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The Seattle Seahawks fell to 6-2 on Sunday after a 34-44 loss to a very good Buffalo Bills team. Despite the score, the game never really felt close, with the Seahawks finding themselves in a hole early and trailing by 21 points in the fourth quarter. Here, I detail some of what went wrong for Seattle in the good, the bad, and the ugly from Week 9.
THE GOOD
D.K. Metcalf: Metcalf was, once again, the star of the show for the Seahawks, hauling in seven catches for 108 yards and a touchdown. His physicality and speed continue to provide Seattle with the total package week after week, making a strong case for him to be considered the team’s No. 1 receiver. He has yet to be truly neutralized this season, only being held to fewer than 90 yards against the Cardinals when Tyler Lockett had his career day.
THE BAD
Russell Wilson: For the most part, Wilson has been stunning this year, with the unfortunate exception of each of the Seahawks’ losses. Wilson played poorly against the Cardinals in Week 7 and had a less-than-ideal outing against the Bills, turning the ball over no fewer than four times with two picks and two fumbles. He also had six passes broken up and took five sacks for a total loss of 28 yards. It is clear that stopping the Seahawks comes down almost entirely to stopping Russell Wilson by bringing constant pressure. Yes, the defense did him no favors, but one person cannot be responsible for four turnovers and expect to win.
THE UGLY
The defense: Despite the solid performance from the men up front, the overall defensive performance from the Seahawks was positively putrid. Although they sacked Bills QB Josh Allen seven times, the men up front were unable to generate consistent pressure, allowing Allen to carve up the Seattle secondary like soft cheese by completing passes to eight different players. After the game, coach Pete Carroll expressed surprise that the Bills had made no effort to establish the run, which indicates that Seattle’s gameplan essentially ignored the fact that their pass defense ranks last in the league and would naturally be subject to attack. The “surprise” factor and subsequent lack of adjustment resulted in the greatest amount of points allowed by the Seahawks (44) in the Pete Carroll era.
A special mention should be made of CB Quinton Dunbar, who looked less than prepared after having taken limited reps in practice over the past week due to a knee injury. The Bills noticed that he was looking a bit slow, throwing his way for several key completions to their receivers. Eventually, Dunbar was benched for Linden Stephens, who was one of just two backups available at the position.
The offensive line: After a solid outing last week, Seattle’s offensive line took a huge step back against Buffalo, allowing five sacks and 11 recorded QB hits. The run game was essentially stifled as well – the Seahawks only attempted 17 rushes for 57 total yards and a touchdown, split among four ball carriers. The unit will need to tighten up next week against the Los Angeles Rams, where they will face the ever-hungry Aaron Donald.
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