It wasn’t a banner day for the home team
The Seattle Seahawks had a chance to make a statement against the Buffalo Bills this past weekend. And, while the Seahawks did make a statement, it isn’t quite the statement they wanted to make. Buffalo came into Seattle and won 31-10 in a game that wasn’t really even that close.
The Bills dominated this one from the start, allowing just a garbage-time touchdown in the fourth quarter after holding the Seahawks to a field goal in the first three quarters. Buffalo won by holding Seattle’s top players in check, and by capitalizing on some good fortune after Seattle made repeated mistakes in the red zone.
Here’s how our five Seahawks to watch fared this week.
QB Geno Smith
Smith was 10-of-13 for 95 yards in the first half of the game. That’s not terrible. What was terrible was the red-zone execution, or lack thereof, from Seattle. The Seahawks found themselves knocking on the door of what would have been a game-tying touchdown in the second quarter. On 2nd & Goal from the three, center Conor Williams snapped the ball well over Smith’s head, thwarting their efforts and leading to a Jason Myers field goal. On Seattle’s next possession, they had a 4th & Goal from Buffalo’s one-yard line. Williams stepped on Smith’s foot as he dropped back, who then tripped and lost six yards. Scoring threat avoided. While Smith’s final stat line (21-of-29, 212 yards, one interception) doesn’t look terrible, 102 of those yards came in the fourth quarter when Buffalo was already up 31-3.
RB Kenneth Walker III
Buffalo completely dominated this game in the trenches. The Bills rushed 34 times for 164 yards and two scores. The Seahawks, on the other hand, rushed 17 times for 32 yards and a garbage-time score. It was Zach Charbonnet who scored that touchdown and not Walker, who rushed nine times for just 12 yards. Walker caught four passes on five targets for 33 yards, but on the whole, he was a nonfactor in the game.
RT Mike Jerrell
The rookie made his second start, and it wasn’t great. On the first play of the game, Seattle tried to run play-action and let Jerrell block defensive end Greg Rousseau one-on-one. Rousseau blew the play up and knocked the pass down in the backfield. He pressured Smith on the second play of the game, which also came off play-action, leading to a one-yard completion to Walker. Then, on the game’s thrid play, Rousseau once again beat Jerrell and knocked a pass down at the line. Smith only took one sack, but he was under duress for much of the day. Jerrell was ineffective in both the run game and pass protection.
NT Jarran Reed
The veteran had just one tackle on the day, but he saw plenty of time on camera thanks to a fight between him and teammate Derick Hall. After a play where quarterback Josh Allen was just looking to throw the ball away since Buffalo had committed an illegal-shift penalty, Hall leveled him for no apparent reason. That drew a 15-yard flag for roughing the passer, but it also drew Reed’s ire, as he immediately chewed his teammate out. The fighting continued on the sideline, as Reed and Hall scuffled with each other, throwing hands at each others’ facemasks before they were separated. If only the Seahawks would have put up that kind of fight against the Bills!
LB Tyrel Dodson
The Bills knew exactly where to go with the ball in the middle when their old friend Dodson was nearby in coverage. Number 0 was definitely a liability in those scenarios, as the Bills and Allen were able to do mostly what they wanted throughout the afternoon. Dodson had seven tackles, but it was his attempts at covering wide receiver Khalil Shakir and tight end Dalton Kincaid in the middle of the field that were the best developments in the game for Buffalo.