'It's Bittersweet': Trio of Sacks Not Enough For Carlos Dunlap, Seahawks in Loss to Rams
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INGLEWOOD, CA — From a pair of Pro Bowl selections to holding the second-highest sack total in Bengals history, Seahawks defensive end Carlos Dunlap has accomplished a lot in his 12-year NFL career. However, there's one rather large milestone that has eluded him for over a decade: winning a playoff game.
As Dunlap's age 32 season approaches its conclusion, the reality that the ending will be an all too familiar one has begun to set in. Despite his best efforts on Tuesday night, which included 3.0 sacks of Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, the Seahawks suffered their ninth loss of the 2021 season by a score of 20-10. As a result, their odds of sneaking into the postseason dropped all the way down to less than 0.1 percent, courtesy of FiveThirtyEight.com.
At the conclusion of arguably his best performance of the year, Dunlap stepped up to the podium for his post-game press conference. While he arrived donning a light-up, Seahawks-branded Christmas sweater, his mood was anything but joyous. Knowing that his drought will unfortunately continue for yet another year, the only thing he could understandably focus on was the fact his team has fallen well short of its goal.
"It's bittersweet," Dunlap began. "I would love to cap it off with a win. Three [sacks] is what it is, but I would like the opportunity to cap it off with a win."
Sitting at a record of 5-9, Seattle has secured its first sub .500 season since 2011 just a year after winning the vaunted NFC West.
Coming over in a midseason trade with Cincinnati, Dunlap played a key role in the team's run to a division title. He recorded 5.0 sacks over the course of his first eight games in a Seahawks uniform, helping them clinch a four-game winning streak to close out the regular season before hosting the Rams in the wild-card round.
But on that crisp January evening at Lumen Field, Seattle's season came to a close with a 10-point loss to Los Angeles. Nearly a year later, it happened again—déjà vu.
While the circumstances and setting were different, the outcome followed a similar script; a stagnant, dysfunctional Seahawks offense failed to consistently put points on the board while the defense held on for dear life before succumbing to several explosive plays. Of course, having lost eight of their first 11 games, their eventual demise was predictable in nature. But the finality of it all, coming at the hands of the Rams again, strikes a familiar chord.
It's a fitting end for a team that has massively underachieved across the board. Dunlap is no exception, entering Tuesday night's game with just 1.5 sacks on 21 pressures. His ineffectiveness led to a severe decrease in snaps, going from an average of 34.7 from Weeks 1-10 to just 9.3 in Weeks 11-13.
"We've underperformed," Dunlap said of his and the team's struggles. "I got very high expectations for me and my teammates. We all are holding ourselves accountable for our stake and how our season is going, and we know we have every bit the ability to, you know, have a completely different season, but it hasn't shook up that way and today was... yeah, another tally in the column that we did not want it in."
Dunlap has played better as of late, sacking quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo for a safety and making a game-sealing pass deflection on just seven reps in a 30-23 win over the 49ers. That partially resulted in his snap counts going back up to 28 and 21 in the Seahawks' last two games, respectively. For Tuesday night, in particular, this sudden increase was very much calculated.
With Los Angeles offensive linemen Joseph Noteboom and Rob Havenstein both on the reserve/COVID-19 list, Seattle let the veteran Dunlap go to work on replacement right tackle Bobby Evans. Dunlap got the best of Evans on his first and third sacks of the night, with the second coming against left tackle Andrew Whitworth—his former teammate in Cincinnati. He also added a tackle of receiver Ben Skowronek, stopping him short of the line to gain on a key third down.
Disappointingly, his efforts would go in vain as the Seahawks saw their fate confirmed.
"Well, I think that Carlos took advantage of his opportunity against the guy who came in for Havenstein," head coach Pete Carroll assessed. "I know he had 3.0 sacks, I think one of them was on the right side. I think two on the left. They had to play a backup there. Carlos has been around a long time. He had one of his best games, rushing. So, I thought he took advantage of his opportunities really well. This was a game about opportunities. You know, some of them we captured and some of them we didn't and it's really frustrating to have to live with that."
Although math hasn't officially eliminated them just yet, Dunlap and his colleagues know the truth: they'll be cleaning out their lockers following their Week 18 trip to Arizona. Game checks, contract incentives, statistics and—perhaps most importantly—pride and respect for the sport are all that's left to play for in these final three games.
Of course, the desire to win in Seattle is not dead.
"Just ready to go home, look at this tape, find the corrections," Dunlap said of what happens next. "Continue to try to excel in my role and be a leader for my young boys. I think, us as a defense, personally, we're catching fire here late in the season. But we play the game to win and we didn't do enough to win today."
With his family set to make the trip to the Pacific Northwest for the holidays, Dunlap is especially keen on a victory over the Bears this Sunday. So until the final whistle blows on this heartbreaking year, it's business as usual.
