Clayton: Breaking down the Seahawks after their preseason opener

Problems were many in the first half of the Seahawks’ 20-7 preseason loss to the Las Vegas Raiders on Saturday.

Seahawks preseason opener: Gallant on standouts | Rost’s takeaways

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll didn’t play 31 players, third-most in the league in the first week of preseason games. The offensive line looked line it was thrown together, and you could tell how uncomfortable the linemen were. Center Kyle Fuller was the only potential starter who played. He looked good, but with no joint practices and a limited number of padded practices, the line was going to be vulnerable to the Raiders’ defense.

Because of that, you could see that the Seahawks decided just to pass the ball in the first half. They had only three running plays in the first half, including one by quarterback Alex McGough. Geno Smith suffered a concussion, so McGough and Sean Mannion took the rest of the snaps in the game.

Things got better in the second half, though, and the Seahawks made it a competitive game.

Let’s look at the Seahawks’ preseason opener.

• Some good things happened on defense. The Seahawks had four sacks, seven tackles for a loss and five quarterback pressures. Alton Robinson was the star of the show. He was great on pressures and even covered players in pass coverage.

• Running back DeeJay Dallas secured a job on the 53-man roster. He had five rushes for 24 yards and two catches for 45 yards, including a 43-yard touchdown reception.

Down the sidelines, @dallasdeejay was GONE 😮💨

Q3: SEA 7, LV 13

📺: #SEAvsLV on FOX pic.twitter.com/ocKbWxjRHA

— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) August 15, 2021

• Freddie Swain continues to look like the Seahawks’ third receiver. He caught three passes for 29 yards and looked good running routes.

• No surprise but sixth-round pick Stone Forsythe was up and down at left tackle. He tended to get out of sync in pass blocking. While he did some good things, he showed his inexperience in his first game in the NFL.

• Ben Burr-Kirven was all over the place filling in at middle linebacker for Bobby Wagner, who was given the day off. He had six tackles and six assists, most on the team. Cody Barton also showed a lot of good things, making two sacks.

Make it sack number ✌️ of the night for Cody Barton! #GoHawks x #SEAvsLV pic.twitter.com/7QJTtuBb05

— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) August 15, 2021

• Darrell Taylor looked great in his first NFL action. He started at right defense end and did a good job. Carlos Dunlap said during the game he needs to teach Taylor that once he gets around a block to cut a tighter angle to get to the quarterback. Taylor should be an important player in the Seahawks’ pass-rush rotation.

• Ahkello Witherspoon looked great at cornerback while Tre Flowers struggled on two plays in coverage.

• On a different topic, Tyler Lockett was No. 76 in the NFL Top 100, which is voted on by players. Safety Quandre Diggs was 78th. You would have to anticipate the Seahawks will have at least six in the top 100, as we’re still waiting to see where Russell Wilson, Bobby Wagner, Jamal Adams and DK Metcalf fall. At No. 67 on the list was K.J. Wright, who is still looking for a home.

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