Seattle Seahawks vs. Carolina Panthers: Final Report-Card Grades for Seattle
It was far from pretty, but the Seattle Seahawks came away with a 13-9 victory, that played out eerily similarly to the last time these teams met. The sole touchdown of the game came with 47 seconds left on a 23-yard strike from Russell Wilson to Luke Willson. The Panthers never gave themselves a chance for a last-minute rebuttal.
Both teams struggled in the red zone and with turnovers. It's the third time in as many years the Seahawks have beaten the Panthers with second-half comebacks. The Carolina Panthers, perhaps, should have been ahead by a wide margin, but Seattle's defense did well early and only got better late in the game.
Carolina was stymied on three trips into Seattle's red zone in the first half and capped them off with: field goal, field goal, fumble. The Seahawks defense playing big in those situations is the reason for the victory and for Seattle snapping their two-game losing streak.
Final Game Stats
| Seattle Seahawks | Category | Carolina Panthers |
|---|---|---|
| 310 | Total Yards | 266 |
| 191 | Passing Yards | 152 |
| 5.8 | Yards Per Attempt | 6.1 |
| 119 | Rushing Yards | 114 |
| 4.6 | Yards Per Attempt | 3.7 |
| 7-41 | Penalties | 4-20 |
| 2 | Turnovers | 2 |
| 4-of-11 | Third-Down Conversions | 2-of-10 |
| 29:00 | Possession | 31:00 |
Quarterback
1 of 10
Once again, after the monster performance Russell Wilson had last week, the third-year quarterback struggled through one of his worst career starts. Wilson was off on several throws, scattering them short or just too hard for much of the game.
Wilson finished the game completing 20 of 32 passes for one touchdown and one interception, and he tacked on six carries for 35 yards. The inaccurate throws from Seattle's quarterback cost Seattle on a couple of would-be touchdown drives, but he maintained his poise on the team's final drive.
As usual, when the Seahawks truly need to put points on the board, Wilson starts putting himself in more danger by scrambling. The Seattle's nine-play, 80-yard touchdown drive highlighted that fact again this season. We'll see if Wilson bounces back next week.
Grade: C
Running Back
2 of 10
As a team, the Seahawks ran the ball 26 times for 119 yards and no scores. Considering that Russell Wilson had 35 of those yards on non-designed running plays, and it's an 84-yard day from the team's running backs.
Marshawn Lynch was bottled up for the majority of the day. Save for a 25-yard run on a draw play in the second half, it was tough sledding for the Pro Bowl back. He had some other nice gains in the game, but he was also tackled for big losses on several occasions in the game that really helped stall out drives.
Starting fullback Derrick Coleman was put on season-ending injured reserve earlier this week, and the team has opted to use Robert Turbin as the new lead blocker. The results have mixed so far, but Turbin has been able to contribute in the passing game.
Turbin had three receptions for 32 yards and had two carries for 10 yards in the game. Third-stringer Christine Michael had four carries of his own for 12 yards. The Carolina defensive front did a great job of wrapping up and rarely allowed the running backs to make cuts back to an open lane.
Grade: D+
Wide Receiver and Tight End
3 of 10
Doug Baldwin looks like a bona fide No. 1 receiver for what Seattle wants to do on offense, showing great run-after-the-catch ability and playing with a fire that wasn't apparent before. Baldwin made six grabs in the game, on eight targets, gaining 61 yards.
It wasn't the biggest game, but when given the opportunity, Baldwin was dangerous with the ball and was key to keeping drives alive. Jermaine Kearse has not been able to step up as seamlessly into his more pronounced role with the team. He was limited to two catches for 15 yards.
Paul Richardson and Kevin Norwood seemed to share an increase in snaps with Ricardo Lockette this week. The trio combined for six catches for 55 yards. Luke Willson was open several times in the game, but Russell Wilson only seemed able to find him on his last throw of the day.
As a team, the Seahawks receivers and tight ends finished with 16 catches for 165 yards and the game-winning score.
Grade: B
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Offensive Line
4 of 10
The offensive line cut back on the penalties and played well considering everything they're going through. Tackle Alvin Bailey had to kick inside to guard for much of the game with James Carpenter and J.R. Sweezy each going down to injury for portions of the game. Max Unger remained out of action as well.
Unger's replacement Stephen Schilling botched a snap that resulted in a turnover on a promising drive for Seattle. At times, Carolina was able to burst into the backfield almost immediately after hiking the ball and Wilson was pressured, but Russell Wilson was sacked only once.
With the constant shuffling of the unit throughout the game, it was tough for Seattle to keep Carolina from stifling their running game. Wilson had enough time and space to throw for the majority of the game, this is not an area that killed Seattle offensively for the first time in weeks.
Grade: C+
Defensive Line
5 of 10
The Seattle Seahawks finished with three sacks, but two of them came in the final minute of the game. Brandon Mebane was the only defensive lineman with a sack, but Seattle finally seemed capable of wreaking havoc on the oppositions pocket.
Cam Newton was forced to move around on several dropbacks as the game wore on, and he found himself scrambling from all directions later in the game. One such pressure came on the play pictured above, resulting in an interception.
Newton took five hits in the game, with three coming from Cliff Avril, Brandon Mebane and Gregg Scruggs. End Michael Bennett just missed on what would have been a safety midway through the fourth quarter, but Newton showed his strength and elusiveness.
The group also did a good job of containing newton on read-option plays. He finished with 24 yards on 12 carries. Jonathan Stewart averaged just shy of five yards per carry and finished with 79 yards on 16 carries, but he did most of his damage in the first half.
Grade: B+
Linebacker
6 of 10
Bruce Irvin took Cam Newton down for back-to-back sacks in the waning seconds of the game to effectively end any real chance of a Panthers comeback. There were a series of injuries in the position group throughout the game.
Malcolm Smith, who was in the starting lineup for the injured Bobby Wagner, went down and was replaced by Kevin Pierre-Louise. Pierre-Louise then succumbed to injury for a portion of the game and was replaced by Brock Coyle. Seattle's linebacker depth was on full display.
Smith later returned and finished second on the team with eight tackles in the game. Pierre-Louise made three tackles in the game, with one of them resulting in a loss of yardage for Carolina. The linebackers had a lot to do with Cam Newton's struggles with running the ball and kept Greg Olsen nearly silent.
Olsen entered the game as the league's top tight end in receiving yardage and receptions but was held to one catch for 16 on three targets. They missed a few tackles in the running game, however.
Grade: B+
Secondary
7 of 10
Cam Newton was 12-of-27 for 121 yards with an interception and a fumble for the Panthers. It was Newton's worst performance of the season. With Seattle's pass rush showing significant improvement over performances of recent weeks, Newton never seemed comfortable in the pocket.
Other than a 51-yard prayer that was heroically pulled in by rookie receiver Kelvin Benjamin, Newton threw for 70 yards in the rest of the game. He finished the first half with more than 60 yards through the air. The Seattle defense started the game only showing up in the red zone, but the second half was a return to old form.
Tharold Simon missed out on an interception that hit him in the chest, the 51-yard completion to Benjamin could have easily been intercepted and there were other near misses for Seattle in the game as well. The opportunities showed themselves when Newton was pressured, but Seattle's secondary needs the defensive line to repeat its performance next week.
Grade: A
Special Teams
8 of 10
Steven Hauschka nailed a 58-yard field goal to give Seattle their first points of the game, making it 6-3. In such a tight game, the points were huge. Hauschka chipped through a 29-yard field goal later in the game. Jon Ryan started with a terrible 25-yard punt but would finish the day with a 40-yard average.
Carolina had a 49-yard kick return from Brenton Bersin (aka Sunshine), showing the coverage units still are a bit out of tune, but didn't allow anything from punt returners. The special teams unit also missed out on a turnover opportunity when Bersin muffed an early punt, but Carolina recovered.
Grade: B
Coaching
9 of 10
Seattle is still struggling on the offensive side of the ball, unless Russell Wilson is improvising. The defense played bend-but-don't-break defense early and tightened their belts at halftime before shutting things down. The special teams unit has some work to do on its coverage teams after a couple of poor outings in a row.
Overall, there's still something off with the offense of this team. They are struggling to get Marshawn Lynch going, and the passing game too often waits until late in the game before stepping up.
Grade: B-
Final Grades
10 of 10
| Positional Unit | Overall Grade |
| QB | C |
| RB | D+ |
| WR/TE | B |
| OL | C+ |
| DL | B+ |
| LB | B+ |
| DB | A |
| Special Teams | B |
| Coaching | B- |
| Cumulative Grade | B- |
Injuries continue to pile up for the Seahawks on both sides of the ball. We'll learn the extent of the injuries in the coming days, but this effort was a promising one from a defensive perspective. Offensively, there are still a lot of things that need to be worked out. Big win for the Seahawks to keep up in a tight NFC West race.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
.png?w=480)
