Rost: Yeah, the Seahawks won, but sloppiness shouldn’t be overlooked

My parents went viral – a concept I’m still explaining to them – last Christmas when I posted about them adopting a raccoon. I cautioned them against it for an obvious reason. Raccoons are wild animals, and while their little people hands and fuzzy faces are cute and seemingly harmless, they can snap and bite at any moment.

Seahawks win | Instant Reaction | Observations | 5 crazy things | Stats

It’s a horrible analogy for Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets, but one I’m using anyway because it makes sense to me. Forget their three wins and off-the-field drama (with their head coach and general manager both now fired). This is a club with talented players, and at the helm of the offense is a four-time MVP. He doesn’t play like it anymore. He finds himself in the news more often for what he says in interviews than for what he does in games. But even knowing that, there’s a hesitation any opposing team will have, knowing the talent on offense, and knowing the Jets have a defense that’s been pretty good against the pass.

So, maybe we shouldn’t be too shocked to see the Seattle Seahawks trail through most of the game, and struggle to punch it in from the red zone against a defense that’s outperformed its record. I’m not counting struggles against the Jets as too big a knock on this team right now. Easier said than done with a win. I’ll tell you what I was shaking my head at, though: general sloppiness.

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You’d expect penalties, poor communication, missed tackles and special teams gaffes in Week 1, but this game was chalk full of them (on either side) in one of the messier matchups on the Week 13 slate. Sometimes it worked out for Seattle, other times it was just plain painful.

An example of the latter: Seattle’s special teams gave up a 99-yard kickoff return to Jets’ Kene Nwangwu in the second quarter. It would be hard to stomach at any point in a game, but it was an especially hard gut punch considering the Seahawks, who’d fallen behind early, had just put seven on the board with a nice response touchdown from Geno Smith to rookie tight end AJ Barner.

Worse still: the Jets had already just scored in four plays thanks to a special teams fumble prior to Seattle’s scoring drive.

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Seattle was 2 for 3 in the red zone, but it certainly didn’t feel as productive as it looked on paper for the Seahawks. That’s mostly thanks to the ugliness of one drive in particular. Seattle’s first drive of the third quarter saw the offense work its way to the Jets’ four-yard line. The following plays:

• First-and-goal: Incomplete pass
• Second-and-goal: Kenneth Walker III 1-yard run
• Third-and-goal: Incomplete pass (but a penalty on New York moves them to the 1)
• First-and-goal: Walker no gain
• Second-and-goal: Incomplete pass
• Third-and-goal: Zach Charbonnet no gain (penalty on New York gives Seattle another play)
• Third-and-goal: Incomplete pass
• Fourth-and-goal: Immediate pressure, Geno Smith sacked for a loss of 15

To me, it was perhaps the worst series of the game for Seattle, and a little to reminiscent of the Seahawks trying to get their run going in short-yardage, high-leverage situations (currently having Rams-Seahawks overtime flashbacks). As for what I’d love to see in Seattle’s Week 14 rematch against the Cardinals, it would be push from the offensive line if they find themselves in a goal-to-go situation like this.

More on the Seattle Seahawks

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• NFC West Check-In: Arizona Cardinals lose close one to Vikings
• Evaluating Seattle Seahawks’ best and worst picks from five recent drafts

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