SEATTLE -- Geno Smith and DK Metcalf were trying to explain an inexplicable loss when they both hit on the same theme in their postgame press conferences.
“I’m surprised, yes I am,” Smith said after the Seahawks fell 30-13 to the visiting Los Angeles Rams in Sunday’s season opener. “I didn’t expect to come out and lose at all, let alone in this fashion. But hats off to the Rams. They wanted it more. They played harder and they executed better.”
Said Metcalf: “I just felt like the Rams just played harder than us. Their defense played harder than our offense and they reaped the benefits of it.”
As troubling as it may be for effort to be an issue in the NFL, that may be the best explanation for a performance from a team that’s considered a legitimate contender in the NFC. It wasn’t just that the Seahawks laid an egg on both sides of the ball en route to their biggest margin of defeat at home since 2017. It was also that it came against a rebuilding Rams team that was 5-point underdogs while playing without its best offensive weapon in wide receiver Cooper Kupp. That meant they had only eight players on Sunday who were either starters or regular contributors from their 2021 team that won the Super Bowl.
Unlike so many Seahawks games that start slow and finish with a flurry, this one followed the exact opposite script. It began with the feel-good vibes of Bobby Wagner’s return to Seattle after a season with the Rams. The future Hall of Fame linebacker received the loudest ovation from the Lumen Field crowd since Marshawn Lynch came back late in the 2019 season, then led all players with 19 tackles.
Seattle scored in each of its first three possessions to take a 13-7 lead into halftime, but what had the makings of a stress-free victory instead devolved into a mess of third-down ineptitude, costly penalties and next to no offense in the second half. The Seahawks were outgained 257-12 over the final two quarters for their fewest yards in any half since the 1979 season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
“I'll be the first to say that, as always, you can put that on me,” said Smith, who finished 16 of 26 for 112 yards and a touchdown. “It's my job to make sure we're ready, that we’re always prepared, always competing. I just feel like we didn't do that to the best of our ability in the second half. It’s just one game. Obviously not the way we wanted to start, but the good part is that it's not 17. So we’ve got to figure out how to get better from this and we’ve got 16 opportunities to go out there and right this wrong.”
Accountability was about the only thing the Seahawks nailed on Sunday. They finished 2 of 9 on third down, which was the Achilles heel of an otherwise strong offense in 2022. The difference in the opener was they didn’t make up for it with explosive plays, only managing one that gained more than 15 yards.
It didn’t help that Seattle lost Abe Lucas and Charles Cross to injuries, forcing them to play much of the second half with backups at both tackle spots. Coach Pete Carroll said Cross has a sprained big toe and that X-rays “didn’t look bad.” Lucas’ right knee -- the same one that bothered him over the summer -- “just got really sore,” Carroll said.
Defensively, Seattle allowed the Rams to convert 11 of 17 tries on third down, plus a fourth-and-1 conversion that resulted in a touchdown. Run defense was the biggest question mark for the Seahawks and their rebuilt front seven, but their pass rush was the real issue Sunday, as they held Los Angeles to only 2.3 yards per carry. Seattle only managed two official quarterback hits and zero sacks despite Matthew Stafford (24 of 38, 334 yards) dropping back 39 times.
“We’ve got to get to the quarterback, plain and simple,” defensive tackle Jarran Reed said. “We have got to get home ... We’ve got to win our one-on-ones and we’ve got to communicate as one. That’s unacceptable. That’s on us. We’ve got to take that to the chin and we’ve got to go be better starting next Monday.”
Carroll pointed to coverage as an issue in addition to the pass rush, while pointing the finger at himself for a miscalculation in the game plan.
“We didn't get heat on him at all, and we needed to generate it,” Carroll said. “I look at it as a little bit of misjudgment on my part that we would be able to do things we’ve been doing and we’d be able to play a good football game, and it didn't work out that way. We needed to pressure them more and get heat on them to cover them up and get off the darn field.”
Carroll was more troubled by what happened between the whistles than afterward, though he called the fourth-quarter penalties on Metcalf and safety Quandre Diggs a “terrible” look. Fans were already heading for the exits when Metcalf (taunting) and Diggs (unnecessary roughness) were flagged for 15-yard penalties in the closing minutes.
According to ESPN Stats & Information, Metcalf has now been penalized eight times for either unnecessary roughness, unsportsmanlike conduct, taunting or disqualification. That’s the most in the NFL since he debuted in 2019.
“I seen their coaches yelling at me or saying something to me, and their players, and I let that get to me and I retaliated,” said Metcalf, who scored Seattle’s only touchdown. “The second man always gets called. I’ve just got to be better in that aspect.”
The Seahawks have to be better in just about every aspect if they want to avoid their first 0-2 start since 2018. Next up is a road game against a Detroit Lions team that’s well-rested and riding high after upsetting the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs in the Thursday night opener.
“This is a big challenge for us to bounce back,” Carroll said. “Look what we're going against. We’re going to go against one of the hottest teams in the world right now coming up in Detroit. We'll see how that goes. But now it's about us, and digging back into it.”