“He hasn’t had the support…”: Pete Carroll on a Seahawks’ rookie

The San Francisco 49ers intimidated the Seattle Seahawks in their home stadium on Thanksgiving night, thrashing them 31–13 at Lumen Field. The Seahawks were struggling against better opponents and lost their third game in four meetings.

After losing to one of the best teams in the NFL for the second time in a month, Seattle hasn’t looked like a serious contender, going from 6-5 on the season to almost out of the playoffs with six games remaining. Outscored by 50 points in total over the previous four games, a number of factors, including as subpar offensive line play and serious defensive penalty problems, have contributed to the team’s downturn.

In the grand scheme of things, though, the Seahawks’ inability to compete with the best of the best has been mostly caused by the underwhelming play of their highest-paid veterans. Other factors have also played a role in the team’s three-game losing streak. They have a hard cap on their ceiling as a fringe playoff club since none of the players bearing top-six cap hits on the roster—from defensive lineman Dre’Mont Jones to quarterback Geno Smith—have performed like top-10 players at their respective positions.

Under center, Smith has failed to duplicate his remarkable Comeback Player of the Year performance after agreeing to a three-year agreement for up to $105 million in March. His passer rating has dropped 12 points from 110.9 to 88.2, he is on pace for only 22 touchdown passes, and he has already thrown eight interceptions after scoring 30 touchdowns and completing 69.8% of his passes for Seattle in 2022.

In Smith’s defense, as coach Pete Carroll noted, he hasn’t had the support around him on offense this year. The Seahawks have started eight different offensive line combinations in 11 games, leading to persistent pressure, a lack of a consistent run game, and limitations on what the team can run scheme-wise. And on Thursday, he gutted through an elbow injury at well under 100 percent.

Although Smith’s circumstances haven’t been ideal, the quarterback is ultimately responsible for the team’s performance, and his evident decline has directly contributed to Seattle’s offense’s decline to 19th place in terms of points scored per game.

“It’s been challenging. Regarding Smith’s performance this season as opposed to previous, Carroll remarked, “It’s been harder on him.” “I believe he had a smoother experience last year. With the limitations this week, he played a great game. It makes sense that he was occasionally a little off given what he overcome. He performed admirably, in my opinion, to overcome and go up against us and for us. We must assist him. I say it all the time because everyone is working together, not just one individual. Being accurate and timely, coming through, making the play, and creating the block to support him.

Outside, DK Metcalf is still on track to gain over 1,000 receiving yards, but Lockett, who has been very reliable throughout his career, is in danger of breaking his record of four straight seasons with at least 1,000 yards. He has been a non-factor in significantly more games than usual already in 2023, with five games below 38 receiving yards. He and Metcalf have combined for just seven touchdowns thus far.

A hip injury that prevented Metcalf from playing in his first game of the season earlier in the season and numerous other ailments have caused him to miss practices. Lockett has also been sidelined for more than a month with a hamstring injury, albeit not missing any games as a result. Despite having contract hits above $11 million, neither player has performed at a level comparable to a top-10 or even top-20 receiver this season.

Carroll stated on Friday that in order to play to the strengths of Metcalf, Lockett, and tight end Noah Fant in terms of route running and structure from a game plan standpoint, the Seahawks need to improve their “maximizing the personalities” on offense.

Carroll stated, “You notice a guy’s special stuff and try to make sure that shows up as part of the game plan.” “Those belong to Tyler [Lockett]. Metcalf, D.K., has them. Noah Fant: “They can add to it with their stuff.”

Although it’s simple to blame Smith, Metcalf, Lockett, and the other offensive stars in Seattle during a dismal run of play, the team is also not getting a good return on its investment from its highest-paid defensive players, beginning with general manager John Schneider’s big free agency acquisition in Dre’Mont Jones.

After signing a three-year, $51 million contract to move to the Pacific Northwest from Denver, Jones has shown glimpses of his potential, including five pressures and three quarterback hits in a victory over the Browns last month. Even though he ranks 20th among defensive tackles with 29 pressures, he has only tallied 2.5 sacks in 11 games and has been virtually invisible in the biggest games. On Thursday night, he failed to record a quarterback hit on Brock Purdy and only managed one pressure and one tackle in a blowout defeat to the Ravens.

If Jones was still on a rookie contract or had been signed to a mid-level deal, such numbers would be more tolerable. But with a cap hit exceeding $10 million this year, Seattle expected for him to perform like an elite interior pass rusher up front and so far, he hasn’t come close to playing at that level.

Making the contract look worse, the Seahawks had to watch another free agent prize defensive tackle in Javon Hargrave dominate them with 1.5 sacks and three pressures for the 49ers on Thursday night. So far, the veteran has eight more quarterback pressures and three more sacks than Jones in comparison, doing a far better job earning his massive paycheck as a disruptive force in the middle.

Away from Jones, Seattle has more than $27 million in cap space tied up at the safety position this season between Quandre Diggs, Jamal Adams, and Julian Love. Whether evaluating that trio statistically or by film, none of them have performed like top-10 players at their position, at best performing like average starters this season.

In the second season of a three-year contract signed in March 2022, Diggs hasn’t necessarily had a poor season for the Seahawks and opponents still rarely test the seams or posts with him manning center field, the ultimate sign of respect for a free safety. However, he only has one interception and one pass breakup so far and his 14 missed tackles ranks first among safeties. Those aren’t the numbers expected of a safety with the fifth-highest cap hit at the position this year.

Coming off a torn quad tendon, Seattle has had to ease Adams back into action and he recently missed a game to take care of his knee. When on the field, there have been some encouraging signs for the former All-Pro, including recording two tackles for loss against San Francisco on Thursday. But he has yet to record a sack or an interception on 376 snaps and he’s battled his own issues missing tackles, still far from rounding back into his prior form.

If anything has been evident in this recent skid, teams such as Baltimore and San Francisco have received vintage performances from Lamar Jackson and Christian McCaffrey among others to handle Seattle with ease. On the flip side, the Seahawks haven’t had any of their stars rise to the occasion and elevate the team around them, making them look like little more than a middling playoff team that can beat bad teams and can’t hang with the great ones.

As is the case with any struggling NFL team, the players deserve some of the blame and the coaches also need to do a better job accentuating the talents of their stars. Through it all, Smith still believes Seattle can fix things and get back to playing winning football against quality opponents.

“We need to find a way. We got a lot of talent. We got a lot of good players on this offense. We got the right coaches,” Smith said following Thursday’s loss. “So we got to believe, continue to stay consistent in our work, and then we just got to work harder and find a way.”

With six games left to play, including a rematch with the 49ers in two weeks, Smith and the Seahawks indeed still have time to turn things around. With a young nucleus headlined by cornerback Devon Witherspoon, edge rusher Boye Mafe, and receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba poised to continue improving as the season winds down, there’s still plenty of reason for optimism both short and long-term for the franchise.

But if the Seahawks are to have any chance at beating the likes of the Cowboys, 49ers, or Eagles in coming weeks to help salvage their season and position themselves to do more than just make a wild card pit stop like they did last January, their big name stars such as Lockett, Jones, and Adams have to start playing up to their contracts as game-changing difference makers instead of average starters. Until that happens, Carroll’s squad has earned the pretender label.