Seahawks 'Deep Freeze': 5 Takes on Geno Smith & Loss at Chiefs
Nearly putting their postseason hopes on ice in chilly Arrowhead Stadium, the Seattle Seahawks failed to capitalize on numerous scoring opportunities amid an offensive implosion and suffered a devastating 24-10 loss to the Chiefs on Christmas Eve.
Slogging through another tough outing, Geno Smith completed 25 out of 40 passes for 215 yards and threw a late touchdown to tight end Noah Fant, while rookie Ken Walker III eclipsed 100 rushing yards for the first time since Week 9. In defeat, Darrell Taylor registered Seattle's lone sack on Patrick Mahomes and the defense held Kansas City to just 77 rushing yards and 3.5 yards per carry.
Coach Pete Carroll suggested Seattle has to work on "everything'' after this one. We'll be more specific ...
Here's five quick takeaways from the Seahawks fifth loss in six games:
1. Atrocious situational football cost Smith and Seattle in a winnable road game.
Out of the gate, the Seahawks didn't do themselves any favors on offense with penalties and negative plays on first and second down killing drives before they could get rolling.
On their first four possessions, they didn't pick up a single first down and the Chiefs didn't face a third down shorter than third-and-6, allowing their pass-rushers to pin their ears back hunting down Smith. Even after they finally moved the chains on their fifth drive, they promptly reverted back to ineptitude with a negative run on second down, moving them off-schedule to set up third-and-11.
For the half, they converted only one out of seven third down opportunities and also were stuffed on fourth down after returner Godwin Igwebuike gifted the offense with field position past midfield.
Coming out of halftime, Smith and the Seahawks didn't perform any better on third downs, only converting once on seven tries in the final two quarters. Making matters worse, with better results on early downs helping them finally sustain drives, they advanced the football deep into Chiefs territory three times down to the 34, 29, and 20-yard line, somehow failing to score a single point.
On the first two opportunities, Smith's fourth down throws to Colby Parkinson and Laquon Treadwell fell short of the sticks. Then, midway through the fourth quarter with the game still within reach, the quarterback didn't appear to be on the same with receiver Marquise Goodwin and threw an ugly end zone interception to Juan Thornhill.
Sealing their fate, they finished with three points on five possessions that advanced into Kansas City territory.
2. Despite early struggles, Ken Walker III and the run game came to life after halftime.
Contributing to Seattle's third-down problems in the first half, Walker didn't have much to work with as the offensive line continued to have issues creating push against an aggressive Kansas City front seven. Bottling up the rookie from the start, the Chiefs held him to 16 yards on nine carries in the first half, including registering three tackles for loss and two tackles at the line of scrimmage for no gain. But unlike past weeks, offensive coordinator Shane Waldron didn't abandon the run game and stuck with it, opening the door for Walker to have a big second half and help the offense find some traction.
With Waldron mixing in more under center runs and a mix of between the tackles and perimeter runs, the Seahawks leaned heavily on Walker out of halftime, as he rushed 17 times for 91 yards to fuel three possessions that went deep into Chiefs territory. Putting his wheels on display, he amassed five carries of at least nine yards in the half, including a 20-yarder for a game-high.
Unfortunately, even with Walker running well and the offensive line bouncing back with backup right tackle Stone Forsythe checking into the lineup, it wasn't enough as the team couldn't find a way to finish drives until it was too little, too late.
3. Clint Hurtt's defense turned in a valiant, albeit uneven, defensive outing against the NFL's most potent offense.
Under fire over the past six weeks as opponents have ran roughshod on the Seahawks' defense and missing two key starters in Ryan Neal and Al Woods, coordinator Hurtt's unit had every reason to fold this week trying to slow down Mahomes and the No. 1 scoring offense in the NFL. But while they did allow 24 points, Uchenna Nwosu and company gave everything they had, opening the game with a quick three-and-out, holding the Chiefs to two third-down conversions on six chances, and forcing three punts in the first half to keep Seattle within striking distance.
More impressively, even as Smith and the offense kept tripping up drive after drive and failed to capitalize on almost countless opportunities to win the game, Seattle's defense kept battling in the final two quarters.
On Kansas City's first three possessions of the half, Mahomes and his counterparts produced 13 net yards and finished each drive with a Tommy Townsend punt, including after safety Johnathan Abram made a fantastic play sticking with perennial All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce during a scramble drill for a key third down pass breakup.
For the game, the Chiefs converted on only three out of 11 third down chances, punted six times, and also turned the ball over on downs once. If the offense would have been able to do anything at Arrowhead, the defense played more than good enough to win in a hostile environment.
4. Ultimately, explosives did Seahawks defense in again with minimal support from the other side of the ball.
Though Seattle's defense played better than expected and held an electric offense in check for much of the afternoon, with no margin for error, they still allowed too many chunk plays to set up scoring drives.
Trailing 7-0 early in the second quarter, Kelce fought through illegal contact from safety Teez Tabor and made an impressive catch reaching down toward his shoe tops for a 27-yard completion down to the Seahawks nine-yard line. Two plays later, Mahomes made them pay with an easy touchdown toss to backup running back Jerrick McKinnon to extend the lead to 14. Moments later, poor tackling that has plagued Seattle all year long returned on a busted screen play as Isiah Pacheco rumbled 32 yards to set up a Harrison Butker field goal before halftime.
In the second half, with the Seahawks still down 17-3 with under eight minutes to play, the dam broke in the form of back-to-back explosive plays to Kelce.
First, Mahomes hit him in stride for a 20-yard completion after he beat linebacker Jordyn Brooks across the field on a crosser. On the very next play, Brooks didn't stay with Kelce as he ran down the seam and the quarterback hit him over the top, allowing the athletic tight end to race all the way to the Seattle eight-yard line for a 52-yard gain. Mahomes then put the dagger in the visiting team by scrambling to his right and successfully diving for the pylon with give Kansas City an insurmountable 21-point advantage with under four minutes left.
5. Shoddy clock and game management helped take the wind out of Seattle's sails in both halves.
On the field, the Seahawks simply didn't execute well enough on offense to give themselves a chance to win the game. But the coaching staff didn't exactly help their players succeed either thanks to poor game management from a clock perspective.
In the first half, play calls came in late to Smith on two different occasions with long third downs looming, forcing the quarterback to call timeout. Though they did manage to get a field goal from Jason Myers with one second left to play, not having at least one of those timeouts nearly cost them points when Smith's third and goal throw snuck out of the end zone right before the clock struck double zeroes.
In the second half, the timeout issues persisted.
After Walker scampered outside for an 11-yard gain and a first down, the Seahawks were in disarray at the line of scrimmage and Smith was forced to again call timeout before a first down play. Then in the fourth quarter, after they had advanced the football all the way to the Chiefs 20-yard line and picked up another new set of downs with a Walker run, they burned another timeout with the play clock set to expire after breaking the huddle late. Two plays later, Smith threw his back-breaking interception to Thornhill.
Adding in these timeout miscues with the questionable decision to pass up on points with two botched fourth-down opportunities in the half, everyone involved with the offense had a hand in the cookie jar when it came to their dismal performance.
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