Grading the Seahawks’ 30-24 loss to the Panthers

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll stepped to the podium in the bowels of Lumen Field after Sunday’s 30-24 loss to the Carolina Panthers and delivered what might have been the understatement of the season.

“This game didn’t go at all like we had planned,” Carroll said.

No it didn’t, as the Seahawks let the Panthers drive for a field goal the first time they had the ball – a drive that set a tone of physical dominance even though it didn’t finish in the end zone. Then on the first play of the Seahawks’ opening offensive series, quarterback Geno Smith threw an interception that led to another quick score by the Panthers.

It got better for a while but ended feeling a lot worse, as the Panthers used another punishing drive – one that ended in the end zone – to finish it off.

When it was done, one stat said it all – Carolina had 223 yards rushing on 46 attempts, and the Seahawks had 46 yards rushing on 14.

And on that happy note, here are the grades.

Quarterback

Geno Smith admitted this was not his finest hour, as he threw two interceptions and couldn’t move the team during a second-half stretch in which Seattle punted on three consecutive possessions as the Panthers put the game away. Obviously, he gets sort of a pass on the second interception, which came when he thought he had a free play, believing the Panthers had jumped offside. But the first interception was just a bad pass, and he just seemed off target more often than in any other game this season. He finished 21 of 36, a season-low 58.3% completion percentage. Still, he was also most of the Seahawks’ offense much of the day when they couldn’t run the ball at all. Grade: C-minus

Running back

This spot has to be graded on a curve. Without Kenneth Walker III and DeeJay Dallas – and long without Rashaad Penny – expectations had to be tempered for what Seattle would get out of its running backs. And Carroll seemed to place more of the blame for the lack of a running attack on the offensive line, seeming to say that the yards the backs got were about what was to be had. Still, Seattle rarely will win getting 28 yards on 10 carries out of its backs. And though there was much pregame speculation on who would start, Travis Homer got most of the snaps and almost all the carries – 26 yards on nine attempts – in his first start since the 2019 season and third of his career. Grade: C

Receiver

So how bad might this have been without some good plays from the receivers? DK Metcalf had a drop late in the third quarter that didn’t help, and the Seahawks found themselves covered a few times by a secondary that has been playing well. But Tyler Lockett’s toe-tap TD, Metcalf’s TD late in the second quarter and Marquise Goodwin having his best day as a Seahawk with 95 yards on five receptions with a TD served as about the only highlights of the day for Seattle. Grade: B-plus

Tight end

An ineffectual day for this group in the passing game – three receptions on six targets for 30 yards – and the blocking was a struggle all day in the running game. Carolina’s linebackers, suffice to say, had a nice day. Grade: C-minus

Offensive line

This is still a promising group with some good foundational pieces at tackle. But as the season has progressed it’s become apparent that the run blocking needs work. Take out Penny and Walker making a lot of big plays, and the running game has been exposed greatly of late. A lot of that falls on the offensive line. Smith did have some time to throw when needed during the second-quarter stretch, when the comeback seemed imminent. But that wasn’t where the game got away in the second half. Grade: C-minus

Defensive line

OK, here’s where things start to get ugly. Seattle was short-handed with end Shelby Harris out sick and tackle Al Woods – who was also playing a bit more end to make up for Harris’ absence – leaving because of a heel injury. Still, that left Poona Ford, Bryan Mone, Quinton Jefferson and 2019 first-round draft pick L.J. Collier to clog things up front – all players Seattle has significant investments in either financially or draft wise – and they didn’t get it done when it needed to get done and haven’t for a few weeks now. The absences mean we won’t give this a failing grade. Grade: D

Linebacker

The pass rush from the outside backers was inconsistent. There wasn’t much early, then there were two sacks on consecutive possessions in the second quarter from Darrell Taylor and Bruce Irvin. And then Carolina barely needed to throw the rest of the game, leaving Seattle at two sacks. And all those rushing yards fall heavily on ILBs Jordyn Brooks and Cody Barton – how many times did the Panthers backs churn for extra yards? This is a game in which you throw the tackle stats out the window under the adage that somebody has to make the tackle. More important was where the tackle was being made. On 46 Carolina runs, only one time was a back tackled for a loss. Grade: D

Secondary

The Panthers’ running game stood out, but they did score first on a crossing pattern in which there appeared to be some obvious miscommunication in the back end. And while there were a few good plays – Tariq Woolen’s pass breakup on the first series when the Panthers were forced to settle for a field goal – there wasn’t a lot of playmaking or run-stopping. One personnel note – Johnathan Abram saw his first action as a Seahawk and came off the edge on a blitz on a play in the third quarter to help hurry a Sam Darnold pass and saw a bit of action regularly from there. Grade: D

Special teams

This was the one bright spot. Had Seattle won, the happy story of this one would have been the kickoff returns of Godwin Igwebuike – who was elevated off the practice squad Saturday and saw his first action as a Seahawk. His 50-yarder set up the Seattle TD before the end of the first half, and his 35-yarder set up the field goal to start the second half. He might have won himself a permanent job. Seattle also forced a fumble on a late punt, though unfortunately didn’t get the recovery. And Jason Myers made another field goal and is now 24 of 25 this season. Hopefully he has a chance to kick a few more that matter. Grade: B