Reaction vs. Reality after Seahawks’ loss to Cincinnati

Our weekly attempt at separating the knee-jerk reactions from the realities of the Seahawks’ most recent game, in this case a 27-24 overtime loss to Cincinnati.

Knee-jerk reaction: What is Michael Bennett’s deal? It’s bad enough that he continues to jump offsides, but then he loses his mind and goes after Andy Dalton to draw a costly penalty. His penalties are killing the Seahawks.

Reality: Bennett’s unnecessary roughness penalty on Dalton was exactly that – unnecessary. It was also costly, pushing the Seahawks back 51 yards and forcing them to kick a field goal when they would have been in much better position to score a touchdown following Earl Thomas’ interception return. But it would be unfair to mention the impact that Bennett’s blunder had on the game without acknowledging how well he played aside from it. Bennett made six tackles – including a sack and another tackle for loss – and he forced the fumble that Bobby Wagner returned for a Seahawks touchdown. The insanely quick jump that Bennett got off the snap on that play is the tradeoff for his propensity to jump offsides. Sometimes his timing is perfect and he blows up a play in the backfield. Sometimes he’s wrong and draws a penalty. You have to take the bad with the good when it comes to Bennett. There’s usually way more good.

Knee-jerk reaction: Cary Williams got exposed Sunday. No wonder the Eagles got rid of him. The Seahawks should have bit the salary-cap bullet and paid whatever it would have taken to re-sign Byron Maxwell.

Reality: This wasn’t Williams’ best game, which he admitted to reporters afterward. He committed the cardinal sin in Seattle’s defense of getting beat deep, leading Seattle to move Richard Sherman from his usual post at left cornerback so that he could follow Pro Bowl wide receiver A.J. Green. But Williams had quietly played quite well over the first four games, and he might have been at his best last Monday night against Detroit. What he did in that game and the three that preceded it was what he didn’t do Sunday against Cincinnati – stay in position to not give up big passing plays. Cornerbacks not named Richard Sherman are going to have passes completed against them here and there, and even Sherman allowed some underneath completions Sunday. But what the Seahawks won’t tolerate from their cornerbacks is getting beat deep. That hadn’t been a problem for Williams until Sunday. As for Maxwell, there was no chance the Seahawks could have afforded the $10.5 million-per-year contract he got from Philadelphia, which led them to sign Williams to a shorter-term deal with a $6 million average. As poor as Williams looked in coverage at times Sunday, the Seahawks have so far gotten the better end of that cornerback swap.

Knee-jerk reaction: The Seahawks were way too conservative on offense in the second half. They could have put the game away had they not played it so safe while trying to protect a lead.

Reality: It’s true that the Seahawks’ offense bears much of the responsibility for not putting this game out of reach despite multiple chances to do so. It’s also true that Seattle’s offense was completely ineffective after Wagner’s fumble return gave the Seahawks a 17-point lead in the third quarter. In fact, Seattle gained only three first downs and never crossed midfield on any of its six possessions after that point – and the possession that preceded that defensive touchdown ended with a red-zone interception. But it’s hard to call the ineffectiveness of Seattle’s offense a product of an overly-conservative approach when you consider that the Seahawks threw the ball on all seven of the third-down situations they faced over those final six possessions. One of those third-down situations required 2 yards, and four more required either 3 or 4 yards. As well as they had ran the ball that game, the Seahawks wouldn’t have repeatedly thrown the ball on third-and-short if they were playing scared and/or worried only about milking the clock.

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