Seahawks All-22 Film Review: The good and bad from a division-changing win vs. Cardinals

It was a great day for the likes of Leonard Williams and Devon Witherspoon against the Cardinals offense.

Another win for the Seattle Seahawks and they’re now atop the NFC West by the tiebreaker criteria. The Arizona Cardinals were the team that was playing the best football in the division heading into last week. So, the Seahawks beat the best team (49ers) in a bad phase, and a team that was not so strong but was positively surprising the league.

Let’s do some more All-22 film review!

All data used in this article was taken from PFF.

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The Bad

New week, same problems in OL

No tweet explains my frustration more than this one. When Ryan Grubb was hired, I also rooted for the Washington Huskies, and I knew about his history with the OL. Seattle would be solving two problems at once. The big issue is that Grubb has not found ways to take the pressure off his OL, in addition, he has had problems balancing the run and pass. Grubb has to understand that he is no longer in college, the level now is NFL.

The offensive line gave up five sacks to the third-worst pass rush unit in the league. They are led in pressures by none other than L.J. Collier, who in this game matched his production in Seattle and got his first full sack of the year.

The problem has been widespread, but Charles Cross has been particularly bad in recent games. It is always worth remembering that he was the biggest investment from our OL, being picked in the top-10. He needs to justify that.

On this play, he costs the Seahawks six points. Zaven Collins uses a long-arm and Cross has no answer, finishing the snap on the ground and giving up the sack. Geno was trying to connect with DK Metcalf who would have been open for the TD, however, the result was a fumble that, luckily, Geno recovered.

The entire OL handled the Cardinals’ DL stunts poorly. Especially the left side, with Laken Tomlinson and Charles Cross being thrown to the ground.

The problems against blitzes and stunts continued. Here against a simulated Cardinals pressure, the Seahawks have four players blocking two, while the blitzer goes free on Geno, on what could have been a safety if the refs had been rigorous.

Run Game Problems

Before Zach Charbonnet got a conversion on the last drive against Arizona, the last time a Seahawks RB converted a third and 4+ yards on the ground was in 2022.

The problems vary. From offensive line mistakes (which will be discussed later) to RB production. Walker has had a hard time trusting the OL blocks. He is one of the league’s great playmakers, capable of creating lost yards on big drives. However, sometimes the “live by the big play, die by the big play” mentality has to be curbed and he must accept the drive, even if it is small. It was an issue he had been improving since his rookie season, but it still shows up at times in his game.

The execution errors are repeated week after week. The Seahawks have the ball basically on the 1-yard line. They fail to get the TD and still loses yards in the process. Laken Tomlinson misses the target, Tyler Mabry misses the target and Abe Lucas lets the defender pass. Not even Marshawn Lynch would be able to do anything different with four players hanging on him at the same time.

Another mistake by Tomlinson. He simply doesn’t get to the second level and allows Walker to be an easy target for the LB to tackle.

Grubb tried a few different things in the ground game, but the execution errors remained. Here he has a toss, uses Jake Bobo on the Crack Block that would allow Charles Cross to go straight to the second level. The LT fails to block and Walker is again an easy target for the tackle.

Another creative call by Grubb. Two RBs and the run comes to Charbonnet who is lining up as FB, but he is tackled by the defender who Laken Tomlinson lets slip.

The Geno Smith experience

One of the most debated topics among Seahawks fans. It’s an eternal dichotomy, some love it and some hate it. This is similar to Geno’s style of play. He’s capable of making plays that few QBs in the league would be able to make, and in the same game he makes a processing error worthy of a USFL QB.

A simple play, a pass on the checkdown with no pressure on the QB. Geno misses the pass and almost gets intercepted, which could have changed the course of the game.

Geno leads the league in interceptions. Yes, some of them were mistakes by his teammates, but others, like this one, were entirely the QB’s responsibility. He seems to want to play the snap and not the game, just like a rookie.

He could have gotten the first down with his legs here. In the worst case scenario, he would leave the team on a short fourth, which the team could risk, or simply kick and leave all the responsibility of scoring quickly to the Cardinals. Geno decides to pass to Tyler Lockett without noticing Garrett Williams, who makes a spectacular play and comes up with the interception.

A few plays later, Geno is able to do it. He works magic, manages to escape a sack that seemed inevitable and gets a laser to DK Metcalf. His ups and downs have been hurting the offense.

Problems shutting down key players

The Seahawks struggled to adjust to key players on both sides of the ball. TE Trey McBride and S Budda Baker were threats to the defense and offense, respectively.

Trey McBride had career highs in:

Targets (15);

Receptions (12);

Receiving yards (133);

He is the only TE with more than one 100-yard game this season.

The Seahawks send Tyrice Knight on a blitz and drop Boye Mafe into coverage. It appears to be a Cover 3 and Mafe would be responsible for covering one of the four underneath zones but was late in his drop. The EDGE doesn’t get there in time and McBride finds space to advance.

On this play, the Cardinals appear to be using a variation of the Sail Concept and have Marvin Harrison Jr with the clearout route to occupy Julian Love and McBride to exploit the space. Without knowing the call, it’s hard to pinpoint who was to blame, but I believe Woolen was too focused on the threat in the flat and didn’t pay attention to what was happening behind him.

The Cardinals set McBride to block and then send him on a route. Upon seeing McBride blocking, Woolen ignores the TE and starts looking for cross-field routes from the opposite side. This gives the TE plenty of space to advance.

The Seahawks call a coverage with 3 safeties deep in the field. One of them is Devon Witherspoon. Once again, the Cardinals use McBride to block to “hide” him from the defense. We have a clear out route that occupies Woolen deep and for some reason Julian Love and Coby Bryant seem to be guarding the same player. McBride is free again and exploits the space with yards after the reception.

Going to the offensive side, the one who gave us nightmares was Budda Baker.

The Cardinals often put the former Husky as a backside pursuit and he was simply ignored by the Seahawks OL. The result of this is that he managed to be disruptive with 7 tackles and 1 sack.

The Cardinals’ late-shift defense caught the Seahawks’ line off guard several times. Baker had a clear path and, due to a detail, failed to make the tackle for loss of yards.

The OL here took a while to adjust to the blitz and stunt and Baker got one of the five sacks the Cardinals had.

The Good

The defense impressed again versus run game

The Seahawks limited James Conner to eight rushing yards, his lowest total in a game since he joined the Cardinals in 2021. As described in the preview, the Cardinals’ running game is very different from the 49ers’. While San Francisco uses a lot of zone runs, the Cardinals opt for power and mostly gap schemes.

The defense as a whole makes a big play. The Seahawks leave the B and C gaps on the left side of the defense exposed. At the snap, Derick Hall and Johnathan Hankins press to quickly close those gaps. In fact, this was Hankins’ best game as a Seahawk. While this is happening on the DL, Knight anticipates the puller, evades the block and makes the tackle.

A concept that the Seahawks used a lot against the 49ers and a little less against the Cardinals was the Double Edge Blitz. In order to balance the numbers between blockers and defenders, the team sends a LB on a blitz and attacks with its two EDGEs in order to stop the bootleg threat. Note that Roy Robertson-Harris covers the threat of Kyler Murray running. Meanwhile, Byron Murphy absorbs the double block and Jarran Reed and company make the tackle.

Important plays that cannot be forgotten

Touchdowns and turnovers are certainly the plays that draw the most attention from the fans. However, there are some plays that can go unnoticed but have basically the same level of importance.

In this play we have Derick Hall, who has had difficulty replicating his performance from earlier in the year. He uses speed-to-power against the LT Paris Johnson Jr, who sees no other way out than to hold him. Josh Jobe was beaten in the secondary on the crossing route and this gives Kyler Murray an easy TD. Due to the foul, this was reversed. The story of the game could have been different if this TD had happened.

The pick-six play on fourth down was fantastic but it only happened because the team got the stop on third down. The Seahawks again invite the Cardinals to run the ball, since Hall is lined up very wide. The idea is that he can contain a possible running threat from Murray. In the middle of the line Byron Murphy pushes the LG Evan Brown back and allows the defense to make the tackle.

Here we have an offensive play that set the stage for our only offensive TD. A play that has been called at least once a game is this Tunnel Screen for JSN. He gets a 46-yard run and two plays later the Seahawks are in the end zone. Kudos for Cody White and his awesome block downfield.

One of the best games by a Seahawk defender in a long time

Leonard Williams had 2.5 sacks, his most as a Seahawk. That was the most sacks Williams had in a game since 2020, when he had 3.0 against the Cowboys. His pressure rate was 28.1%, his highest since 2018. He had 9 total pressures.

Williams was able to pressure in every way and from every possible alignment. He pushes Evan Brown and leaves him on the ground with a bull rush. By chance, he doesn’t get the sack.

Once again, Brown is his victim. He almost gets to the QB but Murray escapes to the sideline. Williams follows in pursuit and helps with the tackle.

The RG was helping the center communicate with the QB. This causes him to take a while to snap the ball and he is completely obliterated by the beast Leonard Williams.

Williams lines up as an EDGE, standing up, and it’s almost unfair that someone has that speed at that size. He gets past the TE’s chip block and uses a rip-move to get away from the LT and get the tackle.

He moves the RG as if he were arranging a chair at his dinner table. The pressure forces Murray to make a quick pass.

On one of the few snaps that Williams didn’t win his matchup, he keeps his eyes on the QB and has the speed to chase Murray. Murray often avoids contact and prefers to slide rather than face Williams (a wise decision).

A team effort here. Murray is clearly looking for the cross-field route. But Josh Jobe plays very good coverage and forces Murray to hold the ball. That’s all the time Williams needs to get to the QB and almost force the fumble.

Williams highlighted this play in his postgame interview. He missed a few practices and said he used that time to study the Cardinals’ tape a lot. Before the snap he knew what was coming, the pull from the center and guard and lined up to make things even harder for the LT. This allows him to sneak into the backfield and make a tackle for loss of yardage.

Devon Witherspoon amazing plays

Devon Witherspoon didn’t start the season playing like a fifth overall pick in the NFL Draft. A lot of expectations were placed on him, and it took him some time to reach that.

Here we have Spoon playing more physically than many LBs weighing 50 or 60 pounds more. James Conner is a strong and heavy RB and he can make an immediate tackle without giving up any extra yards.

This play will stick in the minds of fans for a long time. Arizona uses a call that they used a lot on fourth down situations. A heavy formation, the threat of Conner running and you have a WR who starts the play blocking, but comes out to give Murray an option. The QB would have the option to run or pass the ball.

Murray fakes the handoff and Witherspoon realizes it very quickly and manages to take away Murray’s option to run. Note that Tyrice Knight is also fundamental in the play. In addition to helping Murray on a possible run, he forces the pass to have to have a different angle. This allows Coby Bryant to make the interception. Witherspoon has time to trash talk Murray, get back on the field and make a crucial block on James Conner. This ensures that Bryant gets to the end zone without any major problems.

Something we had missed was the strength of the crowd at Lumen Field. There was a lot of talk about having more Buffalo Bills fans, for example. Well, the crowd has always been a trademark of the Seahawks and you could see (actually, hear) that during the game. One example of this was that on the pick-six play, not only was the celebration similar to the Beast Quake, but the seismographs recorded activity, just as you can see on the All-22 camera shaking after Bryant started running with the ball.

Final Thoughts

The defense undeniably controlled the game and gave us the victory. Still, there is room for improvement. If the team wants to go far this season, the offensive attack needs to be more complete and, most importantly, more consistent.