The Day After: What We Learned From Seahawks' Preseason Defeat in Las Vegas

Saturday night's preseason opener between the Seahawks and Raiders was as unexciting as it can get on the Seattle side of things. Here's what we learned from the team's 20-7 loss in Las Vegas.

LAS VEGAS, NV - Losing the time of possession battle by 21 minutes, going 4-13 on third down and allowing Raiders third-string quarterback Nathan Peterman to walk down the field on multiple occasions isn't exactly a night to hang your hat on. It was a rough game across the board for the Seahawks as they opened the preseason down in Las Vegas, struggling to give fans many positives to take away from a sloppy—dare I say it, boring—20-7 loss on Saturday night.

But though the game was all silver and black from the jump, there were still some silver linings for Seattle as well. It may not have seemed like it considering how one-sided the bout felt from opening kickoff, but even the team's struggles revealed invaluable information. 

The Seahawks are, ultimately, in the beginning stages of a feeling-out process. The game itself was littered with new player personnel and featured the debut of a retooled offensive coaching staff and philosophy, headlined by first-time coordinator Shane Waldron. Growing pains were expected and Seattle certainly had its fair share Saturday.

Waldron's gameplan looked like that of a rookie play-caller, radioing in just 14 run plays—all spread out inconsistently. Only two of those were called in the first half, with Alex Collins taking both carries for just one yard. As a result, the Seahawks became incredibly one-dimensional in the first half, forcing a passing game that failed to get anything going with Geno Smith and Alex McGough under center. In all, they went into halftime with just 16 plays from scrimmage, paling in comparison to the Raiders' whopping 55.

The Seahawks would minimally shrink the play differential from +39 Raiders to +33 in the second half, running 46 plays to the home team's 79 on the night. They were a bit more balanced in the run-pass splits, calling 18 passes and 12 runs between the third and fourth quarters. But the results were more or less the same.

"We were messy," coach Pete Carroll told reporters following the game. "We just didn't convert. We had some chances to get our third downs. We had to get some third down wins, and didn't. The sequence starts all over again. We really wanted to throw the ball with Geno. We came out to do that. We wanted to make sure we got some chances, and I think it was the third play and he gets wacked. So we didn't really get him the opportunity that we were hoping for. We should have thrown the ball a bunch with him. That was just a great chance to give him some time to play some football, but we couldn't get it done."

Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the offense's performance: boy, does this team need left tackle Duane Brown in the worst way. The veteran Brown, currently "holding in" for a new contract extension, may have been the Seahawks' biggest winner on Saturday night without playing a single down. In his place, rookie Stone Forsythe made his NFL debut and struggled mightily, most notably letting Raiders cornerback Nate Hobbs come free on a blitz off the edge to obliterate quarterback Geno Smith for a sack in the first quarter. 

That, however, proved to be Las Vegas' only sack of the night. As such, Carroll looked at the performance of Forsythe—and the offensive line as a whole—in a positive light.

"We got sacked once and I didn't feel like [Forsythe] had a tough time," Carroll said. "I'm pleased that he got a ton of play time as well. It was a huge advantage for him to get that chance."

Receivers Aaron Fuller and Freddie Swain made a solid impression in this one. Fuller caught just one ball, but the effort he displayed on the play made it one of the offense's highlights of the night. Catching a 3rd and 5 pass from Smith that was well short of the first down marker, the former University of Washington standout shed a tackle by Raiders cornerback Damon Arnette and turned upfield for a 17-yard gain.

Swain reeled in three balls for 29 yards, including another 17-yard pickup on a nice crossing route. Interestingly, the Seahawks rolled out a trio of Swain, Fuller and Cody Thompson for most of the first half, whereas undrafted signings Cade Johnson and Connor Wedington didn't get involved until the second half. Could that be a sign of where things stand in the competition at the bottom of Seattle's receiving corps?

On the defensive side of the ball, the Seahawks didn't do themselves any favors. Of course, it's hard to be successful when your offense is unable to sustain drives, putting forth just six minutes and 48 seconds worth of possession time in the first half. 

Nevertheless, the Raiders' primary quarterback for the night, Peterman, didn't have too many issues moving his offense down the field. 

Cornerback play was a problem area for the Seahawks, with starters Tre Flowers and Ahkello Witherspoon—the team's expected Week 1 starter at left-side cornerback—struggling to keep the likes of Zay Jones and Keelan Doss at bay. The corners were a big reason why the team struggled to get off the field on third down, allowing a 64.7 percent conversion rate. Consequently, rookie Tre Brown might be in line for more playing time next Saturday.

"We didn't make any plays to stop the third down attempts," Carroll noted. "We have to take a look at that. We did a lot of things to mix it up, and we needed some wins today. We didn't get much."

Generating pass rush wasn't as much of an issue for them at least, with Rasheem Green, Cody Barton and Bryan Mone combining for 4.0 sacks on the night. Green consistently got in the face of Peterman, as well as Alton Robinson. The second-year man out of Syracuse played a key role in forcing the Raiders' lone turnover of the game, hitting Peterman's arm to force a duck in the air and into the arms of safety Ryan Neal. 

"He's a really hard worker," Carroll spoke of Robinson. "Really smart, always in the right spots. He does a very nice job for us. He's an opportunist guy. That was a really good rush by Alton to make that happen. He was close to a couple other ones, too. The rush was formidable, but not quite enough on the night to connect as well as we wanted it to."

Darrell Taylor fit into that "not quite enough" category, getting some strong rushes off the edge but failing to finish off a sack in his NFL debut. He did, however, set up one of Barton's two sacks late in the third quarter. His rush, overall, was fairly inconsistent. Really explosive burst at times but it felt like he left a lot more on the field. 

Against the run, Taylor looked like someone who hasn't played in a real football game in almost two years. On more than one occasion he was pushed off his spot and eliminated from the play, something he greatly struggled with in college. To be fair, the Seahawks as a unit were unable to stop the run, surrendering 158 yards and two touchdowns on 36 carries, with rookies Trey Ragas and B.J. Emmons—an undrafted signing by Seattle earlier this year—leading the charge for the Raiders. 

That said, Saturday night's game was a momentous occasion for Taylor. Missing his entire rookie season with a leg injury last year, he was able to take on a significant portion of snaps and made it through the game healthy. His performance, as a whole, was very encouraging. 

"I would say it was electrifying, satisfying, gratifying," Taylor expressed, wearing a t-shirt depicting the Rugrats character Chuckie. "You know, to be with my teammates and get out there in front of a crowd for the first time. It was everything I hoped it would be."

One player whose efforts have flown under-the-radar is Ben Burr-Kirven. With Bobby Wagner resting, Burr-Kirven made the start at middle linebacker and received the defense's play calls—something he also did in the mock game last Sunday.

"I did some of that in the [2019] preseason when I was a rookie," Burr-Kirven explained. "But this is definitely the most that I can think of in terms of total reps. I think it was 50 snaps or something like that. So it was the most I've had of [receiving and making the calls]."

Stepping into his third NFL season, the former fifth-round pick out of Washington made the most of his extensive look on Saturday night. Not only did he command the defense but he led the team in combined tackles with 12. It was by far the best the former Husky has looked in a Seattle uniform.

"It was great. He had double digit tackles. He was running, hitting, he had a fantastic camp," Carroll said of Burr-Kirven. "With Cody Barton being out, he has had tons of reps. He was calling the game. He was leading it out there. I thought that he did a really nice job. He is a really good ball player, and we are seeing that in the culmination of his work leading up to this has been really good. By all rights he should have played well and he did. He came through in a big way."

Set to return to Lumen Field for the final two weeks of the preseason, the Seahawks should be a bit more energized as they play their first home game in front of fans since December of 2019 next Saturday. It's likely this will be where Russell Wilson, Bobby Wagner and some of the team's other stars make their first appearance of 2021 in a head-to-head matchup with the Broncos. 

While those appearances may be short-lived, it certainly sets the stage for a more exciting game than the slog of a watch that was last night's preseason opener.