Seattle Seahawks Report Card: Grading Each Unit vs. the Cleveland Browns

The Seattle Seahawks visited the Cleveland Browns in what turned into a barn-burning, 6-3 loss. The Seahawks had under 150 yards of offense and failed to take advantage of two late scoring opportunities.

Perhaps that was actually Seahawks fans setting their television sets on fire, not their barns.

The Seahawks were without starting quarterback Tarvaris Jackson as he continues to rehabilitate a strained pectoral muscle. Marshawn Lynch also missed the game following an injury sustained in pregame drills. 

The defense played well despite spending 40 minutes on the field. The offense, however, had their worst showing of the season.

Fans that felt the coaching staff wasn't giving Charlie Whitehurst a fair shake should be silent at this point. It does seem that the coaching staff was right with making Jackson the starting quarterback. Now fans are hoping he can return from injury for Sunday's contest with the Cincinnati Bengals. 

Special Teams: A

Special teams play has been very solid for the Seahawks in recent weeks. Sunday's highlights included two blocked field goals by Red Bryant, Jon Ryan averaging over 50 yards per punt, and a Leon Washington punt return for a touchdown.

As vetted by the score, the Leon Washington TD run didn't stand. Kennard Cox received a questionable call for a block in the back, bringing the ball back to the Seahawks' 45 yard line.

Steven Hauschka hit his lone field goal attempt, a 20-yard chip shot. He also kept the Browns from getting good field position following his kicks. His first attempt resulted in a touchback, while his second kick was run out of the end zone and stopped inside the 20.

The lone issue that could be found with the performance was Ryan adding two more touchbacks to his season total. 

Defensive Line: A-

While the Seahawks front gave up 141 rushing yards on Sunday, the Browns dedicated 44 caries to the ground game. The 3.2 yards per carry was just over their league-leading average of 3.1 YPC.

Red Bryant was all over the field, notching four tackles and a half of a sack. He also had a pass defense and two QB Hits.

Chris Clemons was quite active in pass defense, notching two sacks and two quarterback hits, keeping Colt McCoy from getting settled in the passing game. He also made a few nice plays in rush defense with two tackles for loss.

Brandon Mebane had his most visible performance of the season. He added a QB hit and six tackles, one for loss.

Anthony Hargrove has been a bright spot on the Seahawks front line. However, he wasn't nearly as active on Sunday.

Linebackers: B

The linebackers had their solid plays, including an interception by David Hawthorne. They also had their issues with tight ends and running backs as they picked up most of Cleveland's receptions and receiving yards.

The starting linebackers accounted for three of the top four tacklers on the day. Hawthorne was certainly the most active defender of the day, registering a interception, a sack, two tackles for loss, a pass defense and one QB hit. He also led the team in tackles with 11.

K.J. Wright and Leroy Hill also added a tackle for loss each.

Wright has continued to improve after taking over the starting role from Aaron Curry. The rookie is giving the Seahawks hope that he can become a solid starting linebacker.

Look for Gus Bradley to continue to work with the unit on shutting down tight ends and receivers coming out of the backfield.

Defensive Backs: A-

Pass defense has been up and down for the Seahawks this season. It seems as though penalties have been closely tied to their success.

The unit played mostly clean ball on Sunday, although Kam Chancellor was dinged for roughing the passer. He made what was once considered perfect tackling form, but part of his helmet hit Colt McCoy in the back, drawing a flag and extending a drive that resulted in a blocked FG attempt.

The only real issue for the Seahawks secondary on Sunday involved another injury.

Walter Thurmond was expected to fill the shoes of Marcus Trufant on the field. Instead, a fractured fibula will have him following in Trufant's footsteps off the field and onto injured reserve.

Brandon Browner had solid coverage on the day and added a pass defense. Chancellor offered the usual blend of run support, solid tackling, and blitzing the quarterback. He had the hit of the game, lifting Montario Hardesty off the ground and driving him onto his back.

Offensive Line: C-

The Seattle Seahawks rolled out yet another change to their starting offensive line on Sunday. In the first six games of the 2011 season, the Seahawks have used four different combinations of players protecting the quarterback and opening running lanes.

Sunday's alignment offered solid protection at times. It also led to some quick sacks on Charlie Whitehurst, who was sacked three times in the game. The Browns also notched five QB hits.

Seattle needs to get Max Unger back in the starting lineup. The continual rotation of players is keeping the unit from gelling and playing to their potential.

James Carpenter is playing much better than at the start of the season, but still seems to have a few missed blocks a game that end up leading to a sack. 

Receivers: C-

The Seahawks' passing game was brutal on Sunday. There is plenty of blame to go around for the poor performance, and some of it falls to the receiving corps.

Seattle's receivers had been fairly sure-handed so far this season, but there were several costly drops in key situations on Sunday.

There was also an issue when a key fourth-down pass was caught. Doug Baldwin made a good move to get open and convert on fourth and 5 in the closing minutes of the game. However, he was flagged for pass interference. 

Ben Obomanu came up empty with the two passes thrown to him on Sunday. He simply hasn't lived up to expectations this season, and his playing time could be in jeopardy with Deon Butler possibly being available to play next week.

Kris Durham has only been active for one game this season. It might be time to give him another opportunity to play on Sunday and see if his combination of speed and size can help open up the offense. 

Seattle Receiving
	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LG	TGTS
S. Rice	2	38	19.0	0	38	5
C. Morrah	2	18	9.0	0	11	3
G. Tate	1	11	11.0	0	11	1
L. Washington	4	10	2.5	0	5	4
A. McCoy	2	10	5.0	0	7	4
M. Williams	1	10	10.0	0	10	4
J. Forsett	0	0	0.0	0	0	1
B. Obomanu	0	0	0.0	0	0	2
M. Robinson	0	0	0.0	0	0	2
D. Baldwin	0	0	0.0	0	0	3
Team	12	97	8.1	0	38	29

Running Backs: B-

Despite the loss of Marshawn Lynch to an injury in pregame warm-ups, the running backs performed well—when they were given a chance to run the ball.

Leon Washington was the starter for the Seahawks, but Justin Forsett actually had the most carries. 

However, eight carries for Forsett and seven for Washington was hardly enough of an opportunity to allow the run game to take some pressure of Charlie Whitehurst.

It is hard to blame the backs for the lack of dedication to the run game. The Browns had proven to be better in pass protection than stopping the run so far this season. The expectation was the Seahawks would attempt to move the ball on the ground.

Instead, they averaged 2.4 yards per pass play and 4.1 yards per carry by the running backs. The offense failed to find any rhythm but it doesn't appear the running backs were to blame.

Seattle Rushing
	ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	Long
L. Washington	7	39	5.6	0	11
J. Forsett	8	23	2.9	0	8
C. Whitehurst	2	3	1.5	0	6
Team	17	65	3.8	0	11

Quarterbacks: D-

Many, if not most, Seattle Seahawks fans received a harsh lesson in "be careful what you wish for" when Charlie Whitehurst was put in the starting lineup for the injured Tarvaris Jackson.

To be fair to Whitehurst, there were a few dropped passes and several questionable non-calls for pass interference that impacted his overall stat-line (12/30, 97 YDS, 3.2 YPA, 0 TD, 1 INT, 35.0 Rating). There were also some blocking issues with the offensive line, but there were sufficient opportunities to make plays.

Two of those opportunities resulted in terribly under-thrown balls to Sidney Rice. One of the missed passes came just after the Seahawks took over near mid-field. Rice established his position behind Sheldon Brown, who seemed to grab onto Rice to keep him close. There was no flag for pass interference. 

Instead of lofting the ball over the defender, Whitehurst's pass was on a line and well behind Rice. The ball was intercepted and Seattle's threat was short-lived.

On Seattle's next possession, Whitehurst threw deep to a wide-open Sidney Rice. However, The ball was't deep enough and Rice had to almost stop to make the catch. Even worse, the ball was thrown too close to the sideline and it pulled Rice out of bounds just after making the catch. 

The Seahawks should have taken a 7-3 lead on that play. Instead, the drive stalled and Seattle settled for their only three points of the game.

While losses are a team effort, it isn't hard to imagine the Seahawks winning this game if a healthy Tarvaris Jackson was under center.

Seattle Passing
	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	NFL RATING
C. Whitehurst	12/30	97	3.2	0	1	35.0
Team	12/30	72	2.4	0	1