Bumpus: Seahawks are ‘built for tight ends to have success’
Oct 21, 2023, 10:11 AM
Noah Fant of the Seattle Seahawks avoids a tackle on Oct. 2, 2023. (Al Bello/Getty Images)
(Al Bello/Getty Images)
The Seattle Seahawks didn’t come away with many points last week, but it wasn’t for lack of opportunity.
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Seattle scored just 13 points in a 17-13 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, and the lack of scoring was made worse as the Seahawks had just 10 points in five trips to the red zone.
Former NFL receiver Michael Bumpus shared the importance of the Seahawks’ tight ends throughout the week on Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy.
“I will die on this hill. This team is built for tight ends to have success,” he said Monday when asked which position group, when involved in the offense, leads the team to success. “Week 1, the tight ends had a total of four targets, 25 combined yards – that’s 7.4% of the offense when it comes to passing yards. You take an ‘L’ (against the Rams). The next week, you get 10 targets, 132 yards, 42% of the offense – ‘W.’ Or you got nine targets, 79 yards, 26% of the offense when it comes to passing, you get a ‘W.’ The next week, you got 63 yards, 46% of the passing yards, you get a ‘W.’ And then you get back down to 8% (Sunday).
“When they are under 10 to 12% when it comes to these guys and their yardage, when it comes to the contributions in the pass game, you’re probably gonna lose that football game.”
When the Hawks use their tight ends more, Bumpus said, “everything is open.”
“That means the run game is going. That means that linebackers are biting down. You get that big package in there, you got the guys heading to the flat, intermediate routes – it’s so simple sometimes. Lean on the tight ends,” he said. “I know you’ve got a superstar in DK (Metcalf) and in (Tyler) Lockett, you want to use your new receiver that you got (in Jaxon Smith-Njigba), but it just ain’t working right now. You get the tight ends involved more, you win football games. Let’s get back to it.”
Listen to the second hour of Monday’s Bump and Stacy at this link or in the player near the top of this story.
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