Pete Carroll's squad finally appeared to shake off the rust during the Seattle Seahawks Week 17 matchup with the Detroit Lions. Amid what has been an utterly disappointing season in Seattle, the team rallied for arguably their best performance of the season when they took down the Lions. The offense was sharp and while the defense was still lackluster, they did enough to keep the Seahawks ahead, even without Bobby Wagner. With all that in mind, here are a few takeaways from the Seahawks-Lions clash on Sunday.
The victory sees the Seahawks climb to 6-10 on the year. Considering they don't own a first-round draft pick in 2022, moral victories are all Seattle has to play for and there's really no silver lining should the team lose. Their sixth win of the season doesn't directly benefit them, but it certainly impacts the New York Jets, who are hoping to see the Seahawks lose as many games as possible.
Given the disappointing season, Seattle has endured, a statement victory like the one in Week 17 had to feel good. The entire offense was firing on all cylinders. Russell Wilson got both DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett heavily involved in the game plan, and Rashaad Penny continued to flex the talent that made him a first-round draft pick back in 2018. Still, the defense left a bit to be desired, and there's still room for improvement on both sides of the ball. With that said, here are our Seattle Seahawks Week 17 takeaways.
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Seattle Seahawks Week 17 Takeaways
3. Rashaad Penny has arrived
Injuries have held the Seahawks' 2018 first-round pick back throughout his career, but he's looking healthier than ever of late. And with that bill of clean health, Penny has started to look like the promising young running back the Seahawks so highly coveted a few years back. Penny averaged 6.8 yards per carry on Sunday, getting 25 touches to the tune of 170 yards and two touchdowns. He was virtually unstoppable as he rolled over Detroit's defense, picking up big yardage nearly every time the ball was put in his hands.
Over the past few weeks, Penny has played far and away the best football of his life. Since Week 14, Penny has rushed 69 times for 481 yards and five touchdowns, averaging an impressive 6.97 yards per carry during that span. While he's a non-factor as a pass-catcher, getting just seven targets across that same span, his work out of the backfield has been irreplaceable for the Seahawks. Not only has he improved his game as a whole, but forcing defenses to account for a big play out of Penny has opened up the rest of the playbook for Seattle.
2. Defense needs to be the focus of the offseason
There's not much that can be said about Seattle's defense that hasn't already been regurgitated in about 100 different ways. The group is straight up bad. Seattle's defense ranks 30th in the NFL in opponents yards per game, surrendering an average of 380 yards. The Seahawks rushing defense isn't a world-beating group by any means, but they're definitely serviceable. The secondary however, and Seattle's pass defense as a whole, is simply dismal. The Seahawks rank second to last in the NFL, surrendering an average of 270.4 passing yards per game to opposing quarterbacks. The only team worse than them in that regard is the Baltimore Ravens, who are coming off two dramatic beatdowns against Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals, which certainly helped inflate their averages.
Seattle paid a fortune to land Jamal Adams from the Jets, a move that has yet to pay off as Adams has (for the most part) continued to struggle in coverage and excel at getting after the quarterback, something you don't necessarily need out of the safety position. Adams has been sidelined by injury over the past few weeks, and surprisingly, Seattle's defense has improved in his absence.
1. Russell Wilson needs to trust his wide receivers
Whatever the conflict between Russell Wilson and DK Metcalf was, it seems the two have managed to put things behind them. Rumors swirled regarding Russ' reaction to alleged sexual behavior from DK Metcalf (not that it had anything to do with Russ) and in the weeks following, Metcalf saw a vast decrease in target share. Coincidence or not, it got folks concerned about a possible lack of trust between the two.
That couldn't have looked like less of the case on Sunday, as Wilson and Metcalf were completely in sync. Metcalf caught six of his nine targets in the game, scoring three touchdowns as the Seahawks offense dismantled the Lions. Metcalf racked up 63 receiving yards in the game and even rushed once for six yards. His involvement in the game was a big plus for Seattle, and it goes to show the impact he can make when he's being utilized properly. He has four touchdowns over the past two weeks, and while it's encouraging to see him regain his previous form, fans will surely be hoping he could have played at this level while the Seahawks still had a chance at the playoffs.
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