Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Here are this week’s best and worst performers for the Seahawks per PFF’s player grades.
On Sunday the Seahawks got clutch performances from Geno Smith, Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf when they needed it most. They also got strong games from Bobby Wagner, Devon Witherspoon and Riq Woolen, to name a few on defense. However, the game would have been lost without a superb outing from kicker Jason Myers. Let’s see how they graded out.
Here are this week’s best and worst performers for the Seahawks per PFF’s player grades.
Seahawks survive, outlast the Browns in 24-20 win
Talk about a game that was a tale of two halves. Or, should I say, three quarters. The Seattle Seahawks looked strong early, almost grinded to a complete stop, but found life late to win 24-20 over the Cleveland Browns.
Seattle started the game as hot as can be, racing out to a commanding 17-7 lead in the first quarter. Their first three drives resulted in two touchdowns and a field goal, as well as recording a crucial sack/fumble on defense.
Unfortunately, the Seahawks almost entirely packed it in following the first quarter with an abysmal offensive display for nearly the remainder of the game. Following the first quarter, Seattle was shutout the final three quarters until literally 0:38 seconds left in the game.
The Browns simply kept chipping away at the Seahawks’ lead, eventually wearing them down as they won the time of possession battle 36:40 to 23:20. Seattle’s offense struggling to stay on the field did the defense little favors, as they did all they could to keep the team in the game. A late interception recorded by safety Julian Love – his first as a Seahawk – gave the offense life late, and one final shot at redemption.
One final shot was all they needed, apparently, as the offense finally started clicking when it mattered most. On the final drive, Smith led Seattle on an effortless five play, 57 yard touchdown drive, capped off with a screen pass to Jaxon Smith-Njigba – the second touchdown of his career, coming one week after his first.
Cleveland looked in complete control on both sides of the ball, especially in the second half. But ultimately, they were unable to protect their three-point lead with under two minutes to play. Their two-game win streak went to sleep in Seattle.
As for the Seahawks, they claim a crucial win, made even more important thanks to the Cincinnati Bengals who took down the San Francisco 49ers. With San Francisco’s loss, Seattle moves into sole possession of first place in the NFC West, as the 49ers have now lost three-straight games.
The Seahawks will travel to Baltimore in Week 9 to take on the Ravens, who are similarly in first place in their division.
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That makes the fourth time that Metcalf has been fined by the league so far this season.
The Seattle Seahawks are racking up fines in a big way this season due to on field penalties. Last week three players saw their wallets get hit by the NFL. This week there are three more fines that were announced on Saturday.
Here’s who got fined this week.
That makes the fourth time that Metcalf has been fined by the league so far this season.
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The New York Giants face the Seattle Seahawks in Week 4. Here are the five biggest storylines to follow for this contest.
The New York Giants (1-2) host the Seattle Seahawks (2-1) at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on Monday Night Football in Week 4 of the 2023 NFL season.
Here are five storylines we are following.
The New York Giants are preparing to square off against their friend and former captain, Seattle Seahawks safety Julian Love, in Week 4.
When the New York Giants look across the field on Monday night, looking back at them will be former friend and team captain, Julian Love.
Although he was offered a deal, the Giants and Love could not come to an agreement this offseason and he ultimately landed with the Seattle Seahawks. The departure came as a surprise and through three weeks of the season, it sure seems like the Giants could use the versatile safety.
Instead, Love is now the enemy and his former teammates, some of whom are still close with the 25-year-old, expect him to spill the beans on Wink Martindale’s defense.
“I hope not, but then again at the same time that’s the team he’s with and at the end of the day he’s going to do what he needs to do for them to get the best chance to win,” cornerback Adoree’ Jackson told reporters on Tuesday. “As a person, knowing, playing with him, I hope he wouldn’t but at the end of the day that’s his new team, that’s who his loyalty is with so I’m just excited to see him and play.”
Jackson said he hasn’t talked to Love this week with a game looming, but other Giants haven’t gone radio silent.
Safety Xavier McKinney got together with Love for a game of 2K just a few short days ago.
“Yeah, I was actually just playing a game with him (on Sunday). We were on 2K,” McKinney said. “But yeah, man, I mean, I miss him, playing next to him, he’s a good friend of mine. We were teammates. He’s a great guy. Great dude. It’s going to be fun being able to play against him.
“Obviously, I was able to play alongside of him. So now, we’re going to be competing and going against each other this coming Monday. It’s going to be fun, but at the end of the day, we’re still brothers. We talk. It’ll be good though.”
Meanwhile, the man who replaced Love, safety Jason Pinnock, views Monday night as an opportunity to define himself; to prove the Giants made the right choice and are now in better hands.
“I don’t think I’m filling in a role, I think it’s a new role, I think it’s me,” Pinnock told the New York Post. “I’m me, my play, my style, that’s me. It’s not Julian Love Jr.”
Pinnock certainly seems motivated by this came but you had better believe Love will be, too.
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Diggs could be talking about any number of people, but our best guess is that he’s upset with the folks over at Pro Football Focus.
Seahawks free safety Quandre Diggs seems to have a bone to pick with some unnamed people who judge players despite not knowing assignments and game-planning.
Here’s what he shared on Twitter yesterday morning.
It’s funny to me that people who has no idea of game planning or assignments for each week try to tell mf’s what they should or shouldn’t be doing.
— Nino (@qdiggs6) September 19, 2023
Diggs could be talking about any number of people, but our best guess is that he’s upset with the folks over at Pro Football Focus, who have graded him out horribly so far this season.
According to PFF’s current grades, Diggs is at 30.1 overall with a poor 48.4 grade in run defense and an atrocious 37.0 mark in coverage. Diggs isn’t alone in this department, either. In fact, two of his teammates have also gotten extremely negative grades from PFF in 2023.
Julian Love is currently graded out even worse than Diggs in coverage at 30.7. That makes him the only NFL safety who’s rated worse than Diggs with 11 or more snaps this year.
Coby Bryant also has a putrid grade, and these three are the three lowest-graded safeties in the league through two weeks:
So, do the Seahawks have literally the three worst safeties in the NFL right now? Of course not. This is clearly about something Seattle’s defense is doing.
Perhaps the problem is that the team’s lack of a pass rush up front is putting a lot of pressure on the back end of their defense in general. In Week 1 against LA in particular Seattle played a lot of soft zone concepts, leaving their DBs out to dry as Matt Stafford shredded them over and over while rarely getting so much as a whiff of pressure. Things were better in Week 2 against the Lions, but clearly PFF doesn’t like what they’ve seen so far.
Not everyone agrees with their analysis, though. For what it’s worth, according to Pro Football Reference Diggs has only been targeted twice this year and hasn’t allowed a catch. They also have him credited with only one missed tackle, while PFF has him with four. We wouldn’t presume to understand modern coverages, but they can’t both be right.
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Who will stand out the most in the season opener?
It’s almost here. After months of waiting, the NFL regular season is merely days away from officially kicking off. The Seattle Seahawks start their 2023 campaign where they ended their 2022 season – at home against the Los Angeles Rams.
Seattle swept the downtrodden Rams for the first time since the 2013 Super Bowl season, but it was not a cakewalk for them. The Seahawks had to grind out two hard-fought wins, including a 19-16 win in overtime for the regular season finale. It would be foolish to think Week 1 will be any different for Seattle.
The Rams are going to come out firing, rejuvenated from their atrocious championship-defense season. If the Seahawks want to start the season 1-0 (and a third-straight win over LA) they’re going to need certain players to step up. Here are a few to keep an eye on in Week 1.
Here’s our best estimate at what the team’s lavish depth chart at safety looks like following Adams’ return.
Jamal Adams will be returning to the Seattle Seahawks this week, nearly one full year removed from the quad injury that claimed all but a few snaps of his 2022 season. Today, the team announced that Adams passed his physical and will be joining walk-throughs soon.
Here’s our best estimate at what the team’s lavish depth chart at safety looks like following Adams’ return.
From top to bottom, this is arguably the deepest safety room in the entire league. It had better be, since the Seahawks are spending about $10 million more than any other team at this spot.
*Coby Bryant is playing nickel while first-round draft pick Devon Witherspoon is out but has been mostly at safety this offseason.
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Love has since shared his regret over the drawing.
Some professional football players are incredibly talented human beings all around. There are even some real artists around the league. Christian McCaffrey plays piano and the Eagles offensive line has a Christmas album, to name a few. We can probably count out these three Seahawks defenders from having a future in painting, though.
Yesterday Mina Kimes shared a screenshot from Instagram of three drawings – one from Coby Bryant, another from Dre’Mont Jones and one from Julian Love – all trying to capture Seattle’s team logo. Observe.
I will never not watch an NFL social media drawing challenge (explain yourself @_jlove20)
(Dre’mont Jones kinda killed it ) pic.twitter.com/CPhzTBevEN
— Mina Kimes (@minakimes) August 17, 2023
Sadly, it seems that Jones was the closest to the mark, here. At least Bryant got the general shape of the logo right, but there really aren’t any redeeming qualities for Love’s angry duck having an orgasm.
Love has since shared his regret over the drawing.
Woah, is this what it feels like to be gaslit. I promise I’m better than this @minakimes 😂
(Also the other two seemed to have wandering eyes while they were drawing 👀) https://t.co/A7WX0Nwjcc
— Julian Love (@_jlove20) August 17, 2023
As for their day jobs, Jones and Love will both be in the starting lineup come Week 1. Meanwhile, Bryant has moved from slot corner to safety, so he’ll be backing up Love, Quandre Diggs and Jamal Adams when he returns.
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EA has recovered their fumble on Love’s player likeness from last year.
With the release of Madden 24 this week, Seahawks safety Julian Love took to Twitter to evaluate his player replica. A clear improvement in game graphics for this year’s release is expected. However, what wasn’t expected was the stark contrast between Love’s player last year and this year.
One of Seattle’s top free agent signings in 2023, Love played 16 games for the Giants last season, finishing with 67 solo tackles, two interceptions and one forced fumble. From the look of things, EA has recovered their own fumble on Love’s player likeness from last year.
Take a look at the difference between the two here:
You can say I’m moving up in the world. Good looks 👌🏾@EAMaddenNFL pic.twitter.com/WMJB3ZvWw7
— Julian Love (@_jlove20) August 16, 2023
Love’s overall player rating improved from 76 to 80 and his more refined player model features him with an actual beard, accurate skin pigmentation and game sleeves. Love’s role for Seattle may include coming in on Big Nickel 3-3-5 formation packages and playing as a relief to safeties Jamal Adams (when healthy) and Quandre Diggs. Until Adams returns to the field, Love will be starting next to Diggs.
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