Instant Reaction to ugly night for Seahawks in loss to Packers

The primetime matchup between the Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers on Sunday was a one-side affair that was an especially tough pill to swallow of Hawks fans.

Green Bay rolled to a 30-13 win, and the game saw Seattle have to turn to backup quarterback Sam Howell after a knee injury sustained by Geno Smith ended his night in the third quarter.

Recap | Latest on Geno injury | Observations | Stats

The loss drops the Seahawks to 8-6 on the season and into a tie for the NFC West lead with the Los Angeles Rams, who won Thursday over the San Francisco 49ers. The Seahawks and Rams will meet in Southern California in the regular season finale, which is three weeks away.

As we do after every Seahawks game, we have collected the instant reactions of the loss from the voice of Seattle Sports. See what they have to say below, and be sure to listen to the station Monday for even more reaction and analysis beginning with Brock and Salk at 6 a.m. and The Mike Macdonald Show at 9:30 a.m. with the Seahawks head coach.

• Bob Stelton – Wyman and Bob (2-7 p.m. weekdays)

Not the game anybody was expecting to see based on how the Hawks have been playing for the last month.

The fact that the offensive line struggled was not a big surprise considering it was only their performance in last week’s win over Arizona that gave fans reasons for hope that they had found the magic elixir. That obviously was not the case.

The biggest surprise for most is the performance of the defense. Seattle’s D had been averaging just over 17 points allowed over the last five games and under 100 yards rushing allowed. Both of those stats were blown out of the water in this one.

We’ll wait to see the severity of Geno’s injury, but they have three games left, and at this point every one of them is essentially a must win. This stretch will be a huge test for a first-year head coach in Mike Macdonald. Lets hope he’s got some magic left that will get this team to the playoffs.

• Dave Wyman – Wyman and Bob/Seahawks Radio Network analyst

• Brock Huard – Brock and Salk (6-10 a.m. weekdays)

The last few weeks, really since the BYE, SEA’s offense understood it’s limitations & tried to protect an OL that is way over matched in the drop back game

Tonight: 👎🏻
Very few:
Draws. Screens. Move the pocket. Motion. Misdirection. Allowed GB to tee off way too frequently https://t.co/a0NyxqNOk5

— Brock Huard (@BrockHuard) December 16, 2024

• Mike Lefko – Wyman and Bob

If you were looking for a worst-case scenario for Sunday night, it might go something like this: get thoroughly outplayed, and lose your starting center and starting QB to injury.

It was not fair to expect the Seahawks to be among the upper echelon of teams in NFC in Year 1 for head coach Mike Macdonald, but this was a resounding fall back down to Earth after a four-game win streak, and a clear statement about how much better the best teams in this conference truly are.

The Packers scored on every drive in the first half, and it left the Seahawks with no margin for error. That was further compounded by a red zone interception, which is tough in any circumstance but especially in a game where stops were tough to come by for the defense and points were elusive for the offense. It’s simply a throw that can’t be made in that situation.

The concern now lies in the final three weeks of the season. The Seahawks must win out, and might have to do it without their starting quarterback.

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