Dave Boling: Seahawks prove the doubters right with crushing loss to Carolina
SEATTLE – Cancel that movie pitch about Geno’s Heroes, the story of the plucky underdog Seahawks of 2022 who overcome the odds and in dramatic fashion, week after week, prove a nation of doubters wrong.
It was fun while it lasted, with Geno Smith starring as a likable protagonist succeeding in the place of a gone-but-not-lamented quarterback, and a gang of rookie draft picks too raw to understand they shouldn’t be nearly as effective or mature as they had shown.
But the story just didn’t have legs. Or arms, either, or whatever body parts are necessary to tackle opposing ballcarriers.
Against a 4-win Carolina team, in front of a home crowd that was up to the challenge, the Seahawks this week proved the doubters absolutely right.
Failing to stop the run again, in historic fashion, the Seahawks fell 30-24. They’re 7-6 at this point so they’re not eliminated from anything, yet. At least not mathematically.
But they slipped out of the wildcard playoff picture with the loss, and without curing their congenital defensive flaws, the postseason prospects will likely just disappear in the distance (presumably carrying a football into the end zone).
The San Francisco 49ers obliterated Tampa Bay 35-0 Sunday to move to 9 wins and secure their standing atop the NFC West Division. The Niners are banged up and are playing with subs in key positions, but they’ll still be tough to beat when they come to Lumen Field Thursday night.
Pulling off an upset in that one would at least somewhat revive Seattle hopes. Their best chance may be that every Niner who carries a football might show up dehydrated from drooling so profusely while watching films of the Hawk defense.
In a lot of cases, you can bag the analytics and recognize that football is about pushing the other guys around, physically dominating the man in front of you. But in the Seahawks’ case, the numbers are illustrative.
The last five opponents have averaged nearly 200 yards rushing a game.
And 13 games into this season, the Hawks have been pounded for 2,086 yards. That’s more rushing yards than the Hawks have given up, in full 16-game seasons, since 2002 (2,441 yards). But they’ve got four more chances to break that mark.
In something of an oddity, the Seahawks now have lost all four games this season against NFC South Division opponents – the only division in the NFL with all four teams below .500.
Carolina didn’t come out trying anything tricky. And in a way, it’s kind of insulting; they didn’t have to come up with a creative scheme to beat Seattle. At times the Panthers fielded three 300-plus-pound linemen in positions considered eligible receivers. Basically, they harnessed the mules up front and dared the Hawks to stop them.
They didn’t even come close.
“Just makes you sick in the stomach,” said safety Ryan Neal. “That irritates my soul.”
Coach Pete Carroll knew what the Panthers were going to do, and confessed that he takes “pride in finding ways to scheme against that,” he said. “I gotta do better.”
Missing defensive linemen Shelby Harris (ill) and Al Woods, who went out with a heel injury, left them under manned at key positions. But that was only a small part of the problem.
As for Smith, he threw three touchdowns but had two interceptions. On one, he pitched a risky ball on what he felt was going to be a “free” play, based on an apparent Panther offsides. But the penalty wasn’t flagged, and the subsequent interception stood.
Carroll pointed out that the Hawks had fought back from a slow start (trailing 17-0) to close to being down by three, 20-17, in the fourth quarter.
That only made the final result hurt more. In the final 15 minutes, Carolina rushed 15 times for 101 yards. The Seahawks knew it was coming and they were helpless to stop it.
It didn’t make for a very satisfying final act, and rather than this Seahawks team turning into a heartwarming holiday-season tale, it could soon just be the clunker everybody expected.