How Seahawks’ defense squandered strong offensive showing vs. Taysom Hill, Saints

NEW ORLEANS — The Seahawks defense has become predictable.

Through five games, it is seemingly inevitable not only that the unit will struggle to get off the field but also that an opposing player will have a big day. And not just your run-of-the-mill, here’s-a-game-ball type of big day, either. No, the Seahawks defense is consistently allowing at least one player on the opposition to have the best outing of his career.

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In Week 3, it was Atlanta running back Cordarrelle Patterson, who galloped through Seattle’s defense with ease.

In Week 4, it was Detroit tight end T.J. Hockenson and his ability to find holes in Seattle’s secondary.

In Week 5, on Sunday afternoon in New Orleans, do-it-all offensive weapon Taysom Hill decimated Seattle’s defense.

Hill, a backup quarterback moonlighting as a tight end, receiver, kick returner, punt protector and running back, gashed the Seahawks for four total touchdowns — three on the ground, one through the air — en route to handing Seattle a deflating 39-32 loss at the Caesars Superdome.

Hill rushed nine times for a career-high 112 yards, 50 of which came on a game-winning touchdown run with 5:22 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Taysom Hill taking over.

His third rushing TD (fourth total TD) gives the @Saints the lead!

📺: #SEAvsNO on FOX
📱: Stream on NFL+

— NFL (@NFL) October 9, 2022

Hill threw just one pass and completed it for 22 yards and a touchdown to tight end Adam Trautman in the second half. He played just 23 offensive snaps and still managed to generate three explosive plays and four scores.

“The biggest thing was that wildcat stuff with (Hill) at QB,” Seahawks linebacker Cody Barton said. “Besides that slip screen, the biggest runs came out of that wildcat stuff. We knew that going in: They were going to run it with (Hill).”

Seattle (2-3) indeed prepared for Hill. The team used receivers J.J. Arcega-Whiteside and Cade Johnson on the scout team to simulate all the ways Hill could be deployed against its defense. Still, it had no answers for New Orleans’ Swiss Army knife.

“They had a couple different plays in there, but at the same time, when he’s in there, he’s running the ball,” Barton said. “He did throw it once, but at the end of the day, he’s either running right or he’s running left.”

The Saints (2-3) were 8-of-13 on third down before kneeling the ball on the final possession. Hill accounted for three of those conversions, all on runs on third-and-1. The most devastating conversion came from the Saints’ 40-yard line in a tie game, 32-all, with 5:33 remaining. Hill took a shotgun snap and followed his pulling guard and tight end toward the right side of Seattle’s defense. He was met in at the sticks by free safety Quandre Diggs, who whiffed on the tackle and allowed Hill to run unimpeded for the winning score.

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“We’ve got to stop the big play. On that last drive, we get ’em in a third down and they bust a 60-yard run,” defensive tackle Shelby Harris said. “You’ve got to get stops. That’s what this league is. And if you don’t? They’re going to bring somebody else in who will. It’s not just young guys; it’s up and down — we all got to make plays. Until we do, we’re going to keep coming up with results like this. It’s disappointing.”

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The Seahawks have the second-worst scoring defense in the league, allowing 30.8 points per game; only the Lions are worse (34.0). Seattle’s defense is dead last in points allowed per drive at 2.9. The team made one personnel change entering the game, starting Ryan Neal in place of Josh Jones at strong safety. Though Neal had a touchdown-saving pass breakup and contributed to a forced fumble in the first half, the overall impact of the change was minimal.

Seattle had the same issues Sunday as it has all season: The defense couldn’t get off the field on third down, either via penalty or miscue, and it couldn’t stop explosive plays, whether due to poor execution or missed tackles.

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Outside linebacker Uchenna Nwosu gave New Orleans a first down via neutral-zone infraction on third-and-5 in the second quarter; the Saints ended that drive with a touchdown. Rookie cornerback Tariq Woolen — who had his third interception in three games — was flagged for defensive holding away from the play on third-and-9 in the fourth quarter, another free first down.

Seattle allowed seven explosive plays (passes of 16-plus yards, runs of 12-plus), including a 54-yard screen pass to running back Alvin Kamara in the third quarter. Two plays later, Hill connected with Trautman for a score to give New Orleans a 31-19 advantage.

And for the second straight week, the Seahawks were facing a short-handed opponent: New Orleans was playing its backup quarterback, Andy Dalton, and didn’t have receivers Michael Thomas and Jarvis Landry. Impressive rookie wideout Chris Olave also left injured early in the third quarter.

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“We’ve got to get the f— off the field,” defensive tackle Quinton Jefferson said. “We can’t keep having penalties that extend drives when we should be off the field. And we gotta make tackles, you know what I’m saying? Just come back together with the basic fundamentals of football: tackle the motherf—– who got the ball.”

Seattle’s offense had its issues Sunday, converting just 1 of 9 third downs, an uncharacteristically poor showing for a unit that entered Week 5 as the second-best third-down team in the league by conversion percentage. Star receiver DK Metcalf dropped a touchdown and later fumbled deep in Seattle’s territory, leading to a Saints touchdown. Left tackle Charles Cross had a holding penalty that negated a touchdown in the second half. A botched punt attempt in the second quarter also led to more points for the Saints. The other two phases of the game were far from perfect.

But this was the second straight week the defense forced the Seahawks into a shootout, and for the most part, quarterback Geno Smith and his guys were able to keep up.

Smith completed 16 of his 25 passes for 268 yards and three touchdowns. He ran three times for 13 yards, picking up one first down. His touchdown throws of 35 and 40 yards to receiver Tyler Lockett were arguably his two best as a Seahawk.

Perfect placement for the score by @GenoSmith3!

📺: #SEAvsNO on FOX

— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) October 9, 2022

Thanks to a 69-yard touchdown run by Kenneth Walker III in the fourth quarter, the offense eclipsed 30 points for the second straight week and, at 25.4 points per game, will likely finish Week 5 as a top-10 scoring unit. A 32-point day should, in theory, be enough to win, even with the disastrous performance on third down.

It wasn’t. That is why the biggest slice of the blame pie after this loss falls on the defense, which over the past few weeks is allowing individual opponents to deliver superhuman-looking highlight plays and asking its offense to light up the scoreboard just to have a fighting chance. The Seahawks entered Week 5 with a minus-20 point differential, among the worst in the league. That suggested the team was winning in an unsustainable manner.

The problem couldn’t be more apparent: Seattle’s offense must essentially be perfect and mistake-free to win games right now because of how the defense is playing.

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“We gotta uphold our end of the deal,” rookie outside linebacker Boye Mafe said.

Seattle’s players believe they have the personnel to right the ship. “We got no choice but to turn it around or we’re going to be at the crib in a few months, we’re going to be going on vacation,” Jefferson said.

Said Harris: “Look at the dawgs we have in here. We’ll figure it out.”

But it’s fair to wonder whether Seattle’s front office agrees with that assessment. Swapping Neal for Jones might make a difference, but not enough to completely transform the defense. Removing outside linebacker Darrell Taylor on early downs in favor of Mafe and the recently promoted Christian Jones isn’t likely to make much of a dent, either.

The pass rush continues to be a problem without an obvious solution, as well. Seattle had just one sack Sunday, and it came from nose tackle Al Woods on a long-developing play-action concept on first-and-10 in the second quarter. Seattle blitzed New Orleans 51.9 percent of the time Sunday, and at times it was effective: Dalton was hit five times and threw incomplete on four of those plays. Still, Seattle isn’t getting the quarterback on the ground often. Regardless of the scheme, Seattle’s personnel isn’t delivering.

To have that many issues at every level of the defense is beyond troubling, even though 12 games remain. After the game, Diggs was asked whether the defensive issues are a product of players adjusting to the new system. His reply encapsulated Seattle’s problems through five weeks.

“It’s a little bit of everything,” Diggs said, before offering some optimism. “New system. New players. Everybody is still getting comfortable with each other. At the end of the day, we’re five games (in). We just started, quarter of the season. Still got a long way to go.”

(Photo of Taysom Hill and Tariq Woolen: Ken Murray / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)