first interception, even if there’s some culpability on Dee Eskridge, is horribly telegraphed and the fact that the defensive back jumped the route to perfection should clue you in that it’s a risky throw even if Eskridge does his job. His second pick is high school terrible and the third one is admittedly one Aaron Fuller should catch, but he threw several other passes that were nearly picked against a host of players who likely will not be on Dallas’ roster on Tuesday.
You can play conspiracy all you want or bemoan him not getting a chance with the first-team, but — I say this as someone who wanted Lock to win the job — he has now been unable to win competitions on two different teams against Geno Smith, Joe Flacco, and Teddy Bridgewater. That’s not a murderer’s row of quarterbacks. At some point you have to wonder if it’s just bad coaches not giving him a chance or (the far more likely story) Lock is just not good. Or rather, his awful moments are so awful that they are intolerable to coaches.
His ceiling is probably higher than Smith’s but his floor? It looks a lot like that second interception and a shitload of other dangerous passes he threw. We might see Lock start later in the season, we also might see him not even on this roster on Tuesday depending on how much Carroll detested his performance.
Seattle’s wide receiver depth
The dropoff from Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf to everyone else on the depth chart is both scary and exemplifies why some of us have freaked out about the Seahawks’ approach to the wide receiver position in recent years. Dareke Young and Bo Melton are probably going on the practice squad but they’ve dropped too many passes to justify a roster spot. Freddie Swain has had a pretty uninspiring preseason and is not a roster lock. Only Penny Hart and maybe Cade Johnson (sans muffed punt) have staked reasonable claims for a roster spot. I believe Dee Eskridge, Hart, and Marquise Goodwin will be the ones who round out WRs 3-5.
Dakoda Shepley
Honestly he should be a winner to me because I’m not sure I’ve laughed that hard at a Seahawks turnover before. He must have thought he was snapping the ball to Tacko Fall, because it was certainly too high for Jacob Eason to grasp. I was entertained by the folly, the coaches less so.
Stone Forsythe
If they don’t move him to guard then he has no place in the NFL. He’s too slow to be a tackle and that’s not going to be magically fixed.
Final Notes
- Poor Jacob Eason. He has a chance to win the game three times over and the end results were terrible in different ways, and none of it on him.
- It looked like Marquise Blair had a better performance than last week, including a near interception. With the injury to Ryan Neal I think he hangs onto his roster spot but only barely.
- Hopefully Alton Robinson is alright after dinging up his knee. I thought he played well and can carve out a niche as a situational pass rusher.
- Joel Dublanko was considerably better than last week’s horror show, and I think that gives him a chance to make the practice squad.
- Kenneth Walker’s injury I suspect might be good reason for Darwin Thompson to make the initial 53. He’s been flashy and shifty in his preseason touches and is hardly an unknown commodity given his time in Kansas City.
- Programming note! The Field Gulls podcast had gone silent for a few weeks while we looked for new hosts, but starting next week we’re back on the air! Dan Viens and Dayna O’Gorman will be our two hosts with a rotation of guests every episode, starting with our former host Brandan Schulze. Look out for new episodes starting this week.
