Rapid Reaction: Seahawks Outmuscled, Outclassed by Bills in 31-10 Beatdown

Suffering their worst loss of the season with a lethargic effort, the Seahawks were booed off the field in the aftermath of a 21-point letdown against the Bills.

Oct 27, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; Buffalo Bills wide receiver Khalil Shakir (10) catches a touchdown pass against the Seattle Seahawks during the first quarter at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

Dropping their third consecutive game on their home turf in embarrassing fashion, the mistake-laden Seattle Seahawks suffered their worst loss of the Mike Macdonald era as the Buffalo Bills bullied their way to a 31-10 blowout victory at Lumen Field.

Without a run game to complement him, Geno Smith completed 21 out of 29 passes for 212 yards and threw an interception, slogging through a tough outing behind a struggling offensive line. Defensively, the Seahawks yielded 445 yards of total offense and 29 first downs as the Bills held the ball for more than 38 minutes, physically wearing down Macdonald's squad while racking up chunk plays in the pass and run game in bunches.

After an unfortunate laugher that the Seahawks will want to quickly erase from their memory, here are five takeaways from an ugly Week 8 defeat:

1. Whether fair or not, Smith again failed to deliver the goods against an elite opponent.

Aside from uncorking an interception or losing a fumble, Sunday couldn't have started much worse for Smith, who had two of his first three passes by defensive end Greg Rousseau deflected at the line of scrimmage and completed just one pass for a yard on a pair of three-and-out possessions. To his credit, the veteran came back firing on the third drive, completing all nine of his pass attempts for 94 yards as he marched the Seahawks down to the Bills two-yard line. But those efforts were squandered when center Connor Williams airmailed a snap over his head for a 19-yard loss, forcing them to settle for a Jason Myers field goal.

On the ensuing possession, immediately after cornerback Josh Jobe picked off Josh Allen and returned the interception inside the Bills 10-yard line, Smith tripped up on guard Anthony Bradford's leg on fourth and goal and fell backwards for an embarrassing six-yard loss and a turnover on downs. Fast forwarding to the second half, after advancing past midfield while trailing by 14, he panicked while pressured on a well-covered running back screen, having his pass tipped and eventually picked off by defensive tackle Austin Johnson. Adding in a few close calls that easily could have been intercepted, it was far from his finest hour, even if circumstances worked against him much of the afternoon.

2. It's a broken record, but poor offensive line play continues to hold Seattle's offense back.

As has been the case far too often this season, the Seahawks couldn't run the ball to save their lives on Sunday. Before falling behind 31-3 early in the third quarter, they had ran the ball 10 times with Ken Walker III and Zach Charbonnet for a grand total of 15 yards, averaging well under two yards per carry. Five of those yards came on Walker's longest run off of a botched toss play in the third quarter that he scooped up and somehow managed to run back the other direction to salvage for a positive gain, telling any observer all they needed to know about the blocking up front.

From start to finish, the Bills took it to a maligned Seahawks offensive line in the trenches, physically bullying them at the line of scrimmage snap after snap. Walker and Charbonnet had no running room to speak of against a defense that ranked 20th in rushing yards allowed coming into Sunday, frequently having multiple defenders waiting for them right after receiving the handoff. Making the situation even more shameful for the group up front, Williams potentially cost his team two touchdowns with his botched snap and getting knocked back into Smith on his fourth down trip. There wasn't any fight from the group and until Seattle can find a consistent run game with the line playing with more tenacity, the offense will be stuck in neutral at best.

3. Adding Ernest Jones wasn't the instant fix for a run defense that keeps getting worse.

Coming over from the Titans in a trade on Wednesday, the Seahawks hoped Jones would provide an instant boost to their 28th ranked rushing defense. But while it wouldn't be reasonable to pin all of the team's issues slowing down James Cook on Sunday, he certainly didn't do anything to help the team's ongoing struggles starting just four days after arriving in the Pacific Northwest. On a play that summed up the assault the Bills dished out perfectly, the 190-pound Cook steamrolled Jones at the goal line on a seven-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter, trucking the defender's helmet off of his head in the process.

Away from Jones enduring a rough debut in the middle, aside from getting mauled at the line of scrimmage all afternoon, the Seahawks continued to yield massive gaps in the run game with multiple defenders winding up in the same gap. Cook regularly wasn't touched until he had a full head of steam five or more yards past the line of scrimmage and at that point, Macdonald's defense looked to be playing two-hand touch - albeit it poorly - giving up big chunks of yardage after contact while allowing Cook to rip off 111 yards on just 17 carries for a 6.5 yards per carry average. With missed tackles galore, it felt like the defense had no interest in actually playing football and the visitors took full advantage pounding them with the ground game.

4. Unheralded defensive backs deserve kudos in an otherwise flat, uninspiring performance.

Outgained by almost 200 yards and nearly doubled up on first down conversions, there wasn't much to be excited about for 12s on Sunday. But if there was a silver lining, the Seahawks did receive positive contributions from a pair of young reserves filling in for cornerback Tre Brown and safety Rayshawn Jenkins. Coming up from the practice squad for a second straight week, though he allowed a few big plays downfield in coverage, Jobe briefly electrified the Lumen Field crowd when he jumped a slant route by Amari Cooper and nearly returned the pass to the house on his first career interception.

Away from Jobe's pick, Coby Bryant continued to make the most of his chances playing in place of Jenkins. With the Bills on the doorstep of the end zone on their opening drive of the third quarter, after Allen had been flushed from the pocket on a third and goal play, the third-year defender hung with tight end Dalton Kincaid as he came back to the ball in the end zone, reaching over the top for a pass breakup to force Buffalo to kick a short field goal. In a game with few things to be pleased about, the former fourth-round pick's improvements at a new position stand out as an obvious positive.

5. Being ill-prepared once again falls on the feet of Macdonald and his coaching staff.

After starting off fast in Atlanta last weekend on the way to a big road win, the Seahawks looked to had figured out their early game woes. But that breakout served as little more than a one week aberration, evidenced by lackluster performance out of the gate in all three phases. On offense, Smith and company produced a meager three yards on their first two drives, while the defense surrendered 110 net yards with penalties included on a tone-setting 14-play touchdown drive with Allen completing seven of eight passes for 80 yards. Even Michael Dickson had a few punts that were uncharacteristically short.

As the game progressed, lack of discipline and preparation kept showing up as Seattle was outclassed in every way, shape, and form by Buffalo. Closing out the first half, outside linebacker Derick Hall inexplicably blasted Allen well after he threw the ball away on a 3rd and 7, drawing a roughing the passer penalty that extended the drive and set up a touchdown pass to Kincaid with 18 seconds left to play before intermission. On the sidelines, defensive tackle Jarran Reed had to be separated from Hall with the two jawing at each other. Then in the third quarter, Smith threw a ball back into a defender's face after being unhappy about a hit he perceived to be late along the sideline, drawing a taunting penalty that torpedoed another drive into oblivion. Showing more fight after the snap than before, it's no wonder they lost by 21 on the scoreboard.

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