Best thing about Seahawks’ preseason opener at Las Vegas? Russell Wilson missed it
The best thing Pete Carroll and his Seahawks did all weekend in Las Vegas?
Not playing Russell Wilson.
And, by the way, how’s the new contract for Duane Brown coming along?
As Wilson said last weekend: “We’ve got to figure that out, because we need Duane Brown.
“I mean, not having Duane Brown out there is a pretty significant deal.”
With four reserves starting on an offensive line one might charitably have called patchwork, Wilson wore a headset standing along the sideline Saturday night inside the glittering, clear-roofed palace known as Allegiant Stadium just off The Strip in Las Vegas.
Geno Smith had a concussion.
And the Seahawks’ new offense had old problems — pass protection, and a lot of it — in a 20-7 loss to the Raiders in the preseason opener.
“Not good enough to win a football game,” coach Pete Carroll said, flatly. “Really, on both sides of the ball, we needed to do some things better — particularly on third down. Third down was a nightmare for us, particularly on defense.”
As a public-service announcement for those who endured the team’s Saturday night and fear a 2-14 season is upon the Pacific Northwest: Only one Seahawks offensive starter played. Wilson never got off the sideline. Only five of 11 starters on defense played. Bobby Wagner’s biggest contribution was congratulating Ryan Neal for his interception in the second quarter.
And it’s Aug. 14.
Good thing for Seattle it’s only Aug. 14.
Wilson, who has never missed a real game in his nine-year career, did his work for the day hours before the game — in the swimming pool of the team’s hotel in suburban Henderson.
What else is there to do on a 104-degree day in Nevada?
After that, the indispensable, $140 million franchise quarterback wisely watched from underneath this luxury dome while standing near new offensive coordinator Shane Waldron.
That is, from a safe distance.
Smith got whacked on the fifth offensive play of Seattle’s preseason. Rookie left tackle Stone Forsythe, the Seahawks’ Plan D while Brown watches training camp instead of practicing in it, chipped inside to help against a blitzing linebacker up the middle. He completely ignored Raiders cornerback Nate Hobbs sprinting right off his left, outside shoulder on a straight line into Smith’s head for a painful sack.
Carroll called it “really unfortunate. “ Without naming Forsythe the coach directly said it was a simple blown assignment on an even simpler blitz look by the Raiders.
Forsythe took responsibility for Smith getting crunched out of the game.
“It was a little rough start for me,” Forsythe said, adding it was difficult facing pass rushers he didn’t have a scouting report on. “Those first few series, kind of a few miscommunications.”
After “just getting adjusted to the speed of the game; it’s a lot different than practice,” the 6-foot-8, 307-pound Forsythe said he felt like he settled in “and sat on them.”
Forsythe felt helped by Waldron calling more runs to begin the second half. That slowed down the Raiders’ raging pass rushers from flying care-free off the edge and around Forsythe.
“Huge building point for me,” he said.
Forsythe was supposed to be learning under the 35-year-old Brown at this stage. But after injuries to veteran backups Jamarco Jones and Cedric Ogbuehi, it’s Forsythe at left tackle with the first and the second units.
Right guard Gabe Jackson rested. Left guard Damien Lewis has been banged up this week. So the Seahawks’ starting offensive line Saturday: Forsythe in his first NFL snaps at left tackle, Jordan Simmons at left guard, center Kyle Fuller, right guard Phil Haynes and right tackle Jake Curhan.
Those five have a combined 10 NFL starts in their careers in those positions, including Fuller’s first at center last November.
THAT’S why Wilson didn’t play.
Six and half minutes into the second quarter, a jittery Smith threw a relatively easy, short pass wildly despite no pressure to end another fruitless Seattle possession. Next, Smith was in the locker room with a team doctor.
Carroll said the plan was to have Smith throw the ball all over the yard, because he never gets that chance during the regular season because Wilson never misses a game. That’s why Seattle threw on 10 straight plays to begin the game, and 13 of 16 snaps in all in its dismal first half.
So, no, not indicative of the increased emphasis on the running game Carroll hired Waldron to revive in 2021.
The plan is for that to happen when lead rusher Chris Carson and the starting offensive line — including, yes, Brown — plays.
With Smith concussed, Waldron turned his attention where it has rarely been during training camp: on third-string quarterback Alex McGough to enter the game.
It was McGough and former Rams backup Sean Mannion for the final 2 1/2 quarters.
Seattle trailed 13-0 at halftime. And it wasn’t even that close.
It would have been worse for the Seahawks but for the excellence of Alton Robinson. The second-year defensive end picked up where he ended his rookie season: deserving of more, and top-of-the-rotation, reps as an edge rusher — and not as the hybrid outside linebacker the coaches are trying.
Robinson broke free off the edge in on Las Vegas quarterback Nathan Peterman throughout the first half to force bad throws. Ryan Neal got a deflected interception deep in Seattle territory in the second quarter after Robinson roared past the offensive tackle and hit Peterman as he threw.
Wagner ran off the sideline and shared a leaping bump to celebrate with Neal following his interception.
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The first half was just ugly for the Seahawks’ new, up-tempo, quicker-passing offense Waldron has been installing this spring and summer.
The total yards through two quarters: Raiders 290, Seahawks 44.
First downs: Las Vegas 18, Seattle 3.
Third downs: Las Vegas 7 for 10, Seattle 1 for 5
Time of possession: Raiders 23:12, Seahawks 6:48.
At least this happened at halftime:
The clear takeaway of the new offense from Saturday night: Waldron’s emphasis on up tempo and increased pace doesn’t work so well when Wilson is wearing headsets instead of a helmet, Brown is back in Seattle, and the unit that had 10 reserves in 11 spots doesn’t get first downs.
But, again, it was Aug. 14. The opener in Indianapolis is still four weeks away.
The defense rests
Less than half the starters on defense were Seahawks regulars.
Seattle had defensive ends Rasheem Green and L.J. Collier plus tackles Bryan Mone and Myles Adams begin the game. The linebackers were former Washington Husky Ben Burr-Kirven in the middle for Wagner, with normal starters Darrell Taylor at strongside and Jordyn Brooks at weakside linebacker.
Green and Taylor has the best and most-active nights of that front seven. Taylor showed the quickness that made him Seattle’s second-round pick last year.
He said of his first NFL game of any kind, a year later than expected: “It was electrifying, satisfying, gratifying.”
The starting secondary had Ahkello Witherspoon and Tre Flowers at cornerbacks, where they have been for most of training camp. The safeties were Ugo Amadi for Jamal Adams (not participating as he tries to finalize his new contract) and recently banged-up Marquise Blair, and Ryan Neal. Neal played as Pro Bowl free safety Quandre Diggs rested.
Flowers doesn’t turn his head
On the game’s opening drive, Flowers was in tight coverage step for step with Raiders wide receiver Zay Jones down the left sideline. Peterman’s precise throw became a completion when Jones sandbagged the ball’s arrival and Flowers did not turn his head to see it. That 28-yard completion set up a 1-yard touchdown dive by Raiders running back Trey Ragas on fourth and goal.
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Flowers had a strong week of practice against DK Metcalf leading into the game. D.J. Reed, who finished last season as the starting right cornerback, has missed the last week with a strained groin. That has opened this opportunity for the 6-foot-3 Flowers to win back the job he had as a rookie in 2018 and in ‘19, as a prototype tall, long Carroll cornerback.
Brooks broke up a third-down pass by Peterman inside the 10-yard line in the second quarter, after Witherspoon alertly took away the quarterback’s first read at the goal line on third down. Their combined play forced Las Vegas to settle for a short field goal and a 10-0 lead.
Ah, the run
In the second half, Waldron sought to settle down the game, and keep the Raiders’ pass rush from teeing off on even deeper reserve linemen blocking for McGough. The Seahawks had one more running play on their first possession of the third quarter (four runs) than they had in the entire first half.
The result: Forsythe, the third-string center Brad Lundblade, left guard Pier-Olivier Lestage from Montreal, right guard Jared Hocker and Jake Curhan at right tackle gave McGough enough time to throw.
“It helped out a lot,” Forsythe said. “I mean, we come out there (to start the game) and kind of go empty (backfield) the first few plays and we are behind, so we know they are in pass-rush mode. So we know we’ve got to play from behind.”
On fourth and 4 on the opening drive of the second half, the Raiders brought a double A-gap blitz with two linebackers up the middle. McGough and running back DeeJay Dallas knew the only Raider who would be assigned to cover his swing route to the right flat was the side’s defensive end. Versus a former college wide receiver at Miami? Mismatch.
McGough flipped the ball over the end to the wide-open Dallas on the right sideline. With no one near from him Vegas to Reno, Dallas sprinted mostly alone for a 43-yard touchdown. Seattle cut Las Vegas’ lead to 13-7.
“From the look, I knew it was going to pop,” Dallas, the fourth-round pick last year said, with a huge grin.
“Oh, I knew ...”
Dallas ran through the back of the end zone to some Seahawks fans partying in the ritzy, ultra-expensive Wynn Field Club suites on field level.
“It was electric. It was electric,” he said, thinking back to the no-fans games of the 2020 pandemic season.
“I can’t wait to get back to Seattle and see what the 12s are about. I haven’t played in front of the 12s for real.”
Forsythe, after the very rocky start, played through three full quarters, getting valuable experience. Undrafted rookie Greg Eiland replaced him at left tackle for the fourth quarter.
The QBs
McGough played into the fourth quarter. Sean Mannion, the recently signed former Oregon State quarterback who was a Rams backup when Waldron coached them, entered with 8 minutes left.
The lines of Seattle’s quarterbacks Saturday:
McGough: 6 for 10 passing, 54 yards, the one TD pass to Dallas, so 5 of his completions went for 11 yards. That shows how many quick routes Waldron is emphasizing in camp—and how vanilla the offense was to keep real regular-season plans under wraps.
Smith: 4 for 10 passing, 46 yards, one concussion.
Mannion: 7 for 11 for 34 yards. His longest completion was 13 yards to undrafted rookie wide receiver Cade Johnson in the final quarter.
Wilson: that morning pool workout, then headset duty all night.
Rare Myers miss(es)
More of a run-pass mix on the next Seahawks drive set up Jason Myers for a field-goal try to cut further into that lead, down to 13-10. But after missing three consecutive field goals in a practice this week, causing Carroll to stop practice to talk to him, Myers misses another one. This one was wide from 50 yards.
Myers holds the Seahawks’ record for most consecutive made field goals in real games, an ongoing record of 37 in a row. He was 24 for 24 last season.
Next Saturday, the Seahawks host the Denver Broncos in the second of three preseason games. Wilson and the starting offense figure to play more in that one.
Of course, playing at all would be a change from Las Vegas.
And, the Seahawks can only hope, a vast improvement.
This story was originally published August 14, 2021 at 9:04 PM.
