Home Field Disadvantage? Lumen Field No Longer Home Sweet Home For Seahawks

Once one of the toughest places for opponents to play in the NFL, beating the Seahawks at home is no longer the rare novelty it once was. What gives?

Oct 27, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith (7) reacts after a delay of game penalty following a fourth quarter timeout against the Buffalo Bills at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

SEATTLE, Wash. - Not long ago, NFL teams used to dread playing the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field, the home of famous plays such as the "Beast Quake" and "The Tip" where a boisterous fan base created seismic activity and made life a living hell for offenses raining 100-plus decibel noise down upon them from the stands.

But as evidenced once again in a 31-10 blowout loss to the Bills on Sunday, it isn't 2012 anymore in Seattle and the homefield advantage has evaporated. Once one of the most vaunted road venues in professional sports, with the Seahawks now riding a three-game losing streak at their home stadium and season ticket holders happily selling their seats to members of the "Bills Mafia" in droves, the mystique that once surrounded Lumen Field no longer exists.

In the aftermath of Seattle's latest defeat on its own turf, while he was certainly not using this development as an excuse, quarterback Geno Smith said the quiet part out loud, commenting on the number of Buffalo fans who made the trip and made their presence on the field.

"Hats off to Buffalo. They came in and beat us at home. Their fans travel well. It was really loud in there and kind of felt like we were on the road at times," Smith said. "They came out and fought and beat us. We can say we made mistakes, but they capitalized. Those are things we’ve got to get better at, and we got a big week ahead so the time is now."

Dating back to 2019, while omitting fan-less games in the COVID-impacted 2020 campaign, the Seahawks have been anything but dominant at Lumen Field. Including Sunday's latest debacle that dropped them to 2-3 at home this season, they have posted a 15-15 record in their last 30 home games, making this far from an isolated issue that only has cropped up this year with a new coach in Mike Macdonald at the helm.

Seeing the sea of blue and red that invaded the stadium on Sunday afternoon, particularly behind Buffalo's sideline where a close up could have been mistaken for Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, it's easy to point to lack of fan interest as one of the factors behind the diminished performance. This has become a frequent occurrence, as San Francisco fans also came in large masses in a Week 6 victory in Seattle.

But as Macdonald pointed out on Monday, he doesn't think the Seahawks would have to deal with this issue if they were winning more games, particularly at home where they currently have a losing record this season. He also hasn't felt a diminished homefield advantage down on the field, lauding fans for bringing the noise on Sunday from start to finish.

"We have to win. We have to win, period," Macdonald said. "Opposing fans don't want to show up if we're consistently kicking butt and doing what we're supposed to. And our fans I think are doing a great job and they are sticking with us all the way through the end of the game and I know we are fighting and they are fighting with us. We have to do a better job of putting a product out there that they really want to root really hard for."

Speaking of that product, well, it hasn't exactly been a pleasant viewing experience for fans. Though the Seahawks won their first two home games over the Broncos and Dolphins in September, they have been chronically hindered by slow starts on offense and defense, regularly putting themselves into catchup mode in the second half as they did once again on Sunday against the Bills.

Through the first five home games, Seattle has averaged just 8.4 points per game in the first two quarters, and that stat actually is a bit misleading from an offensive standpoint. Omitting a 102-yard fumble return for a touchdown by safety Rayshawn Jenkins against the New York Giants, the offense has averaged - gulp - seven points per game in the first half, which would equal 14 points for a full game and rank 31st in the NFL.

In contrast, though they have only played three road games to this point, the Seahawks have averaged 13.6 points per game in the first half away from Lumen Field. For a full game, they would exceed 27 points per game, ranking in the top five in scoring offenses in the NFL.

Defensively, Macdonald's crew hasn't been much better to start games either. With the exception of holding the Tua Tagovailoa-less Dolphins to three first half points in Week 3, the Seahawks have yielded at least 13 first half points in three of their five home contests, allowing 11.8 points per game in the first half. For a full game average, allowing more than 23 points per game would rank 19th in the NFL, a ranking that would undoubtedly would be much lower with the win over Miami.

What has led to these dismal starts? When asked on Monday, Macdonald couldn't put a finger on any one thing causing the stark differential in first half performance at home compared to away games, correctly admitting that it's a multi-faceted problem for his team.

"I wish I had an answer to that," Macdonald responded. "It's definitely a point of emphasis."

On offense, Seattle has been chronically plagued by back-breaking, self-inflicted wounds. Aside from two safeties in the season opener versus Denver, DK Metcalf coughed up a fumble to end a promising drive in a loss to New York, Smith threw an ugly interception against San Francisco on the opening possession, and Connor Williams airmailed a snap over Smith's head along with stepping on his foot to trip him on two separate red zone gaffes against Buffalo on Sunday.

Defensively, the Seahawks have mostly been sleep walking after opening kickoff. Macdonald's defense has allowed at least 79 yards by the opposing offense on opening drives in each of their past three, including a 14-play, 110-yard touchdown drive to the Bills on Sunday where Josh Allen threw for 80 yards on seven completions and made a trio of penalties a moot point. If not for good fortune on a goal line fumble that led to Jenkins' touchdown in Week 5, they would have allowed 17 points on their past three opening series at Lumen.

Special teams haven't been exempt from the sluggish play out of the gate either, as rookie punt returner Dee Williams muffed a punt in the opener that led to a Broncos field goal and veteran Laviska Shenault coughed up a fumble on a kick return that set up a 49ers field goal.

Simply put, everyone has had a hand in Seattle's dreadful first half performances in front of home fans this year, from the coaching staff down to the players in all three phases. Considering the litany of issues that have contributed to these woes, Macdonald and his assistants plan to dig deep this week and see if they can implement some subtle changes to help curb this trend and begin restoring home field advantage with another game at Lumen Field on tap against the Rams next weekend.

"It can be such a weapon for us, start with a lead and force them to throw the ball more and all those things, but we'll get it going. Beginning part of those games are really electric and our guys are really excited. We'll tailor some practices around it. Definitely will be a point of conversation."

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