Analysis: 3 Takes Following Seahawks' First Preseason Game

Ty Dane Gonzalez analyzes the Seahawks' third down running back role, if Ahkello Witherspoon has earned the starting left cornerback job and the importance of Al Woods following the team's 20-7 preseason loss to the Raiders.

It's just one game—a preseason game, in fact. It doesn't count and, for the most part, doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. However, that doesn't mean there won't be some takeaways and hot takes to be had, for better or worse.

Offensively speaking, there wasn't a ton to dissect from the Seahawks' Saturday night bout with the Raiders. Las Vegas controlled the time of possession from start to finish, out-possessing Seattle by nearly 22 minutes. On the flip side of that, though, it presented a great opportunity to get a long look at what the Seahawks have on the back end of their defensive roster. 

After watching the game again, I have three takes that aren't necessarily spicy, but perhaps... warm? Yeah, let's go with warm. So here are three "warm" takes following the Seahawks' 20-7 loss to the Raiders. 

1. DeeJay Dallas should be the third down back

Chris Carson and Rashaad Penny didn't play in this one, giving the floor to Dallas and Alex Collins to stake their claim for the third down running back role with Travis Homer still on the PUP list. If the competition does indeed come down to Dallas or Collins, the former made it clear on Saturday who's better suited for the job. 

Opportunities were limited with Shane Waldron calling just 14 run plays on the night, but Dallas made the most of his chances. He averaged 4.8 yards per carry on five total totes and turned a fourth down catch out of the backfield into a 43-yard touchdown thanks to some acrobatic footwork down the sideline. 

The second-year man out of Miami looked explosive both in between the tackles and in open space. All that remains to be seen is if he can show improvement in pass protection, but he reaffirmed that he has more playmaking upside than Homer and a skillset more befitting of a third down back than Collins. 

2. It shouldn't be a given that Ahkello Witherspoon starts in Week 1

It wasn't a good night for the Seahawks' cornerback competition across the board and there wasn't much of a difference between one corner or another. Perhaps that's the problem here. 

Witherspoon wasn't necessarily bad on Saturday night—he allowed just one catch on three targets for six yards—but he didn't really impress either. Tre Flowers looked like, well, Tre Flowers. Working against the bottom of the Raiders' receiver corps, neither player stood out.

Particularly with Witherspoon, nothing he did Saturday night made it clear he deserves to be Seattle's left-side cornerback come Week 1. It's been widely assumed for some time that he'll be the guy, but that shouldn't be based simply on the fact the team signed him to a one-year, $4 million contract—that's not good process. 

Although he allowed three catches on four targets for 25 yards, 2021 fourth-round selection Tre Brown deserves a longer look than the run he got in the late second half of this game in order to see if he can potentially push Witherspoon. The job cannot be given to Witherspoon by default, especially with a more tangible long-term option available in Brown. Whether the rookie is ready to start or not is still very much up in the air, but those ahead of him haven't given the Seahawks much of a reason not to give him a chance. 

3. Al Woods is more crucial to the Seahawks' defense than you think

While the Seahawks hardly ran the ball on Saturday, the Raiders pounded the rock 36 times throughout the night. Led by rookies Trey Ragas and B.J. Emmons, Las Vegas averaged 4.4 yards per carry for a grand total of 158 yards and two touchdowns. 

For the Seahawks, this wasn't an ideal way to get back into the swing of things. Gashed by Cam Akers in their wild-card loss to the Rams this past January and parting ways with arguably their best interior defender, Jarran Reed, in the offseason, their struggles in the trenches highlighted an under-the-radar addition of theirs: Al Woods.

Woods didn't play in this game and that's the point; what's behind him and Poona Ford on the depth chart could not contain the Raiders' rushing attack. They were consistently bullied at the line of scrimmage, giving up chunks of yardage more often than not. 

Despite some of their well-documented woes and their wild-card hiccup, the Seahawks were a top-five team in stopping the run last year. Woods, a run-stuffing specialist, will be key in maintaining that level of play with Reed now gone. If not and teams are able to run on them in a similar fashion to the Raiders this past weekend, that puts an already shaky group of cornerbacks at an even greater disadvantage. They have to be strong against the run or else disaster may strike.