Ravens 30 Seahawks 16: Winners and a lot of losers from a messy home defeat

Hey, that game sure sucked!

The Seattle Seahawks skipped out on the “close win” game script and opted for the dispiriting loss against a playoff contender. They were deserved 30-16 losers against the AFC contender Baltimore Ravens, who largely shut down Seattle’s offense and then gashed the Seahawks defense on the ground (thanks to their remarkably talented quarterback).

You play bad football, you get bad results. We’ve been through this before.

Here are your winners and losers from that poopfest.

Winners

Tyler Lockett

Five catches for 61 yards and another touchdown on a play that I swear was a throwaway. He also had a sick catch deep downfield on the Cover-0 blitz that used to be Doug Baldwin’s expertise to exploit.

Marquise Blair

I thought he did very well in his first start. If there was a blown assignment on his part then I didn’t see it, and his best play was a 3rd down pass defensed on a throw intended for Mark Andrews. Good game from the rookie that should earn him more playing time.

Jadeveon Clowney

I thought that was Clowney’s best game as a Seahawk. He was a beast stopping run plays and was one of the few Seahawks generating any pressure on Lamar Jackson. I think he’ll be more of a factor with Jarran Reed back in the defensive rotation.

Tre Flowers and Shaquill Griffin

The Ravens didn’t light up the Seahawks through the air a whole lot — mostly because they couldn’t stop dropping passes — but Flowers and Griffin did their part while Jackson attacked other parts of the field and went to his TEs. Flowers in particular was impressive with his tackling and his one pass break-up.

Losers

Russell Wilson

At long last, Wilson is a “loser.” He finished 21/41 for 241 yards, 1 TD, and a really bad interception that might be the worst pick-six of the four that he’s thrown in his career. Presumably on Monday, Aaron Rodgers will suddenly be the MVP frontrunner in Hot Take Town. Whatever. But Wilson was not accurate and he had too many one-on-one coverage throws that were just aimless. We’ll address what this means a little later on, so keep scrolling or swiping down.

DK Metcalf

He started the game with a drop and ended it with a fumble for a touchdown. Sloppy as hell and unacceptable. Metcalf was more bad than good and even though he’s a rookie, Seattle’s offense will have to rely on him more heavily with Will Dissly absent for the season.

Tedric Thompson

The deep ball to Miles Boykin on the opening possession was all on Thompson. Slow to diagnose the play, slower to make a play on the ball, and that’s three points that is a direct result of his ineptitude. Of course, he also was unable to prevent Lamar Jackson from scoring Baltimore’s only offensive touchdown of the day. Earl Thomas may not necessarily be in his prime anymore, but 2019 Thomas is still way way way better (and more expensive, I know) than Tedric. I still miss you, Earl!

Pass Rush

Lamar Jackson’s only sack taken was a cheap one. He was going to scramble and run but he slipped for the umpteenth time and Branden Jackson touched him down. Presumably when the Seahawks play the Falcons next week, Russell Wilson and Matt Ryan (or Matt Schaub) will have hours to throw.

Luke Willson and Jacob Hollister

Will Dissly he is not. He was a major liability as a blocker and only had one target. Jacob Hollister appears to be Seattle’s receiving TE (3 catches for 20 yards) and he sure as hell can’t block all that well. The Dissly injury is huge, because his replacements put together aren’t going to match his productivity.

Brian Schottenheimer

I may catch some heat for this because Seahawks Twitter and Analytics Twitter both share an understandable love being pro-pass. There was a decided pass-heavy slant to the gameplan by Schotty, which I’d normally agree with if the weather wasn’t so shitty. This offense just disintegrates in bad weather for who knows what reason, but attempts to exploit the Ravens secondary backfired. I was also not impressed with the lack of creativity on the run calls, and I am absolutely done with these jet sweeps and horizontal throws on a team that can’t get YAC more often than not. Schotty has been great over the past few weeks, but this was a bad day at the office.

Jason Myers

Myers is 8/11 on field goals this season but he’s also 1-for-4 on attempts from 40+, which is already more missed from that distance than he had all of last year. Kicks from 50+ aren’t easy (especially in bad weather like the Ravens game) but he was paid a decent chunk of money to make those.

This limp, useless return game

Tyler Lockett shouldn’t be returning kicks or punts just on his value as a #1 WR alone. I’d rather have Ugo Amadi out there, but they could have prime Devin Hester fielding kicks and he’d have no lanes to run through. Lockett’s longest punt return is TEN yards. This is about as bad a return unit as you’ll ever see. Fire Brian Schneider.

Pete Carroll

I found it interesting that the FOX broadcast brought up how Carroll doesn’t mind constantly being in close games because it helps you later in the season.

That’s utter horseshit. The goal should be to win by as many points as possible. There’s no character-building to be had. Winning a ton of close games makes you the 2016 Oakland Raiders, a bad team in disguise. It’s even more ridiculous a statement when you consider the 2012-2013 Seahawks had some outrageous blowout victories.

Carroll coached a horrible game, if not worse than the Saints one. He is reckless with his pass interference challenges and feckless when it comes to 4th and short decisions with his MVP-caliber quarterback. Trotting Myers out there for a 53-yarder was a game-changer, and I can’t be convinced that he made a good decision under the circumstances.

Seattle often does not look like a well-coached team, despite its 5-2 record. They have too many similarities to the 2017 side that I don’t care for, and Carroll has been part of the issue.

CenturyLink Field mystique?

The Seahawks are just 12-8 in their last 20 home games and have a -18 point differential through four home games in 2019. They had only seven defeats at CenturyLink Field from 2012-2016, but the dominance has not been there for quite some time. Seattle has yet to have a two-score lead in a home game this year, and the opposition has scored first every single time. What happened? I don’t know, but it’s something to think about.

Final Notes