There wasn't much the Seattle Seahawks and their coaches could have done against the Detroit Lions to change the result last Monday night, given the shape their defensive line was in. However, Sunday's home loss to the lowly New York Giants represented a welcome-to-the-NFL rookie moment for head coach Mike Macdonald and his coordinators.
As poorly as they played in all three phases, Seattle still had a chance to send the game to overtime. However, Jason Myers' field goal attempt was blocked and returned for a touchdown. That ugly final note was one of several problematic plays from Jay Harbaugh's special teams unit and part of a bigger pattern of errors and near-misses this season.
Defensively, Macdonald was admittedly missing some key pieces. However, the Giants were without both Malik Nabers and Devin Singletary and they still managed to out-maneuver him most of the game. That Daniel Jones finished with no turnovers and a passer rating over 100 tells you all you need to know.
Meanwhile, offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb called a head-scratching game, predicated on making Geno Smith carry the team on his back despite practically having no protection at right tackle whatsoever. Smith threw 40 passes and got sacked seven times, all while star running back Ken Walker only got five carries all day.
Here's what Grubb had to say for himself following Tuesdays walkthrough practice, per Bob Condotta at the Seattle Times.
Ryan Grubb on run/pass problem
"I'll own that. Gotta get the ball to Ken more. And I think we had plenty of run game in the plan. It didn't have anything to do with not having enough calls for that, just didn't get called. For us we learned on the wrong thing and I think if you give Ken 10 more touches, the team more touches, things are gonna look different. So, that's 100% on me."
In his defense, Grubb had called a pretty brilliant game against a very tough Lions defense the previous week so he deserves a bit of grace.
Still, this was a pretty jarring and disappointing performance overall from Grubb, Harbaugh and Macdonald. Hopefully they are professionally pissed off enough to bring their A-game on Thursday night against the San Francisco 49ers.
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