Tres Cosas: Week 1 learnings

We learned that Bo Nix isn’t much for throwing the ball down the field.

Well, we actually knew that from the past two seasons at Oregon, and I’ve seen plenty of people cite his lack of “air yards” as proof that he wasn’t going to be much of an NFL passer.

You know who else didn’t have much in the way of air yards as a college quarterback? Patrick Mahomes.

That said, Nix was in way over his head, which makes it tough to formulate much in the way of sweeping conclusions about the Seahawks. Still, I’m going to do my best:

1. Tyler Lockett remains cash money.

   At this point, Lockett’s statistics show what a core component he has been to the franchise. He’s one of only two players in Seahawks history to eclipse 8,000 yards receiving. Even that doesn’t capture just how devastatingly efficient he is. He caught six of the seven passes thrown to him. The first was a back-shoulder throw Lockett executed perfectly. The last was a one-handed snag he made to ice the game.

2. Geno Smith can cut you up from a collapsing pocket.

   I’m not sure if the Seahawks will be able to make the playoffs given what we saw from the offensive line in Week 1. I am positive, however, that Smith is the primary reason they will have a chance to make the playoffs given what we saw. He was harassed from the very first snap on Sunday, getting sacked for an 8-yard loss on the Seahawks’ first play from scrimmage. There was a man hanging from his leg on the second play, when Smith was picked off. On Smith’s final pass Sunday, three different defenders were converging on him and he whipped the ball into the absolutely only place it could have resulted in a completion. Any farther inside, Riley Moss deflects that pass. Any farther outside, Lockett couldn’t have reached it. As it was, Lockett needed to reach out with his left hand to corral the ball and bring it into his body. Smith is one of this league’s best passers under pressure.

3. So that’s why they paid Leonard Williams. 

   Williams was certainly not the first defensive lineman the Seahawks have acquired via trade. Sheldon Richardson and Jadaveon Clowney were similar moves for similar compensation. Williams was the one Seattle re-signed, though, and Sunday gave a glimpse of why. On a defensive line that played really well, Williams was the most dominant, and I’m not saying that simply because of the pass pressure he generated – though he was credited with four quarterback hits — but because of how strong he was at the point of attack

   At ths risk of being all pedantic, the Seahawks line is using a technique coaches call two-gapping. This is when a defensive lineman is asked to cover two different run gaps. He does this by holding his position at the line of scrimmage – refusing to be pushed out of the space by a blocker – and then, if the running back enters one of the two gaps he’s responsible for, shed the block and contact the runner. For those long-tenured Seahawks fans, this is something Red Bryant excelled at when Seattle moved him out to defensive end in 2010.

1. Why the hell didn’t Seattle re-sign Damien Lewis? 

   I’m going to air a full-blown rant on the subject this Wednesday so I’m going to save a little ammunition for then, but let me just say that the first-half performance of Seattle’s offensive line would have been back-breaking against an NFL opponent with a competent quarterback. Now I’m willing to cut the Seahawks a little slack regarding the performance of Stone Fosythe at right tackle. The Seahawks ought to buttress that position in the offseason by signing George Fant to serve as a back-up tackle. Except Abe Lucas still hasn’t recovered from offseason knee surgery and then Fant got hurt, meaning Seattle was essentially on RT3. There’s no such excuse for the play of guards Laken Tomlinson and Anthony Bradford. The Seahawks signed up for that debacle, which brings me back to the question of why they weren’t willing to pay to keep Lewis.

2. How much credit should Ryan Grubb get for Seattle’s second half? 

   Kenneth Walker carried on five of Seattle’s first six plays of the second half. He gained four or more yards on each of those carries. Two runs went for more than 10 yards, including a 23-yard touchdown run to cap the drive. Given that Mike Macdonald mentioned the need to run the ball more when he was interviewed at halftime, the temptation is to say that there was a concerted shift in strategy. That’s not the shift I’m interested in, though. Walker ran the ball in the first half, too. He carried it seven times. Only two of those runs gained 4 or more yards. I’m curious to know why the Seahawks started to run the ball more effectively in the second half, and more specifically, whether that was the result of an adjustment from Seattle’s offensive coaching staff. Given that Grubb is new to the NFL, I’m going to spend an awful lot of time this year looking at how he adjusts.

3. Why did Devon Witherspoon bite on Bo Nix’s pump fake? 

   This will not reflect particularly well on me given the emphasis on player safety … however … it is football and I have watched Nix’s 4-yard touchdown scramble at least 25 times, and every time I hope that Witherspoon does not bite on that little pump fake Nix threw and instead tries to run right through Nix.

   One of the things I love most about Witherspoon is that unlike elite cornerbacks such as Sauce Gardner, Witherspoon seems to genuinely enjoy hitting people. Again, I know I’m not supposed to be celebrating these things in 2024, but whatever. While Witherspoon might be giving away 30 pounds to Nix, I really wanted to see that collision at the goal line.

   In a spirit of generosity, I would like to close by offering a piece of advice to young Mr. Nix: To quote Jerry Glanville, the NFL stands for “Not For Long” or it will if you – as a quarterback – consistently offer up your kidneys while performing some half-assed spin move in hopes of reaching the end zone. It worked this time. Barely. But given your success – or more accurately your lack thereof -- against Seattle-based teams over the past three seasons, I hope that you have a long, long football career and that simply isn’t going to happen if you keep inviting these carnivores invitations like that to lacerate your vital organs.