Seahawks Instant Reaction: 710 ESPN Seattle on 33-30 OT loss to Titans

The Seahawks fell to 1-1 on the season Sunday with a 33-30 loss to the Tennessee Titans, which came after Seattle took a 24-9 lead into halftime.

Fast Facts: Henry, Titans run past Hawks | Good, Bad, Ugly

As we do after every Seahawks game, we have collected the instant reactions of 710 ESPN Seattle’s voices to the loss. Read what they have to say below, and tune in all day Monday for full coverage on the Seahawks’ loss beginning with The Mike Salk Show at 6 a.m. and The Pete Carroll Show at 9:30.

Mike Salk – The Mike Salk Show

Halfway through this game I admit to letting my mind wander towards the rest of this season and asking some fun questions.

Could this team be special? Could they finish with a record far beyond what I had originally hoped for? Could we see home field playoff games all the way through?

A few hours later, the questions were a whole lot different.

Does this offense have a counterpunch and an ability to adjust? Can this defense generate consistent pressure? Did a Pete Carroll team just give up 212 yards rushing at home? Shouldn’t an elite quarterback do more with the ball in overtime (needing only a field goal) than two uncatchable passes and a game-losing sack?

The Seahawks have been brought back to earth and now will need to answer some of those tough questions before the meat of their schedule starts in a few weeks. And if they don’t solve some of their issues up front (on both offense and defense), the next round of questions will get a lot harder.

Bob Stelton – Wyman and Bob

The Titans had 187 total yards and nine points at the end of the first half. Derrick Henry had 35 yards on 13 carries and no touchdowns. The Hawks were up 24-9.

Then in the second half, the 2020 (first half of the season) version of the Seahawks’ defense showed up along with the 2020 (second half of the season) version of the Seahawks’ offense.

Bottom line, they choked this one away in the second half, leading to overtime, and there is plenty of blame to go around.

Henry rushed 17 times in the second half for 126 yards and three touchdowns. Seattle running back Chris Carson in the second half, meanwhile, had just four carries for 10 yards.

The Hawks lost the time of possession in both halves – 18:44 to 11:16 in the first half, and 19:34 to 10:26 in the second half. The defense did a lot of bending but not breaking in the first half, but they definitely broke in the second half. And when they needed the offense to pick them up, they had gone flat as well. Seattle scored a total of six points in the second half and overtime. The Titans put up 24 points in that same amount of time.

There is more than enough blame to go around. The offense, defense, play-calling, ill-timed penalties, poor officiating (hurting both teams), lack of execution, etc. It was a collective fail! Now we’ll see how resilient this team is after one of the more disturbing losses in recent memory.

The Groz – 710 ESPN Seattle host emeritus

The Seahawks were 52-0 with a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter. Now they are 52-1.

Some will blame the defense. Some will say it was a short honeymoon for new offensive coordinator Shane Waldron. It was a shocking turnaround for the Seahawks, who fell apart on offense and defense, suddenly and completely as they lost the home opener at Lumen Field.

A great first half and a 24-9 halftime lead were trampled by Derrick Henry, whose 60-yard gallop two plays after the Seahawks took that 14-point lead changed the entire game. The Seahawks’ offense disappeared – one first down in their last four possesions. What happened? The defense allowed over 200 yards and 21 points in the fourth quarter and overtime, Jason Myers misses a key extra point, penalty after penalty…

It is a stunning loss and will make for a very interesting week for everyone.

Justin Barnes – The Mike Salk Show

It only took 724 days to happen in front of fans, but the pageantry of a Seahawks home opener certainly hasn’t lost any shine. From the opening performance by Macklemore, a chill-inducing flyover from F-18’s, to Seahawks legend Doug Baldwin raising the 12th Man flag, it doesn’t get much better (or louder) than that. Welcome back, football.

Speaking of loud, leave it to the two players with the loudest entrances  – Bobby Wagner and Jamal Adams  – to also make a couple of the loudest plays of the first half, but that’s about where the big plays ended. This week’s defense just wasn’t even as close to as dominant as it looked against the Colts. Fast forward a couple quarters, several self-inflicted wounds and a ton of rushing yards later, and I don’t know what to make of what I just saw. Derrick Henry looks much faster in person and taunting penalties will be the death of me, but this didn’t look like the same defense.

The offense didn’t look much better. The balance was gone, tight ends were quiet, and the dominant O-line we saw against the Colts appeared to be hiding somewhere with last week’s Wizards. Scoring 30 points should be enough against any team, but today that equaled overtime. And giving Russ the ball when all you need is a field goal should be automatic, right? Not today. That deafening noise at kickoff was now a painful, exhausted, deafening quiet.

Jake Heaps – Jake and Stacy

The #Seahawks offense going 4-12 on 3rd down conversations is not acceptable. Both sides have their issues but that to me stands out the most. Quick three and outs in 3 out 4 final possessions.

— Jake Heaps (@jtheaps9) September 19, 2021