Mike Macdonald Not Discouraged By Seahawks Red Zone Troubles

Few teams have been less efficient in the red zone over the past seven weeks than the Seahawks, but Mike Macdonald remains confident things will turn around.

Dec 15, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; Green Bay Packers cornerback Carrington Valentine (24) intercepts a pass against Seattle Seahawks tight end Noah Fant (87) during the second quarter at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

RENTON, Wash. - Though the Seattle Seahawks have won four of their past sfive games to position themselves for an NFC West title push, they have managed to do so despite leaving a lot of potential points off the scoreboard in the second half of the season.

Starting with a Week 8 home loss to the Bills where quarterback Geno Smith had a snap fly over his head and former starting center Connor Williams stepped on his foot to trip him up for a fourth down turnover, the Seahawks' red zone offense has been in a tailspin. During that seven-game span, the team has converted only 47 percent of their 17 red zone chances into touchdowns and nearly 30 percent of those chances ended with a turnover and no points.

This ugly trend continued in last Sunday's 30-13 loss to Green Bay, as Smith threw his league-leading fifth red zone interception when he tried to squeeze a pass in to tight end Noah Fant on a corner route, only for cornerback Carrington Valentine to move from covering Tyler Lockett on an out route for a back-breaking pick in the end zone.

But while Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald acknowledged that Smith and the offense have turned over the football far too frequently in key opportunities to get points, he isn't discouraged by recent results, maintaining confidence in his quarterback, offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, and the rest of the unit in part due to how they performed in the red zone earlier in the season.

"There's a lot of good stuff," Macdonald said on Wednesday. "We've converted touchdowns in the passing game in critical situations down there, and that's stuff that you can build off of. When you watch us practice, it's not like they're just layups all the time. We're getting great looks from the defense. We've turned it over too many times and everybody knows that. But, I think he's [Geno Smith] playing decisive for the most part, but we've just got to keep putting it all together, keep attacking it."

To Macdonald's point, it wasn't very long ago that the Seahawks had one of the NFL's most efficient red zone offenses. After a 34-17 win over the Falcons in Week 7, they ranked 10th in red zone touchdown rate (62.5 percent), ahead of the likes of the Lions, Packers, Chiefs, and Eagles among others.

In those first seven games, while Smith only completed 43 percent of his pass attempts in the red zone, he threw four touchdowns compared to just one interception, taking good care of the football. Meanwhile, the duo of Ken Walker III and Zach Charbonnet had combined for seven rushing touchdowns during that span, regularly finishing drives punching the ball into the end zone for six points.

But since the loss to the Bills in late October, those solid results have all but evaporated, starting with Smith's penchant for throwing picks in the red zone. He threw two back-breaking second half interceptions against the Rams the following week, including a pick six to rookie safety Kamren Kinchens, that led to a 26-20 overtime loss in a game where the Seahawks led for most of regulation.

Smith took the sword for those mistakes after the game, promising to "step up" after letting his team down in crucial situations down the stretch in that defeat. For one week, he and Seattle's offense did just that, scoring touchdowns on both red zone visits in a season-altering win at San Francisco.

But over the next three weeks, though the Seahawks won every game to improve to 8-5, stalling or failing to score at all in the red zone remained a major problem. Smith threw an inexcusable pick on a poor decision to Garrett Williams in a 16-6 win over the Cardinals, the team failed to score on eight plays inside the Jets five-yard line in an ugly 26-21 road win, and the team was held to three field goals on five red zone trips in a 30-18 rematch win over the Cardinals.

It would be easy to point at Smith as the one to blame for Seattle's ineptitude given his turnover issues. But the quarterback hasn't received much support in the red zone, starting with a run game that has been mostly ineffective in the past seven games.

Following the aforementioned strong start, Walker and Charbonnet have ran for four combined touchdowns since Week 8 and with the Seahawks struggling to generate push up front, both backs have averaged under two yards per carry in the red zone during that time. In the five games he has played, Walker has been especially ineffective without any blocking in front of him to speak of, rushing for a negative yard on 12 carries.

One last look at this red zone pick... I'll maintain that the spacing and route distribution for a red zone play is problematic. If Smith lofts this a little more, the corner still might get to it because he doesn't have to go far with routes nestled so close together. pic.twitter.com/ZdH20fdUhL

— Corbin K. Smith (@CorbinSmithNFL) December 18, 2024

Away from the run game not getting the job done, Grubb deserves a slice of blame pie as well. As just one example, the Seahawks ran three straight passes out of shotgun in their first and only red zone appearance against the Packers, and the decisive play where Valentine picked off Smith featured poor play design with Fant and Lockett running their routes only a few yards apart in already congested space, making it easier for the defender to come off his man to make the interception.

Far too often, Smith has been put in challenging situations where he has had to deal with subpar pass protection and questionable play designs that have hindered his chances for success. Adding in minimal contributions from a run game that Grubb often bypasses inside the opposing 20-yard line anyway - look no further than calling three runs on the failed eight plays deep in Jets territory three weeks ago - and it's no wonder the unit hasn't been able to finish drives.

But from Macdonald's perspective, as frustrating as all of the turnovers and mistakes in the red zone have been over the past six weeks and change, he has seen enough positives over the course of the season to believe a breakthrough is coming soon, especially with how diligently Smith and Grubb prepare during the practice week.

With their season potentially hanging in the balance and an elite Vikings defense coming to town on Sunday, Smith, Grubb, and the Seahawks need to reward Macdonald for his unwavering faith on the field. If they are able to do that and consistently punch the ball in the end zone from inside the opposing 20 without any more deflating turnovers, that could be the difference between an NFC West title and sitting at home in January, and the coach trusts they will get it done.

"I think we've had great plans. We've just got to go do it, keep hammering away. But. I will say there is some really great stuff in the passing game down there. But the field is limited, and it's just tougher sledding. It's just less space. So yeah, good stuff."

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